Text:, Title: Ditchin’ Religion, Date/Place: NRBC, Carver Baptist Church, 3/11-12/12, PM
A. Opening illustration: Quote from Not A Fan, page 25, about stadiums with enthusiastic fans, but no interested in the pain of following. Have a brief discussion on how we describe the best Christians that we know.
B. Background to passage: Jesus says for us to follow Him. And deep within each of us there is a part of us that doesn’t want to follow Him because He might call us do something that we are uncomfortable with. And so we do lots of other stuff that we think will appease Him, and will definitely appease our conscience, in hopes that we can stop just shy of the blank check. And there is another part of us that desires to know how to follow Him (or else you wouldn’t be here tonight). And the system that have had in the south for a long time gets in the way. It gets in the way in Peru (share some of their catholic innoculation), and it gets in the way here. It’s religion. Jesus dealt with it in His day, and it got Him killed. So I may offend some of you tonight, but it is not your toes that I am aiming to step on (or even crush), but your hearts. You see, knowing Christ is about connecting with Him on an intimate level, desiring Him, and being satisfied with Him; longing for Him and seeking Him while experiencing Him to the point of being ravished with His person. Worship is not simply about singing songs or preaching, it is about connecting with Christ coporately, and privately. And many in Jesus’ day were trapped in it, and many of us are too. So if we desire for God to do a fresh work of cultivation in our hearts, we must be prepared to throw off the top layer of grass that has grown in since the harvest. O, it’s pretty, and soft, and lust, and comfortable, but it prevents growth! “The default mode of the human heart is religion,” -Luther
C. Main thought: Seven results of religion
A. Keeping People Out (v. 13)
1. 1) By testifying to our lack of transformation. When people see hypocrisy, it causes them not to want be a Christian. We pharisees like to preach a lot, and do a little. We like to preach against drinking and adultery, while gluttony, anger, pride, greed don’t preach as well. 2) By giving a gospel of works and self-righteousness. Religion likes to give lists of things to do to be a “good Christian.” And unfortunately what happens is many think that being a Christian is about doing Christian things – going to church, reading the bible, praying a lot. How many unsaved people do these things weekly, believe they are OK, but have never experienced Christ?
2. Mar 2:18,
3. Illustration: what’s the #1 reason that you hear for people not wanting to be a Christian, and we have to acknowledge that it has some validity, tell about the woman who gave me down the road about Journey “letting people come to church once, and think they have done enough.”
4. When we are fake, it is very unattractive. Because even lost people know that our faith carries with it some moral standards. Being religious instead of real causes people to try really hard at doing works that they can’t do alone. If people are trusting in their Christian things to get them to heaven, they will be dissappointed. Being a Christian is about staking your hope and faith in Christ alone. Sure those things will come, but they are not the means.
B. Make Sons of Satan (v. 15)
1. Training them to judge others and feel self-sufficient and self-righteous. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were the spawn of Satan in John 8:44. And now they are told that they make converts twice as much. They were passing on their hyper-criticalism, pride, and self-sufficiency. But note that they were very mission minded. In fact they went on mission trips to share their faith. They had all the marks of spirituality, but they didn’t really know God.
2. John 8:44,
3. Illustration: the condemning attitude that I had after first getting saved, so that the family wouldn’t even tell me when sinful things happened. I condemned non-Christian music, pants in church on women, and anything but a KJV. Wilkinson’s sermon about the three chairs,
4. Normally the student far out paces the teacher. But rather than disciple people to think through issues and pursue God, they taught them to accept the rules and pursue reputation.
C. Devalue the King (v. 16-22)
1. Because no fear of God, and importance is shifted to less important things. They would make these little rules that allowed them to promise but not keep it. They were not afraid of God, they just wanted to get their way if they needed an out. In doing so they demostrated their lack of concern for truth, integrity, or the God of both. They were randoming picking things that were “important” and focusing on them.
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration: remember the checklists of things that we did for God that week? There was never a box that said “how central is God in your heart?” or “rank your joy this week in Him in your personal time?”
