Do Pharisees Exist in the Modern Church? Part 3

Speaker: Today we continue our series.

Speaker: The danger of being self righteous.

Speaker: And we've started in Matthew twenty three, a few weeks ago,

Speaker: dealing with the Pharisees, the good old Pharisees, the

Speaker: religious ones who knew the law.

Speaker: But boy, they sure didn't live.

Speaker: The law kind of turned it into a

Speaker: dog and pony show, as I like to

Speaker: say.

Speaker: Pretty robes.

Speaker: Little gleam, little bling bling.

Speaker: I guess.

Speaker: I don't know what the current

Speaker: word is for bling, so you get

Speaker: the picture.

Speaker: And the reason for all this,

Speaker: this series is the damage that a

Speaker: church can do, the damage that a

Speaker: pastor can do, the damage that a

Speaker: Christian can do to others

Speaker: because of self

Speaker: self-righteousness, because of

Speaker: pride.

Speaker: And we've all heard one of the

Speaker: main reasons we don't go to

Speaker: church is because all the

Speaker: hypocrites.

Speaker: Right?

Speaker: And Jesus addresses the hypocrisy.

Speaker: So again, why this is important?

Speaker: Because I want to make sure our

Speaker: church, including and especially

Speaker: myself, does not put themselves

Speaker: or myself up on a pedestal and

Speaker: pound my chest and say, look at

Speaker: me.

Speaker: Two weeks ago I brought the mirror in, remember?

Speaker: Got a couple chuckles from you.

Speaker: But again, how honest.

Speaker: How many times do we look in the mirror and say, ooh!

Speaker: We're quick to catch the blemishes on our face, right?

Speaker: Especially gray hair coming in.

Speaker: We can see all that.

Speaker: But do we see sometimes self

Speaker: righteousness, hypocrisy slowly

Speaker: coming in.

Speaker: And today we're going to talk about three things.

Speaker: Our scripture today is very simple Matthew twenty three

Speaker: fifteen to twenty two as we continue this journey.

Speaker: Now in the Gospel of Matthew

Speaker: twenty three, the fifteen to

Speaker: twenty two, Jesus speaks of his

Speaker: strongest, some of his strongest

Speaker: words.

Speaker: And here's the thing these are not gentle.

Speaker: These words are not gentle corrections.

Speaker: No. These words are prophetic warnings.

Speaker: Now we're good about.

Speaker: Well, maybe we're not so good

Speaker: about warning reading the

Speaker: warning labels.

Speaker: I mean, we've got warning labels on everything.

Speaker: Now, don't get in the dryer, Jim.

Speaker: Don't put yourself in the washer.

Speaker: Jim.

Speaker: Don't eat tide pods.

Speaker: And I've always wondered, you know, when you tear this little

Speaker: tag off the pillow or the sheets, does it really matter?

Speaker: You know, I don't know, but

Speaker: again, there's warnings here

Speaker: from Jesus.

Speaker: Jesus says, and we and I brought

Speaker: this up two weeks ago, the seven

Speaker: woes or eight seven woes of the

Speaker: Pharisees.

Speaker: Jesus says, woe to you.

Speaker: Not out of hatred, but out of heartbreak because he sees what

Speaker: they are doing.

Speaker: Jesus is confronting spiritual

Speaker: leaders who have lost the heart

Speaker: of God while preserving the

Speaker: appearance, the appearance of

Speaker: holiness.

Speaker: If you would turn with me to Matthew twenty three fifteen to

Speaker: twenty two, and this is out of the new King James Version.

Speaker: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

Speaker: For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte.

Speaker: And when he is one, you make him

Speaker: twice as much a son of hell as

Speaker: yourselves.

Speaker: Woe to you blind guides who say whoever swears by the temple, it

Speaker: is nothing but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is

Speaker: obliged to perform it.

Speaker: Fools and blind, for which is greater the gold or the temple

Speaker: that sanctifies the gold.

Speaker: And whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing but whoever swears

Speaker: by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.

