Latest / Reformed Thinking / Clean the Inside of the Cup | John Piper

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Clean the Inside of the Cup | John Piper · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking, the podcast where we pursue
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knowledge and clarity. And welcome to the Deep Dive.
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This is where we take your sources, unpack the really
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significant points, and hopefully deliver some
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surprising facts and fresh perspectives as we go.
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Today we've got a really vital topic in front of us, one that
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gets right to the heart of what it means to live in a way that
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genuinely honors God. We're digging into John Piper's
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All That Jesus Commanded, specifically the section Your
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righteousness Must Exceed that of the Pharisees.
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Clean the inside of the cup. And we've also got some related
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study notes which are, well, pretty insightful.
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They really help unpack these texts.
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They do. So our aim today, our mission
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for this deep dive, is really to uncover Jesus's critique of the
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religious leaders back in his day.
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It was pretty sharp. Oh, absolutely.
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And maybe even more crucial, what that critique teaches us
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about what genuine righteousness actually looks like.
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Right. We want to get beyond just, you
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know, looking at external actions and really try to grasp
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the inner condition that God truly seeks.
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So get ready to perhaps rethink what it means to be truly clean
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in God's eyes. It's a core idea, really
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foundational. And it still challenges us
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today, doesn't it? It definitely does.
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So to guide us, we'll be working mainly through passages from the
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Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John too, where Jesus confronts
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the Pharisees directly. Yeah, these texts really shine a
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light on a central truth about the human heart and God's call
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for, well, real change from the inside out.
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It was a revolutionary message back then, and honestly, it
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still feels pretty radical for us now.
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What's amazing isn't just that Jesus critiqued them, but how
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their practices, which looks so righteous on the surface, we're
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actually the complete opposite of what God wanted.
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It's a paradox really, and one that can still trap people
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today, definitely. OK, so let's unpack this.
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Let's dive straight into the core issue, the flawed piety of
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the Pharisees. The Scriptures paint a, well, a
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remarkably clear picture here. Their outwards show consistently
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masked this deep inner corruption.
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It makes you wonder, doesn't it, if these were the supposed
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spiritual guides, the experts of their time?
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What was really going on underneath all that?
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Exactly. And Jesus, well, he gave the
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answer the basic problem for the Pharisees.
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And Jesus pointed this out with just stark clarity was this huge
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disconnect between how they looked on the outside and what
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they were like on the inside, right?
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You see it so vividly in Matthew 23 verses 25 and 26 where Jesus
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says you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but
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inside they are full of greed and self indulgence.
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That cup metaphor is just incredibly powerful.
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It really is. It shows their, you know,
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meticulous attention to looking clean, their strict following of
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rules on the surface, but it was completely at odds with their
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Interstate. It's like like polishing a
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beautiful antique cup until it shines but the inside is just
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caped with. Grime.
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That image sticks with you. Yeah, it's jarring.
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It's like polishing the Chrome on a car, making it gleam but
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the engine is completely seized up.
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Exactly. The outside looks perfect, gives
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this illusion, but the actual purpose, the reason it exists,
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is broken. And this focus on the external,
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this externalism, it extended to their actions too, didn't it?
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Oh. Absolutely.
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The Gospels highlight how even things that looked good, like
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giving alms, were often done to be seen by men, as Matthew 23.5
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says. Right, the motivation.
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Precisely. It wasn't about genuine love or
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real concern for people in need. It was about public admiration,
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getting known for their good deeds.
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Their heart just wasn't in it. The motivation was all aimed at
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human applause, not pleasing God.
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So their religious efforts, their moral energy, it was all
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spent on guarding what went into their mouths.
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You know, dietary laws, ceremonial washing or cleaning
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the outside of things. Yeah, instead of dealing with
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what was actually coming out of their hearts, Jesus called them
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fools for this, which is, I mean, that's a strong rebuke.
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It shows how frustrated he was with their skewed priorities.
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He really challenged their assumption that God only cared
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about the outside, didn't he? Asking in Luke 11.4 did not he
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who made the outside make the inside also?
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Exactly. He was making it plain.
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God made the whole purser. He cares about the inner being,
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our thoughts, our desires, our motives, maybe even more than
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the outward show. The God who designed the human
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heart certainly isn't going to overlook its condition.
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You wouldn't think so. So when we look at their inner
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condition as Jesus described it, it's pretty devastating.
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The text listed out greed, self indulgence, dead bones,
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uncleanness, hypocrisy, lawlessness.
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Chilling details. Yeah, this wasn't just a minor
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flaw or slipping up now and then.
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This was fundamental, pervasive corruption.
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It defined their spiritual state.
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Piper calls it an ugly righteousness.
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Ugly righteousness. That's a powerful phrase.
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A facade, Really. A thin coating over a corrupt
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core. So how did they keep up?
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That appearance was such a rotten interior.
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What did that cost them? Well, that our appearance, it
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wasn't just clever acting, it came from a deep spiritual
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blindness and really misplaced priorities.
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Jesus nailed this with another unforgettable image in Matthew
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23.24. You blind guides straining out a
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gnat and swallowing a camel. Yeah, think about that picture.
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Right. They were so hyper focused on
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tiny trivial details of the law, like making sure they didn't
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accidentally swallow a gnat in their drink and become unclean.
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Straining their wine, literally. Literally, yeah.
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Yet at the same time they completely ignore.
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No, they swallowed the truly huge things, the spiritual camel
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of God's law, justice, mercy, faithfulness.
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Right, majoring on the minors. It's like obsessively checking
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the expiration date on a salt packet where your whole diet is
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junk food. Exactly that kind of spiritual
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shortsightedness, obsessing over trifles while missing the whole
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point of a healthy God honoring life.
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Matthew 23.23 lays it out. You tithe mint and dill and
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cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law,
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justice and mercy and faithfulness.
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So meticulous about herbs from the garden, but careless about
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how they treated actual people. And this blindness wasn't just
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self-destructive, it was incredibly dangerous for
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everyone. They were supposed to be
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leading. Matthew 15.14 warns.
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They are blind guides, and if the blind lead the blind, both
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will fall into a pit. So their spiritual deadness was,
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as the notes put it, suicidal and murderous, harming in the
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selves and misleading others. Yeah, leading them away from
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God's true path. Jesus even compared them to
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unmarked graves in Luke 11.44. It is.
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Outwardly they looked clean, respectable, maybe even holy.
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But internally they were full of death and uncleanness, defiling
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anyone who came close to their teaching or practices without
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realizing it. Like a beautiful flower hiding
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something venomous. A hidden, pervasive danger.
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Unmarked graves that really hits home in this spiritual state.
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It LED directly to them putting merciless burdens on people and
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actively blocking God's Kingdom. Yes.
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It wasn't just passive error. They were actively tying up
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these heavy burdens, hard to bear and lay them on people's
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shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them
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with their finger. That's Matthew 23.4.
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So their interpretation of law was just severe uncompassionate
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completely. The opposite of Jesus, whose
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yoke is easy and burden is light.
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They piled on complex rituals, endless rules, but offered no
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real help, no grace, no relief. An almost impossible system to
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live under. Pretty much.
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And it had dire consequences. Matthew 23.13 For you shut the
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Kingdom of heaven in people's faces.
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For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter
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to go in. Wow, so they were like
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gatekeepers but keeping people out?
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Exactly. Not guiding them in, but
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actively preventing others from finding real access to God.
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Standing right in the way. Imagine being desperately
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thirsty and someone just stands between you and the well.
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And it gets even worse, doesn't it?
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Highlighting how destructive they were.
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It does, Jesus says in Matthew 23.15.
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You make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
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Twice as much. That's not hyperbole, is it?
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Doesn't sound like it. It reveals a truly devastating
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impact. They weren't just slightly
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misguiding people, they were actively leading converts
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further away from God's path, making them even more like
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themselves, spiritually dead, and ultimately sharing their
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miserable destiny. Creating disciples in their own
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corrupted image. And the sources suggest the root
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of this corruption went even deeper, pointing towards, well,
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direct Satanic influence. OK, now we're getting to the
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core. Jesus's accusation in John 8
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verses 42 to 40 before leaves no room for doubt.
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You are of your Father the devil, and your will is to do
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your Father's desires. That's not just an insult.
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He's declaring their spiritual parentage.
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Exactly. He's saying their hearts were
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shaped by Satan's will. Their attitudes, their desires
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reflected the ways of spiritual rebellion against God.
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It meant their actions weren't just human flaws, but were
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driven by a spiritual source hostile to God and His truth.
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Imagine hearing that in their cultural context.
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Damning. Absolutely.
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And then there's brood of Vipers in Matthew 12.34.
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Another searing comment. Right, and he immediately
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connects their words to their Interstate there too, doesn't.
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He he does. How can you speak good when you
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are evil? For out of the abundance of the
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heart, the mouth speaks it's direct link.
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Their outward talk, their venomous accusations, their
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pious sounding words all stem directly from that corrupted
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inner source, like drawing water from a poisoned well.
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You can't get Sweetwater from the bitter spring.
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And they tried to flip it back on him, didn't they?
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Accusing Jesus of working for Satan.
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Yeah, in Matthew 12.24 they say it is only by Beelzebul, the
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Prince of Demons, that this man casts out demons trying to
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discredit his miracles. But Jesus just dismantled that
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argument, pointing out the logical flaw.
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If Satan casts out Satan, he's divided against himself.
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How then will his Kingdom stand? Matthew 12.26.
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Right. His ministry was clearly against
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Satan, driving out demons, proclaiming God's Kingdom, not
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working with him. Made their accusation completely
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hollow. The inescapable fact remained
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their evil words came from evil hearts, and they had no logical
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way to explain Jesus's power over demons, which clearly
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wasn't from Satan. OK, so we've seen this
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devastating picture, their outward show, their inner
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corruption. The obvious question is what's
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the alternative? How does Jesus tell us to live
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differently? And this is where it gets really
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compelling. Jesus doesn't just critique, He
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gives the answer. And his central message is the
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absolute priority of inward transformation.
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Clean the inside first. That's the core of it, the
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guiding principle for real godliness.
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He says it again in Matthew 23.26.
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First, clean the inside of the cup in the plate that the
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outside also may be clean. So that's his foundational
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advice. It is.
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It means any real external cleanliness.
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Any righteous actions we do are meant to be a direct result of
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interchange, not some superficial way to get changed.
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So the outward behavior is a consequence, a natural fruit of
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the inward purity. Exactly.
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It's not about forcing good behavior to try and become good
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inside. It's letting goodness flow
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naturally from a renewed core. So it's not just about doing
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good things. The sources make that clear.
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Do good things is not Jesus main message.
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Right. What really counts for Jesus is
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external behavior that flows out of a transformed heart.
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The action itself, no matter how good it looks, doesn't have real
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value before God unless it comes from a pure motive, from a heart
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that's been genuinely changed by God Himself.
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That cuts against our instincts, doesn't it?
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We often focus on the outward performance.
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We do, and this is where that little Greek word heena comes
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in. The so that principle, it's
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small, but it carries huge weight because it signals
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purpose and result. Cleaning the inside is the
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prerequisite so that the outside can genuinely be clean.
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It's not make the outside look good in order to become good
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inside. That was the Pharisees mistake.
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It's the other way around. Right authentic God honoring
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external life is the genuine fruit of internal purity, cause
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and effect. The effect outward cleanliness
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follows the cause inward cleansing.
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This really underlines how Jesus sees the heart as the ultimate
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source both of defilement and purity.
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Absolutely. He made that crystal clear.
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In Matthew 15 verses 17 to 20. He explains that what defiles
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someone isn't what goes into the mouth, like food eaten with
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unwashed hands, which the Pharisees obsessed over, right?
