Straining Gnats and Swallowing Camels

Modern Day Pharisees Straining Out Gnats and Eating Camels Matthew 23:23-24 Pastor Pat Damiani July 14, 2019 NOTE: This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript. In the first church that I pastored, we had monthly business meetings in which the church would vote on such important issues as what temperature the thermostat should be set to on Sunday mornings, what words to put on the church sign, when to have a potluck, and even what color paint to use when we repainted the walls. That was something new to me and I was shocked at how passionate that people could be about such trivial matters. But the bigger problem is that those people didn’t have the same kind of zeal for bringing the kingdom of God near to others and reaching others with the gospel. Their idea of a good church was one where they got to sing their favorite hymns, the pastor wore a suit every Sunday, and where they got a personal visit from the pastor at least once a month. To them those things were far more important than actually reaching their community for Jesus. That situation was a real eye-opener for me. That was the first church I had been a part of that was so completely focused on such minor and trivial matters that they missed the more important major ones. And so, after working for over a year to try to change some of those attitudes with little success, I decided that I needed to move on. Fortunately since that time, I’ve never been in a church where such trivial matters were the driving force. However, that doesn’t mean that from time to time, I haven’t run into that attitude in some individuals. In the time I’ve been here at TFC, I’ve seen a number of people leave the church. And in those cases where the people have been courteous enough to explain why they left, I can only remember a couple times where someone left because of something important like a disagreement about doctrine. In every other case, people essentially left over a matter of personal preference or some trivial matter. Unfortunately it seems to be human nature to major in the minors and minor in the majors when it comes to our relationship with and we’re probably all guilty of doing that at times. By now you’ve probably figured out that the Pharisees also did that and this morning as we continue our current sermon series titled “Modern Day Pharisees” we’ll see what we can learn about how to make sure we don’t follow in their footsteps. Before we look at this morning’s passage, let’s quickly remind ourselves of the six traits of a “modern day Pharisee” that we’re covering in this series. You might be a “modern day Pharisee” if… • You judge the Scriptures rather than being judged by them • You think you’re better than other Christians • You are more interested in making clones of yourself than disciples of Jesus • You look for loopholes in God’s Word in order to excuse your sin • You major in minors and minor in majors • You work harder at looking good than being good This morning, we’re going to focus on the fifth indication that you might be a “modern day Pharisee”: [Read Matthew 23:23-24] You can’t possibly read these words without seeing that Jesus had a sense of humor. I love the illustration that He uses here to point out the way that the Pharisees majored in minors and minored in majors. He accused them of straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. That paints a pretty vivid picture, but you might be wondering why Jesus used those particular animals in His illustration. According to the ceremonial law in the Old Testament, both the gnat and the camel were designated by God as “unclean” animals that were not to be eaten by the Israelites. Jesus picks them out here because they were the smallest and the largest of those unclean animals. You can imagine in that day how easy it was for a tiny gnat to get into a cup of water or wine. So in order to show just how pious they were, the Pharisees would go to great lengths to strain any gnats out of what they were drinking, just to make sure they didn’t ingest one unintentionally. They would often strain those liquids through a piece of cloth and then just to let everyone else know how meticulous they were they would drink through clenched teeth just in case a gnat had slipped through undetected. Now obviously, the Pharisees weren’t literally eating camel steaks. But the point that Jesus is making here is that they had totally missed out on what really matters in the kingdom of God. They were meticulous about the details of the ceremonial law, but they had failed to understand the larger, more important matters of justice, mercy and faithfulness. So with that big picture in mind, let’s go back to verse 23 and see how we can apply this passage in our own lives. As we’ve done each week in this series, we’ll first identify some characteristics that can help us to identify whether we have become “modern day Pharisees” and then we’ll discuss some Biblical remedies. HOW TO TELL IF I’M A “MODERN DAY PHARISEE” 1. I’m doing but not being As we’ve seen consistently throughout this series the Pharisees were far more concerned with outward acts of religion than in what was going on in their hearts. And here Jesus uses the example of the way they tithe to point that out. The concept of the tithe, which literally means “to pay one tenth”, was found in the Old Testament law. God instructed His people to give one-tenth of all their crops and products to the treasury of Israel as a way to support the theocracy that was run by the priests. So it was basically a form of income tax. There were also two other kinds of tithes specified in the law, one to be paid annually for the funding of the national festivals and feasts and another paid every three years for the welfare of the poor and the non-Israelites in the land. So altogether, these tithes averaged out to about 23% of what one produced. In both Deuteronomy and Leviticus we find that the tithe included the seed that was produced: “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. (Deuteronomy 14:22 ESV) Not surprisingly, the Pharisees had taken this far beyond what God intended and they were even tithing on the seeds of the herbs that they were growing in their homes. They were literally sitting down and counting out these tiny seeds – one for God, nine for me, one for God nine for me… It certainly gave them a great way to display their holiness and