Do As I Say …
Sunday, October 30th, 2005
Pentecost + 24
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 23:1-12
To open the Bible and to read it with a humble heart and an open mind is to invite scandal into your life.
Half the time, you draw comfort from what you are reading. Passages flow into you that reassure and sooth, that give you courage and encourage you and give you something to smile about or something to ponder, something to enrich your life, but that’s only half the time. You read it, and you hear God saying ‘from where you’re sitting it may not look like it, but someday, if you continue to do the right thing, someday it WILL be rewarded, and justice will flow down, but there’s still the other half of the time.’
The rest of the time, if you are honest with yourself, you find yourself on the short end of the stick. You are more likely to identify with or be identified as the one in the story who DIDN’T GET it to begin with, the one who isn’t shown in the best light in the parable, the one who God is speaking against – who Jesus is speaking AGAINST. It’s not necessarily a reflection of what your sense of self-esteem is doing at the moment, it is more a matter of realizing that for all your good and potentially good qualities, there are most definitely some qualities in you that deserve the withering blast that Jesus levels in today’s passage.
One of the most common excuses given for why someone doesn’t go to church is that ‘church is full of hypocrites’. I suspect most all of us have heard it at some point in our lives, perhaps even thought it ourselves. I remember distinctly being so fed up with my perception of what the membership consisted of in the big Baptist church in my college town in Kentucky that I very nearly stopped going altogether, and contemplated going in one of two directions: withdrawing from the faith community altogether, or heading out on my own, me and my roommates, just doing our own thing, being as true to the Gospel as we could be. And although it can be an either-or proposition, in some ways it ends up being both things. In my endeavor to go deeper, to understand more what it means to be a follower of Christ, to be as zealous, as honest as I could be about faith, it caused me to do what I mentioned the Pharisees did themselves. You withdraw from community, you withdraw from fellowship, and so you’re left with this “thing” that you are trying to bring back together.
I looked up the origin, the etymology of the word “Hypocrite” last night. It is a transliteration of the Greek word hypokrites, which means "actor on the stage, pretender." So I was encouraged to know that at the tender age of 7, Caleb is a bona-fide, card-carrying hypocrite. As Leslie mentioned earlier, he is in the Westmoreland Players’ production of ‘A Christmas Carol’. So he is, by definition, a hypocrite. He is pretending to be a schoolboy, the son of a coal miner, and the personification of ‘ignorance’. Others in the play are being hypocrites pretending to be Bob Cratchitt, Tiny Tim, Ebenezer Scrooge, and any number of other characters.
Interesting, isn’t it, when you use a word in its original sense rather than it’s acquired sense? It seems that the word’s original meaning quickly became applicable to not only those who exercised a craft onstage, but to those who exercised a similar craft on their own stage, in life.
The critical difference between the hypocrites we call actors and the hypocrites for whom we have NOT changed the name is another actor’s term: motivation. With an actor, it is an understood tenet of the agreement between audience and actor that it is UNDERSTOOD that the actor is PLAYING a part. It is generally NOT the case that the actor is trying to actually BE the character he or she is representing onstage IN REAL LIFE. But the term STUCK for those who practice the craft in their daily life.
What I find myself asking each time I come to this passage and the rest of the chapter, is ‘what side of the conversation am I on? Is Jesus talking TO me or ABOUT me? Am I, right now, one of the Pharisees, or one of the poor souls Jesus says the Pharisees are loading down with all the unnecessary baggage?’ And I’ve felt like both.
It’s a process that has taken on a different dynamic since I’ve been in full-time ministry.
Used to be, since I wasn’t standing here on Sunday mornings, it was much easier to sit back and put my hands behind my head and say ‘He’s not talking about ME. I’m not even in the same ballpark with those guys. I’m not pretending to be something I’m not.”
But the question always comes back, regardless of whether I’m up here or sitting down there. Am I TRULY NOT trying to be something I’m not? It was and continues to be a nagging question. If there is a key piece to the puzzle of what it means to live as a follower of Jesus Christ, it is to be genuine, to be AUTHENTIC: to be true to God, to be true to Jesus, and to be true to yourself and to your brothers and sisters in Christ. And that can be terribly hard sometimes.
Especially in a culture such as ours, and by that I don’t mean the American culture, I mean the southern, protestant, white, Anglo-Saxon BAPTIST culture, where there are heavily traditional expectations of what a pastor should say in any given situation, what a Pastor should do and how a pastor should speak. Those expectations are, to be fair, changing. There is a move away from the slick-haired, Bible-waiving, stentorian-voiced preacher, with a ready joke, and an outgoing-to-the-point-of-being-overbearing personality, and a move towards allowing Pastors to be people too; to have real problems and weaknesses, deep struggles and hardships that are seemingly as hard to get through and over for THEM as for anyone else.
And it is none too soon for the change, if you ask me. But even for me, even welcoming the change, it carries with it an element of risk, of radicalism apart from the obvious. It is actually what drew me that final step into the ministry. I’d known pastors who were from both camps – those who never let you see their true selves, and those who did nothing other than that; those who would take the Sunday Sermon to hit you up ‘side the head with a two-by-four and those who took the Sunday morning time to walk with you through a passage or thought in the Bible. To illustrate how the passage fits into the greater Gospel message of Grace & forgiveness.
