On Staying Soft-Hearted

Fred Phelps and his travelling circus from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka will be in our area Monday to preach their gospel of hate. These are the folks who travel around the country picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan with signs like “Thank God for IED” and “God Hates Your Tears.” Their church website is godhatesfags.com and godhatesamerica.com. Now they have godhatestheworld.com. Now this friendly bunch is coming to our area to protest at some of our area public and private high schools. How lovely. At least they are staying over in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

How in the world could a church that at least claims to follow God and the Bible do and say such horrible things? Well, they start with a bad theology, a hyper-Calvinism that says God loves only the elect. Jesus died only for the predestined, and therefore God hates everyone else. He only created most of us so that He would have something to burn in hell. Keep going with that idea, and the gospel does qucijly change from “For God so loved the world…” to “God hates everyone expect me and you, and I’m not so sure about you.”

Because they are so convinced that they are the elect ones (and everyone else is not), they simply aren’t open to any contrary message… like the gospel. Their theological system tells them who God is and what God hates, and their hearts are closed to any other truth. Once you have the whole truth, then you don’t have to spend time seeking the truth.

There could be a warning in there for the rest of us. In our reading for today from Mark 4, Jesus tells the familiar “Parable of the Sower.” Actually, we should call it the “Parable of the Soil” because that is what it is about. God’s word is the seed that falls into human hearts, but it’s ability to bear fruit depends on the condition of the soil of the heart--

• Some are hard-hearted. They are the pathway soil that is not open to the message of the kingdom, and they rejected the word completely.
  
  
• Some are shallow-hearted. They are the rocky soil where interest in truth is shallow and soon dies out for lack of roots.
  
  
• Some are mixed-hearted. They allowed their concerns for the things of the world to choke out their concern for God's word.
  
  
• Some are good-hearted. They receive and live by the gospel and allow it to influence their whole lives.

Phelps and his band of kooks have become so twisted by their hate that their hearts are hard and cannot be penetrated by the gospel of the God who is love. Hate can do that. So can arrogance. And these people seem to have both in abundance. Perhaps something will soften their hearts and allow the gospel to penetrate and bear fruit. If not, they will one day discover that what God hates is hate.

The challenge for us is to remain soft-hearted and open to the gospel of God's grace. If we ever get to the point where we think we've got all the truth, we may find ourselves getting twisted as well.

A House Divided

One of the characteristic markers of the ministry of Jesus in Mark’s gospel is his power to cast out evil spirits. I think phrase "cast out" sounds archaic, but that is used in newer versions like ESV and NLT. The NCV uses "force demons out." Some people would use the word "exorcize," but that leaves a faulty impression. "Exorcize" implies a ritual incantation’ it is defined as "to drive out an evil spirit from a person, place or thing, especially by an incantation or prayer." Jesus didn't do that; he simply told them to come out and they did. In fact, sometimes He didn't even tell them to come out; they saw him and left, pausing only to acknowledge him as the Song of God (Mark 3:11-12). The question that is often asked is "Do demons still possess people today?" All I know is that if we stay near to Jesus, we will stay safe!

What did Jesus enemies do when they saw Jesus exercising exorcisms (groan)? They already had decided that they would kill him (Mark 3:6). When faced with such obvious demonstrations of power, Jesus’ enemies had to say something. So they accused him of working for the other side, “And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons" (Mark 3:22). They had to come up with something, so they brought some experts down from the home office. But all they could come up with was saying that Jesus had demonic power, and he was using His demonic power to drive out demons! (Did any of them ever consider the fact that if Jesus did have demonic power, ticking him off would have been less than an intelligent thing to do? I guess they never saw the Exorcist!).

Jesus points out the rather obvious truth—Satan wouldn’t use power to defeat his own minions. No army succeeds by declaring war on itself! Jesus put it this way in Mark 3:24-26—

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.

OK, so Abraham Lincoln often gets credit for that line, which he quoted when running for the Senate in 1858. But the line is from Jesus. Satan would not threaten his own empire by casting out his own demons. No, Jesus had himself come to earth to destroy Satan's empire and rescue Satan’s victims. If Satan attacked himself like that… well, he would be acting just like the church! Doesn't the church on earth look like a house divided against itself? Doesn’t the church often look like a kingdom attacking itself as one faction, denomination or congregation attacks another? And what did Jesus saw about a house divided?

So Satan is smarter than God’s people! It’s time to cease all our in-house, intramural battling and fix our eyes on Jesus and follow His example. Churches don't have to be just alike to work together. And even when we can't work close together, we can at least avoid battling each other. When we stay close to Jesus, the demons get out of the way!

