Lip Service Religion

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:10

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

00:18

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

00:25

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, chapter 22, verses 15 -22.

00:34

Then the Pharisees went out and they laid plans to trap

00:40

Jesus in His words. They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. "'Teacher,' they said, "'we know you are a man of integrity "'and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

00:52

"'You aren't swayed by men "'because you pay no attention to who they are. "'So tell us then, what is your opinion?

00:59

"'Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?' "'But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "'You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

01:09

"'Show me the coin used for paying the tax.' "'And they brought Him a denarius. "'And He asked them,

01:15

Whose portrait is this and whose inscription? "'Caesar's,' they replied. "'Then

01:20

He said to them, Give to Caesar what is Caesar's "'and to God what is God's. "'And when they heard this, they were amazed.

01:28

"'So they left Him and went away.'" "'In the name of Jesus.' "'So then the

01:35

Pharisees went out "'and they laid plans to trap Jesus in His words.'" Let that sentence sink in for a second.

01:43

Who are the Pharisees? They were the religious leaders of Israel. These are church men, right?

01:51

These are pastors. These are the guys who teach in the synagogue. These are the people who, you know, you go to when you have a question about a tough biblical passage.

02:00

You need an opinion about what God's word is saying. These are the guys who read the Torah. These are the guys who were preeminent in the synagogue.

02:11

So how is it that the Pharisees then, who supposedly are teaching

02:17

Israel about God, are trying to trap the very

02:23

God that they claim that they worship? That is a huge conundrum.

02:31

First and foremost, let us be warned by this passage that not all religion that claims to worship

02:38

God actually does so. This is very important. This lesson teaches us that.

02:44

Now, in order for us to kind of understand what's going on here, why is it that the

02:50

Pharisees have it out for Jesus? How is it possible that these religious leaders want to kill the very

02:56

God they claim that they're worshiping, trap Him in His words, so to speak? Well, this requires us to know a little bit about the

03:01

Pharisees' religion, and so I thought I would take the occasion of this sermon this morning to do a little bit of historical and biblical study.

03:08

If you have your Bibles, open up to the Gospel of Mark chapter 7.

03:14

Mark chapter 7. And we're going to learn a little bit about the Pharisees and just why it is that Jesus is so threatening to them.

03:23

Mark chapter 7, verse 1. Here's what it says. The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of His disciples eating food with hands that were unclean.

03:39

That means it was unwashed. Now, pause for a second here. We're only seven chapters into the

03:45

Gospel of Mark. Now, Mark is a short gospel, and it moves along really quick. One of the best words in the

03:50

Gospel of Mark is, and immediately, and immediately, and immediately. This is the gospel of action, right? And so Jesus is still pretty early in His ministry here in the

03:58

Gospel of Mark. And, well, it's time for headquarters to send an investigative committee to decide whether or not this

04:06

Jesus guy is on the level, right? So the committee shows up, and they're hanging out with Jesus.

04:13

They're hearing Him teach, seeing Him perform miracles. But then here comes the thing that they're going to say, this is the thing we've got to draw a line on, whether or not the disciples wash their hands after they've been out among the

04:30

Gentiles. That's the thing that the Pharisees are getting upset about? Why?

04:38

Have you ever asked yourself this question? Why are they getting all upset about this? And, by the way, we're not talking here about when your mom would say, listen, cleanliness is next to godliness.

04:45

Make sure that you wash your hands before you eat. That's not what this is about. I'll explain it in a minute. So the

04:51

Pharisees and all the Jews, the text says, do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.

04:59

Keep that phrase in mind, tradition of the elders. It's important. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash, and they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.

05:10

So the Pharisees and the teachers of the law ask Jesus, why don't your disciples live according to what?

05:16

Not the Scriptures. Listen to this. Why don't they live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands?

05:24

That's the rub. Let me read a little bit more of the text, and then we'll unpack this.

05:29

So Jesus replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, hypocrites, as it is written, these people, they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

05:43

This is the religion of the Pharisees. They honor God with their lips, but there's no faith in their heart.

05:50

They worship me in vain. Their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God, and you are holding on to the traditions of men,

06:01

Jesus says. And he said to them, you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions.

06:10

For Moses said, honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses his father and mother must be put to death.

06:16

But you say, if a man says to his father or mother, well, whatever help you might otherwise have received from me, well, that's now korban.

06:23

That means a gift that is devoted to God. Well, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother.

06:30

Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many things like that.

06:39

So the Pharisees' religion honors God with their lips. They claim they worship the one true

06:46

God. They worship Yahweh. They show up in the synagogue, they read the scriptures. They read

06:52

Moses and the prophets. But they don't have faith. All of it is lip service.

