2016-05-22 Luke 16:14-18 Ruined Masterpieces

RUINED MASTERPIECES (Luke 16:14-18) May 22, 2016 Read Lu 16:14-18 – Our granddaughter was 2 when we took her to the pumpkin patch where they had little horses to ride in a circle. I put her on one and she grabbed the reins. When they were about to start, I put my arm around her waist to hold her on. Still looking straight ahead she said, “Don’t touch me, Grandpa. Don’t touch me!” The desire to be self-sufficient runs deep! We love to “do-it-yourself.” Remodel your home yourself. Lowe’s can help. A few years ago Patty and I reroofed our house. You can do your taxes and file for divorce on-line these days. By yourself. No wonder billions of people will try unsuccessfully to self-justify before God. It’s a doomed strategy Jesus was always warning the self-justifying Pharisees – here with 3 hard-hitting points. I. The Bankruptcy of Self-Justification The Pharisees were poster boys for the thing that sends more people to hell than any other – self-justification – human goodness is good enough. Jesus constantly reminds, it is not. Here the Pharisees mock His comment: v. 13: “You cannot serve God and money.” They didn’t believe that. They thought God and money got equal billing – that money was a sign of God’s blessing. Jesus responds with a scathing review of their self-justification. V. 15, “And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.” Jesus’ point is, “I know you guys. You bend the rules to suit your purposes and then say, ’What a good boy am I.’ But God’s not fooled. Your loophole traditions are an abomination to Him.” This verse illustrates the bankruptcy of self-justification. They were playing to the wrong audience, using the wrong standard which resulted in the wrong focus leading them to trust the wrong savior. And four wrongs do not make a right! A. Wrong Audience They claimed to be pleasing God. But Jesus knows better. “You are those who justify yourselves before men.” They wanted people’s acclaim. They were a lot more concerned to be thought righteous than to actually be righteous. The relished people’s opinion. But they had the wrong audience. Friends 1 willing to cut us some slack will not be the judge on judgment day. It will not even be God the Father. Who will it be? Turn to John 5. Jn 5:22: “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. [To v. 27] 27 And he [Father] has given him [Jesus] authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.” The sinless Savior. He’s the judge. Not easy friends. So one day, the Jesus they mocked will be their judge. And because they are self-justifying, they will have no other advocate. They must represent themselves. All their actions will be on full display – all their motives and thoughts and hidden words. All there. And they will fall short of the glory of God – way short. Others may have thought them the finest person they ever knew. But that will mean nothing then. They played to the wrong audience. Jesus humorously pictures seeking men’s approval in Mt 6:2, “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.” They didn’t really play trumpets as they brought their offering. But they used every other means at their disposal to make sure everyone knew saw their giving. They subscribed to – there’s a modern author named Og Mandino who writes stuff like University of Success and The Greatest Salesman in the World. He says, “Let me define success. Success is getting other people to believe you’re successful.” Perception may be reality here – but not there! Better worry what God sees, not what others think. They’re the wrong audience. B. Wrong Standard If you play to the wrong audience, you’ll be using the wrong standard. V. 15, “For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” Their standard was men’s opinion. They claimed to keep the law of God, but what they really followed was the abomination of their own traditions aimed at diluting the Law. It was a moving target. Human standards always change. Danny Thomas once said, “When I was a kid, a film was considered obscene if the horse wasn’t wearing a saddle.” Moving standards are no standard! Jane went to visit her sister, Sally. Their folks were expected next day. So next morning, Jane woke up to the sound of the vacuum cleaner and emerged to find Sally hard at work sweeping and cleaning. She shoved a dust rag into Jane’s hand and said, “Get busy.” Jane said, “But Sally, you just cleaned 2 before I came. Everything’s clean!” Sally replied, “Yes, the house is sister clean. But by noon it’s got to be mother clean.” Can you relate? When Patty’s been gone, I have a major job the night before she comes home. Her clean is different from my clean, and I must tell you that God’s clean is different from our clean. Our problem is deeper than we think. “God clean” is perfection. Who’d want heaven to be less? But that’s a standard we can’t do! C. Wrong Focus It was outward, not inward. That’s our default setting – but it’s wrong. V. 15: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.” “Think you’re in because of outward compliance? They forgot. God knows hearts. And what He sees there condemns us all.” They thought if they didn’t kill anyone they were okay. Jesus said . “Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Mt 5:22). They thought bringing offerings covered any other indiscretion. Jesus said, “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt 5:24). They thought if they loved their neighbor they could hate their enemy. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:44-45). Outward perfection, even if possible, wouldn’t cover a rebellious heart. Their focus was all wrong. On Nov 26, 1922 Howard Carter entered King Tutankhamen’s treasure filled tomb. They opened a casket and found another inside. They opened the goldleafed 2nd and found a 3rd. Inside that one was another of pure gold where they finally found King Tut. His body was wrapped in gold cloth and his face covered with a gold mask. But when the body was unwrapped, it was leathery and shriveled. No life. Just like the hearts of those outside Christ. No amount of external compliance or goodness can cover for the lack of life within. All self-justifiers have the focus in the wrong place. Which means they have the D. Wrong Savior Who is their savior? V. 15: “You are those who justify yourselves.” Themselves – their goodness, their righteousness. They’ve no other hope. Is that you, this morning? Are you sure you want to stand before the judge with every idle deed word and thought exposed and argue your own case? Really? You can’t win, you know. Jesus offers a way out – but be warned, it’s costly. II. The Brutality of Selfless-Justification 3 What is selfless justification? It is taking all the goodness I think I have to offer for my eternal salvation, throwing it in the trash and trusting only in the shed blood of Jesus Christ to give me peace with God. But throwing away my efforts is tough! That’s what Jesus is saying in v. 16: “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.” Jesus is saying, “The OT established a standard of perfection you can’t meet. It wasn’t meant to save you; it was meant to show you need saving. Now – I’ve come to meet that standard for you. And the gospel, the good news, is ‘Repent – not do better, but repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ It’s here. I’m it! What you can’t do, I CAN. And I’ll forgive you and give you my righteousness. But you have to violently rip away your ego-driven efforts and trust only in Me. The kingdom is for ‘everyone who forces [presses] his way into it’”. Leaving the broad way for the narrow way is brutally difficult in two ways. A. Brutal on the Savior – Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem to suffer and die. Why? To pay the penalty for the sins of all who will believe. The physical pain will be shocking, but it will be nothing compared to the separation from the Father that Jesus is about to suffer for us. Would the Father have allowed that if it were not necessary? Never. That is the surest sign that we can’t justify ourselves. He was brutally crushed for our iniquity, and it is only by His stripes that we are healed – not our goodness (Isa 53:5). Henry Emerson Fosdick of Riverside Church, NYC, didn’t buy that. He insisted that believing Jesus died for sin was "pre-civilized barbarity." He said that to “assume that by one single high priestly act of self-sacrifice Christ saved the world” was a “theological disgrace.” But that was his nonsense, not God’s. Rom 6:10: “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all.” Heb 10:10, “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Providing redemption was a brutal, bloody business because sin is a brutal, bloody business. Just watch the news. Take the brutality out of the cross and there is no payment for sin, no redemption, no salvation and no hope. Salvation emerged from the most brutal of actions. B. Brutal on the Saved 16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone [who enters] forces his way into it.” Both John and Jesus both preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That’s the gospel – good news, not good works. Simply repent. But repentance is anything but simple. Many confuse repentance and remorse. 