The Apostle Paul had an interesting style of ministry. Paul would travel to a city, get to know a few people, plant a church, then stay around as long as it took (usually a couple years) until the church was self-sufficient. Then he would pack up and move to a new city and start the process all over again.
On one of Paul¡¦s journey¡¦s he arrived in the city of Athens. Athens was a great center of philosophy, architecture, art, and religion. We learn in Acts 17:16 that Paul became distressed at how many idols they had lying around the city. So Paul begins to reason with the people in that city about the One True God. In his opening statement to the group assembled at the Areopagus, Paul says, ¡§Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.¡¨ (Acts 17:22)
In Paul¡¦s day, there was no shortage of religion. The same is true for us today. We live in a culture where the supply of religion certainly meets the demand. But the truth that Paul knew in his day is the same truth we must know today: We do not need religion, we need a relationship.
The message of the entire Bible could be summed up in saying that God is trying to establish a relationship with us. Jesus Himself said, ¡§These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.¡¨ (Matthew 15:8) God is not interested in lip service. God is interested in your heart. God wants a relationship.
Last week we talked about Freedom of Religion in our sermon time. We saw how from the beginning of time we have had the choice to choose who we would worship.
But this week I want to make a twist and talk about Freedom from Religion. There is always a danger that in our worship we would simply focus on the motions, but our hearts would not be in it. There is a danger that we would follow the rules, do everything right, but not have be right in our hearts.
A group known as the Pharisees fell into this trap. The Pharisees were a distinctive group of Jewish leaders who lived during Jesus¡¦ time. They started with good intentions. They were concerned about the Jewish people living a pure life in accordance with the Law God had given them. The Pharisees had a passion and desire to know, live, and teach the Law of God given to Moses.
They would be the group who went around each morning and made sure you got up on the right side of the bed. They would make sure you had done your daily Bible reading. They wanted the Jewish people to be pure in their religion.
However, they degenerated into a group that was primarily interested in outward appearances but not an inward relationship with God. Some of Jesus¡¦ harshest words were directed to the Pharisees.
I worry in my own life that sometimes I can be more of a Pharisee than I should be. Part of this has to do with my upbringing in the Christian Church.
I am proud to be a member of the Christian Church. Our heritage is part of the Restoration Movement. The Restoration Movement began in the early 1800¡¦s and was a movement dedicated to restoring the New Testament church. The Restoration Movement was made up of people from Methodist, Presbyterian, and various other denominations who determined among themselves that they would have no creed but Christ. They would use no book except for the Bible.
We in the Restoration Movement have some very distinct characteristics and we have some important doctrinal distinctions as well. Sometimes we even laugh at some of those distinctions.
In the tradition of Jeff Foxworthy, here are some indicators that you might be a member of the Christian Church:
If you were an adult before you knew that guide, guard and direct wasn¡¦t one word, you might be a member of the Christian Church.
If you think it¡¦s unscriptural to drain the baptistery, you might be a member of the Christian Church.
If during religion week at school the item you brought in to represent your faith was a casserole dish, you might be a member of the Christian Church.
If you raised your hands during a worship service and you¡¦ve felt guilty ever since, you might be a member of the Christian Church.
If you think that Jesus really did turn the water in to Welch¡¦s grape juice, you might be a member of the Christian Church.
If your minister owns a pair of waders but doesn¡¦t fish, you might be a member of the Christian Church.
This morning I want us to look at Jesus¡¦ words to the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23. These are some tough verses, but they are actually indicators of whether or not we are being Pharisees. They are indicators if we are focusing more on religion than relationship.
You might be a Pharisee if¡K
You Don¡¦t Practice What You Preach
Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 23:1 - 4, ¡§1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3So 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. 4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.¡¨
Jesus calls the Pharisees out in these verses. Jesus calls the Pharisees ¡§hypocrites.¡¨ The word hypocrite literally meant to be an actor in a play. Over time being a hypocrite came to mean acting like someone you weren¡¦t.
A hypocrite today is someone who complains about the sex and violence on their DVD player.
A hypocrite is someone who encourages others to give their full tithe to the church but doesn¡¦t give very well themselves.
Hypocrites are like ¡§arm chair¡¨ Christians. They know how to tell everyone else what to do but they don¡¦t follow their own rules. Did you notice that Jesus said they put heavy loads on others but refuse to lift a finger themselves?
These Pharisees in Jesus¡¦ day had set themselves up as the spiritual authority and they were determining what you were supposed to do in order to live a life pleasing to God. Sadly many of these Pharisees had taken their own opinions and made them doctrine.
