Cleanliness is Next to Godliness | The Bible Doesn't Say That | Trinity Sermons

Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of

Trinity Sermons. You may have heard it said,

cleanliness is next to godliness. But did you

know that that's not actually in the Bible? Obviously,

cleanliness is important, but is it really godly?

Does it matter whether we shower before we come

to church? Rob is going to unpack for us where

this phrase comes from and what the real spiritual

truth is underneath it all. Today's reading is

from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 7, verses 1

Mark 7:1–8

through 8, and 14 through 23. The Pharisees and

some of the teachers of the law who had come

from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw

some of his disciples eating food with hands

that were defiled. that is, unwashed. The Pharisees

and all the Jews do not eat unless they give

their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to

the tradition of the elders. When they came from

the marketplace, they do not eat unless they

wash, and they observe many other traditions,

such as washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked

Jesus, Why don't your disciples live according

to the tradition of the elders instead of eating

their food with defiled hands? He replied, Isaiah

was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites,

as it is written, These people honor me with

their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain. Their teachings are

merely human rules. You have let go of the commands

of God and are holding on to human traditions.

Again, Jesus called the crowd to him and said,

Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.

Nothing outside a person can defile them. by

going into them. Rather, it is what comes out

of a person that defiles them. After he had left

the crowd and entered the house, his disciples

asked him about this parable. Are you so dull?

he asked. Don't you see that nothing that enters

a person from the outside can defile them? For

it doesn't go into their heart, but into their

stomach, and then out of the body. In saying

this, Jesus declared all foods clean. He went

on. What comes out of a person is what defiles

them. For it is from within, out of a person's

heart, that evil thoughts come. Sexual immorality.

theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit,

lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.

All these evils come from inside and defile a

person. The word of the Lord. I thought to set

up today's topic, I would talk to you a little

bit about something that I call holy hygiene.

And this is just me, it's just my own personal

little ritual that I go through each and every

Sunday morning in order to prepare to come here

and be with you on a Sunday morning. So I just

thought I would, I've brought some of the products

I use up here to show. So, for example, I always

start by washing my hands very, very carefully.

And then I use a little bit of sanitizer. Three

pumps, mind you. One for the Father, one for

the Son, and one for the Holy Purell. And then,

of course, we have to move to this area, the

whole teeth area. So, of course, you've got to

brush your teeth. Do a little bit of that in

the morning. And a little mouthwash. A little

Listerine, gargle that. And it's always nice

to keep with you a few Tic Tacs, right? So that

during that good morning, hello, you don't get

the dragon breath, the Godzilla breath coming

out of my mouth. So got to keep those handy.

Then, of course, a little deodorant. I prefer

Old Spice. You know, it's hot under these lights,

guys, but I like to stay dry. An Old Spice helps

me do just that. Besides, if I'm making a point,

I don't want you to notice these puddles under

my armpits. I want you to be paying attention

to what I'm saying. So a little Old Spice, and

a little cologne never hurt either. Just a little,

oh, it went up. I thought it was supposed to

come down. Oh, yeah, you walk, that's how you,

a little cologne just to, you know, a little

cologne, maybe a little more cologne, whatever

your preference is. Also, there's the nails,

right? You got to trim your nails, especially

when you're flipping the pages of the Bible,

right? You got to make sure you're not shredding

through the word of God. So you got to clip your

nails. And then I do kind of style my hair a

little bit, right? So I'll give it a little of

the old spray because when the Holy Spirit gets

blowing up here, man, I want to stay locked in.

I don't want my dude to get out of control. And

then, of course, you want to do a little clip,

a little razor. of the old beard there. You don't

want to end up looking like John the Baptist

in the wilderness. Pressed clothes, you know,

clean, nicely laundered clothes. Make sure, you

know, your fly is up and all that. I like to

be open. I like to be vulnerable, but not that

open. and and not that vulnerable and so so this

is kind of the routine this is the holy this

is the holy hygiene habit that i that i'm in

and and the reason i do this is so i can stand

before you you know cleanly pressed and minty

fresh because after all because cleanliness is

next to Godliness. That's right. We're in the

middle of this teaching series, which is called

The Bible Doesn't Say That, where we're looking

at some of the misquotes and mistakes and misunderstandings

of certain Bible passages. And today we get to

this one. Cleanliness is next to godliness. How

many have heard this one before? Not everybody

has. Not everybody has. How many have said this

before at one point in their life to someone?

