"Stop slamming my door" (Identity Crisis series Pt.2)

Today, we will continue on our journey in addressing the identity crisis we tend to have as followers of Jesus.

Today we will also continue to seek help void of the pridefulness that plagues us contributing to an unhealthy body.

Today, we seek more wisdom about the identity that has been God-given, and not the one that is perceived, desired, or even declared by ourselves.

Today’s message is titled “Stop slamming my door!”

So, why are we still discussing the topic of identity? Don’t we already know that we belong to God? That we are new creation’s through Christ Jesus?

Those things are indeed true, yet not the totality of exactly who we are as born-again believers and we will talk about why this matters.

Let’ begin by going to God’s word…Turn to Mt.23:1-12

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 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. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Full disclosure, many sermons and messages have been taught from this passage so it is not the intent of mine to try and merely teach a lesson dealing only with church hypocrisy. And while we most certainly will face the facts and deal with our hypocrisy, today’s goal to further investigate the root causes of our identity crisis.

‘Likes’…likes…and more likes!

When we think about the word ‘like’ in today’s world we probably make a correlation to something dealing with social media. A picture, a video, a funny text sent by a friend or family member and so forth. Go ahead and give it a ‘like’.

To like something is just another way to say ‘I agree with what was said or shown’. Agreement. Having similar interest, a shared taste, or view.

So what does liking something have to do with the causes of an identity crisis?

Let’s first go back to what we read from the words of Jesus starting over in Mt. 23 verse 1

Before we even read the full verse I want to note something of value that we should not miss. While there were most certainly Pharisees within these crowds and areas where Jesus taught, it should be observed that in this account He was actually addressing His followers here…and not just getting directly at the religious leaders. The verse says “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat...”

Here lies a clue for getting clarity on why we tend to end up on the wrong side of this rebuke. It’s no secret that God uses many mighty men and women in the scriptures to communicate His instruction and purpose for our life, yet we do have the tendency to become disciples of the right curriculum but with the wrong teachers. I’m not talking about the church yet so don’t go off thinking about the crazy tv evangelist selling you prayer rags or promising money blessings. We are still in the canon of scripture where one would never think that we ourselves could be found guilty of wrong-doing or mishandling.

Moses, Solomon, Ruth, David, Mary, and Paul to name a few have quite the unintentional discipleship following in today’s christian circles, but is this how it is supposed to be? Were they all master teachers? How are we supposed to view there role and influence in our christian faith?

This takes us back to the earlier mention of ‘likes’ and what that essentially means or communicates in the life of a believer. We all know, and often quote, Mt. 12:34 “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”, many of us also have this one in the holster ready to fire as well “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Prov.23:7

We’ve got you covered, when it comes to providing a verbal response to wrong-doing or a lifestyle that has been identified as unpleasing to God. We like Moses right? We relate to his struggles of leading God’s people. We understand that the amount of stress and hopelessness the responsibility of leadership put him through. The law that God gave him to pass on to the people of Israel we do like to tell others about it, and should. And we make every effort as christians to do what God told Moses to tell His people, and again we in fact should. We get ourselves into trouble when we try to act like Moses instead of taking action like Moses, and the other forefathers of faith. Fun fact, the Gospel produces the multiplication of successful believing pioneers not religious doppelgängers.

We will come back to that in a second lets talk more about the role of ‘likes’ and its influence on our identity. For starters, if the verse we read in Proverbs is right, which we know it to be so, then our mere thoughts have an effect on our personal development. “So a man thinks, so is he”. Now think about that for a second, if a thought can do that, then what are the effects of agreements, or ‘likes’ potentially doing to our identity?

Jesus gave us great practical perspective helps in some of His teachings with this...

To paraphrase, he said things like “its not what goes in a man that defiles him, but what comes out defiles him”, He also said “ your more concerned with cleaning the outside of the cup but the inside is still dirty”

These are just a couple of statements made by our Lord helping those that follow Him understand the importance of context and principle when it comes to obeying God. I really think sometimes we feel as though we will get before the judgement seat of God and recite His rules back to Him and that proves we love and lived for Him. This is an absolute insane way to view the word and expectation of God. There will not be a doctrinal integrity quiz or religious bar exam when we stand before the Lord, only the most advance replay system that one has ever seen.

As a parent, one of the most aggravating things to experience in child or young adult rearing is having him or her routinely state that they know what your saying only to show you the exact opposite by their actions. So it is with us and our Father right? As mature believers, its almost like we think that the memorization of scripture, bible verse t-shirts, text messages and hard-lining on issues of sin suffice as proof of compliance. Where are we getting this from?

Getting back to the scripture...

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 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. But all their works they do to be seen by men.

The last time we spoke I talked about how we are called as a governing body to judge certain matters and situations but not from ‘The’ judgement seat. Jesus continued to address the multitudes and His disciples about the angle the Pharisees were taking in an effort to point out what I like to call “the re-enactor complex”. For as much as I would like to believe that I’m not just as guilty of this I cannot deny that it indeed has been found during my own introspection.

