What is the Sin of the Religious?

Six months.

Now I mean shift dramatically, so much so,

that the economy in which you live in now

will not be the economy you'll want to live in,

let's say five years from now, or that you will live in.

It'll shift so dramatically like we've seen

throughout history, where in the past,

at one point we bartered with land and sheep and goats

and cattle.

This development was the idea of what somebody's real wealth

was based upon livestock.

That's what you see during the days of the Old Testament.

By the time you get into the New Testament,

there's a new form of currency, coinage,

with special metals, silver and gold and copper

and other metals in which they exchange.

So the economy changed from that point

until the New Testament.

And then from there, we went from coinage to paper.

We say that this green piece of paper is worth

so many coins, right?

And so now our economy is based,

and now the economy has shifted even more

to where now you don't necessarily get paid with paper,

you get paid with a number on an app

and that number gets bigger every two weeks

and then it gets smaller and so that represents money to you.

How many of you would like more of those numbers?

Can I get an amen, right?

Give me more numbers. And then the economy shifts

and it changes and some of you are thinking,

I know what the next shift is, pastor,

you're gonna sell us cryptocurrency, no I'm not,

I'm not, this is not crypto, all right.

What this is is Jesus having a conversation

with his day and age and he says to the community,

the currency is about to change.

That's what he was doing,

he was talking to his disciples primarily.

And he said to his disciples,

you need to understand this reality.

The reality is that the currency in which you've been given

is going to shift dramatically.

You've been putting all of your value in money,

but the life that is coming will have no money in it.

And if you don't understand this currency shift,

you're gonna be left in the dust.

So we don't live for this world,

we live for the next world.

Well, while Jesus was teaching all of this,

he was teaching to his disciples.

I'm gonna say who was he teaching, you say his disciples.

He was teaching his disciples.

Who was he teaching?

His disciples.

There were some people who were not followers of Jesus

who were listening in, they were called the Pharisees.

And the Pharisees totally hated Jesus' message.

And that's where we pick up in today's sermon.

Jesus is surrounded by his disciples, he told them,

we don't live for this world, we live for the next world.

And the Pharisees were angry about this

and you'll see why in verse 14.

In fact, if you have your Bible open,

look at Luke 16 and verse 14.

The Pharisees who dearly loved their money

heard all of this sermon and scoffed at Jesus.

Let me ask you a question based upon the text.

Why did they laugh at Jesus' sermon?

Why did they laugh at Jesus' sermon?

Because they loved their money.

They loved their money.

Let's pray.

Father, I pray today simply that you would allow us

to see beyond the curtain.

I pray that you would allow us to see the tricks

that are portrayed, that perpetrated upon mankind.

I pray that the men and the women in this room

today would be above all of that trickery.

They would see beyond the slight hand movements of man

and the trickery of the devil.

And allow us to see this truth,

that it really is a big deal, this new value system

that you give us.

Bless us now as we look at it.

In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

How were the Pharisees tricked?

Well, very simply, that it was a big deal.

What was the big deal?

Their sin, their sin, their sin was a big deal.

Now the reason the Pharisees did not think

their sins were as bad as others

is because their sins were inward sins.

The other people had outward sins.

Are you like me?

How many of you don't like judgmental people?

If you're like, that's me, Josh,

I do not like judgmental people, raise your hand.

You say, man, I do not, raise your hand.

How many of you are like, I do not like judgment?

Some of you are like, I love judgmental people.

I love them.

How many of you hate it when people are judgmental

toward you?

Can I get an amen?

Sure, you say, I feel like there's a trap coming.

There is.

By you raising your hand, make you a judgmental person.

I wasn't gonna say it, but now I am, all right.

Judgmentalism is extremely frustrating, right?

It's so hard to hear somebody judgment against yourself

when somebody may not know your full story.

The Pharisees were very judgmental,

constantly looking down upon others.

And this is what's going on

whenever Jesus is talking with them.

Jesus is attempting to teach them,

look, your sin is a big deal, but they thought to themselves,

my sin's not nearly as big a deal as their sin.

Now religious people throughout history

have always made the same mistakes.

And if you come to church today,

hopefully you'll learn not to make the same mistake.

I try my best not to.

