SERMON: HOW TO BE A BAD CHRISTIAN, PART 4: Shutting the Door of Grace

16 August 2015

I. Introduction

-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 23:13 [Read Matthew 23:13]

Matthew 23:13

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."

            -- a few years ago, Will Smith was in a movie called "The Pursuit of Happyness" 

-- the true story about Chris Gardner, a bright and talented young man who was desperately trying to make a living by selling high-end medical devices on his own

            -- as the movie opens, things weren't going real well for Chris -- his business was not doing well and he wasn't selling enough machines to pay the rent and the bills -- his wife was taking double shifts down at her job just trying to help the family survive

            -- every time Chris tried to get something going, it seemed like fate would just throw it back in his face -- every time he tried to get someone to help, they wouldn't -- his wife left him to raise his son on his own -- his friends deserted him -- everyone told him to accept his fate in life and to just go on -- it seemed like everything and everyone tried to hold him back -- to keep him from reaching his dreams

            -- but Chris had hope -- he could see an open door in his future leading to financial security -- and no one was going to hold him back and keep him from going through that door -- at one point in the movie, as he huddled with his son in a bathroom in a subway terminal to spend the night because they had lost their apartment, Chris shared with him a great truth that we all need to hear 

            -- "Don't ever let somebody tell you that you can't do something -- You got a dream, you gotta protect it -- when people can't do something yourself, they're gonna tell you that you can't do it -- if you want something, go get it. Period."

            -- Chris did make it, despite all the difficulties -- he didn't listen to those who told him he wouldn't succeed -- he kept his eyes focused on his dream and he pulled himself out of homelessness to become the CEO of his own stock brokerage firm and a very popular motivational speaker

            -- in a very real sense, the story of Chris Gardner's struggles to succeed is a perfect analogy of what was going on in Jesus' day in the church -- Jesus had been sent to earth by the Father for one purpose -- to open the door to the kingdom of heaven that had been barred shut since Adam and Eve's fall in the Garden of Eden

            -- when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they literally fell from grace -- because of their action, sin had entered the world and the path to heaven was effectively blocked -- there was no way for sinful man to come to God and there was no way for sinful man to come into the presence of God in the kingdom of heaven

            -- so God promised to Adam and Eve that the Messiah would come -- the One who would strike the head of the serpent and open the path for reconciliation with the Father again -- and in the fullness of time, He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, effectively removing the barrier between us and the Father -- opening the door to the kingdom of heaven and making it possible for us to come into His presence again

            -- since the beginning of time, mankind had been looking for that door -- they had been trying to find God -- they had been trying to find the path that would lead to heaven through a variety of means -- works -- rituals -- sacrifices -- religion -- in a nutshell, religion is nothing more than man's attempt to find God

            -- over time, men like the Pharisees had developed religion into an art form -- they had taken the commandments of God that pointed to the coming Messiah and that offered temporary cleansing of sin -- and they had come up with a list of additional rituals and practices and acts that had to be performed in just the right way in order to make it to heaven

            -- it was this legalism that Jesus had condemned the Pharisees for in verses 1-12 of this chapter -- for making a burden out of religion and putting heaven out of the grasp of the people

            -- and in the face of this extreme religiosity, Jesus has now come on the scene -- proclaiming the presence of the kingdom of God and telling the people how they could succeed and how they could come to know God in their own lives by finding their salvation through Him -- "I am the way and the truth and the life," He said in John 14:6 -- "I am the narrow gate" -- "I am the door to the sheepfold" -- "if you want to come into the kingdom of heaven, you must come through me -- there is no other way -- you can't work your way to heaven -- you can't be holy enough to get to heaven -- you can't even get there by following all of the rules of the Pharisees -- you can only get there through me"

            -- the Pharisees didn't like this teaching of Jesus -- it was a challenge to their religiosity -- to their orthodoxy -- to their basic religious beliefs -- look back at verse 13 again

Matthew 23:13

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

            -- in the first of seven "woes" to the Pharisees and scribes in this chapter, Jesus calls them "hypocrites" -- men who pretended to know and teach the way to heaven but who really didn't know the path themselves or, worse, were trying to keep people from it

            -- the Pharisees and the scribes didn't believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah and they certainly didn't believe that He was the path to heaven -- so they wouldn't follow Him or abide by His teachings

            -- and not only were they refusing to enter in themselves, but they were actively trying to keep the people away from Jesus, warning those who followed Him to turn away from Jesus and casting some of His followers out of the synagogues

            -- isn't that the way of the world? -- we just don't like it when someone has something that we don't have, so we condemn them and try to keep them from succeeding

            -- it kind of reminds me of the guy who bought a special hunting dog -- this dog could actually walk on water -- he knew no one would believe him, so on the opening day of duck season, he carried his dog with him to the blind where he met his hunting buddy, just hoping to show him how remarkable this new dog was

            -- they hadn't been there very long when a brace of ducks flew by -- the hunters shot and killed two of them and the man sent his new dog out to retrieve them -- and, sure enough, the dog just ran across the surface of the water and got the ducks and came back and laid down like nothing had happened

            -- the other man never said a word -- so after a few hours, the dog's owner asked him if he noticed anything unusual about his new dog -- the man said, "Yeah, I noticed he can't swim"

            -- that's just like the Pharisees -- the Pharisees couldn't abide with someone trying to escape from religion and make their way to heaven though Jesus -- and so when they saw them headed down the narrow path -- when they saw them getting near the open door -- they'd grab them and pull them back down and keep them in bondage to the rules and regulations of the religion of their day

            -- this is the fourth way to be a bad Christian -- shut the door of grace to other people and prevent them from entering in

            -- you know, I hate to say it, but we still do this in our churches today -- a lot of us continue to shut the door of grace to other people and keep them from coming to faith in Christ by the way we treat them and the way we act around them

            -- the first way we shut the door of grace to other people is by passing judgment on them -- Josh McDowell of Campus Crusade for Christ has said the most common argument he hears when he preaches at colleges and universities these days is that he is judging others -- who is he to judge them?  -- didn't Jesus say, "Judge not, lest ye be judged?"

            -- and while we know what Jesus actually mean was to not condemn others for their actions, that is exactly what we are being accused of doing -- maybe rightly so -- because these claims against us are not coming out of a vacuum -- they are based in some truth

            -- just like the Pharisees, we have judged others -- we have condemned them for not living as God commands because we don't consider the truth that if they are living apart from the grace of God, then they are bound by sin -- they don't have the capability to not sin because they don't have the grace of God in their lives

            -- but yet we hold them to a higher standard that they cannot meet -- and we look down on them and condemn them for the lives they are living now and we don't offer them the grace of Christ or we belittle their tiny steps of faith that they are taking towards the cross

            -- a few years ago, I served on a team at the Walk to Emmaus -- there was a guy there who gave his testimony at the closing ceremony -- he was a rough-looking dude -- there's no other way to describe him -- he had tattoos all over his body -- he even had the teardrop tattoos that signify he was a killer -- he had scars where he had been cut and stabbed -- he was not a guy you wanted to be around or talk to -- one look at him, and you knew he was someone to avoid -- certainly not someone I was going to witness to or share the gospel with -- I was scared of him and didn't think he could be saved

            -- and, after listening to his testimony, it turns out my assessment of him was right -- he had been a dangerous man -- he had done time in prison -- he had hurt other people -- he had been cold and uncaring and took advantage of others -- he called himself "the bogey man," and said he was the type of person parents warned their children about

            -- but he showed me something that weekend -- no one is outside the grace of God -- there is no one who cannot enter into the door of salvation through Jesus -- and that weekend, this man humbled himself and truly repented of his sins and became a brother in Christ

            -- we need to make sure we aren't keeping people from Christ by shutting the door of grace through our prejudicial judgment of them because of what they do or what they look like -- everyone needs the grace of God, and the door is open to all

            -- in his testimony, Greg Laurie, a preacher in California -- talks about how Christians treated him before he came to Christ -- Greg was a hippie back in the 60's -- long hair -- unkempt dress -- he says he had perfected a "tough guy" persona to keep people away

            -- from time to time, Christians would come to the beach where Greg was, witnessing to others and passing out tracts -- they'd take one look at Greg and throw a tract at him and basically run away without saying a word -- Greg said he wished they would speak to him and tell him about Jesus -- but their fear of someone who was different than them kept the door of grace shut to him -- thankfully, someone finally did witness to Greg and he was saved and called into the ministry as an evangelist and pastor

            -- if you want to be a bad Christian, condemn people based on what they look like or what they have done and assume that even Jesus can't save them

            -- another way we shut the door of grace to other people is to stop them from growing in their Christian walk -- I had a couple of friends up in Athens who were strong Christians but who went to different churches -- one of these men had been a Christian for decades while the other was a relatively new believer

            -- the new believer really was growing in grace -- studying the Bible and doing a lot for the Lord -- so the deacons in his church asked him to become a deacon -- to take on a leadership role in the church -- when he was asked, he went to my other friend and asked him what he thought about it

            -- this guy, who had been a Christian for a long time, told the new believer that he was not spiritually ready to be a leader in the church and that he should say "no" -- you see, this guy was not a deacon himself, and he couldn't stand the thought of a person younger in the faith than him being put in a leadership role -- he was jealous, and in his jealousy, he discouraged my friend from accepting the role of deacon and stopped him from growing in his Christian walk

            -- if you want to be a bad Christian, keep those around you from growing in grace and from growing more knowledgeable and more committed than you

            -- I read about this young marine during the Korean War -- a new Christian who was being discipled by a group of Navigators -- he was taught the basics of Christianity -- how to read and study the Bible -- how to pray -- how to share his faith -- over time, this marine showed great promise and it was obvious that he was going to exceed his mentors in faith and in knowledge of spiritual issues

            -- but instead of holding him back and not letting him grow to his potential in Christ, these men encouraged the marine to continue to follow Christ where He would lead -- to step out in faith and to embrace the fullness of life with Christ

            -- in time, this marine was called into the ministry -- and you can hear him preach on WAFT every day -- his name is Chuck Swindoll -- how many lives would not have been touched by Christ if these men had held Swindoll back and kept him from growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus?