Speaker: Fools and blind, for which is greater the gift or the altar

Speaker: that sanctifies the gift.

Speaker: Therefore he who swears by the altar swears by it, and by all

Speaker: things on it.

Speaker: He who swears by the temple swears by it, and by him who

Speaker: dwells in it.

Speaker: And he who swears by heaven

Speaker: swears by the throne of God and

Speaker: by him who sits on it this

Speaker: Sunday morning.

Speaker: I pray that this message invite you and I to examine not just

Speaker: what we believe, but how we live, how we lead, and what you

Speaker: and I truly value.

Speaker: As I said just a few moments ago

Speaker: in the Gospel of Matthew twenty

Speaker: three, there Jesus delivers a

Speaker: strong and sobering rebuke to

Speaker: the religious leaders of his

Speaker: day, the scribes and the

Speaker: Pharisees.

Speaker: And there are not casual words.

Speaker: They are urgent words, loving words and words of warning.

Speaker: Now, church, allow us to walk through this message together,

Speaker: through this passage together.

Speaker: And maybe, just maybe, you and I

Speaker: might find ourselves facing

Speaker: these situations in our own walk

Speaker: with Jesus.

Speaker: Now, in Matthew twenty fifteen

Speaker: twenty three, we see the first

Speaker: thing.

Speaker: Number one misguided passion.

Speaker: Now, passion is a good thing, is it not?

Speaker: But when it's misguided, there's your problem.

Speaker: And the problem was the Pharisees.

Speaker: It was their message and their example.

Speaker: The Pharisees were multiplying religion, not righteousness.

Speaker: The Pharisees were reproducing hypocrisy, not holiness.

Speaker: The Pharisees were creating

Speaker: followers of a system instead of

Speaker: what?

Speaker: Instead of followers of God.

Speaker: So you got the system involved versus God, and we've got that

Speaker: in a church today.

Speaker: We've always had it.

Speaker: Jesus is instructing his followers about the religious

Speaker: hypocrites who are themselves.

Speaker: Now this is pretty harsh.

Speaker: Children of hell.

Speaker: Now, what would you do if I

Speaker: said, Dave, you're a child of

Speaker: hell?

Speaker: You probably take a swing at me and start rebuking me here.

Speaker: But Jesus calls them out.

Speaker: Now, Rockford Church, let me ask

Speaker: you, is it possible to be

Speaker: passionate about spiritual

Speaker: things but still be spiritually

Speaker: blind?

Speaker: Is it possible to work hard for

Speaker: God and not know the heart of

Speaker: God?

Speaker: So from this, let me ask you this morning, the question for

Speaker: you and I today is not.

Speaker: Are you and I active in our faith.

Speaker: Are you and I inviting others to church?

Speaker: Are you and I defending the

Speaker: doctrine, the book of

Speaker: discipline.

Speaker: And let us go oh, so much deeper

Speaker: and a little more truthful,

Speaker: maybe to where the truth might

Speaker: hurt us.

Speaker: Are you and I helping transform people into Christ likeness?

Speaker: Did you hear me transforming people into Christ?

Speaker: Now, that's more important, I think, than the numbers on the

Speaker: wall, was it not?

Speaker: Or better yet, are we trying to define people, to show them to

Speaker: be as a Christian of what we think is a Christian?

Speaker: And that's where that whole self-righteousness comes into

Speaker: play, because we all have a different definition of what a

Speaker: Christian is true.

Speaker: We've all been raised a little different.

Speaker: We've all heard a little different pastors here and

Speaker: there, different messages.

Speaker: So I think in a general way, we have in our mind what a

Speaker: Christian is supposed to be.

Speaker: And that is the danger we start judging automatically.

Speaker: True.

Speaker: I've heard it.

Speaker: I've done it.

Speaker: Don't want to.

Speaker: But sometimes we do true

Speaker: discipleship and hear me on

Speaker: this.

Speaker: True discipleship produces humility.

Speaker: It produces mercy.

Speaker: It produces justice, and it produces love.