06:59

Now, so that you can understand the religion of the Pharisees, I'm going to give you a little bit of a lesson here. And this is from the work of Nehemia Gordon, who actually lives in Israel, and he's a

07:08

Karahite Jew. Karahite, you can just kind of roughly translate that as equals scripture -only

07:13

Jew. And this is in very sharp distinction to Orthodox Judaism, which, by the way, in case you don't know this,

07:21

Orthodox Judaism comes directly, it's a direct descendant of the religion of the Pharisees.

07:27

And the reason for this is that when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the

07:32

Pharisees were the last people standing. And so they got to recraft

07:37

Judaism, a Judaism that doesn't have a temple, a Judaism that doesn't have the forgiveness of sins, that doesn't have sacrifices, right?

07:47

So you think, how can you practice Judaism, biblical Judaism today, without a temple?

07:53

The answer is you can't. Because the temple was always meant to be temporary. It was tight, pointing us to the reality, which is

07:59

Christ. Well, the Pharisees were the last people standing, so Orthodox Judaism today is a direct descendant of the religion of the

08:05

Pharisees, and Nehemia Gordon grew up in this. Let's talk about this hand -washing ceremony.

08:11

Where did this come from? Can any of you think, where in the Bible does it say, when you go out into the marketplace and you're among the unwashed pagans, that when you get back into your house, you need to wash your hands?

08:24

This is about, get their sins off of me. They're icky people. Where does the

08:30

Bible say that? Answer, it doesn't. This is found in what is called the

08:37

Tradition of the Elders, a second book, if you would, and it's an oral tradition that comes down through the

08:44

Pharisees. Here's how the hand -washing ceremony goes. What you do, when you come in, there's actually a ceremonial pitcher and water, a water basin.

08:56

When you come in from the marketplace, you take your left hand and you put it over the wash basin, and you take the pitcher and you pour water on your left hand, and then you sprinkle it off.

09:08

You switch, right hand, water pitcher, sprinkle it off. Switch again, open your left hand, pour the water.

09:16

Switch again, pour the water over your right hand, sprinkle it, and then you say this prayer.

09:21

Blessed art thou, Lord, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us to wash the hands.

09:29

That's the prayer. This is found nowhere in Scripture. So where do they get this from?

09:36

Well, here's how this works. In the Pharisees' religion, they believe that there are two

09:42

Torahs. You know what the Torah is, right? Torah would be the law, the law of God.

09:48

The Torah technically is the first five books of the Old Testament. But according to the tradition of the

09:53

Pharisees, God not only gave Moses a written Torah, but God also gave

09:59

Moses an oral Torah. And so this oral Torah, they were the keepers of the two

10:05

Torahs. And so the idea then is that this tradition of the elders has as much authority, and in many cases you can argue has more authority over the written

10:17

Torah. And so this is why the Pharisees go to war with Jesus regarding the hand -washing thing.

10:24

Because what's at stake? Jesus' disciples are out in the marketplace, they're out among the goyim, they're ministering.

10:31

Jesus is healing people. They get into the house, and you know what the disciples do? They just say,

10:37

Goodbye, wash basin, we're not going to stop here. What's at stake? By not requiring

10:44

Jesus' disciples to wash their hands, Jesus is challenging and basically repudiating the entire second authority structure within the

10:54

Pharisaical religion, the oral Torah. And without the oral Torah, the

11:00

Pharisees don't have any authority at all. What's at stake for the Pharisees is everything.

11:07

Everything is at stake. Now, in the Pharisees' religion, this is also important, they claim that they have the absolute authority to interpret the

11:16

Scripture, and that rests on Pharisaical rabbis, and this authority cannot even be usurped even by God himself.

11:25

This is what they claim. And according to the oral Torah, God gave Israel rabbis, and therefore rabbis can actually add to the binding requirements of the

11:38

Torah. So if the majority of rabbis together make a decision, everybody in Israel is bound by it.

11:45

And this hand -washing ceremony, who came up with it? The Pharisees did. The rabbis did.

11:51

It was a custom that turned into a law, and they claim to have the absolute authority to interpret

11:58

Scripture, and Jesus is basically saying, you've got no authority at all. So what's at stake for the

12:04

Pharisees in their showdown with Jesus is everything. Their entire authority structure, their power within culture, their authority structure, and even their own salvation is at stake, because if they don't have authority to bind people and make rules and decide what

12:22

God's word means, and this oral tradition has no bearing whatsoever on truth, the whole religion is kaput.

12:30

And so many people do not understand this. They don't understand this aspect.

12:36

They understand that, well, the Pharisees, they had their own rules that they added to the Torah, and the basic idea was that if you follow their rules, then you won't break

12:45

God's rules, and therefore you're saved. But see, that's the thing about the Pharisees' religion. It's a 100 % works -based religion.