And that is religious people who go to church,

go to synagogue, go to mass, go to whatever.

Oftentimes what we like to do, and if you're new to church,

you're gonna definitely resonate with this.

What we like to do is we like to maximize

how bad somebody else's sin is

and minimize how bad our sin is.

We like to point out and say,

look at how you fill in the blank.

And most of the time religious people

get really upset with unreligious people

about the things they do

because they're all outward sins.

They're sins of debauchery,

or they're sins of sexuality,

or they're sins of drunkenness,

or they're sins of murder,

they're sins of stealing,

or thievery, or cheating, or whatever it might be.

And then religious people,

while they fight against those who have outward sins,

they privately cultivate inward sins.

Inside they've got pride and greed and envy and lust,

and it burns inside of them.

All the while, judging others for their sin.

And Jesus is saying to them,

look, your sin is a big deal.

What are the sins that they're dealing with in this passage?

You're gonna see it in verses 14 through 18.

Now I've done a lot of introduction for this reason.

We're only gonna study a few verses,

but they are a few verses that are extremely difficult

and very difficult to understand

if you take them out of context.

So what I really want you to do

is really go deep with me today on a Sunday morning

and understand the depth of what Jesus is actually talking about.

As Jesus is dealing with hypocritical people

who are hiding their own inward sins

while judging everybody on the outside,

dealing primarily with a new value system.

The three words that will navigate you

through today's sermon, what are they?

The three words you need to understand today's sermon.

Number one, love.

Number two, slave.

Number three, twist.

Love, slave, twist.

If you're ready for the actual Bible sermon,

give me an amen.

What are the inward sins of a Pharisee?

Number one, the love of money.

What are the inward sins of a Pharisee?

Number one, the love of money.

What was the first word I said we would talk about?

What was it?

Say it out loud.

Love, the love of money is what Jesus

is dealing with here today.

Luke chapter 16 verse 14, the Pharisees

Luke 16:14

who dearly loved their money.

What did the Pharisees love?

Their money.

They heard all of this and they scoffed at Jesus.

The word scoffed means to turn their nose up at it.

Have you ever said something that was true

but there was somebody in the room that didn't trust you

and so they just kind of like, whatever, man.

You're like, no, but really, like this is true.

This is Jesus now.

Jesus says, look, let me tell you, life is short

and there's a life to come.

Therefore, use this life to prepare for the next life.

And then his illustration was about money.

You saw that in the previous sermon.

Luke chapter 16 verses one through 13.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

And as he talked about money, the Pharisees were there

and they turned their nose up, they scoffed at Jesus.

Why?

Because of the dynamic of the day.

You see, Jesus, was he a rich man or a poor man?

You tell me, Jesus, was he a rich man or a poor man?

He was a poor man.

In fact, the Bible tells us,

even the Old Testament prophet said he would be poor.

Jesus was literally a homeless rabbi

who traveled from village to village

living off of whatever little offerings came in

and whoever took their disciples in to feed them.

That's how Jesus lived for three and a half years.

That's what Jesus did.

He was the son of a carpenter.

So poor that when he was a child,

that his parents did not actually give

the prescribed lamb in the sacrifice.

Instead, they were supposed to give two turtle doves.

This signified these two turtle doves.

It was the cheapest sacrifice you could give at the temple.

Why?

Because they were a poor family.

So now this poor homeless rabbi

is talking about a new economy.

And the people in the society

that were the most powerful and wealthy were the Pharisees.

And the Pharisees heard Jesus talking about the new economy

and they're like, yeah, you're gonna tell us

what to do with our money?

And they scoffed at him.

The reason they scoffed at him

is because they did not understand who he actually was.

The reason they mocked him is because it's a whole lot easier

to mock the truth than to refute the truth.

Their love for money had blinded them to the beauty

of Jesus' teachings.

Their love for money had caused them to collaborate

with evil political forces of Pilate and Rome.

Their love for money eventually caused them

to reject the Messiah and send him to the cross.

And if you're not careful here today,

I wanna speak to maybe the new individual in the room

who might be struggling with this,

this value system.

If you're not careful and you struggle with the sin

of loving money, you need to understand how dangerous it is.

Your love for money may keep you from God himself one day.

Keep you from the Messiah.