Yeah, and on this Mother's Day, it's usually

mothers who end up saying this to us because

they want us to take a shower or something like

that. Now, I want to have a few disclaimers right

off the bat. The first is, that was just a bit

of an act. I am not a clean freak at all. If

cleanliness is next to godliness, then my garage,

for example, is the portal to hell. because it

is not in good shape. And the second thing we

want to make really, really clear to all of you

here is that here at Trinity, we are not big

on how you look or how you dress when you come

to church at all. You know, we have this saying,

we say that at Trinity, we're just a group of

ordinary people. We dress in ordinary ways. We

come, we are just ordinary people learning to

follow Jesus in our own day. And, you know, just

come as you are to Trinity. The third thing I

want to say, though, is even here at Trinity,

staff and I, we are not the tidiest of people.

And actually just in this last week, we did a

little spring cleaning. Here's a little shot

of that. This is brand new. Oh, yeah! I did get

rocks away like three years ago, remember? But

this becoming a video, somebody has some emotional

attachment to those rocks. No. Somebody does,

because they all have people's names on them.

Oh, they do. So somebody's going to see this

on Sunday morning and be like, why did you throw

out my rocks? No, that's gross too. I'm going

to go to the kitchen with this. Don't deal with

it in there. That's disgusting. They're so sick.

Don't come in here. Hey, that looks like ours.

Sally. Is this ours? Okay. So, yeah. So listen,

if the Bible doesn't say that cleanliness is

next to godliness, who did? Well, actually, it's

interesting. It was a preacher by the name of

John Wesley who first put these words into print

back in 1791. He was doing a sermon. And the

sermon was to his congregation about how they

should dress a little nicer and come a little

cleaner to church. Again, that is never a sermon

that we would preach here at Trinity. We think

you guys look great as you are. But what he said

in that sermon was this. He said, sloppiness

has no part in religion. Being clean is a sign

of spiritual purity or goodness. Cleanliness

is indeed next to godliness. In other words,

John Wesley is saying when you come to church,

don't dress like a slob because cleanliness is

next to godliness. Now you'll notice he does

say it is indeed next to godliness, which makes

us think that perhaps the saying was already

out there in the world. People were using this

quote. Where it came from, we don't know. Maybe

this fellow 200 years earlier, Sir Francis Bacon.

Mmm, bacon. Cleanliness. in the body was ever

deemed to proceed from a due reverence to God.

So maybe that's where it came from. Now, even

though the Bible actually doesn't say these words,

cleanliness is next to godliness, with all of

these sayings, what we have found is there's

always a little bit of truth to them, right?

There's always a part of them that is true. And

so yes, cleanliness is not next to godliness.

But neither is being a slob next to a godliness.

And so I want to suggest to you just right off

the bat, here are four possible ways in which

maybe it is a good idea, according to the Bible,

to be a clean person. The first is out of respect

for creation, right? God made you. God gave you

that body that you have. You are fearfully and

wonderfully made. You're God's handiwork. And

your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The

Bible says all of these things. Therefore, take

care of your body. Keep it clean. Keep it healthy.

It's a way that you care for this body that God

created. The second reason why the Bible might

say we should be clean people is that we should

take some responsibility for all the stuff that

we've been given. You've got stuff in your life.

You've got apartments and houses and backyards

and clothing and cars. And all of it is a gift

from God. And so we are responsible for taking

care of that stuff and being good stewards of

that stuff. And part of that means keeping it

clean and keeping it tidy and keeping it well

ordered. So that's another good reason to be

a clean person. A third reason to be a clean

person, according to the Bible, is out of regard

for others. Think of it this way. Think of hospitality.

When you keep a clean home, then guests and neighbors

who enter your home, they feel welcomed. They

feel at peace. They feel relaxed. They feel safe.