I¡¦ve noticed there are a few Pharisees around today that still do that. They take their preferences and make them a ¡§thus says the Lord.¡¨ But when we take our preferences and make them doctrine, we are acting just like the Pharisees.
Several years ago two well known preachers named Dwight L. Moody and Billy Sunday preached against the evils of their day. Dwight Moody preached against the sin of men having ruffles on their shirt and Billy Sunday would preach against the evils of women chewing gum.
I wholeheartedly believe that where the Bible speaks, we should speak. I believe we should speak the truth. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:8, ¡§If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?¡¨ We must speak clearly and honestly about the truth of God¡¦s Word. But when we go away from clear Biblical precedent and ¡§thus says the Lord...¡¨ we can be wrong!
Far too often we are tempted to say that our preferences are Biblical command.
If I say that the only way you can worship is by using stringed instruments on stage because I like stringed instruments, I have crossed over into some uncharted water. There is not one Scripture that says you must always use a stringed instrument. There are Scriptures that talk about using instruments in worship, but there is no ¡§thus says the Lord¡¨ which requires instruments.
One of the most important early Restoration movement slogans is: ¡§In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. But in all things love.¡¨ If we stuck by that slogan, we¡¦d be a lot more Christ-like in our attitudes and actions.
But you might also be a Pharisee if¡K
You Do What You Do to be Noticed by Others
Listen to verses 5 - 12, ¡§5"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ’Rabbi.’
8"But you are not to be called ’Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth ’father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called ’teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.[b] 11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.¡¨
The Pharisees were guilty of acting righteous so people would recognize them. We know from the Sermon on the Mount they would use trumpets to announce when they put money in the offering at the temple. We know they would walk around with a horrible expression on their face when fasting.
You may have noticed the word phylacteries in verse 5 and are wondering what those were. A phylactery was a box that they would attach to their clothes which held verses of Scripture inside them. It got to the point they were noticing how righteous a person was by the box of Scripture they carried around! Isn¡¦t that ridiculous?
But how many times have we worn something or did something so people would know how spiritual we are? We love to hear people say, ¡§Wow, that Wade Allen is a great Christian.¡¨
Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, ¡§In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.¡¨ When we do good deeds so people notice us, we are acting like the Pharisees. Rather our goal should be to reflect the attention away from us and onto our Heavenly Father.
This is one reason that at Central Christian Church we do not address the ministers as ¡§Father¡¨ or ¡§Reverend.¡¨ From time to time I have had people ask me how I would like to be referred to. When I first moved here I cleared this up in a sermon I preached, but let me clarify again for those of you who may be new. When talking to me, you can address me as ¡§The Holy Right Reverend and Exalted One.¡¨ Or just fall down and cry, ¡§Teacher!¡¨
Please, just call me Wade. I do appreciate the respect that you show to me when you call me Pastor or Brother Wade. I do not want to offend anyone by making this point. But these verses are part of the reason we do not refer to the ministers as Father or Reverend.
Another reason is because I believe that if you are a Christian, you are a minister. So the next time someone asks you who the minister is at the church you go to, just say, ¡§I am the minister.¡¨ (And watch the expression on their face ƒº)
You might be a Pharisee if¡K
You Keep People out of the Kingdom of God
Here are some scary verses. Matthew 23:13 - 15, ¡§13Woe 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. 15"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.¡¨
One of the most given excuses for not coming to church is this one: the church is full of hypocrites. I have read in survey after survey that people like Jesus, they just don¡¦t like the people in His church.
It is scary to think my actions have an effect on whether or not someone enters into heaven.
Notice, the Pharisees practiced evangelism. They went to great distances in order to get converts. But they were bringing these converts into a religion, not a relationship. Christ came so that we can have a freedom from religion. Christ wants us to have a relationship with God. We must make sure that we are focusing on relationship so we do not hinder someone from knowing God.
You might be a Pharisee if¡K
You Read Scripture Looking for Loopholes
Listen to verses 16 - 25, ¡§16Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ’If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18You also say, ’If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ 19You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices¡Xmint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law¡Xjustice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.¡¨
These Pharisees were acting like a bunch of children. It¡¦s almost like they would make a promise, but then say, ¡§I had my fingers crossed!¡¨ They would go to great lengths to figure out how they could say something but not be bound by their word. They looked for every loophole they could find.
If you read the Bible like you read the income tax code, looking for loopholes, you¡¦re probably a Pharisee. We need to live our lives by God¡¦s Word and obedience to it; not by some misguided loophole we think we¡¦ve found.
