INTRO.- ILL.- A rather pompous-looking deacon was trying to impress a class of boys with the importance of living the Christian life. "Why do people call me a Christian?" the man asked. After a moment’s pause, one youngster said, "Maybe it’s because they don’t know you."
ILL.- During one of his political campaigns, a delegation called on Theodore Roosevelt at his home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. The President met them with his coat off and his sleeves rolled up. "Ah, gentlemen," he said, "come down to the barn and we will talk while I do some work."
At the barn, Roosevelt picked up a pitchfork and looked around for the hay. Then he called out, "John, where’s all the hay?" "Sorry, sir," John called down from the hayloft. "I ain’t had time to toss it back down again after you pitched it up while the Iowa folks were here."
Apparently, his so-called work was nothing but a put on, a big front, a big joke.
ILL.- Robert Redford was walking one day through a hotel lobby. A woman saw him and followed him to the elevator.
"Are you the real Robert Redford?" she asked him with great excitement. As the doors of the elevator closed, he replied, "Only when I am alone!"
I would say this is true for us all. The real you is when you are alone. The real you is what you are when you are all alone. What do you do when you are all alone? I really like myself a lot better when I am singing gospel hymns than when I’m watching some TV program. But what is the real me? What is the real you?
ILL.- Mark Twain said, “We’re all like the moon, we have a dark side we don’t want anyone to see.” So true.
ILL.- There was a preacher who was interviewing with a church search committee. An English teacher headed the committee, and was very concerned that the future pastor spoke properly. "When the hen is on the nest, does she sit or set?" he asked the candidate. The hopeful preacher was frustrated. He didn’t know what to say, and his career was on the line. Finally he replied, "It really doesn’t matter if she’s sitting or setting. What I want to know is this: when she cackles is she laying or lying?"
It really wasn’t important whether that preacher knew good grammar or not. The important issue should have been, did he live his faith?
Matt. 23:1-3 “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 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.”
The Pharisees were first class hypocrites. Good at preaching, poor at practicing. They put on a big show. They loved being greeted “Rabbi.” It might like a preacher wanting to be called “Reverend” today or perhaps “The Right Reverend,” etc. And I’ve known a few like that in my time.
Jesus said even worse things about the Pharisees in this text, some of which could partially be applied to us.
PROP.- There are seven woes in this text. Let’s consider only a few of these to see how they apply to us.
1- Woe to you for shutting the kingdom in men’s faces.
2- Woe to you for neglecting the more important matters of the law.
3- Woe to you for looking good only on the outside.
I. WOE TO YOU FOR SHUTTING THE KINGDOM IN MEN’S FACES
Matt. 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.”
I can’t imagine anyone wanting to keep anybody from enjoying something good in life, and especially, the Lord’s kingdom. Have you kept anybody out of the kingdom? Have you kept anybody out of the church? How would you do such a thing? Perhaps by bad behavior, hypocrisy, etc.
ILL.- On Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 24th, we had our big snow in Jonesboro. It pretty well piled up the traffic that evening. I believe the paper said there were 94 car wrecks and 17 cars in ditches from Wednesday afternoon until 7 a.m. Thursday.
I came to work early that Thursday around 5:30. Not many cars out and not much stirring. As I was sitting in my office working, about 7 a.m. I heard someone having the time of their life spinning circles in our parking lot. I jumped up and went out the front door. There was a guy spinning around in the parking lot in his older model pickup. I motioned for him to leave the lot. But that’s not what he did.
He pulled up to the front of the building and got out. And I thought, “Uh oh, am I going to have a fight on my hands?”
He started talking, “I love you, brother. I love you. I was just helping to clear your parking lot.” I said, “No, you weren’t. You were playing and you need to leave.” He said, “I love you. By making these circles it will melt quicker.” I said, “Well, you need to leave.”
I don’t know if that guy had been drinking or what. Anyway he left. But it wasn’t probably 15 minutes later and he was back. This time he was driving a Honda that had two big dogs in it. He got out and started sweeping our front walk. I walked out again and he said, “I’m cleaning your walk.” I said, “No, you don’t have to do that. I think you need to leave.” He said, “I love you, brother” and crossed himself. Then he left.
Afterward I got to thinking about what I’d done. And you know, it is possible that by my actions I just might have kept that guy out of the kingdom and definitely out of this church!
He may never come back and spin his wheels in our parking lot again and he definitely won’t come to church here. I probably should have been kinder and more understanding instead of just telling him to leave.
Brothers and sisters, even though I probably didn’t make a hit with that guy I’ve done worse things to keep people out of the church. And you probably have to. We just don’t like to admit it. What things? It could be bad behavior, cussing, ranting, carrying on, etc. at work and other places. And perhaps some people under their breath might have said, “Boy, if that’s what a Christian is, I don’t want to be one.”
I’m just saying that perhaps at times we’re all guilty of keeping people out of the kingdom and out of the church. We need to think about this and do better wherever we are.
Titus 3:1-2 “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.”
Kindness, good behavior, loving others, etc. These are what bring people into the kingdom and into the church.
II. WOE TO YOU FOR NEGLECTING THE MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS OF THE LAW
Matt. 23:23 "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.”
ILL.- Sign by a flower bed in a park: “DO NOT PICK (twist off, sever, cut, clip, snip, snap off, pluck, pinch off, pull, bend, crush, pare, cleave, divide, break, touch or take, borrow, steal, remove or otherwise harm, mutilate or endanger) THE FLOWERS.” How’s that for being legalistic?
