SERMON: HOW TO BE A BAD CHRISTIAN PART 8 (THE CONCLUSION) -- WE ARE THE FUTURE

13 September 2015

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Matthew 23

            -- this morning, we are finishing up our series on "How to be a Bad Christian" -- so far, we have looked at six ways to be a bad Christian:

            1.  Make Christianity a burden on others

            2.  Serve in order to be seen

            3.  Shut the door of grace to other people and prevent them from entering in

            4.  Follow the letter of the law and not the spirit or meaning of the law

            5.  Make a big deal out of small things and pay little attention to the truly important things

            6.  Become a true hypocrite -- believe that by being holy on the outside you can make up for internal failings and hidden sins

            -- the last way to be a bad Christian is to condemn sins in others that we ourselves are committing

            -- in this passage, Jesus issues His final "woe" to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law as He condemns them for doing just that

            -- so, if you would, look down at verse 29 and let's hear Christ's final words of warning to the Pharisees

Matthew 23:29-32 (NIV)

29 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.

30 And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'

31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

32 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!

II.  Scripture Lesson

            -- on January 15, 1929, one of the most influential and well-known leaders of the 20th century was born -- and to this day we celebrate his name and his actions every year

            -- as of 2006, 730 cities had streets named in his honor -- in 1986, a county in Washington state rededicated itself in his memory and placed a likeness of his face on their official seal -- and the city hall in Harrisburg, PA, was renamed in his memory

            -- he has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and numerous honorary doctorates

            -- a Gallup poll found that he was the second most admired person in the 20th Century -- he was listed as the 6th most admired person in the world in this century by Time magazine -- and was elected the third greatest American of all time in a contest hosted by the Discovery Channel and AOL

            -- I imagine that if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was alive today, he would be greatly surprised at his popularity in the United States today

            -- during his entire participation in the Civil Rights Movement and his attempts to remove the Jim Crow laws that authorized segregation of the races and that effectively discriminated against blacks and other minorities in the United States, Dr. King was harassed and persecuted -- both verbally and physically -- by enemies on all sides

            -- the federal government -- especially the FBI -- investigated Dr. King and placed bugs and tracking devices in his homes and on his person

            -- other, more violent opponents physically beat him and bombed his house

            -- even all of the major media turned against him when he gave a speech against U.S. participation in Vietnam and calling for our immediate evacuation -- Time Magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi" -- and The Washington Post declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, and his people"

            -- and of course, we all know that the opposition to him reached its climax in 1968, when he was killed by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee

            -- now, almost 50 years later, we hear Dr. King -- his words and his message and his vision -- lifted up and promoted by some of the people who were his most ardent enemies when he was alive -- everyone applauds him and no one admits opposing him

            -- and many people my age and younger -- those who were either very young when Dr. King was alive or who were born after Dr. King died -- look back at that time and at the persecution that Dr. King faced and say, "If I had been alive back then, I would never have done that -- I would have stood with Dr. King against the injustice of Jim Crow and for equal rights for minorities"

            -- isn't it amazing how we can so easily condemn others for their sins when we have yet to walk in their shoes? -- and isn't it amazing how we can so easily condemn others for their sins when we are committing the same types of sins in our lives today?

            -- this is exactly what is going on in this passage -- the Pharisees were looking back at the sins their ancestors had committed and were saying to themselves, "Why, we'd never have done that if we were around back then -- we're much too holy to have done that"

            -- look back at verse 29

Matthew 23:29 (NIV)

29 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.

-- once again -- for the seventh time in this chapter -- we see Jesus saying to these men -- "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees -- you hypocrites"

            -- what were they doing that was so bad? -- all they were doing was building tombs and decorating the graves of the prophets and the righteous men of old -- recognizing and honoring their memory and their service and dedication to the Lord -- what could be wrong with that?

            -- in essence, they were saying, "We respect the teachings of the old prophets and teachers" -- so how were they being hypocritical?

            -- verse 30

Matthew 23:30 (NIV)

30 And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'

-- Jesus called the teachers of the law and the Pharisees hypocrites for two reasons

            -- first, because all the while they were honoring the memory and teachings of the old prophets and righteous men of the past, they were actively opposing and persecuting God's righteous prophets and teachers in their own day -- most notably John the Baptist and Jesus Himself

            -- by building tombs and synagogues and monuments in their honor -- by decorating and calling attention to their graves -- the Pharisees were trying to claim kinship with the old prophets and teachers -- they were trying to prove they were holy -- just like those great men -- because they took the time and effort to remember them and their teachings

            -- but whitewashing tombs and erecting monuments to great men of God could not hide the fact that they themselves were guilty of similar atrocities

