INTRODUCTION
• It has been said, “The number one cause of atheism is Christians. Those who proclaim God with their mouths and deny Him with their lifestyles is what an unbelieving world finds simply unbelievable.” (Christianity Today, 2001)
• Why would a Christian Magazine make such a statement about the Christian faith?
• Why has the church lost a lot of its credibility with society? Why is it that on any given Sunday our church will have around 90 people in attendance instead of the better that 145 that we should have here each week?
• Could it be that something is missing in our faith? Could our faith be placed in the wrong places? Do we not understand what God expects from us when we come to Jesus?
• At my home church in Vandalia, MO, the bulletin had a statement on the front that said, “Visitors welcome, Members expected” and “Every Member a Minister.” Why would my home church welcome visitors and EXPECT members? Why would they expect every member to do something for God? Is it unreasonable to expect something more from those who proclaim Jesus as their Lord and Savior?
• Could it be that for many of us, our faith is based more on Symbolism than substance?
• Sometimes we have deeper problems that take courage for someone to confront us with.
• Jesus is going to address the religious leaders about a problem with their faith.
• The people Jesus was about to address had a faith problem. They had a faith that was based in symbolism instead of any real substance.
The religious leaders let the symbolism of their faith 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.
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.
• 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- )
• 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.
• I heard a sermon in chapel once in college where the speaker proudly proclaimed that he was a “Christian Pharisee”. Is that what Jesus called us to be?
• Is our faith about doing symbolic gestures in order to be deemed “clean” by God? Do we come to church all the time or occasionally as a symbolic gesture of “holiness” or do we come because of our love for Jesus?
• Today as we look at what Jesus says to the religious leaders, we are going to look at 4 markers that will tell us if our faith is based on symbolism or if it is a faith based on substance. The substance being Jesus and our love for Him.
SERMON
Your Faith may be symbolic if…
I. YOU WORK MORE AT LOOKING GOOD THAN DOING GOOD (37-42)
• 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.
• Jesus had been criticized many times by the religious leaders for not doing this ceremonial washing (Matt 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23)
• The Pharisees were very particular about the ceremonies of the law to the point they added things to the Law to try to help people stay within the bounds of the law, but this just lead to legalism.
• Their traditions became equal with the Law in their eyes.
• The religious leaders were good at looking good.
• In verse 39 Jesus is going to expose the folly of their thinking as He reads the thoughts of this Pharisee.
• Can you imagine going to a person’s house to eat. From a distance, the table looks great. The finest china is set at the table. Then when you get to the table you notice that the china has old moldy looking stuff growing in the inside of them. The food from the last meal a few weeks ago is stuck on the inside of the china.
• When your faith is based on symbolism instead of substance, you will spend your time doing what will make you look good on the outside while letting the inside rot. Have you seen some of the murder trials or trials of some folks who when they go to court, they are carrying the bible with them. Why would they do this? To look good on the outside. If that bible were so important to them, maybe they would not have been on trial in the first place.
• Our faith, if it is grounded in Jesus will lead to a change of heart, mind and will.
• When Jesus said they were full of robbery and wickedness, the implication is they had cheated or swindled the poor for what they had.
• Jesus tells them in verse 41 they should be concerned about the inner things. They should give what is inside of the cups to the poor. Jesus wants them to have a love and concern for the poor.
• The leaders felt what they had was clean because they had tithed off of it no matter how they acquired what they had. It would be like robbing a bank and then thinking if you tithed off of it, it would make what you did acceptable to God.
• In verse 42 we find the first of 6 “woe” Jesus proclaims against the religious leaders. “Woe” denotes a combination of anger and pity
• These leaders were majoring in minor things such as dipping your hand in water but were neglecting the heart God wanted them to have for Him.
• Majoring in minors is like inviting someone over for supper, and then you spend so much time cleaning up for the dinner that you forget to cook the dinner.
• Are you just trying to clean up the outside one day per week or are you letting God work on your heart?
• We can look good by coming to church and doing other things that others can see, but to clean up our hearts takes discipline.
• The second indication that…
Your Faith may be symbolic is if…
II. YOU SEEK THE ATTENTION OF OTHERS 43
• The second “woe” deals with seeking public recognition.
• 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.
• The religious leaders wanted the praise and attention they received because of their supposed dedication to the Law.
• It is like the person who will make a donation to the church, but only if they are recognized for what they did. (ORGAN ILLUSTRATION)
• In Matthew 23:5-7 Jesus said about the religious leaders, "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men;
• A person who has a faith grounded in substance will do what they do for the glory of God!