Speaker: Anything less, maybe what we

Speaker: like to call activity little

Speaker: busybodies, right?

Speaker: Little busybodies.

Speaker: But there's no transformation involved.

Speaker: There's no transformation in you.

Speaker: There's no transformation in the people we are trying to guide

Speaker: because we have our blinders on.

Speaker: We're spiritually blind to what God really wants and what God

Speaker: calls us to do.

Speaker: Number two spiritual blindness.

Speaker: Is it possible church to have spiritual blindness?

Speaker: As a Christian?

Speaker: I just kind of rolls right into that spiritual blindness.

Speaker: Remember, the horses got the blinders on, kind of limits what

Speaker: you can see.

Speaker: You can only see straight ahead, which that's a good thing.

Speaker: You can only see straight ahead.

Speaker: But what about everything else around you?

Speaker: And in our world today, I want

Speaker: you to think about, especially

Speaker: our children, what is

Speaker: surrounding them.

Speaker: And if you got your spiritual blinders on, if you're not

Speaker: seeing what Satan especially is doing on this hand, what's going

Speaker: to happen, you're in trouble.

Speaker: But on the other hand, too, you

Speaker: better have your eyes open to

Speaker: see what Jesus is doing in the

Speaker: world today.

Speaker: It goes hand in hand.

Speaker: If you look at Matthew twenty three sixteen to nineteen, woe

Speaker: to you blind guides who say whoever swears by the temple, it

Speaker: is nothing but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is

Speaker: obliged to perform it.

Speaker: Fools and blind.

Speaker: That's pretty harsh, is it not?

Speaker: Fools and blind?

Speaker: For which is greater?

Speaker: The gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

Speaker: And whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing but whoever swears

Speaker: by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it fools and

Speaker: blind, for which is greater the gift or the altar that

Speaker: sanctifies the gift.

Speaker: Brothers and sisters, let me ask you a question.

Speaker: Do we ever ask God to reveal where we may be?

Speaker: Value valuing gold over glory,

Speaker: gifts over God, structure over

Speaker: spirit.

Speaker: And that's last one really hits home sometimes.

Speaker: And I'm just going to be honest, I'm not nitpicking.

Speaker: But when we left United

Speaker: Methodist, We had to have new

Speaker: structure, right?

Speaker: And I think that is the

Speaker: challenge when we try to build

Speaker: something new.

Speaker: We're so concerned with the

Speaker: structure of it, the rules of

Speaker: it.

Speaker: We miss the true calling of what

Speaker: we're supposed to be doing,

Speaker: because all our time we got our

Speaker: blinders on.

Speaker: We're so focused on making sure all the I's are dotted and all

Speaker: the t's are crossed.

Speaker: We don't take the time to still

Speaker: go out and fulfill what God has

Speaker: called us to do, which is to

Speaker: make disciples, to transform

Speaker: lives.

Speaker: Now, I'm not saying none of that's important, okay?

Speaker: But again, if it draws what

Speaker: happens in life, how about

Speaker: laundry?

Speaker: Does laundry not suck the living soul and life out of you?

Speaker: Is anybody here ever caught up on their laundry?

Speaker: Please raise your hand.

Speaker: Alright, I got one back here.

Speaker: I got two, alright.

Speaker: You know what I mean?

Speaker: We become so focused, we forget.

Speaker: You forget.

Speaker: I forget all the time.

Speaker: It happens.

Speaker: Spiritual blindness often hides

Speaker: its ugly head inside religious

Speaker: activity.

Speaker: I just said a few moments ago,

Speaker: sometimes we become such busy

Speaker: beavers we forget what we are

Speaker: supposed to be doing in this

Speaker: scripture.

Speaker: We can determine Jesus called them blind guides.

Speaker: Now that had to be a slap in the face to them.

Speaker: And there is tragedy and having a blind guide.

Speaker: For example, if you and I were going to go climb the tallest

Speaker: mountain in the world, we would need to hire a guide, right?

Speaker: To get us up the mountain, because we've never done it

Speaker: before to show us the ways.