Jesus looks at our hearts. We’ve seen it time and time again. He’s said it time and time again.
The phylacteries that are mentioned, I’m sure you’ve studied in the past, were and are in some traditions of present-day Judaism, little leather boxes that carry inside them a couple of passages from the old testament, written on velum – on sheepskin – Exodus 13:9 and Deuteronomy 6:8-9 they are strapped to the forehead and the left arm, the fringes were blue twisted tassels worn on the four corners of the outer garment, both served as reminders of the place that God’s word should have in our lives. If that were all they had remained, Jesus wouldn’t have had a problem with them in the least.
It was what they had become that he had a problem with. The phylacteries had slowly grown in size, as had the fringes in length, so that anyone could see them from across the room, or across the square. They stopped being for the individual and started being for show. They started getting bigger and bigger, and of course, size matters, so if it is bigger, then that MUST mean that you are holier, or more righteous. How does that translate into how we live out our faith today? If we have a bigger building, a taller steeple, a bigger organ, a bigger screen, would that make us better Christians? I think not.
Jesus is going for what is of meaning, what is of essence, in following him. Jesus doesn’t want anything for show. He’s looking for honesty, whatever that honesty entails. The verse of that song came up, and I couldn’t get through it, what was it? ‘Women of faith, sing from broken hearts?’ (Stand and sing to broken hearts) – That’s where it is! It could’ve gone a lot smoother up to this point. Thankfully, we still have power. I could have skipped a slide, I could have moved the slide a little slower at one point, but that’s not what makes our worship. Our worship comes from here, from our hearts. That is what Jesus has always wanted. That is what we bring. That is what he longs for.
So what does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
It means that we need to be constantly checking ourselves. We need to be constantly … going back to the actor analogy, we need to be checking what our motivation is. Where are we living? Are we on a stage acting, or are we down in the meat of life, in the daily existence, are we learning how to live, how to apply, how to be Jesus in daily life, or are we just pretending? It’s not an answer I can give you. It’s an answer we each give ourselves.
So the invitation this morning is to check. To find out why we’re doing this, why we’re here this morning? Are we here in obedience and worship, or are we here because if we weren’t, people would talk about us? Are we here because WE need to see who’s here, to check on THEM? Can we find strength, can we find comfort? Can we find family, here? MY answer for MYself is a solid ‘yes!’ I hope it is for all of us.
Let’s pray.
Sunday, October 30th, 2005
Pentecost + 24
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 23:1-12
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; 3 therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. 6 They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, 7 and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. 9 And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father--the one in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
To open the Bible and to read it with a humble heart and an open mind is to invite scandal into your life.
Half the time, you draw comfort from what you are reading. Passages flow into you that reassure and sooth, that give you courage and encourage you and give you something to smile about or something to ponder, something to enrich your life, but that’s only half the time. You read it, and you hear God saying ‘from where you’re sitting it may not look like it, but someday, if you continue to do the right thing, someday it WILL be rewarded, and justice will flow down, but there’s still the other half of the time.’
The rest of the time, if you are honest with yourself, you find yourself on the short end of the stick. You are more likely to identify with or be identified as the one in the story who DIDN’T GET it to begin with, the one who isn’t shown in the best light in the parable, the one who God is speaking against – who Jesus is speaking AGAINST. It’s not necessarily a reflection of what your sense of self-esteem is doing at the moment, it is more a matter of realizing that for all your good and potentially good qualities, there are most definitely some qualities in you that deserve the withering blast that Jesus levels in today’s passage.
One of the most common excuses given for why someone doesn’t go to church is that ‘church is full of hypocrites’. I suspect most all of us have heard it at some point in our lives, perhaps even thought it ourselves. I remember distinctly being so fed up with my perception of what the membership consisted of in the big Baptist church in my college town in Kentucky that I very nearly stopped going altogether, and contemplated going in one of two directions: withdrawing from the faith community altogether, or heading out on my own, me and my roommates, just doing our own thing, being as true to the Gospel as we could be. And although it can be an either-or proposition, in some ways it ends up being both things. In my endeavor to go deeper, to understand more what it means to be a follower of Christ, to be as zealous, as honest as I could be about faith, it caused me to do what I mentioned the Pharisees did themselves. You withdraw from community, you withdraw from fellowship, and so you’re left with this “thing” that you are trying to bring back together.
I looked up the origin, the etymology of the word “Hypocrite” last night. It is a transliteration of the Greek word hypokrites, which means "actor on the stage, pretender." So I was encouraged to know that at the tender age of 7, Caleb is a bona-fide, card-carrying hypocrite. As Leslie mentioned earlier, he is in the Westmoreland Players’ production of ‘A Christmas Carol’. So he is, by definition, a hypocrite. He is pretending to be a schoolboy, the son of a coal miner, and the personification of ‘ignorance’. Others in the play are being hypocrites pretending to be Bob Cratchitt, Tiny Tim, Ebenezer Scrooge, and any number of other characters.