• We do not need the glory; we willingly give it to God.
• Jesus wants us to respond to His love by loving Him back.
• JOHN 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
• 1 JOHN 2:4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
• Religious leaders today need to be careful of this. Many preachers seek the many titles so they will stand out from the crowd. If a CEO can have a title, why not the “Pastor” of the church? Religious leaders are meant to be servants of God and of His people, not church corporate heads.
• Why do you do what you do? To receive attention or to draw attention to Jesus?
Your Faith may be symbolic if…
III. YOU CONTAMINATE OTHERS WITH LEGALISM 44-46
• The third “woe” Jesus gives deals with legalism. A person whose faith is symbolic will get caught up in legalism.
• In verse 44 Jesus tells the religious leaders that they are making other people unclean by their example.
• The Jews whitewashed to tombs so that people would see them and not step on one and be made unclean. Numbers 19:16 says among other things, that touching a tomb of a dead person made you unclean for seven days.
• People would walk with the Pharisees and would become unclean without knowing it because they would start to follow their poor example. The people thought the leaders were good people to be emulated
• This verse deals with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees
• They are depicted as graves that are covered over by overgrowth, hidden from view causing the unsuspecting person to be defiled by touching the hidden grave.
• 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.
• The religious leaders were dead inside and they were killing other people.
• When we get more upset of carpet, windows, instruments and furniture placement than we have concern for the lost, we are setting a bad example. I have always said I could upset people more by moving or removing something more than just about anything I would preach.
• In verses 45-46, 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.
• 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.
• I used to play on a church basketball team. Where I last lived a church in the area had one. In order to play, you had to come to church some. This “church” basketball team was winning people to Christ. There were some in the church upset about the team saying that the only reason people were coming was to play basketball.
• They were more upset over how these people were being saved than rejoicing over the fact they had been saved.
• 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?
• 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.
• I think that some people feel that if you are enjoying being a Christian, there is something wrong.
• Jesus came to give us joy! Do you have joy? Are you happy when you see others have joy?
Your Faith may be symbolic if…
IV. REJECT THE MESSENGER BECAUSE YOU DON’T LIKE THE MESSAGE 47-51 (53-54)
• In verse 47 we have the fifth of six woes listed.
• 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. They were killed because the people did not like what they had to say.
• They failed to mention how the prophets died at their own forefathers hands.
• 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. Jesus, Stephen, James and many others would follow the prophets of old down death row.
• The religious leaders liked being symbolically 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.
• 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). Abel being the first and Zechariah being the last.
• The final “woe” speaks of not only how the people had killed the previous prophets and then later honored them, but the religious leaders had the key to helping people understand God’s purpose, but instead they lead people away.
• They were hindering the people’s ability to understand God and receive His message through Jesus.
• How many people have quit coming to church because they heard something that convicted them they needed to change. Instead of changing, they hated the messenger and ignored the message?
• Today people will run the preacher out of town if he starts hitting them where they live instead of listening to him.
• Whenever we hear the Word of God, we are called to act upon it, not get mad and quit or run a guy out of a church because he hit a little too close to home.
• When you hear something that makes you feel uncomfortable, what do you do? Heed the message or get mad at the messenger?
CONCLUSION
• Where are we at today? Is our faith all about symbolism or about substance?
• 2 Timothy 3:1-5 says, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”
• Are we holding to a form of godliness that will get us to church when it is convenient, get us to pray when it is convenient, get us to read the word when it is convenient, give when it is convenient or serve when it is convenient?
• If we are finding ourselves constantly putting EVERYTHING ahead of Jesus, maybe our faith has no substance.
• If we are being transformed daily into the image of Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18) then maybe we need a faith lift.
• Maybe we need to get serious about really following Jesus. I am so concerned about so many of our brothers and sisters who are not participating in worship with us each week.
• We need to be praying for each one of them because in MOST cases it is a reflection of a faith issue. Be in prayer for those you know are not with us, call on them, and encourage them.
• When we give our lives to Jesus, we do just that, we give Him our lives.
• I have lived with a symbolic faith at a time. I allowed God to transfer it to a true faith based on Jesus. I let Jesus change my life, if your faith is more than just window dressing, you will to!
• Let’s care enough for each other to encourage one another to grow in our faith!
• Jesus wants a relationship with you. He wants that relationship to lead you closer to Him and He wants that relationship to drive what you do, why and how you do it! Being religious without having a relationship with Jesus will lead to a dead end.
