"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12: 33-37
Acquitted or condemned and all by our words. But within these verses from Matthew lies the deeper problem. The mouth merely speaks out of the overflow of the heart.
Question two is where are our hearts today? What is overflowing from our hearts? Have we stored up in our hearts the things of God or the pride of man? Do we translate our wounds into opportunities to forgive as Christ forgave us or do we store up wrath for others? The Pharisees hearts were focused on their religion, their rules, and their pre-set thinking. They honored God with their lips they paid Him lip service. But their hearts had nothing to do with their words. Their actions had nothing to do with their words. Once again, based upon how Jesus addressed this, we can see how important it is to God:
"Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." Luke 20: 46-47
Self-importance and pomp instead of the humility of Christ. But look at the contrast Jesus makes in verse 47. They devour widows' homes and for a show make lengthy prayers! Honoring with their lips while their actions do not line up with God. Where are your actions lining up in relation to the lip service you pay to God? Let us never be like Judas:
But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, "That perfume was worth a year's wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor." Not that he cared for the poor--he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples' money, he often stole some for himself. John 12: 4-6 (NLT)
In the Gospel of Mark, this exchange immediately precedes Judas decision to betray Christ. How far can a heart get from our Lord? Note the self-righteousness in Judas and how easy it can be for us sometimes to slip into the same trap the enemy lays out for us. Judas must have rationalized the fact that he often took money himself from the Disciples just as we can rationalize away our part in the actions that are not of Christ in our lives. We can convince ourselves that we are on some mighty quest for a righteous cause, all the while doing the work of the enemy. Finding blame in everyone else for the simple fact that our heart is not aligning with the cause of Christ anymore and out of that overflow, our mouth does speak.
The third question for us today is where is our worship? Note the stern words from Jesus towards the Pharisees in the key verse their worship is a farce! A sham. Now I know that some might think that they would be aware of they were "faking it" but that is not what these verses mean. It means we can convince ourselves that we are worshipping God. We can lift our hands, raise our voices and cry out to Jesus at the altar but if our heart is not right, then our worship becomes a farce to God. He does not want you even at the altar if your heart is not right: