What Defiles?

⁵ Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”
⁶ He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
      ‘ This people honors Me with their lips,
      But their heart is far from Me.
       ⁷ And in vain they worship Me,
      Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

 ⁸ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”
⁹ He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), ¹² then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, ¹³ making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
¹⁴ When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. ¹⁶ If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”
¹⁷ When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. ¹⁸ So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” ²⁰ And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, ²² thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

I address this with much caution as I do not want to be misunderstood. 
Do we in the church ignore some scripture and make our own laws? If I had to guess, I would say most, if not all churches have dealt with this in one way or another.  

The Bible clearly states that we are to love others. There are no exclusions, but do we not pick certain people to distance from ourselves? If an abortion doctor or nurse came into our congregation, would we love them? What about an atheist? The thing to remember here is that to love someone does not condone what they do. If we don't love them, how will we ever win them over?

Many churches will show you the door if you partake of alcoholic beverages. I clearly understand the reasoning, especially if they have lost a loved one due to an alcohol related accident; but what does scripture say?  It says not to drink in excess but no where does it say to abstain completely. I personally do not consume alcohol but neither do I judge, or rebuke those who do.

Gossip is one of the biggest problems I see in just about every church, but it is tolerated. The scriptures clearly instruct us to stop gossip within our ranks but we don’t. Fighting over the color of paint, the color of the carpet, the order of service, etc, split congregations all the time. Is this biblical? I think not.

One of the reasons I hear often why people don’t attend church anymore, is this spirit of hypocrisy. It is hard to defend the church when we are guilty of such behavior. I do not say these things to be critical and mean spirited, but rather to challenge believers to take a step forward in growth. We need to lay aside our whims and focus on what the scriptures actually say, and then put them into practice.   

We live in desperate times and we need to draw closer to our Lord, get “us” right with Him, and reach those lost souls. We are commanded to do this after all. I firmly believe if we truly live our lives wholly for God, people will come to us and ask “What must we do to be saved!”