Power to Forgive / Power to Heal

Mark 2 (our daily reading today) begins the story of the opposition Jesus receives from Jewish leaders. In Mark 1, Jesus calls his first disciples, leaves the synagogue of Capernaum in awe, and has large crowds following him to the point where he could no longer travel about in the open (Mark 1:45). This lasts one chapter! In Mark 2, Jesus is noticed by the religious leaders, and they to mount a growing opposition. It all begins when Jesus heals a paralyzed man brought to him by friends that show both ingenuity and faith. The lower the man down on his mat from a hole in the roof where Jesus is teaching. Jesus sees their faith and says to the man, "Son, your sins are forgiven" (Mark 2:5).

The rabbis there immediately seize upon Jesus' words as blasphemy, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:7). But that is precisely the point Jesus is making through his miracles. The power he is showing is from God; the miracles he is performing point to God. He responds to their unspoken objection by pointing to the point of his miracles (Mark 2:9-12)

Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Jesus' power to heal proved that he also had the authority to forgive sins. The crowds could know that Jesus had authorize to forgive by the power he exerted over life's problems.

I wonder if we need the reverse proof! Most of us have no doubt that Jesus forgives sins. We are committed to the idea that cross is God's power to forgive every sin we will bring to the cross. And we believe heaven awaits all those who live under the cross. But are we as confident in Christ's power to deal with the struggles in our present lives? Does Christ have the power to help us live above our problems, weaknesses and hurts? Is the power of Christ today only spiritual and limited to eternal life after we die? Or does Christ continue to give us power through His Spirit to live confident and victorious and joyful lives now? Can Jesus deal with our sickness and pain, our broken relationships, our job difficulties, and our weakness in the face of temptation? If Jesus has the power to forgive sin (the greatest human problem), then he also has the power to overcome any human problem. If we trust Jesus for the next life, then we had better trust him for this one as well!

The Old, Old Story

If you went to the library at Harding University Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, you could find an impressively (and expensively) bound copy my master’s research project entitled “The Use of Computers by Preachers in Small Churches.” You’d have to go to Memphis—I don’t have a copy. The research paper contains leading edge, state-of-art research on the church’s use of computers... in the early 1980’s. In case you don’t remember, one of the great issues was the supplanting of WordStar by WordPerfect as the dominant word processing program. There is not one single page in that paper that would be helpful in the least today (except perhaps as comic relief).

The new quickly becomes old. That which is cutting-edge and relevant today is old and irrelevant tomorrow. Unfortunately, the church has proved this true. We stressed “restoring the New Testament church” which in many ways meant simply re-imagining it in the lens of the rationalism of current thinking (current in the early nineteenth century). Later we stressed making the church more user-friendly and contemporary. Very often when the church needs revitalizing, we turn to external forms and formats. We tweak our organizational charts, redesign our buildings and revamping our ministries. Sometimes that must be done, but it is never long before we need to start all over again,

What we need is less focus on the EXTERNAL things of the church and more focus on ETERNAL story upon which the church must forever stand. We return to the story today as we begin reading Mark’s gospel in our daily reading. Mark’s telling of the story is not dramatically different from Matthew’s, although there are nuances. Mark is more focused on action; his favorite word is “immediately” (NASB) or "straightway" (KJV) as he moves from one action story to another. Mark’s story is told differently than Matthew’s (or Luke’s or John’s), but it is the same story. And it is the story of the church.

The old, old story never gets old. Forms and formats do; customs that help today can distract tomorrow. What is fresh and contemporary can very quickly become the tradition that stagnates. The church that focuses on the past never moves forward; the church that focuses on the present has no stability or staying power for the future. John R. W. Stott quotes W. R. Inge, “If you marry the spirit of your own generation, you will be a widow in the next.” Indeed.

The key for the church is remaining committed to old, old story that remains forever new. Jesus. The God who became flesh and lived among us. To focus on Jesus is to remain as relevant as eternity. So in our daily reading, we start over with the story of Jesus in Mark’s gospel. May it never get old.

The Agony of the Cross

The highest grossing R-rated film of all time is Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. It wasn’t R-rated because of language—the whole movie was in Aramaic and Latin (with English subtitles). It was rated R because of the excessive violence— excessive because crucifixion was obsessive. The movie opens with the lone figure of Jesus in prayer Gethsemane gently rocking back and forth overcome with deep emotion. As the camera zooms in, we see that his face is covered in droplets of blood-tinted sweat. That picture comes from Luke 22:44--

And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

The Greek word for "anguish" is "agonia" from which we get "agonize." Jesus was in agony as he contemplated what would happen the next day. Here’s my question, “Why was Jesus in such agony?” Well, duh! He was about to die a horrible and painful death! He knew what would happen the next day.