ILL.- The story was told some years ago of a preacher who found the roads blocked one Sunday morning with ice and snow and was forced to skate on the river to get to church, which he did. When he arrived the elders of the church were horrified that their preacher had skated on the Lord’s Day.
After the service they held a meeting where the preacher explained that it was either skate to church or not go at all. Finally one elder asked, "Did you enjoy it?" When the preacher answered, "No," the board decided it was all right!
Some church leaders and preachers are so strict that no rule can be bent in any shape or form. And of course, playing on the Lord’s Day would be a no, no. In fact, I know of a church that fired a preacher probably 50 or more years ago because he and his wife went out after church and played catch with a ball on Sunday afternoon. TALK ABOUT LEGALISTIC, THAT WAS IT!
Some people/leaders are also very scrupulous or exact when it comes to matters of tithing and attending church. They are this way to the point of being extremely legalistic.
ILL.- Some preachers and church leaders may say to their people words like, “Unless you give a tithe of everything you get and attend all the services and programs of the church, you won’t go to heaven.” And they may mean this in all sincerity. In other words, you have to follow our legalistic line of thinking or else you’re out! You tow the line or else!
The problem with this kind attitude and action is that it throws the grace of God completely out of the window. It says that I earn my salvation by the religious things I do: giving, going to church, Christian service, etc. We may play that game but I don’t believe that God does.
The Pharisees were scrupulous and exact when it came to the matter of tithing. But they took this even further than we would. We might encourage people to give a tithe or 10 percent of their paycheck back to the church but the Pharisees believed in giving a tithe of everything they owned, even their spices! Can you imagine a pinch of this and pinch of that as an offering at church? Talk about extreme!
The problem was that the Pharisees forgot what was really important to God; the matters of justice, mercy and faithfulness. They left out being kind, merciful, and just toward others and being faithful in service to one another.
Gal. 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
God is more interested in a faith that expresses itself in loving people than in practicing the letter of the law. It’s vitally important to give back to God and to attend church, but if your faith doesn’t cause you to love others then you’re missing the whole point.
Eph. 5:1-2 “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
God is trying to produce a heart of love in us, a love that cares about others and ministers to them no matter when or where!
ILL.- Someone said, “Love is the identifying mark of Christianity. In a world of hate, envy, and anger, love sticks out like a healthy thumb. When anyone walks away from an encounter with us, that person should remember our love, not our convictions.”
III. WOE TO YOU FOR LOOKING GOOD ONLY ON THE OUTSIDE
Matt. 23:27-28 "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. “In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
ILL.- One time when I attended the Ozark Christian College preaching convention one of our former classmates came to me and another preacher saying something like, “Hey, do you want to know how to make your church grow?” Well, who wouldn’t? He was dressed to the hilt, in the finest looking suit I’d ever seen at that time. He said, “I got a book that will make a difference in your ministry.” It was entitled, “Dress For Success.”
And brothers and sisters, I do believe that, for example, when you are job-hunting you need to dress decently, look neat, be clean, etc. It makes for a good impression. But the truth is all people want to see the real you no matter how you are dressed. And some people dress well just to put on an act or to give the appearance of being upper-crust or wealthy, or perhaps better than others.
And you know as well as I do that doesn’t mean a thing to God. God looks on the heart, not the outward appearance.
If you can dress and be nice at the same time, go for it. But if a person just dresses nice in order to give a good outward appearance, no matter how they act otherwise, FORGET IT!
ILL.- Someone said, “A mule dressed in a tuxedo is still a mule.”
ILL.- One Sunday morning an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin. Although the old man and his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt and boots that were very worn and ragged. In his hand he carried a worn out old hat and an equally worn out bible.
The Church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and accessories.
As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all appalled at his appearance and did not attempt to hide it.
The preacher gave a long sermon about Hellfire and brimstone and a stern lecture on how much money the church needed to do God’s work. As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. "Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask him what He thinks would be appropriate attire for worship." The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.
The next Sunday, he showed up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, shirt, boots, and hat. Once again he was completely shunned and ignored. The preacher approached the man and said, "I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church."
"I did," replied the old cowboy. "If you spoke to God, what did he tell you the proper attire should be for worshiping in here?" asked the preacher. "Well, sir, God told me that He didn’t have a clue what I should wear. He says He’s never been in this church!”
Brothers and sisters, God is more interested the kind of person we are on the inside instead of looking great on the outside. He wants hearts and minds that are pure and loving. Because if we are that way on the inside, it will be seen on the outside in the way we live and treat others. But woe to those are corrupt within!
CONCLUSION---------------------------
ILL.- He made free use of Christian vocabulary. He talked about the blessing of the Almighty and the Christian confessions, which would become the pillars of the new government. He handed out pious stories to the press, especially to the church papers. He showed his tattered Bible and declared that he drew the strength for his great work from it as scores of pious people welcomed him as a man sent from God. Who was he? Adolf Hitler. He was a master of outward religiosity but with no inward reality! And so with the Pharisees of old.
But what about us? Jesus pronounced seven woes on the Pharisees because their religion was all outward. They never truly knew God nor allowed Him to enter into their hearts.
What about us? We need to know God more intimately and allow Him to do a good work in us and to work through us to lead others to Him.