            -- the second reason Jesus calls them hypocrites is because they condemned the sins of their forefathers while following in their footsteps -- as they decorated the graves and built monuments to the memory of the prophets and teachers, the Pharisees would tell themselves, "We are not like our forefathers -- we would have followed the teachings of the prophets and not done them any harm"

            -- as one commentator put it, "They imagined themselves much better than their ancestors" -- but Jesus, who knew what they were going to do, uncovered their heart and showed them that they were about to be so much more evil than all who had come before

            -- their forefathers had killed God's prophets and teachers -- but the Pharisees were about to kill God's only Son

            -- and even while they were plotting against Jesus -- even while their hearts were turned against Him -- they still considered themselves holy and righteous even though they were serving Satan and not the God they professed

            -- in Luke 6:41-42, Jesus taught, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? -- How can you say to your brother, `Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

            -- the Pharisees saw the sin of their ancestors and condemned them for it -- but their ancestor's sins were but a speck compared to the log in the eye and heart of the Pharisees

            -- verse 31

Matthew 23:31 (NIV)

31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

-- Jesus declared that their own hearts testified that they were the children of those who had persecuted the prophets and teachers -- not only were they related through blood -- but they were related in spirit -- the same evil spirit that led their forefathers to persecute the prophets and teachers was living in them and driving them to betray Jesus to the cross

            -- there's one truth that always comes out when dealing with hypocrisy -- the works of your heart speak greater than your words -- the work of the heart is the bane of the hypocrite

            -- you can fool people through your words -- you can even fool people by pretending to be holy and honor prophets and teachers by building tombs and decorating their graves -- but, in the end, the truth will be told when the work of your heart betrays who you really are

            -- Jesus says here that they "testified against themselves" -- it was an appeal to their conscience -- Jesus was telling them that in spite of all their pretence to piety -- that both He and they knew in their hearts and in their consciences who they really were -- hypocrites with a capital "H"

            -- and even though they pretended that they hated what they forefathers had done, they really approved of their conduct because their hearts were the same

            -- Jesus was trying to call the Pharisees to repentance -- to give them a final chance to turn around and to start living righteously from the heart and not just with their words and external acts of piety

            -- verse 32

Matthew 23:32 (NIV)

32 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!

-- during the meal on the last night Jesus spent with His disciples, He turned to Judas and told him, "What you are about to do, do quickly" -- at that moment, Satan entered Judas and he left to meet with the High Priest to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver

            -- in this verse, Jesus is basically telling the Pharisees the same thing -- "what you are about to do, do quickly" -- in other words, "if you want to follow the paths of your ancestors and truly be their descendants, then go ahead and do what it is that you are planning to do"

            -- there comes a time when God quits calling you to repentance -- there comes a time when you have refused Him time and time again and you have made your decision to not come to Him -- and He lets you go your way -- in Romans 1 we read of how the people continually turned away from God and refused to respond to His call for forgiveness and holiness -- and Paul says that God eventually "gave them over" to their shameful lusts and desires

            -- in this verse, Jesus is giving the Pharisees and the teachers of the law over to their hypocrisy and hatred and eventual persecution of Himself

            -- they were going to fulfill the desires of their evil hearts and were going to make their sins complete -- as one commentator put it, by slaying Jesus, they were going to fill up and complete what was lacking in the sins of their fathers -- their fathers had only killed the prophets and the teachers -- the Pharisees were going to kill God

            -- and just a few days after Jesus uttered these words, the Pharisees had Pilate crucify Jesus on the cross at Calvary

            -- if you want to be a bad Christian, condemn the sin in others that you are harboring in your own life

III.  Closing

            -- so, what does this mean to us? -- well, it's a warning from Jesus to search our hearts and to examine our ways -- it's so easy for us to look at others and see the sin in their lives while missing the very same sin in our own -- it's so easy for us to look back at those who came before and condemn them for their actions when we are doing the same thing in our own day

            -- think about this -- how many times have you read the stories of the disciples and the Pharisees and thought to yourself, "I just don't understand how they couldn't have known that Jesus was the Messiah -- that He was God -- if I had been alive then, I would have followed Jesus"

            -- how many times have you condemned them for not recognizing Jesus when He was in their midst while at the same time you have not seen His hand in your life or in the life of others around you?

            -- how many times do you think bad thoughts of others because of something they are doing in their life even though you do the same thing yourself? -- have you ever thought, "I can't believe that so-and-so skipped out on Bible study last week" when you yourself miss Bible study from time to time? -- why do we hold others to a higher standard than we hold ourselves?