Interesting, isn’t it, when you use a word in its original sense rather than it’s acquired sense? It seems that the word’s original meaning quickly became applicable to not only those who exercised a craft onstage, but to those who exercised a similar craft on their own stage, in life.
The critical difference between the hypocrites we call actors and the hypocrites for whom we have NOT changed the name is another actor’s term: motivation. With an actor, it is an understood tenet of the agreement between audience and actor that it is UNDERSTOOD that the actor is PLAYING a part. It is generally NOT the case that the actor is trying to actually BE the character he or she is representing onstage IN REAL LIFE. But the term STUCK for those who practice the craft in their daily life.
What I find myself asking each time I come to this passage and the rest of the chapter, is ‘what side of the conversation am I on? Is Jesus talking TO me or ABOUT me? Am I, right now, one of the Pharisees, or one of the poor souls Jesus says the Pharisees are loading down with all the unnecessary baggage?’ And I’ve felt like both.
It’s a process that has taken on a different dynamic since I’ve been in full-time ministry.
Used to be, since I wasn’t standing here on Sunday mornings, it was much easier to sit back and put my hands behind my head and say ‘He’s not talking about ME. I’m not even in the same ballpark with those guys. I’m not pretending to be something I’m not.”
But the question always comes back, regardless of whether I’m up here or sitting down there. Am I TRULY NOT trying to be something I’m not? It was and continues to be a nagging question. If there is a key piece to the puzzle of what it means to live as a follower of Jesus Christ, it is to be genuine, to be AUTHENTIC: to be true to God, to be true to Jesus, and to be true to yourself and to your brothers and sisters in Christ. And that can be terribly hard sometimes.
Especially in a culture such as ours, and by that I don’t mean the American culture, I mean the southern, protestant, white, Anglo-Saxon BAPTIST culture, where there are heavily traditional expectations of what a pastor should say in any given situation, what a Pastor should do and how a pastor should speak. Those expectations are, to be fair, changing. There is a move away from the slick-haired, Bible-waiving, stentorian-voiced preacher, with a ready joke, and an outgoing-to-the-point-of-being-overbearing personality, and a move towards allowing Pastors to be people too; to have real problems and weaknesses, deep struggles and hardships that are seemingly as hard to get through and over for THEM as for anyone else.
And it is none too soon for the change, if you ask me. But even for me, even welcoming the change, it carries with it an element of risk, of radicalism apart from the obvious. It is actually what drew me that final step into the ministry. I’d known pastors who were from both camps – those who never let you see their true selves, and those who did nothing other than that; those who would take the Sunday Sermon to hit you up ‘side the head with a two-by-four and those who took the Sunday morning time to walk with you through a passage or thought in the Bible. To illustrate how the passage fits into the greater Gospel message of Grace & forgiveness.
Jesus looks at our hearts. We’ve seen it time and time again. He’s said it time and time again.
The phylacteries that are mentioned, I’m sure you’ve studied in the past, were and are in some traditions of present-day Judaism, little leather boxes that carry inside them a couple of passages from the old testament, written on velum – on sheepskin – Exodus 13:9 and Deuteronomy 6:8-9 they are strapped to the forehead and the left arm, the fringes were blue twisted tassels worn on the four corners of the outer garment, both served as reminders of the place that God’s word should have in our lives. If that were all they had remained, Jesus wouldn’t have had a problem with them in the least.
It was what they had become that he had a problem with. The phylacteries had slowly grown in size, as had the fringes in length, so that anyone could see them from across the room, or across the square. They stopped being for the individual and started being for show. They started getting bigger and bigger, and of course, size matters, so if it is bigger, then that MUST mean that you are holier, or more righteous. How does that translate into how we live out our faith today? If we have a bigger building, a taller steeple, a bigger organ, a bigger screen, would that make us better Christians? I think not.
Jesus is going for what is of meaning, what is of essence, in following him. Jesus doesn’t want anything for show. He’s looking for honesty, whatever that honesty entails. The verse of that song came up, and I couldn’t get through it, what was it? ‘Women of faith, sing from broken hearts?’ (Stand and sing to broken hearts) – That’s where it is! It could’ve gone a lot smoother up to this point. Thankfully, we still have power. I could have skipped a slide, I could have moved the slide a little slower at one point, but that’s not what makes our worship. Our worship comes from here, from our hearts. That is what Jesus has always wanted. That is what we bring. That is what he longs for.
So what does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
It means that we need to be constantly checking ourselves. We need to be constantly … going back to the actor analogy, we need to be checking what our motivation is. Where are we living? Are we on a stage acting, or are we down in the meat of life, in the daily existence, are we learning how to live, how to apply, how to be Jesus in daily life, or are we just pretending? It’s not an answer I can give you. It’s an answer we each give ourselves.
So the invitation this morning is to check. To find out why we’re doing this, why we’re here this morning? Are we here in obedience and worship, or are we here because if we weren’t, people would talk about us? Are we here because WE need to see who’s here, to check on THEM? Can we find strength, can we find comfort? Can we find family, here? MY answer for MYself is a solid ‘yes!’ I hope it is for all of us.
Let’s pray.
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