But there is more to it. During the reign of Emperor Severus in the third century, a young woman from Alexandria named Potamiaena was condemned to die as a Christian. She underwent days of torture and abuse before eventually being burned alive by having boiling pitch poured over her body. And yet her faith and disposition while awaiting and enduring her horrible death led her jailer to Christ. This young girl and thousands like her faced martyrdom in horrible ways in the name of Christ with a calm faith and quiet acceptance.

So why did Jesus claw the ground in Gethsemane? I am not suggesting that we minimize the physical torture Jesus endured; it was every bit as horrible as we saw in Gibson’s movie. But how did so many martyrs face their own horrible deaths with quiet calm and serenity? What Jesus faced on the cross was more than just the pain of physical crucifixion. Jesus would carry our sin with Him on the cross. Jesus would feel the desolation of separation from God caused by our sin. That was the meaning of Jesus cry from the cross—“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” Because of our sin, God said “No” to Christ's Gethsemane prayer for deliverance. Because of our sin, God allowed His son to die rejected and alone. The veil in the Temple was not the only thing rent when Christ died; the perfect unity between Father and Son was also rent, torn apart by the rebellion of our sin.

So here is the irony. Paul says, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:19). God was bringing us back to Himself through the cross, but in order for Him to do so, He had to abandon Jesus on the cross. God “made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21). Because in that one moment in time Jesus became our sin, then in that one moment in time, God turned away from Him. In order for us to be reconciled, God rejected His Son. During those dark hours on the cross, Jesus was all alone. Why had God forsaken Him? It was because of our sin... and because of our salvation.

He Saved Others...

It had been too easy. They captured Jesus without a fight. They rushed him through their kangaroo court and had him quickly condemned by the Romans. Oh, sure, they had to manipulate Pilate a bit. Manipulating the crowds was even easier-- the same mob that shouted and worshiped him scarcely a week before had now cried, "Crucify him!" It had all been so easy. And now they were there to enjoy their day of victory.

So these leaders of the Jewish people-- priests, scribes and elders-- were there at the cross to watch this Jesus of Nazareth die. Their hearts were filled with no remorse and no guilt. They had nothing but bitter hatred and contempt for this man who had made their lives so miserable for the last three years. Now these important men who had used their important positions to mask their evil deeds gloated in their victory. And they shouted insults at the man who suffered on the cross.

It is hard ti even imagine the cruelty of that act. How could men who claimed to be religious leaders be so cold and cruel to insult a suffering, dying man. The churchmen and political leaders who manipulated evidence to condemn Joan of Arc openly wept and begged her forgiveness as she was burned at the stake. “We are undone,” one cried, “for we have murdered a saint.” But there is none of that here. There was no trace of regret or remorse expressed by the men who killed Jesus. Instead, they taunted him (Matthew 27:41-43, The Message)

The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—he can’t save himself! King of Israel, is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then! He was so sure of God—well, let him rescue his ‘Son’ now—if he wants him! He did claim to be God’s Son, didn’t he?”

"Having a great time poking fun" at a tortured and dying man? .Not of one of them saw the horror of their deed. Not one of them noticed as the lips of the dying moved in prayer, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

And not one of them knew how right they were! To save others, he could not save Himself! And so He died. And the gates of hell were torn off their hinges!

Are You a Peter or a Judas?

I’m trying to keep my reading from Matthew 26 straight—Judas betrayed Jesus and Peter denied Jesus. Right? Judas didn't really deny Jesus; he acknowledged him with a kiss (Matt 26:49). But Peter denied that he even knew Jesus... three times… with a curse (Matt 26:74). The stories of these two men sound virtually identical up to this point of the story.

• Both men spent over three years following Jesus and had the inside scoop on His teaching and miracles.
  
  
• Both men were warned by Jesus of their upcoming failure (Matt 26:25,34).
  
  
• Both men were very sorrowful when they realized what they had done (Matt 26:75, 27:4).

And Peter received the keys of the kingdom of God (Matt 16:18) and Judas would have been better off if he had never been born (Matt 26:24). OK, the two stories were very similar until we get to that last picky point.

Why such a dramatic divergence of stories? Was what Judas did really so much worse than what Peter did? Judas identified Jesus to his enemies, but even Jesus noted that this was a more a symbolic than a disastrous betrayal. Jesus told those who arrested Him “Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.” (Matt 26:55). His enemies knew who Jesus was, though perhaps the soldiers who arrested Him needed a positive ID. Couldn't some of the Pharisees have told them in advance, "Jesus will be the one with the halo?" What the soldiers really needed was someone (Judas) to tell them when Jesus was alone and could be taken in secret so the crowds could be manipulated. But they could have just followed him around!