4. What if God really was a god that approved of sancitified lying? Do we use God to acheive other ends? Status in the community, benefits of membership, heaven, perks at the hospital?
D. Miss the Main Point (v. 23-24)
1. The point is the glorify Christ, and even if you keep all the minutia, and you fail to hit the big targets: you fail. They would focus on extra laws to show how spiritual they were, and forsake loving other people. They were elevating religion over people.
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration: missing the deer, and hitting the tree, life-saving station, peopel worried about the dirt on the carpet, or the noise from the SS class, “those homeschool families...” sometimes our politics get in the way of our witness – illegal immigration
4. How often do we dictate policy without regard for how it affects others? Have you ever invited a homosexual to your church? Tell about Mary calling up to the church, tell about her first Wed night. What if Philip just discontinued SS this week for the whole church?
E. Point in the Wrong Direction (v. 25-26)
1. Encouraging people to judge on externals. They wore the big philacteries, they marred their faces to look fasting, they wore long tassles, and sat in the best seats. And they judged people who didn’t do it all right.
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration: tell about the man who said he didn’t think that he could come anymore because he couldn’t wear a tie because he couldn’t get the collar buttoned. Confession: bibles in the pews at Northside Baptist Church in Valdosta,
4. What about those that may have tattoos or peircings? What about flip-flops and shorts? Dark stage and coffee in the sanctuary?
F. Walk in Filth (v. 27-28)
1. Not dealing with inner impurity. It is the sins of the heart that God is truly concerned about.
2. Matt 15:18-19,
3. Illustration:
4. God is really concerned that you yell at your spouse and children and then smile at church on Sunday mornings. God is really concerned that you enjoy an extra long gaze admiring his handiwork as that woman passes by. (Yes, she should have some more clothes on, but the bible says its your adultery) Yes, God is concerned about what you watch on TV at night when your kids are in bed. Yes, God is concerned that you hate your neighbor, or look down on them because they let their dogs come into your yard. God is concerned that you lead in the youth, but you are disrespectful to your parents at home. God is concerned that you think about that new iPhone or deer rifle or purse or that boy more that you do Him!
G. Perpetuate Blindness (v. 29-30)
1. Unable to see your own sin, overestimate your own goodness
2. Luke 18:11-12,
3. Illustration: Not A Fan, p. 73, about assuming it’s talking about someone else. “the pot calling the kettle black,” – Mackenzie telling us that Kaitlann is argumentative,
4. And this is what really kills our testimony. Others can see our shortcomings, inadequacies, and hypocrisies, but most of us are willfully blind. And when people do try to help us see them, we become self-defensive and angry, even though theologically we know that our hearts are desperately wicked.
Closing illustration: the man who asked if we allowed African Americans at our church. Blaise Pascal was a French mathematical genius who was born June 19, 1623. After running from God until he was 31 years old, on November 23, 1654 at 10:30 pm, Pascal met God and was profoundly and unshakably converted to Jesus Christ. He wrote it down on a piece of parchment and sewed into his coat where it was found after his death eight years later. It said,
Year of grace 1654, Monday 23 November, feast of St. Clement . . . from about half past ten at night to about half an hour after midnight, FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of philosophers and scholars. Certitude, heartfelt joy, peace. God of Jesus Christ. God of Jesus Christ. "My God and your God." . . . Joy, Joy, Joy, tears of joy. . . Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. May I never be separated from him.
A. Therefore, you must come to a realization that religion as usual will not cut it anymore. You will not be satisfied with mediocre religion, mediocre prayer time, lackluster commitment, apathetic worship, untransformed lives that do not have consistent, passionate encounters with Christ. You have to desire Christ! And it may be that you need to pray for God to change your desires. But the Christian life is about you having a daily, initimate, passionate walk with Jesus; your obedience and commitment flowing from love for God and for others; your heart being transformed into the image of His; and your life putting that on display for His glory. The Christian life is not about you or what you do for God, it is about Him and what He has done for you! It is not about the image we project, but about the heart that we protect! It is not about condemnation, but about the love of the God of the universe that was demostrated on a cross as His Son was brutally murdered for the sins that we would commit!
B. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
