5. Living An Authentic Faith
Notes
Transcript
Me:
Me:
Welcome to the conclusion of our sermon series, Apex. If you have missed out on any part of it, I would encourage you to go and catch up either through the Iowa City Church Podcast or check out our Iowa City Church YouTube page. You can find both at Iowa City Church.org.
I’m very much a creature of habit. Just ask my family. I love my routine. I get up, drink my glass of water while I make coffee. I sit in the recliner while my coffee brews. I read the Bible. Then pray while I sip on my coffee. I workout for about an hour, then get cleaned up and get to whatever the project is for the day. My Sunday morning’s even have their own unique routine to them. Here’s the deal, I hate to break up my routine. When it doesn’t happen I feel off.
My relationship with Jesus can become very much a routine as well. I read the Bible. I pray. I go to church. I worship. I give. I serve. Rinse and repeat.
Here’s the problem. Sometimes I find that my routine with Jesus helps me feel good about myself, but it doesn’t always help me to become more like Jesus. For example. I can sit in my chair and read about loving God and forgiving others. I can even pray, asking God to help me forgive others…and then go out heading for the gym only to have someone cut me off or run a red light and I get upset and angry with them. Or I’ll get to the gym and someone is using what I want to use, or I’ll judge someone on their appearance.
So here is what I recognize about myself: My routine with Jesus important, and even makes me feel good, but I doesn’t necessarily cause me to become like Jesus.
We:
We:
There is a term we use for our routine with God, it’s called being religious. When you say that you are a religious person or if someone hears about your life and describes you as a religious person, what are they describing? Well, our current cultural description of a religious person is someone who goes to church, reads the Bible, prays, gives money to the church and is a generally good person. That’s the basic description of being religious.
Is it possible to live this kind of religious life and not have any changes in my life to become more like Jesus? Oh, it’s completely possible. A person could check all of these boxes…and still be embezzling money from the company they work for or literally be involved in an adulterous affair. It actually happens all the time. We will read news stories about it: “I can’t believe he did that. He went to church, Bible study and helped out at outreach events…and yet he stole all of that money!” “She volunteered with VBS, played on the worship team, and was such a great mom…how could she cheat on her husband.”
Our religious deeds aren’t bad. Religion isn’t bad, but it doesn’t cause us to become like Jesus. In fact, some times we can even fall into this religious rut, where each week or each Sunday, you check all the boxes so that you can feel good about yourself. You can even walk away from checking all the boxes feeling like you’ve done your duty, and you and God are good…that is until bad things happen! Then you get upset with God because you will even say: “I paid my dues, I prayed, I listened to the boring sermon, and I took communion.”
When we get into a religious rut, our actions move from trying to live for God to trying to make God happy or even trying to bribe him a little bit.
Maybe that is exactly where you find yourself today. Your life is lived checking the boxes, trying to keep God happy. Or maybe you gave up on any kind of faith that you had in God or you left the church because you thought your were checking all the right boxes, and only bad things were happening. You were convinced that God was angry with you and you could do nothing right. If this is you, I’m so glad that you are here!
Jesus wants you to know that there is a way to break out of a religious rut and live an authentic faith.
God:
God:
If you have a Bible or device, I need you to find Matthew 23:23. If you have the YouVersion Bible App check out the screen. Go to the three lines in the bottom right hand corner. When that menu opens, select Events. Under Events, you should be able to find Iowa City Church. There you will discover the sermon notes, Scriptures and a really helpful Bible reading plan for the week.
In this section of Matthew, Jesus is just days away from being arrested and crucified. During this last week, he has been in a series of standoffs with different types of leaders, Sadducees, Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. In chapter 23, Jesus makes some pretty bold accusations about Pharisees, the keepers and lawyers of the law. I want you to listen closely to what he calls them out for.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Jesus’ accusation is simple: these Pharisees were really good at tithing, in fact they tithed everything…even their garden herbs. Jesus is like, “That’s great, but you overlooked the most important matters of what the Law is all about.”
Here’s what we learn: You can carry out the law, and still not be devoted to what God’s law is all about.
These Pharisees and teachers of the law were in a religious rut. They felt good about their ability to go through the religious routine of doing what God asked, but they were completely ignoring what God ultimately cared about. So what is it that God desires from people? When Jesus says they words, he is actually quoting from the prophet Micah, who likewise has some astonishing things to say about breaking out of the religious rut. Listen to what he says to God’s people and the sacrifices they offer.
With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
The prophet Micah says some staggering things! God isn’t impressed with burnt offerings. He’s not impressed with our sacrifices even if they are thousands of rams or rivers of olive oil. This is because when we are in a religious rut, our sacrifices turn into bribes or bargaining chips with God. All the while, missing what God really truly cares about.
We touched on this last week. What does God care about? He obviously doesn’t care about our impressive sacrifices, but he does care if we act justly towards people. He does care if we have deep loyal love for people. He does care if we are going to humbly trust and submit to him every day.
