Unrighteous Acts

Or God can spot hypocrisy when he sees its.

Matthew 7:13-23

  Cousin Fergy called. Very upset! He’d been turned down for a job as a private eye. Another man and a woman applied at the same time. The head of the agency wanted to test their skills of observation. So he showed the first applicant a mug shot and asked if he noticed any oddities. The applicant shouted that the guy only had one eye. The detective said, "Of course it looks like the guy has only one eye! It's his profile!"



 The detective then turned to the second applicant, stuck the photo in her face for two seconds and said, "Notice anything unusual?"
 

She said, "Yes! He only has one ear!" 

The detective moaned, "Didn't you hear? I just said this is a profile! Of course, you can only see one ear!

When it was Fergy’s turn, he looked at the mug shot for two seconds and he had his answer. He calmly stated. “This man wears contact lenses."

The detective took another look at the picture and at some of the papers in the folder. He said, "You're absolutely right! His bio says he wears contacts! How in the world could you tell that by looking at his picture?"

Fergy said, "Easy! With only one eye and one ear, he can't wear glasses.”

A lot of people act like God only has one eye and one ear. Some think he doesn’t do much to stop evil. Some think they can show him their good side and hide the bad. Some think God doesn’t care about hypocrisy. As a result, some think Christianity is nothing but hypocrisy.

Matthew 7:13-23. Page 1140.

13 “Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. 14 But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it.

15 “Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves. 16 You will know them by what they do. Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briers do not bear figs. 17 A healthy tree bears good fruit, but a poor tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a poor tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 And any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. 20 So then, you will know the false prophets by what they do.

21 “Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. 22 When the Judgment Day comes, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles!’ 23 Then I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!’

   We’ve been told that the Sermon on the Mount is good news, but what’s good news about this? Only two roads and one leads to destruction. False prophets are ferocious as wolves. Bad trees with bad fruit are cut down and thrown in the fire. Jesus tells sends some religious people away and calls them evildoers. What’s the alternative?

 Pretending everything is okay is not good news. Justifying everything in the name of tolerance is not good news. Whitewashing everything in the name of love is not good news. Calling sin doing-your-own-thing is not good news.

 Do we want to bow before God’s throne and find out that he gave us the Ten Commandments but wasn’t serious about them? Do you want to ask him about injustice and have him shrug his shoulders? What would our own justice system be like if judges and juries didn’t care about the law, didn’t care about protecting people, didn’t care if criminals were treated just like their victims?

 Recall your own experiences of doing an assignment, working hard, fulfilling requirements and then discovering that people who had done next to nothing got the same benefits you did. Life isn’t fair and we can usually accept that but when people blatantly ignore issues of justice that rankles us – as it should. So we have to shun wickedness and pursue justice.

 Jesus had good kingdom news. He advises:  “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it (13-14).”

 The kingdom isn’t a dumping ground for every belief system under the sun. You can’t march down the wrong road shaking your fist at God and end up at his front door. You can’t espouse eat drink and be merry and expect destruction to turn out to be an invitation to dinner. The wide way is definitely not an alternative route to heaven.

 That’s good news. It means that when God says something, he means it. He won’t lie or deceive us. He won’t change at the last minute. 

 That’s good news. It means that people who ignore God aren’t getting a free ride. There are consequences attached to disobedience and rebellion. Obedience and disobedience are not the same thing in God’s eyes. He can spot the difference and it makes a difference to him.

 Good news! God is aware. He’s in control and his judgments are absolutely perfect, fair and consistent with his own righteousness.

 Jesus says: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits (15-20).

  Did someone who made a big show of being kind or generous ever irritate you because you knew it was all baloney. You read about people getting awards for public service and it made you ill because you know they treat their family like dirt.

Some people can afford to make themselves look great. Others can cover up the bad with a barrage of good deeds. Jesus wants to assure us that showoffs and do-gooders do not fool him. He can tell by the fruit in their lives. Ephesians 5:9 - The fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. You can’t fake that.

People judge by appearances. The good news of the kingdom is that God judges by what should be judged. No mistakes. No being taken in by mere appearances.

 Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness (21-23).'”

  Here’s the good news again. Jesus knows the difference between a child of God and an imposter. Big talkers don’t fool him. There’s an interesting verse in John that says: Jesus would not entrust himself to (people who claimed to believe in him), for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man (2:24-25).

 Most of us are pretty ordinary Christians and we don’t have to worry that we don’t do splashy things. We don’t have to make the evening news to catch Jesus’ attention. What he watches for are people who are committed to doing the will of our Father in heaven - Doers of the word not just hearers and certainly not big talkers. And that’s good news.
 It’s wonderful to be able to trust God. It’s the foundation of peace and mind. 

 One of the reasons Matthew included this sermon was to stop people from assuming that the kingdom is no better than the rotten apples that God allows to be there. In his day, those on the outside looking in would see the Pharisees and they would want no part of that. Jesus was assuring them that the Pharisees were not part of the kingdom.

 We face the same problem. For some reason people on the outside looking in to church usually see the hypocrites and the imposters and the showoffs and the big talkers. And that’s a big problem for us. That’s why it’s so important to evangelism to get people to look at Jesus. And why it’s so important to drop the facades and be as real as possible.

 It’s also important that people understand that the kingdom is the ultimate home of justice. It’s not just a big blob where ever thing goes, where nothing matters and where good and bad are easily substituted for one another.

 God has two eyes and two ears and he is finely tuned to the hearts of each man, woman and child, and he loves them but he is not fooled by any one of them. This section of the Sermon on the Mount may make us uncomfortable, but it’s an important part of the complete good news.    

Youth Message

Peer Pressure

 Everybody looks different and sounds different. Everybody has a different hobby and different interests. For example, What’s your favorite game? 

 Kids are different. Some are funny. Some are serious. Some are athletic. Some are academic. Some cooperate with their teachers. Some don’t. Some would think it was fun to steal. Some don’t. Some can’t wait till they can drink and try drugs. Some are determined to never do those things.

 Here’s a truth I want you to pay attention to. The bad kids usually make an effort to make good kids do bad things. It’s like it’s their mission to get as many people as possible doing the wrong things. 

 And here’s a second truth. They don’t give up easily. You can tell them no and they won’t accept it. They will try and try and try to get you to join them in some evil.

 And here’s a third truth. At first they’re nice and then if you keep saying no they will ridicule you and get mean. They’ll hate you.

 Here’s the fourth truth. It’s hard to resist them. That’s why we need Jesus to help us to do the right thing even if we are alone doing it. Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.