For more than a year now I have had this thought to give a sermon on the weightier matters of the law.  Every time I tried to approach it I could not narrow down all of the aspects that I felt needed to be covered.  I decided to give a number of messages on topics related to this subject to lay the groundwork and help me narrow the focus of the message.

I gave a sermon called “Beware the 11th Commandment” where I talked about letting issue overshadow our spiritual lives and drift away from the trunk of the tree.  So many people have left the church over various doctrinal issues over the history of the church and we want to make sure we are on a sure footing. 

I next gave a series on the 10 sins that caused Ancient Israel to be excluded from entering the Promised Land.  These were issues that are timeless like faith, trust as it combatted fear and complaining.  We want to avoid the pitfalls of those early pioneers and not become disqualified from the Kingdom of God.

Next I gave a series on “Gleaning from the Kingdom Parables before the Harvest” to focus on topics that will best prepare us for the Kingdom so we can stay on course and not become distracted.  These are the topics that Jesus taught His followers as the most important for Christians.

Each of these messages attempted to chip away at the awesome topic of what is most important to spend our energies on and what things to not expend energy on.  If we are succeed in overcoming this world and inheriting the Kingdom it is vital that we learn these powerful truths.

So in January we started this series on the Weightier matters of the law.  Like the other series, this has proven to be a meaty topic and for each of the messages I left pages of notes along the road as there just wasn’t a way to include them all. 

Like the other series we see a contrast between man’s thinking and God’s.  God uses contrast to help us understand His truth and to give us understanding.  It’s like parables; parables have been said to be purposely hard to understand.  Yet to the believer whose eyes and ears have been opened by God, parables serve to teach like no other method.

On the Weightier matters, Jesus employed a method of teaching using negative examples to contrast the opposite behavior that God wants us to have.  The more we look at what they should not have done, the more it illuminates the path that we should walk.

Justice, Mercy, and Faith,

But finally we have arrived at the heart of the matter.  When it is all said and done, what God wants us to focus on the most is Justice, Mercy, and Faith.  With these we can do all things.  With these we can grow in grace and Knowledge.  With these we can overcome the challenges of this life. 

It is these three that the Pharisees lacked most of all and it cost them dearly.  My hope is that they somehow found a way to repent from their destructive way of life that hurt so many who tried to follow Jesus Christ.

Homework before Passover

At the end of part three I assigned some homework to cover the 8 woes given to the Pharisees as you were examining yourself before the Passover.  I hope each of you took the time to do this as there were some poignant examples that we definitely want to ovoid in our own spiritual lives and as some of the woes sounded a lot like disqualifications for eternal life, it is very important that we learn what those are and not repeat them in our lives.  As I said we won’t be covering them but I may refer to one or two during this part four and last in this series:

The Weightier Matters of the Law   (part 4)

Last time we talked about what Justice and Mercy was and the supreme lack of either in the Scribes and Pharisees.  They did not live with Justice and they did not dispense justice.  They did not have mercy on their neighbors and they certainly did not have mercy on Jesus Christ.  And lastly we started the discussion on faith and how they did not have faith in Jesus as their Messiah, the savior of mankind.  

We have learned a great deal from their poor examples.  It is also important to look at positive examples as well.  We cannot walk into the Kingdom of God simply by avoiding mistakes of those that came before.

Matthew 19 talks about having to do something to enter into eternal life.

 

Matthew 19:17-22   Breaking into verse 17 But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."  18 He said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, " 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,'  19 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "  20 The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?"  21 Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."  22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

 

 

Now if you have a conversation about requirements with some professing Christians in the world your preaching will become meddling real quick.  Because on the subject of requirements you will get many, many points of view.

On one hand, some will say you only need to accept Jesus Christ and the rest is done while others will add that becoming like Him is also important.  But on the subject of works is where you get the most disagreement.

Doomed to Hell?

