2023 02 07 Offended by the Non Legalistic Jesus

The speaker discusses the idea of being offended by Jesus and asks whether we are trying to make Jesus like us or become like Jesus. They mention that Jesus often offends people because he doesn't fit their expectations. The speaker then focuses on the non-legalistic side of Jesus and how he repulsed the legalistic people of his time. They give examples from the Bible and discuss how Jesus associated with sinners and treated them with love and grace. The speaker emphasizes the importance of accepting Jesus for who he is and having a genuine relationship with him. They encourage listeners to confront their discomfort with certain aspects of Jesus and strive to become more like him. Tonight, I want to talk to you a little bit about the idea of being offended by Jesus, and we're actually going to do this over the next series of weeks, and asking ourselves the question, are we trying to become like Jesus or make Jesus like us? Is Jesus in our image, or are we in His? And you know, one area that I see this is, I like art, I like Jesus, I do not like art of Jesus, generally speaking, like paintings and stuff, I apologize if you really like medieval church art, I do not, I find it really creepy looking, I'm sorry, it looks kind of alien and off-putting to me, but that's me. And maybe that sort of thing doesn't make you uncomfortable, but has something about Jesus Himself ever made you uncomfortable or offended regarding Christianity? Because I think that if nothing about the Bible or Christianity has ever made you uncomfortable, you probably haven't dug very far into it. Because many things about Jesus are repulsive, even, to our basic human desires, even for many of us long-time Christians. Since the moment Jesus came to earth walking among us, people were repulsed by who Jesus was compared to who they wanted Him to be. To that end, that's why we're starting this series on being offended by Jesus, when we look at some of the versions of Jesus or traits of Jesus that may offend us, per se, but are biblical. And you might be thinking, why does that matter, Chris, why is this something that we would focus on, what's this got to do with my life? How can we have a real relationship with Jesus unless we're willing to see Him for who He really is, even if we don't always like what we find? To have a genuine relationship with someone, we have to be willing to accept them for who they are. And Christianity is about a relationship. And the side or version of Jesus that may offend us that we're looking at tonight is the non-legalistic Jesus. Now what's legalism? Legalism is wanting to do all the right things for all the wrong reasons. It's following what is right to the exact technical definitions of the rules, rather than the intentions behind it. Legalism is your little brother tattling on you for not playing to the precise rules, even if it affects nothing within the practical. He just wants to get you in trouble for not following the rules. That's legalism. Jesus repulsed the legalists of his day, teachers of the law, scribes, Pharisees, Saul before he became the Apostle Paul. In modern terms, he offended the people who tried to teach the Word of God, people like a pastor or things like that. That's the kind of people that he offended. And we're going to look at one example of that in Matthew chapter 15, verses 1 to 14. Now some of the Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition, for they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand-washing before they eat? Jesus replied, and why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, honor your father and mother, and anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death. But you say it's all right for people to say to their parents, sorry, I can't help you, for I vowed to give to God what I would have given to you. In this way, you say they don't need to honor their parents, and so you cancel the Word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear, listen, he said, and try to understand. It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you. You are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth. Then the disciples came to him and asked, do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said? Jesus replied, every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch. In this passage, we see that they were bothered by his lack of tradition for hand washing. This is not just about hand washing, like, okay, we're having dinner, everybody go wash your hands so that we don't get bacteria in our mouths. It's not just about that. They had a ceremonial kind of hand washing that is a whole rigmarole. It was a whole big thing. And Jesus had no shortage of words for what he thought about this, which brings me to my first point for you tonight, which is we're not actually interested, when we're being legalistic, we're not actually interested in equal justice, just equal suffering. Have we ever been off-put by Jesus not being the legalist or traditionalist we wanted him to be? By that brother or sister in Christ having the freedom to do something that our conscience won't allow us to do because of our own ideas about Christianity, rather than what the Bible actually says. Have we ever been put off because the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, but others seem to walk around oblivious to their sin? Then maybe the real Jesus might offend us. Because the real Jesus ate with sinners, tax collectors, and women of bad reputation. The real Jesus ministered to people we might judge others for being around. In Luke 5, 27-30, I really like how the NLT translation puts it really, really plainly here. It says, later, as Jesus left town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector's booth. For reference here, by the way, Levi is also written in the other Gospels as the name Matthew, but it's the same person here. So, as Jesus left town, he saw a tax collector named Levi, or Matthew, sitting at his tax collector's booth. "'Follow me and be my disciple,' Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Later Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi's fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus' disciples. Why do you eat and drink with such