There are two, different sermons on this page...
20/10/05 Luke 11:47-end
Jesus said...LK 11:47 "Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, `I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.' 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all. 52 "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering." 53 When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.
Jesus was having a meal with some Pharisees and he is denouncing them for their hypocrisy. They claimed to follow the ways of God, yet they are more concerned with their pride and rules than with care and compassion. Their predecessors persecuted and killed the prophets. Prophets were and are people who speak the word of God at a given time. The Old Testament prophets called God's people to turn back to God. To trust in Him and worship Him alone.
Although the Pharisees in Jesus day built the prophets tombs and claimed to honour the prophets, they would go on to reject, persecute, and even kill the prophets of the New Testament. Jesus said that they would be held responsible for this by God and, about 40 years later in A.D. 70 Jerusalem was reduced to rubble and its inhabitants murdered by Roman forces. There were no Christians there because Jesus had warned them about this forthcoming judgment.
This is a reminder that as well as being a God of love and compassion, God is also just and righteous and will punish sin.
The Pharisees thought that they possessed the way to God. They were very religious, they studied the Old Testament diligently. They lived life according to a moral code. But they were proud and self-assured. They condemned people who were not like them. They were insular and mean.
Rather than possessing the key to eternal life and sharing this with others they held on tightly to the key themselves, not realizing that this was not the way to God. So not only did they fail to open the door for themselves, they prevented others from entering, too.
This was a terrible indictment on their leadership. Jesus was angry with the way they hindered people's walk with God. I think he would still be angry today at some who claim to follow Him. It is a reminder to those who lead churches and preach that we have a wonderful privilege but an awesome responsibility. We must not proclaim a religion that is defined by good works and religious acts. Whilst these things should flow from our faith they are the effect not the cause.
The cause should be the new life that we have found in Jesus. This involves rejecting rules and good works as a way of earning God's favour. Instead we need to realize that we are not good enough for God and that we need his mercy and forgiveness shown to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The effect is once we come to God sorry for our sins and asking for His forgiveness through Jesus we are free to live for Him. To put Him and other people first. To live better lives that will involve good deeds and regular worship.
A lot of people, including some who go to church, muddle the cause, trusting in Jesus, with the effect, living a better life. They think that they are a "good person" so this makes them a Christian. They may even think that they are better than someone who is a Christian and goes to church. They may also think that because Christianity is about being a good person then they do not need to go to church to do this.
What we are talking about is heart religion and not head religion. Our trust in Jesus should be radical and life changing, not just living life according to a moral code and attending public worship. Our whole lives are called to be an act of worship, something we pray in this service after we have received the bread and the wine.
ROMANS 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
We cannot come to God with hands full of our pride, rules and good works. We can only come to Him aware of our own unworthiness and inability to be worthy of a right relationship. We can come to Him with open, empty hands, willing to receive His mercy and undeserved favour. When we do this He will fill us with His Holy Spirit so, instead of being full of ourselves we are full of Him. We will then be equipped for every goo work that he has prepared for us to do ( Ephes. 2:10 ).
If you have not received the mercy of God before. If you have tried to live a good life, give up and turn to Jesus. He is the way to God.
If you know the grace and mercy of God in Jesus rejoice. Continue to live in it, and share it with others, many of whom will have no idea what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus.
14/10/04 10 a.m. Luke 11:47-54
Luke 11:47 "Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, `I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.' 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all. 52 "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering." 53 When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.
A little girl baked a cake without benefit of a cookbook or her mother's advice. She knew nothing about proportions of flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and milk, and never thought of eggs or shortening. When the cake came out of the oven, it was well rounded and nicely browned. She exhibited it to her family with pride as "a cake I made my very own self," but when she took her first bite of it she found it bitter with too much baking powder, and hard as a rock. In today's gospel Jesus criticized the Pharisees for following their own recipe rather than God's.
