INTRODUCTION
„X Read some of the ¡§You might be from Missouri¡¨ jokes.
„X Have you ever walked out of a restroom with a trail to toilet paper trailing behind you? Have you ever been caught in one of those embarrassing situations in which everyone around you knew that something was not quite right except for you? You knew something was not right when you noticed everyone laughing at you or someone had to come up and tell you something wrong.
„X What about some of the Redneck jokes out there. Have you ever listened to them and said, ¡§what¡¦s wrong with that?¡¨
„X Sometimes we have deeper problems that take courage for someone to confront us with.
„X This is the problem that the religious leaders of Jesus day had. They had a deep problem that Jesus was going to confront them with.
„X The religious leaders let their religion get in the way of a true relationship with God. These people got so wrapped up in their little man-made rules that they lost their love and passion for God.
„X Jesus was always in trouble with these people because he did not keep their man-made rules. The religious leaders were so focused on their religion that they could not even recognize who Jesus was.
„X There’s a little Pharisee in all of us. Harmful though it is, we find a lot of security in our iron bars and solid walls.... Tragically, this ball-and-chain mentality keeps us from giving ourselves in fresh, innovative ways to others. - Charles R. Swindoll (1934- )
„X We fall into this trap sometimes. I have come across people who know all the ¡§rules¡¨ they know how to say the right things, but along the way they have lost their faith and love for Jesus. They traded their love for Jesus for guarding rules that more times than not have very little to do with loving Jesus.
„X I heard a sermon in chapel once at college where the speaker proudly proclaimed that he was a ¡§Christian Pharisee¡¨. Is that what Jesus called us to be? We are called to be faithful, we are called to be obedient, BUT we are also called to love the Lord God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, we are also to love our neighbor as ourselves.
„X In our text today we will see the marks of a Pharisee. Let us look at these marks and see if we are hooked on rules or are we hooked on Jesus.
You might be a Pharisee if¡K
SERMON
I. YOU WORK MORE AT LOOKING GOOD THAN DOING GOOD 37-42
A. Jesus was invited to dine at the home of a Pharisee. It was tradition that a person was to dip their hands into a container of water to make sure that they were ceremonially clean. Jesus did not do this. The Pharisee probably had look on his face of surprise. Jesus starts speaking to him.
B. The religious leaders were good at looking good.
C. Can you imagine going to a person¡¦s house to eat. From a distance, the table looks great, the dishes look very clean, but then when you get to the table you notice that the plates and cups have old moldy looking stuff growing in the inside of them.
D. The religious leaders spent so much time trying to look good on the outside, they forgot to clean themselves up in the inside.
E. In verse 41 Jesus is telling them to give what is inside of the plates and cups to the needy without putting on a show, just do it for the love of God. Just do it to help others.
F. In verse 42 we have the first of six ¡§woes¡¨ in this passage.
G. EXPLAIN VERSE 42. It is like inviting someone over for supper, then you spend so much time cleaning up for the dinner that you forget to cook the dinner.
H. If we keep all of the ¡§rules¡¨ and forget to reach out in love to other people, we are missing the boat. If we are spending more time trying to look good than we are trying to clean up our hearts, we have missed the boat.
I. In Matthew 23:23-24 Jesus said on another occasion to the religious leaders, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
J. We can look good be coming to church and doing other things that others can see, but to clean up our hearts takes discipline.
You might be a Pharisee if¡K
II. YOU SEEK THE ATTENTION OF OTHERS 43
A. Wanting to be noticed by others motivated the Pharisee¡¦s. On several occasions Jesus spoke of the fact that they wanted the applause of man instead of pleasing God.
B. MAT 6:1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. MAT 6:5 "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
C. In Matthew 23:5-7 Jesus said about the religious leaders, "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. "They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.
D. Are we motivated to do what we do so that other people will see how righteous we are? Do we come to church because we love Jesus and want to be with His people, or are we worried what other people will think if we are not here? Do we give to have our name put on something or do we give because we love Jesus?