scum?" The Pharisees ask why he associates with scum. And you have to understand, too, I was actually just talking earlier about this with the tax collector, saying, the Jewish people, and you'll see this come up a lot in the Gospels in particular, they really, really, really, really, really, really did not like tax collectors. Now, I don't think there's anyone in here who has just a real hoot paying their taxes and really likes paying taxes. But this is not the same thing we're talking about here. Like, this is a much more extreme level. This is not just like, we don't like the government. This is like, really, there was a real, real, real issue. And part of the reason is why it's because a lot of people in certain areas were taxed so much that they couldn't afford the sacrifices that the law said they needed to be able to become ritually clean from their sins by the way that everything was set up. So in their mind, the tax collector wasn't just an annoying thing that they had to pay at the end of the year, it was actually preventing them from being right with God from their perspective. So it was a very, very serious thing in their mind. Like, these people would be not just an annoyance, these people would be someone that is just unthinkable that somebody claiming to be the son of God could actually associate with. And the Pharisees asked why he associates with scum. And I think if we gave ourselves an honest, hard look in the mirror, does our life reflect Jesus in this story or the Pharisees? It's funny, when we read the Bible, maybe you're different, but I find that lots of times as Christians, we tend to open the Bible, read the Bible, and we identify with Jesus in the story because we know the way that we are supposed to think on an issue or whatever. And so we're trying to identify with him. But rarely, if we're honest, if we actually look at the story, do we most closely, personally identify with Jesus. We usually can identify more with his disciples or some of the other people that he's correcting in a lot of these stories, if we're honest with ourselves. Does our life reflect Jesus in the story or the Pharisees? Are we the ones scoffing at the scummy people in our community? Or are we sitting down and eating with them and being a spiritual doctor for their spiritual injuries? I've been that scoffer before when I should have been that doctor. Maybe it's not a tax collector, but it's a particular kind of person who does whatever in your own version of that that you are repulsed by and that Jesus is willing to have a meal with them. Maybe it's somebody that's on the opposite end of the political spectrum to you and you just can't imagine that Jesus would ever associate with that person. Maybe it's people who have more money than they know what to do with and they never share that blessing with others. Whatever it may be, the person that you can't imagine that Jesus would associate with, that he was willing to associate with. And are we going to bring that spiritual healing to that person or are we going to distance ourselves from? Because Jesus lived by the spirit of the law rather than using it as a sort of like, gotcha, tool for others, right? They were offended by him. These people weren't interested in true justice. They were interested in making sure no one got away with something if they couldn't get away with it themselves. These teachers of the law wanted Jesus to condemn his disciples rather than extending grace about the whole hand-washing thing. They didn't really care about the law and right or wrong. They cared about everyone having to struggle with the same weight they had to in a sort of twisted sort of revenge, like, if I have to do all these things to be right with God, so should you. That's what they were thinking. Are we being legalistic? Do we want people to not have it easy just because we feel it's unfair that we didn't have it easy? Which leads me to my second point, which is that Jesus doesn't always look fair. And he doesn't have to. Justice is not always fair. Fairness implies equal treatment, but equal treatment isn't always fair. Let me repeat that. Fairness implies equal treatment, but equal treatment isn't always fair. For example, if I'm playing basketball with a four-year-old, I have a substantial height advantage. It's one of the few times that I do. Is it fair for me to throw the ball from the same distance, like, is it fair for him to have to throw the ball from the same distance that I do? Is that fair? That's equal treatment, but it's not really fair because it doesn't have an equal opportunity in that case. And you know, because he has less height and he would likely have less coordination and experience than me at being able to throw that kind of throw. Our earlier reading wasn't the only time the Pharisees tried to force Jesus' hand to be fair. We have another example in John 8, 1 to 11, and I'll just read it from here, but Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives. But early the next morning, he was back again at the temple. A crowd soon gathered and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. Teacher, they said to Jesus, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say? They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, all right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone. And he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you? No Lord, she said. And Jesus said, neither do I go and sin no more. Now there's an interesting thought about fairness here. They wanted Jesus, people don't usually mention this, and I find it interesting, but they wanted Jesus to exact the letter of the law. But where was the man, right? They dragged this woman out, which they had caught in the act of adultery. Like let's not go into detail here, but it takes two to be caught in the act of adultery. That's the first time I checked. So where was the man? They were demanding fairness of God and not acting in fairness themselves, right? They were saying we are fair, we follow the law, and yet they weren't even following the law when they were demanding that he do it. The next thing we see here is the implied question, and we've heard this in expression even outside of the church world, but like, who are we to throw stones, so to speak, right? When