12:54

You want to get on God's good side? You must obey their rules, and by obeying their rules, you won't break

13:02

God's rules, and then you're in with God. They become the intermediaries. They become the power base.

13:07

They become the power brokers, and everything Jesus is doing is completely upsetting the entire system.

13:15

And rather than repent, rather than say, You know what? Jesus is right. They decided that it was time to go to war with Jesus.

13:24

Find a way to trap this guy in his words. Get rid of him, because if we don't get rid of him, he's going to get rid of us.

13:33

And they're right. He would have, because their religion is false, even though it was in the name of the one true

13:39

God. So now you've kind of got the understanding, a little bit of the history there, what's going on. I could go on more about that.

13:46

In fact, Nehemia Gordon writes about what he calls the five iniquities of the Pharisees, which is absolutely fascinating, but I'll have to save that for another time.

13:53

Maybe we'll do that during Sunday school. But you got the idea. So now let's go back to our text.

13:59

We're back in Matthew 22, verse 15. So now you've got a little bit of the back story. You know why the

14:05

Pharisees want to get rid of Jesus. He's completely undercut their secondary authority system, which is this so -called oral

14:12

Torah. And what's at stake is their entire power and religion. So it says this,

14:18

So then the Pharisees went out and they laid plans to trap Jesus in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the

14:24

Herodians. A little historical fact. Pharisees and Herodians don't normally get along. The Herodians are

14:31

Jews who like the rule of Caesar. Such a critter is not supposed to exist in Israel if you really truly worship the one true

14:39

God, at least the way logic goes, right? So these are guys who are, we love Herod, we love Caesar, and stuff like that.

14:45

So the fact that the Pharisees and the Herodians are working together, this should tell you something.

14:50

This is not supposed to happen, right? So they come to him and watch the flattery.

14:57

Oh, teacher, they said, we know that you are a man of integrity and you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

15:05

Do you think they believe a single word of that? Not at all. So here they are.

15:11

They're honoring God with their lips because that's who Jesus is, right? But their hearts are far from him.

15:19

Oh, Jesus, you are such a good guy and you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth and oh, you're so awesome because you aren't swayed by men, you pay no attention to who they are.

15:31

Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. You don't believe a word of it. But see, the problem is this.

15:42

How many of us, when we sing a hymn or a praise song that says, oh

15:48

Lord, I lift your name on high, those are just words on your lips, but your heart doesn't mean it.

15:57

You recite a psalm that says the Lord's name should be extolled among the nations. And you're thinking about, oh man,

16:06

I've got to get back to the farm, I've got to get in the shop or something like that, right? We all do this in our own ways.

16:14

What they do explicitly, we do in subtle ways and it's important for us to recognize that. So you aren't swayed by men, you pay no attention to who they are, so tell us, what is your opinion?

16:24

Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? By the way, this isn't really about taxes. If you're concerned about whether or not the

16:31

Bible wants you to pay taxes, the Bible says pay your taxes. Let's just get that out there.

16:37

If you're not paying your taxes, come see me, we need to talk. There's this little thing called confession and absolution and then we want you to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

16:45

So you understand what I'm saying. So he says, Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, you hypocrite.

16:50

So you know what a hypocrite is, right? A hypocrite is the old Greek theater, people would put on a mask and so the mask would have this big smiley face, right?

16:58

And so the big mask has a smile and they'd be on stage and the character is smiling, but they're a hypocrite because behind the mask it's not that, right?

17:07

You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.

17:13

So they brought him a denarius and they asked him, whose portrait is this and whose inscription?

17:19

At least they can read. Caesar's, they replied. And then he said to them, give to Caesar what is

17:24

Caesar's and to God what is God's. When they heard this they were amazed so they left him and went away.

17:31

Now pause there for a second. I want you to think about this. What is easier to do?

17:36

Pay your taxes or give to God what is God's? Okay, let's do a little review here.

17:45

I know you don't have a copy of your small catechism in front of you, but let's just do a little bit of review. You want to know what you're supposed to give to God?

17:52

Well, give to God what is God's. Well, here's what God requires of us. You shall have no other gods.

17:58

What does this mean? Here Luther writes, We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

18:07

So let me ask you a couple of questions. Do you look to God, your Heavenly Father, for all love, good, and joy?

18:17

Is everything that is measured to you or for you, is it based upon what pleases you?

18:24

In all things, are you self -centered and selfish? Yes or no? Maybe not all, but how about some?

18:30

Do you see your worry and fretting as a sin against God? Do you complain about the troubles, the people, the work, the suffering that God lays on you?