Speaker: Now, who would you hire?

Speaker: An individual who can see who has been there before?

Speaker: Or would you hire one who?

Speaker: Let's just say Stevie Wonder.

Speaker: Remember Stevie Wonder.

Speaker: Heck of a musician.

Speaker: But he couldn't see.

Speaker: Never been up a mountain.

Speaker: And here's the problem.

Speaker: Think about this.

Speaker: The Pharisees, they were like the blind guide.

Speaker: They knew all the information about the mountain, right?

Speaker: They could tell you the

Speaker: elevation where everything's

Speaker: pinpointed.

Speaker: But they'd never been there.

Speaker: They never walked the walk and they couldn't see.

Speaker: So who are we going to pick?

Speaker: I want somebody with experience.

Speaker: I want somebody who can see.

Speaker: Because if not, it's.

Speaker: Whoop!

Speaker: See you later.

Speaker: One wrong step, or they take us up the wrong path and it's over.

Speaker: Now apply that to spiritual eternity.

Speaker: Who is guiding us?

Speaker: Who is leading each of you?

Speaker: Because again, we're talking

Speaker: about one false step being led

Speaker: astray.

Speaker: And it's.

Speaker: See you later for all eternity.

Speaker: And that is why it is so

Speaker: important to keep your eyes on

Speaker: the cross, to keep your eyes on

Speaker: God's Word.

Speaker: Not what some TV evangelist or

Speaker: there's a fine line here,

Speaker: pastors, if they're not

Speaker: preaching this, then you got a

Speaker: problem.

Speaker: Spiritual blindness, my friends.

Speaker: It can happen.

Speaker: It can happen very easily because at the end of the day,

Speaker: your life is at stake.

Speaker: And I'm talking eternal life and those you love.

Speaker: It's at stake.

Speaker: And Jesus calls them a blind guide for a reason.

Speaker: See, these Pharisees they had created incorporated elaborate

Speaker: rules about oaths.

Speaker: Swearing by the temple meant nothing.

Speaker: Swearing by the gold of the temple was binding.

Speaker: Swearing by the altar meant nothing.

Speaker: Swearing by the gift on the altar was binding.

Speaker: These men who thought they were so holy were splitting hairs.

Speaker: Aha!

Speaker: Splitting hairs about sacred

Speaker: language while missing sacred

Speaker: reality.

Speaker: Does that happen in the church today, my friends?

Speaker: I'm afraid it does.

Speaker: And that is the problem with religion.

Speaker: We've been too busy splitting hairs over technicalities than

Speaker: telling people about Jesus, and that he is the only way.

Speaker: Especially for me.

Speaker: In today's world, we become incorporated.

Speaker: Jesus exposes their upside down values in these scriptures.

Speaker: The temple makes the gold

Speaker: sacred, the altar makes the gift

Speaker: sacred.

Speaker: The greater reality gives meaning to the lesser object.

Speaker: When we value the gold over the temple, we reverse God's order.

Speaker: The Pharisees had created a

Speaker: system where the sacred object,

Speaker: the gold.

Speaker: The gift was more important than what it made sacred.

Speaker: The temple, the altar.

Speaker: And here is the deeper issue, my friends.

Speaker: The Pharisees valued spiritual material over spiritual.

Speaker: Let me rephrase that.

Speaker: The Pharisees valued material over spiritual.

Speaker: The Pharisees valued the visible over the holy.

Speaker: The Pharisees valued what could

Speaker: be measured over what was

Speaker: eternal.

Speaker: Jesus asked them, which is greater, the gold or the temple

Speaker: that makes the gold sacred.

Speaker: And here's the problem.

Speaker: These Pharisees, they had lost spiritual perspective.

Speaker: You ever lose that?

Speaker: It happens.

Speaker: And that's why it is so important to be in the word, to

Speaker: be in prayer and surrounding yourself with believers.

Speaker: Accountability church.

Speaker: That's a big word there, accountability for each of us.

Speaker: So you and I, we can find a warning from this.