            -- the final way we shut the door of grace to other people is by making church foreign and hostile to people seeking the way to heaven -- and we do this in a variety of ways

            -- one way we do this is by speaking "Christianese" -- Christian jargon and slang that we understand but that those who visit might not -- when they come to church, they think we're speaking a different language

            -- what do they mean by "born again?" -- what is "justification?" -- what is "sanctification?" -- I know they say that grace is amazing, but what is so amazing about grace? -- what is grace?

            -- for someone seeking Christ, these words and actions can be confusing and can keep the door of grace shut simply because they don't speak the language

            -- another way we do this is by making our worship services seem unfriendly to them -- and that's a big problem we have to watch for in our small churches -- because we are so small, we are like a family -- and when visitors show up, they can feel like outsiders -- a lot of them won't come back because they don't think they can ever fit in

            -- sometimes we keep the door to grace shut because we just make church and Jesus seem boring -- others never see the Christ we are claiming is always with us -- and we don't act like we are excited to be in the very presence of God when we gather to worship and praise Him together

            -- we need to make sure that we are fully present at worship -- by this I don't mean just showing up -- but showing up with a purpose -- showing up to actually worship Christ and seek His face and His presence through the entire service -- not letting our mind or our focus drift -- but concentrating on the One that we came to worship and are seeking to introduce to our visitors and friends

            -- sometimes we just make church ineffective and non-relevant -- we become too much like the Pharisees and the church becomes the means to the end -- in other words, we come to church just to come to church -- we don't try to live it out in our lives -- we don't act like church is relevant to our lives outside of these walls -- we don't try to reach out to those around us -- we just make church about us and those who have joined us and we leave it behind when we walk out the door after the Sunday morning service

            -- if you want to be a bad Christian, make the church into an institution of rules and regulations and with its own language and not into a community that welcomes everyone who comes seeking the Father

            -- Jesus condemned and rebuked the Pharisees and the scribes for living hypocritical lives -- for being "religious" to the point where they missed the Messiah themselves and then actively kept others away from Him when He came

            -- we have to be careful to not follow their footsteps -- to always put others first and to remember that we are all on this journey together as pilgrims headed for the Promised Land -- it is our duty and our calling to reach out to those not on the path -- to those who haven't received Jesus as their Lord and Savior -- and to call them to join us on our journey

            -- in the same way, it is our duty and calling to help those with us on the path to reach their potential in Christ -- to grow in grace and in the fullness of the knowledge of Jesus -- even if that means that they know more about the Bible than us -- even if that means that they are put in roles of leadership above us even though we've been in the church longer or have known Jesus longer -- our job and our duty is to always put others before us and to never bar the door that Jesus opened with His body and His blood on the cross

            -- let me close by leaving you with this thought -- one of the games I like to play from time to time is the "open the door" game -- I always try to open the door for people that I see coming up behind me into a store or office or business

            -- but I have learned that if I open the door while they're still a good ways away from me -- say 25 feet or so -- they'll run -- or, at least, they'll pick up their pace  

 -- so I sometimes do this just to make people run -- which isn't really nice, but I think it's funny

            -- but, anyway, here's what I want you to do this week 

-- I want you to do that -- I want you to hold the door open for people even when they're a long way away -- not the physical door going into a store -- but the door that leads to Christ

            -- open it up -- hold it open -- encourage them to come -- and if they have to run to get there, even better

            -- the point is:  don't be a Pharisee and close the door to Jesus in someone else's face, but hold it open and invite them in

            -- let us pray

SERMON: HOW TO BE A BAD CHRISTIAN, PART 3: Serving to be Seen

Serving to be Seen

9 August 2015

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in your Bibles to Matthew 23:1-12

Matthew 23:1-12 (NIV)

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.

3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5 "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;

6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;

7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

8 "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.

9 And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

10 Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.

11 The greatest among you will be your servant.

12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

            -- I'd like to share with you a true story that was written by Wesley Willis

            -- several years ago, there were these two brothers who grew up with a father that taught them the meaning of hard work. -- He owned his own business, and as far back as they could remember, Johnny and Jim worked with him. -- They knew what it felt like to be too tired to sleep at the end of the day -- but they also learned to value the perks that come to the ones in charge

            -- Both of the brothers had short fuses and violent tempers -- They were known as the “terrors of the neighborhood.” -- But they were very good workers -- and their father came to rely upon his sons to maintain and develop the family business

            -- Then one day, just as Johnny and Jim were finishing up a major project with their father, they abandoned him -- they walked away from their father's business without a word and without looking back

            -- you see, a new young leader who was building a new organization had just arrived in town -- He had heard of Johnny and Jim and he came to where they were and he handpicked them to join his elite group -- Johnny and Jim saw their chance to hit it big -- Abruptly they turned their back on their commitment, their plans, and their father’s dreams to jump at what they thought was the chance of a lifetime.

            -- Almost immediately, Johnny and Jim ran into problems -- They viewed life differently from their boss -- He was patient and methodical -- they were anxious and impetuous -- He believed in serving people -- they wanted to use people.

