Title: What's More Important? /Matthew 23:23-28
Contents
The reason the whole world is getting more and more difficult to live in seems to lie in the chaos of values, although different people will say the cause differently. There are so many instances in which we can't really tell which is more valuable and which is more important among the many things before us.
There is a saying about social leadership, but what the leaders should do is that they proclaim the people with the right values. But the tragedy of today is that no one believes that those who belong to the social leadership lead the people. Rather, they have come to think that they are more unclean and greedy than the common people by using their positions. The reason Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and scribes by saying, “Woe to you!” was because they were the leaders of Israeli society at the time, and they cleverly brought about a confusion of values. It was because he was committing an act of upsetting the value of what was more important.
Today's text is a continuation of the rebuke of the Lord, 'Woe to you,' as I said last week. Hearing rebuke right away is a blessing. It is because if you listen carefully to the words of the terrifying rebuke against them and live in the opposite direction instead of following their path, you will be praised as 'Blessed are you.' Therefore, I pray that you will find the way of blessing and the way of restoring true value to all of you through today's Word, and that all of you may become saints who receive praise and blessings from the Lord.
Ladies and gentlemen, is the invisible heart the most important thing in life for us believers? Or is it a visible material, institution, or authority? We will all answer the mind. The Apostle Paul said that we are people who seek the unseen, and he tells us the importance of the heart by saying, "With the heart we believe, and with the mouth we confess, and with the mouth we are saved."
Jesus also emphasized the importance of the heart by pointing out that what goes into the mouth is important to those who criticize the disciples for not washing their hands, but what comes out of the mouth (when eating). However, in today's real life, the visible things are becoming more important than the invisible mind. People who do not believe in the invisible God say that they depend more on the things they see because they do not believe in the invisible God.
That is why Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees so terribly. They say that they serve God better than anyone else, so they wear it on their foreheads and on the fringes of their clothes. In reality, they only care about what they see. I hope you will listen to the Lord's word this morning and live by establishing right values.
He says that throwing away the spirit of the law and doing the law loses its importance.
Look at verses 23-24 of the text. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithes of mint, anise, and cumin, and have forsaken the weightier matters of the law: righteousness, mercy, and faith. But do this and not that. Filter it out and swallow the camel." We are well aware of the tithe in the Old Testament. "You shall give a tithe of the produce of the land every year" (Deuteronomy 14:22) "A tenth of the land, whether the grain of the land or the fruit of the trees, is the LORD's, and it is holy to the LORD" (Leviticus). 27:30) is said.
The law is the commandment of God. The spirit of the commandments, the Lord says, is to love God and love your neighbor. However, the spirit of the commandment is to ignore the invisible and to keep only the visible law as the form of the commandment. It is not to glorify God, but to show off oneself in the name of God. Jesus did not rebuke the Pharisees for tithing. Just as the soulless body is dead, so the spiritless practice of the law is dead. Wouldn't it be nice if you were obligated to give a gift to someone without a loving heart?
They thought that we were meant to boast of your distinction and superiority by saying that we keep the law to an exceptionally detailed level, compared to the general population. It is breaking the greater commandment while trying not to commit a small sin. So the Lord said that he eats ephemera and swallows camels whole. If the ephemera is lost in the wine, it is considered unclean, so it is filtered out and eaten. But camels are also unclean, and they commit all crimes that are as large as a camel, while rejecting the weightier laws of righteousness, mercy and godliness, while covering up things as small as an ephemera. This is a Jewish proverb. Therefore, it is not about giving up this and keeping that. Jesus' intention is not to stop tithing that keeps righteousness, mercy, and godliness. When we practice the law such as tithing, righteousness, mercy, and God, the spirit of the law, must coexist.
“You must do this and not forsake that,” says Jesus. Which one is important? Spiritual reverence and dedicated service are important. Mind is important. Please serve faithfully with love for God and neighbor.
He is asking for a person of true purity.
Blessed are the pure in heart, the Lord says, we will see God. The unclean heart in man, that is, greed or debauchery, is what Paul called affection and slander, which he said was crucified. Today, environmental problems are a serious issue. Renewing the heart of the cross must go hand in hand with keeping the environment clean.
Both digits are important. But if your heart is dirty, it is of no use. With a sanctified heart, our living environment must also be reformed cleanly. Who is God using? No matter how good a vessel is, even if it is a gold vessel or a silver vessel, God does not use it. Therefore, we pray that our members will have the blessing of being cleansed by being washed away with the precious blood of the Lord by throwing off all filthiness and sins, and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Efforts to decorate the grave are futile.
Let's look at verses 27-28. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly look beautiful, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. ."
Now let me finish my speech.
No matter how good things are in the world, they have value only if they have a sincere heart. The heart is important, but God does not use it when it becomes unclean with the sins of the world. I want to be purified by the blood of the Lord. However, some dress up to cover up their unclean hearts. A corpse is a corpse no matter how cremated it is. It is the skull of despair. We must live by the life of Jesus Christ. This is the gospel. Please share this gospel.