Speaker: When you and I lose sight of what truly makes things holy, we

Speaker: become blind guides.

Speaker: Where Stevie Wonder's out, there is the church.

Speaker: Christians again, I ask, still guilty of this today.

Speaker: Well, what do you mean by that, Brother Jim?

Speaker: You and I value church buildings over God's presence.

Speaker: You and I value offerings over obedience.

Speaker: You and I value appearance over integrity.

Speaker: You and I value reputation over righteousness.

Speaker: Spiritual blindness does not mean lack of intelligence.

Speaker: Spiritual blindness means distorted priorities.

Speaker: Did you hear me?

Speaker: Distorted priorities.

Speaker: And hear me.

Speaker: On this church, spiritual blindness happens slowly.

Speaker: It happens slowly.

Speaker: It begins when you and I

Speaker: rearrange our priorities and

Speaker: forget the source of the

Speaker: holiness.

Speaker: Think about how we rearrange our

Speaker: time schedule throughout the

Speaker: week.

Speaker: Most of the time we can say it's chaos, isn't it?

Speaker: So how many of us in our own spiritual walk rearrange things

Speaker: out of convenience?

Speaker: And who usually gets left behind?

Speaker: God.

Speaker: And I'm guilty of it, my friends.

Speaker: So guilty of it.

Speaker: We forget the source of holiness.

Speaker: And finally, number three, misplaced values.

Speaker: And verse twenty, therefore he who swears by the altar swears

Speaker: by it and by all things on it.

Speaker: He who swears by the temple swears by it, and by him who

Speaker: dwells in it.

Speaker: And he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God, and

Speaker: by him who sits on it.

Speaker: Now we're going to go back.

Speaker: Remember back in nineteen eighty

Speaker: three, remember David

Speaker: Copperfield, the illusionist,

Speaker: back in nineteen eighty three,

Speaker: he made the Statue of Liberty

Speaker: disappear.

Speaker: I remember watching that.

Speaker: Boom!

Speaker: He tricked an illusion of the

Speaker: eyes, which for a kid, that was

Speaker: cool.

Speaker: How'd you do it?

Speaker: But again, it was a trick.

Speaker: That's all it was.

Speaker: And that is what the Pharisees were doing.

Speaker: Kind of like an illusion of specialized righteousness.

Speaker: Jesus calls them out in verses twenty to twenty two.

Speaker: Jesus concludes by saying that any oath, whether by heaven,

Speaker: throne, or temple, ultimately refers to God.

Speaker: There is no way to speak apart from him.

Speaker: Everything sacred points back to the one who makes it sacred.

Speaker: So think about that God.

Speaker: It all points back to him.

Speaker: Everything points back to him.

Speaker: These Pharisees religious

Speaker: leaders thought they had found

Speaker: the loopholes.

Speaker: Now tax season is upon us, right?

Speaker: Do we not love to find a good loophole, or have our tax

Speaker: accountant find a loophole that benefits you and I. Makes us

Speaker: look good in our wallets.

Speaker: Even a little fatter.

Speaker: True.

Speaker: But these Pharisees believe they can manipulate truth with

Speaker: careful wording with a loophole.

Speaker: And this is where it gets good.

Speaker: But God is not impressed with specialized righteousness.

Speaker: No he's not.

Speaker: God sees the heart.

Speaker: God sees your heart from the

Speaker: back pews all the way up here to

Speaker: the front.

Speaker: To myself, Mr. Hartsock, God sees our heart.

Speaker: And you and I may convince people with our phrasing and our

Speaker: big words at time.

Speaker: But God knows you and I may

Speaker: justify ourselves with fine

Speaker: distinctions.

Speaker: But God asks you and I a simpler question.

Speaker: Are you and I truthful?

Speaker: Are you and I sincere?

Speaker: And are you and I aligned with God?

Speaker: So let me ask you this morning, are you aligned with God?

Speaker: Kingdom righteousness is not about clever language.

Speaker: No, it's about integrity.

Speaker: Integrity.