            -- it's kind of like my pet peeve -- people who drive along texting on their cell phones and aren't paying attention to their driving -- just the other day, I was driving to work, and I glanced over at the car next to me, and the guy was driving along with one hand while texting with the other -- made me mad that he would not put pay attention to what he was doing and concentrate on his driving -- I got so irritated looking at him, he almost made me spill my coffee and drop the bowl of eggs I was eating for breakfast -- oh, the specks that we so easily see in others and the logs that we so often miss in our own lives

            -- how many times have you looked down on someone for not paying attention in a worship service or for not being more committed or for not tithing on their income -- when we ourselves were failing in similar ways?

            -- the Pharisees lived that way, and Jesus condemned them as hypocrites for it -- the sad thing is, they never even realized it, even though Jesus pointed it out numerous times and called them to repentance and faith in Him

            -- Barclay says, "The only prophets they admired were dead prophets -- when they met a living one, they tried to kill Him -- they honored the dead prophets with tombs and memorials -- but they dishonored the living ones with persecution and death"

            -- the Pharisees had fooled themselves -- they didn't think of themselves as hypocrites -- they didn't think of themselves as prophet-killers

            -- and if we are not careful, we can fool ourselves, too -- as one blogger put it, "Religionists don't see themselves as the God-rejecting people they are" [http://comelordj.blogspot.com/]

            -- Jesus is calling us today to examine our hearts and our actions to make sure that we are living holy and righteous lives in Him -- to make sure that we are not rejecting Him by claiming to be more holy than we are -- or more holy than those around us

            -- Jesus is calling us to be real in our worship and our evaluation of ourselves and our lives and our relationship with Him

            -- as I close this morning, I am going to invite you to make just such an evaluation -- an examination -- of conscience in your life -- I want to encourage you to truly and honestly examine your life and your heart and your relationships with God and with your neighbors -- and to respond to God's word as you feel led

            -- let us pray

SERMON: HOW TO BE A BAD CHRISTIAN PART 7 -- THE MAN IN THE MIRROR

6 September 2015

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Mat 23:25-28

Matthew 23:25-28 (NIV)

25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.

28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

            -- for most of the time that I have worked at Moody AFB, I have had student interns from Valdosta State University come out and work with me to get experience in the field -- and I have found that when you are out working in God's creation, invariably the subject of God will come up -- there's just something about being in nature that evokes thoughts of spirituality and of transcendence, and so I have had the occasion to talk to these students about their spiritual beliefs, although I have to do so carefully because of my position as a Government employee

            -- I had one student a few years back who worked with me for almost five years -- he was not necessarily on a track to graduate quickly, so I got to know him very well and we had many talks about spirituality, although they were general in nature

            -- so one day I thought I'd press the issue -- I just came out and asked him, "Do you go to church anywhere?" -- he told me that he had been a member in a local Baptist church growing up -- but that he hadn't been to church since he was 16 years old -- "Do you want to know why?"

            -- he had become very active in church when they hired a new youth pastor -- this young man was energetic and he loved the Lord and he loved kids -- he got involved in their lives -- he got them excited about God and introduced them to modern contemporary Christian music -- he would take them off to concerts and to other events and the kids just became on fire for God -- the youth group just kept growing and becoming larger and larger

            -- before long, the youth pastor tried to incorporate some of the worship songs into the Sunday morning worship service -- he tried to get the youth involved in the actual service -- and that's when the problems started -- you see, the congregation was primarily comprised of traditional, conservative older adults -- they didn't like change -- they wanted things to stay just the way the were -- they didn't want new songs -- they wanted the old traditional hymns -- they didn't want to hear the youth sing in the choir or read the scriptures -- they wanted the adults to do this and for the preacher to lead the service

            -- however, the parents of the youth in the church liked the idea -- they wanted the young people involved -- they wanted to bring new things into the service -- and it turned into a huge issue, resulting in a church split -- the people who didn't want the youth messing up their services held their ground -- they told the others if they didn't like it, they could leave -- so many of them left and started a new church -- but my friend and his family opted to leave and never go to church again

            -- this experience -- this feeling of not being accepted -- of not being loved -- turned my friend against church -- not against God -- but against church -- and he said, "That's why I don't go to church"

            -- I told him I understood -- I had been in churches like that, but that things were changing -- many churches in our area now had contemporary worship services -- they were filled with youth -- filled with life -- more dynamic -- more exciting -- "You're an adult now -- why don't you try one of these other churches to see if you feel at home there -- to see if you get a different experience?"

