Since
we’re jumping right into the middle of Matthew’s gospel today as we continue
our look at being faithful stewards with what we have to offer, I want to take
a second and give some clarity to where we are in the sequence of events. Jesus is in Jerusalem. He has already entered the city on the back
of a donkey and been greeted by the multitudes that lined the street. He has already cleansed the temple and driven
out those who are conducting themselves corruptly within its walls. He has taught for quite some time about the
kingdom of heaven and how we are to conduct ourselves as God’s children. He has already had some disagreements with
the temple personnel and the religious leaders of Jerusalem. That being the case, the Pharisees have
already been working to try and find some reason that Jesus should be
discredited, or even found to be a heretic, so that he may be arrested. Now, in the midst of somewhat of a strife
between Jesus and the religious leaders of Jerusalem, Jesus goes into a long
discourse about what he sees currently in Jerusalem and what is to come. In the midst of that is where we find our
text for today, Jesus’ warning against and condemnation of the religious
leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees.
Now,
we’re not going to spend time talking about each of the issues that Jesus
raises against the Pharisees here, commonly known as the “Seven Woes.” Beginning in verse 13, Jesus condemns the
Pharisees for seven things that they had been doing corruptly or incorrectly. He condemns them for focusing upon their laws
and not the will of God, for caring more about earthly things than those of the
divine, for worrying more about tradition than worship or obeying God, for
neglecting the things that really matter, for only focusing on outward
appearances, and covering sins with the appearance of being spiritual. In essence, Jesus condemns these leaders for
being more concerned with themselves and the world that they are in than with
God’s kingdom. Now, like I said, I’m not
going to deal with each of these offenses this morning, but each one of them
would take quite some time to adequately flush out. No, what I am going to do today, as we
continue our stewardship series, is to focus upon the “woe” that we find in
verses 23 and 24. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and
have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without
neglecting the others. You blind guides,
straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.”
I
think that these verses so precisely sum up the thought that underlines our
stewardship series this year. You see,
Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees about the fact that it’s not exactly about
perfect adherence to the law; that is the Pharisaic law. He was telling them that it’s great that they
gave their tithe and that they expected that from everyone else, but that’s not
the full extent of it. The goal of
Christian leader ought not to stop at proper giving. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t be more proud
of this church as her pastor for the way in which we responded to our look at
biblical stewardship since last year. I
mean, erasing a nearly $20,000 budgetary deficit in only twelve month is
remarkable, but like I said last Sunday, that’s not the extent of it. It’s not about whether or not we reach
certain financial goals or whether or not we’re adhering to a strict principle
of dedicating 10% to the Lord, but it’s about our being faith biblical stewards
with what we have been given. What good
is it for us to strictly keep the principle of a tithe, yet ignore other
commands that we are given in Scripture?
What good is adherence to some and disobeying others? How could we say that it’s important for us
to meet these financial commands while failing to even give the slightest bit
of attention to others; things such as compassion, mercy, and faithfulness? Have we really done the work of God by meeting
our financial responsibilities and ignoring the hungry, the hurting, the
homeless, the lost, and all the other groups that are in need. The commands to care for those in need are
just as important as the commands to tithe and to gather regularly for
corporate worship. The commands for
ministries of compassion and caring are just as real and important as the
commands to seek the destruction of sinful behavior. They’re just as important as the commands of
Scripture that call us to baptize our children and others in the name of the
Lord. We would never think of ignoring
these commands, so why would we even think of ignoring those commands that find
us in the service of those in need? Well,
my theory is that because it makes us feel uncomfortable. It causes us to be confronted with our own
sinful desires of self-preservation when we find those that are less
fortunate. Are we really doing the work
of Christ when we go and serve at a soup kitchen and the whole time we have one
hand on our back pockets making sure our wallets haven’t been lifted in the
last 20 seconds? Notice that I’m not
saying that tithing is as important as ministries of mercy, compassion, and
justice, but simply that the commands for each are just as plain and present as
one another.
One
of the sad facts of the matter is that many Christians in our world today, and
I mean honest, hardworking, and good people, are what I like to call Sunday
Morning Christians. These folks are
regular church attendees. Why, if
attendance was taken, they might even be the most regular attendants in their
church. They always give and they give
generously, never giving less than their tithe.
They always volunteer for events that are held around the time of worship. Some of them are even seen as pillars of
their local churches. However, don’t
expect to find the same Monday through Saturday. These people have become so concerned with
the function of the church as an institution that they have missed the bigger
picture. Their behavior outside of the
church setting is completely different from their attitudes Sunday
morning. It’s almost as if their faith
has become reduced to one day a week where they show up and pay their money and
go about their day. Now, this may come
across a little harsh, and I’m not wanting to offend anyone, but sometimes
that’s my job. And obviously I’m using a
large brush here and painting in general strokes, but I think I’m probably more
truthful here than any of us would like to admit. How many times have we seen leaders in local
churches, both clergy and laypeople, caught in some type of secret sinful
life? You see, we can’t become so
concerned with keeping up what we want to and ignoring what we don’t want to
think about. The Pharisees had become
such hypocrites in their actions. They
were calling everyone else to live their lives in devotion to God, but they
were really concerned with their own interests.
Their lives, which seemed very pious on the outside, were done primarily
so that people would perceive them to be this holier than holy group of
leaders.
Being
a pastor is one of the greatest honors of my life, but it does come with some
things that aren’t such a blessing.
First, there’s the pain and suffering that you have to help others
through. No one likes to see people
hurting, either physically or emotionally, but that’s part of the calling. There’s also the fact that the pastor’s
family never gets a full weekend. It’s
just not really feasible for all of my family to go somewhere for a weekend,
because we can’t leave until Friday afternoon and we have to be back Saturday
evening. There have been many times
where my family goes on a trip and I stay home because of my responsibilities
on Sunday morning. Finally, there’s the
issue of people hiding things from you.
This is one that I’ve never understood, but for some reason people feel
like they have to act differently around us pastors and that they ought to be
on their best behavior. It’s ironic
because I don’t feel that way at all when I’m around other pastors. However, I do notice a difference in the
people who knew me pre-ministry and those who didn’t. Also, I see a world of difference in the way
that some act in a worship setting versus how they act outside of a church. If our faith is genuine, shouldn’t it be
something that permeated throughout our entire lives, and not just when we’re
at church or around “church folks?”
Friends,
the bottom line of it all is this, our faith is not a checklist. It’s not a series of items that we must
complete in order to cross off our list.
Our faith cannot be a matter of completing tasks: tithing, attendance, committees, a certain
amount of outreach and mission trips, etc.
Our faith has to be something that is spontaneous and stirs us to
action. Our faith has to be something
that causes us to have this burden of love upon our hearts that seeks for the
love of Christ to be spread. Our faith
must cause us to go forth into the world and take the good news of the gospel
with us. And the greatest testimony or
witness that we can give is by living as a Christian. We glorify God’s kingdom when we conduct
ourselves as Christians in the world at all times, and not just on Sunday
mornings. Don’t be a Christian who
worries about showing up every Sunday, never running late, with a perfectly
dressed family, and bringing your own Bible as if having your own raises your
commitment a notch. Be a Christian who
seeks to serve. Be a disciple of Christ
who truly is a disciple and wants nothing more than to work for Christ’s
kingdom in any way he/she can. Be a
person who hears all of God’s commands and not just the ones that are easy or
that you like. It’s very possible, and
common, for us to miss the forest because we’re only focused on a small group
of trees. Don’t get caught upon in every
little detail, but let you faith flow from every part of you. And I promise you this, God will do some
mighty things through you and you won’t even realize what’s happening. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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