Yes, money is important.

Money is the universal passport to everywhere in the world,

except heaven.

Except heaven.

Money is the universal provider for everything in the world,

except happiness.

And what Jesus is attempting to teach people

that are willing to listen is that yes, money is good,

but it's not God.

And it is only God who can bring you into heaven,

and it is only God who can provide happiness.

To devalue in your mindset that which is money,

and value in your mindset that which is God, good mothers,

good mothers understand this naturally.

The reason I say that is because mothers

are naturally sacrificial.

They desire, now you say, and again,

I know a lot of us have a lot of backgrounds

that are different, and you may have a mother

who was unnatural, meaning she did not sacrifice

for her children.

She did not care for her children the way she should have.

And in reality, that is an unnatural thing

for a mother to do, and you have my sympathy and empathy.

But a good mother is naturally sacrificial,

meaning if she's gonna go hungry so that the children

can eat, she's willing to go hungry

so the children can eat.

Why?

Because she values the life of her children

even more than her own life.

She has the right value system.

This was my mother.

I gotta tell you, my mom was a good mom.

I remember as a child, we didn't have a lot of money.

We grew up poor.

That's why I'm like Jesus.

Can I get an amen right there?

All right.

We did, we didn't have a lot.

We did not have a lot.

And we were one of those families who did not have a lot,

and how many of you have ever heard somebody say

we did not have a lot and we didn't know it?

Right, how many of you have ever, man, we were poor.

We didn't really know it.

I was poor and I knew it.

I knew we were, we didn't, you know?

And I made like what everybody's got in Nintendo

and you're sitting there playing in Atari.

You know you're poor, you know?

It's, it is what it is, guys.

And, but we were a happy family.

And my parents really worked hard to take care of us.

My mother specifically, every year at Christmas time,

she was the one who made Christmas special for the family.

Because we didn't have a lot of extra finances

to buy presents and do these kind of things.

She was the one who actually every year,

beginning in September, all the way through November,

she would prepare for a special event in the community.

It was called the annual Christmas boutique.

And back in the 1980s, this was a big deal.

All the crafting, all of those kind of things.

And she would actually spend that entire,

those entire months, actually January through August,

she would gather materials to make crafts

that she would sell at the Christmas boutique.

And by the time she got to September,

she grabbed a room in the house

and she made it all about her crafts.

She would have pine cones in there.

She would have wreaths in there.

She have candles in there.

She would have all sorts of ribbons and all.

And it was a crafter's paradise.

But she did it because as she made these crafts,

she prepared them all to sell.

Now we don't sell them at boutiques.

We have Etsy, you know what I mean?

That's what they do now.

But that's what my mother did back then.

And she would gain tons of this material,

make all of these things,

and then bring them to boutique and for like a week.

It only lasted for like a week.

She would sell all of these things

and raise enough money to give us a big Christmas.

I didn't know that that was the economic dynamic

in our family until one Christmas.

We woke up, my parents instead of taking us downstairs

to read the Bible story

and to read the Christmas story

and Christmas cards and open presents,

they took us outside, went downstairs,

went to the front door, not the back door.

They opened it up.

We went around the rose bushes through the back gate.

And as soon as we did, we saw in our backyard

a brand new swing set.

Bought from Toys R Us, God rest its soul.

Amen, right?

Because we miss Toys R Us.

Jeffrey, he died.

He's dead.

I apologize.

He died.

I think Jeffrey died anyway.

Some of you are like, who's Jeffrey?

Toys R Us, it's a thing anyway.

All right.

And I remember walking out there

and we jumped on the swing set.

We're like, I can't believe it.

And it was beautiful.

I can remember it was red and blue and white.

And it had multiple swings and a teeter totter

and it had one of those bars you could swing on.

It was like super cool.

Like this is so awesome.

And I remember even at eight years old, I'm like eight.

I can remember thinking, how did we afford this?

Well, we went inside and we sat down

and my father read the Christmas story

and then we read some Christmas cards from some families.

And then he looked at us and we all,

he was holding his wife's hand.

I'll never forget.

He's holding mom's hand.

And with tears in his eyes, he said,

today is special because your mother

has spent months and months and months selling crafts

so that we could have a special Christmas.