            -- and he said no -- he wasn't going to go -- because he had learned it didn't matter what the church looked like on the outside or what they preached or what they taught -- they were all hypocrites -- and they didn't care so much about God or about others as they did themselves and how they looked in the community -- he said, "They teach one thing and then live a completely different way -- they're hypocrites -- and I'm not going to be part of a church like that again"

            -- when people tell me they don't go to church because there are too many hypocrites, my initial reaction is to reply, "Well, we can always make room for one more" -- but I couldn't say that to my friend, because I knew that he was right -- there are too many hypocrites in the church today -- and there are too many hypocritical churches

            -- as you know, we've been going through this series from Matthew 23 on "How to be a bad Christian" -- it's what we call an expository series -- where we take a passage and break it down and try to get from it the message that the Spirit has for the church today

            -- there are several advantages to expository preaching -- one is that I know ahead of time what the sermon text is going to be -- and, hopefully, it keeps me from getting stale and from preaching on the same topics over and over again because you are bound by the message in the text you are using

            -- and, another advantage, is that sometimes you are forced to preach messages that are just a little harder or a little closer to home than you would normally like to bring

            -- and that's just what happened this week in this passage -- you see, the reason I knew that my student was right -- that there are too many hypocrites in the church today -- is because I saw one first thing this morning -- when I looked at myself in the mirror before breakfast

            -- if we are honest with ourselves -- like it or not -- we have to admit that there is within us a little hypocrisy from time to time

            -- it is that hypocrisy -- the hypocrisy that is found within believers and within churches -- that Jesus is confronting in our passage today

            -- so, if you would -- let's look back at this passage again and see what Jesus' message for us this morning is

II.  Scripture Lesson

            -- verse 25

Matthew 23:25 (NIV)

25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

            -- so what is a hypocrite? -- that's a word that gets used a lot in society today to describe others -- but it's a word that we've heard so often, that we often don't take the time to think about what it really means -- in fact, we've made up our own definition of hypocrisy that doesn't really fit what the Bible means when it uses that word in Scripture

            -- when you think of a hypocrite in a church setting, what do you think of? -- what comes to mind? -- for most of us, we define a hypocrite as a person who acts holy and righteous on Sunday but who lives like a sinner the rest of the week -- but that's not the meaning Jesus had in mind here in this verse

            -- the Pharisees certainly didn't fit this definition of hypocrisy -- they didn't act one way on the Sabbath and then another out in public the rest of the week -- they were the epitome of holiness in their day -- they were the holiest people around -- they were the most righteous -- the most zealous for the law -- they were good and godly men

            -- in fact, Jesus commended their outward righteousness on occasion -- in Matthew 5:20, Jesus tells His disciples, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven"

            -- these men were as holy and righteous in their actions as they could be -- they had it down -- they were the standard to follow -- but still, Jesus called them hypocrites -- not because of their lack of righteousness on the outside -- but because of their lack of righteousness on the inside

            -- the real meaning of the word "hypocrite" or "hypocrisy" is "to play a part -- to play a role -- take upon oneself a persona that is not real" -- it comes from the Greek word for actor, and it means to act one way on the outside while living a different way on the inside

            -- you see, the Pharisees were actors -- they were playing a part, just like a part in a play-- it was the only part they knew -- and they had played it for so long, they had actually started believing it was true, that they were as holy and righteous as they seemed on the outside -- as a famous French classical writer once commented, "We [become] so accustomed to wearing a disguise before others that we are unable to recognize ourselves"

            -- the Pharisees really believed they were holy -- they really believed they were righteous -- and so did everyone who saw them -- so Jesus had to do something drastic to shock them into reality

            -- "Hypocrites," He cries out, "All you are doing is washing the outside of the cup and the dish, but the inside is as dirty as ever" -- in other words, "You may be clean and holy and shiny on the outside -- you may think you are holy and righteous through and through -- but your heart is still as dark and evil and dirty as always"

            -- the Pharisees had been more concerned about appearing holy before men than before God -- while their lips praised the Lord, their hearts were far from Him -- their insides did not match the outside

            -- verse 26

Matthew 23:26 (NIV)

26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

-- notice that Jesus calls them "blind" here in this passage -- the Pharisees and the teachers of the law prided themselves in interpreting the Scripture -- in knowing the law and understanding the law and teaching it to others -- showing them the way they should go in their lives

            -- but Jesus says that they are blind -- they haven't seen the truth themselves -- they have missed reality and settled instead for a part in a play

            -- "Clean the inside first," Jesus says, "and then the outside will follow"

            -- for all their acting -- for all their trying to be holy and righteous and to follow the law to the "nth" degree -- the Pharisees could never be holy in the eyes of God, because their heart was not right with Him

            -- as Isaiah pointed out in Isaiah 64:6, "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" -- in other words, we can try to act holy and righteous and good, but our acts don't amount to anything unless they are driven from a pure and clean heart

            -- once you are clean on the inside, good works will naturally follow -- pouring up out of the wellspring of living water that is within us

            -- Jesus calls the Pharisees and the teachers of the law "hypocrites" because they were trying to live holy lives on the outside without first being holy on the inside