When I saw this was the set reading for today I was tempted to preach on one of the other set passages! I have resisted that temptation. Just because a passage looks difficult or uncomfortable doesn't mean we should shy away from it.
Jesus had already outlined some of his "woes" or complaints against the Pharisees.
Lavish constructions had been built over the graves of the prophets by the Pharisees. Prophets are people who declare the words of God. Many of these were persecuted and martyred by the forerunners of the Pharisees who were legalistic, proud and unwilling to listen to God.
Jesus said that, the building of the tombs testified against the Pharisees. What did he mean? After all, it might be deduced that this action was honouring the prophets. The tombs were a testimony against them because they were evidence that the Pharisees were more about show than action, something that Jesus had criticized them for earlier. They opposed contemporary prophets like John the Baptist and Jesus, although Jesus was, of course, far more than just a prophet. They would also oppose the prophets from the early church who spoke the word of God. The true sign of their response to the messengers God sent was not in honouring those who were dead, but in killing those who were alive!
It has also been suggested that the Pharisees build these tombs out of guilt because their predecessors had murdered the prophets they claimed to honour.
Jesus told the parable of the tenants against the Pharisees ( 20:9ff ), predicting that they who had killed the prophets would also kill Him. The Pharisees lived in their own comfortable religious world and didn't want to be awakened from it by God!
Jesus promised that there would be more prophets, that they would also be killed and that the guilt for all of the prophets who were killed would be borne by that generation of Pharisees.
49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, `I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.' 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.
Jesus' words might be considered harsh until we consider that all of these prophets brought, essentially, the same message. Repent. Turn back to God. Follow His ways not religion. And, from John the Baptist onwards, follow Jesus.
In persecuting and killing the contemporary prophets, including God himself, the Pharisees were, effectively guilty of persecuting and murdering all of them.
Earlier Jesus had criticized the Pharisees for burdening people rather than helping them, 11:46. They were hindering people by saying that they had to adhere to hundreds of rules which they, themselves couldn't and didn't keep. For example, they would say they believed in the Ten Commandments but were happy to murder Jesus.
The Pharisees thought they had the 'knowledge' of how to enter God's kingdom but they were wrong. They not only prevented themselves from knowing God through their ignorance, they also stopped others, whom they had a responsibility to lead, from entering also. 52 "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."
Some people today follow the ways of the Pharisees. They think they can earn their way into God's kingdom by being good. Trying to adhere to a self-imposed moral code they may have little to do with God's will.
None of us can be good enough. Only one person has ever been good enough. Jesus. When he was murdered on the cross he also took upon himself the punishment for the sins of the world. He paid the price so we can be free. Free to enter God's kingdom and have a right relationship with Him. Free to love Him and follow His ways. The way of justice, love and mercy.
Jesus' rebuke provoked the Pharisees who tried to discredit him by asking awkward questions.
This passage challenges us, too.
Do we listen to and obey the word of God? Or do we reject the message and, perhaps, also the messenger(s)?
Are we following the way of the Pharisees? Trying to justify ourselves by living life according to a code that, perhaps owes more to us than God.
Or do we allow God's word to challenge us. His Spirit to work in us. His Son to save us?
A former organist of the celebrated Freiburg Cathedral, who could no longer play was made custodian of the great organ. One day a visitor came to the cathedral and asked to play the organ, but the custodian refused. "No one but myself and the present organist has ever touched the keys," the custodian objected.
But the visitor pleaded until he was given permission to play a few notes. He slipped into the seat and touched first one note and then another. Then, running his fingers over the keys, he filled the whole cathedral with such beautiful music that the organist was entranced. When the visitor finished, the old custodian came to him and asked his name. And the visitor replied, "My name is Felix Mendelssohn." And until the end of his life, the old organist would exclaim over and over, "To think I almost missed hearing Mendelssohn play on my organ!"
How many souls have been the losers for not letting Jesus touch their hearts with heavenly music!