NOT a Costume Party

 

Christianity is NOT a Costume Party

Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

One of the favorite holidays of many children is Halloween.  Halloween is special to children (and childish adults) for two reasons:  1) because of the free candy.  I certainly can get on board for that reason.  2) because they get to play make-believe and dress up in a costume like their favorite characters.  When a child puts on a costume, in their minds, they are transformed into that persona.  For instance, when they pretend to be a super hero, they imagine that they can leap tall buildings and run faster than a speeding bullet.  

The fact is, putting on a costume that makes one LOOK like a character does not literally make them that person.  In our text today, Jesus states this same truth as it pertains to our duties as his followers.  There are some, that would attempt to put a on a Christian ‘costume’ to appear to be a follower of Jesus… but it is just pretend.

Jesus uses the scribes and Pharisees as his contemporary example of this.  Jesus has a unique and Deistic ability to know the hearts and minds of people.  He demonstrated this ability several times through out the Gospels.  So Jesus is not making a biased judgment here.  He is not making assumptions.  He is not jumping to conclusions.  Jesus KNOWS these men are pretending to act righteous just as clearly as he can see the clothing that they are wearing.  We can see a clear and detailed assessment of this in Matthew 23.  Here is just a few snippets.

Matthew 23:4-5 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. (5) But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

Matthew 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

Now notice how Jesus concludes this exchange…

Matthew 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

Jesus asks a rhetorical question in conclusion:  How can you escape the damnation of Hell?  Being rhetorical, the answer is obvious…. They can’t in that state.

With that understood, Jesus informs us, that if Our righteousness does not exceed that of these Pharisees, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  To understand this passage more fully, we must understand what righteousness means.

Deuteronomy 6:25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us. 

So righteousness is following the commands, wishes, precepts, and laws of God. It is…Doing right.  In its purest sense, true righteousness is obeying the the Law perfectly.  But here are some additional truths about righteousness.

Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 

Based upon these three passages we must understand these three truths.

1.  No one is able to be righteous on their own

2.  We can be Made Righteous by the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross

3.  Once we are made righteous, we must dedicate ourselves to living righteously

It is a well documented fact that they Pharisees and other Religious leaders of Jesus’ time were hungry for power and were much more concerned with holding on to their power than pleasing God.  But if we put anything in front of God as a priority, Jesus makes it clear that he will consider us the same as these bad examples.

While Jesus understands that we are NOT capable of being righteous on our own, he died so that he could make us to be righteous.  And once we obtain that beautiful privilege, we need to strive to be and demonstrate the righteousness of God.  Anything short of that is just putting on a silly costume.

Reflecting the SON, 

Dennis Hogan

dennis.hogan@icloud.com

Questions, comments or  further explanation?  Contact me at:  dennis.hogan@icloud.com

 

What Did Jesus Preach?

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Matthew 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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To listen to discussions about Jesus in public venues, one would have a very skewed perception of who he was.  The most common statement that I hear in public discourse is:  “Jesus is Love”.  While that is not a false statement, as it is used, is VERY misleading.  This statement has to be understood by the person using it and the context it is being used.  Most often, it is spoken in the context of a topic being discussed that is widely believed to be a sinful lifestyle or behavior.  And to throw out the statement that “Jesus is Love” is intended to convince the masses that Jesus doesn’t care about the sinful lifestyles or behaviors of others.  He only cares about “Love”.  The other primary issue is that the person making this claim has NO idea about what Jesus’ meaning of love is.  But that is a topic for another day.

Our passage today gives us some very important clues to who Jesus is as a teacher.  It is worth our time and effort to understand who Jesus really is.

1.  Jesus Began to Preach

Words mean things.  For the most part, writers are very careful to choose just the right word to convey the delicate nuance of what they are trying to convey.  The Bible is no different.  There are many ways that the Bible could have described what Jesus did in his ministry.  It could have said that ‘Jesus began to encourage’.  Or ‘Jesus began to uplift’. Or ‘Jesus began to spread love’.  Instead, it says that ‘Jesus began to preach’.  The word ‘Preaching’ is a unique word.  It is usually isolated to religious teachings.  It also conveys a sense of persuasion – trying to get the listener to react in a prescribed manner.  In every recorded sermon, lesson or teaching of Jesus, he tried to get people to leave the life that they had and change to be able to follow him.

2.  Jesus Preached Repentance

So what did Jesus preach?  He preached Repentance!  His primary message was NOT his “love” for us.  His primary message was not “tolerance”.  His primary message was not “acceptance”.  Instead, as our passage today clearly states, Jesus preached Repentance!  

So what is the inference that we must conclude from this truth?  To get that, we must understand what “Repentance means”.  The best definition that I have hears is that Repentance is a change of heart which will lead to a change of life.  Change!  Ok…change from what to what?

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Luke 15:10  Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

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Acts 8:22  Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 

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Repentance is a change of mind that will lead to a change of life from a state of sin or wickedness to going in the opposite direction…towards God! Therefore, if Jesus preached repentance, he, by necessity, preached about sin.  And since he was preaching repentance, we know that Jesus did not endorse ignoring sin, or excusing sin, or acting like it was no big deal.  To Jesus, sin is a HUGE deal.  It was the sole reason that he had to die on the cross for our sins.  Jesus preached repentance because he wanted us to cease from sin and to follow him!

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Acts 17:30  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 

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3.  Jesus Preached about the Kingdom

The other main topic that Jesus preached about, from this passage is the Kingdom.  It is not good enough for us just to repent.  We must also become citizens of his great Kingdom, of which he is King, Ruler, and Master!  We know that the Kingdom that Jesus established is his church (Matt 16:18-19).  Many religions want to separate the King from the Kingdom.  Meaning, that you can believe in Jesus (the King) and not necessarily have any thing to do with his church (his kingdom).  Jesus did not see it that way.  Once one repents, Jesus expects them to become citizens of his Kingdom, of which he has total authority.

Examine the ministry of Jesus in the four accounts of his Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).  You will not find a passive, feel-good, let’s-all-get-along message coming out of his mouth.  What you will find is that Jesus hated sin and wanted to save as many people from the curse of sin as possible.  Certainly Jesus represents Love.  So much so that he made the ultimate sacrifice to demonstrate his love for us.  But Jesus dedicated his life to preaching repentance and His Kingdom!

Reflecting the SON, 

Dennis Hogan

dennis.hogan@icloud.com

Questions, comments or  further explanation?  Contact me at:  dennis.hogan@icloud.com