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Legalitis: Why do we obey some rules but not others?

2013 Lenten Sermon Series

Today I’m going to talk to you about “Legalitis.”  This is another spiritually transmitted disease that is rampant in our world today--and even in our churches today.  It’s easy because religions love to find ways to make you look better, feel better, act better, and be better, because a lot of false religions out there put an emphasis on good behavior.  Now, Pharisees were great legalists.  A legalist puts value on life and conduct that’s regulated by laws; and Pharisees did a great job with that.  When Moses gave the Ten Commandments and other civil and ceremonial laws, the Pharisees went crazy with laws.  They thought, “Wow, what a great idea.  We can regulate everything in our lives.  We can make laws about how we do things in our synagogues, in our homes, in our communities in such a way that we can really be good at following the laws.”  Last week I mentioned that they had some six hundred and thirty-one laws in addition to the ones that God gave in the Bible.  That’s crazy.  But legalists do put value on someone who can stand up and obey all of the laws and rules that they’ve got. 

Now there are some strange laws in the Bible, I’ll have to admit.  There are some strange ones.  For instance, Leviticus 19 says this:  “You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind.  You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed.  Nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.”  How many of us in this room are guilty right now?  Look at the tag.  You see that you are probably in violation of one of God’s laws.  This is actually one that God gave the Israelites.  And you say, “Wait a minute.  We don’t follow that law anymore.  We don’t look at our tags before we buy our clothes.”  Why is it that we obey some laws and not others?  We do this a lot in our lives. 

I want to share with you something I think will help you.  There are basically three types of Biblical Law.  Based on what types they are this is how we deal with law in our lives.  First of all there’s the moral law.  These are the Ten Commandments.  This is a universal law that is actually true, good and right all the time.  Even people who don’t have any Christian faith, who don’t have any reference or knowledge to God, people know.  There’s a certain morality to being human and living in this world that’s very important.  They don’t get all the Ten Commandments quite right, but we all generally know it’s not right to kill, it’s not right to steal, it’s not right to lie.  Even people who don’t know God know that those are good moral laws to obey.  Jesus told us and showed us that moral law is best expressed in love.  A loving God and by loving one another, we will keep the moral law—even without trying so hard.  It kind of fits us well as God’s people. 

Then in the Bible there were civil-political laws.  Civil-political laws were laws that pertained to the nation of Israel.  And as long as the nation of Israel remained a sovereign nation, with its rules and regulations, those laws applied.  We have local laws.  We have speed limit laws.  We have traffic regulations.  We have city ordinances.  We even have neighborhood covenants and agreements with how we want to live in our locality.  Now, some of those civil-political laws in the Old Testament were kind of strange.  Some of them were really goofy.  But, they were nonetheless local laws.  We have some strange local laws.  Did you know that it is still to this day illegal to provide alcoholic beverages in Alaska to the moose population?  Go figure!  You don’t want to have a bunch of drunken moose out there.  So they actually have a law that you can’t let moose drink in Alaska.  In Atlanta it is illegal to give monkeys cigarettes.  I suppose at the zoo people were getting a kick out of the monkey that smokes.  But they passed a law that you can’t do this with our monkeys in Atlanta.  And in those localities those laws can and should be enforced, even if they’re goofy.  They make sense maybe for that local area.

Then there’s a third kind of law and that is a ceremonial law.  Ceremonial laws are laws and customs that pointed to the Messiah—that pointed to a spiritual truth that was taught or acted out in fulfilling the requirements of ceremonial law.  Now, we’re told in the Bible that the moral law is a good law to obey—to show our love for one another, and our love for God.  Jesus spoke very highly of keeping the law by way of loving one another.  He was real clear about that.  So moral law is something we can’t just discard.  It’s very important that we have the moral law to live in a good relationship with one another.  We still have civil-political laws.  If you go ninety miles an hour down I-94 you are in jeopardy of getting a ticket.  That’s against the law.  Sure your car can go that fast, but we all agree you can’t go ninety miles an hour on I-94.  So we still follow those laws and do so unwillingly, because we want to be good citizens.  We even still have some ceremonial laws.  Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” and so we do celebrate the Lord’s Supper. 

The problem that legalists have and the problem with legalitis is when we add to these laws more and more--kind of like the Pharisees did.  Legalists say, “We have rules here! Even if they’re unbearable or way beyond crazy, keeping them outwardly gives a sense of moral superiority. A legalist doesn’t mind adding laws to our rule book.  Many ceremonies and rituals have no clear cut command or bases in Scripture.  That’s why it’s important in this Lenten season that we look deep within us and ask the Lord, “Is there any little bit of Pharisee in me?  Any bit in me that needs correction, please help me Lord Jesus.” 