            -- Worse, the two brothers had failed to recognize the implications of being little fish in a big pond -- you see, in the family business, they were the only ones next to the man in charge -- they were the leaders -- and they had all the rights and privileges that goes with being in charge

            -- but here, they were simply two members of a large executive team that had no pecking order -- all were equal in the sight of their young leader -- and Johnny and Jim were worried because others on the team were smarter and more aggressive than they were -- they were afraid that others would be promoted ahead of them

            -- so, Johnny and Jim conspired to get an edge on the others -- when they were alone with the boss, the brothers suggested that when he was ready to go public with his formal organization, that they should be his top men -- in charge of all the others -- and, just in case their suggestions weren’t enough, they arranged for a close relative to plead their case.

            -- But their plot could not be concealed for long, and when the news leaked out to the rest of the team, the brothers were ostracized -- Their peers and team-members -- their friends -- plotted countermoves to protect their own rights -- everyone wanted to be in charge of the others

            -- Naturally the boss caught rumors of unrest and insurrection and called an executive committee meeting -- Sorrowfully he informed his team that they had totally missed the purpose of his training sessions -- He explained that his organization was built on giving, not getting—on service rather than privilege -- It was a hard lesson for Johnny and Jim and the others to learn because it ran so counter to the prevailing culture -- it went against everything they had been taught in life and in business¹

II.  How to be a bad Christian: Part 2

            -- this morning, we are continuing in our sermon series on "How To Be a Bad Christian" -- this series is built around the passage of Matthew 23, where Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for their actions and warns His disciples not to follow their ways

            -- in verse 3, Jesus tells His disciples that they are to follow the teachings of the Pharisees from the Holy Scriptures -- but they are not to follow the additional teachings or to imitate the actions of the Pharisees

            -- Last week, we looked at the first example of how to be a bad Christian -- which was to make Christianity a burden on others -- and we talked about how the Pharisees had added to God's original law by imposing a burden of over 1,500 additional rules and rituals and regulations on the people -- burdens that they could never follow and that were keeping them from fully entering into a relationship with God

            -- and then we talked about how we do the same thing in our churches today -- by having unwritten rules for people to follow that makes Christianity a burden on them -- rules such as requiring people to come to all church events and making them feel bad if they don't show up -- rules such as making people read their Bible or pray or participate in worship as a duty and not because of a desire to grow closer to Jesus

            -- this morning, we are going to be looking at the second way to be a bad Christian -- which is to "serve in order to be seen"

            -- as the story of Johnny and Jim shows -- perhaps you know them better as the Apostles James and John -- we are all born with this innate desire for affirmation -- it was placed there by God, and in a perfect world, we are to seek our affirmation -- our self-worth -- from Him

            -- but, because of our fallen human natures, we tend to find our self-worth, not in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of man -- and, as a result, we either tend to think of ourselves more highly or more lowly than we ought -- and we want to be recognized for what we are doing and to be praised by others because of our actions

            -- time and time again, we see Jesus rebuking His disciples for this tendency in their lives -- for their pride and for their desire to be placed higher in the kingdom -- as my opening illustration reminded us, James and John did everything they could to be exalted over the other disciples -- even to the point of having their mother go to Jesus and ask that they be given the positions on His right and left hand

            -- of course, the other disciples weren't much better -- Peter was always getting in trouble for trying to place himself higher than the other disciples -- in the Scriptures, we see Jesus rebuking the disciples time and time again for trying to exalt themselves above the others

            -- but this was what they knew -- this was what the world taught them -- and this was what they saw lived out in the lives of the Pharisees -- so in this passage from Matthew 23, Jesus specifically draws their attention to the ways of the Pharisees and tells them that they should not do as the Pharisees do -- but that they should live differently

III.  Serving to Be Seen

            -- if you would, look back now at verse 5, and let's see what Jesus had to say about this subject

5 "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;

6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;

7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

            -- "everything they do is done for men to see" -- lest we forget, the Pharisees were men of God -- the teachers of the law and the leaders of the synagogue -- but Jesus tells us that their service was not for God, but for themselves

            -- everything they did was to win the praise of men and not of God -- Jesus tells us that the Pharisees would make their phylacteries wide so that everyone could see them -- phylacteries were small boxes that held scriptures  -- they would be fixed to a ribbon and tied around the hands or foreheads of the men as reminders of God's law 

            -- in Deuteronomy 6:6-9, God told the Israelites that His commandments were to be on their hearts -- that they were to teach them to their children -- to write them on the doorframes of their houses and gates -- and to tie them as symbols on their hands and their foreheads

            -- so the Pharisees took these symbols of God's law and made them very large and very wide so that everyone they passed would see them and recognize what good works these men were doing

            -- likewise, Jesus said that they made the tassels on their garments long -- all Jewish men wore prayer shawls that had tassels that hung from them 

            -- Jesus wore one Himself -- that is what the woman who had an issue of blood reached for in the crowd for healing

            -- but the Pharisees made special prayer shawls -- they would make their tassels long and obvious so they would call attention to themselves and let the whole world know just how holy they were

            -- we do the same today -- why do you people carry those big Bibles with them when they go out in public? -- so that people will see them and recognize how holy they must be -- why do some people make a production about praying in a restaurant? -- so people will see them and see how holy they are

