Straining Gnats and Swallowing Camels
MT 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
This passage is right in the midst of a larger context of Jesus condemning the Pharisees on seven counts. As we know, the Pharisees were very proud of their observance of the Law. Most of these condemnations start out with Jesus mentioning some drastic way in which the Pharisees keep the Law. And in this case, he talks about the extremes that they go to in order to make sure they pay the full tithe. About 10 years or so ago, I started noticing something in the stores called Chia Pets. These were clay animals that you would rub seeds across. Then you put water inside the clay, and the animal grows a nice plant all around it. After a few years, they came up with a new idea, called the Chia Herb Garden. Instead of buying dried herbs and spices, you could plant your own fresh herbs. Then when you wanted to season a dish, you just cut some off and use it. Now, let’s imagine that you bought one of those Chia Herb Gardens. When you have ten leaves, do you need bring one to God? When you’ve grown nine pots of herbs, do you have to bring the next pot to the church and toss it in the offering box? If I stood up here and told you that, you might think that I was crazy. At the least you would think that I was very strict. That would be a very strict interpretation of the Law of Tithing.
So did Jesus want to condemn the Pharisees for being too strict? Was his problem that they were too committed to tithing? Absolutely not! In fact, the Law of Moses did require them to tithe on ALL of their increase, including whatever they grew in their gardens. Sometimes we think of the Pharisees and how strict they were and then we see Jesus condemning them and we think that this is why. We can conclude that Jesus must not like people who are so zealous. I’ve heard too many people, even people who say they are Christians, use the old proverb, “everything in moderation,” and try to apply it to Christianity. They say that Christianity is a good part of your life, but it shouldn’t be the only focus of your life. But Jesus is no proponent of this kind of wishy-washy faith. Jesus was the exact opposite. He was a religious revolutionary. He called for extraordinary measures. He was the one who said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” He was the one who required “hatred” of your father and mother in order to follow him. He was the one who told some to sell all that they had and give it to the poor. Jesus is indeed looking for zealous followers. He is looking for people who are willing to sell all the small pearls they have to buy the pearl of great price. He is looking for people who are willing to give up their life, so that they may gain it.
So the problem with the Pharisees was not their zealousness. It wasn’t that they were too strict or observed the Law too closely. The complain Jesus has with the Pharisees is what I’d like to call their “selective zealousness.” In the end, he tells them that they should not have neglected their tithing. The solution was not to become less zealous in their tithing. But I believe that their strict observance of the Law was to hide the fact that they could not really keep the Law. Indeed, Jesus says here, “But you have neglected the more important matters of the law…” However, the word which is translated here as “more important” is the word “weightier.” And indeed, when we say something has more weight, we can be speaking of its importance. But weight also speaks of difficulty. Many times, Jesus referred to the Law, and especially the observances of the Pharisees as a heavy burden. And when we view the word “weightier” in this way, we get the idea that they have neglected the “harder” part of the Law to keep.
You see, anybody can give a tithe. All it requires is carrying something to the Church and giving it. Certainly, Jesus is not discounting the tithe here. Sometimes it takes great faith and trust to give the tithe. Sometimes when we have very little, it’s hard to give that 10% to God, because we don’t know how we’re going to survive without it. Nevertheless, it’s still something that anyone can do. Tithing doesn’t require a change of heart. One man can bring his tithe every week and curse God throughout the week. Another can bring his tithe and earn the very money he’s tithing on by dishonest means. Another can bring the tithe and hate his brother or sister. Another can carry his tithe and ignore the needs of those around him. You see bringing the tithe amounts to little more than a ritual, in and of itself. When we give the tithe as a demonstration of our gratitude to God for giving to us and of our faith that he will continue to provide, then it is a precious thing. But the ritual can be followed without any of the deeper meaning. And then the ritual is meaningless.
