Changing the Rules of
the Game
June 29, 2008
Geneseo United
Methodist Church
Pastor Craig Ferguson
Matthew 23:16-22 6
"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the sanctuary
is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by
the oath.' 17 You blind
fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold
sacred? 18 And you say,
'Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift
that is on the altar is bound by the oath.'
19 How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the
altar that makes the gift sacred? 20
So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it;
21 and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by it and by
the one who dwells in it; 22 and
whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by the one who is
seated upon it.
Children love to play
games; board games, card games, computer games, even imagination games.
Some of my kid’s favorite games were games like Hi Ho the Cherry,
Chutes and Ladders, and Candy Land. More
recently they have moved up to Monopoly, Risk, Life, Sorry, and card games like
Kings Corner, Tripoly, and War.
It was the imagination
games always got me in trouble. Like
playing Barbie, or Adventure Hero’s; I would be informed that I was a specific
person, and then told what to do. After
a while, I would try and have a mind of my own and be creative, then I would be
informed that the Rules had Changed. I
never quite caught on, but it seemed like those rules always changed to the
advantage of my children, and not for me.
As they are growing up
and their taste in games is changing, I find it more enjoyable to play with
them. I mean honestly, even though
Candy Land and Chutes and ladders are great games and more to my liking than the
imagination games, I have to confess, I always felt like I was finding a way to
miss count the spaces just so my kids would win.
I know, it was an act of love and kindness, and I bet a few of you
parents did the same thing for your kids. But
no matter how nice it was, you have to admit, it was still Changing the Rules of
the Game.
The funny thing is, even
the card games that we play as adults, I find that the rules change depending on
whose house we play at. I guess the
good news is that at least the rules don’t change in the middle of the game
anymore. Unless you end up partners
with your spouse, then the rules are out the window.
And what about
professional sports today? It is
interesting to me that the referees can change rulings now based on instant
replay. How many historical games
would have ended different if they would have had that option?
Or think about the college players who break drinking rules, curfew
rules, or grade requirements, and somehow the rules are magically “Changed”
for them.
Well, this is what Jesus
is accusing the Pharisees and Scribes of doing.
They would commit to something and swear by the altar in the temple and
then later say, “oh haha, I got you, swearing by the altar doesn’t mean
anything.” It sounds a lot like my
kids changing the rules of a game on me. But
we don’t do that do we?
On the other hand, how
many of you have ever said something while you had your fingers crossed behind
your back? Or maybe you made a deal
with God that if he would only answer your prayer, you would start tithing, or
never miss a Sunday in Church again.
All of a sudden we find
ourselves “Changing the Rules” to accommodate our personal comfort level.
“Well I didn’t really mean a full tithe, or the Sunday’s when
family are in town. We find it
easy to change the rules on things like that because after all, they were our
words in the first place, and our words did not really express what we meant.
First of all let me say
plainly, this game of bartering with God is not acceptable.
And on top of that, the first things most people start to bargain with
are things that God has already set the rules for.
When God says keep the Sabbath Day Holy and a day of worship, he does not
mean just when it is convenient. When
he says return a full tithe to God, he doesn’t say, your pocket change will
do. I think we can say God has been
pretty specific about the rules of life, the rules of our relationship with him.
Bartering about the finer points should not even be a game we engage in.
Let me say that again, bartering about the responsibilities of being a
Christian should not be a game we engage in.
Now, with that said, the
games I personally like are games like Chess, or Suduko; games where the rules
cannot bend or be changed. There is
something comforting about knowing what the rules are.
However if you have ever tried to complete a Suduko puzzle when there is
a number out of place, it is easy to become frustrated or just simply put it
down and admit defeat.
That reminds me of
another favorite puzzle I had growing up; the Rubik’s Cube.
Yes I was one of the few who could solve it.
In fifth grade, there was a line at the recess time waiting for me to
solve all their Rubik’s Cubes. Most
of them I could solve in under 2 minutes, but there were a few that I never
could solve. I learned later that
the ones that were unsolvable were ones that someone had tried to change the
rules on. You see, someone had
gotten frustrated with it and moved the stickers.
Although that solves a temporary problem, maybe completes all the colors
on one side, it also causes a much greater problem, those cubes will never be
able to be solved. When the rules
are changed, not everything fits back into place the way it is supposed to.