And in that moment, I can remember waking up,

and I would for the next few years.

You'd wake up in the middle of the night

during Christmas season, around Thanksgiving,

you walk downstairs and their mom was at a table

making crafts, gluing pine cones together,

putting candy canes on top of candles

and doing all these things.

Middle of the night, why was she always there?

I thought this is what mothers did.

And I came to realize, this is what mothers do.

They sacrifice their own sleep for others.

They sacrifice themselves for others.

Their value system is elevated

because they are reflecting the love of God.

It's the way God fuses about you

is the way mothers are supposed to feel

about their children.

And so what you see in this passage is Jesus

trying to wake up the Pharisees to the reality

that your value system is off because you love money

rather than God.

Number one, love of money.

What was the second sin of the Pharisee

that we find in this passage?

Number one is the love of money.

Number two, does anybody remember?

I said love was the first.

What was the second word we wanted to talk about today?

Slave.

The second sin of the Pharisee is number two.

The Pharisee is the slave to image.

Rightfully so, there is not a word that is most,

that is more hated and despised

in the American culture than the word slave.

And the reason we hate it so much

is because of the sins of our nation in the past.

Slave.

So for any modern American to think to themselves

that they have become a slave is a reprehensible idea.

Yet in reality, the American culture has become a slave

to image.

I care so much about how you perceive me.

So I project it.

This is what the Pharisees did.

The Pharisees loved money and they loved their image.

Now, the Pharisees didn't care about who they were inside.

They cared about how you saw them on the outside.

Look at verse number 15.

Then Jesus said to them,

you like to appear righteous and public.

Now again, watch the dynamic.

I love Jesus.

He's so bold.

Look, I'm gonna go back to verse 14.

The Pharisees who dearly loved their money

heard all of this and scoffed at Jesus.

And then Jesus said to them,

you know what your problem is?

You like to appear righteous in public.

But God knows your heart.

What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.

Detestable in the sight of God.

Have you noticed how important it is

to project a certain image?

I raised two teenage daughters and it scares me

for so many reasons.

But one of those reasons is because we live in a society

today that teaches young women what matters most

is how you're perceived by others online.

And it doesn't matter.

What matters is not what others see you as.

What matters is how God sees you.

Look at, listen to me, listen to me.

Every 12 year old girl and every 82 year old man,

here's what matters.

What does God see when God sees your heart?

The Pharisees were consumed with presenting

a certain image of self-righteousness

and of political strength,

but their value system was completely the opposite of God.

The crowd that was there viewed these men

as men who knew about God and they knew about finances

and they knew about eternity

and they knew how to set in order everything.

And Jesus is saying these people have no idea

what they're talking about.

The sins of a Pharisee.

Number one, first and foremost, a love of money.

Number two, a slave to image.

What did I say the third word

that we were gonna talk about was?

Twist.

The third sin of a Pharisee dealt with here

is the twisting of the law.

Because they loved gold rather than God

and because they loved outward image

rather than inward humility.

They took the law of God and they twisted it

so that they could get more money and more image.

Does this make sense?

That's why the next few verses though often misunderstood

by Christians who study are explained very, very clearly.

They had left their first love to pursue money and image.

Look at verses 16 through 18.

Amazingly fascinating.

Look what it says in verse 16.

Until John the Baptist, Jesus goes on to teach.

Remember, look at the context.

I'll read verse 14 and 15 all the way to 16.

Look what it says.

The Pharisees who dearly loved their money

heard all of these things and scoffed at Jesus.

Jesus looked at them and says, here's your problem.

You like to appear righteous and public

but God knows your heart.

What this world honors is detestable on the side of God.

Then he says, until John the Baptist, the law of Moses

and the messages of the prophets were your guides.

Jesus looks at him and says,

you used to follow the law of Moses and the prophets.

I'm gonna say who did they follow?

You saved the law of Moses and the prophets.

Who did they follow?

The law of Moses and the prophets.

But now the good news of the kingdom of God

is preached and everyone is eager to get in.

Now Jesus looks at him and says,

you followed Moses and the prophets all the way until now.

But now the good news of the gospel is here.

He's talking about himself.

And he's saying, you're wondering why they're all

surrounding me all the time.