Now, imagine with me for a minute that I’m at work. And someone asks me to fix their computer. When I arrive, I discover that this problem would be too hard for me to fix. So instead of opening up the computer and fixing it I dust the computer. And then I decide that it still doesn’t look nice, so I get some soap and I scrub that computer down. It’s still a little dirty, so I decide to paint the case of the computer. When the person returns, they may think I’m the best computer technician ever. They’ll see their computer looking brand new. They’ll be very impressed with my work, but not for long. Soon they’ll try to turn the computer on and see that I haven’t fixed the problem. Because I thought the problem would be too hard to fix, I focused instead on what I could do easily to make it presentable. But that computer is useless. They still cannot use it.
And this is what the Pharisees did. They knew they couldn’t keep the whole Law. In fact, it was the most important, fundamental part of the Law that they couldn’t keep. So, instead of working toward it, they just ignored that part. They ignored the difficult part of the Law and worked instead on the easy part. And they became so good at doing the easy part. They were zealous—with the easy part. They were strict—with the easy part. But Jesus said that wasn’t good enough. In fact, in vs. 27, he says that they are “like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are filled with dead men’s bones and everything unclean.” Here Jesus was coming with Resurrection power—power to bring new life where there was spiritual death, but they were satisfied to paint the tombs. And it was this sort of selective zealousness that Jesus condemned them for. Yes, they should be committed to the easy, external parts of the Law. But they ought to be equally committed to the more difficult parts of the Law.
Jesus then names what those more difficult and more important matters of the Law are: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. And it seems that though we have moved a long way from the Pharisees, both in time and in our actions, we still sometimes neglect these important matters of the Law. It seems to me that the Church, at least the True Church, has done a good job of fighting hard for morality in our country, in a time when morality is declining. We have stood against open acceptance of homosexuality; we have stood against abortion; we have stood, at least in our words, against marital unfaithfulness and premarital promiscuity; we have opposed drugs; we have fought to try to return prayer to our schools. But let me begin to make my point with this story:
“When Dr. Richard Halverson was the U.S. Senate chaplain, he spoke before a group of evangelicals who had expressed their anger about Congress’ inactivity on the subject of school prayer. They were irritated that Congress had not acted with a strong initiative to restore prayer in schools. To these who were seeking greater initiative from the government, Dr. Halverson asked, ‘How many of you have prayed with your children this month, outside of church?’ Nobody raised their hand.” It’s easy to be vocal and stand against something or to stand for something. It’s easy to sign a petition or preach against sin. But it is so much harder to live out the things we stand for. It is so much harder to really apply the important things to our lives than just to claim a moral message and stand by it. And sometimes we can become involved with good things, because it makes us to busy to deal with other important things.
In spite of the fact that we’ve done a relatively good job as the Church in standing for the moral good, I fear that we, like the Pharisees did, often neglect the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
When Jesus made this statement, it wasn’t entirely a new statement. In fact, it seems that he was echoing the words of the prophet Micah in the Old Testament.
MIC 6:6 With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
MIC 6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
MIC 6:8 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.
We know that God inaugurated the sacrificial system, so he cannot possibly be against it. And in fact there are many times when sacrifices made to God are a pleasing aroma to God. However, in this case, Micah is saying that the sacrifices cannot please God. The outward, easy works of sacrifice cannot please God any more than the tithing of the Pharisees pleased God. Because these things will only please God when they are combined with the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness. So, God can be pleased by our stand for morality, but only if we also demonstrate our love for justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
I. Justice – Justice is preserving what is “just” or “right.” We often think of justice as a legal term. We say that justice has been served when someone gets what they deserved. If they committed a crime and they are convicted, then we say that their punishment brings about justice. When someone is wronged and that wrong is righted in court, then we call that justice. Justice is what is fair. Justice is how we right a wrong.
Now, I’m sure we all know that God is revealed as holy in the Old Testament. But God is also revealed to be just in the Old Testament.
PS 11:7 For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.