They feel cared for. Even here at Trinity, it's

important that we keep the place clean because

people notice stuff like that. If one of our

guests, went to the bathroom and there was no

TP, I can guarantee you they would not be coming

back next week. We do this out of regard for

other people. And the last reason why we might

decide to be clean is because of these rituals

of our body. You see, the Christian faith is

a bodily faith. There's a whole bunch of things

we do with our bodies that connect to our spirits.

For example, when we fast, we're doing something

with our body to teach us to hunger for God.

When we get down on our knees and we kneel, we're

doing something with our body to teach us humility,

right? it could be that for some that when we

wash ourselves or clean ourselves, we're doing

something with our body to teach us the need

to be cleansed and purified by God. So yes, in

a way, in a way, always in a way, cleanliness

and godliness can go together. But if we really

want to know where this saying came from, then,

I mean, we got to trace it back to the Bible.

Now, I know we already said, Rob, you said that

the Bible doesn't say that. You said that it's

not found in the Bible. And that is true. It's

not there in the Bible like that. But there was

a time in Israel's history where purity laws

and cleanliness codes were all the rage. Now,

if you read the Bible, there's definitely a arc

and there's a change that happens throughout

the Bible. And in fact, Jesus was one of the

people who did battle with the clean police and

the clean freaks. of his own day to kind of rethink

what God actually thought about cleanliness.

But yes, we do have to go back to the Bible.

In fact, if you look at our reading today, what's

happening here? A bunch of religious professionals,

Pharisees and teachers of the law, they're called,

they are sent to make sure that Jesus and his

disciples are following all the clean rules from

the Bible. We're even told that they came to

Jerusalem, from Bethsaida, which is a hundred

kilometer journey by foot, right? So these guys

were serious. They didn't just happen upon Jesus.

They came down. They're not messing around. They

are on a mission to enforce the clean rules that

are found in the Bible. Now, the Bible is full.

rules about how to keep clean. Now, you might

say, well, why on earth would God do that? Why

did God use these rules to tell people to kind

of honor all these customs and rituals and traditions?

Well, there's actually kind of a good reason.

Let's understand it first. The reason is that

God had chosen Israel. To be a holy people. That

means to be a people who were set apart. A people

who were different. A nation for himself. And

part of being set apart, God said, was that you

have to live differently. Visibly differently,

right? So holiness wasn't just something you

believed. It was how you acted. It was how you

spoke. It was what you ate. It was what you wore.

It was what you touched. It was how often you

washed. All of these things set you apart and

people could see you are a different people.

You are the people of Yahweh God. And so that's

why, you know, God told them you are to distinguish

between things that are holy. And things that

are ordinary. Things that are unclean. And things

that are clean. Because I want you to be different.

I don't want you to be like everyone else. I

want you to stand out. I'm a holy God. Be different.

Think of it this way. Imagine you're going on

a big date. Or imagine you're going in for a

big interview. What would you do? You would get

cleaned up. You would wash up, right? You would

brush your teeth. You would use a little cologne.

You would use the mouthwash. Why is that? Because

you want to make a good impression? and you're

going into the presence of somebody who's really

important to you, you don't want to smell like

gym socks. And so the spirit behind these cleanliness

rules is that you just don't waltz into the presence

of God without doing a little bit of scrubbing

first. Now, what made you unclean? According

to the Bible, what kind of things made you unclean?

Well, you can read it if you want, but you touch

a dead animal, you're unclean. You touch a dead

human, you're definitely unclean. If you have

skin rashes or sores on your body, you're considered

unclean. If you have bodily discharge of any

kind, gross, yes, but unclean. You eat the wrong

food, you're unclean. You touch the wrong animal.

You touch a lobster, for example, for some reason,

unclean. If you have mold in your house, unclean.

If you have mildew in your house, you don't just

call the plumber, you call the priest, right?

And the priest will come. There's pages in the

book of Leviticus about this. The priest will

come and inspect the mildew. They will see where

the mildew is. They will try to remove the mildew

in a proper way. And if not, they will literally

burn the whole thing down. Right? These rituals

taught Israel, what did they teach them? That

impurity separates us from God and that cleansing

is required to come close to God. Now, Jesus

would have agreed with this in its spirit. We

must be cleansed in order to come close to God.