Jesus could have been arrested without Judas, but Peter’s denial must have went straight to Jesus’ heart. Here was his friend who one minute proclaims “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you” (Matt 26:35). The next minute he is calling down curses on himself saying “I don’t know the man!” (Matt 26:74). How did Peter take an oath or call down curses? "I swear to Him, I don’t know Him!” That flip-flop was all in the same half-chapter!

Before we shake our heads at Peter’s flip-flop, we need to look back at our own flip-flops. Have you ever gotten in a difficult situation and acted as if you didn't know Jesus? Have you ever decided that it was easier to just go along to get along and let people believe that you aren't one of "those Christian-fanatic" types? Have you ever given a wink and a nod to some action that you know Jesus would not condone because it was easier than taking a stand? If you admit that this has EVER been you, then welcome to Peter’s world. If you say that you have NEVER done that… well, you’d probably lie about others things too!

Why was Peter forgiven and Judas not? OK, I’m assuming that Judas wasn’t forgiven, which isn’t my place to assume—though Jesus’ statement “would be better for him if he had not been born” sorta leaves an impression, right? What was so much worse about what Judas did and what Peter did… and what you and I have done? Judas GAVE UP and Peter GOT UP. Judas killed himself. Peter repented, accepted forgiveness and then on to live the faith he once denied. Giving in and giving up are not the same thing!

So… you gonna be a Peter or a Judas?

Lend Me Your Ear...

In Matthew 26:51, Matthew tells what happens when the soldiers actually stepped forward to arrest Jesus, "With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear." This is one of those stories that all four of the gospel writers cover, so it must be important. John fills in the names of the disciple (Peter) and servant (Malchus). Luke fills in the detail of Jesus performing reattachment surgery on the ear. He also informs us that it was Jesus' idea that Peter go to the garden armed in the first place (Luke 22:38). But all four writers tell about one of the apostles cutting off the ear of the servant of the High Priest.

How do you imagine this story playing out. The picture at right has Peter grabbing the guys and intentionally sawing off his ear. Is that how you imagine it happening?

• Did Peter wake up out of a deep sleep and just lash out when he realized the enemy was upon them?
  
  
• Did Peter spin around like Luke Skywalker and take off the guys ear to show how good a swordsman he was?
  
  
• Was Peter aiming at the guys head and take of his ear because Peter wasn't such a good swordsman at all?
  
  
• Did Peter target the servant of the High Priest because it was High Priest was causing all the trouble for Jesus?

We know from Luke 22 that the apostles had two swords. Who had the second one and why didn't they use it? Or maybe Peter was swinging both swords like a Jewish Samurai warrior?

What is the point of the story? It wasn't that Jesus heals the guy whose ear is cut off-- only Luke mentions that part of the story. The point of Peter's swordplay was that Jesus refused to allow it. Jesus told Peter to have a sword and also told him not to use it. Jesus wasn't arrested because his servants were unwilling or unable to protect him. In fact, Jesus could have called legions of angels to fight for him. Jesus wants Peter and the rest to know that His arrest, trial and crucifixion were not happening by accident. No one was taking Jesus' life; He was laying it down. (John 10:17-18).

On Missing the Point

Jerry Clower used to tell about the time that he and Marcel Ledbetter slipped into the church building early one Sunday morning and replaced all the communion juice with green persimmon wine. He said that everyone partook of the Lord’s Supper that Sunday, and then they all stood and whistled the closing hymn.

OK, my story isn't that dramatic, but the great Kool-Aid incident of 1976 almost comes close. This was before I came here, but someone told me about it under promise of anonymity. The person in charge of preparing communion evidently put off the task until the last minute one Sunday morning. When they hurriedly rushed in to get things ready, they discovered that there was no Welch’s grape juice. But there was a large container of Kool-Aid left over from VBS. If they mixed the Kool-Aid really strong, maybe no one would notice that the grape juice wasn't really grape juice. It might have worked too... had we actually had grape Kool-Aid. What we had was orange Kool-Aid, and that wasn't fooling anyone. I am told that as people partook of the cup, they looked around with extremely puzzled looks on their eyes… but no one ever said anything. They still don't!

