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]
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