Jesus didn't. The interesting thing about this is Jesus didn't say, don't anyone throw a stone, right? Think about what he said. He said, let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone. Was there anyone there who had never sinned? Yes, there was. Jesus had never sinned, which shows us two key things, right? Number one, none of us has the right to judge others because we too have sinned, but number two, Jesus does have the right to judge sins and the right to give grace anyway. He could have, but he chose not to. So this begs the question, what about sin? Does Jesus just ignore that, like it doesn't matter? Because that might sound good for like three seconds and still, until you think of like all of the atrocities that have been committed, do you think that probably should go punished? Jesus, this is my final point for you on this, is just Jesus doesn't ignore sin, but he deals with us lovingly. That's the important thing. And what we just read there in John 8, 10 to 11, Jesus tells the woman that he doesn't condemn her, but he doesn't stop there. He says, he doesn't say, I don't condemn you, go home. He says, I don't condemn you, go and sin no more. The issue of sin didn't go unaddressed. Not too long ago, I was asked a great question, if Jesus hung out with prostitutes and sinners and those things are sin, like how does that work? How does that work? How did he, did he just ignore it? Like how does that work? That's a good question. It's an honest question. But the question we have to ask ourselves is, have we ever lied? Have we ever complained? Have we ever used God's name as a swear word, gossiped? These are all sins too. So if this question we're asking, how did Jesus hang around these people with these sins, then we have to be asking questions, how does Jesus ever hang around with us? Jesus is fully aware of our sin and he finds that sin repulsive, he does. But greater than his repulsion for sin is his love for us. He doesn't ignore or excuse the sin, but the Bible says in Romans 5, 8, but God demonstrated his love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't wait for you to get your act together, right? You meet people with these weird ideas sometimes where they say, well, you know, I, I become a Christian, but just like, I'm not good enough to be a Christian. What are you talking about? You know what I mean? It's a bit like saying, I don't know, like you'd enroll in a course or something, but I'm no good at that thing. It's like, well, the course is supposed to teach you how to do that, right? You're not supposed to have that before. I had friends back, I did a little bit of art college stuff, which I obviously didn't pursue, but I enjoy art and I did a little bit of that and I had a friend at that time who tried to get in a very much more prestigious art kind of college thing, and they wouldn't let him in because they only wanted people who already had amazing art portfolios to get into the course so that they can show, look at all the amazing things our students did. Our course is so good, right? But it defeats the whole purpose, right? You don't have to have it all together. He's already taken care of that. Jesus isn't waiting for you to get your act together before he can love you. He loves you now, today. It's not just Christians that he loves. John 3, 16 says that for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Jesus came and died for us before we even knew if we wanted him to. It's up to us now to accept him and follow him in our own life, but our acceptance or rejection will never change the fact that he made the first move by dying for us and rising again. So tonight, maybe I kind of started off with a bit of a softball one. Most of you are probably already on the side of the page like, yeah, we probably shouldn't be too legalistic. I'm okay with that version of Jesus. But we have to be honest. You have to ask ourselves, we all have areas that we're like, you know, I'm pretty easy going about this. But we have other areas where like, well, if only so and so would get their act together, they should be doing things this way. Maybe it's the way people dress in church. And you're like, they should only dress this way, or they should only dress that way. Or maybe it's the way people talk. Or maybe it's still, we have all these silly things that we can get too hung up on. When Jesus was willing to come and meet us where we're at, and that doesn't mean that he said, you know, come as you are doesn't mean leave as you came. You know, he invites us to change. But it's the love of God that leads us to repentance. Right? It's not the other way around. It's not repent and then he loves us. So as we think tonight and the next few weeks about these different versions or sides of Jesus that might rug us the wrong way, sometimes we have to ask ourselves, will we stay offended by Jesus not bringing on the punishment on others? Or will we accept the grace he has for us and celebrate and share how he gives grace to others? We're not supposed to make Jesus into our image. We're supposed to be made into his. And I want to encourage you as you read the Bible, you're going to come across things that you go, that makes me uncomfortable, but don't stop there. Ask yourself, why, why does that make you uncomfortable and face that discomfort? Ask yourself that, because this is the thing, this is not a do-it-yourself religion. It's a relationship with a real God who exists, right? If you want a religion that you can mold into your own shape, there's lots of them. But if you want to have a relationship with a real God who exists, we have to accept him for who he is, because that's how he chose to meet us too. Accepting us for where we're at, and then encouraging us to grow. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we want a relationship on your terms, God. Confront us with the ways that we have viewed a fake image of you. Help us to see who you are clearer and clearer. Help us to become aware of the conditions that we've placed on following you. And to let that fall off and follow you without any addendums to your word, Lord, without skipping the parts that we don't like, Lord. But to let it confront us, Lord, so that we can be made more and more into your image. In Jesus' name, amen.