Laws are good and all three of these types of laws are around today.  We don’t just throw them out.  But here’s what the danger is:  False religions teach salvation through life and conduct that follows the rules.  False religions actually attach salvation to it.  False teachers teach that following the Commandments will gain you greater love from God.  That’s not possible.  God loves us and he’s loved us with a perfect, holy love.  Well, laws and rules being what they are a legalist or someone with legalitis reacts differently to laws then someone who is grace-based, who understands that our freedom and salvation comes only by the gift of God’s grace.  I’d like to look at these two sides of the coin.  Someone with legalitis sees the law as something to strive for, and so there’s lots of striving for good behavior.  There’s real discouragement when there’s a moral failure or mistake that’s made, and the striving has to be increased.  I remember one time I was talking to a friend and we were talking about the difficulties of living a straight, godly, wonderful life with no hint of disobedience.  He said, “Mark, the problem is that we have to quit striving and start repenting.”  I thought, “Yes, there it is.  That’s the truth.”  But it’s so hard for someone who has a little legalistic bent in them to say, “All right, I’ll stop striving, and start repenting.” 

On the grace side we thrive on grace and peace to follow the Lord and to say, “Thank you Lord, for forgiving my sins.  Thank you for helping me in my striving to draw closer to you and to find real and abundant life.  Legalitis brings with it a curse.  It seems like a curse.  Who would want to join a church that seems to just put a heavy curse on you—a difficult way of living?  Instead, on the grace side we have a connection instead of a curse.  We have a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Pharisees were known for the heavy yoke.  It was place upon their adherence.  Jesus said, “I have an easy yoke that fits well.  It’s right for you.”  When people emphasize the law, when they have legalitis, they tend to avoid God.  They tend to run and hide when their deeds are exposed.  But people who understand the love and grace of God know that they desire him, and they want to be close to him.  They want to draw near. 

Legalists and people with legalitis are often fruitless.  They don’t have those things that we call the “fruit of the spirit”—love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithful, humility, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  But those whose lives are marked by grace are fruitful.  Romans 3 says this:  “We know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law.  So that every mouth be silenced in the whole world and held accountable to God.  Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law, rather through the law we’ve become conscious of sin.  But now righteousness from God, apart from the law has been made known to which the law and prophets testified.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:8 says, “It is by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.”  We tend to struggle toward wanting to fulfill the requirements of the law when God is calling us to trust in Jesus.

I have some shoes to show you.  They are actually shoes that you have time to purchase right now if you go to e-bay.  You can buy these shoes, (and they are used,) but you can buy it now for $999.99!  They were once owned and worn by Liberace himself.  You still have time so you don’t need to leave the service to get to your computer.  Unbelievable!  Here’s a clump of hair from the barber shop.  It sold from $115,000.00 a few years back because it came off of Elvis Presley’s head.  This jar of air sold for over $500.00, because this jar of air has the breath, the breath of Brad Pitt.  Here’s a Kleenex that sold for around $4,000.00, used Kleenex.  That’s right, Scarlet Johansson blew her nose in it!  This one really gets me going here.  Used chewing gum!  But it was chewed by Britney Spears and sold for $14,000.00.  Don’t you love a celebrity auction?  This door knob sold for $1140.00.  The wooden hanger sold for $780.00 simply because they came from the home and the estate of Marilyn Monroe.

A legalist places value on how well you behave and follow the rules. They see the quality someone’s virtue.  God values us because we’ve been touched by Jesus.  The celebrity auction stuff is just plain and ordinary.  The quality is Christ.  While we are still sinners, though we deserve his condemnation and wrath, God sees us in light of the fact that Jesus has touched us with his healing grace.  He’s bled and died on the cross to take away our sins.  We are not saved by works of the law.  In fact, in Christ faith is our only obligation.  That’s it.  Faith is the only obligation we have to God.  To trust him, to believe what he says is very true.  The rest of God’s law is celebration.  It’s wonderful to love our neighbors.  It’s wonderful to love God and to let that love drive the way we behave toward others.  We all need a pharisectomy from time to time.  We all need to let Jesus touch us, and put the value in our lives not because we’re so holy but because he’s so holy.  It’s that righteousness that comes from God apart from works of the law.  Here at Berea we want to teach grace over and over and over again so that we know God’s freedom, so that we have hope and joy.

Let’s pray:  Gracious God, thank you so much for giving us your Word.  Thank you for setting us free from strict obedience to the law.  Instead Lord, you’ve given us grace through Jesus.  You’ve made us righteous apart from the law, and now Lord you bid us to love you and to love one another in such a way that the law is not a heavy burden but a light one.  Not a curse but a connection.  We thank you Gracious Lord for rooting out that inner Pharisee in us.  We confess that we have been legalistic far too often in our lives.  Thank you for setting us free in Jesus.  Help us to fulfill that only obligation to trust in him with the fullness of our hearts.  In his Holy name we pray, Amen.

