Do you know who really bugs me?
Religious people bug me.
I could tell you why,
said it pretty well.
And his words have
over 33 million views on You Tube.......
So, I’m going to
let him
tell you.
Have you heard this idea that Bethke lays out, Jesus
not religion? You don’t have to go too
far to prove it. Just look at
Jesus. When it came to people who were
really messing up, even traitors to his country, Jesus welcomed them. But no one bugged him more than religious
people, not bad religious people, but even really good ones. What was Jesus’ problem? In these words, Jesus points the way. Let’s hear what Jesus has to say.
You don’t have to go far in the stories of Jesus to find
conflicts Jesus has with religious people.
They happened all the time. They
got so bad that religious people even worked with non-religious to kill him. But what was the problem? When you listen to words like we just heard,
religious folks should have loved that stuff.
Some did. But most didn’t. You see. Jesus was bringing a revolution, but
not a revolution that changed things on the outside. Jesus brought a revolution that changed
things on the inside, in how people think.
And that revolution, religious people did not get. In fact, lots still don’t.
In Bethke’s performance, did you catch it? This guy thought he got the whole Jesus thing. He thought he was a Christian. He hung out with Christians. He attended a
Christian church. He did the whole
Christian deal. But even then, he still didn’t get it. What didn’t he get?
In the words you just heard, and actually in this
whole thing, called the sermon on the mount, Jesus is making a contrast. But Jesus isn’t making a contrast between people
doing good things and people doing bad things. Jesus is making a contrast between two types
of people who are both doing good things. They both pray. They both do good deeds. They both try to live by the Ten Commandments.
They both connect to a religious community.
On the outside they look the same. But inside something radically
different is going on.
It’s why at the very end of the sermon, Jesus gives
these three images of this contrast.
Jesus talks about two path, two trees, two houses. He says one of these paths leads to life,
and the other to death. One of these
trees will feed you, and the other will make you sick. And one of these houses can withstand
anything, but the other house will collapse when the storm hits. But do you see what each image has in common? On the outside all these things look much
the same. In fact, with the path, Jesus
even tells you that the wrong path appears to be the most attractive, to be the
best.
In this sermon, Jesus isn’t so much giving you
direction on how to live a good life.
Jesus is painting a contrast between two ways of being good, one that
will give you life, and one that will destroy you.
If you look into the sermon, you’ll
see. Jesus never says something
like. This is what bad people do, and
this is what good people do. He doesn’t
say. Here’s the difference between
people who pray and people who don’t. No, Jesus says this instead. Lots of people pray like this. But I tell you to pray like that. Or he’ll say. Lots of people give to the
poor like this. But I tell you to give
to the poor like this. Lots
of people obey the ten commandments like this.
But I tell you to obey them like that.
Do you see what Jesus is telling you?
Jesus is saying. Two ways exist
in the world to live a good, upright life.
But one of those ways will poison you.
One will fall apart in tough
times. One will lead towards your destruction.
Look at how Jesus puts it in the words we read. Whoever breaks one of the least of these
commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the
Kingdom of Heaven, and whoever performs and teaches it will be called great in
the Kingdom of Heaven. Sure you’d like
to be in the great group. But here’s the
good news, whether least or great, you’re still in. But hold on, then Jesus says this. For I tell you that, unless your uprightness
surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees, the most religious of Jesus’ day, you
shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Did Jesus just contradict himself?
No, Jesus is saying. What I’m
bringing you surpasses, goes beyond religion.
My gospel, my good news goes deeper than the religious stuff that the Scribes
and Pharisees teach. Now, how does it go
beyond? How does it go deeper?
Jesus points to that in the words we just read. Jesus talks about two types of folks who have
a light. They just do different things
with it. One puts it under a basket. The other puts it up on a lampstand. In other words, both are doing good deeds,
but in one case the good deeds get obscured.
And in the other, it shines out for all to appreciate. And that’s the
first way you see the difference in these two ways, how they relate to the
world around them. People who get Jesus’
message will be, as the preacher Tim Keller puts it, attracted to, and
attractive to, people who don’t believe what they do or live how they live. In
other words, they bring their light out into the world. And people, even people who disagree with
them, are glad they do.