I have told the story on a number of occasions that, years ago, when I was doing technical sales support for a local networking company one of my clients followed me out to my car when he learned that I would be taking some time off to keep the Feast and was frankly worried about my eternal soul.  He said if was keeping these days out of obligation believing they were required then I was dooming myself to Hell.

Faith and works

The Pharisees were lawyers of the Law and they were experts at telling others how to live and what types of things people had to do to show that they were devout.  Much of the interaction between them and Jesus involved criticism of the works that Jesus did.  From their perspective, Works involved eating/drinking/washing/wearing and acting certain ways to be pious. 

Much has been made over the millennia’s since these encounters about what to make of this because it appeared to some that Christ was saying often times that the physical aspects did not have to be followed. 

This is where we differ from much of modern day Christianity but at the same time, we are not in agreement with the Pharisaical point of view either.  For instance, we just got done physically removing the leaven from our lives for one week.  We still don’t eat certain things and we still keep the Sabbath.  From some points of view, we are legalistically following the traditions of the Pharisees.

But Jesus was clearly telling that rich young ruler that there was something that he lacked besides being a good person and following Christ.  If Jesus had said, keep what you own and follow me would there have been a different outcome?

Jesus was demonstrating that what was required in the case of this young man was faith that Jesus was the Messiah and that this world held no hold on him.  Selling what he had and following Christ was the ultimate in works for him. Its where faith an action meet.

You can see some discussion online about faith and works where Apostles are pitted against each other.  One site I found compared Paul’s writings against James.  And while much is made in the world today about Peter’s role in shaping the church, it was these two that often played a major part in the development of the Christian Church.

Paul who was the Apostle to the Gentiles and whose writings have such a preeminent position in the New Testament, before Peter’s or James and often the most quoted.  But James was the Pastor of the headquarters church in Jerusalem, hosted the Jerusalem council and was the brother of Jesus.

James 2:14-26   14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?  15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,  16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

The argument here is not this is required for eternal life, but this is required if you have God’s Love in you.  Someone with God’s love will have many works of service to one another.

 

 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe -- and tremble!  20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?  21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?  22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?  23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.  24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.  25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?  26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. 

So we have works that are in the form of mercy and works in the form of obeying God.

So what is the reason that we feel we need to keep the Sabbaths?  It’s because of obedience first of all.  God says it, I believe it, that settles it.

It’s true that we cannot earn eternal life through good works.  There is not enough money in the world that can buy our way into the Kingdom of God.

But God will give it to us without cost if we try to become His children and follow His Son.  Turn over to Hebrews 11 (The Faith Chapter).

There is much to read on the topic of faith here and we start with the very definition of faith found in verse 1 of Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11:1-3  NKJ Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.  3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Verses 4-7 talk about the faith of Abel, Enoch, an Noah.  Then in verse 8 we have Abraham the father of the faithful.

Hebrews 11:8-10   8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.  9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;  10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

 

Moving down to verse 13   13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.  15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.  16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Faith is what drives us

So faith is what drives us forward toward the Kingdom.  It is the hope in a homeland that is better than anything we could have on this present earth.  Faith is the state of mind that we must have to do the right thing, not out of obligation but out of love.  Back in Matthew 23:13 we see that in the first of those 8 woes I was mentioning earlier, we see the faith that was driving the Pharisees was not a faith in God but a faith in a fictitious world.

Matthew 23:13  13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

The reason for this is that the Kingdom as Jesus talked about did not appeal to them.  This was not a world where they would be vindicated in the eyes of the Romans.  This was not a world where their enemies would be made to repent before them.  They did not see this in the words of Jesus.  They were looking for the words of Isaiah in verse 45:

Isaiah 45:15-17   15 Truly You are God, who hide Yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior!  16 They shall be ashamed And also disgraced, all of them; They shall go in confusion together, Who are makers of idols.  17 But Israel shall be saved by the LORD With an everlasting salvation; You shall not be ashamed or disgraced Forever and ever.