But what Jesus would ultimately disagree is how

that cleansing takes place. Jesus had a very

different kind of cleansing in mind, as we will

find out. So Jesus kind of agreed with this in

spirit, but where Jesus definitely disagreed

with these religious clean freaks was in something

known as the tradition of the elders, right?

So notice what the Pharisees asked Jesus. They

say, so the Pharisees said, hey, why don't your

disciples live according to the tradition of

the elders instead of eating their food with

defiled hands? Now you might be like, what is

the tradition of the elders? Is that just the

Bible? No. It's not the Bible. You see, here's

what happened. Over time, all these religious

professionals, they developed an even bigger

set of rules outside of the Bible in order to

help people follow the rules inside the Bible.

And they started out as oral teachings. Oh, you

should do this. You should do this. But eventually

they got written down into these two massive

collections called the Mishnah and the Talmud.

And the Talmud alone contains something like

63 or 65 books. about what the law meant and

how you were supposed to live it out. And if

you've got a bookshelf big enough, if you've

got a budget big enough, you can actually go

and you can buy the Talmud, you can go buy the

Mishnah. And one of the rabbis in Jesus' day

said, this is what it is. The oral law, the tradition

of the elders, is like a fence around the written

law. It's meant to protect people from accidentally

breaking God's rules, accidentally... becoming

unclean. But what happened is, over time, the

fence became a fortress, and people were more

interested in the fence than getting inside the

fence to meet with God. Let me give you just

a few examples of some of the crazy traditions

of the elders that were in the mission of the

Talmud. Again, you can read this, but for example,

on the Sabbath, it was forbidden that you look

in a mirror. You weren't allowed to look in a

mirror on the Sabbath because you might say,

see a gray hair when you look in the mirror and

you might be tempted to pluck that out. And if

you did that, that was tantamount to harvesting.

To reaping, and you weren't allowed to reap on

the Sabbath, and so don't even look in the mirror.

It's against the tradition of the elders. Seriously.

You weren't also allowed to wear false teeth

on the Sabbath. I didn't know this. They had

false teeth 2 ,000 years ago. Isn't that interesting?

But you weren't allowed to wear them on the Sabbath

because if your false teeth fell out, gross,

then you would pick them up, and that would be

work. That would be labor, and you weren't allowed

to do that on the Sabbath either. My favorite

one, though, is on the Sabbath, you weren't allowed

to, oh no, you were allowed to spit on a rock.

But you weren't allowed to spit on the ground.

Why? Because if you spat in like the soil, your

spittle might form a little bit of a ditch or

a furrow. And that would be like plowing a field.

And so you weren't allowed to spit on the ground.

You could spit on a rock on the Sabbath. And

there were all these rules. All these rules about

cleanliness too. In fact, Mark says that the

Pharisees and all the Jews, they do not eat unless

they wash. wash their hands in a special way,

holding to, and there's those words, the tradition

of the elders, right? Now, where it says, unless

they wash it in a special way, that's actually

in the real translation. It says, unless they

wash their hands with the fist. Now, what does

that mean? I wanted to show you because I looked

this up. The way that the tradition of the elders

said you had to wash your hands before you ate

was, first, you had to put your hands, fingers

up. like this, over a bowl, and someone would

pour water on your hands, and then the water

would get all dirty and defiled and drip off

your wrists. It wasn't supposed to run down your

arms. It was supposed to drip off your wrists.

Then you would turn your hands, fingers down,

and they would then do the exact same thing.

They would pour the water on your hands, fingers

down. And again, the defiled water would drip

into the bowl. And then you would use this fist

to rub this hand, and then you would use this

fist. To rub this hand. And this is how, you

know, up, down, rub, rub. That is how you properly

washed your hands before you ate according to

the tradition of the elders. And the kicker is,

some really devout followers observed this not

just before meals, but between every course of

the meal. Right? So this is getting extreme.