Just like Jesus noticed
a problem in the integrity of the Pharisees who were willing to change the rules
for their benefit, there is a problem when we try to manipulate or soften the
rules of Christianity to accommodate us rather than simply playing by the rules.
Now let’s get serious
for a moment. We know the rules that
I am hinting to, but rarely do we talk about them in a way that emphasizes the
importance of our integrity with them. Yes
there are the 10 Commandments, but Jesus summarized them into two; Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind; and love your neighbor
as yourself.
Do we fulfill those
rules, or do we change them as need be? If
we neglect spending time with God every day in scripture and prayer, do we
really love him with all our heart…? If
we hold back some of the tithe, do we really love him with all our heart…?
If we hold the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ in our heart,
and are afraid to share or even offer it to a neighbor, do we really love them
as ourselves? How can we love
someone and not tell them of the love of Jesus Christ?
Are we playing by all
the rules, or are we playing by the ones that make us feel good and crossing our
fingers for the ones we don’t like?
Jesus told the Pharisees
that does not cut it! It did not
make the grade for them, and it does not make the grade for us either.
The most interesting
thing in this passage to me was what the Pharisees were placing the value upon.
When someone took an oath on things that were sanctified and holy, those
were the vows that could not be broken. It
seems the real question for them was what was holy?
And although they knew the answer, just like we do, they changed the
rules based upon what they were comfortable with.
Now Jesus did not let
them get away with it as he said, “So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by
everything on it; and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by it and by the
one who dwells in it; and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God
and by the one who is seated upon it.”
Here is where an amazing
thing happens. For a person to
become a Christian, we accept Jesus Christ as our atoning sacrifice.
(That means that his death paid for the forgiveness of our sins and that
makes him our savior) We also invite
Christ into our lives to be our Lord, and so for a person to be a Christian, we
must claim Christ, the holy one of God, as our Lord and Savior.
Now what happens when
you wash a dirty rag in bleach? It
is made clean! And in the same way
when a person becomes a Christian by inviting Christ into their life, their sins
are washed away, and they are made holy, pure, and sanctified.
And so now, we are the
rule! What I mean by that is,
whether we say something or make a vow, it doesn’t matter if we swear by our
great grandmothers grave, or our left eye, we are bound to it, because Christ is
in us, and we are holy. Furthermore,
because Christ was the fulfillment of the law, we are bound to the law and to
upholding them. That means really
loving God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and our neighbor as
ourselves. It does not mean finding
ways to make it work for us, or cutting corners, or keeping some of the law.
Let me give you a good
example. While I was in seminary one
of my professors sold a house. It
had been on the market only a short time and a potential buyer scheduled a
visit. After viewing the house, they
made a verbal offer of the full appraisal value of the house.
My professor made a verbal agreement and set a time to do the paperwork.
Later that evening a
couple called from in the area and said they would like to see the house.
My professor said that would be ok, but told them he already had agreed
to sell, and they would only have an option if the first agreement did not go
through.
Well after seeing the
home, this couple offered $20,000 above the appraisal and more than the first
couple had offered. Now just a
reminder, up to this point, there had been no paperwork done.
Which offer would you take? Although
he admitted he was tempted, my professor said he had to keep his first verbal
agreement. You see, he understood
that just as Christ is holy, we are holy, and our word is our integrity.
We cannot change the
rules of the game or it is like changing the colors on a Rubik’s Cube; it can
never go back together, it can never be solved.
Nor can we define the
rules of loving and obeying God by what is comfortable for us.
We know in our hearts what it means to be a Christian, but will we
fulfill the rules, or like the Pharisees twist them to our own preference?
If we call ourselves
Christian, Christ followers, we have to play by the rules.
You know, during my walks, the most interesting question I run into is
what difference does being a Christian make?
They look at us, “Christians,” and they see that we are no different
than the Pharisees. We say one
thing, then act a different way; our language, behavior, attitude, and actions
toward others tell them that we are not following the rules, so why should they?
It is no wonder Jesus called the Pharisees blind hypocrites, unless we
change our behavior we deserve the same title.
I say, it is time to
stop changing the rules of the game. It
is time to start loving God with everything we are.
Amen.