E. Sometimes attention will come to us, but are we seeking it, is that what motivates us?
You might be a Pharisee if¡K
III. YOU CONTAMINATE OTHERS WITH LEGALISM 44
A. In verse 44 Jesus tells the religious leaders that they are making other people unclean by their example.
B. In the Old Testament, (Numbers 19) you were considered unclean if you walked over a person¡¦s grave. The people used to whitewash tombs so that people would see them so that they would not be unclean by accidentally coming in contact with the grave.
C. Jesus is telling these people that by their actions and attitudes, they were contaminating people.
D. These people were not spreading the love of God, but they were infecting people with legalism. Laws about LORD. He laws were lord to them.
E. The religious leaders were dead inside and they were killing other people.
F. In MATTHEW 23:27-28 Jesus said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
You might be a Pharisee if¡K
IV. YOU WORK AT STEALING OTHER¡¦S JOY IN CHRIST 45-46
A. In these verses, Jesus says that the leaders were stealing people¡¦s joy by weighing them down with rules that the leaders were not even willing to follow.
B. There is nothing that will take the joy out of serving Jesus quicker than constant criticism form people telling you that you did not do it right.
C. We have to be careful that we allow people to have grace in their lives. We are all at different maturity levels. Do you hold you 3 years old to the same standards of conduct that you would your 15 year old?
D. We have to be careful to teach people the truth, we need to teach them what is acceptable to Jesus and what is not, but we better not dump it all on them at once. Let them grow and learn.
E. I think that some people feel that if you are enjoying being a Christian, there is something wrong.
F. Jesus came to give us joy! Do you have joy? Are you happy when you see others have joy?
You might be a Pharisee if¡K
V. REJECT THE MESSENGER AND THE MESSENGER BECAUSE YOU DON¡¦T LIKE THE MESSAGE 47-51 (53-54)
A. In verse 47 we have the fifth of six woes listed.
B. Jesus is telling the people that they were willing to honor the dead prophets that their forefathers killed, but they were not willing to obey them.
C. Verse 49 tells us that God was going to send more prophets and apostles that the people would kill because they would not like their message.
D. The religious leaders liked being religious more than they loved God. Jesus was trying to get them to change, but they did not like what He had to say. The leaders had Jesus killed because if they followed Him, they would not be the big cheeses that people looked to for guidance.
E. In verse 51, Jesus said that they killed ALL of the prophets from Abel, to Zechariah (who was the last prophet in the Hebrew Canon).
F. Today people will run the preacher out of town if he starts hitting them where they live instead of listening to him.
G. LOOK AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER
H. When you hear something that makes you feel uncomfortable, what do you do? Heed the message or get mad at the messenger?
You might be a Pharisee if¡K
VI. YOUR IGNORANCE OF GOD BLOCKS OTHERS FROM ENTERING THE KINGDOM 52
A. The religious leaders were supposed to help people get closer to God, not only did they fail at that, they blocked people from God¡¦s kingdom by what they taught.
B. The Pharisee¡¦s were so busy teaching the people their rules that they did not take the time to teach them about the love of God.
C. These people were leading people away from Jesus to the point that they rejected Him.
D. When we share Jesus with people, let¡¦s make sure that we are sharing Jesus with them. It is easy to get caught up in the Do¡¦s and don¡¦ts that we neglect to tell them about what Jesus can do for them.
E. Don¡¦t be the one that hinders others from coming into the kingdom.
CONCLUSION
„X What did Jesus call us to? Did He call us to be rule keepers our disciples?
„X Disciples will keep rules, but keeping rules will not be what our walk with Jesus is all about.
„X You see, if you love Jesus, and if you are growing in Christ, guess what happens, you life your life within God¡¦s will.
„X If you will focus on Jesus, you will do what you should do and you will stay away from what you should not do.
„X The religious leaders were so blinded by their religion that they missed Jesus.
„X Can that happen today? YES IT CAN.
„X How do we keep it from happening? WE do it by keeping our eyes on Jesus. We do it by pointing other people to Jesus.
„X I do not want to be known as a religious person, I want to be known as a follower of Jesus.
„X Do not let your ¡§religion¡¨ get in the way of Jesus.
„X Today I am not going to invite you to get ¡§religious¡¨, I am going to invite to get Jesus!
„X Jesus did not come to burden you with rules, He came so that you can have a relationship! Will you come.