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But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart.
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That's where the real issues start.
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Greed, anger, lust, all kinds of evil.
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They originate in the heart before they ever become actions.
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It's the wellspring. The source code almost.
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You could say that, yeah. And that's why God's concern is
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for the whole person, not just the visible bits like Luke 11.4,
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A says again. Did not he who made the outside
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make the inside also? God's interested in the whole
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package. Exactly.
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Not just our public behavior or how well we follow rules.
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He cares for the entire person, especially the inner being, the
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seat of our desires, affections, will, thoughts.
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He made us integrated beings, and He wants that integration to
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be pure. And this understanding of
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defilement and purity, it directly effects how we live,
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how we express our faith, right? It does.
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The sources connect this to Luke 11.41, where Jesus suggests
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giving as alms those things that are within.
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OK, what does that mean exactly? It implies that true generosity,
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real compassion, genuine self giving has to come from a pure
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loving heart, which is radically different from the Pharisees
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kind of giving. Right.
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They gave to be seen to get admiration.
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It was transactional. Exactly.
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But when you give from the heart, it's a genuine outflow of
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a transformed inner life, a pure spring producing good water, not
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just putting on a show. OK, this brings us to a really
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crucial point about what true righteousness actually is.
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It's a remarkably high standard, maybe harder than we first
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think, but paradoxically, it's also entirely divinely enabled.
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There's a fascinating tension here.
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There really is. The bar is set incredibly high,
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way beyond just human effort or rule.
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Keeping Matthew 5.2 low makes that plain.
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Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and
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Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.
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Wow. That's a high bar.
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It is. And it's not about external
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perfection or being even more meticulous about rules than they
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were. It's about internal
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authenticity, a righteousness of the heart.
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A quality of righteousness they completely lacked and could
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never achieve on their own. Exactly.
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And what does that deeper righteousness look like?
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John Stott, who's quoted in the notes, explains it well.
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Christian righteousness is deeper, being a righteousness of
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the heart. An inward righteousness of mind
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and motive. Right, because as Scripture
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reminds us, for Samuel 16.7, Luke 16.1 peen, the Lord looks
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on the heart. It's not about ticking boxes,
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it's about what truly drives the actions from within the real
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condition of the heart, which only God sees perfectly.
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He's not fooled by appearances. This leads to that paradox you
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mentioned. Jesus yoke is easy, His burden
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is light, but the righteousness he commands is in another way
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impossible for us on our own. Precisely Matthew 11:30 My yoke
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is easy and my burden is light is such a sharp contrast to the
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heavy burdens the Pharisees impose.
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We talked about those earlier crushing.
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Right, but Jesus commands aren't crushing because he doesn't just
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give orders and leave us to struggle as the reformers really
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understood. He grants what he commands.
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Meaning he gives us the ability. Yes, He gives the strength, the
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desire, the actual ability to do what He asks through His Spirit
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working in us. It's a divine enablement that
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can turn duty into delight, or at least make it genuinely
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possible. But the hard and impossible part
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comes when we think about our own human ability for that kind
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of radical interchange apart from God.
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Exactly. Mark 10.27 highlights this when
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Jesus says with man it is impossible but not with God, for
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all things are possible with God.
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And the sources link this to the rich young ruler.
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Yeah, the man who seemed to have it all outwardly, but found he
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just couldn't give up his wealth for Jesus.
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His inability to stop treasuring money more than Jesus shows that
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this kind of fundamental internal change, reordering our
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deepest loves, is totally beyond our natural power.
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We can't just will ourselves to love Jesus more than money or
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reputation or comfort or whatever our heart clings to.
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We can't, and that's where the new heart comes in.
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It's such a central idea in Reformed thinking and really all
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biblical theology. The righteousness that exceeds
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the Pharisees is described as the new heart that trusts Jesus
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and treasures Him above money, prays, sex, and everything else
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in the world. The complete reorientation of
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what we value most. And this new heart isn't
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something we manufacture through self-discipline or sheer
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willpower. It's a gift, God's sovereign
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grace given by the Holy Spirit when God gives you this new
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heart that trusts and treasures Jesus this way.