You can see why Jesus is taking issue. And some

of them became... Actual like superstitions,

like crazy superstitions. I mean, check out what

this one rabbi, Rabbi Tanith said. He said, whoever

lives in the land of Israel and eats his food

with rinsed hands may rest assured that he shall

obtain eternal life. In other words, you want

to go to heaven? Then you wash your hands, right?

Another rabbi who was imprisoned by the Romans,

I read that once he was only given a very small

amount of water per day. But rather than drink

that water, he used that water to ceremonially

wash his hands. It was more important for him

to follow the tradition of the elders than it

was for him to actually stay alive. And then

it got even more superstitious. There was this

belief. There was this belief out there that

there was a demon named Shibta. And what would

happen is when you were sleeping at night, Shibta

would sneak into your bedroom and would get all

over your hands. And then in the morning, if

you got up and you didn't wash your hands, then

Shibta would get inside of you and do all sorts

of damage to you from within. This is like, now

listen, washing your hands is a good thing. Washing

your hands before dinner, it kills germs. But

the reason that Jesus had no time for this stuff

is because he knew that no external ritual could

really make you clean before a holy God. This

wasn't about holiness. This had become about

outward, surface level, performative, fear -based

superstition. masquerading as religion. And Jesus

knew God was after something much, much deeper.

That's why he says, you guys have let go of the

commands of God and you're just holding on to

human traditions, right? You nullify the word

of God by your traditions that you've handed

down. And many other things like that. In other

words, Jesus is saying, this is just the tip

of the iceberg. The Mishnah, if you read it,

there are like 35... Full pages on how to wash

dishes, how to clean kettles and dishes and cups

and couches. Cleanliness in Jesus' day had become

a religion of its own. But Jesus came to teach

that real cleanliness starts in the heart, not

in the sink. Because you can follow all the rules

and you can wash your hands. When you can avoid

all the lobsters, you can burn all the mildew

and check all the boxes, but still be filthy.

Now, why is that? It's because Jesus knew that

godliness is not an outside -in thing. Jesus

said nothing that enters into a person from the

outside can defile them. And it makes sense.

He even says, hey, it just goes in one end and

it comes out the other end. It's an in and out.

That doesn't defile you, Jesus said. Instead,

Jesus says, cleanliness is an inside -out thing.

What comes out of a person is what defiles them.

What comes out of your mouth is what defiles

you. What comes out of your actions is what defiles

you. What comes out of your thoughts, what comes

out of your words, what comes out of your heart,

all that washing, it doesn't get to that. right?

That's just an act. In fact, at one point, Jesus

calls these people hypocrites. And hypocrite

is just a Greek word that means actor. They're

putting on a show. They're pretending. It's all

a role that they are playing to cover up what's

really happening inside of them. No, real transformation,

real purity begins on the inside when we're washed

from the inside out. Now, This may be a good

point just to stop and ask the question about

our own traditions. As Anglicans, we've got lots

of traditions. Lots of things we do, you know,

hand washing, you know, basins, bowls, candlesticks,

you know, actions, prayers. There's a lot of

traditions that we have here at Trinity. But

many of them are very, very meaningful. But we

should always be asking the question, the same

question. Do we ever let our traditions get in

the way of the commandments of God? Are we clinging

to human things and forgetting the God things

that we really ought to be doing? We've got things

we do here. We sing. We pray. We listen to sermons.

We share communion. But are those changing us

on the inside? Or are we, when we come to church,

are we just actors going through emotion, but

none of this is actually getting inside of us,

right? We're leaving completely unchanged. Jesus

does not want. outer cleanliness or outer actions

or outer rituals unless they're tied to inner

transformation. So I'd say that the Bible actually

doesn't say cleanliness is next to godliness.

What the Bible actually more closely says in

the end is that cleanliness can actually be a

cover -up for lack of godliness. Because what

Jesus really teaches and what the Bible really

says is that God is not looking for sanitized

hands. He is looking for sanctified hearts. Do

you want to know what the Bible really says?

It says that man looks at the outward appearance,

but God looks at the heart. Here's what the Bible

says. It says, wash yourselves and make yourselves

clean. Ooh, our hands? No. Remove your evil deeds

from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, right?

