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
--
let us pray
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Johnny Paycheck, "An Outlaw's
Prayer"
2 Illustration borrowed from Kesha
Klarensovich
3 Bert Crabbe, "A Seaworthy
Soul," Leadership Journal (January 2014)
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