Speaker: The word woe is not merely

Speaker: condemnation from Jesus, it is

Speaker: sorrow.

Speaker: Jesus is not attacking from a distance.

Speaker: Jesus is grieving over leaders.

Speaker: Hear me this over leaders who should have known better.

Speaker: The heart of the message is not anger.

Speaker: It is sorrow over spiritual distortion.

Speaker: Jesus is sorrowful over this

Speaker: that these men, these leaders,

Speaker: spiritual leaders have went so

Speaker: far astray.

Speaker: What is a godly leader church?

Speaker: What is your definition?

Speaker: Leaders who clearly who see clearly.

Speaker: Teachers who reflect his character.

Speaker: Disciples who love truth more than status.

Speaker: Believers who care more about

Speaker: God's presence than religious

Speaker: Polish.

Speaker: Spit and shine.

Speaker: Brothers and sisters, brother Jim included here are we living

Speaker: a life for God with integrity.

Speaker: And I'm talking about the person that everybody sees, but also

Speaker: the one only God in.

Speaker: You see, when you're all alone,

Speaker: or better yet, looking back in

Speaker: the mirror at you, what does God

Speaker: see?

Speaker: What does the world see?

Speaker: What does your family see?

Speaker: Let our yes mean yes.

Speaker: Let our worship be passionate.

Speaker: Let our devotion and faith

Speaker: connect connect directly to God

Speaker: Himself, not just some religious

Speaker: organization.

Speaker: Let me be very honest this

Speaker: morning as we close, if you are

Speaker: counting on your church

Speaker: membership card to get you into

Speaker: heaven.

Speaker: Oh my friend, you are disappointed.

Speaker: Now I want you to think about this.

Speaker: You got your Global Methodist ID card.

Speaker: You're walking up before God.

Speaker: You think that's going to get you VIP status?

Speaker: No. And I'm not preaching against the church, my friends.

Speaker: But do you understand what I'm saying?

Speaker: Being a church member is not going to get you into heaven.

Speaker: As I said, being a good person, doing this, doing that.

Speaker: No. It's Jesus and Jesus alone.

Speaker: I don't care what the world says.

Speaker: I don't care what social media AI says it is Jesus and Jesus

Speaker: alone, a personal relationship.

Speaker: And again, I'm going to go back

Speaker: to remind you again, if you

Speaker: ain't repenting, if you ain't

Speaker: changing, if you're not

Speaker: transforming, then I want to

Speaker: challenge you.

Speaker: Are you truly saved?

Speaker: Because if there is not transformation in your heart,

Speaker: transformation in your life, you got a problem.

Speaker: And I can't be more clear than that.

Speaker: Check yourself, brother Jim.

Speaker: Check yourself.

Speaker: This chapter may sound harsh, but remember Jesus rebukes

Speaker: because he loves you and I. Jesus speaks strongly to

Speaker: religious hypocrisy because hypocrisy keeps people from

Speaker: living a true life for him.

Speaker: And the grand scheme of things we can witness in the Gospel of

Speaker: Matthew, Jesus is what Jesus is moving towards the cross.

Speaker: Think about this, friends.

Speaker: The one who warns of judgment is the one who will bear judgment.

Speaker: Now, if that don't give you

Speaker: goosebumps, I don't know what

Speaker: will.

Speaker: Let me say that one more time.

Speaker: The one who warns of judgment is the one in the end who will bear

Speaker: judgment for us.

Speaker: Jesus is not merely exposing hypocrisy.

Speaker: Jesus again, he's offering transformation rocks for

Speaker: churches, Christians, and a part of the Kingdom of God.

Speaker: Are we blind guides or humble,

Speaker: loving followers of Jesus

Speaker: Christ?

Speaker: Do we love the gold or the God who makes things holy?

Speaker: May you and I not be people of religious performance.

Speaker: No, no, no. But people of genuine faith.

Speaker: May our passion be pure.

Speaker: May our vision be clear.

Speaker: May our hearts belong to God.

Speaker: Amen.