Seven Woes
Notes
Transcript
If Christians really love Jesus why is there so much hurt in the church?
If Christians really love Jesus why is there so much hurt in the church?
Everybody knows of someone who has been hurt by the church or you personally have been hurt by someone in the church. Why is that?
Why do church so often get labeled as hypocrites?
Why does church so often get a bad reputation about being two-faced?
If you go and interview everybody in Montgomery County I guarantee that at least 1 person will say that they have been offended or had a negative experience with a church.
The reason people stop coming to church is typically because they have been searching for the perfect church and when someone says something they don’t agree with then they jump ship because it is no longer perfect. When someone is looking for the perfect church they will never find it because the perfect church does not physically exist. I promise if you stay in this youth group long enough I will probably say something or do something that may hurt your feelings because we do not live in a perfect world or a perfect church. All churches are imperfect due to the imperfect people that inhabit the buildings.
Sinners are in churches! Sinners are not perfect!
This is not something new in Biblical times Jesus called out the religious leaders as being hypocrites because they were instructing the masses to do something but yet themselves were acting completely different. We are going to look at the 7 different things that Jesus called them out on and look at the similarities of today.
1. They refuse others from getting into heaven.
1. They refuse others from getting into heaven.
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
They reject the only way into heaven which is Jesus thus preventing other from entering as well. They are trying to make salvation completely through works. They were extremely legalistic! They wanted you to be able to keep the ten commandments and keep all of the mosaic law. They essentially made it so difficult to get into heaven that they couldn’t make it in either.
What is crazy is so many times we feel as if you have to fit some kind of mold to make it into heaven. If you don’t look like us, talk like us, act like us. Then you cannot be saved.
Thankfully Christ came and died so that all can come to Christ.
2. They were making disciples
2. They were making disciples
Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you travel around the sea and the dry land to make one convert, and when he becomes one,* you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are!
What they were making disciples? Isn’t that what we are called to do Corey don’t you know the Great Commission “Go therefore and make DISCIPLES!”
They however were making disciples after themselves and they were not replicating Christ. The Great Commission is for us to make disciples who are emulating Christ and not our sinful nature.
The religious leaders were trying to replicate their own legalistic ways. Making the people look like themselves and judge those who are different.
3. They were more worried about wealth rather than faith.
3. They were more worried about wealth rather than faith.
Matthew 23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by his oath.’
They cared more about the making oaths on peoples money or wealth rather than making and oath on their faith. They put more emphasis on the worldly things rather than the SPIRITUAL. They cared more for the people that had money rather than the average person who could only make an oath on their faith.
4. Care more about ritualistic issues rather than real issues.
4. Care more about ritualistic issues rather than real issues.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
The religious people would begin to care more about ritualistic things rather than real issues in the World. God has called the church to care for people and when churches begin to worry more about ritualistic things rather than people they become just like the religious leaders. One of the craziest rituals that i have ever heard is the table cloth that is over the lords supper.
5. Make themselves appear better than someone else.
5. Make themselves appear better than someone else.
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
The religious leaders were extremely self-righteous and did not want to be looked down upon. They wanted someone to conform to their own mold of a Christian before someone could accept christ. Jesus responds to that by saying you should clean the inside for the outside to be clean. God saves you where you are!
God saves you in your filth. God saves you in-spite of you. You cannot clean yourself up enough to be loved by God. God loves you where you are!
The religious wanted people to clean up their lives before coming to the temple. Christ says come as you are.
6. Perfect on the outside, Dead on the Inside
6. Perfect on the outside, Dead on the Inside
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
The religious would be flawless but they were dead. They would ensure that they looked spotless on the outside and wanted people to know that they were part of the temple. There are so many times that people become arrogant in their churches and the building when that is not at all what we are called to do. We should be proud that we are adopted in the God’s Family rather than being a member of such and such church. Those that are saved should never be able to boast in themselves because there is nothing that you have done to gain salvation.
If you have to work for you salvation then that salvation is worthless.
The religious were a group of people that if you looked at them you would assume that they were saved, but Jesus said they were dead on the inside. They were as lost as lost could be. We can never assume someone is saved by looking at them only You and God know if you are truly saved.
7. Blame others for their faults
7. Blame others for their faults
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
This is extremely ironic to me because they were bashing their fathers for killing prophets but yet they were about to crucify Jesus.
People that are in churches all across the world are a group of sinners who are saved by grace. There is not a single person that deserves the freedom that we get from Christ, however we should be the ones who are sharing this same freedom with all types of people regardless of our preconcieved notations.
