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by Nathan Buck

I have a hobby in ceramics, making stoneware pottery. Now, let’s say I sell you a piece of pottery and you take it home and read the use and care instructions to know how to clean it, and what it’s safe to be used for. What if those instructions only told you what not to do? What if that label was so long and detailed, that it was hard to tell what you were allowed to do with it? 

Are you going to be inclined to use that mug or teapot? Would you think the maker was interested in you using the mug, or preserving it in some sort of shrine? Would you want to buy from me again?

By having instructions that list everything you shouldn’t do with it, the piece of pottery becomes useless – or at least a very expensive display item and dust collector. It becomes a statuesque piece of pottery we pay homage to by admiring its appearance - occasionally dusting it so visitors don’t think we are slobs - even though it has never served a practical purpose in its existence. You know what that’s called? An idol!

Read Matthew 15:15-20 again.

What Jesus revealed about all these laws the Pharisees had made was that in their desire to be “safe,” they had inadvertently created idols. By working so hard to create and keep all these rules, the rule-keeping became more important than the purpose behind the original rules. They tried so hard to set boundaries inside the boundaries God gave, that staying inside all the concentric circles of rules became their full-time focus. Jesus points out that their argument about washing hands and how to eat is so caught up in rule-keeping that they miss what God prepared for them, and they wind up in a worse position with God for their blindness to what matters to HIM. They had trapped themselves with all the horizontal rules and could no longer tell which way was up. 

Jesus presents a solution/test to His disciples that is pretty easy. If you want to check your VERTICAL, consider what Jesus tells them: Our OUTPUT can GLORIFY GOD, or DEFILE US - because it REVEALS our FAITH, or our IDOLS.

If you want to know what is in someone’s heart, listen to what they say. I mean really listen. Don’t guess. Don’t assume and jump to conclusions. Listen carefully. Ask questions for clarity if necessary, but listen. Sometimes we dress up all kinds of brokenness in fine sounding words, rational sounding arguments, or carefully slanted data. Sometimes our brokenness is obvious in what we are saying, whether we admit it or are aware of it, or not.

What about your own language? What do you say that reveals what is going on in side of you? What vows have you made, saying “never again….”? What attacks do you level with sarcasm, guilt, or finding fault? What wounds do you cover with humor, defensive language, or misdirection? Do you know it reveals you heart, even if you don’t mean for it to?

If you want to check your vertical, check and see if your life is seeking to live God's best, then run the tape back of this morning's conversations. Rewind this week's chats in person or on social media with friends and co-workers. Replay the last months’ conversations with your spouse, kids, or close friends. What do you hear? You know what is laced in through those conversations. Are you willing to face that brokenness and those idols and surrender them to God?

You can see your idols if you are honest, and you can see where there was truth that honored God. I invite you to intentionally be aware of what you say, how you say it, and what it reveals about your heart. Do the same as you listen to others. Then examine carefully the voices you are “akouo syniemi" – hearing and understanding – and whether or not they really are pointing you in the way God would have you go. Be willing to lay down any input that corrupts or distracts from your output honoring God.

Next week, we will look at another passage and see how we can use the vertical to better see the way forward. 

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