their dedication to God. What is interesting here is that Jesus doesn’t condemn them for what they are doing. He tells them to go ahead and keep on tithing their seeds. In other words, it’s not an “either/or” situation, but rather a “both/and” one. What He does tell them is that while they are doing these religious tasks, to make sure they don’t lose perspective on what really matters in the kingdom, which is developing a heart that is like God’s. What are the “seeds” in your life? What are the things that you are doing for God that are taking your focus away from becoming the person God wants you to be – one, who like David, is a man or woman after God’s own heart? I’ve shared this with you before, but I think it bears repeating. For me, one of the things that can become my “seeds” are my sermons. It is so easy for me to slip into the trap of thinking that my sermon preparation time is a substitute for spending time in God’s Word just to get to know His heart better and to allow Him to speak into my life personally. There are a lot of really good things that have the potential to be “seeds” in our life. Let me mention just a few that seem to be pretty common: • It’s possible to come to church every week and yet never really worship God. Worship is not an event – it’s a lifestyle in which we love God with all our heart by getting to know Him and become more like Him in every area of our lives. • It’s possible to follow the example of the Pharisees and meticulously tithe on every penny of our income but fail to lift a finger to help out someone in need. Unfortunately in our culture today, far too many have the idea that they give to the church so that the church can pay someone else to do the work of ministry that all of us have been called to. • It’s even possible to engage in ministry for all the wrong reasons. Instead of ministering to others because we have the same heart for them that God does, we serve in order to be noticed by others, to earn favor with God, or even to make ourselves feel good. 2. I focus on the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law As I mentioned earlier, a significant portion of the tithes required by the Old Testament law were for the purpose of caring for the vulnerable in that culture – widows, the poor, immigrants. The spirit behind the law was that God cares for the vulnerable so much that He made provision for their needs to be met. Obviously the Pharisees had lost sight of the spirit behind the law and all they focused on what carrying out the letter of the law. As we’ve seen throughout this series, they didn’t really care about anyone but themselves. When they tithed their spices, it wasn’t because they thought that would help provide for the needs of anyone else. It was only so they would look good in front of others. No wonder Jesus accused them of straining out gnats and eating camels. Since Jesus used the illustration of tithing, I’m also going to use that to illustrate how we can also get focused on the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law. I only have time for that one example, but obviously there are a lot of other areas where we can fall into this trap. While not all would agree with me, I am of the opinion that the tithe does not apply directly to New Testament believers. And before you are too quick to argue with me on that, let me just remind you that if you want to apply the Old Testament tithing laws literally, you should probably be giving more like 23% of your income and not merely 10%. In the New Testament we are instructed to give generously and cheerfully in accordance with how much has been entrusted to us by God. That is really more of a spirit of the law principle than a letter of the law rule. I do think that the tithe, or 10%, is probably a helpful standard that ought to guide us in determining the minimum amount we should give. But I have seen Christians who have prospered financially and who likely should be giving much more than 10% of their income to help bring the kingdom of God near to others, claim that they have satisfied the letter of the law by giving 10% and that is all they are going to give. But the spirit of the law says that I ought to strive to give as much as I can to help others know Jesus and not be restricted in my giving by clinging to the letter of the law. 3. I exhibit selective zealousness As I mentioned earlier, Jesus did not condemn the practice of tithing, even when it came to those little seeds. In fact, he told them they ought to continue that practice. His problem was with the fact that they had neglected the “weightier matters of the law”. Jesus borrowed the word translated “weightier” from the rabbinical tradition which had divided the law into “light” and “heavy” categories. The problem is that the Pharisees had inverted those categories and relegated the important matters to the “light” category and elevated the less important matters to the “heavy” category. They were majoring in the minors and minoring in the majors. When we talk about the remedy in just a moment, we’ll see how God defines the light and the heavy or, using the terms I’ve used this morning, the minor and the major. If we’re completely honest, I think most of us have been guilty of selective zealousness at times. I think that can take two forms: 1) We become overly zealous about those areas where we tend to excel. So if I read my Bible and pray 30 minutes every day, I then make that the standard by which I measure every other disciple of Jesus. If I’m at church every single Sunday without fail, then I become zealous about that. If I have a fish symbol and a “Honk if you love Jesus” bumper sticker on my car, then I think everyone else should, too. If I raise my hands or clap during the worship service then I embark on a campaign to get everyone else to do that, too. Obviously there is nothing wrong with any of those activities. In fact, many of them are either commanded or encouraged in the Bible. But they can also get in the way of the more important things we’ll talk about in a minute. 