            -- a couple of years ago I read a story about a teenager who stood up in a local restaurant and called for the attention of everyone in the place -- and then he asked all of them to join him in prayer -- why did he do that? -- was it simply because he felt led to pray? -- no -- I'm sure he felt called to pray, but he did so in such a spectacular manner because he wanted the attention -- he wanted them to see how holy he was

            -- Jesus says these Pharisees always looked for honor and glory for themselves -- they took the best seats in the synagogue -- the seats near the front of the synagogue where the symbolic ark was at and the scrolls of scriptures stored -- they loved to be greeted in the marketplace and hailed as "Rabbi" and for the attention to be on them

            -- so Jesus says to His disciples and to us, "Don't be like them" -- this was not the first time His disciples had heard these instructions -- hold your place here and flip over to Matthew 6:1

Matthew 6:1-5 (NIV)

1 "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

            -- it all comes down to this question -- where do you find your worth and identity? -- do you find it in the praise and recognition of men, as the Pharisees did? -- Jesus says that that is the wrong place

            -- as Christians our trust and our identity is in Christ -- as we place our trust in Him, God identifies us through Christ -- His righteousness becomes our righteousness -- and He is the source of our true identity and our true self-worth

            -- the Pharisees were seeking their self-worth through their works and service -- in essence, they were seeking affirmation of who they were -- but instead of seeking it from God, they were seeking it from the recognition of others by trying to exalt themselves in the eyes of the world

            -- look back at Matthew 23:8-10

8 "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.

9 And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

10 Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.

            -- even though we're not supposed to -- even though we all know that in God's eyes a sin is a sin is a sin -- we have this scale of sins that we recognize -- killing someone is obviously a lot worse than telling a white lie to us -- even though God says otherwise

            -- in the same way, we have a scale of works and of positions in the church -- we regard and recognize people based on what their position is and what they are doing in the church

            -- the Pharisees loved to be recognized in the marketplace and around town and called "Rabbi" and "Teacher" and "Father" -- they loved for people to give them honor and glory and praise because of what they were doing and for the positions they held in the church

            -- but Jesus told His disciples and us, "Don't do it -- Don't command recognition and praise in this way" -- He was pointing out that there's nothing wrong with titles in the church when they are used as terms of respect or to indicate certain duties or responsibilities -- but He was condemning the attitude that sought out such recognition because they were seeking their affirmation from men rather than from God or because they thought this made them more important than someone else

            -- this reminds me of a story I read about Mark Twain -- Twain used to tour the country speaking to various groups -- and he once said that he preferred to introduce himself, so as to make sure he got in all the facts

            -- that's exactly what the Pharisees were doing -- they wanted to make sure that everyone got in all the facts and knew that they were the most important people in the temple or the synagogue -- Jesus was warning against this prideful seeking of public praise as shown by the Pharisees' desire for places of prominence, for titles signifying superiority, and for their superior "holier-than-thou" attitudes

            -- instead, Jesus said, you should follow my example -- you should seek to be a servant and to serve -- that was the role that Jesus took upon Himself when He came to earth -- He chose to be a servant first and foremost

            -- just think about the Last Supper -- when none of His disciples offered to wash the feet of the others because that was the job of a slave or lowly servant -- Jesus got a towel and a basin and He washed their feet -- the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords -- the Creator of the Universe -- took on the role of a slave and served His disciples

            -- and He says that is the way we are to approach life

            -- look at verse 11

11 The greatest among you will be your servant.

12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

-- "If you want to be great in My kingdom, you must be a servant to others -- If you want to be recognized by the King, you must be humble and seek your approval from Him and not the world"

            -- like we talked about a couple of weeks ago, it all comes down to motive -- why are you doing the things that you are doing? -- is it for God or for men? -- whose eye are you trying to catch? -- whose recognition are you seeking?

            -- one commentator summed it up this way -- "The Pharisees paraded their piety in public to win public praise"

            -- Jesus paraded His piety in private to win the praise of His Father -- and He calls for us to do the same -- Don Simpson says that the best therapy for our self-image is to abandon self by genuinely loving other people, meeting their needs, encouraging them, and praying God's best for them -- to serve them wholeheartedly and to consider others better than yourselves²

            -- that is the way of the servant -- that is the way of the cross -- that is the way of Christ

IV.  CLOSING

            -- I think everybody in here is aware that I love college football -- actually, we can take this one step further and say I love the Georgia Bulldogs -- and at this time of the year, when we're just 27 days away from kickoff -- not that I'm counting -- I start thinking that this is the year when Georgia is going to win another National Championship

            -- it's been a long time since Georgia won a national championship -- 1980, to be exact -- but ask anyone around here about that 1980 team, and they'll be able to tell you all about it -- Georgia taking on Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl to win the National Championship -- they'll probably tell you about all the great players on that team -- Hershel Walker -- Lindsay Scott -- Valdosta's own Buck Belue

            -- but, you know what, despite all the Georgia fans here in this community who remember that 1980 championship and can tell you about every game and every stat from every game that year, I doubt that anyone would remember the names of Warren Gray, Wayne Radloff, Joe Happe, James Brown, or Jimmy Harper -- no one ever talks about them, but they may have been the most important men on the team that year

            -- these men made up the starting offensive line -- and it was their unheralded and unrecognized service on the field that led the Georgia Bulldogs to a national championship in 1980

