Fan or Follower- Woe!

Matthew 23: 1-12

March 26, 2017

# 5 of series

(Credit to Kyle Idelman, Not a Fan, chapter 5)

Have you ever belonged to a club?

One of the first clubs I belonged to was our neighborhood,

underground fort club. You couldn't become a member just

because you lived in the neighborhood. You had to take the hill.

The underground fort was at the top of the hill. Taking the hill

didn't mean simply walking up this slight 100 yard incline. No! It

meant you had to start at the bottom and get to the top of the

hill while the other members hurled grapefruit bombs at you. If

you made it you were in!

Another club I joined was the FFA...Future Farmers of America.

You went through a formal initiation and were a member.

There was also the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity I became a

member of in my college days at U.F. My high school FFA advisor

got me in as a freshman. It was a semester of doing any and

everything for the brothers. I was a pledge! That was the nice

word they used. Then there was the weekend of initiation. I

can't really tell all! It was tough!

Enough of my clubs! How about you?

Name some clubs you were a part of or still have membership in?

Today we sit in on the conversation Jesus had with a club called

the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was made up of the Sadducees

and the Pharisees. It was a men's only club of 72 men.

 

The two different groups didn't get along! When interpreting

scriptures, the Sadducees were very liberal and the Pharisees

were quite conservative.

The Sadducees served as Chief Priests and Elders. If you were a

Sadducee, there was only one way to get into the club...you had

to be born into it. If your father was not a Sadducee, you had no

chance of getting in the club.

The Pharisees didn't have to depend on being born into the club.

You became a member of the Pharisee club through your hard

work. It required a lot of book time and studying and theological

training.

Do you think you belong to one of these clubs?

Some fans think they are good to go because they grew up in the

church. Mom and dad took you to church since you were a child.

You're in Sadducee Saint!

Some fans think if they study enough, are in Sunday school,

small bible studies, read a lot of Christian literature...they're in!

Either way your faith has always been more about honoring the

heritage of the club than Jesus.

Jesus spoke to the crowds and his followers his word for the

Sanhedrin club members.

No, he was not a member of this club. He was an outsider that

spoke the truth about the DTR with them. He Defined The

Relationship they had with Jesus with one word,

"WOE!"

This word "woe" was like a warning, a curse or a "don't even go

there!"

In his sharing about the club Jesus gave some harsh "woes"

regarding the club. In his "woes" we can see that they help us to

DTR: define the relationship between a fan or follower.

This is not easy. We will be hitting the hill with huge "woe"

grapefruits being launched at us. Hopefully, we can dodge them

and make it to the Follower Fort!

 

Woe to you when you follow:(Grapefruit bomb WOE warning)

SACRED HERITAGE over SURRENDERED HEART!

Jesus started out his talk with building up the club when it came

to following the teachings of Moses. But then comes the "woe!"

"But be careful about following them. They talk a good

line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their

hearts and live it out in their behavior." Vs. 3 MSG.

They knew the right words to say and the right way to do the

rituals. However, it wasn't being lived out in their daily lives.

They were more devoted to their sacred heritage than they were

to surrendering their hearts to Jesus.

They were more concerned with maintaining their museum of

faith than they were in following the Messiah...Jesus.

They enjoyed staying in their holy huddle of heritage than

reaching out to the outsiders and welcome them into the club.

It was religion over relationship. Woe when you follow your

sacred heritage over a surrendered heart to Jesus.

Woe to you when you follow:

APPEARANCE over AUTHENTIC!

The one word to describe this "woe" is "hypocrite."

The word comes to us from the Ancient Greek theatre. The

Greek actors were called, "hypocrites" because a single actor

would play several characters by simply changing the mask they

were wearing.

Jesus called the Sanhedrin club "hypocrites" because they were

more concerned with their appearance than they were being

authentic. He said,

"Everything they do is for others to see." Vs. 5 NIV

What you see on the outside is not a true reflection of what is on

the inside. They are not being authentic in their relationship with

Jesus. They wore their mask to temple but changed when they

lived out the daily.

 

The problem Jesus had with this "fan" club is that they were not

living out, reflecting the truths they studied or taught. It was a

"do as I say, not as I do!"

How many of us heard that line from

a parent? How many of us as a parent have made that statement

to a child of ours?

One of the amazing things that I still haven't figured out is

reflection. I would imagine most of us have looked into a lake or

puddle and seen our reflection. It is a true reflection. You look

and you see you! What would your reaction be if one time you

looked into the water and saw some strange face looking back at

you! I don't know about you but I would be looking over my

shoulder to see if someone was playing a trick on me. When I

discovered I was alone I would freak!