2) We become zealous against those sins that we don’t necessarily struggle with while accepting our own sins. Unfortunately, that often takes the form of being judgmental against those who are not yet disciples of Jesus and it ends up pushing them away from Jesus and the gospel. This week I read an article that was titled “9 Sins the Church is Okay With”. And with the risk of offending pretty much every one of us here this morning, let me share that list with you: • Fear • Apathy • Gluttony • Worry • Flattery • Comfort • Consumerism • Patriotism • Lying I’m not going to embarrass anyone by asking for a show of hands, but my guess is that everyone here struggles with at least one of the items on that list. As a result, we tend not to be very zealous in our opposition to those sins. THE REMEDY 1. Keep the main thing the main thing When Jesus defines those things that are truly the weightier matters – justice, mercy and faithfulness – He is almost certainly thinking of the words from that the prophet Micah had written some 700 years earlier: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 ESV) The Pharisees, just as we are prone to do, had forgotten that their God-given purpose was not to perpetuate religious rules and activity that only burdened people down, but rather to bring about righteousness in this world through the gospel that embodies justice, kindness or mercy, and faithfulness or walking humbly with God. While we don’t use those exact words, our church’s mission statement embodies those three attributes: Know Jesus. Grow and Serve. Go and Share. Our mission as a church is not to help people learn a bunch of religious rules or engage in religious activities, but rather to help us and others develop a relationship with Jesus in which we exhibit justice, mercy and faithfulness. And that process is going to look a bit different in each one of our lives. So we need to be okay with the idea that not everyone’s journey needs to look just like mine. 2. Love others Some of you may be wondering how I developed the idea of loving others from the principles of justice, mercy and faithfulness. A parallel passage in Luke’s gospel account and a proper understanding of what Jesus meant by the word “justice” will be helpful. Let’s begin with the parallel passage in Luke’s gospel: “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. (Luke 11:42 ESV) Notice here that Jesus has boiled the main thing down to “justice” and the “love of God”. It’s pretty obvious that “the love of God” can be equated with “faithfulness” in Matthew’s account as well as “walk humbly with your God” in Micah. We’ll come back to that in a moment. When Jesus uses the word “justice” here, He has in mind the Hebrew understanding of that word as it was used in the Old Testament Scriptures. There are three primary Hebrew words that are translated “justice” in the Old Testament. While they have slightly different nuances, all essentially mean “to give a person what he or she is due”. Obviously, in some places that refers to punishment for sin. But it is also used frequently in the sense of the protection or care that is due to people, especially to the vulnerable people in that culture – the poor, widows, orphans, and immigrants. The Old Testament consistently painted a picture of a God who cares for those weak and helpless people and expects His children to do the same. This is the aspect of justice that the Pharisees missed. They certainly wanted a God who would be just in punishing of the sins of others, but not one that would hold them responsible for giving protection and care to the vulnerable. In fact, as we saw a few weeks ago, they actually preyed on the vulnerable rather than taking care of them. Hopefully now you can see how I’ve developed this principle of loving others. We are to treat others with mercy and kindness and we are especially to provide justice for the down and out in our culture by providing care and protection for them. I’m grateful for the way we’ve done that as a church and as individuals. Our church has been able to provide financial help for those right here in our church family that are experiencing financial hardships. We have partnered with the Gospel Rescue Mission to minister to the homeless in our community. And I know that many of you also personally support the Gospel Rescue Mission and other organizations that minister to the down and out. When we do that, then we end up majoring on the majors and not on the minors. But it is not always easy to love others, is it? Often the people that need our mercy and compassion are the most difficult people to love because they require a bigger sacrifice on our part. 3. Love God The accounts in Matthew, Luke and Micah’s words express this idea with different words: • In Luke, Jesus calls it “the love of God” • In our passage in Matthew, he calls it “faithfulness” • Micah refers to it as “walking humbly with your God” While we are quick to criticize the Pharisees, we need to acknowledge that they did much of what they did because they believed that their outward religious acts were actually an indication of their love for God. But what they missed was that the love of God is more a matter of the heart than what we do. Perhaps they should have spent more time meditating on these words given to the prophet Hosea by God: For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6 ESV) God wants us to love Him by spending time with Him and getting to know Him, not by engaging in some religious act that is intended to gain favor with Him. As we close this morning, I want to encourage all of us to consider just one concrete step that we could take this week to apply one of these three remedies. • What could you do this week to make the main thing the main thing? • Who is it that God wants you to love and what is one thing you could do this week to love that person? • What could you do this week to spend some time with God and get to know Him better? I think that overall we’ve done a pretty good job of not majoring in minors and minoring in majors. Let’s make sure that we continue to focus on our main purpose. Let’s continue to work together to… Know Jesus. Grow and Serve. Go and Share. and to help others to do that as well. Discussion questions for Bible Roundtable 1. What are some things that ought to be “majors” in the church? What are some things that ought to be “minors”? 2. Why do you think there is a tendency for churches and individuals to focus on the “minors”? What are some practical ways we can prevent that? 3. Why is it often easier to focus on “doing” rather than “being”? What are some indications that I am doing that? 4. How does the Hebrew idea of “justice” help us understand how we are to treat the vulnerable in our culture? 5. What does it mean to “walk humbly with your God”?