            -- while all the world exalted and talked about the star players after the game -- and continue to talk about them 35 years later -- no one remembers these five men -- no one knows who they are -- no one talks about them each year before the season -- their contribution and their service remains unheralded

            -- it may be that no one here on earth will ever know your name -- it may be that no one on earth will ever know the name of this church -- it may be that the world will never recognize what we are doing here -- but that's okay

            -- because there is One who sees -- there is One who knows -- and He tells us that it is more important to serve Him -- to find our self-worth and our affirmation through Him -- than to receive all the glory and admiration of the world

            -- earthly glory and recognition may go to those who exalt themselves in pride as the Pharisees did -- who serve to be seen -- but heavenly recognition is reserved for those the world does not see and who serve from a grateful heart simply because God loved them first

            -- let us never forget that we are not called for glory but to glory

            -- let us pray

References:

¹Wesley Willis, "Full Service Christians in a Self-Serve World," Discipleship Journal, Volume 53, Sept/Oct, 1989.

²Don Simpson, "From Self to Servanthood", Discipleship Journal, Volume 1, Jan/Feb 1981

SERMON: HOW TO BE A BAD CHRISTIAN, PART 2: Making Christianity a Burden

Making Christianity a Burden

2 August 2015

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Matthew 23:1-4

Matthew 23:1-4 (NIV)

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.

3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

-- while we like to say that you can never know another person's heart or know where that person stands spiritually, I have learned that you can get a pretty good idea by asking them one question -- "what do you think of church?"

-- their answer will tell you a lot about who they are spiritually, about their past spiritual experiences, and about their thoughts on Christians in general

-- and while my own answer to that question has changed dramatically over the years, I can still remember what I thought about church when I was a kid -- we did not attend church regularly when I was a kid, although we were members on paper of a Methodist Church in Adel -- and because we were not regular attendees, but more like strangers and visitors when we did go to church, my understanding of church and church people was based on how we were received when we did show up -- and it wasn't always favorable

-- even though I knew everybody in the church building, when we attended, I felt like a stranger -- I felt out-of-place and I felt like people were judging us for what we were wearing and for not coming more often and for how we were living our lives -- I felt like we were bugs under a magnifying glass, and it wasn't an experience I enjoyed -- and over the course of my life, I've had that same experience with church and church people in every place I've lived and in most of the churches I have visited, from churches in Athens to Alabama to Tennessee and even here in south Georgia

-- if you had asked me a few years ago that question, "what do you think of church," my thoughts would have immediately gone to the old Johnny Paycheck song, "The Outlaw's Prayer"

-- for you kids out there, Johnny Paycheck was a country singer back in the 70s and 80s that was what we called an "outlaw" singer -- a little rough around the edges -- he had been in prison -- he had long hair and a beard -- and wasn't really accepted by the mainstream country music establishment

-- anyway, in this song "The Outlaw's Prayer," Paycheck tells the true story of visiting a church in Texas after a concert there on Saturday night -- he had gotten up on Sunday morning and was walking around town and heard singing coming through the windows of a big church on the corner of the square -- the singing reminded him of his church back home, so he walked up the steps and opened the door to go in -- but he was stopped by the usher, who told him he couldn't come in because he was wearing jeans and a big black cowboy hat and didn't look presentable with his long hair and beard

-- Paycheck said he went back outside and sat down on the steps and thought about what had just happened -- he was struck by the hypocrisy of this place that called itself a church -- he thought about how one stained glass window from that church would feed a wino's family for a year

-- he wondered how they could judge him for who he was and how he dressed when the women in the choir were the same ones on the front row of his concert last night, drinking beer and singing along to the songs

-- he said even John the Baptist wouldn't be welcomed in that place, with his coat made of camel hair, sandals on his feet, and long hair -- Paycheck prayed to God and said, "You know, when you come back to take your people home to live in heaven with You forever, I'd hate to be part of this crowd" -- and then he closed with these telling lyrics:

"You know, Lord, I'm not perfect -- some even call me "no account" -- but I'll You, I believe a man is judged by what's in his heart, not his bank account -- so if this is what religion is -- a big car and a suit and a tie -- then I might as well forget it, Lord, because I don't qualify"¹

-- sad to say, that is the impression that a lot of people have about church and church people today -- and that impression and their experience with people and churches like that is keeping them from a relationship with God

-- so with that as our starting point, today we are beginning our new sermon series called, "How to Be a Bad Christian" -- in this passage in Matthew 23, we find seven examples of how to be a bad Christian in Jesus' teachings on what religion and church had become in His day -- and, as we go through this, you'll see that the church in America today has not necessarily learned from what Jesus had to say to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law over 2000 years ago

II.  Those Burdensome Pharisees

      -- let's read these verses again as we look at the first way to be a bad Christian

      -- verse 1

Matthew 23:1-4 (NIV)

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.

