When Jesus Comes to Dinner (2)

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Passage: Luke 11:37-54

Intro

My friend Andy Rhea calls himself “a recovering Pharisee.” I must admit I find myself in this position all the time. It is so easy to sucked in the religiosity and sacrifice grace in the process.

As we look forward to a new year in all of our lives, it’s my hope for us that we would enter the year with a heart for the Lord and mission that is pointed outward at the lost in East Peoria and around our area.

I need this message as much as any of you. When we get to the point when we discard a hard message as not in anyway applying to us, we proved that it actually did.

Let’s read from the scriptures:

Luke 11:37–54 ESV

37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. 42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” 45 One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” 46 And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48 So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. 52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” 53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

I. What was a Pharisee?

Beginning next week, we are going to enter a series through the Sermon on the Mount. It’s going to be a great journey to go on together and I hope you will join us. But for today, we are going to visit a passage in the book of Luke.

One of the massive themes running throughout the book of Luke is the conflict between Jesus and some religious wolves. They keep coming into Jesus’s presence to pick a fight with him. Today we’re going to see them do it: two groups, the lawyers, or scribes, who are the teachers.

I heard one pastor say,

“They have my job and they are not doing it well. With them are these guys, the Pharisees. They are students of the law. So pray for me that I would teach better and that you would be better students and that neither of us would fall into the trap where I act like the lawyers and you act like the Pharisees.

So they come to get at Jesus. At dinner.

And Jesus comes to dinner...

II. Jesus comes to dinner

Don’t let this point escape you: A Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner. Why would he do that? At this point in His ministry the religious leaders were bent on destroying Jesus. So why would one of them invite Jesus to his house to eat?

I agree with the guy who suggested that if this guy had actively been seeking truth he would have talked with our Lord privately. We see that with a guy like Nicodemus in John 3. So, it seems like he may have been looking for an opportunity to accuse Jesus. He noticed Jesus did not practice the ceremonial washing before he ate and thought he had him. Jesus knew what his host was thinking and responds by giving a “spiritual analysis,” of the Pharisees.

So how did Jesus handle them?

A. He exposed their folly

-their basic mistake was thinking that righteousness was only a

matter of outward actions and minimized the internal attitudes of

the heart.

-the inner person needs cleaning

-Jesus flipped this whole thing around. A new way of thinking.

The heart mattered not just the outside. Example of

lust/adultery.

Matthew 5:27–28 ESV

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

B. He denounced their sins

The first three woes deal with the Pharisees and their wrong

priorities.

They were careful about tithing herbs but forgot justice and love.

Majored on the minors. (they sweat the small stuff) Jesus did

not tell them to stop tithing but they needed their religious

activities tot be in proper perspective.

They put reputation above character. -seats of high honor -

Reputation is who people think we are; character is who God

knows we are.

unmarked graves - they were unconsciously defiling others when

they thought they were helping them become holier. instead of

helping, they were harming.

The scribes tried to defend themselves but Jesus used three

illustrations to answer them: burdens, tombs, and keys

The scribes were good at adding to the burdens of the people, but

they had no heart for helping them carry those burdens.

Tombs

- Pharisees were like graves but the scribes build

elaborate tombs

Keys

- Finally, the scribes were guilty of robbing the common

people of the knowledge of the Word of God. It was bad enough

that they would not enter the kingdom themselves, but they were

hindering others from going in! It is a serious thing to teach God’s

Word and not everyone is supposed to do it (James 3:1).

Unfortunately, what some people call “Bible study” is too often

just a group of unprepared people exchanging their ignorance.

They scribes had people convinced that normal folks couldn't

understand the teachings. We have some of that arrogant

attitude showing itself today. We must not despise true

Christian scholarship, but we must also keep things in balance.

Jesus is the key to the Scriptures (Luke 24:44–48). When you

take away that key, you cannot understand what God has

written. As helpful and necessary as theological studies are, the

most important requirements for Bible study are a yielded heart

and an obedient will.

C. He made them angry

Hypocrites do not want their sins exposed; it hurts their

reputation. Instead of opposing the Lord, these men should have

been seeking His mercy. They deliberately began to attack Him

with “catch questions” in hopes they could trap Him in some

heresy and then arrest Him.

III. 6 Warning Sings - that we are becoming accidental Pharisees from Larry Osborne

- disdain for those at the back of the line

Instead of a Jesus-like compassion for those who can’t keep up,

we view them with a deepening sense of frustration, cynicism,

and a cocky arrogance.

And they are usually not pleasant to be around or interact with...

- a spirit of exclusivity

When thinning the herd becomes more important than expanding

the kingdom; or raising the bar becomes more important than

helping people climb over it, something has gone terribly wrong.

- Extra-Biblical rules and expectations

Few of us would see ourselves as legalists. We think we’ve moved

on from old-school legalism because we no longer judge people

by what’s in their refrigerator. But the spirit of legalism still runs

strong. We now judge people by what’s in their driveway and how

big their house is, or what kind of music they prefer in worship

service.

-you really look like a pastor

- A pattern of idolizing the past.

Wasn't it great back then...

Whether it’s the New Testament church or the scholars of old, we

tend to give them a free pass for their failures. But the

present-day bride of Christ and the current crop of leaders whom

Jesus has put in place are assailed for their blind spots, failures,

and feet of clay. Like the Pharisees of old, we rip on the living

prophets and then build monuments to them once they die.

- A quest for clone like uniformity

Jesus had room for Simon the Zealot and Matthew the Tax

Collector. Yet sometimes, the more biblically grounded we

become, the less room we have for anyone who hasn’t yet

learned all that we’ve learned. The result is a circle of fellowship

that’s tighter than Jesus’s circle of acceptance.

I will say this: If your "small group" is bigger than 12, it's

probably too big. If the membership in your group hasn't

changed from sending out leaders to form new groups in 3 years

or so... you are probably sliding toward this one...

- Gift projection

“Gift projection” the toxic belief that my calling is everyone else’s

calling. It disfigures the body of Christ by insisting that ears

become eyes and hands become feet. It looks like passion for the

mission, but in reality, it’s candy-coated arrogance. Just because

you have a particular ministry in the church doesn't mean that

everyone else is supposed to do that same thing you are doing.

IV. An Illusion of Perfection

They thought they were okay because they were "doing" all of the

"right" things... but something was terribly wrong. Some of you

today may be sensing that somethings in your heart aren't right.

Maybe you're sitting there and you're saying, Cal, you're right,

those people have got it all wrong... they are total Pharisees. To

you I would say: look at the title of this message... I

intentionally changed it from You to I.

We are so unwilling to look at our issues, sins, our junk and just

be honest with each other about what's going on inside our hearts. No one wants to look like they haven't got it all together.

No one wants to tell the real truth. We want to get just deep

enough to look impressive but not deep enough to get real

healing and life change going on.

Conclusion:

Be Willing to Have a Look

We have to be willing to look at ourselves. Because one of the

main problems with a Pharisee is that we always look at other

people's issues instead of dealing with our own issues... instead

of seeking Christ for our own sin.

● The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Luke 18:9–14 ESV

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

It's a hard distinction. It's a hard choice to pop the hood and

have a look at the engine. It's like going to the doctor...

-getting a check up - finding out stuff that you didn't know about

but was actually killing you.

So are you willing to have a look inside. What is really going on

with you. Are you willing to ASK JESUS?

Invite Musicians up

When Jesus comes to dinner at your house in the new year, who will He find there?

Response time

Pray