And your little synagogues and your temples are empty.

You wanna know why that's the case?

This is what Jesus is dealing with.

These men, these Pharisees were investing their entire life.

Everything they were investing in,

what the law of Moses said and what the prophet said.

But what Jesus was saying is don't you understand

that everything that the law of Moses and the prophet said

was all leading to me.

And the fact that you're rejecting me shows me

that you weren't really investing in the law

and in the prophets.

These people rejected Jesus Christ,

which shows that their real heart was about money and image.

And so Jesus was dealing with them directly.

Wow, look at what it says, it goes on to verse 17.

But that doesn't mean that the law has lost its force.

Just because there's a new law, the law of love

and the law of gospel, doesn't mean that the law

of the Old Testament is over.

It means that Jesus was the fulfillment of the law.

It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear

than one small part of God's law to ever be overturned.

Jesus was making a very strong point and it was this.

If these religious people rejected Jesus,

it means they were never invested in the law

and in the prophets in the first place.

And so then Jesus gives a very clear statement.

They had left their first love

in order to follow money and image.

And so Jesus gives them an example.

The example is about marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

Now, how many of you in this room today

have ever studied the Bible

and you've come across Jesus talking about marriage

and divorce and sometimes you say,

it seems like he just throws it in there

like it's out of context.

It's not out of context.

When this passage comes up,

Jesus is using marriage, divorce, and remarriage

as an example of the type of hypocrisy

that the Pharisees were living.

Unfortunately, if you are Christian

and you've studied the Bible,

you may have been pointed to this passage

by some well-meaning individual

who doesn't understand this passage,

who will point at this passage and say, see this,

the Bible says if somebody gets married

after they've been divorced,

they live in continual adultery for the rest of eternity.

And then that feels so much guilt

and you're like maybe I'm supposed to divorce my current wife

or my husband, that is not what this passage is saying.

That is a verse taken out of context.

And a verse taken out of context

is a detriment to all of humanity.

What is Jesus saying here?

Look at what he says based on everything you've just studied.

Verse 18, I love this, I love this.

For example, a man who divorces his wife

and marries someone else commits adultery.

And anyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband

commits adultery.

Taken out of context, it has a very clear meaning.

But within context, Jesus is saying to the Pharisees,

you think you're so righteous?

I know what's going on.

Say, what do you mean he knows what's going on?

Well, let me tell you what's going on.

During this time, the Pharisees, the religious leaders,

were having a religious debate.

The debate was on how easily could you divorce your wife?

Now remember, you live in 21st century America.

By the way, aren't you thankful to live in America?

Can I get an amen?

Aren't you thankful to live in the 21st century, amen?

People say, boy, I should have been born in another time.

Not me, I like the stuff we have.

I'm almost sure I should live in a future day

where there's more stuff, you know what I mean?

But back then, this was a society who lets me be very clear.

Did not value women at the level

that Jesus Christ taught them to value women.

I mean, the debates that they were having,

the religious leaders of the day were debating about divorce

and not whether or not you should,

but how quickly you could divorce your wife.

There was one segment of society,

one segment of the religious leaders who said

you could divorce your wife over the smallest matter.

By the way, it was all non-contested.

A woman had no voice in the divorce.

All you needed was the man wanting to divorce

and the priest to sign off on it, who was also a man.

Sounds fair, right?

Good thought?

Okay, so this is what was going on.

So some people thought you could divorce your wife

over anything, literally, even if she burned the soup,

you could go in and say, you burned the soup, you're out.

You say, well, big deal, then she could go do her own thing.

Not in that society, not in a patriarchal society

where a woman had no opportunity to live on her own

and do her own thing.

She had to be tied to her father

or she had to be tied to her husband.

So now this community of men would decide at any moment,

if I want to divorce my wife, throw her out in the back porch,

that's it, she burned the soup, it's on her.

Now some were very progressive.

Some decided that you could divorce your wife,

not over something as silly as burned soup,

but you could divorce your wife over committing adultery

because according to the law of Moses,

if a woman or a man commits adultery,

it can invalidate the marriage in some cases.

And so some were saying, yes, you can divorce your wife,

not over burned soup, but if you believe

she committed adultery.

How do I prove she committed adultery?