            -- I once read about this man who applied this principle to his home -- actually, he did it to fool the tax assessor -- he didn't take care of the outside of his house -- his lawn was unkempt -- his bushes were not trimmed -- leaves were not raked -- the paint was peeling -- gutters hanging down -- the place just looked like a mess

            -- but, on the inside, it was palatial -- he had the best carpet -- top of the line furnishings -- high dollar entertainment center with stereo -- it was a showcase -- it was a home you'd expect to see in the pages of a magazine

            -- even though his motives in this case were not pure, he did illustrate what Jesus is trying to point out in this passage -- it is not the external things that count -- it is not the part that the people see that counts -- it is the inside part -- it is your heart and your spirit and your relationship with the Father -- that is what is important -- and that is where you should be working and putting your most time and effort

            -- do you remember what God told Samuel when Samuel went to Jesse's house to anoint the next king of Israel? -- Samuel wanted to anoint Jesse's oldest son who was tall and handsome and well-built  -- but God said, "No, this isn't him" -- in 1 Samuel 16:7, God told Samuel, " Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

            -- what defines a hypocrite in God's eyes? -- someone who looks holy on the outside but who is far from Him in their heart

            -- verse 27-28

Matthew 23:27-28 (NIV)

27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.

28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

-- Jesus makes His same point to them in another way -- once a year, the tombs in Jerusalem would be repainted -- they would be made to look new and shiny so they would be attractive to all who passed by them

            -- but being clean and attractive on the outside did not change what was on the inside -- they were still tombs and they still held the bones of the dead

            -- according to the Law, anything dead was unclean -- and if a Jew touched a dead person or their bones, then they would be considered unclean until they had been cleansed by the priest

            -- by calling them "white-washed tombs" -- "whited sepulchers" -- Jesus was pointing out to them that they were not only ceremonially unclean -- but they were unclean in the eyes of God

            -- they talked like they were holy -- they walked like they were holy -- they acted like they were holy -- but in reality, they were unclean hypocrites leading others astray because they were living a lie -- they actually believed that being holy on the outside was all that mattered -- as long as you looked holy, they reasoned, you were holy

            -- so, if you want to be a bad Christian, become a true hypocrite -- not somebody the world calls a hypocrite, who is holy only on Sunday and acts like they want the rest of the week -- no, be a hypocrite in your heart -- lie to yourself -- live everyday like you are holy and righteous -- do holy and good and righteous things every day and believe that this will get you to heaven, but don't make any changes in your heart -- don't let the Holy Spirit sanctify you from the inside out

III.  Application and Closing

            -- my student contended that there were too many hypocrites in the church today -- and when I saw myself in the mirror this morning, I found myself agreeing

            -- as Dave Burchett [http://www.daveburchett.com] points out, "The warnings of Jesus to the phony Pharisees are also directed at me...and you"

            -- as I see it, there are two dangerous types of hypocrites in the church

            -- I'm not worried about the people who come in and pretend to be holy on Sunday and then live a sinful life the rest of the week -- they aren't playing a part that they think is real -- they know that they are sinners and far from God -- and so does everyone else who sees them -- God is already working on their heart, convicting them of their unrighteousness -- that's why they come to church and try to blend in on Sundays

           

            -- no, I'm worried about the other two types of hypocrites in the church -- the ones who are dangerous because they are lying to themselves

            -- first, there is the person who comes to church religiously -- who is a pillar of the church -- sings in the choir -- knows all the words to the songs -- comes to Bible study -- always participates in everything that goes on -- does good things in the church and in the community -- lives a holy and righteous life on the outside, but who doesn't know the Lord in their heart

            -- in fact, there's never been a point in their life when they made a personal decision to ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins and to come into their life to be their Lord and Savior

            -- these are the hypocrites that think they can become Christians by osmosis -- they think they are Christians because they come to church or because their family goes to church or even because their family built this church -- they think they are Christians because they do good things -- but, truth be told, they're just playing a part -- they're not Christians at all -- this is where the Pharisees in this passage lived -- this is where a lot of people sitting in church pews this morning live

            -- in Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven -- Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' -- Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

            -- doing good things and looking holy on the outside like the Pharisees will not get you into heaven -- the only thing that will get you into heaven is the grace of God -- the only thing that will get you into heaven is a personal relationship with Jesus -- it doesn't matter how good or holy you look on the outside, if the inside isn't right -- to get your inside right -- to know Jesus and to be known by Jesus -- you have to accept His offer of forgiveness and repent of your sins and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior -- you have to trust in faith on the finished work of Jesus on the cross