I forgot about that story until years later when we had the great banana juice incident. We were preparing communion for the very first official service of the church freshly planted in Zhitomir, Ukraine. For some reason, grape juice was hard to find (though wine was more plentiful than drinkable water). But somehow we had it our minds that we had to find grape juice. Not long before the service, we passed a kiosk that had container of juice with pictures of grapes. The labeling was Russian, but it was obviously grape juice. Until just before the service when it was opened, revealing a bright yellow liquid and someone immediately labelled “banana juice.” We had communion, but I’m sure that when we got to the part where the cup represented the Lord’s blood, that must have lost something in translation.

In our reading for today in Matthew 26, Jesus observes “the Last Supper” with the apostles. It really wasn't the last supper; Jesus eats with his disciples several times after the resurrection. What he does is to eat the Passover with his disciples for the last time, and He radically changes its meaning and message for all time to come. The bread and wine of the Passover become a statement of the covenant of the body and blood of Jesus. Rather than pointing back to the freedom of the Hebrews slaves during the time of Exodus, now this meal points us to our exodus from the slavery to sin, freedom given us through the sacrifice of the cross. It is the sign of the covenant, a new covenant Jesus signed in His own blood and that we resign every time we eat the bread and drink of the cup.

It is interesting how divisive that communion has been through the years. It was largely a differing understandings of communion that kept the Protestant Reformation movements of Luther, Calvin and Zwingli from merging into one. In my own religious tribe, churches have split over any number of communion issues-- the number of communion cups, whether or not we can use grape juice rather than wine or MUST use wine and not grape juice, whether or not you can sing while the cup is being passed, etc. A professor in grad school told me about a church that split over whether or not the one cup had to have a handle (as in a coffee mug) or not, because without a handle, a cup isn't a cup-- it's a glass!

Somewhere along the line, we missed the point. The point of communion is not making sure we get all the details (like numbers of cup and exactly what's in the cup) right. The point of communion is NOT our cup at all— the point is the cup that Jesus drank for us. In communion, we participate in the cross and focus on what Jesus did for us there. Communion isn't about what we do but about what He did. In communion, we share in Christians death on the cross and in His resurrected life after the cross. And we give thanks. That is the point!

Are You Ready...Today?

Our reading for today begins with Matthew 24:36, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Jesus plainly says that humans don't know (even he didn't know as long as he was human) the time of the second coming. It will be like the flood (v. 38). It will be like a thief in the night (v. 43). It will come unexpectedly and without any warning or sign. We can’t know when Jesus will come, so if we are going to be ready when he comes, we must be ready for Him at all times. We must always and continually “keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (v. 42).

So then why have people continued to make predictions about the tie of the second coming? Almost from the very beginning of the church, there have been “experts” who thought they had inside information on when Jesus was coming back. I gave the following summary of some of the “soothsayers of the second advent” a couple of years ago in a blog--

• In the mid-second century, Montanus set the date for the return of Christ and the end of the world in the late second century. His followers gave their goods away and waited for the return. When it didn't happen, the Montanists were reduced to beggars and the movement ended.
  
  
• In 1524, a German theologian predicted the coming end of the world in a cataclysmic flood. He attracted a wide following, and his disciples built boats and rafts and waited for the great world-ending flood. When it didn't happen, they were so annoyed that they threw him in a lake!
  
  
• William Miller predicted that the world would end in 1843, a date he later had to revise to be October 22, 1844. The Millerites were so shocked when it didn't happen that they referred to October 23, 1844 as “The Great Disappointment.” While Miller faded from the scene, some of his followers led by Ellen G. White founded the Seventh Day Adventists.
  
  
• Some of the other ex-disciples of Miller led by Charles Taze Russell formed the "Millennial Dawn" movement. They set many dates for the end time, beginning in 1874 and then reset to be 1914, 1925, 1929, 1941, 1975, and their most recent prediction was for 1991. This movement is now called the Jehovah's Witnesses; they no longer set dates.
  
  
• In 1970, Hal Lindsey published The Late Great Planet Earth in which he predicted the second coming sometime in the mid-seventies based on the Egypt-Israeli war. The book as been revised many times because the world has changed a little since he wrote.
  
  
• And Y2K sparked renewed interest of end time predictions as the third millennium began. Not only did the world not end, but most of the lesser catastrophes that was supposed to come with the changing of the calendar did not take place.

The predictions of the "soothsayers of the second advent" always have two things in common. First, their predictions are always that Jesus is about to come some time in the near future; no one every says that they've figured out all the signs and the end is come in 1.2 million years! Second, they have all been wrong... and they will always be wrong.