But religious people get repelled by those same folks. They separate themselves from them. In other words, they keep their light under this
basket. And the folks these religious
folks don’t like are happy they do. They
don’t want their light. These religious
folks repel them right back.
The salt image points to the same idea. What does salt do? It makes things more flavorful, more
tasty. But if I put salt on some fish, I
don’t say. Boy, that was good salt. No, I say.
Gosh that fish tasted wonderful. People who get Jesus’ message don’t
necessarily call attention to themselves.
But when people encounter them, they typically feel better after the
encounter than before. On the other
hand, when folks encounter religious people, they often feel worse. They feel judged, evaluated, looked down
upon. What’s the difference?
Jesus tells a little story warning about someone who
notices a speck in their friend’s eye, while ignoring the plank in their
own. But those who get Jesus’ way do the
opposite of hid example. They always evaluate the flaws in the lives of others
as specks and see their own as planks. Now,
why do they do that? They don’t do it
because they’re feeling terrible about themselves or have a horrible
self-image. They are doing it because
they understand at a deeper level what the real problem is. It’s the problem that Jesus is getting to
when he talks about that your uprightness going beyond that of Scribes and
Pharisees. When Jesus said that, he
must have shocked everyone. That’s why
he takes most of the rest of the sermon on the mount to clarify what he
means.
Jesus basically goes through the ten commandments to
explain the difference. With each one,
he points to the same issue. He says. Religious folks focus on outward compliance,
not doing the bad thing. But I want to
focus on something deeper. I want to
focus on what’s going on in your heart. When
your heart is right, the outward stuff takes care of itself.
Let’s take how Jesus talks about murder. Religious people will tell you as long you’re
not killing people, you’re good. But
Jesus says. If you despise folks or
disregard them or belittle them, then you’ve killed them, at least in your
heart. And he does this same thing with all
sorts of issues, adultery and lust, telling the truth, vengeance and
forgiveness. In each one, he drills down
past whatever you are doing on the outside, to what is really happening inside. And in doing this, Jesus is simply saying
this. I don’t want you to change on the
outside. I want to see you changed on
the inside. I want to see your inner
life transformed. Jesus wants that to
happen, because Jesus realizes the truth.
At the heart, when religion drives your life, it
drives you with the same two things that drive people who are doing bad
things. It drives you with fear and with pride. What do I mean? Let’s say you have someone who lies. Why do they lie? Maybe they lie because they’re scared they’ll
lose a deal or a relationship, something they value. Or maybe they lie because they don’t want to
look bad or because they enjoy pulling a fast one, showing they’re the smart one,
in other words, pride.
And why does a religious person not lie? Well, they
don’t lie because maybe they’re afraid God will get them or others will find
out. Or maybe you don’t lie, because
you say to yourself. I’m not like those
folks who lie. I’m better than
that. I tell the truth. But in both cases, the same stuff drives both
people – fear and pride.
So, what changes your heart? What breaks you free of this fear and
pride. Jesus points to it when he talks
about letting your light shine. What will people do when that happens? They will give glory, Jesus says, to your
father in heaven. And in that simple
word for God, Jesus is pointing to the truth that changes everything. What changes your heart? It’s when you know who you really are, when
you know you really are God’s child. It’s when you know how infinitely God values
you, how deeply he loves you. After all,
why do religious people do what they do?
They do it to get value, to feel valued, worthy. But those who get Jesus’ way, why do they do good? They know.
They know how already valued, how worthy they are. They get it. God isn’t their boss. God is their daddy, their mommy. When you screw up with your boss, your boss might
fire you. But when you screw up with your
parents, they won’t like it, but fire you?
No way. If anything, their love for
you grows more intense.
And when you look at God in Jesus, you see how intense
God’s love for you is. God loved you so
much that when you got lost, God did everything to find you. In Jesus, God even gave up everything, even God’s
life to bring you home. And when you know that, how deeply God loves
you, how intensely, how infinitely, that changes your heart. It changes you as nothing else can,
including religion. It changes you inside and out.
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