            -- the other type of hypocrite that I think is dangerous is the one who looked back at me from the mirror this morning -- the one who is a Christian -- someone who has accepted Christ and received forgiveness from sins, but who continue to live a life of sin and do nothing about it but say to themselves, "What does it matter if I sin? -- God will just forgive me anyway"

            -- maybe it's anger or covetness or lust or pride or gossip or envy or lying or stealing or any number of things -- whatever it is, it's deep inside, and we know it, but we don't really care -- we think to ourselves, "God will just forgive me," and then we compensate by doing good things to make up for it -- "Perhaps if I'm holy enough on the outside, it will make up for what's on the inside"

            -- and so we put forth one picture for the world -- of the holy Christian man or woman -- the one who is doing all the right things and really living for the Lord -- when inside we know that our hearts just aren't where they ought to be -- either way, we're just as big a hypocrite as the Pharisees ever pretended to be

            -- so what do we do about it? -- well, there's only one thing we can do -- and that's run to the cross of Jesus -- as Timothy Sanford says, "The cross is the only cleansing agent that originates from God and performs a once-and-for-all cleansing of the believer"

            -- the cross can cleanse us -- whether it's the cleansing of sins for the first time for a person who has never accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior or whether it's the daily cleansing of

sins from us Christians

            -- most of us are familiar with 1 John 1:9-10, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness -- If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."

            -- we use this to justify our sins -- we use this to claim forgiveness for sins in our heart we are doing nothing to correct -- we're just covering them over -- we forget what John wrote in the next chapter -- 1 John 2:1 -- "I write this to you so that you will not sin" -- sin should have no place in the life of a Christian, but we can do nothing about our continuing sin until we get honest with God about ourselves and who we are on the inside

            -- the only cure for hypocrisy is the blood of Christ -- and the only place to get that cleansing blood is from the cross of Jesus

            -- we're going to close with the Robert Lowry hymn “Nothing but the Blood," and as we join together in this final song, I want to challenge you to take an honest look in the mirror of your heart -- are you living a holy life, inside and out, or are you a hypocrite? -- are you living one way on the outside while your heart is far from Jesus? -- if that's the case, plead the blood of Jesus in your life today -- ask Him to forgive you and to sanctify you and to make you holy -- ask Him to save you through His grace

            -- let us pray

SERMON: HOW TO BE A BAD CHRISTIAN PART 6 -- GNATS AND CAMELS

GNATS AND CAMELS

30 August 2015

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Matthew 23:23-24

Matthew 23:23-24 (NIV)

23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

            -- in his book, A Gentle Thunder, (Word, 1995, pp. 139-140) Max Lucado wrote about this man who was going on a trip and saw someone carrying a Bible 

            -- “Are you a believer?” the first man asked the second -- “Yes,” he said excitedly

             -- the first man knew you couldn't be too careful -- just because you carry a Bible and say you're a believer doesn't mean it's true -- so he continued to ask probing questions

-- “Virgin birth?” he asked.’ -- “I accept it.”

-- "Deity of Jesus?” -- “No doubt.”

-- “Death of Christ on the cross?” --“Absolutely.”

-- Could it be that he was actually face to face with a Christian? -- Perhaps. -- but, nonetheless, he continued his checklist.

-- “Status of man?” -- “Sinner in need of grace.” -- “ Definition of grace?” -- “God doing for man what man cannot do.

-- “Return of Christ?” -- “Imminent.”

-- “Bible?” -- “Inspired.” -- “The Church?” -- “The body of Christ.”

-- the first man started getting excited. -- “Conservative or liberal?” -- his fellow traveler was getting interested, too. -- “Conservative.” -- his heart began to beat faster.

-- “Heritage?” -- “Southern Congregationalist Holy Son of God Dispensationalist Triune Convention.” -- the first man was amazed -- that was his own heritage

-- “Branch?” -- “Pre-millennial, post-trib, noncharismatic, King James, one-cup communion.” -- the first man's eyes misted as he began to think he had met another true Christian

            -- he had only one other question. -- “Is your pulpit wooden or fiberglass?" -- “Fiberglass,” the other man responded.

-- the first man withdrew his hand, stiffened his neck, and hissed back -- “Heretic.”