Matthew 24 is not an easy passage to parse. Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple (24:2) and then answers two (or three) questions raised by the disciples – “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" OK, maybe that is just two questions, but Jesus is going to answer all three. In section one (verses 4-34), Jesus is answering the first questions about the fall of the Temple. He ends with the promise “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (v. 35). And then he moves on to discuss “that day and hour” when heaven and earth would pass away. There would be signs that Jerusalem was about to fall-- “the abomination of desolation” (or “when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies”, Luke 21:20). But there will be no signs to read or warning to head when the world is about to end. Some of the people present when Jesus spoke would be there for the fall of the temple (v. 34). But obviously they aren’t still around waiting for the end of the world. We are still waiting, but we can’t know when that might be.

Here’s my prediction—we are nearer to the end of the world and the judgment mankind today than we were yesterday. And Jesus has given us one more day to get ready. Use it.

Whoa or Woe?

Jesus was very patient and forgiving when dealing with sinners. It fact, several times He defends sinners who are condemned by the “holy people.” Others dismissed sinners like the sinful woman (Luke 7), Zacchaeus (Luke 19) and the adulterous woman (John 8), but Jesus comes to their defense and offers them grace. Our reading today from Matthew 23 shows us the kind of sinners Jesus openly condemns—those who take pride in their own holiness. Here Jesus pronounces a series of "Woes" on the Pharisees. Why?

• Pharisees extolled telling the truth... and had a system that let them lie when they needed to do so (23:20-22)
  
  
• Pharisees focused on the external rituals of religiosity while ignoring real spirituality to the point where they strained the gnats of tradition while swallowing the camels of sin (23:23-24).
  
  
• Pharisees were so focused on externals that they are compared to whitewashed tombs and half-washed cups. They look good on the outside... but not on the inside. (23:25-28).
  
  
• Pharisees extol the memories of the prophets while acting just like the people who martyred them (23:29-32)
  

The problem with the Pharisees was not that they were such obvious and open sinners. No, the problem is that they looked EXACTLY like holy people. Their desire was to get religion right, and there is nothing wrong with that. That is UNLESS you think you have gotten it all right and are saved because it is all right. The Pharisees focused on tradition and completely missed God. Jesus told them that though they searched the scriptures, they missed the whole point (John 5:39). They got so focused on the right rites that they became dead wrong.

The main character in John Grisham's novel The Last Juror visits many different types of churches in rural Mississippi. While he notes many obvious differences from church to church, he also is struck by the central core that all shared in common. Perhaps this view from an outsider can help us to refocus on the part that matters.

The denominations were varied and baffling-- how could Protestants, all of whom claimed to follow the same basic tenets, get themselves so divided? They agreed basically that (1) Jesus was the only son of God; (2) he was born of a virgin; (3) lived a perfect life; (4) was persecuted by the Jews, arrested and crucified by the Romans; (5) that he arose on the third day and later ascended into heaven; (6) and some believed-- though there were many variations-- that one must follow Jesus in baptism and faith to make it to heaven. The doctrine was fairly straightforward, but the devil was in the details."

Yes, the devil really IS in the details. And when we fuss and feud over traditions and interpretations to the point where the body of Christ is harmed, that most certainly is the work of the devil! It is so easy to be so proud of ourselves because we are so right while others have it so wrong. Just like the Pharisees.

Whenever we get to the point where we pride ourselves on how well we do Christianity, we’d better tell ourselves “Whoa!” Or we might find Jesus telling us “Woe!”

Tradition, Tradition

I have been a Colts fan all my life—literally. I have this very clear memory of watching TV with my Dad while the Baltimore Colts were being introduced on TV. He pointed to Johnny Unitas and said, “That's the greatest quarterback ever.” I was probably 5 years old, and from that moment on, I was a Colts fan. And from that moment old, the Colts have been breaking my heart. Losing to the Jets in 1969. Bert Jones and the overtime loss to Raiders in 1977. Sneaking out of town under the cover of darkness for Indianapolis in 1984. I tried to be a Steeler’s fan when they were winning and a Redskins fan when they were winning. And I was a 49ers as long as Joe Montana was the quarterback. But my heart always belonged to the Colts… and they kept breaking it. So last night was nothing more than the continuation of a longstanding tradition. Sigh.

Speaking of tradition, our reading for today in Matthew 23 has Jesus begin to pronounce a series of woes on the Pharisees. Their slavish following of a received tradition caused them to “shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces” and “travel over land and sea to win a single convert.” Their tradition was making it harder and harder for people to see and follow God. Their tradition was at the same time a series of rules and regulations that enforced spirituality on people and it was a series of dodges and loopholes that allowed them to act as they pleased. And Jesus wants them to know that God is not pleased.