One of the biggest problems we have is that our enemy can get us distracted by arguing over small matters of opinion. And while we argue about these small matters of opinion, people are dying and going to Hell.
Dr. Bob Lowery is a professor at Lincoln Christian College. He tells about doing a consulting job with a congregation that was going through some difficulties. After talking to the church leadership, the church members were invited to an evening meeting where anyone was allowed to come to the microphone and speak their views on the issue dividing the church. Dr. Lowery said that during the meeting some people were very agitated and even hateful.
After Dr. Lowery heard everyone who wanted to speak, he stepped to the microphone and shared his comments on what he heard. He then asked, ¡§Who, in hell, cares?¡¨ After allowing that question to sink in, he continued by saying, ¡§Please don¡¦t mistake what I said. I¡¦m not trying to be vulgar. But the question remains, ¡¥Who, in hell, cares?¡¦ What I mean by that is this: Who, having died and gone to hell, cares what your opinion is on how the church should be run? Their concern is that you were too busy arguing to reach the lost. Now they¡¦ve died and gone to hell. So, who, in hell, cares?¡¦¡¨
Jesus says that we should not neglect the important matters by arguing over small matters. If we do, we will be just like the Pharisees.
You might be a Pharisee if¡K
You are more Concerned with Image over Substance
Verses 25 - 28, ¡§25Woe 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. 26Blind 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. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.¡¨
I read that King Louis the 14th showed up for church one Sunday with his attendants, but no one else was at the chapel. King Louis demanded to know from the preacher what was going on. Why was no one else at the service? The preacher replied, ¡§I had it published that you would be unable to attend church today. This way we can see who serves God and who flatters the king.¡¨
One of the things that amazes me is how people react when they find out I¡¦m a preacher. I was talking to a man one day and we were just having a great conversation. But every now and then he¡¦d slip in a cuss word. We were talking about sports and the topic turned to racing. We both said we enjoyed watching NASCAR. He invited me over to his house for a beer and to watch the next race. I told him I¡¦d like to, but I would have trouble doing that because I had work responsibilities on Sunday. He asked what I did for a living. I told him I¡¦m a minister. From that point on I had never met a more pious man in my whole life.
Friends, I hope we all realize that there is One Judge we must impress. Our goal should be to act the same on Monday thru Saturday as we do on Sunday. It isn¡¦t that we have to be perfect. If we could be perfect Jesus would have never had to die.
In fact, you might be a Pharisee if¡K
You Deny Your Own Weakness
Jesus said in verses 29 - 33, ¡§29Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30And 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.’ 31So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! 33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?¡¨
These Pharisees tried to make themselves look better than they are. They decorated the graves of the prophets. They cried and lamented that if only they had been living in those days, they would have known the true messenger from God. And yet they were doing the same thing their forefathers did. They rejected God¡¦s messenger because He did not match their expectations.
Friends, let¡¦s not try to make ourselves look better than we really are. Romans 3:23 teaches, ¡§For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.¡¨
Let¡¦s not let our pride get in the way and hinder us from experiencing a real relationship with our Heavenly Father.
In fact, the last indicator that you might be a Pharisee is this¡K
If this Sermon Angers You
These are the words Jesus said to the Pharisees and guess what? They got ticked off, too!
Fred Craddock said, ¡§There are only two types of preaching people won¡¦t listen to: poor preaching and good preaching.¡¨
The Pharisees hated the best preacher ever, Jesus Christ.
You know what I think? I think there is a little Pharisee in all of us. I know there is some Pharisee in me. So what should my response to that realization be? ¡§Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.¡¨
My prayer is that today, through looking at this text in Matthew 23, we can all find freedom from religion. I pray that each of us would remember that God is interested in a relationship. That Jesus came so we could have hope.
The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city¡¦s hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child¡¦s name and room number and talked briefly with the child¡¦s regular class teacher. "We¡¦re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now," the regular teacher said, "and I¡¦d be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn¡¦t fall too far behind."
The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, "I¡¦ve been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs." When she left she felt she hadn¡¦t accomplished much.
But the next day, a nurse asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. "No, no," said the nurse. "You don¡¦t know what I mean. We¡¦ve been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He¡¦s fighting back, responding to treatment. It¡¦s as though he¡¦s decided to live."
Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: "They wouldn¡¦t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?"
One of the greatest problems with religion is that it unable to give us lasting hope. No rituals, no good works, no amount of piety can produce hope in our lives. The only way that we can have hope is through our relationship with God, which is made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