One of the major dangers of the re-enactment complex is reading ourselves into the text or history of scripture. God didn’t ask us to be Moses 1.1, The updated version of King David, or the revised Pauline gospel spreader. But it is evident that many of us indeed do pursue this as a mode of faith. We often thinks thats how the Bible works, and that’s totally off base. While in most cases it is well-intended by the individual it is extremely toxic to the body of Christ.

I’ve always been fond of learning about history so eventually I will probably go to a civil-war re-enactment or something of the like. As the people dress in garb from that era mimic the decisions, actions, and tactics that were used during the war it gives an illustration as to just how brutal it was. All things considered, this does not, and cannot, ever serve as an equivocal experience to the real thing, even though there is value in it.

““The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat..”

This also reminds us of why Jesus needed to address the issue of the Pharisaic model of service to God. One of the most ironic things about the accounts of Jesus interacting with the Pharisees is the fact that He never said they didn’t really believe in God…that just didn’t behave as though they did.

Let us not forget, it is indeed very much possible to know God and yet fully understand your true identity or purpose in Him. This doesn’t mean that you are evil or not saved it simply means that you are sadly mistaken. How do I know this? Just a few weeks ago, we highlighted the ever-popular accounts where the disciples literally walked with the Lord Jesus on a daily basis but weren’t fully clear yet on who they were in the grand scheme of things. Understanding your identity!

As we go back the teaching Jesus was giving the multitudes in Mt. 23 we see Him intensify the emphasis on avoiding the legalistic approach to ministry...

Verse 4 says “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”

There is a verse that we lovingly made up years ago in the body of Christ and that is “the Lord won’t put more on you than you can bear”. He didn’t necessarily say that and most likely won’t, but a misguided believer most certainly will in fact weigh you down with heavy burdens and more than you can bear.

Think about just how descriptive this illustration that Christ gives here is. First, He says, that they bind the heavy burdens, that is to say they want to be absolutely sure that all of that weight stays tied together. Then, He is also saying that they go as far as placing the heavy burdens on the shoulders of those that simply want to serve and/or love God. Sometimes it seems that we conveniently forget that sanctification is actually a process.

Here’s another bit of biblical irony, Jesus provided freedom on this in an earlier chapter of Matthew(11:28-20) where he says “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

What an invitation to follow and obey God! I love what Jesus said, and what He didn’t say here just the same.

Here’s what He said that I love...

“I will give you rest”- Rest is very important for life and ministry.

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from me”- Carry what is manageable and listen to my instruction.

and here is what He did not say that I also love...

‘take my yoke upon you and things will be easier’.

Really reflect on what Jesus is saying in light of ministry saints! For Him to say that His yoke is easy and burden light this is so very helpful when properly understood. Why? because life and ministry can seem quite hard, difficult, and extremely stressful. If we are honest, this sometimes makes us feel that what God expects of us is indeed burdensome…and that is a part of the identity crisis. Its hard to devote more effort to doing actual ministry instead of attempting to re-enact the historical events of past biblical events. When you only know who’s you are and not who you are to Him it is really easy to miss our assignments.

Jesus goes on to say in Mt. 23:5-12

“But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

God’s people, lets cut it out with the whole “they had it wrong” view of the ones which Jesus was talking about. Isn’t it funny how we erroneously read ourselves into the text except when it comes to the people who were wrong about God. There was a reason that the Lord addressed the crowd about them and didn’t just go talk to them in secret about how they were in error. Representation matters. Truthfully, it does matter culturally, but representation of the Kingdom of God matters more than anything you will ever be a part of. How people can get close to, know, view, and understand God is rooted in the prevention of His children having an identity crisis.

The Master further explains His disdain for their style of religious leadership at verse 13...

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”

“You shut up the Kingdom of Heaven”! Do we truly grasp how serious this is? Are we really receiving the responsibility given by our God when it comes to handling His word and His people? Who in there right mind would want to stand before the Lord and hear Him accuse them of ‘slamming the door of Heaven’ in peoples faces? All because we are so intent on monitoring and managing their sins…as though there is no other way for them to travel down this road of faith without carrying this tightly wound pious package we’ve prepared for them. And then saying “hold still before you go please while I place this upon your shoulders.”

At this point I’m sure we shouldn’t have any problem hearing God saying “Stop slamming my door!”

To bring it back around to a point we made earlier, it benefits us greatly to examine ourselves to see if we are trying to be Moses-like, David-like, Ruth-like, Mary-like and the more famous Paul-like, as opposed to pursuing the divine instruction of actually being Christ-like.

Mt.23:15 by itself needs to be addressed so let’s listen in to this ministry bomb that Jesus drops for all listening...

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

In other words, ‘you go above and beyond to bring people into the truth but you in fact are living a lie!’ Here’s another opportunity for the church of God to lean into this lesson of the Lord and take heed in 2021 as though He were speaking it directly into our very own ears.