Now, tradition itself is not a bad thing. The now famous quotation from Jaroslav Pelikan affirms the basic truth, "Tradition is the living faith of those now dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of those still living." We do indeed learn from the faith of those who go before us. Tradition, both that of historic Christianity and that received from our immediate mothers and fathers in faith, can help to give our faith substance and expression. But that can be a double-edged sword if we do not keep our eyes on Jesus. J. I. Packer says this--

All Christians are at once beneficiaries and victims of tradition—beneficiaries, who receive nurturing truth and wisdom from God’s faithfulness in past generations; victims, who now take for granted things that need to be questioned, thus treating as divine absolutes patterns of belief and behavior that should be seen as human, provisional, and relative. We are all beneficiaries of good, wise, and sound tradition and victims of poor, unwise, and unsound traditions.

We decide whether our received traditions are a blessing or a curse to us. If they nurture and inform us as we seek Christ, then they are a blessing. But if they cause us to judge others and keep us from reaching out to all others who seek the Christ, then our tradition is our curse. When tradition points to Jesus, it is doing its job. When tradition points to itself and isolates believers, then tradition is doing the work of the evil one.

The Dress Code

One of the things that has definitely changed about church is the way people dress. Back in the olden days, everyone was expected to dress in their “Sunday-go-to-meeting” finest. All the women wore nice dresses and hats; all the men wore suits and ties. Everyone just knew that you showed respect for God by wearing your best clothes for Him. Everyone just had to know that, because they wouldn't read it in the Bible! The Bible doesn't have a dress code. Well, there is Exodus 28:42-43 that tells Aaron and his priests to make sure they are wear underwear when they are on duty. But aside from that, there is no dress code.

We don't really honor God by dressing up in our Sunday nest. In fact, James warns us not to judge others based on how they are dressed for church (see James 2:1-4). We had a church deacon who insisted that every brother who waited on the table wear a tie, and kept spares ties (very ugly ones) here at the building just in case someone forgot theirs.

I am much more comfortable with our current “come just as you are” dress code. I do try to wear a tie every other month or so, just so I don't forget how to tie one. Of course, some of our men still wear ties. Some don't. Some of our ladies still dress up; some come dress more comfortably. That's perfect-- not matter how our guests comes dressed, there will be some of our members dressed exactly like them. No one has to feel uncomfortable.

Our reading today from Matthew seems to suggest that God may after all have a dress code which is rather rigorously enforced. In the “Parable of the Wedding Feast” (Matthew 22:1-14), Jesus tells a story about a king who throws a party for his son and invites the guests to come. There is something strange about the guest list—

• The ones invited don’t come. The invitation went out throughout the land for the guests to come to the king’s party, and everyone was too busy to go. They made excuses and even killed the king’s messengers. The ones you would think would be at the party weren’t there.
  
  
• The ones not originally invited were then invited. The king’s servants were sent out into the streets to invite warm bodies to fill seats at the table. The common folks and street people—the last you would expect at a royal banquet—we the very ones present.

Jesus had just talked about how the chief priests and Pharisees had rejected the Christ and therefore would be rejected (see Matt 21:43-46). This parable reinforces that fact. The tax collectors and Gentiles would sit down at the table of God. “The last will be first and the first will be last” (See Matt 19:20, Matt 20:16).

But the parable does end simply making the point that some of the last people you’d expect to be a the party would be there. It also makes the point that those who come to the party are expected to behave like they are at the party. There is, after all, a dress code! Look at Matthew 22:11-14—

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

There was a guest at the party not wearing the wedding garments provided by the king. If you are going to be present in the presence of the king, then you had better act like you know what that means. It’s one thing to accept an invitation you don’t deserve; it’s another thing to act like you don't appreciate the invitation!

We don’t deserve to be invited to the King’s party. But once we are there, we have to wear the right clothes. Paul says “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal 3:27). When we accept God’s grace, we accept that He calls us to live a certain way. We are to, as it were, dress up in His holiness. Paul says “as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Col 3:12). We can’t deserve salvation, but once we are invited to the party, we have to observe the dress code. If we don’t, we may find ourselves escorted outside, and that’s a place we don’t want to be!

The Kingdom of Heaven

The Jews of the first century were focused on a “Messianic Expectation.” They believed that the time had come for God to send His Messiah who would throw off Roman chains and restore the kingdom of Israel to its glory years under David and Solomon. The Messiah would be like King David—a great warrior who would destroy the enemies of God. He would also be like King Solomon—exercise great power and exude great prestige. When John and Jesus began to preach “The kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt 3:1, 4:17), the Jews assumed that the time of revolution and conquest had come.

