Luke 11 verses 45 to 54
In today’s gospel reading from Luke
we see Jesus being very critical of the religious leaders of his day – in
particular the Pharisees and teachers of the law.
So firstly who were these people?
Well the Pharisees were a Jewish religious party who accepted God’s written
word – the Law and the prophets - but who gave equal authority to oral laws
that had evolved over many years.
And to the Pharisees, strict
observance of these oral and written laws was everything.
The teachers of the law were those who
had been professionally trained to teach and apply the Old Testament law. And
as with the Pharisees, the oral traditions of these people, often assumed
greater authority than the original written law of Moses.
So, Jesus is highly critical of these
two groups of people who as the religious leaders of the day - advocated strict
religious observance, even though some of it was man-made - but whose hearts
were far from God.
Just to set the scene for today’s
reading, we’re told in verse 37 that Jesus has been invited for a meal by a
Pharisee who is very surprised that he doesn’t wash himself beforehand.
The Pharisees made a point of washing
themselves before eating as a sign of washing away any contamination from
touching anything unclean – although originally this was only something which
was expected of the priests.
Jesus tells the Pharisees sitting at
the table very bluntly that although they go to great lengths to wash the
outside of cups and dishes - inside – in their hearts - they are full of greed
and wickedness.
Their religion is purely an outward
show – because spiritually they are alienated from God.
He doesn’t stop here though, in verse
44 he says “woe to you for you are like unmarked graves which people walk over
without realising.”
The Old Testament laws said a person
who touched a grave was unclean. Like unmarked graves the Pharisees corrupted
those who came into contact with them.
He then criticises the teachers of
the law – “woe also to you lawyers, for you load people with burdens hard to
bear and you do not lift a finger to ease them.”
He accuses them of loading the people
down with burdensome religious demands, many of which were of their own making.
They were more concerned with outward
appearances and the respect in which they were held – than humbly seeking to
love God and having genuine concern for the people in their care.
And it can be the same today. Some
church leaders can be more concerned with their own political and social
agendas than they are with serving God or loving people.
And some church goers can be more
concerned with outward religious observance and appearing respectable – than
they are with finding a relationship with God.
But Christianity is fundamentally
about finding and then living in relationship with God rather than just observing
or performing religious rituals.
Sacraments like baptism, confirmation
and communion only have value or meaning where they reflect and nurture a
genuine faith in God.
They are outward signs of what should
be an inner reality – a living faith and relationship with God.
Little Oscar’s baptism today is a
genuine celebration of his entry into God’s family – the church. Chris and
Mercy and their families have a living faith in God – and they will pass this
faith onto Oscar as he grows up.
But sadly this is not always the
case.
Perhaps some of you have seen a
programme called Big Fat Gypsy Weddings???
I was quite shocked to see some young
Irish traveller girls taking their first communion.
They arrived for the service in
limousines, dolled up to the nines in huge dresses - like brides – and their older
sisters and cousins came to the service dressed in extremely skimpy outfits –
looking more ready to go to a nightclub than a church service.
I don’t want to be judgmental – and I
may be wrong - but there seemed to me to be a total lack of any spiritual
understanding of what they were doing. It seemed like just an excuse for a
celebration.
And sadly some baptisms and
confirmations can be the same. People can dress up and take photos for the family
album and tick off a religious box – but completely miss the inner spiritual
significance of what they’re doing.
And some people believe that the act
of taking communion – if they do it regularly enough – is what God requires.
You see I think there is fundamental
misunderstanding which many people have – which is that doing religious things
puts us right with God.
That when we get to the pearly gates
God will have a note of whether we’re baptised of confirmed - and a list of our
church attendance and good deeds and let us in if we’ve been good enough.
But this is completely wrong. We are
only put right with God by repenting and then believing in Jesus. By acknowledging
that we need God in our lives and then inviting Him to come and live in our
hearts.
The rituals or sacraments of the
church - are meant to be "visible signs of invisible grace”. But like the
Pharisees some people can perform the rituals – sometimes regularly and
religiously - while their hearts remain far from God.
You see what God really wants is a
relationship with you. He loves you and He wants you to share your life with
Him. All of it.
I’ve recently come across a preacher
called Joyce Meyer on a new Christian TV Channel - called TBN.
And I really like Joyce – because her
teaching is very practical and down to earth.
She told a story the other day of a
time when she went ten pin bowling with some friends – and she wasn’t bowling
very well.
She said she was really surprised
when she heard God say to her clearly – ‘why don’t you ask me to help you?’
She said but Lord I’m not doing
church stuff – why should I ask you to help me?
And then she realised that God was
interested in – and wanted to be involved in all her life. Not just the church
stuff.
She realised that God was with her
always – whatever she was doing – and that
He wanted her to enjoy all her life
with Him – not just the churchy bits.
And she said she started to
understand what Jesus meant when he talked about abiding in Him.
You see, God doesn’t just want a
little bit of attention from you on a sunday morning – and then for you to
forget about Him for the rest of the week.
He wants - with your permission - to
come and live in your heart and life.
And then, when you’ve said yes – He
wants to guide you and direct you – and help
you discover His plan for your life.
And He wants you to enjoy life with Him
- and as I said a few weeks ago – to share His life – His love and His power
with others.
If this relationship with God is
lacking – if our hearts are far from Him – as with the Pharisees and lawyers –
the religious rituals we perform can be empty and meaningless.
The Pharisees and teachers of the law
had no space in their hearts and lives for God. This is why Jesus said, “these
people honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.”
Outwardly they were very religious
and the people looked up to them – but inwardly they were spiritually dead and
cut off from the life of God – full of dead men’s bones as Jesus put it.
So you’ve come to Church today - what
does God require of you?
Does He want you to sing the songs
and say all the right words – while doing your best not to think about what’s
for lunch - and then to walk out of the
door thinking you’ve done your bit - but to forget about him for another week?
Of course not. So what does He want??
Well the service sheet tells us in the prayer after communion, which is
based on what Paul wrote to the church in Rome.
Paul wrote; “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to
offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is
your true and proper worship.”
So God wants us to offer ourselves to him – and this is what true worship
is about.
What God wants is you! Just as He gave his life for you on the cross – so
he wants you to offer your life back to Him.
When we come to worship Him, He is looking for us to offer Him ourselves
- our time, our energy, our thoughts, our love and our service.
This is why also in the prayer after communion - we invite God to send us
out in the power of His spirit to live and work for his praise and glory.
The Pharisees were extremely religious - but they totally failed to recognise
Jesus – God made flesh – even when he was standing right in front of them.
We must make sure that we don’t make the same mistake. Jesus is present
here in this church by His spirit every week when we meet together.
It’s easy to sing the songs and reel off the words on the service sheet
but to completely miss Him.
It’s easy to do religion and miss out on a relationship with Him. But nothing
else will satisfy Him.
God loves you and he wants to be involved in your life – all of it. He
wants you to invite Him into your heart and your life and to mean it.
And when you do this - the religious rituals of the church will have true
meaning and significance – as they do for little Oscar and his family this
morning.
And you will start to find that you are worshipping your creator in
spirit and in truth – because as Jesus said - these are the kind of worshippers
that God is really looking for.
As the service continues and little Oscar is baptised and then as we take
communion – reflect on your own baptismal promises and then offer yourself to
God - because there is nothing more precious that you can give Him.
In the name of the living God. Amen.