PharINFECTION: A Pharisee Epidemic?

2013 Lenten Sermon Series

The First Sunday in Lent

Pastor Mark Neumann 

I’d like to focus our thoughts on religious diseases over the next few weeks.  I’d like to do so because in our day and age, I think people are very much afraid of churches, or they’re irritated by churches; or they don’t understand what churches are for.  I believe it’s because spiritual diseases are rampant in our world today.  Now, that might sound weird that I would call something a spiritual disease, but you know people today have gotten so sensitive to hypocrisy, anger, self-righteousness, rituals, and all kind of things “religious.”  We’ve gotten so that many people don’t want any part of a church.  They don’t realize that this is a place where you can actually find healing; where there actually is peace and joy and blessing.

I’ve been reading a book called Pharasectomy by Peter Haas.  He is a pastor at a church here in the Twin Cities called Substance.  A lot of young people are flocking to that church, and not because it’s a snazzy place to be, but they’re trying to see the substance of Christian faith.  But what Peter Haas is getting at in his book Pharasectomy is that there is a little trouble that all God’s people sometimes face with a little inner Pharisee in their own life.  If you’re a church-going person, which I hope we all are, you have a tendency, as Jesus noted in the days that he walked the earth, to get a little “pharinfection” from time to time.  That’s what we’re going to talk about today—a little “pharinfection.”

Jesus said this in Luke 12:1:  “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”  Today, with all of the “feel good” philosophy out there, with all of the self-righteous people that walk the earth, people are really sensitive to hypocrisy these days.  You can sniff it out really easily.  Jesus said it was like yeast or leaven in a loaf of bread.  You could see that little air-pockets in a slice of bread are illustrative of yeast that has worked its way through the dough.  A Pharinfection goes everywhere.  It gets all you.  It gets in your thinking; it gets in your actions; it gets in the way you look, the way it you go about your business. 

We’ve been bashing Pharisees for a couple thousand years, but before we get too hard on the Pharisees we have to remember that, in their day, they where really considered the pinnacle of spirituality.  They were considered the good “church people” of the day.  They were very well respected.  In fact, Jesus said they loved to be greeted in the marketplace, and talked with at the city gates.  They memorized Scripture.  Every Pharisee had to at least memorize the first five books of the Bible, if not a whole bunch of Psalms and other teachings.  They memorized more than any of us have ever memorized.  That was something to be admired in a Pharisee.  They prayed seven, eight times a day.  Their prayer-life was very, very much a part of how they lived day to day.  They would do fasting; they would make their bodies disciplined under the discipline of fasting and prayer.  They were so highly disciplined that they followed rules like no one’s business. 

But Jesus said, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”  I was interested in the word, “hypocrisy.”  We talk about hypocrites all the time.  I wondered if we really understand where this word comes from.  It actually comes from a Greek word hypocrisis, the word that is used for an actor on a stage.  An actor on a stage—that’s hypocrisy, because the person is merely acting out a role.  The job of the audience is to watch and see how well that hypocrite does doing his role on the stage.  You see, a Pharisee lives on a stage. 

Our culture today often times sees religious people, church people, living on a stage.  To be seen, to be admired, to be respected, to be elevated higher above everyone else.  That way of thinking can get inside of us, so that what we do and how we’re seen is on display for everyone.  Remember the little picnic we participated in this past summer, serving people who were exploited here in the Twin Cities?  We didn’t put a big sign up to draw attention to what we were doing.  There were just a few of us that cooked burgers and participated in some of the games and watching kids.  Berea as a congregation participated by providing a bouncy-house for the kids.  Our elders approved that, and you made it happen.  It was real “behind the scenes”; it wasn’t on a stage; we got no recognition for it.  I’m telling you this because I think that’s cool.  That is a great way to love on other people—to love on all kinds of people. 

Now, a Pharisee lives on a stage but Jesus lives in the field.  I thought about how I could compare and contrast a Jesus follower with a Pharisee, and what I saw with Jesus was he wasn’t on the stage as much as he was in the field.  Whether he was playing the role of a sower who went out to sow some seeds, or whether he’s playing the role of shepherd, the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, Jesus is out where the action is.  He’s not doing it to go on display.  He’s doing it because he loves and cares for people.  Churches today would be so attractive, not for things they could show, but for the things that they do.  If we were like Jesus, living in the field, caring for his flock, sowing the seeds, tending the gardens, spiritual life is like nurturing something.  And when a church comes along and nurtures like Jesus did, we won’t live it out on a stage but out in the field.