Not only does God love what is right and just, but just as God in his holiness required holiness from his people, so God in his justice required justice from his people. From the very beginning of the Law, justice was one of the major themes of the Law. There were several laws put in place that ensured proper treatment not only of fellow Israelite brothers, but also of foreigners. Just one example of God’s specific commandment toward justice in the Law is:
LEV 19:15 " `Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
And in fact, when we come to the prophets speaking out against the sins of Israel, one of the biggest sins that they speak out against is injustice. Isaiah especially speaks many many times of the injustice of the Israelites, of the way they perverted justice. Over and over we see the reverse of the command from Leviticus. We see God’s complaint against his people as “you have perverted justice.” It’s interesting that I don’t see any homosexuality or abortions going on among God’s people. The prophets speak of adultery only as a metaphor for idolatry. God severely judged his people by vomiting them out of the land that he had given them, but it wasn’t for any of the things that we would consider to the be the horrible sins of our land. (And certainly God hates these sins. And certainly God wants us to stand against these sins!) But God judged his people for the sin of injustice.
Now what is meant by justice? Does it mean that we cannot let a criminal go free? Am I about to defend the death penalty saying that God demands justice? No. I’ll leave those sorts of issues for another day. God is very interested in that kind of justice, in fact his demands are just as high for that type of justice. However, I would propose that this legal kind of justice is the easy kind. And if we focus too much on this type, we may neglect the more difficult justice that God speaks of, which is the same injustice for which he judged Israel.
To illustrate what is meant by justice, let me demonstrate a few of the places in which the word is used.
EX 23:6 "Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
LEV 19:15 " `Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
PR 29:7 The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.
DT 27:19 "Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow."
Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
ISA 1:17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
I hope that you observed in these verses like I did that this justice or injustice tends to fall into a certain category of people. That people is the poor and the disadvantaged. And the natural tendency in our fallen world is for the poor and the disadvantaged to become downtrodden. The tendency is for them to be pushed even lower. And even many people use their position to take advantage of the poor. Without even thinking twice in our culture it’s so easy to take advantage of someone when they’re down. When there is a need, they great American sales force tries to think of a way to meet that need. It’s not because they care, but because they want to think of a way to capitalize on that need. And this sort of thinking can so easily creep into the Christian’s life. After all, we’re fighting for what is right. We’re fighting for morality.
But “what is right” includes the right treatment of the poor and the disadvantaged. “What is right” doesn’t allow for us gaining at somebody else’s expense. And indeed in the Law there are many specific rules about how to deal with these people. And maybe the Pharisees kept most or all of these rules right down to the letter. But these rules that were intended to ensure justice for the poor did not, because the people found ways around the Law. They kept the letter of the Law, but they did not keep the intent of the Law. Luckily for you, I’m not going to list all of these rules for you this evening. The reason for that is that it’s not important. Because keeping the letter doesn’t ensure that the purpose or intent of the Law will be fulfilled. That is why Jesus so many times pointed out the intent of the Law. And by keeping the intent, you don’t have to worry about the details, because they’ll fall into place.
II. This leads directly to the second matter that Jesus said was of great importance—mercy. This mercy is also known as compassion. And if you have compassion on people who are poor or disadvantaged, surely you’re not going to take advantage of them. The natural outflow of compassion is seeking justice for the poor. That is why Jesus was able to say that the second greatest commandment, the one that summed up all of our responsibility to our fellow man was “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 22:39) It is our love for people that will help us to seek justice on their behalf, and indeed to act justly toward them ourselves.
But once again, sometimes we’re too busy shouting out against some sin or another to love people. Standing against sin is easy compared to loving people. But this is God’s intention for us.
Paul was able to say:
1CO 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
If we could only understand that, how much better off we would be. If this fact only got deep down into our hearts, we would be well on our way to winning the battle. If we stand against sin, but we have no love for this sinner then it’s useless. If we say that we stand for justice and what is right, but have no compassion to benefit someone who is downtrodden then it’s useless.