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Then obeying his commands becomes different.
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Yes, it becomes ideally a natural outflow, like being told
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to enjoy your favorite food. It's not a struggle, but
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changing that heart ourselves apart from God's work of
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regeneration and his ongoing work of sanctification, that's
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truly impossible. It needs divine intervention,
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the spiritual rebirth. So how does Jesus flesh this out
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more? How does he illuminate this deep
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internal righteousness? He uses these six antitheses,
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right? These contrasting statements.
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That's right, these examples from Matthew 5 verses 21 to 48,
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they aren't about throwing out the law God gave through Moses.
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They're about fulfilling it, taking us beyond just external
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rule, following right down into the hearts deepest affections
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and motives. So not just minor treats to the
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law. Not at all.
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It's a radical rethinking of what righteousness even is,
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stripping away the external performance to get to the very
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core of who we are. It's like moving from a
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checklist to needing a complete heart transplant.
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OK, so Jesus wasn't getting rid of the Old Testament law.
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No, He was unveiling its true deeper spiritual meaning,
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showing its original intent for the heart.
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It's like someone gives you a map and then Jesus comes and
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shows you the map actually points to this vast beautiful
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territory. You never even.
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Got it. So let's put the first one from
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no murder to no anger. OK, the Old Testament law says
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straightforwardly, You shall not.
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Murder focuses on the outward act.
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But Jesus goes much further. He says that anger, even without
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the external act, is like murder.
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That's Matthew 5.2126. He equates harboring unjustified
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anger in your heart with the terrible act itself.
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So true righteousness means an internal change that stops that
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anger from even taking root, even when you feel wronged.
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Exactly. It's about the state of the
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heart that leads to those destructive feelings and
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actions. That raises the standard
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immediately, doesn't it? From don't do the worst thing to
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don't even harbor the root. Of it dramatically.
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And the second one is similar, focusing on the heart from no
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adultery to no lust. OK.
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The Old Testament law you shall not commit adultery again the
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physical act. Right.
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But Jesus expands that right into the inner life, piercing
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straight to desire itself. He says everyone who looks at a
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woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with
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her in his heart. Matthew 5.28.
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Wow, so true purity isn't just avoiding the physical act.
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No, it includes the Interstate overcoming the hearts tendency
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towards illicit sexual desire. It's a call for internal
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chastity, guarding your thoughts and desires, recognizing that
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sin often starts in the mind long before it becomes an
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action. OK #3 from divorce to
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faithfulness. Right, the Mosaic Law did allow
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for divorce because of hardness of heart.
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As Jesus himself said in Matthew 19.8.
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It was a concession to human sinfulness.
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But Jesus aimed higher. Much higher, he presented the
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ideal of not divorcing except for sexual immorality.
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At Matthew 5.32, he was pointing back to God's original design
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for marriage as a lifelong covenant.
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So the righteousness he wants involves finding solutions
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internally. Yes, finding solutions to
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marriage problems not just through the external means of
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ending it, but through the inner spiritual transformation of the
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heart. Aim for faithfulness,
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perseverance, real reconciliation within the
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marriage, reflecting God's own faithfulness to his people.
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OK then, the 4th one from oath keeping to simple honesty.
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The Old Testament commanded You shall perform to the Lord what
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you have sworn. Matthew 5.33 Focus on keeping
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your vows. Making sure you do what you
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promised with an oath. But Jesus makes a more radical
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call. He calls for a heart so
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transparently honest, so truthful through and through,
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that you don't even need external confirmations like
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oaths to make your simple yes or no believable.
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Let what you say be simply yes or no.
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Exactly. Your word should be so reliable
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that no extra verbal guarantee is needed.
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It's about an inner dedication to total truthfulness and
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everything which makes formal vows unnecessary.
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Because your word is always trustworthy.