Imagine a yoke.  It is said that there were Pharisee schools.  Some of them were noted for the yoke that the people wore.  Not a literal yoke, but they would say, “That rabbi puts a heavy yoke on the hearer.”  And Jesus even said that in Matthew 23.  He talked about how the Pharisees loved to put burdens on people--burdens so heavy that they were unwilling to bear those burdens themselves.  A Pharisee’s yoke is a heavy burden.  It’s meant to be hard.  It’s meant to be joyless and rigorous.  Lot of times when people look at a church they check the joy level.  Sometimes they see that it’s just nothing but a bunch of work, a bunch of rules, and a bunch of laws.  The Pharisees were very good at piling up a heavy burden on people.  So Jesus said, “My yoke is easy.”  I know I’ve shared this with you in previous messages.  This is one of my favorite passages in Scripture, where Jesus talks about how his yoke is easy.  That literally means that it fits well.  Matthew eleven, thirty—Jesus said, “Come, take my yoke on you and learn from me.  For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  The yoke for the Pharisee was bondage to the work of the Law.  The yoke of Jesus fits well and is about working in a partnership with him, and it’s so right for our lives.

God gave us his Laws, we call them the Ten Commandments.  The Pharisees did something with God’s Law that I think you will find pretty interesting.  A Pharisee builds hedges.  In other words, they took one of the Ten Commandments and in order to honor and elevate that commandment they would make even more laws about that.  So many more laws, that it was almost impossible to keep the Commandment, because to keep the Commandment you had to keep all these other laws.  But, they thought if you kept all these other laws, you’d do a pretty good job keeping the Commandments.  It was all a bunch of self-righteousness.  So the Pharisees built hedges with laws around the Law.  What’s interesting is that they always busted people, always got them in trouble, not for breaking the laws, not for disobeying the laws, but for disobeying the hedges.  Like when Jesus and his disciples were called on the carpet for disobeying the laws of the Sabbath.  They weren’t disobeying the laws of the Sabbath; they were crossing under the Pharisee’s hedges.  This stuff gets all over us when the Pharisee lives inside. 

Jesus builds hedges with love.  You know, it could be said that Jesus did the same thing.  He took a Commandment and he says, “You have heard it said, `You shall not murder.  But I tell you, whoever hates his brother is a murderer.’”  It almost seems like Jesus is doing the same thing with the hedge, but notice this important point--Jesus builds a hedge with love.  Do you see if we love our brother there is no possible way that we will murder.  If we’re careful with our eyes and with our thoughts, there is no way to lust.  Jesus builds hedges around the Law with love.  There’s a huge difference there.  So, whether it’s the stage, a yoke, or hedges, we do guard against that yeast.  That Pharisee infection can go everywhere.  The tendency to want to make Christianity a great burden instead of a life that fits us well, the tendency to take our Christianity out there for a show, a public display on how good we are, or to put hedges around are laws and our traditions and our church.  Those things can infect us. 

The little bubbles all over the bread tell us the story—yeast goes everywhere.  And that’s hypocrisy.  It’s all an act.  It’s all a show.  It’s like the outside doesn’t match the inside.  The exact opposite of that we learn from the Gospel.  The exact opposite of the Pharinfection or the Pharisee infection is integrity.  Integrity is making the inside match the outside, and the outside match the inside.  Jesus was very clear to point this out.  He said, “You Pharisees are like whitewashed tombs.  You look beautiful on the outside.  Oh my goodness, you’ve glistened in the sunshine, but inside is full of dead men’s bones.”

I know, it’s true, for me as I expect for many of you, that we like it when we can show our righteousness, when we can make it look like we’re working really hard for the kingdom.  Or when we protect our traditions and our customs and our buildings and whatever it is.  Inside of us there can be a little Pharisee just wanting to spread its bubbles everywhere.  Jesus, going to cross, did so because of the dead man’s bones inside of us.  He did it because he didn’t want us to be whitewashed tombs.  He wanted us to be genuine people--people who had a relationship with the heavenly Father, because of their love for him and his love for them.  He wanted the inside and the outside to match.  That’s integrity.  Now you and I. can fail to live up to that righteous standard of Jesus Christ.  But when he went to the cross, he gladly and lovingly exchanged his perfect life for our messed up ones, and he took all our sins and bore them away on the cross.  We can’t be Pharisees in Christ.  We are forgiven.  And we’re honest about that forgiveness.  We have a wonderful message to share with others.

Gracious God, we thank you so much for the love and grace that you’ve given us in Jesus.  We thank you that his death on the cross has made the inside of our lives match the outside, and made the outside match the inside.  O God, we pray that through the life and death of and resurrection of Jesus we might be rid of this inner Pharisee, and that we would embrace our forgiveness with honesty and integrity and say, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”  We’re not on a stage.  We’re not pulling a load with a yoke that’s heavy.  We’re not building hedges with no laws, but with your love.  In Jesus name we pray, Amen. 

How Good Lord to be Here!