3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

      -- as we said last week, when we read of the Pharisees in the Bible, we always tend to make them out to be the bad guys -- the guys with the wrong doctrines and the wrong teachings who were always arguing with Jesus

      -- but, truth be told, Jesus didn't have a problem with the doctrines of the Pharisees -- in fact, He was closer theologically to the Pharisees than He was to the Sadducees, who were the leading priests in His day

      -- Jesus and the Pharisees shared a lot of common beliefs -- the Pharisees believed in an after-life -- they believed in the Messiah who was coming -- they believed in angels -- they believed in a bodily resurrection at the last days -- in fact, a lot of what the Pharisees taught and believed are the same doctrines of faith that we recognize today

      -- in this passage, Jesus points out to His disciples that they should listen to the Pharisees -- the Pharisees were the teachers of the law -- they sat in Moses' seat -- with the responsibility to teach the people the Holy Scriptures and the commandments of God -- Jesus said that the disciples should follow and do everything that the Pharisees told them from the Scriptures

      -- Jesus had no problem with that at all -- He found disagreement with them in only two areas -- first, of course, they refused to accept Him as the Messiah -- as the Christ who had come to take away the sins of the world

      -- but, secondly, he faulted them for not practicing what they preached and for putting heavy burdens on themselves and their followers

      -- you see, the Pharisees added to the Scriptures -- originally, there were 613 commandments given from God to the Israelites -- but the Pharisees added hundreds of laws, requirements, and so-called "godly" ordinances upon the people -- over 1,500 additional requirements -- that they made up to help the people be holy -- and there was no way the people could ever live up to these extra burdens that the Pharisees put on them

      -- a lot of these burdensome rules were just absurd -- for instance, the Pharisees said that it was a sin to spit in the dirt on the Sabbath -- here's where they got this -- we all know that one of the ten commandments says that we are to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy -- to do no work on this day

      -- well, farming was considered work -- and when you spit into dry, dusty soil, the surface of the dirt is disturbed and a crater is formed with a raised rim -- like when a meteor hits the moon -- the Pharisees regarded this as creating a furrow in the dirt -- the creation of furrows is something you do when you plow -- plowing is an integral part of farming -- the act of farming is work -- work was forbidden on the Sabbath -- therefore, spitting in the dirt on the Sabbath was forbidden and was considered a sin²

      -- all of these extra rules and requirements and ordinances put a burden on the people that they just couldn't bear -- and so Christ condemned the Pharisees for this in these verses

III.  How to Be a Bad Christian:  #1 -- Make Christianity a Burden on Others

      -- so from this example of the Pharisees, we learn the first way to be a bad Christian -- namely, to make Christianity a burden to others

      -- I think William Barclay summed it up quite nicely -- he wrote: "their whole outlook on religion had one fundamental effect -- it made it a thing of thousands upon thousands of rules and regulations -- and therefore it made it an intolerable burden"

      -- now, you might be thinking to yourself, we no longer live under the law as the Pharisees did -- we are no longer bound to follow all of the 613 commandments in the Old Testament to the letter -- we live under the grace of God that came through Christ -- and that's true

      -- however, we have a tendency to add our own set of rules and laws and requirements to God's grace that end up being a burden to others -- most of the time, these aren't written rules -- but they're there -- and everyone knows them -- and if you don't follow them, you get judged

      -- if you want to be a bad Christian, let me give you a few examples of some burdens that you can put on others in our churches today

      1.  The Burden of Appearance

      -- this is the one Johnny Paycheck was mainly talking about in his song -- this burden addresses how you should dress and how you should look when you come to church

      -- growing up here in south Georgia, I learned rather quickly there was a dress code in our churches -- if you were a guy, you had to wear a suit and tie -- or, at a minimum, slacks and a tie -- even as a kid, when I went to church, I had on slacks and a little clip-on tie -- for women, it was dresses or a skirt

      -- and while this burden has been relaxed in some congregations in recent years, there are others in town that still make it a rule -- if you go to a big church in town for their traditional service, most of the people there will still be adhering to the dress code -- and if you show up dressed differently, you can expect a few stares -- try to be a preacher and show up without a coat and tie in some of these churches and see what happens -- I can tell you from experience it's not pleasant

      -- and, like I said, even though the recent trend is to allow people to dress as they wish when they come to worship, I still hear this perception of a burdensome dress code from people I ask about church -- when I invite them to come to church, a lot of them reply by saying they don't have clothes that are acceptable for church -- they didn't come up with this on their own -- they got it from us

      -- so, if you want to be a bad Christian, make a point about what a person looks like or what they wear and look down on those who don't dress like you when you come to church

      2.  The Burden of Proper Worship

      -- this burden addresses how you should act while you are in church -- just like there is an unwritten dress code in church, there is also an unwritten code of worship -- when you come to church, you are expected to act in a certain way and to worship just like everyone else in the congregation -- you are not always free to worship as you feel led

      -- for instance, in some churches you are expected to just stand and sing the worship songs and just sit back down -- we don't need any lifting up of the hands or anything like that -- we're not fanatics in our church

      -- I once got a call from someone concerned about a worship service because during the final hymn and altar call, this guy went down front and actually laid down prostrate on the altar -- they wanted to know if that was okay or if they should tell him to quit

      -- some churches are more charismatic in their worship -- and they expect people to say "Amen" during the message or to shout out or speak in tongues -- and if you don't, they wonder what's wrong with you -- other churches are so silent that the mice are scared to squeak during a service -- I had a Methodist preacher tell me one time that he is convinced there won't be any Methodists in heaven because in the Book of Revelation, it says there was a loud noise in heaven, and he said there ain't no loud noises in church when the Methodists gather