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No need for verbal crutches. That requires deep integrity.
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OK, 5th from retaliation to loving contentment.
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This one's huge. The Old Testament principle, an
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eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, was actually about
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limiting revenge, ensuring justice was equitable.
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Right, not escalating things endlessly.
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But Jesus gives these six really radical commands that go
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completely against our natural human selfishness and our
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instinct for self preservation. We're getting even like what?
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Do not resist evil. Turn the other cheek.
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Give your cloak when sued for your tunic.
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Go 2 miles when forced to go one.
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Give to beggars and do not refuse borrowers.
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Matthew 5.39 or 4/2. Wow, those are radical.
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They are. And these external behaviors
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aren't just tough moral suggestions, they're only
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genuinely possible if there's been an interchange, if your
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contentment, your security, your real identity is found squarely
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in Jesus himself, not in worldly status or stuff or defending
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your rights. So it's a call to radical
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countercultural self giving that comes from being content in
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Christ. Exactly.
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That's the only way it makes sense or becomes possible.
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OK, finally, the 6th antithesis from limited love to loving our
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enemies. Yeah, the distorted
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interpretation people had was you shall love your neighbor and
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hate your enemy, which by the way, isn't actually commanded in
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the Old Testament law like that, but it was a common
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understanding. OK, but Jesus directly
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contradicts this. He shatters those comfortable
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limits on who we should love, saying love your enemies and
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pray for those who persecute you.
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Matthew 5.4344. Love your enemies.
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That's maybe the hardest one it. Feels like it.
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And this kind of love isn't an emotion we can just drum up.
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Jesus says It's first a change in the heart, a reorientation of
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our deepest affections and loyalties.
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So praying for persecutors, that reveals something deeper.
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It reveals A genuine desire for their well-being, even their
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salvation, and that requires a massive shift away from self
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preservation and hostility towards finding our security
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entirely in Jesus. This interchange then shows
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itself in those incredibly sacrificial actions, like
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praying for and blessing people who are actually harming you.
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So let's wrap this up. What does this all mean for us
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today, this deep dive? It seems to have shown us pretty
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clearly that Jesus's call to righteousness goes way beyond
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just external appearances or rule keeping or anything
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superficial. Yeah, he consistently points us
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inward, doesn't he? To the heart.
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That's the true source of what actually pleases God.
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That righteousness of the Pharisees.
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It was just an empty show, a meticulously crafted facade, but
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nothing real behind. It exactly.
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But Christian righteousness, the kind Jesus calls us to, is a
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true inward disposition, a new spiritual nature really, and all
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genuine outward acts of godliness naturally flow from
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that. It's a crucial distinction.
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It shapes everything about how we think about our walk with
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God. And we've seen that this
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transformation, this cleaning the inside, this reordering of
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our loves, it's humanly impossible on our.
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Own right, our natural tendency because of sin is towards
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self-interest and just keeping up appearances.
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But it's precisely what God makes possible through his
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saving work in us, through the regeneration the Holy Spirit
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brings about. It's about receiving, leaving
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that new heart that genuinely trusts Jesus finds him to be its
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greatest treasure above everything else the world offers
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money, praise, pleasure, whatever it is.
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And it's from this new divinely changed heart that tree God
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pleasing behavior comes out not as a heavy duty, but hopefully
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as a more natural outflow of love and new desire.
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Hopefully, yes, that's the goal of sanctification.
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So as you, our listener, reflect on all this, maybe consider
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this. If the core of true
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righteousness is this inward change that then leads to
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authentic external actions, what area of your life might benefit
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most from asking God right now to cleanse the inside of your
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own cup? That's a challenging thought.
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How might seeking A deeper, more sincere heart for Jesus actually
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bring surprising freedom, real purpose, and genuine joy into
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your daily walk? We really trust this deep dive
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has given you some fresh ways to think about Jesus timeless words
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and how they continue to challenge our hearts today.
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Thank you for joining us on Reformed Thinking.
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We look forward to our next exploration together.