4 Remorse means to feel bad. You may feel bad about something for a lot of reasons – including that you got caught. When I was a little boy we had a revival meeting in our town. My dad and a friend helped take the offering and count the money. One night a teenage boy who was helping usher was caught helping himself. When confronted, he cried his eyes out. Great remorse. A show of repentance. But, when he had to empty his pockets, several more $10 bills were discovered. I can still hear Dad saying he had cried crocodile tears – remorse, but not repentance. Sorry for getting caught, not for doing it. To repent is to be sorry AND turn away! The word literally means “to change one’s mind or, better, one’s heart.” That’s where the brutality comes in. True repentance is a shock to the system. It’s devastatingly hard to accept that I’m unacceptable. But Jesus says in Lu 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” That’s not the easy believism many of us were taught as the way to salvation. That’s a life-changing commitment that many who know the facts simply won’t make. True repentance is hard. Lu 13:24, “24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. [Change direction from broad way to narrow!] For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” Why will they not be able? During Billy Graham’s crusade in Australia 1959 one man wrote this letter that appeared in a Melbourne newspaper: “After hearing Dr. Billy Graham on the air, I am heartily sick of the type of religion that insists my soul (and everyone else's) needs saving. I have never felt that I was lost. Nor do I feel that I daily wallow in the mire of sin, although repetitive preaching insists that I do. Give me a practical religion that teaches gentleness and tolerance, that acknowledges no barriers of color or creed, that remembers the aged and teaches children of goodness and not sin. If in order to save my soul I must [repent], I prefer to remain forever damned.” How sad. He understood the stark choices, but like millions of others, was unwilling to endure the brutality of true repentance. III. The Basis for Self-Condemnation Now, as Jesus ends, He comes back to the Law and then throws in what seems to be a totally isolated comment about divorce. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. 18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.” What is His point? He is saying, “Salvation comes in forcing your way in thru repentance. But if you keep trying to buy your way in by Law-keeping, the 5 very law you claim to keep will kill you. The Law was never intended to save you; it was intended to drive you to seek mercy from me. Refuse that, and the Law will kill you. You only think you can make it because you bend the rules. But you can’t bend the rules. If you refuse grace, the Law remains operative for you – every dot of it. And you are condemned as you stand. Let me give you one example – adultery. You do it all the time. You justify yourself by your illegitimate interpretation of divorce. But on judgment day it will be God’s rules, not yours.” Jesus isn’t specifically teaching on divorce here. He is using it as an example of their moral failure. Quick background. God allowed a man to divorce in Deut 24:2 “because he has found some indecency in her.” “Indecency” or “uncleanness” isn’t specifically defined, but Genesis 2 clearly presents marriage as a covenant commitment as does Mal 2:14-16. Divorce was a concession to man’s fallenness clearly intended to be a rare exception for hard hearts (Mt 19). By this time in Jewish history, Rabbi Shammai and his few followers held that sexual unfaithfulness was the only legitimate reason for divorce. Jesus agreed Mt 19:9, “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” But the vast majority of people followed Rabbi Hillel who saw “indecency” as a hole big enough to drive a semi thru! He taught a husband could divorce his wife “if she spoiled a dish of food; if she spun in the street; if she talked to a strange man; if she was guilty of speaking disrespectfully of her husband’s relations in his hearing; if she was a brawling woman”. Rabbi Akiba allowed that if he found a woman he thought prettier, he could divorce his wife. So the Pharisees, who abhorred outright adultery, justified divorce and remarriage for any flimsy reason thinking they were fine, but actually being in violation of God’s rules. Jesus calls them on it. He’s saying, “Your traditions notwithstanding, God’s Law stands. By His Law you are adulterers – one of a million ways you violate His character by your misinterpretations.” Conc – Jesus’ intention is to destroy self in these men and bring them to Himself. Sir James Thornhill painted the cupola of St. Paul’s in London. He was stepping back on his scaffolding one day to scan his work from a distance – not realizing he was dangerously close to the edge. A helper, seeing the danger, quickly grabbed a brush and dabbed at the painting. Sir James sprang forward in a rage demanding an explanation. The man replied, “Sir, you were about to step off. I feared that if I hollered you would look behind you and fall. I could only save the painter by spoiling the painting.” And that’s just 6 what Jesus is doing with the Pharisees – ruining the masterpiece of their creation so He can make them His masterpiece. Let’s pray. 7