Woe to us when what we reflect on the outside is not authentic.

Why do we try to live by appearance and not authentic? Jesus

says,

"Woe to you who follow a false reflection to appear to be

someone you are not."

Later on in his talk, Jesus put the authentic this way:

"But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will

count for plenty." Vs 12 MSG.

Simply put for us who desire to be a follower of Jesus is:

"You be you!" Be authentic in your relationship with Jesus. Look

for Jesus in others and may others see Jesus reflected in you!

Woe to you who follow:

RULES over RELATIONSHIP!

This next "woe" is straight up and has a powerful consequence.

Listen to Jesus tell it like it is:

"I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you religion

scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are

roadblocks to God's kingdom. You refuse to enter and

won't let anyone else in either." Vss. 13-14 MSG

 

Woe! How would you feel if Jesus spoke these words to you?

Hopeless fraud of the faith!

How does this happen? You follow rules over having an intimate

relationship with Jesus. You equate following Jesus with coming

to Sunday School, church and or helping with outreach.

When we truly learn to follow Jesus we discover that obedience to

God comes from the inside out. Rules repel people. The problem

comes when the people equate rules with Jesus and so when they

repel the rules they repel a relationship with Jesus.

The faith of a follower is not going through some initiation into a

club. It is a surrendered heart to a personal relationship with

Jesus, who went through the initiation for you.

Woe to you who follow:

LAWS over LOVE!

In verses 16 and 17 Jesus reprimanded the club for hairsplitting

laws over love for the people. This was the group that got on

Jesus for healing someone on the Sabbath. This is like the

phrase,

"But we have always done it this way!"

For a fan there is no room for any fresh expression of one's faith

in Jesus. It is a ridiculous love for all the laws over a love for a

person. We all struggle with change. But we all must follow in a

way that puts love over some ancient law. True the moral truths

Jesus taught we still uphold and live out. Why? Because of our

love for Him who first loved us and gave his life for us!

Woe to you who follow:

GUILT over GRACE!

Oh church we need to wake up and pay attention here!

When rules and laws are followed over a relationship of love you

can expect guilt to show up!

 

Guilt comes in the form of the word, "DO!" Do this and don't do

that!

Fans will eventually grow tired of trying to keep up with the "do

this don't do thats" of a religion. Trying to maintain an outer

appearance that doesn't match an inner passion soon becomes a

heavy weight of guilt!

I have brought one of my backpacks to illustrate how this can

weigh a fan down.

(Put in bags of rice that reflect do's and don'ts, ask for do's and

dont's)

All this outward appearance begins to weigh you down. To just

get through daily life becomes a struggle. We can get weighed

down with such fear and guilt of a religion.

Jesus has some words for any of us whenever we find ourselves

tired and burdened by guilt over grace:

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come

to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll

show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work

with me---watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms

of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and

lightly." (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG)

A follower leaves all the guilt at the feet of Jesus. He offers

grace! Guilt and grace will always compete for the same space in

your life.

Give your space to grace! Grace will win every time

when you seek Jesus. We saw that in our recent conversations

with Nicodemus and with the prostitute. Grace won in their lives!

That same grace wins out in any follower of Jesus.

 

Woe to you who follow:

MINORS over MAJOR!

Why do we worry so much over the minors in life to the expense

of spending time on the major? When we do that we miss out on

what really matters. One of the greatest tools of Satan is

distraction

. He seeks to distract us away from following Jesus

by getting us all worked up over some minor issue.

I remember one time my wife and I getting concerned about our

kids not dressing up for church in their "Sunday best!" We finally

realized that we were missing the major fact that at least they

were in church.

Easter Sunday is coming and stores are advertising for us to

make sure we buy that Easter Sunday look! I want to give you a

reminder not to fret over the minors! Come as you are...simply

be you in your relationship with Jesus. Focus on the major of

that day...Jesus is resurrected from the dead!!!

Fans feud and fight over the minors and end up missing the

major of showing the love of the resurrected Jesus to a hurting

and dying culture. Followers will major on the major truth of

Jesus love that is to be shown and shared with others outside the

club.

Fan or Follower?

Woe to you club members, you fans, who follow a sacred heritage

of appearance, rules, laws, guilt and minor issues.

A follower of Jesus is one who surrenders their heart to an

authentic relationship of love and grace.

Whoa what a woe!

What club do you find yourself a part of: Fan or follower?



have a blessed day,   Gary
yfc77jesus@aol.cm