Or here's a wonderful prayer. God, create in

me what? A clean skin? A clean... house? No,

a clean heart. So let's just end by asking the

question, how do we cleanse ourselves? How do

we get clean? Well, I want to end and suggest

three ways to you. I think this is like really

the most important part of everything I've said

this morning. And the first is this, Jesus's

touch makes people clean. The gospel says, that

Jesus came into this dirty, grimy, messy world

of ours. He came into our stinky lives. And he

came and he hung out with some of the messiest

people you can imagine, the tax collectors, the

sinners, the prostitutes, rich and poor. And

he did it for one purpose, to cleanse them. It's

this really interesting reversal that happens

with Jesus. Jesus wasn't contaminated by impurity

when he touched untouchable people, lepers or

sick people or dead people. But instead, they

were contaminated by his purity. They were made

clean. Craig Blomberg puts it this way. He said,

Jesus exhibits a contagious holiness. He does

not fear contamination by being associated with

the impure. Rather, he believes that his purity

can rub off on them. And one of my favorite authors,

N .T. Wright, says the same thing. Jesus' holiness

was not compromised by contact with impurity.

Rather, his holiness overcame impurity. So how

do you get clean? Jesus' touch makes people clean.

That's the first way we get clean. The second

way we get clean, though, is to realize that

Jesus' word declares us clean. You know, Jesus

didn't just touch people clean. Jesus said things,

and people were made clean. He would say, be

clean, and they were clean. He would say, your

faith has made you well, and they were well.

His word has this authority, right, to make people

clean, to restore their dignity. You know, Jesus

knew that food didn't make you unclean, but he

knew that his word could make you clean. In fact,

did you notice in a reading today, somewhere

down there, it said, for it's not stuff that

goes into your heart, but into their stomach

and then out of the body and blah, blah. And

it says, in saying this, Jesus declared all foods

clean. Jesus, the same voice that spoke the universe

into existence, the same voice that said, let

there be light, now says, all food is clean.

Let there be cleanliness. And what Jesus says,

go. If Jesus declares you clean, then you are

clean. Then you are forgiven. So how do we get

clean? His touch makes us clean. His word declares

us clean. And finally, Jesus' blood. washes us

clean. You might think blood is one of the messiest

things ever. How could that make us clean? But

at the cross, Jesus removed every single blemish

and every single stain in your life. His blood

purifies us once and for all, washing us from

the inside out. That's why at the center of the

Christian faith is not a bathtub. It's a cross.

And it was there on that old, rugged, dirty bloody

cross that Jesus did that what no soap could

ever do, what no sanitizer, what no ceremonial

ritual could ever do. There, he became unclean

for us so that we could be made clean forever.

John writes, the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses

us from all sin. The Pharisees, thought cleanliness

came from a ritual jesus shows us it comes from

a relationship they believe cleanliness came

through water jesus shows us cleanliness comes

through blood on the cross all our sins all our

shortcomings washed away not with divine disinfectant

but with his own life so listen i started today

And I showed you all these products that we use

sometimes to make ourselves clean and to make

ourselves presentable. And, you know, we may

be tempted to say, okay, yeah, I'm going to come

to God, but I'm going to clean myself up first,

right? I got to make myself presentable in order

to go into God's presence. But remember this,

we don't come to God after we've cleaned ourselves

up, right? We come to God so he can clean us

up. And I would just say, if today's message

has stirred anything up in you, a desire to be

made clean or to have a fresh start with God,

then let me invite you to consider baptism. Baptism

is not something we do to clean your skin. That's

not how it works. Baptism declares that Jesus

has already cleansed you in your heart by faith.

And if you've never taken that step, we would

love to take that step with you. Please talk

to me after the service. But let's, in the meantime,

come to Christ. Broken, yes. Dirty, yes. Hurting,

yes. And let him touch us clean, declare us clean,

and let his blood wash us clean. Not based on

some religious ritual, but based on what he did

on the cross for us 2 ,000 years ago. Thanks

be to God. Amen. Thank you for listening to this

week's episode of Trinity Sermons. This sermon

was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville in

Mississauga, Ontario on May 11th, 2025.