What do Christians today believe when they are told “The kingdom of heaven is at hand?” Many Christians long for a time when we elect Christian people who will effect godly laws so that our country can be the Christian nation it was meant to be. Has America (or any nation) ever been a Christian nation? Is that even possible? Christians are those who follow the teaching of Christ—teachings like “turn the other cheek.” Can any nation really do that? Granted, America’s tendency to rebuild countries that attack us-- after we bomb them back into the Stone Age-- is kinder and gentler than many conquering countries in history. But is it Christian? Political, economic and military power is part of the kingdoms of men, not the kingdom of God.

In our reading for today, Jesus draws a contrast that forever remains fixed between the kingdom of God and kingdoms of man. These two kingdoms operate on totally different principle, and those seeking to live in the Kingdom of God must be extremely careful. Here’s what Jesus says in Matthew 20:25-28.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The principle that drives the kingdoms of man is POWER. Kingdoms use power to protect its interests, to punish those who would violate its interests, and to enforce its will to secure its own selfish interests. We heard a lot of talk about “punishing evildoers” as we invaded Iraq, but we also heard a lot of talk about “protecting the interests of the United States.” There were plenty of evildoers in Rwanda, but we invaded Iraq because of our own selfish interests--OIL. Hey, I’m not suggesting that this was wrong— but it isn't Christian. The use of POWER is a characteristic of the kingdoms of man.

The principle that drives the kingdom of God is SACRIFICE. In God’s kingdom, you don’t kill for yourself but die for others. Greatness is not about using power to protect one’s own self-interest; it’s about serving others even when that puts you at a disadvantage. The one who is greatest in the kingdom of God is the one who looks the most like the Messiah of God. The use of power is simply not a characteristic of the kingdom of heaven.

Does this mean that Christians shouldn’t serve in the military, serve as police officers, run for public office or get involved in political action at the local, state and national level? David Lipscomb thought that is exactly what it means. I don't think so. What did John the Baptist tell soldiers who came to him asking what to do to prepare for the kingdom of God. John answered, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay” (Luke 3:14). In other words, don’t abuse your power. Christians in positions of power must understand that power is a fundamentally part of the kingdom of man and incompatible with the kingdom of God. The historian Lord Acton once said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." William Pitt, who knew something about power as Prime Minister of Great Britain (1766-1778) agreed that, “"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it."

When I use my influence, position, rank, status or reputation to enforce my will and get my way, that is using power. When I give up myself in order to seek the good of others, that is the way of the kingdom of heaven

What Good Thing?

In yesterday’s daily Bible reading, the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” (Matt 19:16). It seems he thought that there was ONE THING that he needed to do that he had not done that would secure his salvation. He had done all the hard stuff-- he had followed the Law and kept all the traditions of the fathers from his youth. Maybe he was afraid that he had left one critical commandment unfulfilled; maybe he just wanted to hear Jesus to tell him that he was doing everything perfectly. Jesus' answer must have shocked him; the one thing that he needed to do was EVERYTHING. While he had kept the externals, his heart did not really belong to God. That is what he needed to give.

It is so easy to focus on the externals markers of religion that we forget that God's x-ray eyes look through eternals all the way to our hearts. The greatest command He gives us is love-- to love God and love others. If we focus only on the external things of religion, then we miss the one thing God real wants from us-- our hearts. There is a difference between doing religious thingsand falling in love with what is right and the One who is our righteousness. Fred Peatross sums it up like this--

The Pharisees were a deeply religious people willing to make themselves miserable for the cause. They fasted every Monday and Thursday. Possibly this had something to do with the fact that Mondays and Thursdays were market days. When the Pharisees fasted everybody in the community knew it. Their fasting became theater. They put on a benefit performance—for their own benefit.

When they gave they ignored the cultural/biblical idea of giving in secret. Figuratively speaking, they blew their horn just before they gave so everyone would notice their generosity.

Because the Jewish religion prayed every day at 9:00 and 12:00 and 3:00 the Pharisee developed a pious reputation for their frequent and long prayers. Interestingly, they made sure they were in the marketplace at those very hours. If they couldn't be in the marketplace they found the top step of the synagogue the next best place to be.

Jesus wasn't opposed to giving, fasting, or praying but he was bothered by self-righteous people. And Jesus makes the point that our righteousness must exceed the outward religion of the Pharisees.

A man who worked with alcoholics for over twenty years wrestled with why some people abstain from liquor for several years and then fall off the wagon, yet others quit and never return to the bottle. He concluded that some people become abstainers and others fall in love with sobriety. Abstainers are always in danger of going back; for them quitting is a matter of reform. For lovers of the sobriety it is a matter of the spirit.

The difference between abstaining from drinking and loving sobriety is the same as the difference between being religious and loving God.