“Woe, Woe, Woe - Luke 11:37-55”
Gladstone Baptist Church – 5/11/06 am
S1 - Not everyone with Bad eyes are outside the church. Jesus turned his attention to the Pharisees in the crowd and expressed regret at their blindness and inappropriate action. (Review of last week, Vs 37-41) OOPS
Last week, we talked about being Blessed people. If you weren’t here, I encourage you to get the CD because we found out that our definition of what a blessed person was, is very different to what Jesus’ thoughts were on the matter. We think someone is blessed if they receive lots of things from God. God thinks a person is blessed if they hear his words and obey them.
Luke 11:28 records Jesus’ words as ““Blessed … are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
In the passage we’ve been studying over the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen a crowd of people following Jesus for all sorts of reasons. People, today follow Jesus for many different reasons too. Some follow him, because their friend do. They are really following their friends, not Jesus. Some follow Him, because their parents did. They are really following tradition, not Jesus. Some follow Him, because they like his philosophy on life. They are really following a philosophy or ethical system, not Jesus. And some follow Him, because of the gifts and benefits that come from him. They are following a Santa Claus type figure, not Jesus.
Jesus says that the blessed people in God’s kingdom are those who follow to see, hear and to obey. All the people that day were all standing in the light of God’s witness that was so clear to see in the teachings and miracles of Jesus. It like standing in the brilliant glow of a floodlight. Some people had their eyes open and the light of God shone into their lives and transformed them. Their attitudes changed, their behaviour changed, their relationships changed, their whole being was changed. They were blessed because they saw, heard and acted in obedience.
But other people had their eyes closed. They were blind to God’s witness and did not allow the light to shine in and impact their lives. The challenge we faced last week was to ensure that we were people who had eyes that were open not eyes that were closed.
You see, not everyone sitting in our church here this morning has good eyes (please excuse the pun). Some people in our church this morning have bad eyes. They might call themselves Christians – but they have bad eyes, they might even be Christians – but they have bad eyes, they may even be in leadership positions in our church – but they have bad eyes. These are people who are not obeying Jesus’ call to become like him – they might be in the crowd, but they are not seeing, hearing and obeying.
In the crowd that day with Jesus were some highly respected people from the religious community who had bad eyes. Turn in your bibles to Luke 11:37-55
37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised.
39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
43 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it.”
45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”
46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
47 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.
52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
53 When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.
S2 - Many of us look like nice Christians. But Jesus’ light needs not just transform our outward appearance, but our inner attitudes from which spring our actions. Many of us have Christ’s light reflecting off us, but it hasn’t penetrated and transformed inside. UGH
The Pharisees were respected leaders in the Jewish community. At the start of Jesus’ ministry, they were openly interested in this new teacher. Apparently in the crowd that Jesus had been teaching, there were some Pharisees and one was so interested in hearing more that he invited Jesus to come back for some lunch. But almost immediately when they arrived home, Jesus starts to offend this man – you see, Jesus didn’t wash his hands.
Now to us this seems a bit petty doesn’t it, but for the strict Jews, it was serious. Hand washing wasn’t a hygiene thing for them, but a purity thing. Let me read to you what the Jewish historian, William Barclay has said about this practice …
Before every meal, and between each of the courses, the hands had to be washed, and they had to be washed in a certain way. The hands, to begin with, had to be free of any coating of sand or mortar or gravel or any such substance. The water for washing had to be kept in special large stone jars, so that it itself was clean in the ceremonial sense and so that it might be certain that it had been used for no other purpose, and that nothing had fallen into it or had been mixed with it. first, the hands were held with finger tips pointing upwards; water was poured over them and had to run at least down to the wrist; the minimum amount of water was one quarter of a log, which is equal to one and a half egg shells full of water. While the hands were still wet each hand had to be cleansed with the fist of the other… At this stage the hands were wet with water; but that water was now unclean because it had touched unclean hands. So, next, the hands had to be held with finger tips pointing downwards and water had to be poured over them in such a way that it began at the wrists and ran off at the finger tips. After all that had been done the hands were clean. To fail to do this was in Jewish eyes, not to be guilty of bad manners, not to be dirty in the health sense, but to be unclean in the sight of God .
What a ritual … Please note that there was nothing wrong with hand washing in this way. Jesus doesn’t condemn it – it reminded the people that they had to separate themselves from all that was evil and impure in the world. It was a valid practice – a good practice. Jesus knew about it, but chose not to practice it (today anyway). Why? Because he wanted to make a point to this well intentioned Pharisee and his friends.
Jesus knowing they were offended turned to them and said , (vs 39) “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
What was far more important to Jesus than cleaning our outside skin was clean our inside. The Pharisees, just like us, were standing in the brilliant light of Jesus’ witness. It was illuminating all the things that needed changing, but the Pharisees were more concerned about looking nice than being nice. They were concerned with outward rituals that really served no purpose other than reminders, but neglected the inner attitudes that determined how they acted.
Just like the Pharisees, many of us are more concerned about looking like Nice Christians than being Christians – i.e. being Christ like. We are worried about how people view us, but we are not concerned about how Jesus really sees us. Jesus looks at the heart, not just your outward presentation.
