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Anything You can do I can do Better!
July 27, 2008
Geneseo United
Methodist Church
Pastor Craig Ferguson
& Jim Jensen
Matthew 23:29-36 29
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves
of the righteous. 30
And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers,
we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the
prophets.' 31 So
you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those
who murdered the prophets. 32
Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
33 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will
you escape being condemned to hell?
34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise
men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you
will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35 And so upon you will come all the righteous
blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel
to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between
the temple and the altar. 36
I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
(Prayer)
Jim:
…And now we interrupt this regularly scheduled program to
bring you “Sermon Chat.”
Craig:
Good Morning Jim.
Jim:
Good Morning Craig, glad to have you on the show again this
morning.
Craig:
Thank you, it is good to be here, but to be honest, I am so
tired of all these ‘woe to you’ scriptures.
I get the point already, the teachers of the law and the
Pharisees were messed up. For
the past month now, that is all we have been talking about.
Who picked Matthew 23 to preach on anyway?
Jim:
Umm, I think you did.
Craig:
Yea, ok, well I have had enough now, can we get off this
ride?
Jim:
I’d love to, after all the topics didn’t make me or the
congregation any too comfortable, but I think you still have one
last sermon to preach. Don’t
try and slip out of it now.
Craig:
Bummer, I was afraid you were going to say that.
Well, what do you want me to tell them?
Jim:
Hmm, well, you could slam the hammer down and write a few
more, “You might be a Pharisee” lists, or you could just take a
bat and chase everybody out of church.
I found out, they both accomplish about the same thing.
Craig:
Yea, I know what you mean.
But you know, the more I looked at this passage, the more I
realized, that is exactly what Jesus was doing.
He was sticking it to the Pharisees where it hurt most.
Jim:
No doubt, but don’t tell me, I don’t need to hear that.
That message was for the Pharisees, not me.
Craig:
If you say so, but I’m not sure I agree.
Jim:
How so?
Craig:
Well, first let me give just a little groundwork about how we
got here in the first place.
This “Woe to You” passage is the seventh Woe that Jesus
speaks to the Pharisees. He
has already blasted them 6 times before this.
I think we only blasted our congregations 4 times, so maybe
they need a couple more before we get to this last major point.
Jim:
Umm, na I think they have had enough.
Craig:
Ok, well then, lets look at the first six again briefly
before we bring home good old number seven.
Jim:
(Nod in agreement) Sounds good.
Craig:
The first woe in verse 13 was a warning about how lack of
faith keeps people out of the kingdom of God.
The second woe, the one that talked about being son’s of
hell.
Jim:
Yea
Craig:
That was about how their ridged laws only kept more people
out of the true kingdom of heaven.
The third woe…
Jim:
(Covering face and saying to self) Ugh, I can’t take any
more of this. Calgone
take me away…
Ok,
Ok, that is enough, I couldn’t stand all the woes the first time
around.
Craig:
Yea neither could I. Does
that mean I get out of the sermon?
Jim:
No! You gotta come up with something.
I mean we gotta have a sermon during worship.
That is just the way we do things around here.
Craig:
Yea I hear that a lot too.
Ok well then at least let me skip to the summary part.
Jim:
That sounds like a really good idea.
Craig:
Did you know that “Woe” language was not first used in
the Wild West with horses? I
mean it is not Whoa, spelled “W” “H” “O” “A” and
meaning to come to a screeching halt.
This woe is “W” “O” “E”, and means to be
afflicted with anguish, despair, misery, or sadness.
Jim:
Yea I got that part. That
was one reason I didn’t like it.
It felt like I was a child all over again, and being told
that I do everything wrong.
Besides people don’t want to hear the doom and gloom of the
Old Testament, they want to hear the cheery hope-filled News of the
New Testament.
Craig:
Well, right you are. How
did you get so smart anyway?
Jim:
Well, just ask Tracy, she will tell you just how smart I am.
Craig:
Um, yea, but anytime I ask her that kind of thing she just
tells me how much of a smart …
Ummm… you are.
Jim:
… I guess that is good to know.
So Craig, why do is it important to preach all these woe
passages?
Craig:
I thought you would never ask.
Jim:
Ok, well I did.
Craig:
Good.
Jim:
(Pause) Well…
Craig:
Well what?
Jim:
Are you going to answer the question?
Craig:
Oh yea, I almost forgot, I was just so happy you asked.
Jim:
Ok, well I did.
Craig:
Good.
Jim:
(Pause) Ugh. (To congregation) What a way to fill the sermon
time.
Craig:
Ok, I’m ready now. I
just had to enjoy the moment.
It is this last “Woe” that explains why this kind of
language is used in the New Testament.
You see, Jesus is referring to the Old Testament prophets;
the fact that Israel had long rejected God’s messengers.
They even tried to cover over the sins of their ancestors by
building elaborate monuments to the prophets and denying that they
would have behaved the same way as their parents and grandparents.
Jesus
is just using the same language that the prophets used to speak on
behalf of God. And if
you watch their reaction, (and of course we have the advantage of
history to know what happens just a short while later, the
crucifixion of Jesus) we
know that they would have done just like their parents did.
Anyway,
if you allow me to skip all the other boring stuff and get to the
“So what, the what does this have to do with me today part.”
Jim:
Oh Yea, that is what this congregation wants to hear, give us
the so what.
Craig:
Well, just like the Pharisees did, so are we.
Have any of you ever said to yourself, “If I had been in
the Garden of Eden, I would not eat that fruit!”
Or, “If I was in the crowd, I would have defended Jesus.”