Whether it’s Isreal, or the Pharisees or you and me, we all have this tendency to take good things and turn them into bad things, bribes, or boxes we must check. What Micah and what Jesus is teaching is this: Before you check a box, check your heart. What’s your motivation?
The best way to break out of a religious rut is to check your motivation. To check your motivation, ask yourself this question: Do I care about the things God cares about?
In this section of The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is providing us a way to check out motivation…to check out hearts. Not too surprising, in this section Jesus is reminding people about not judging others (that seems to be a problem when one is in a religious rut) and prayer (again our approach to prayer can cause a religious rut). This is our core verse for this week. Listen to what Jesus says:
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
This statement is often referred to as The Golden Rule. Many of you were first taught this rule by your mom when you were in a fight with a sibling. Why is this such a pivotal teaching? Let’s break it down.
In everything - In every aspect of your life, relationship with your spouse or family member, co-worker, neighbor or the guy in the car that ran the stop sign…every person and in every situation.
Do to others - This is a take action teaching. Do something for others. Often times we live a life of minding our own business. We see something that’s off we think to ourselves…too bad for them. Jesus is calling for action. Do to others…what?
What you would have them do to you - Jesus is calling us to empathy. What would it be like if the shoe was on the other foot? Would you want someone to stop? Would you want someone to ask how you are doing? Would you want someone to stop the bullying? Would you want someone to give? If we can relate, the respond. Why is this so important?
This sums up the Law and the Prophets - This helps us find out our true motivation. The Law and the Prophets shows us that God’s heart is for people and how we treat each other. When we become passionate about people like God is passionate about people, then our faith becomes authentic.
Jesus tells a story to drive home this point. You can find the story in Luke chapter 10.
There was a Jewish man traveling from Jerusalem down to the city of Jericho. Jerusalem was up in the mountains and Jericho is down on the plains. It was not uncommon for bandits to hide and rob travelers on this journey. This poor dude was mugged, stripped of his money and clothing and left half dead alongside the road. Here is where the story get’s interesting. A priest walks by. This is the guy that administers the sacrifices in the Temple. This is a religious, holy guy…but he didn’t want to defile himself by touching a potentially dead guy so he looks the other way and goes right on by. Then a Levite comes by. The Levites were in charge of taking care of the Temple. Likewise, a religious man, but he too didn’t want become ceremonially unclean and keep him from his duties in the Temple. He looks the other way and continues on. Then along comes the least likely of anyone to help a Jew…a Samaritan! The Samaritans and Jews were enemies, but on this day, it’s the Samaritan who stops and helps this poor beaten man. In fact, he takes him to the nearest Inn and pays for his stay and recovery.
What does an authentic faith look like? How many times your pray? How much you know about the Bible? Your church attendance? Listen, all of these things are good…but it’s ultimately how you treat people that reveals your motivation.
When we are in a religious rut, we look to make the right sacrifice. When we are living an authentic faith, we look to provide sacrificial service.
As we wrap up this series, here is essential #5:
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
You:
You:
How can we live out an authentic faith?
Choose A Day This Week To Intentionally Focus On Living Out the Golden Rule.
Where can you help bring justice? Bring kindness? Often as Christians we are known more for the things that we avoid. What if we were better known for the things that we were for. How can we help bring justice into the lives of people that we know? Maybe it’s helping to right a bad relationship? Maybe it’s helping a person you know with an unfair boss? How can we show kindness in messy and difficult situations? If the shoe was on the other foot, wouldn’t we want someone to help us?
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
We:
We:
Here’s why this is so important. Every year, over 800 people pay upwards of $60,000 to reach the 29,035 foot peak of Mount Everest. Because so many people want to say that they have climbed Everest, it’s really turned into a commercial venture…yet it’s still incredibly dangerous. In 2019 eleven people died while trying to climb Everest. Here’s an example of why that is so tragic.
In March of 2006, David Sharp, a 34-year-old engineer from Cleveland did manage to reach the summit on his own. However, he ran out of oxygen on the way back down—984 feet from the top. As he lay dying, 40 climbers passed him by, too eager to achieve their own goals to take a chance on using up their oxygen on someone else. As a result, David Sharp froze to death.
According to Ed Viestrus, who has scaled all 14 of the world's 8,000 meter peaks, Sharp's death is not unique. "Passing people who are dying is not uncommon. Unfortunately, there are those who say: 'It's not my problem. I've spent all this money, and I'm going to the summit.'" This attitude has produced disgust in many climbers, including Sir Edmund Hillary. "On my expedition," he said, "there was no way you'd have left a man under a rock to die."
If our goal is to climb our spiritual Everest trying to get to God or please God…all the while walking right past people on the pathway then we’ve missed the point. It’s not about me and God, it’s about we and God.
Who have you been walking by? Who have you been overlooking? To stop and do to them, what you would want others to do to you will change your faith.
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”