Remember family, ministry is the responsibility of those who know the way, not the way of those who know responsibility. (x2)

As I stated earlier, Jesus wasn’t simply going around telling the jewish leaders that they didn’t believe in God, He was showing them that belief in God also involves the people. This is where we miss it many times when we give our lives to Christ. For whatever reason, we come into the knowledge of truth, understand the need to praise God, but then attempt to isolate the experience for fear of it being effected by the lost. The question now is, Why do we fear interacting with the very ones we are expected to interact with? If we are in fact truly His, then here’s one of the things He said about us in John 17:12

In his heavenly prayer Christ said “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Since scripture communicates that Jesus was at that time talking about those in His earthly ministry one would ask, “well, what about us in 2021?” He’s got you covered! The word states that upon returning to Heaven Christ is actually at the right hand of the Father speaking up for or advocating for you and me.

Let’s stop right here and discuss some little “shown” facts about us and ministry.

While most of us know that we are indeed called to be Christ-like we must ask ourselves if we know more about Jesus than just the rebukes of the Pharisees and His Parables. What I mean is that Christ performed, and still does, many examples of effective ministry tactics for leading people to God. Case in point, do the people that you want to reach see undeniable examples of sacrifice in your life? Are you exposing them to the laws, teachings, and expectations of God, or are you just zealously communicating rules to them and being a religious tattle tale? If you know professing christians that are in error are you putting in the necessary work to strengthen the body or are you more inclined to perform an amputation?

In the words of a 30 for 30 preview narrator “What if I told you” that Jesus Christ started the biggest movement ever known by using suspect, uncertain, unconverted, and unlearned underdogs! Think about that for a minute! Scripture does not report that he spent time deciding the fate of the people He encountered as a means to lead them to repentance. Important fact, the word doesn’t give any mention of Jesus taking nationalistic or political stances during His earthly ministry. He wasn’t part of a group or club outside of the one that was God-ordained. He literally stayed laser-focused on the purpose for which He served irregardless of the things that He saw.

I had a good talk with my daughter yesterday who is in law school ,and understandably, she was expressing the reality of just how stressful it can be. There were many things that she mentioned to me that gave helpful insight in light of ministry. She showed me tons of notes about Laws, statutes, and the like that honestly made me tired just by looking at. This made me think about some things that we both should know in ministry and do tend to struggle with in our role as communicators of the Gospel.

First, as believers we should in fact know God’s Law and His commandments, period. Also, we should be studying the word not to simply pass a test or exam but to assist other people in their situations. I am reminded of my own youthful ignorance to the dedication that it takes to be a lawyer and use to say that I in fact wanted to be one when I grow up. Honestly, I’ve known for a while that the real reason was because I knew that they made a lot of money. But back to another thing that spoke to me about our conversation. An advocate…

We actually have one as mentioned in 1 John 2:1,2 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

I won’t assume that we all know so in case you don’t, an advocate is defined as a person who pleads on someone else's behalf. A pleader in a court of law; a lawyer.

God is certainly good and worthy to be praised, but I hope those listening are fully understanding the amount of work He put into reconciliation. Before I continue on about the conversation with my daughter there is something here for us. On this past Easter we highlighted how Jesus not only died and rose but He went back to doing ministry work with His followers. As if He hadn’t already went above and literally beyond, He is in Heaven right now serving as a lawyer of sorts still keeping us from receiving the due penalty. I can speak, type, or write words that can fully express just how powerful that is. Also, to the ones that are attempting to be the eternal state police I pray that you don’t foolishly think that you can represent yourself before God.

So my daughter continued to talk about other obstacles and factors that play a role in a lawyers education and she mentioned the grading on a curve structure used in her class. Full disclosure, I’ve only sort of understood this concept and my knowledge of it was rather sketchy, probably why I’m not a lawyer or doctor.

As she further explained it to me , I fully agreed with her gripes about the system and also was in agreement with her about what makes it good. Now, thinking about that system and how it uses the whole class’ marks for grade determination I can’t help but wonder if we as christians sometimes act as though God is using the same system at His throne...

Is this why we are so uptight towards people that don’t know Him or agree with what we believe? Since we know people that choose to fail in faith, is that negatively affecting how we deal with them, this is to say. “hey, your poor performance is bringing my experience with God down”. An even better question is, have you really invited them to your study group?

We are called to do ministry together. We are charged to love and serve on another, but we are also directed to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling!

Let’s be clear about that verse, God isn’t communicating that we need to live this life of faith in a bubble by ourselves. He is communicating that we will be held accountable for our words and actions, not that of the whole class. That my friends is most certainly worthy of praise for Him! Somebody say thank God for not grading on the curve with judgement!

Let us begin to close out with the passage of the verse we just mentioned to get the full context of what God said through Paul. Philippians 2:12-16 reads...

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”

In closing, if you have not been reconciled back to the creator of the universe. If you don’t understand why you even need to be then I want to extend the invitation to join us as a body of believing sinners that have been purchased by the blood of Jesus.

God does have expectations for us.

God Has in fact communicated commandments.

But God has also provided love and grace, would you please receive the gift of Salvation if you have not already.

Benediction prayer