The trouble is that the people who need our love and compassion are sometimes so difficult to love. The ones that need our love the most in this world are the ones that require a most demanding love. It’s easy to love your rich neighbor, because that doesn’t cost you anything. But it’s difficult to love your poor brother or sister—Oh, it’s easy to say that you love them. It’s easy to tell them that you love them. But it’s hard to really love them, because really loving them will cost you something. James talked about our responsibility to our brothers and sisters when he said:
James 2:15, 16 “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?”
In this passage James is talking about faith. He’s talking to spiritual people. These people thought that their response to their brothers and sisters was spiritual and adequate. And often we may think that we are fulfilling our requirements toward people when we only try to meet their spiritual needs or when we think of their physical needs, but we try to solve them only through spiritual means. James is not speaking against the spiritual, but what he’s saying is that if we have an opportunity to demonstrate God’s love to someone by meeting their physical needs then we have a responsibility to do it.
I was so happy last week when I read the flyer about the program that our church was sponsoring to help people. I loved it because I’m convinced that this was something that Jesus would have done. Jesus wasn’t just interested in adding numbers to his following, but Jesus was interested in people. Many times throughout his ministry the Gospel writers record that he was moved to compassion. It’s great for us to be evangelistic. If we could only be more evangelistic! It’s great for us to care about people’s spiritual needs and meet those needs for them. But if we try to do this, but we are not moved to compassion for the people, then we will fail. Too often the world perceives that we are not really interested in them. We are not really interested in their needs and problems. We just want to get them saved. We have a way that we call evangelism: soul winning. And we’re so interested in winning souls, that we forget that Jesus also loves these people’s bodies. Jesus wants to save people. Jesus cares for people. And he has called us to be agents of his love here on the earth.
And again James said in James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Hosea 6:6a records, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice…” We focus, and we should, on the spiritual parts of Christianity, spoken of here as sacrifice. But God wants us, without neglecting the spiritual, to also be merciful and compassionate.
III. Faithfulness – the third thing that Jesus condemned the Pharisees for was unfaithfulness. It was easy for them to put on a show of righteousness. It was easy when they were in public to act spiritual. It was easy for them to pay the tithe once a week. But God was not interested in that. God wasn’t interested in being segmented in their lives. Instead, he demands that we give everything to him.
Faithfulness is consistency. Faithfulness is integrity. Faithfulness means that what I say or hear on Sunday it what I practice throughout the week. Faithfulness is that what I do in public I do in private. Faithfulness means that the spirituality that is put on display is the real spirituality that rules in my life.
God said to Israel in Hosea 6:4, “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew it disappears.” He then goes on to describe the punishment that is coming on them for this unfaithfulness. In fact, the theme of the book of Hosea is the unfaithfulness of God’s people. Hosea marries a prostitute to demonstrate that just as a prostitute is unfaithful to her husband, so Israel was unfaithful to her God. And this unfaithfulness demonstrated itself in idolatry.
Now, I hope that we don’t worship idols. But what is idolatry? Idolatry may be anything that we put ahead of God. If we have neglected God, if we have been unfaithful to God by turning to some desire of the flesh, then we have committed the same sin. We have been unfaithful to God. But as I mentioned in the beginning, Jesus isn’t looking for half-hearted commitment, but he’s looking for people who are willing to be faithful to him. Over and over Jesus condemned the Pharisees for being hypocrites. And that word hypocrites had the meaning of “play actors on a stage.” They were willing to act as if they followed God. They were willing to play the charades as if they were righteous. But God wasn’t interested. And God still is not interested in our acting like Christians. Jesus is not interested in us putting on a show. But he wants people who are consistently and faithfully committed—both to moral righteousness and to justice and compassionate.
He would say to us today as he did to unfaithful Israel:
HOS 2:19 I will betroth you to me forever, I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
