Weightier Things

Tithes

Matthew 23:23 KJV 1900

23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

The Scribes and Pharisee’s were great at following the rules and the Scribes and Pharisee’s were great at doing religious things well.

One of those things that they were good at is tithing. Tithing is giving 10% of whatever God has blessed you with back, that is why when we have a collection in church we call them tithes and offerings.

Jesus is telling the religious people of time that they were great at following the rules that people noticed. They tithed not only of the big stuff but of tiny things. Mint, Anise and Cumin were spices yet the Pharisee’s managed to make sure that 10% went back to God.

More Important Things

Jesus told these religious people that there were things that more important than tithing, the list is at the end of verse 23: Judgment, Mercy and Faith.

Judgment means to be fair to people, Mercy is to show kindness to someone in need, and faith is putting our complete trust in God.

See the Pharisee’s were good at doing the religious stuff but when it came to their heart and how they treated other people they failed miserably.

Two Things

At camp this week there are a lot of things that we can excel at. Sports, Singing, Sword Drills, Trivia and I can go on and on. And there are a lot of things for us to learn from the preaching and the skits.

But please turn with me to Matthew 22:36-40 as we look at a very familiar passage. Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and one them asked him a question in verse 36

Matthew 22:36–40 KJV 1900

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

There are two great commandments: #1 Loving God and #2 Loving your neighbor

Our Focus

It tends to be that our focus at camp, and sometimes at church is to warn you to the danger of falling into the temptation of sin and worldliness. We talk all of the time about how great it is for us to take a break from the world for a week and to focus on our relationship with God.

You can walk out of camp with convictions about your dress and the music you listen to, about what television shows you watch and even about the friendships and relationships that you are going to have....but let me tell you this. If you leave camp this week and have convictions in your heart about all of these things but you leave off the weightier things of the law…If we haven’t instilled in you a heart to love God and heart of love towards your neighbor then we have utterly and totally failed you.

Don’t Leave Undone

Don’t take this to mean that you shouldn’t care about the other things. You should absolutely try your best in sports and you should try your best in sword drills. You should make decisions on how to live you life in a way that avoids sin and temptation.

But it’s like what Jesus tells the Pharisees, don’t leave these things undone. We just need to make sure that we don’t get so wrapped up in the other things that we forget to weightier things of the law.

Acts of Love

How are you going to treat people this week? Have you been unkind to anyone? Have you talked about people behind their back?

We can give out awards at the end of the week for what we observe with our eyes. Even the Christian character award is something that we determine based on what we see.

What we can’t see is your heart. Over and over again we find in scripture that the problems people have with sin are heart problems with sin.

Nobody murders without first hating in their heart, nobody steals without first coveting in their heart and nobody lies without having a proud heart.

Let’s be better than the Pharisees. Don’t show us this week how great you are at all of thing things, make it your goal to show God how much you love him and love your neighbor, all of you fellow campers…even if they aren’t part of your normal group of friends

Pray