Are you an “In-ee” or an “Out-tee? (When it comes to what God writes to you)

Summit High School Principal Jason Mutterer is an “in-ee”. His tradition is in a tradition that deserves a letter. Every year, he personally writes heartfelt letters to each graduating senior, to encourage and inspire them in their future. They were personal reflections highlighting the good he saw within each student.

Turnabout is fair play. This week, 500 of his students, on graduation day, instead of just receiving their diplomas,  surprised him with handwritten letters of their own expressing their appreciation of his impact on them. “Coach Mutt, you are the light of our school. Thank you so much for always believing in me.”   God is also in the letter writing tradition, of highlighting what is good and acceptable in His sight, who sees us from the inside out.

In Matthew 15, God writes through the teachings of Jesus, His Son, through a parable, that it’s what’s inside that counts. In our time of political, tribal and social divisions, we can all use a heartfelt letter.

Key Text: Matthew 15:1-2  Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying,  ² "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." Matthew 15:10-11  ¹⁰ And after He called the multitude to Him, He said to them, "Hear, and understand.  ¹¹ "Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." Matthew 15:17-20  ¹⁷ "Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated?  ¹⁸ "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.  ¹⁹ "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.  ²⁰ "These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."

We all belong to one of two tribes. Are you an “out-tee” or an “In-nee?

An “Out-tee” is a tribal person who sees the worth of a person based on what they do see on the outside according to Matthew 15:1-2. 

Jesus confronted the Pharisees who were more concerned with the outside actions of a person that made them defiled or unclean to God.

Matthew 15:1-2  Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying,  2 "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."

Even Christ’s disciples tried to discredit young children and blind Bartimaeus because of their outside circumstances according to Mark 10:13,48.

The Pharisees were focused on the “outside”. How have you discredited people different from your tribe: skin color, economic class, education, political affiliation, deeming them “defiled or uncleaned, not equal to you?”

An “In-ee” is a tribal person who sees the worth of a person from the heart (internal assessment) according to Matthew 5-6,12.

Jesus, in the parable of the  mouth and stomach, teaches that the heart is the origin of what is unclean and clean in the eyes of God.

¹⁸ "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.  ¹⁹ "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.  ²⁰ "These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."

The Pharisees keep the law externally but violated the law of love when it came to honoring their mothers and fathers. Sacrifice was better than obedience according to Exodus 20:12.

Be an “In-nee”. Have a heart of obedience, to love God and love your neighbor as yourself, no matter their external conditions. Love like Principal Jason Mutterer who saw the good—not legalistic perfection—within each of his students. He thought they were deserving of a personal note reminding them: it’s what’s inside that counts.

Here’s God’s note of the same to you to keep the main thing, the main thing:

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7  .