            -- isn't it amazing how much attention we give to the little things that don't even matter? -- in this illustration from Max Lucado, these two men couldn't accept each other as believers just because of the type of pulpit they had in their church -- and while we all know that this illustration is a little far-fetched, it does make a point that hits home for a lot of us in the American church today

            -- we've all heard the stories about churches that split over the color of the carpet -- or the people that left a church because someone didn't call when they were sick -- or any of a number of other small things that happen from day to day in the life of a church

            -- and while we may laugh and joke about churches breaking up over the color of carpet, the sad thing is that it's true -- that churches do break up over stupid little stuff just like this day in and day out while at the same time they pay no attention to the more important aspects of spirituality and life with Christ

            -- this morning we are continuing our series on how to be a bad Christian, using as our source text Matthew 23, where Jesus condemns the Pharisees and the teachers of the law for the spiritual practices and traditions they were teaching that were making it difficult for others to come to a saving knowledge of God -- and, as we've shown in this series, we can do the same thing in our churches and in our lives today if we're not careful

            -- so far, we've looked at four ways that we can be bad Christians:

            -- first, make Christianity burdensome by adding all kinds of rules and traditions and rituals that no one could ever keep

            -- second, serve others only to be seen -- in other words, make it about you and serve others only so you get the glory and recognition

            -- third, shut the door of grace to those wanting to come to Christ -- don't let people in who are sinners or who are different from you and keep people from growing more knowledgeable or more committed to the Lord than you

            -- fourth, follow the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law

            -- this morning, we find ourselves looking at the fifth way to be a bad Christian -- namely, to make big deals out of small things and to make small deals out of the big things

II.  Scripture Lesson (Mt 23:23-24)

            -- in these verses, we see Jesus condemning the Pharisees for doing just that -- if you would look back at verse 23 and let's look at these verses in a little more detail

Matthew 23:23 (NIV)

23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

            -- keep in mind that when Jesus spoke these words to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and His disciples, the nation of Israel was still following the law that had been handed down to them by God through Moses

            -- the law was not the problem -- the law was good because it was given by God -- Paul makes that point clear in the books of Romans and Galatians -- in Romans 2:20, Paul writes that the law was the embodiment of knowledge and truth -- and in Romans 7:12, it says, "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good" -- but the law could not provide salvation

            -- the purpose of the law was to point us to the Christ who would provide salvation -- in Romans 3:20, Paul says that it is through the law that we became conscious of sin -- it defined for us what transgression was so that we might recognize the sin in our life -- and it made us aware of our need for a Savior because we realized that we could never live up to the law's righteous demands

            -- in Galatians 3:24 we read that this is why God gave us the law -- it was put in charge of us to lead us to Christ -- to guide us to the cross of Calvary

            -- as one scholar put it, the law "convinces us of our own insufficiency and in the end compels us to admit that the only thing that can save us is the grace of God, leading us to the cross and to the grace of Christ" (Barclay, 1976)

            -- ever since the nation of Israel was given the law through Moses, it had been looking through the law to the Messiah who would come and fulfill the law for Israel -- the people of Israel had been looking for the One who would enable them to adhere fully to the righteous demands of the law

            -- now the problem with the Pharisees is that they had begun to focus on the law as the means to an end -- as the only way to holiness and righteousness -- they felt that if they could just keep the law and do everything to avoid breaking a command, then they would be considered holy by God

            -- that was the reason why they added over 1,500 additional regulations to the law -- not just to burden down the people -- but to help make sure that everyone would keep the law perfectly

            -- it was their zeal for the law that caused them to tithe on everything they had -- not only would they tithe on their income -- on the money they earned -- but they even tithed on the herbs that they grew in their garden to season their food

            -- Jesus says here that they would literally measure out their spices -- their mint and their dill and their cumin -- and they would give 10% of their spices as an offering to the Lord

            -- but, they were so focused on the minute details of the law, that they forgot the purpose and intent of the law -- which was to lead them to the Savior who would enable them to enter into a relationship with God -- to give them to power to truly love the Lord their God with all of their heart and mind and soul and to love their neighbor as themselves

            -- Jesus calls the Pharisees and the teachers of the law "hypocrites" in this verse because they worried more about measuring out their spices than they did on the weightier issues of the law -- namely, justice, mercy, and faithfulness

            -- as J. Vernon McGee writes, "it was these weightier matters of the law that would have brought these men to the person of Christ" -- in other words, one reason why the Pharisees and the Sadducees missed seeing Jesus as the Messiah when He came the first time was because they were too busy looking at the trees and missing the forest -- they were looking at the littlest jot and tittle of the law and didn't notice the One it was pointing to

            -- Jesus agreed that it was important to tithe -- tithing is a way to show our dependence and faith in God to provide -- in Malachi 3:8-10 we read that neglecting to tithe and to give from your firstfruits is robbing God, not because He needs the money, but because we are taking from Him our worship and our faith

            -- so Jesus isn't condemning the Pharisees here because they tithed on the smallest things, like the spices they grew in their garden -- He's condemning them because they put more emphasis on this than on what was truly important -- for paying more attention to some parts of the law and not the others -- especially because they neglected the more important issues of justice and mercy and faithfulness

            -- verse 24

Matthew 23:24 (NIV)