Just tell us she committed adultery.

Good, we'll sign the document.

And what Jesus was saying is,

don't you understand that your love for money

and your love for image has made you twist the law

so that you as men can get what you want,

use what you want and throw away the leftover

so you can get some hot, fresh new thing.

They were debating the law of God while debasing women.

And Jesus is looking at them saying,

we're not playing this game, you're gonna scoff at me?

Your value system is shot.

That's why he ends it by saying, you're all corrupt,

you're all committing adultery,

don't look at me and judge me, I'm judging you.

It is a big deal.

See the Pharisees were in the position

where they thought, look at all of these wicked people

around us and Jesus says, your sin is a big deal.

Big deal.

Your worship of money, your advancement of self image,

your twisting of the law to get what you want.

By the way, why did, this is interesting by the way,

I didn't think about sharing this until now.

Why didn't they just, you say, so what?

They divorced the woman, throw her out.

Why didn't they just stay married?

That's a good question because during that time,

if a man wanted a new wife,

polygamy was still allowable within all Jewish community.

It wasn't for another 400 years that Rome would make a law

that they could not be polygamous.

And it wasn't until 700 years after that

in the 11th century that the Jewish rabbis made laws

that polygamy was no longer allowed.

So the question is, why couldn't these men

who wanted a new wife just pick another wife

and bring them them in?

You know why?

Because if you have multiple wives,

you have to financially care for them.

This is all related to value system and how we treat people

and how much money we want and how much our images

and our self worth, all of this.

There's something deeper going on here

in this passage as well.

The fact that Jesus brings up adultery is very interesting

because Jesus is the final prophet of the Bible.

And as the final prophet of the Bible,

he's reflecting the same message that all of the prophets

were saying in all of the Old Testament.

I'm just right now in my personal devotions,

I'm reading through all the minor prophets

and they all call out Israel for spiritual adultery.

They say over and over, because you're worshiping those gods,

you're not worshiping our God.

And if you worship our God, you won't be worshiping their God.

When Jesus brings up adultery, he's talking about

the political dynamic of the day, yes.

But he's also saying to Israel,

the same message every prophet was saying is,

that is, you are worshiping money,

you are worshiping your own image,

and you're worshiping your own society

which you've twisted the laws of God

and you've corrupted the value system.

So he looks at them and says, it is a big deal.

Your sin.

Now you say, what do I do with this?

Okay.

Let's land the plane and go home

and take our moms to lunch or something.

Amen, all right.

Say, okay, this is interesting.

How does it affect me?

Pastor, are you telling me like I'm the Pharisee here?

No, I don't think so.

I thought a lot about it.

I don't think you're the Pharisee.

I don't think you elevate gold above God.

I don't think you worship, I don't think you would be here,

especially after last Sunday sermon, amen.

I think you're here because you want to honor God.

I don't think you're trying to project an image.

I think you genuinely are just trying to follow Jesus

and do the best you can.

I think that's true.

I don't think you're trying to twist the law.

You say, then what do I do with this?

Here's what to do as a disciple of Jesus.

As a disciple of Jesus,

just keep the same value system that you have.

Give to others.

I'm encouraging you, that is infusing you with courage

to keep valuing other people more than you value yourself.

Sacrifice.

Don't think about my image, what other people see.

Think about who you really are on the inside

as you choose to please and honor God.

Take time to sacrifice for others.

Take time out of your schedule to share with others

the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Look, if you're a mother here,

don't grow weary in well doing.

You moms, you sacrifice your time, your energy,

your money, some of you, your food,

you sacrifice everything.

Don't grow weary in well doing.

And here's why.

Because in due season, you will reap if you don't give up.

Take time to continue in the value system

that God has given you.

Now, what is most fascinating about this text

and will be done is how it ends.

Jesus tells his disciples, hey, hey, hey,

death is not the end.

Then he looks at the Pharisees and says,

don't make fun of me, your value system is all jacked up.

And he ends by telling one of the most famous

Bible stories in all of the Bible about a rich man

who dies and goes to hell and about a poor man

named Lazarus who dies and goes to paradise.

Next week, we're gonna see the grand conclusion

of the sermon series, You've Been Tricked.

I hope to see you then.