Today we celebrate the Transfiguration of Our Lord, It’s an amazing account in Scripture of Jesus in dazzling glory, appearing with Moses and Elijah.  Three of his disciples were with him, on a mountain top, saying, “How good, Lord, to be here!”  This past summer I was in the Grand Teton National Park, and there was a chapel of the Transfiguration there.  It was a tiny, little log chapel and looked out onto the mountain range.  It was beautiful.  I thought, “Oh, it’s good to be here!”  The disciples had an amazing experience, one that made them want to stay on that mountain with Jesus.

You don’t have to look very far; these messages all over the place—I’d rather be fishing; I’d rather be sleeping; I’d rather be playing Bingo; I’d rather eat dirt; I’d rather be fishing with my grandpa; I’d rather be hunting.  “I would rather be . . .”   You can fill in the blank—where would you rather be?  A lot of us at any given time might think, “I rather be someplace else—like this little Hawaii license plate.  I think today is a great day to say, “I’d rather be in Hawaii.”  Right?!  U-betcha!  I’d rather be in Hawaii--especially when we’re considering getting so much snow. 

There are good places and bad places to be.

We’d all agree that it’s not good to be in adversity.  It’s not a comfortable place.  We’d love a ticket to someplace else if we’re facing adversity.  Or poverty, it’s not good to be in poverty.  It’s not good to fail or to feel like your failing, or to be in a constant state of failure.  It’s not good to be there.  It’s not good to be suffering.  No one wants that.  Captivity, I know around the world there are many, many people who just are not free.  They’re held captive in jails, prisons, detention camps, and all over the place.  It’s not good to be experiencing regret or fear.  These things are very difficult on our mind and emotions.  It’s not good to face so much temptation in the world around us.  It’s not good to be in a state of war.  None of us would argue that it’s not good to be sick.  It’s not good to be in a state of sin.  Death is not good.  Any one of us would take a look at that list and say, “I’d rather be . . .” and fill in the blank.  Yes, there are some bad places to be in this life.

I want to place this amazing event called “The Transfiguration” into context for us.  Calvary is very close.  We’re told that this event happened just before Jesus went to Jerusalem, where he would suffer and die to take away our sins.  We’re told that Jesus goes up there to pray.  Now, he did this quite often.  He went up on the mountain to pray and to be with God.  He often sought God’s confirmation and direction in moving forward in his ministry.  It was wonderful how he did that.  It’s a great thing that happens for Jesus to just have this opportunity to be alone with God and his disciples.  It’s a wonderful get-away. 

Now, let’s look at this get-away --the view, the visit, and the voice.  Here’s the view… Jesus was once again enveloped in the glory that belonged to him.  He was so dazzling white--the account says, “He was shining like the sun.”  And his clothes became whiter than any launderer could get them.  Amazing!  Then there was the visit...  We’re told that Moses and Elijah were there.  It was a wonderful connection bridging the past with the present, and pointing to the future.  It was as though Moses, the great leader of God’s people in the past and Elijah the great prophet of God’s people in the past, came together to tell Jesus, “You can do it.  This is what we’ve been telling the people about.  You are the one.  You are the chosen of God.  Step forward.  Go to Jerusalem.  The glory of God awaits what you will do there.”  It’s a wonderful connection.  And then there was the voice...  “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; with him I am well pleased.”  It was confirmation for Jesus.  What an amazing event!  But Peter and the other two disciples could have missed it entirely.  I wonder if you caught that in the text.  We read that these disciples were “heavy with sleep.”  That meant, like usual, Jesus went off to pray and they found a little rock or a clump of soft grass and took a good nap.  I could just see them right now, “Oh, I love it when Jesus does this.  We get away for a little while, take a good snooze, it’s great.”  So Jesus is over praying away and the disciples just take a little snooze. 

This is illustrative of the fact that there are many, many things that dull our mind and spirit to make us spiritually asleep.  Lots of things.  These are the kind of things that get in the way of our spiritual alertness, and we all face these things from time to time:  Prejudice, self-satisfaction, lethargy, ignorance, apathy, blindness or deafness to the truth, unbelief, exhaustion.  Any of these things could dull us and make us fall into a little spiritual slumber--where we miss the things of God; where we miss the glory of the Lord Jesus being revealed; where we miss the visit of confirmation from God and the connection to the past.  The disciples very well could have missed this. 

Then you almost gloss over the next point in the text, which is “When they were fully awake they saw his glory and the two men.”  What are the things that wake us up?  What are the things that open our eyes spiritually?  Well, sometimes, it’s the very things that cause us trouble and difficulty.  They can wake us up.  They can get us to pay attention to our deep need for God.  We often times like to brush that stuff aside and say, “I’d rather be someplace else.  I’d rather have an easier way of life.  I’d rather have less pain.”  But sometimes these very situations where we’d rather not be, cause us to open our eyes to see the glory of God. 

