#1 The “Stumbling Blocks To Spirituality”
Series
"PREACHING WITHOUT PRACTICING!"
TEXT: Matt.
23:1-14; James 1:19-27
INTRO: One of the
toughest tests of Christianity is authentic faith on our
part!
ILLUS: The story
is told about a preacher who was catching a bus one day to go into the city, as
he came on the bus he paid the bus driver $1, the rate however only being 75¢.
The bus driver gave the Pastor 35¢
change, and the Pastor made his way to his seat. Once seated the minister noticed the 10¢
error in his favor, for a moment he sat thinking about the situation, finally he
got up and approached the bus driver stating that he was given too much change.
The bus driver said, "I knew I gave you too much, I was in your
church last week and heard you preach on honesty, and I just wanted to see if
you practice what you preach!" -- Source - Unknown
I wonder; would we always pass such
tests? The world is watching, the
neighbor is watching, your family is watching, the Lord is watching ... the
greatest good and the greatest evil to the Gospel is not so much what we say,
rarely is that wrong, but it is what we do with what we
say!
It is much easier to preach than to
practice the same ... yet God calls us to be different from the world. The world speaks lofty words of peace,
but they contradict the words they speak by their actions; we must however for
the Gospel's sake practice what we preach!
PROP.
SENT: The Bible teaches us that it is
vital to our witness of the Gospel to live what we preach, or we will bring
reproach on the Word of God! God
takes seriously the call to practice what we preach!
I. PREACHING & PRACTICE Matt.
23:1-4
A. God's
Word Matt.
23:1-3a
1. Jesus does not condemn the
office of these men or their authority to preach, nor even their message from
Scripture ... just their failure to practice what they
preach.
a. And many today refuse the message
because of the messenger – messengers that are inconsistent with practicing what
they preach ... this is wrong, but the message may still be
good:
b. This explains how someone can
preach the Gospel and still themselves be lost, this has
happened.
c. But the person hearing cannot
excuse himself from the message just because the messenger fails to live up to
it ... we are each to live the message of the cross ... even if the one who
gives it fails.
d. It will however do harm to the ones
who see the inconsistent life, and the results could be lessened by the
hypocrite if they learned to obey as well as preach.
2. Jesus encourages the people to
listen and obey the Word ... but not to follow the hypocrites in high places in
their hypocritical practices.
Matt. 23:3
a. We also need to be careful not to
fool ourselves about our own self-righteousness, and assume we never are
hypocritical.
b. We should guard our own life and
check to be sure that we don’t live an inconsistent
life.
ILLUS:
3. Jesus also calls them to still
honor the office of those who are entrusted to preach the Word ... even though
there are some bad examples ... He implies that not all are bad
examples!
a. Yes there are hypocrites in the
pulpits ... but there is also a
b. You can always excuse yourself by
someone else if you look hard enough, but there are many true preachers who are
also practitioners of the Gospel!
4. God's Word is God's Word ... it is
true and living!
B. Great
Weight! Matt.
23:3b-4
1. These hypocrites teaching the
people were weighing them down with so many man-made regulations that sounded so
spiritual but made it impossible for the people to feel like God really loved
them ... they corrupted grace!
a. In MATT.
7:21-23 Jesus alluded to these when He said, “Not everyone who
says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does
the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord,
Lord, did we not prophesy (preach) in your name, and in your name drive out
demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never
knew you. Away from me, you
evildoers!’”
b. The miracles are not disputed, nor
the message these people preached, just that they didn't DO the will of God,
instead they did evil!
c. In other words, they said one
thing; perhaps the right thing, but didn't practice it! They didn’t really DO the will of God!
d. It was all show! They looked good, but the substance was
not there!
ILLUS: The Queen
Mary was the largest ship to cross the oceans when it was launched in 1936. Through four decades and a world War she
served until she was retired, anchored as a floating hotel and museum in
During the conversion, her three
massive smoke-stacks were taken off to be scraped down and repainted. But on the dock they crumbled. Nothing was left of the 3/4-inch steel
plate from which the stacks had been formed. All that remained were more than thirty
coats of paint that had been applied over the years. The steel had rusted
away.
When Jesus called the Pharisees
"whitewashed
tombs," he meant
they had no substance, only an exterior appearance. -- Robert Wenz,
2. But what they themselves couldn't
or wouldn't do they required others to do! Thus they weighed others down will
legalistic rules of men rather than preach the salvation that came through grace
in faith in God.
3. It was a great weight that most
could not carry ... and they offered no hope to those they required to carry
it!
4. Their whole purpose in making up so
many spiritually sounding rules were to make the people think they themselves
were this spiritual, appearing to keep them when in fact they didn't even try,
but made others feel guilty if they didn't measure up!
II. PRIDE & POSITIONS Matt.
23:5-12
A. Godless
Worship Matt.
23:5
1. Their worship was meant for
themselves ... they weren't interested if God saw or heard them, only
others!
a. This is selfish worship ... for it
is looking for other's praise of how spiritual they are. Spiritually was used to enhance their
life and lifestyle, not to have a real relationship with
God.
ILLUS: Years ago
in
He left
b. The most spiritual of people are
often the ones that don't seem so spiritual, those that practice basics, like
faithfulness, giving, speaking well of others, speaking the truth in love,
helping those who are hurting. HOW
OFTEN we think of the spiritual people being those who do miracles of a
spectacular nature or those who have ministered with lots of the gifts of the
spirit ... GIFTS HOWEVER TELL US NOTHING OF THE ONE WHO HAS THEM, BUT OF THE ONE
WHO GAVE THEM! It is the fruit
displayed in the life that speaks how spiritual a person is ... how well they
love!