Jesus condemns the Pharisees. They are like a dish or a cup. They are fastidious about making the outside look clean, but all the while, they forget about the inside which is the bit that really needs to be clean. But God made the inside and the outside and is concerned about the cleanliness and the witness of both.
When we are purely focussed on how others view us, but neglect our attitudes and our behaviour when we are out of people’s view, we are just like the Pharisees. Some sitting here this morning can relate to this. You have got your church clothes on and your church face. Everything is nice and neat. You are looking nice on the outside, but your heart is dirty. Your attitudes, your motivation for life, your habits, the things you do Monday to Saturday all are dirty. They don’t honour God, they don’t give him Glory – you are living a Jeckle and Hyde kind of life.
S3 - The Pharisees had disappointed Jesus in 3 ways which are common pitfalls for Christians today …
Jesus then turns to address 3 areas in which the Pharisees have disappointed him and therefore disappointed God. He also deals with 3 criticisms of the scribes present, but we’ll deal with them next week. So we’ll do Woe, Woe, Woe this week and then Woe, Woe, Woe next week.
1. MAJORING ON THE MINORS - They were consumed with their trivial hobby horses yet but neglected the important virtues of life. We too can be so consumed with issues that we actually offend others and create division, hurt and disunity where there doesn’t need to be any. AHA / WHEE
The First thing Jesus calls their attention to is majoring on the minors. In Vs 42 …
42 “Woe to you Pharisees, [Woe is not a term of condemnation, but a term of deep regret. Jesus is not condemning the Pharisees here, but bemoaning the fact that they have not lived lives honouring God. So he says Woe …] because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
Tithing was an accepted practice, but the Pharisees and the strict Jews had made it an art form. I need a volunteer here. I’ve got a bucket of herbs here and I need you to separate out for me 10%. No more and no less. It is critical I give just 10% because that is the law.
The Pharisees were so concerned about keeping the law, that they extended it to all aspects of their lives – even the produce that they grew in their vege gardens. Even to their herbs and spices. God didn’t ask them to do it to this detail. God simply said in Lev 27:30 “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.” He meant tithing to be a gift of love – an act of generous worship. But the Pharisees were so consumed about not disobeying God’s law that they created whole lists of things which needed to be tithed. Seeking not to disobey God’s law is a great thing isn’t it, except where it causes you to fail in other areas.
How is my volunteer going in getting a 10th. How long is it going to take to finish this? … That’s too long, you can go and sit down. The point here is that to count out 10% of the stalks of herbs and spice seeds would be incredibly time consuming. It is so trivial almost ridiculous. The Pharisees spent so much of their time on these tiny details, that they neglected the more important things of justice and love. Jesus doesn’t condemn their desire to honour God in their tithe, but says, that they should tithe AND not neglect to practice other important things like loving your neighbour and fighting for justice to be done. They were majoring on minor things and neglecting the major things.
Do you know people like this? We’ve got some family friends that we grew up with that were ultra conservative. They had all of these hobby horses issues that they would stake their life on. If it wasn’t what show you could watch on TV, then it was what food was best for you. If it wasn’t that, it was the latest conspiracy theory going around the Christian grape vine. Or it was a political issue. Just recently I had heard that they believed that Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll and Charles Dobson were heretics for some reason or other I couldn’t quite understand. Now a lot of what they were doing as a family was good and all their kids have turned out to be strong Christian kids – some are a bit strange still, but this family were trying their best to honour God in what they were doing. But the problem was, that they were so concerned about upholding their moral purity and their standards, that you know what … it began to affect their relationships to others. They had some fairly large walls erected in their lives that prevented non-Christians getting too close to them in case they corrupted them. But these walls also prevented a lot of Christians also getting too close to them. Not only this, but they also were very quick to condemn people – both Christians and non-Christians who had different standards. The things they were fighting for were good, but they were minor things. They were just like the Pharisees here, they needed to uphold the truth of the gospel and the standards of Christ, without neglecting justice and love.
There might be some people sitting here this morning, which are just like this. They are typically people who are critical, defensive and in turn inward looking. You desire so much to live Godly lives to be an outward witness to others – hooray – that is so good. But in doing so, you end up spending all your time digging trenches around your hobby horses & building protective walls, you end up creating disunity and conflict because you are constantly butting heads with your brothers and sisters – arguing about how things should be done or what is right or wrong or critical of their standards. Gone is the unity of the body. Gone is the love of Christ. Gone is any semblance of justice or dealing rightly with people. Instead there is conflict, hurt, offense and pain. God is calling you to not just be concerned about your outward purity, but also be concerned about how you deal with those around you. He is wanting the glorious light of his witness to shine in and to impact your attitudes to others. Don’t neglect the major items because you are concentrating so hard on minor issues.
2. SEEKING FAME AND PUBLIC APPLAUSE - They craved the limelight and public applause. Our motives need to be to serve in humility and anonymity. AHA / WHEE
The second disappointment Jesus expresses is in vs 43.