In these trials and pain we need three things:  First, we need a word from God.  There are times when our own wisdom simply fails--where we need something specific from God to address our concerns.  Lot of times we just need to know who we are in Christ.  During these times we need a way to God.  Sometimes it seems that it’s such a distance, such a great divide between us and God.  It’s almost like we need to find a way to reconnect with God when we feel lost in these great difficulties.  During these times we need a walk with God.  You’ve all heard that “Footprints in the Sand” poem, talking about two footprints in the sand and then how it fades into one.  It’s when God carries us through difficult times that we realize he’s always walking with us.  We need that walk.  That mountaintop experience gave these disciples those three things.  You had Elijah, Israel’s greatest prophet.  Peter, who was there, would later write this in II Peter 1:16 and following:  For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.  And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.  Peter is saying that that amazing experience on the mountaintop was not greater than hearing the clear Word of God—the prophets have spoken and they are absolutely reliable.

Then this experience also gave them an encounter with Moses--perhaps Israel’s greatest leader.  He led them on a long, long journey from the captivity in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  Moses, we are told, even learned God’s name at the burning bush.  Learned his name—Yahweh.  He received God’s Laws.  He worked faithfully to help settle disputes and lead the people through a very difficult time in their history.  He pointed to Christ again and again.  So the disciples had the great prophet, Elijah, the great leader Moses, and they saw in all his glory Jesus, Israel’s greatest hope.  He came to walk with us; to be one of us; to live in perfect obedience to God’s Laws—like Moses and Elijah couldn’t; like we can’t.  And that hope that he’s given us is the ultimate way, truth and life, because he paid for our sins on the cross.

I want to encourage you to think about how the disciples felt about being with Jesus.  They said, “Lord, it’s good to be here.”  I think it’s good to be here—at Berea.  Don’t you?  I think it’s good to be here week after week.  We come to hear a word from God.  We hear lessons read.  We speak about these lessons and apply them to our lives.  It’s a wonderful place to be, because we have a word from God.  It is here that we listen to and experience the way to God.  As we come to the Lord’s Supper, as we draw near to him he draws near to us.  It’s so good to be at Berea, because we have a way to God.  Here we experience together a walk with God.  It’s good to be here.  But we can’t stay, sorry, we have to drive away.  The disciples wanted to stay, encountering Jesus and his closeness—his glory.  We have to drive away from Berea, and it’s not because we want to shut this place down and not do anything all week long.  We need to get away from Berea and go back.  The action is back where we came from.  Now that could be a work place, it could be your home, it could be your school, and the action is there.  Just like Jesus who came down from the mountain with his disciples, after this great experience, he stays with us where the action is.  I like that last verse in the hymn we just sang:  “How good Lord to be here!  Yet we may not remain; but since thou bidst us leave the mountain, go with us to the plain.”  And indeed he does still offering us a word from God, a way to God, and a walk with God.

Let’s pray.  O Gracious Lord, thank you for being with us, and for giving us your clear Word and showing us the way.  We pray for Berea, and ask that you would make us a faithful place to gather and grow closer and closer to you.  Thank you for your Word.  Thank you for the way.  And thank you for the walk you’ve given us to share.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Affluenza

I want to talk to you today about “Affluenza.”  It’s something that is very, very prevalent in our culture today.  I’m going to begin with a little knowledge quiz.  OK?  So take a look up here and see what you think.

1.       Which of the following is comparable to the size of a typical three car garage?

a.       a basketball court

b.      a McDonald’s restaurant

c.       an AV or recreational vehicle

d.      the average home in the 1950’s

What do you think?  The answer is “d.”  Many of today’s three car garages occupy about 900 square feet—just about the average size of an entire home in the 1950’s.  Many people use the extra space to store things.  Often we hear that Americans have lost ground economically and have less purchasing power, but American are buying more luxurious items partly by working more and by deeply into debt.  The homes we live in today and the cars we drive today are often bigger and more technologically advance than those purchased by our parents. 

2.      The percentage of Americans calling themselves very happy reached its highest point in what year?

a.       1957

b.      1967

c.       1977

d.      1987

When were Americans the happiest?  The answer “1957.”  The number of very happy people peeked in 1957, and this is interesting, has remained fairly stable or declined ever since.  Even though we consume twice as much as did in the ‘50’s, people were just as happy when they had less.

3.      True or false?  Americans carry 600 billion in personal debt, not including mortgages or real estate?

Is that true or false?  It’s false.  Americans carry 2.4 trillion dollars in personal debt--approximately eight thousand for every man, woman and child not including real estate and mortgages.  On average Americans save only 4 percent of their income in contrast to Japanese who save about 16 percent. 

Now I’m going to take you back a few years. 