2. They made “phylacteries” (pieces of scripture worn on the forehead or
arm in small boxes) also had wide tassels on their prayer shawls, sat in
places of honor, had special titles they didn't live up to and reserved special
seats in the synagogues, etc. (the titles
themselves weren't wrong, Jesus had used the term “rabbi” before, and in verse
1 "teachers" ... but He wanted them to
live up to them!)
a. It was all for
show!
b. To elevate themselves in front of
men!
B. "Greatness" Worshipped Matt.
23:6-12
1. The point of all their work was to
honor self!
2. They loved titles, and honor by
men.
a. They wore robes to separate
themselves from the "ordinary" people
... trying to elevate themselves as being more
spiritual.
b. Perhaps tried to show that their
lives were so smooth, as examples of being so great that they didn't have
struggles!
c. We today are faced with teachings
of this nature: i.e. that if you are really spiritual you won't be suffering
physically or materially, that only the lack of faith brings
this.
ILLUS: We live in
a spiritually troubled time in history.
Christianity has gone over to the jingle-bell crowd. Everyone is just delighted that Jesus
has done all of the sorrowing, all of the suffering, all of the
dying. -- A. W. Tozer in Men Who Met God. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no.
18.
3. An old Arab proverb says it best
however: "ALL SUNSHINE MAKES A
DESERT!"
a. The lack of problems ... all
sunshine won't make you grow; it will stunt your
growth!
b. We need a few good storms in our
life to grow by; the rains bring life to the desert ... all sunshine makes
deserts!
c. We learn to trust God during
storms.
4. Our concepts of “GREATNESS” need
revising, the "great" servant of God isn't the one that never has troubles, but
he who has them and yet remains faithful to God while waiting for
answers!
5. Their worship of "greatness" was
all the outward signs of greatness ... Jesus said however, that "the greatest
among you will be servant of all!" Matt.
23:11
a. God will in time, humble the proud,
and exalt the humble. Matt. 23:12
b. Hang in their saint, if you are
struggling, do not bend to the ideas of greatness that some would
teach...
c. Keep
serving!
III. PAINFUL PERSONS Matt. 23:13-14; James 1:19-27
A. God's
Woe! Matt.
23:13-14
1. The phrase here could be
translated, "ALAS FOR YOU," thus it was not so much a
condemnation by Jesus like a curse but a cry from the master's heart of sorrow
over their condition of hardness!
a. Why was He
sorrowful?
b. Because they were missing heaven
... and were shutting the door to heaven in the face of those they were
leading!
c. They were the cause of some
followers going to hell, just so they could look good to
men!
d. What could break the heart of God
more than this!
2. They had corrupted religion, true
religion!
a. Talk is not as important as our
actions!
b. Ultimately our actions will judge
our talk, or it will at least inform it!
Our actions can actually disqualify our talk if it doesn’t line
up.
ILLUS: Major
Osipovich, an air force pilot for the former
Soon the Soviet pilot was caught
in a series of blunders and misinformation. In the end, Major Osipovich followed
orders and shot down the unidentified aircraft. The actions of an air force major
preparing to talk about peace plunged 240 passengers to their deaths and sparked
an international incident that pushed world powers to a stand-off. Our talk is important. But our actions carry far more
weight. -- Leadership, Vol. 15, no.
3.
3. This was one of the last public
discourses of Jesus before the cross, here He follows this passage with His
lament over Jerusalem (23:37), He knew they
would not only neglect this warning, but that this would be the beginning of the
end of the old Israel. (70 A.D.)
4. Our hearts too should weep with God
over the hypocrisy of those who call themselves Christians but don’t practice
what they preach; and perhaps this begins with us!
5. Nothing is more painful than to
live as a hypocrite. Try and
straddle a fence for a while and see how uncomfortable it is!
(Ouch!)
B. God's
Way! James 1:19-27
1. Note especially James 1:22 “Do not merely
listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it
says.”
a. Do the
Word!
b. Don't just applaud the Word or
amen it ... apply
it!
2. The man that God promises to bless
is the man that hears the Word and goes and tries to do it! James
1:25 “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that
gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but
doing it -- he will be blessed in what he
does.”
3. Taming the tongue, helping the
needy, staying pure in a filthy world, this is true religion! Those who are spiritual are those who DO
something with their faith ... beyond merely speaking
it!
a. Even children can detect
hypocrisy!
ILLUS: A man sat
down to supper with his family and said grace, thanking God for the food, for
the hands which prepared it, and for the source of all life. But during the meal
he complained about the freshness of the bread, the bitterness of the coffee,
and the sharpness of the cheese. His young daughter questioned him, "Dad, do you
think God heard the grace today?"
He answered confidently, "Of
course."
Then she asked, "And do you think
God heard what you said about the coffee, the cheese, and the bread?" Not so
confidently, he answered, "Why, yes, I believe so."
The little girl concluded, "Then
which do you think God believed, Dad?"
The man was suddenly aware that
his mealtime prayer had become a rote, thoughtless habit rather than an
attentive and honest conversation with God. By not concentrating on that
important conversation, he had left the door open to let hypocrisy sneak
in. -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton:
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 433.
b. It is important that our example be
matched to our talk!
4. This is God's way ... let it be
ours!
CONCLUSION: "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord,"
will enter the kingdom of heave but only he who does the will of my Father who
is in heaven." It is at least as important to practice
what you preach if you call yourself a "believer!" It is not only "good news"
proclaimed but "good news" practiced that will win others to the
glorious freedom of forgiveness of sins! Are you
practicing what you
preach?