And down to verse 22

Isaiah 45:22 - 46:1   22 "Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.  23 I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath.  24 He shall say, 'Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, And all shall be ashamed Who are incensed against Him.  25 In the LORD all the descendants of Israel Shall be justified, and shall glory.' " 

Surely this was not the words of the one some called Messiah…..

You have the famous exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3

John 3:1-2  NKJ There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."

Of course, Nicodemus recognizes the power he sees but is puzzled by the message.  If Jesus is the Messiah, then where is their Salvation?  Jesus starts telling him about being born again as the path to salvation.  But Everyone knows that salvation means throwing off the Romans and restoring the promised land,  What else could it mean?

 

John 3:16-20   16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  20 "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

 

So this was not the salvation they were expecting.  Jesus was talking about the world being saved, not just the Hebrews.

What’s more, he is not talking about condemning the very people that was oppressing God’s people.  This is why it seemed upside down to them.

Matthew 12:38-42   38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You."  39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

You see, to believe in Jesus as the Messiah requires faith.  That doesn’t mean there was no proof.  We can read about all of the evidence of fulfilled prophecies of Isaiah and others that only in Jesus was possible. We also have the Miracles He performed and this sign of Jonah.

40 "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Next he starts talking about Israel’s enemies condemning them instead of the other way around.

 41 "The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.  42 "The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

So the bottom line here is that without faith, we are in deep trouble.  Just like we read in Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11:6   6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Balancing the Weightier Matters

So how do you balance the weightier matters with everything else?  We could do a 100 part series on all of the things we should do as members of the body of Christ but what always seems to happen is that conflict grows about this point or that point. Each of us has a relationship with God and we want to follow Him and control our behavior but we can’t always agree with what that is.

There are matters of conscience that have divided the body.  Everything from Sabbath conduct to even which day the Holy Day falls on.  Everyone has to decide for themselves where they draw the line on this topic or that but I can tell you where I stand. 

In the Mid-nineties, when we watched much of the church disintegrate we were all heartsick about it.  There were groups that left earlier and there were some that left much later.  I did not leave with a group.  In my mind, I was thinking about when the Spirit of God left the Temple before Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians.  Judah had turned its back on God long before but the Spirit of God persisted.  Every effort was made to turn them around.  You can read about it in Ezekiel and Jerimiah.  In the end, there was no choice but to leave them to suffer their fate. 

A few years ago the church split again.  And when I was talking to some that would eventually leave I said that people would have to make up their minds once again.  But I had decided that I did have a conscience issue and because of it I would have to abide by it.  And that conscience issue was this.  I will not be party to splitting the body of Christ.  Differences can be worked out with the Love of God in everyone’s heart but I would not split the body. For some though, issues were more important the unity of the body and so they left. 

Today we see other issues that exist in the church and I wonder if someday there will be 144,000 separate churches of God all hoping to be the very elect.

What I see in this series about what is most important to God is first of all Love, second of all relationship, and third is obedience.  All three are important but Love is the most important, relationships is next and obedience is third.

Turn over to Mathew 23:23.  Let’s read the scripture that started this series.  Remember that this is in the middle of the 8 woes to the Scribes and Pharisees and in the middle here Jesus talks about obedience and how it relates to the weightier matters.         

Matthew 23:23   23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

You see, being of third importance, Obedience is not neglected in its importance, but rather, it is defined in that if you undue the weightier matters to obey then you have obeyed wrong.

Is that possible?  Can you obey wrong?  If you put more importance to obeying and neglect the love and relationships and stop living a Just life showing Mercy to one another, then yes, you can obey wrong.  Remember that Jesus says there is a way to obey without undoing the others.  We just need to remember to place the importance where it belongs.

Lets close with this passage in Ephesians 4: in regards to the importance in finishing this race together, not separately.  Here Paul is admonishing them from prison knowing that tough times were ahead for the church.

 

Ephesians 4:1-6  NKJ I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,  2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,  3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;  5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.