24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

            -- we have been watching this show on Netflix called "An Idiot Abroad," about this guy who has never traveled outside of his home in England and the producers send him on a trip around the world to force him out of his comfort zone and make him experience new things and new cultures

            -- on one episode, they sent him to India to see the Taj Mahal -- and just being in the country of India almost did him in -- the Hindus who live there believe in reincarnation and that animals are sacred -- some worship animals as gods -- you've all probably seen the pictures of how the cows wander the streets and block traffic and no one does anything about it -- this is because they consider the cows sacred

            -- one practice of the most devout Hindus is to carry a broom with them at all times -- and as they walk through the city, they sweep the ground in front of them before they take a step, because they don't want to accidentally step on an insect -- they are so diligent in following their law to avoid hurting animals, they even sweep bugs out of the way before they can put their foot down

           

            -- believe it or not, that's very similar to the practice is talking about here -- as another example of how zealous the Pharisees were towards the law, they would strain their wine before drinking it so they would not swallow some insect that the law said was "unclean"

            -- Jesus says that they would go to such great lengths as that to avoid breaking the law -- being careful to avoid small faults -- but yet they did not hesitate to commit the greatest sins -- lest we forget, it was the Pharisees who paid Judas to betray Jesus and who condemned an innocent man to death on the cross

            -- they would keep the gnats out and swallow camels whole, thinking nothing of the hypocrisy of their actions

            -- Jesus points out to them that they should not just focus on getting the small things right -- or just following the things they like to obey -- but that they should give equal balance to all matters of the law -- both the small and the large -- both the gnat and the camel -- and remember, above all, the purpose of the law, which was to bring others into a saving relationship with God

III.  Closing: Our Gnats and Camels

            -- it sometimes amazes me just how much like the Pharisees we can sometimes be in our approach to church and to life as Christians

            -- we've already talked about the extremes on this issue -- how some churches have split over matters of no importance -- like the color of carpet -- but do we do the same in our churches and in our lives? -- do we spend more of our time and focus on little things and less than we should on more important issues?

            -- “When Dr. Richard Halverson was the U.S. Senate chaplain, he spoke before a group of evangelicals who had expressed their anger about Congress’ inactivity on the subject of school prayer -- they were irritated that Congress had not acted with a strong initiative to restore prayer in schools

            -- they demanded that he speak to the senate and encourage them to restore prayer -- in response, Dr. Halverson asked, ‘How many of you have prayed with your children this month, outside of church?’ -- Nobody raised their hand.”

            -- It’s easy to be vocal and stand against something or to stand for something -- It’s easy to sign a petition or preach against sin -- But it is so much harder to live out the things we stand for -- It is so much harder to really apply the important things to our lives than just to claim a moral message and stand by it¹

            -- this story reminds me of the more recent debates we've had with posting the Ten Commandments in our schools and Government buildings -- the majority of these people who were protesting about posting the Ten Commandments couldn't even recite them from memory when asked to do so by reporters -- which begs the question, what's more important? -- posting the Ten Commandments on a building or writing them in our hearts and living them out in our lives?

            -- as churches and Christians, we have a tendency to do just like the Pharisees and focus on only one aspect of Christianity or sin -- the "sin du jour" -- and to neglect the other, more important aspects of our faith

            -- we're seeing that right now with the American church's focus on same-sex marriage -- can we honestly say that Jesus wants us to put all the church's time and resources into talking about same-sex marriage while vast multitudes in our country are marching to hell because they don't know Jesus? -- are we straining gnats and tilting at windmills while missing the bigger picture? -- how many people are we not introducing to Jesus because we're more concerned with measuring out the cumin in our tithes?

            -- as we close this morning, I want to ask you to consider what we might have been neglecting in our churches and in our lives -- what camels have we let slip by us while we've been straining gnats? -- what pet part of Christianity have we elevated to an unhealthy point while we've neglected the weightier aspects of our faith?

            -- Jesus' message to the Pharisees in this passage was to live a balanced life -- to seek to be holy in all areas of their lives -- not just in one small area -- and not to focus on just one thing -- but to be holy and obedient in all areas

            -- if we don't do this, we can easily end up like the men in our opening illustration -- letting a small thing like the type of material a pulpit is made out of separate us from fellowship with each other -- or like any number of other churches, who split over the color of carpet or vinyl siding versus painting the exterior or any of a thousand other things

            -- our call this morning is to be balanced in our spiritual lives -- to put greater priority on Christ's call to make disciples and teach them to follow Him rather than on the gnats we are straining out of our drinks

            -- Let us pray

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1 Modified from an illustration in a sermon by Stephan Brown [http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/straining-gnats-and-swallowing-camels-stephan-brown-sermon-on-forgiveness-general-52570.asp?page=0]