      -- some churches have rules about the music -- singing only the hymns, played by organs and pianos as God intended -- while others think if you aren't singing the latest praise songs, you aren't really a Christian

      -- so if you want to be a bad Christian, set rules on how you can act in church -- limit what people can do and don't let them do anything that makes you uncomfortable

      3.  The Burden of Works

      -- this burden adds to grace by making works a part of the Christian experience -- it's not good enough to only be saved by grace through faith -- you have to do something, too -- you have to read the Bible -- not because you want to -- but because you are expected to -- you have to pray daily and take communion and do acts of service -- not because of any desire on your part -- but because it is expected that all members of the church will do that

      -- some expect people to attend every service and function and activity at the church -- and if they don't show up, then they get a sense of disapproval -- I was in a church one time where one of the members wanted the church to take a trip to the Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando -- he stood up and church and said that if everyone didn't go, then we might as well close the doors of the church because we weren't doing what God wanted us to do

      -- if you want to be a bad Christian, make every spiritual discipline a chore and a duty rather than an act of worship -- hold people accountable for being at every function whether they want to or not, and make them feel bad if they don't come -- call them out by name if they miss church -- they really like that

      4.  The Burden of Holiness

      -- this burden relates to how a person lives their lives -- it gives them a standard that they must follow and that they must adhere to or they are not really Christians -- it doesn't matter if God considers it a sin -- if you do it, then you're out

      -- for instance, some churches have unofficial lists of banned books and movies and other forms of entertainment -- you can only go to "G" rated movies -- you can't read that popular new book that's out because it is of the world -- you can't go to that restaurant with your friends after work because they serve alcohol there

      -- some people look down on those who smoke and drink occasional and go dancing at night clubs -- some look down on those who go to the race on Sunday or the game on Saturday because that's not a Christian activity -- some look down on those who buy lottery tickets on Saturday night

      -- so, if you want to be a bad Christian, make yourself holier than others and look down on anyone who does anything you don't consider Godly -- whether it's actually in Scripture or not -- if you don't think it looks good for a Christian to do, then make them know that you disapprove of them

IV.  Closing

      -- In January 1999 the North Atlantic commercial fishing industry saw a deadly string of accidents -- In a 13-day span, three ships -- the Cape Fear, the Adriatic, and the Beth Dee Bob --were lost at sea off the coast of New Jersey -- In all, 10 men died, five never to be found

      -- investigators tried to determine what could have caused these ships to sink -- none of them suffered a hull breach -- all were piloted by experienced captains -- and all were in familiar waters, less than 15 miles from their home ports

      -- they determined the accidents happened because two of the ships were carrying too much weight, and one was carrying its weight improperly -- these heavy burdens were just too much, and the ships were breeched by waves and sank in a storm

      -- after the accidents, the media asked other boat captains who fished in those same waters why a captain would allow their vessel to carry more weight and a heavier burden than it could structurally bear -- the answer came in the form of a quizzical look and a shrug -- Simply put, this was common practice -- these captains didn't perceive themselves to be in danger -- they were simply doing what was normal in their industry³

      -- the same holds true for many of our churches today -- we're not trying to make things hard on new people -- we're not trying to make things difficult for our members -- but we unintentionally become like the Pharisees we condemn by adding burdens to the grace of the cross and causing people to sink underneath the weight

      -- as Christians, we are called to be gracious and to extend the grace of Christ to all -- not to tolerate sin, of course, but not to call that which is not a sin, a sin

      -- as Dr. Frederick Wilson once said, we don't want to be the kind of people that are intolerant and intolerable toward others -- or that add to Christianity by putting unbiblical burdens on others -- simply because we have become Pharisees in heart -- assuming that we are more pious or more holy or better than others because we are Christians

      -- Christ shows us in these verses what the difference is between a good Christian and a bad Christian -- a bad Christian adds to Scripture and judges others based upon these added burdens -- a good Christian uses the Bible as their source and the Holy Spirit as their guide -- responding to others with a gracious and inviting heart and remembering Jesus' invitation to the world in Matthew 11:28-30

      -- "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. -- Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. -- For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

      -- Christ's vision was for us to be His representatives -- to reflect His goodness and His holiness to the people of this world -- to be His hand and His feet in this world as we serve and invite others to join us at the throne of grace -- not to burden those who come with rules of our own making -- but to free them for joyful living in the Kingdom of Christ

      -- this week, I want to challenge you to take some time to think about what burdens we might be unintentionally putting on other people who are responding to Christ's invitation of grace -- and I want you to think about how we can change so we can be more welcoming to others and less of a hindrance to the work of God in our world today

      -- let's close by watching a humorous video that I think really sums up the difference in perception between how people see us as burdensome Christians versus how Jesus really wanted us to live

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYdD-Qc7lbY&index=2&list=PL34C6F71BF0AFA35D

      -- let us pray

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1 Johnny Paycheck, "An Outlaw's Prayer"

2 Illustration borrowed from Kesha Klarensovich

3 Bert Crabbe, "A Seaworthy Soul," Leadership Journal (January 2014)