4.      Which activity did more Americans do in 1996?

a.       graduate from college

b.      declare bankruptcy

The answer in 1996 was “b – declare bankruptcy.”  In 1996 more than one million Americans declared bankruptcy as in 1986.  More than a billion credit cards and less than 1/3 of the credit card holders pay off their balances each month. 

I did a little checking on some of my statistics, and actually I found that the bankruptcy rate has gone up to 1.571 million bankruptcies in this past year.  Now what’s interesting is college graduates have actually caught up, but the college graduates are not getting good jobs anymore.  They’re not getting jobs that equal their education, so the economy is getting tough.

This is the last one.

5.      Of American who voluntarily cut back their consumption, what percent said that they are happier as a result?

a.       29%

b.      42%

c.       67%

d.      86%

What do you think?  The answer is “d.”  86% of Americans who voluntarily cut back their consumption feel happier as a result.  And by the way, voluntary reductions in consumption are actually growing.  More and more people are deciding to live with less.

Now, I want to talk to you about “affluenza” because in looking at what is “missional” over the next couple weeks I want to talk to you about “missional momentum”--the idea that God wants us to take the love, the grace, the fellowship, and the forgiveness, that he has given us, and move it out to the world with continuous momentum.  You’ve seen this diagram with arrows that point out from a growing heart, a growing faith.  So the idea is that in the next couple weeks we’re going to talk about the momentum that the mission needs.  But truth be told, there are things that weigh in on our heart rather than going out.  These are things that affect us all—money, houses, cars, life style.  These are things that we desire to have in our lives, to put around us, to make us feel good.  It results though, in a self-focus—stuff that just gets into our hearts and make us love and desire things more than what should be the object of our affection and our walk with God.

So, what is “affluenza?”  Actually it is something that psychologists have begun to study in America, because we’ve really got a problem in this country.  I’d like to illustrate that by talking about three factors that mark this condition.  One is the “LOAD.”  The load that we have put on our lives is an amazing.  Our stuff, the things we have around us, costs us dearly.  It’s costing us in terms of financial stresses, of relational stresses, and real physical stress.  We have to try harder to accumulate more stuff.  And it’s harder today than it was twenty years ago to make yourself look affluent and good.  So the load on us is incredible.  It’s big; it’s a burden. 

A second factor is the “HEAD.”  We are striving to keep our head above everybody else.  We are striving to push ahead of others, and it’s resulting in a lot of pride and a lot of difficulty in competitiveness—keeping up with the “Joneses”—certainly a well-known phrase.  Affluenza is going to our heads.  We are trying so hard to stay above everyone else.

The third factor is the “DISORDER.”  The research for most recent revision of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual or “DSM” psychologists use to diagnose mental abnormalities, began to look at the psychological impact of those who are making themselves sick in pursuit of affluence or even, just the appearance of affluence.  So… there’s really a sickness out there, and it’s gripping America today.  A “disorder” is a confusion of what is normally right.  Eventually affluence, like any form of idolatry, can put us out of place in our relationship with God, and that’s the worst disorder we can ever get ourselves into.

Now, this is a sermon in a church.  It’s a church message so I’m not here to talk to you about the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of psychology.  God’s Word has plenty to say to us about conditions that our spiritual lives face.  It talks a lot about our struggle with sin and temptation.  It talks a lot about the stuff that clouds our lives where God belongs instead.  When you heard the Gospel Lesson today you heard about a rich man who came to Jesus.  He said, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  And Jesus said, “Well you know.  Do what you’re supposed to do.”  It was a setup.  Jesus knew he couldn’t do all the things he was supposed to do.  This young man said, “I’ve kept all the Laws.  I’ve been a good boy.  My whole life I’ve done well.”  And Jesus said, “Well, then go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and then you’ll have treasures in heaven.”  The Bible said that he went away very sad, because he had lots of stuff.  Do you ever wonder what that might be like today if Jesus said, “You’ve got too much stuff!  Get rid of it.  Come follow me.” 

I’m going to continue reading from Mark 10, where we left off.  Because after this young man went away, Jesus looked at his disciples and he said to them:  “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”  The disciples were amazed at his words, but again Jesus said, `Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God.  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.’  The disciples were even more amazed and said to each other, `who then can be saved?’  Jesus looked at them and said, `with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” 

Now, when you read a verse like that we come to the realization that either we need some really, really big needles or we need some really, really tiny camels.  Right?  How in the world are you going to get camels through an eye of a needle?  It’s impossible!  So, how does this work?  What is Jesus possibly saying in this text?  I want to introduce you to something very, very common throughout the world and especially in ancient cities and building.  It’s called a “needle gate.”  A needle gate was a gate that was open after dark when the big gates of the city or the building or the castle were closed.  A needle gate was big enough only for a person—one person—to pass through.  Here are some pictures of needle gates.  This one in the upper left is actually a needle gate in a wall in Jerusalem.  It’s just big enough to squeeze on through.  Isn’t that interesting?  So, my question for you is:  Can we get a camel through a needle gate?  That’s a great question.  Some needle gates it’s possible to get a camel through.  Other needle gates I’m afraid not. 

