Put on Christ

This was my working draft for the message I brought to The Parkrose United Church on 5/11/17.

I added a little extra during the actual presentation.

The Church meets every Sunday within the Parkrose Nursing Home,Everard Park.

Text for the day.

Matthew 23.

Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees

23 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, ² saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ Therefore whatever they tell you to observe,^[a] that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. ⁴ For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. ⁵ But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. ⁶ They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ ⁸ But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ,^[b] and you are all brethren. ⁹ Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰ And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. ¹¹ But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Sermon:

  

Put on Christ!

All of today’s reading are the words of Jesus Himself.

So we need to say what is this saying to us.

Bear in mind this was being spoken to Jewish people not Gentiles who are us in this modern day.

Jesus had gone into the temple where He was teaching the people there.

This was not long before the time of His crucifixion.

He was being bombarded with questions by the Scribes and Pharisees who were trying to trip him up as their very authority and standing with the public was being threatened..

^“23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?”

They could see Jesus was a lot more popular than them and they basked in their power and authority.

We will take one piece at a time from our reading, or some of them anyway.

23 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, ² saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ Therefore whatever they tell you to observe,^[a] that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.

Have you ever heard the phrase “do what I say but don’t do what I do”.

The world is full of hypocrisy like that isn’t it?

This sort of thing is most evident to kids when their parents might say not to smoke or drink but they are continuing on their way practicing their bad habits in front of their children. 

Notice Jesus did say to those present don’t ignore the things the scribes and pharisees are saying but practice them,for  they do have authority in the Jewish religion, but don’t follow the examples they set which are really poor.

Remember this was still the time before Jesus Crucifixion and Resurrection.

The Jews were still living under the Law as handed down by Moses and the Prophets.

The fulfilling of the Law was still required to be right with God, and the age or dispensenation of grace had not yet begun.

⁴ For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

The scribes and Pharisees had by this time so expanded on the commandments and practices and rituals of the Old testament that it made life very difficult for the ordinary practicing Jew.

Willian Barclay a Christain author shares this with us.

“in the 4^th and 5^th centuries bc there came into being a class of legal experts known as scribes.

They were not content with great moral principles; they had what could only be described as a passion for definition.

They wanted these great principles(of the old testament law) amplified and expanded and broken down until they issued in thousands and thousands of little rules and regulations governing every possible action and every possible situation in life.”

I will not describe all the weird things that they brought in here but according to William Barclay,

 “to the Pharasaic and scribal Jew these things were their religion.

Ritual,ceremonial and regulations that they considered to be the essence and of the service of God.

Ethical religion was buried under a mass of tabus and rukles”

They were on about things being clean or unclean to a ridiculous level.

“but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”

The scribes and Pharisees while putting on a great show of their religion did nothing to help the common man.

The passage we had read to us today refers to these things called Phylacteries.

. ⁵ But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. ⁶ They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,

This is still a Jewish custom practiced in these times as well as then.

I don’t know if you have ever had in your possession little plastic box with cards for every day of the year with a scripture promise written on them.

These were popular a while back.

They were supposed to help you with your daily devotions but were a bit like a lucky dip.

I guess they might be helpful as thought starters much like you can still read a thought for the day verse each day in the Advertiser.

Well Phylacteries are mentioned in the Old testament and were quite specific in

construction,

what passages they contained from the Old Testament, 

(The same 4 old testament passages were in all of them)

and where you wore them or displayed them.

They made a big show of wearing these things on their foreheads and also their wrists.

It was like a status symbol and also an amulet.

Much as some people today where amulets and some bracelets to protect them or their children of illness or tragedy.

It was like “look at me I am a practising jew”, all the while turning a blind eye to the real needs of their fellow men,

The Law of the Lord is perfect, according to Psalm 19:7. Psalm 1 emphasizes the importance of meditating upon God’s Word both day and night. We should never forget it; it should be a part of our daily lives. The Word belongs in our hearts, not just on our foreheads.

So to all appearances the Pharisees and Scribes were highly religious people.

They tended to strut a bit which is what Jesus is focusing on.

⁶ They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ ⁸ But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ,^[b] and you are all brethren. ⁹ Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰ And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

We have a tendency with our clergy of today to place them up on pedestals.

How soon does the world, the media, jump on members of the clergy who do bad things.

They and we can see the hypocrisy of bad behavior.

We need to check our own behaviour to make sure we do not become like the Pharisees and scribes.

Before we jump on the Pharisees and Scribes we need to ask ourselves where our true heart lies.

Do we come to Church just like in  that old TV programme.

It was called “keeping up appearances”

Is that the extent of our faith?

Are we wanting to be seen to be doing “the right thing”?

Do we think that if we put some money on the collection,

Join in the singing,

Listen to the sermon,

Take communion,

that this means we have arrived,

We are paying for our ticket to heaven?

Is our faith coming from God,

  

in the person of the lord Jesus residing within us,

through His holy Spirit,

speaking to us as we meditate daily on the Word of God and seeking to apply it’s truth to our lives?

When we become Christians we can become a whole new person inside.

We are told we can become a new creation,

<sup>2 Corinthians 5

17</sup> Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

We are urged to put off the “old man” or woman, and to put on Christ.

¹⁴ But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

This actually means we are to realise and put into practice that Jesus is our Saviour.

We are to be clothed in His righteousness.

He has made all things new.

He lives within us.

"It is no longer I that lives but Jesus who lives in me".

As we allow Him to work and live through us then the laws that the Pharisees were on about will be more than fulfilled.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”

Romans 13:8-14King James Version (KJV)

⁸ Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
⁹ For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
¹⁰ Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
¹¹ And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
¹² The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
¹³ Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
¹⁴ But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.