43 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
Synagogues were very different to churches today. In Jesus’ day, everyone wanted to sit in the front seat. Very different to today where we have a whole seat wasted because of “front-seat-ophobia”. But in the synagogues everyone wanted to sit in the front seat because it faced the congregation. It was a seat of importance and honour and the Pharisees would crave the attention that they would get by sitting where you could be seen by everyone.
Likewise, they would love walking through the market place, because they would be greeted with this wonderful saluations that would draw attention to their position and importance. Everyone would hear and know that they were present and it warmed them to the depths of their souls to be known by everyone.
The Pharisees were proud people. They sought to be in the limelight and enjoyed public applause. They believed they were important and wanted to be seen to be just that.
You know, this is one area that I constantly battle in. In my sinful self, I am a proud person – proud of achievements, skills, education … My list goes on and on and I’m not going to share it all with you. I know that this is an area that Satan constantly tempts me in and I often catch thoughts coming into my head from now where that say “I wonder how many people will see me do this” or “Surely this will impress them.” I know that pride is condemned and totally against God’s way of doing things.
Ps 10:4 says that the proud have no room for God.
Pr 21:4 says that a proud heart is the wicked man’s sin.
Prov16:18 says that pride goes before destruction
I don’t want to be proud. I want to serve God in humility and relative anonymity. And therefore, I have to constantly battle to keep my pride in check and not put myself out there for fame and adulation. That is one reason why I hate titles – because for me a title just reinforces my pride. I’d far prefer you call me just David than Pastor David or anything other title that might be due.
Jesus is saying to those in this congregation that are proud, that we need to open up our eyes and see what it is that God wants from us. It is not a proud spirit that seeks to draw attention to yourself. But is needs to be a humility that puts others before yourself and the glory of God as number one.
Mic 6:8 says “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Let us have eyes that are open and hear God’s word and act ways that promote humility rather than pride.
3. MORE A HINDRANCE THAN A HELP - They caused others to be defiled by association with them. How do you lead others astray? AHA / WHEE
The last way the Pharisees were disappointing God is that they actually led others to be defiled.
44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it.”
God is a holy God who is set apart. He demands his people also to be set apart for his service. We need to live blameless and holy lives. In the Old Testament times, God laid down a whole list of things which the people could do that would show that they would pay proper respect to God. They were called cleanliness laws. Things they could or couldn’t touch or things they could or couldn’t do. Most of them were symbolic and were meant to allow people to approach God in worship as pure people. The Pharisees took very seriously their purity and cleanliness.
One of the cleanliness laws was regards dead people. If you came into contact with a dead body, you would be defiled. Even if you walked across a grave, you would be defiled. Now this was a major problem, especially if the grave was unmarked or you were walking in the night. It became such as problem that around the Passover, to protect all the visitors that were coming to Jerusalem to worship God, they would go out and paint all the tombs with white paint. Thus you get the description – “White washed tombs.” This was to make them stand out so that people wouldn’t be made unclean unknowingly and unfit for worship.
But Jesus says here that the Pharisees were like unmarked graves. By their actions and the demands they are placing on others, they are leading others into error and impurity. Instead of leading people to God, they were being a hindrance to them.
Now we don’t have to worry about cleanliness laws today, because through Christ’s blood, we are cleaned and we have free access to God any time we want.
Heb 9:14 says …How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
But just like the Pharisees, we can be still be more of a hindrance to people coming to God than a help.
• Those who are like unmarked graves today are people in the church that have a bad reputation in their workplace or neighbourhoods or families. If you mention that you are a Christian, you get the reaction “Isn’t Joe Bloggs a Christian too? Hmm – I’m not sure I want anything to do with you guys.”
• These are people who are so intent on preserving their holiness that they lose all contact and relationship with non-Christians. They are seek as wacky and strange in the worst kind of way
• These are people who are legalists. They make people think that Christianity is all about a set of rules when it is all about grace and freedom.
You know, I am often saddened when I hear about the reputation of so called Christian sporting teams. They are more often than not, so incredibly competitive, that on the field, they are down right nasty. They back chat the ref, they sledge the opponents, they even sometimes see if they can put one over on the ref in order to win. If they don’t win – they are such sore losers. People on these teams need to sit up and take note, because they are like unmarked graves, living a bad example and being a hindrance to others seeking God
If we are being more of a hindrance than a help in leading people to Christ, then we need to open our eyes and allow God’s light to shine in and show us what needs to change in our lives.
S4 - Let us not be like the Pharisees here who disappointed God. Lets be people who God can bless. YEAH
I think that there tends to be a little bit of Pharisee in all of us.
Some of us are prone to major on the minors.
Some of us are prone to seek fame and applause for ourselves.
Some of us are prone to be more of a hindrance than a help for people seeking God.
What ever your tendancy - and you know it quite well don’t you - you need to be willing to open up your eyes and see Jesus. God has been speaking to some of you here this morning and his voice is crystal clear. You know what he is asking you to do in response to this message. Allow the glory of his word and the witness of his person come into your life. Let it illuminate your soul and then commit yourself to act in obedience as He directs. Everything He asks you to do will make you less like a Pharisee and more like Christ Himself. Will you open your eyes and see, hear and act? Let’s live lives that aren’t the cause of Woe for Jesus, but of thanksgiving.
