Track 3
Track 4.
Track 11.
Jesus is talking to the Pharisees Matthew 23
Matthew 23
Religious Fashion Shows
1Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. 2"The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. 3You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.
4"Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help. 5Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. 6They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, 7preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called "Doctor’ and "Reverend.’
8"Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. 9Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of "Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. 10And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them--Christ.
11"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. 12If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.
Frauds!
13"I’ve had it with you! You’re hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God’s kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won’t let anyone else in either.
15"You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.
16"You’re hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, "If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that’s nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that’s serious.’ 17What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the skin on your hands? 18And what about this piece of trivia: "If you shake hands on a promise, that’s nothing; but if you raise your hand that God is your witness, that’s serious’? 19What ridiculous hairsplitting! What difference does it make whether you shake hands or raise hands? 20 -22A promise is a promise. What difference does it make if you make your promise inside or outside a house of worship? A promise is a promise. God is present, watching and holding you to account regardless.
23"You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment--the absolute basics!-you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. 24Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?
25"You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. 26Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.
27"You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. 28People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds.
29"You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You build granite tombs for your prophets and marble monuments for your saints. 30And you say that if you had lived in the days of your ancestors, no blood would have been on your hands. 31You protest too much! You’re cut from the same cloth as those murderers, 32and daily add to the death count.
33"Snakes! Reptilian sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper? 34It’s on account of people like you that I send prophets and wise guides and scholars generation after generation--and generation after generation you treat them like dirt, greeting them with lynch mobs, hounding them with abuse.
35"You can’t squirm out of this: Every drop of righteous blood ever spilled on this earth, beginning with the blood of that good man Abel right down to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah’s son, whom you murdered at his prayers, is on your head. 36All this, I’m telling you, is coming down on you, on your generation.
37"Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Murderer of prophets! Killer of the ones who brought you God’s news! How often I’ve ached to embrace your children, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you wouldn’t let me. 38And now you’re so desolate, nothing but a ghost town. 39What is there left to say? Only this: I’m out of here soon. The next time you see me you’ll say, "Oh, God has blessed him! He’s come, bringing God’s rule!’"
Attack of the clones.
We have this idea in the church that certain sins are ok, and certain sins are not. It is like we have two lists. One is a list of “allowable sins” within the church; you can complete the list.
On the other list we have another set of sins that are “Taboo”: they are the ones that we sit back and whisper about.
You can complete this list too.
Last night the casting crowns concert was awesome.
The thing about casting crowns is they are all still involved in ministry And their leader Mark hall is still involved in youth ministry.
They say that music is born from a musician’s heart.
This is true for casting crowns.
Their heart is ministry and their music is born out of their ministry.
Mark Hall told the story of this teen age girl whom his youth group could have reached, but due to the list and the pious attitudes of some of the people in the church they lost her.
In his first album he began a story. He talked about she sneaked in from the back, and their whispers and giggles carried further than they knew.
The story continues in this song. Does anybody hear her?
I heard this story and I thought of some churches that I know which have had this attitude. My heart broke thinking of the people whom had been seeking answers from the church and were disappointed by the Pharisees and Sadducees of the church.
I remember when my journey began as a call to evangelism. In the beginning it was unclear but I prayed and God said as he often does trust me. I was obedient and just continued praying and getting equipped to do the work he had called me to do.
Once the vision for church planting became clear I remember praying for God to give me a heart for the un-churched. I used to be one of those who would sit back in judgment of others. Just 5 short years into this journey my passion for the un-churched/lost is stronger than it has ever been. But it took God humbling me. Listen to what Paul says.
Continue with story
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (New International Version)
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
While I would never suggest that God causes bad things to happen to us, I do think he is constantly working to teach us through adversity. After all one of the greatest lessons we have ever learned comes from witnessing the adversity of Jesus.
The ultimate goal of adversity is to increase our trust in God by keeping us focused on His ability. Prior to my call I went through some strong adversity. I did things that I was not proud of while I was rebelling against God. For a while Satan tried to use it against me. How can you call yourself a minister? Who is going to listen to a minister who did that? Eventually, God helped me realize that He could use that adversity if I would give it to him. The result was no longer a pious of attitude of I am better than they are.
You see prior to this I resembled the Pharisees. Trying to convert people and making them into a clone of me. I still now people that sit around with this Pharisaical attitude whispering in the corners of the church as people walk in.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:12
God allowed my pride to puff me up to the point that I ultimately failed and was humbled as a result. God uses the experience to allow me to practiced a more graceful living. Lessons from this portion.
1. The American church has become a culture-Let’s be careful we do not fall in this trap.
2. We all have an idea of what a Christian looks and acts like.
3. Don’t make them into clones
4. Remember Jesus model. Woman at the well and adulterous woman-
1. My Point-remember every individual is unique, and has unique experiences, circumstances and adversity. Rather than judging them Love them, do not save them as an attempt to clone your self and your Christian experience.
2. The Second thing that goes along with this is Remember Jesus created the church for the purposes of helping others. Mark told the story of when he was young he went to the church expecting that they would help him. He said there were plenty of people there that needed help physically. He said they Prayed for heads, backs, Legs, arms, kidneys and gizzards. But there were no spiritual needs. He said the result was isolation.
Listen to the song
Casting Crowns - Stained Glass Masquerade Lyrics
Is there anyone that fails
Is there anyone that falls
Am I the only one in church today feelin’ so small
Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they’ll soon discover
That I don’t belong
So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the heart again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them
Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade
Is there anyone who’s been there
Are there any hands to raise
Am I the only one who’s traded
In the altar for a stage
The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart
But would it set me free
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be
Would your arms be open
Or would you walk away
Would the love of Jesus
Be enough to make you stay
That’s what church has become. We have all been hurt by the gossip who took the Matter of “prayer to her friends, and they took it as matter of “prayer” to their friends. They allowed themselves to be used by Satan, and the result was the church is filled with “Unspoken” requests. Satan uses these unspoken requests and secrets to continue to torture and torment these people.
Gods way of doing things is to have an accountability circle. A Circles of Friends, Jesus had 12 and among those twelve he had the “One he loved” He had one with whom he could share anything. Maybe if we were more open about our difficulties in the journey it would help someone else. My mother now uses her adversity to minister to others.
3. Lets practice Grace-full living as Christians, and God will provide us grace. "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Matthew 7:1)
4. Live your Life song.- I once was lost, but now I’m found I once was lost, but now I’m found
So far away, but I’m home now
I once was lost, but now I’m found
And my lifesong sings
I once was blind, but now I see
I once was blind, but now I see
I don’t know how, but when He touched me
I once was blind, but now I see
And now my lifesong sings
And now my lifesong sings
And now my lifesong sings
I once was dead, but now I live
I once was dead, but now I live
Now my life to You I give
Now my life to You I give
Now my life to You I give
If you allow a fresh touch from God, Allow him to remove the blinders of piety, pride, and selfishness, He will heal your blindness, You will Live again. Give your life, not a portion, not a corner, but the entire life to him. Let your life song sing. God created you for a purpose. The earlier you realize your purpose the more you can do for Him.
and your life song can sing. Don’t go down under the shadow of the steeple.