Or, “If I was Peter, I would not have denied Christ.”
Have you?
Jim:
Sure I have thought that.
Craig:
Me too. Well,
that is what the Pharisees were doing, thinking that they were
better than their ancestors, that they would have made better
decisions. Then they
went on to kill Jesus.
Jim:
Yea, that doesn’t really make them any better huh.
Craig:
Not really. But
the point is, we all reject God, every human in history has turned
their back on God’s love. As
it says in Isaiah 53:6 “We all, like sheep have gone astray, each
to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him, the iniquity of us
all.”
Although we don’t like to hear it, and it makes us shuffle
in the pew, we are just like those Pharisees.
We would like to think that we are better than the next
person, or even better than our parents.
Especially men, we have a competitive nature about us such
that we want to prove we are better
Jim:
Oh, I know what you mean, like I am better than you at
fantasy football, and basketball, and in Thailand I worked harder
than you, and you name it.
Craig:
Uh, yea, exactly ,like you think you are better and worked
harder …
Jim:
Yep I think it, and I know it.
Craig:
Thanks for proving my point.
Jim:
No problem, I figured somebody had to.
Craig:
Well, the crux of this passage is that while we, just like
the Pharisees, believe our faith is greater than others, our
morality better than the world, our commitment greater than our
neighbor, our obedience above the norm, and telling ourselves these
things makes us feel good, it is still our sin that nailed Jesus to
the cross.
Jim:
Now you’re going. Preach
it brother.
Craig:
The “Woe” to us should be a recognition that we are just
as much in need of God’s grace and forgiveness as the next person.
We are just as much in need of a dose of humility as the
Pharisees. We are just
as much in need of Christian accountability as the Peter was.
Jim:
That sounds like some of the reasons we get together every
six months.
Craig:
You got that right. The
anguish that we should feel is only a reality in the absence of the
Cross.
Jim:
Ok, now that one went too deep.
Rephrase please.
Craig:
Well, for example, when we think we can get along without
Jesus, we should hear a “Woe to you” in the air.
When we think that we can skip worship…
Jim:
(Woe…)
Craig:
When we think that we can get by without our morning
devotion…
Jim:
(Woe…)
Craig:
When we think we can avoid the offering plate
Jim:
(Woe…)
Craig:
When we think we can believe in our heart, but not confess
with out mouth that Jesus is Lord. (Romans 10:9-10)
Jim
(Woe…)
Craig:
Or even if we do all of those things and think they make us
better than others…
Jim:
(Woe…)
Craig:
In fact, when we make anything more important than a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ…
Jim:
(Woe…)
Craig:
thanks for the special effects.
Jim:
That’s what friends are for.
Craig:
As we see by these “Woe” passages, Jesus had a tendency
to push his followers beyond their comfort zone.
Often Jesus pushes us to express and share our faith with
others, to speak what we believe.
Jim:
Oh no, you’re not going to ask this congregation to share
their faith are you? Danger,
Will Robinson…
Craig:
Yep, that is the first thing that comes to mind when someone
says the “E” word, Evangelism, or talks about sharing our faith.
But I would suggest, that part of our act of accepting the
redeeming work of Christ on the Cross is our ability to verbalize
what that means to us.
Jim:
They are not going to want you to be reappointed next year if
you keep this up.
Craig:
Ah, but would I be your friend if I didn’t push you just a
little deeper in your relationship with Christ?
Jim:
Uhh, Yea, you
would be my best friend…
Craig:
Jim, when I meet a friend at the store, you know one of the
first things I do is go home to Jody and say, guess who I saw today.
Do you do that?
Jim:
Yea but I don’t get the correlation.
Craig:
Or when I have a great conversation with
a friend, I tell other people about it. (Well except that
pastoral confidence thing)
Jim:
That is good to know, and so do I.
Craig:
Or simply when I attend an exciting concert, sports game, or
community activity, I tell lots of people about that kind of thing,
because it was important to me, I enjoyed it, and I want to share
that experience with other people.
Jim:
Ok, I am starting to see where you are taking this.
Craig:
Well, greater than anything else I have experienced in this
life is my relationship with Jesus Christ, and his promise of
eternal life that he gives me. That
is why I think it is important that we speak what we believe,
essentially, I am sharing heaven.
So
I would like to share with you, then challenge you to do the same
thing.
I
just want you to know how important Jesus Christ is to me.
I believe Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior, that he died on
the cross for my sins, and that by his suffering, death, and
resurrection, I am washed clean and forgiven of all my sins.
I also believe that by his grace he has promised me eternal
life in heaven with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Now you give it a go.
Jim:
Wow, you said that real nice like.
Craig:
I have had a lot of practice lately.
In fact I found out how much fun, and how freeing it is to
say it. Now it is your
turn.
Jim:
Do I have to do this better than you too?
Craig:
Na I’ll cut you a little slack on this one.
Besides, speaking your faith is an individual thing, and we
all do it a little different.
Jim:
Phew that is good to hear.
Ok, so here goes…
Craig:
Awesome, thanks for sharing that with me.
Now do you suppose we could be silent for a minute and listen
to the congregation do the same thing?
Jim:
Hmm, I am not sure if they are ready for that or not.
Craig:
I am not sure either, but I bet God is urging a few of them
out of their comfort zones. Let’s
give it a moment to see if God will encourage us with a spirit led
testimony or two this morning.
(Time)
Craig:
Wow God is good to us; just listen to all the lives that God
has touched. We really
are a blessed community.
Now let us sing our closing hymn.
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