18:40

Do you love the things that God gives you more than you love the one who gives them? Do you cling to what

18:48

God takes away even though he gives himself to you? That's what it means to drill down into this commandment.

19:02

Do you sanctify the holy day and keep it holy? What does this mean? We should fear and love God so we do not despise preaching in his word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

19:11

Do you strive to make the day of rest, Sunday, holy? Do you care about holy living?

19:20

Do you use the word of God in prayer to make your time and your work and your study and your life holy day to day?

19:29

Are you lazy and bored with the word of God? Have you any fear of God over this neglect?

19:39

Do you honor the word of God highly by studying it gladly, learning it by heart, living it?

19:47

Or are you quick to make excuses for neglecting worship because of what someone else has said or done or to do other things that you like to do more?

19:59

Let me ask the question again. Which is easier, to pay your taxes or to give to God what is

20:04

God's? And by the way, there's nobody in this room that this is not hitting hard when we think about it, including me.

20:16

We're all in this together. Let me read a little bit more.

20:23

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. This is one of the commandments. What does this mean? Luther writes, he says that we should fear and love

20:30

God so that we may not deceitfully belie, betray or slander or defame our neighbor, but defend him, think and speak well of him and put the best construction on everything.

20:41

Have you told the truth in court or in school or before authorities or before your parents when you knew what the truth was?

20:50

Or have you been afraid to bear witness when you knew the truth and it was necessary to speak up against a wrongdoer or to speak up for a victim?

20:59

Have you remained silent with those who needed you to speak up? Have you gossiped or delighted to tell others about the faults or mistakes or sins of another?

21:09

And of course, excusing yourself, especially by saying, oh, well, I only said the truth about them. Have you gone to others to make peace if you were wronged by them or to correct them if you knew that they were in the wrong?

21:27

Or have you flattered others or put on a front to make them think differently from what is true?

21:35

Render to God what is God's. I think when you take some time to really drill into this, and I could go on, you begin to understand that there's a real need every

21:49

Sunday when we open up with these words, Most Merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean.

21:55

We come here every Sunday because we do not render to God what is

22:00

God's even close to perfectly at all. Not me, not you.

22:07

All of us are in need of mercy and forgiveness. And see, that's the important thing here.

22:14

Christ, Jesus, He has perfectly rendered unto God what is God's, and He has done it for you.

22:22

The debt that you owe God, which is far greater than your taxes, it has been paid in full by the blood of Jesus.

22:31

Over and again and in many various ways, Jesus is here to comfort you and assure you that your bill is paid before God.

22:41

He assures you of this fact in the words of the absolution that you hear from my lips every Sunday. He assures you of this fact here at the altar when you receive the body and blood of Jesus broken and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

22:54

He assures you of this fact when you are again pointed back to the waters of your baptisms and the day when

23:00

Jesus washed your sins away and you were buried and raised with Christ. And now, Jesus wants you to believe this good news.

23:07

Trust Him and don't fret. Your bill is paid. You are now forgiven and set free.

23:14

Unlike the Pharisees who would not repent and refuse to believe that Jesus was their God and that Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life and who made up their own rules and their own traditions in order to throw the true faith in God, throw it out, you, on the other hand, you have the truth.

23:32

You have Jesus, and Jesus has rendered to God all that you could not and would not render in order that you, a sinner, may be saved by His grace alone through faith.

23:43

There's no need now for hypocritical lip service when you've received the free gift of God's grace.

23:49

In fact, hypocritical lip service to God is not service to God at all. It is instead hostile.

23:57

Hypocritical lip service is murderous, and it's a form of seething hatred towards God. It refuses to bend the knee.

24:04

It refuses to believe, and instead it lies in wait looking for clever ways to trap

24:09

Jesus and His words in order to discredit Jesus and try to convince people that Jesus is not worthy of their faith.

24:17

This is all of us, by the way, at one time or another. And if this is you right now, repent, change your mind, and trust

24:27

Jesus. Because here's the good news. He even bled and died for the sins of hostile hypocrites who've rendered lip service to Him.

24:37

That's right, Jesus. He's so merciful and kind and forgiving that He even shed

24:42

His blood for those who are His archenemies. And if you're truly honest with yourself and with God, then you'll see that the person that I'm actually describing is not a

24:53

Pharisee, but it's you. So put away your lip service. Repent, believe, be forgiven, trust

25:00

Jesus' saving work done for you through His sinless life and shameful death on the cross.

25:05

He has rendered to God, unto God, all the things that are God's, and He's done it perfectly, and He's done it for you.

25:13

In the name of Jesus, amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

25:34

Avenue NW, Oslo, Minnesota, 56744. And again, that address is

25:41

Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

25:47

Avenue NW, Oslo, Minnesota, 56744. We thank you for your support.

25:55

All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.