Good Morning Friends,
In today’s lectionary passage from Matthew Jesus rips into religious hypocrites that had created their own brand of legalism to perpetuate their own power. The Pharisees were not demonic, evil people but had fallen into a way of worship that was self-serving. They had fallen prey to pride in a way and were trying to hide the effects. Normally Jesus would have an encouraging word and even compassion for the worst of sinners, but in today’s text is the beginning of seven woes and the picture is not pretty. It is a call for introspection that when coupled with the passage from Thessalonians is a clear message that only with Jesus can we embrace a labor of love that rescues us from the madness. As a check on our status we ask, Are We So Busy Trying To Look Good That We Forget To Be Good?
Scripture: Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8b-10 (NRSV)
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound by the oath.’ How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by it and by the one who dwells in it; and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by the one who is seated upon it.
Matthew 23:13-22 (NRSV)
Message: Friends, living our faith out in community is not easy, but it is the way of Christ. Thankfully through our relationships with other Christians, the Holy Spirit and Scripture comes alive for us. We are reminded in these relationships of the faith we share, the love we share, and the hope we share. And we are also challenged to make sure that we are growing in our work of faith, our labor of love, and in our endurance of hope. I, for one, am glad to be along for the journey with you. And I am thanking God for our journey together for there are some that shut the door of the Kingdom of heaven in people’s faces and that is not you. You see, when the Pharisees evangelized, they were not looking for people who did not know God at all. They were looking for people to convert to their “brand” of religion. Each Rabbi had his own theories and they each wanted people to follow their sect of Judaism. Christianity was in fact viewed as just another sect. And unfortunately, this is one of the biggest problems in the church today. Friends, the work of Christ is not easy. It is a great labor and the only thing that makes it possible and palatable is our love in forgiving. We cannot do this by simply acting the part of a Christian in Christian settings. It must go deeper. Still, as Shakespeare rightly said, “All the world is a stage,” and, so yes, hypocrites do come to church. But really, they belong in places of worship. What better place can there be for hypocrites than in contact with other worshipping God and where they can hear the saving gospel of Christ. We should be thankful that hypocrites join with others in worship, for they will thus have greater opportunities to be saved. And if we let the fact that hypocrites are in worshipping communities keep us away, then they might be limiting our spiritual growth. Indeed, we need to pray for hypocrites, for some assume places of leadership. And that is the crux of the problem.
And So, playacting being Christian falls short. So, we must search our own hearts to make sure that we have no hypocrisy there. And, if we discover hypocrisy in our lives, and let’s be honest, it does have a way of creeping in, we must allow Jesus to perform spiritual surgery on us to remove it. There is no other way. From the minute Jesus began His public ministry he had conflicts with the legalistic group who reduced what it meant to be a Jew into the 613 mitzvot…365 of things not to do and 248 things to do. But the rules put an unnecessary hedge around what might be a sin and unnecessarily limited behavior. Their actions had less to do with repenting than one-upmanship and making others kowtow to their authority as religious leader. About a year into His Galilean ministry while Jesus was helping people to live life abundantly, the Pharisees and Sadducees were making plans to have Jesus killed for making them look bad. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus threw fuel on the fire by attacking their character. He said they only obeyed these rules to make them appear better than the people who did not. Jesus claimed that their behavior was about power and had little to do with an honest confession of sin. They were just acting like they loved God and wanted to lead people to God. But their heart was not in it. They were playing a part, pretending to be what they knew in their hearts they were not. Jesus’ warning to the scribes and Pharisees is relevant for the church today. I think we all know that those who oversee religious activities are far from perfect, but some mistakes are worse than others. It is great to stand at the door of heaven with the keys of the kingdom, but not such a good thing to slam the door in others’ faces and lock the door when people are honestly seeking a way to heaven. We are not to turn people away from faith. We are not to be blind guides if we want to faithfully teach what Jesus taught. So, we are not to strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. This behavior does not glorify God. In the alternative we are to get specific about how we are going to exalt God. We are to love people more and not get lost in the details and this goes for church leaders too. Still, the responsibility is serious and not to be treated frivolously. We need to lead people to Christ. But we are to have clean hearts on the inside not what just looks good. We are to live God’s way of life not the world’s way of death. We are to be good examples. And we are to ask God to fill our mouths with wisdom that exalts God. We are to experience joy in a way that glorifies Christ. Our actions of service and sacrifice are to glorify God. We are to be encouragers of faith. Friends, a hypocrite can be the best argument against salvation, leading people to doubt whereas a true believer can strengthen the resolve of others to love in a way the glorifies Jesus.
Pray we do not obscure the Gospel in legalism. Pray that even though we may never really be good on our own that with Jesus we can be more than a good appearance. Pray we realize that God sees our hearts and is never fooled by appearance. Pray we do not claim to have a monopoly on God. Pray we do not bring misery into the lives of those who believe. Pray we are not blind guides. Pray we do not find ourselves victims of other people’s bitterness, insecurity, and smallness. Pray we are never so busy that we cannot reconsider our priorities. Pray we do not exalt the letter of the law and forget the spirit of love. Pray we realize that there is no shortcut to the success of the work of the church. Pray we have a hope that liberates, energizes, and stabilizes and protects. Pray we do not forget to love even hypocrites.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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