Let’s take a look at “affluenza” from the stand point of a camel trying to get through a needle gate.  OK?  We’ve got three big problems with that.  First problem we have is this LOAD.  The camel usually has too much stuff to get through the gate--too much stuff.  So when it’s dark I can just see the caravan driver saying, “Come on, come on!  They’re going to close the gate!  They’re going to close the gate!  We’ve got to get in!”  You can just see them looking at their watches and trying to get through the city gate in time, because if they had to get the camels through the needle gate, that load had to go.  It was just too much.  So, to get the camel through the task of lightning the load was really critically important. 

But that’s not the only problem you had getting a camel through the eye of a needle.  Second problem you had was his HEAD.  Just like people’s whose heads are held high in pride, camels love to keep their heads up.  I don’t know if you noticed that, but even when they’re resting their heads are up.  They’re up all the time.  And when they’re trying to get a camel through a needle gate, one of the toughest things to do is to pull that head down so that head can get down low enough to get under the top of the needle gate.  It’s difficult to get a camel through when its head is held high, just like it’s difficult for people to walk closely with God, when their heads are so high in the clouds, with their own self-importance and pride.  It’s not impossible; it’s just really hard to get a camel through a needle gate with that head.

And, there’s still another problem, because even if you’ve got the head down you had to do something that was completely unnatural for a camel.  You had to deal with the DISORDER.  And that is… you had to get the camel on its knees to go through the needle gate.  Load off, head down, on the knees!  If a knee will not bow in humble order before the God of the Universe, there’s a very serious “order” problem.  Yet we bow before so many idols.  God have mercy on us when we get our lives so out of order!

It’s just such a hard thing to get a camel through the eye of a needle, but it’s not impossible—is it?  It’s not impossible.  I think the young man went away very sad because he had so much stuff.  The challenge for us today is to ask:  If we’ve got too much stuff, if our self-importance has inflated our heads so much, if we’re so naturally inclined to worship ourselves rather than our Creator we may as well be a big, old camel, with a great big load approaching the city wall after sundown. 

Now, it could be that Jesus was talking about the needle gate. I don’t know.  It could be that he was juxtaposing the biggest animal that people knew in Israel with the smallest opening they could think about.  Whether Jesus was actually referring to a needle gate and a real camel or the impossibility of putting a camel through the eye of a needle, the reaction of the disciples was very much the same.  They said, “Lord, who then can be saved?”  The young man went away really sad, because he had so much stuff.  Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Jesus dealt with the LOAD, not the load of our stuff, but the load of our sin.  Every lustful, compulsive, consuming thought that we’ve had, every covetous idea, every stolen good, whatever it is, Jesus took that load for all that sin on himself.  It was a bigger load than any camel could carry.  It’s a bigger load than you and I can bear.  But that load went to the cross with Jesus.  I love the Old Pilgrim’s Progress story where that Christian pilgrim with that big pack on his back.  He comes to the cross and it falls off.  The load of sin is gone at the cross, because of Jesus Christ.  His HEAD, his sacred head, was wounded for us.  He didn’t consider his standing in heaven to be something that would be grasped, but he made himself nothing the Bible says and took on the form of a servant.  He was obedient onto death, even death on the cross.  That’s what was in his mind.  The Bible says, “But for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame.”  He got his mind around the fact that he wanted to live with you and me rather than in God’s kingdom.  We talk about DISORDER.  There is none bigger than the disorder in the relationship between broken humanity and the living God.  Jesus put order back into our lives and into our eternity.  Jesus dealt with things that were out of whack.

So, I don’t know how you feel, maybe you’d be discouraged like the rich, young man.  Thinking, “Oh, I’ve got too much stuff!  I’ll never get to heaven because I’ve got too much stuff, if not the physical stuff, there’s certainly the sinful stuff.  Does the Bible make heaven seem as out of reach for the sinner as well as the rich person?  Jesus said, “No, it’s not impossible.  In fact, rich or poor, man or woman, slave or free, with God, the Kingdom of Heaven is open to each one by the grace and love of Jesus Christ.  I’m sharing this “affluenza” message with you to tell you it’s not such a good idea to keep pursuing stuff rather than pursuing God.  Our drive and desire for the affluent way of life can keep us from giving it to others and growing the kingdom.  It pushes our focus in toward ourselves and not out to the world.  I believe that’s what Jesus was trying to say to the rich young man and to you and me.  Thankfully, the message of the cross deals with the LOAD, the HEAD, and the DISORDER when we trust in the finished work of Christ for us all.  He gives us peace and hope!