Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Exposing Religious Phonies Msg 721 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Exposing Religious Phonies Msg 721 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Hopefully you have brought a copy of the Scriptures with you.
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Speaker 1: If so, turned to the first book of the New Testament,
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Speaker 1: locate chapter twenty three. I'll be reading for us the
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Speaker 1: first twelve verses of Matthew twenty three. These are words
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Speaker 1: of warning. They are not easy for us to hear.
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Speaker 1: Not only were they relevant in the days of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: of course, but equally relevant in our day, where there
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Speaker 1: is so much a religious fraud and so many religious phonies,
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Speaker 1: not just in pulpits, but among Christian ranks, that messages
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Speaker 1: like this need to be delivered on occasion just to
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Speaker 1: jar us awake and to take these things personally, since
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Speaker 1: they are not just meant for someone else living way
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Speaker 1: back in the first century, but they're meant for people
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Speaker 1: just like us who can be caught up in the
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Speaker 1: very same things. You have your bible open to Matthew
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Speaker 1: twenty three. I'll be reading from the New Living Translation,
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Speaker 1: and you follow along as we read together. Let's stand
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Speaker 1: for the reading of God's word. Then Jesus said to
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Speaker 1: the crowds and to his disciples. The teachers of religious
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Speaker 1: law and the pharisees are the official interpreters of the
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Speaker 1: law of Moses. Practice and obey whatever they tell you,
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Speaker 1: but but don't follow their example, for they don't practice
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Speaker 1: what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands
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Speaker 1: and never lift a finger to ease the burden. Everything
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Speaker 1: they do is for show on their arms. They wear
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Speaker 1: extra wide prayer boxes with scripture versus inside, and they
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Speaker 1: wear robes with extra long tassels. And they love to
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Speaker 1: sit at the head table at banquets and in the
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Speaker 1: seats of honor in the synagogues. They love to receive
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Speaker 1: respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to
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Speaker 1: be called rabbi. Don't let anyone call you rabbi, for
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Speaker 1: you have only one teacher, and all of you are
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Speaker 1: equal as brothers and sisters. And don't address anyone here
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Speaker 1: on earth as father or only God in heaven is
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Speaker 1: your spiritual father. And don't let anyone call you teacher,
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Speaker 1: for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The greatest
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Speaker 1: among you must be a servant. But those who exalt
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Speaker 1: themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will
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Speaker 1: be exalted. The message to day is not something you
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Speaker 1: will hear in any other place outside of church. It
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Speaker 1: isn't popular, it isn't really wanted, but it needs to
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Speaker 1: be declared. So let's pray that our hearts will be
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Speaker 1: open to receive it and to remember it. Please be seated,
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Speaker 1: our Father in heaven. You alone are worthy of praise.
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Speaker 1: You alone deserve the glory. But there's this there's this
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Speaker 1: nature within us that wants to siphon off some of
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Speaker 1: that praise and to bask in some of that glory,
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Speaker 1: even before we hear what you have to say through
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Speaker 1: your word today. Please accept our confession that we are
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Speaker 1: prone toward pride, that we do watch out for ourselves,
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Speaker 1: that we care too much about what other people say,
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Speaker 1: and we are far more important to ourselves than we
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Speaker 1: should be. Remind us that you take care of us.
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Speaker 1: You don't need us to watch out for ourselves. You
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Speaker 1: are the one who lifts up and puts down. You
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Speaker 1: don't need us to do that. You were the one
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Speaker 1: who makes decisions regarding promotions and emotions. You don't need
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Speaker 1: us to manipulate it or to fight it. Teach us,
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Speaker 1: Lord what it means to truly rest in your good
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Speaker 1: plan and to rely on your arm of mercy. Help
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Speaker 1: us to become so self forgetful that we serve others,
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Speaker 1: and just as quickly as we began, may we forget
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Speaker 1: the serving, for we have done it for you. Help
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Speaker 1: us to be keen to those random acts of kindness.
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Speaker 1: Help us to be very discerning to those moments when
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Speaker 1: a word of encouragement is in order or an opportunity
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Speaker 1: to affirm another. Deliver us from needing it for ourselves.
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Speaker 1: Teach us, in the process of our growing up, what
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Speaker 1: it means to be a servant at heart, not to
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Speaker 1: talk about it, not to put it on display, but
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Speaker 1: to live it. Help us to live it. Help us
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Speaker 1: to be what your son was so good at being,
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Speaker 1: That is a giver of mercy, a helper of those
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Speaker 1: in need. And speaking of that, our hearts continue to
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Speaker 1: go out to those who don't know where they'll sleep tonight,
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Speaker 1: who haven't a car to drive, who haven't a job
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Speaker 1: a place, who are feeling like wanderers. Help them lord
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Speaker 1: in their helplessness, and somehow send along those who have
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Speaker 1: big arms and great hearts that they might be lifted
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Speaker 1: up and encouraged. Remind us, when we slip in between
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Speaker 1: the sheets tonight to give you thanks for a bid
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Speaker 1: and when we sit down at a table to give
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Speaker 1: you thanks for food, and when we put a cold
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Speaker 1: drink to our lips, to give you thanks for something
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Speaker 1: to drink. In the process of growing up, Lord may
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Speaker 1: reguard against taking for granted the simple things of life
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Speaker 1: that are so important. Now, Lord, our gifts are really
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Speaker 1: coming from you, because if it weren't for you, we
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Speaker 1: wouldn't have our job, we wouldn't make our income, we
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Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to be a part of what's known
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Speaker 1: as a generous believer. Because you were teaching us that
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Speaker 1: find favor in our gifts. Today we give them with
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Speaker 1: great hope that they'll be useful to others, and the
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Speaker 1: process we'll learn to be less selfish ourselves. You supply
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Speaker 1: our every need, and we count on that today as
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Speaker 1: we give and as we pray. In the name of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: everybody said, Amen. Today I'm delivering a warning to all
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Speaker 1: of us. Please do more than hear it. Please pay
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Speaker 1: attention to it and remember it. A warning is a
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Speaker 1: statement of impending danger or evil. It is advice to beware.
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Speaker 1: It is counsel to cease an undesirable or dangerous course
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Speaker 1: of action. A warning does no good if it's ignored,
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Speaker 1: shrugged off, or forgotten. Warnings are meant to be taken seriously.
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Speaker 1: This is no time for a Sunday morning snooze. This
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Speaker 1: warning is ultra important because Jesus is the one who
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Speaker 1: first delivered it. I'm simply a messenger. Without him, I
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Speaker 1: have nothing to say. He first gave these words regarding
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Speaker 1: those who were religious phony. If they had all ended
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Speaker 1: in the first century, I would have no reason to
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Speaker 1: declare the warning today. But they have proliferated over time
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Speaker 1: so that now they fill pulpits. They occupy places among
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Speaker 1: those called elders. They are in Christian circles, Christian schools,
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Speaker 1: Christian seminaries, Christian gatherings all around the world. Religious leaders
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Speaker 1: of that day as of this day, were deceived. Therefore
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Speaker 1: they were dangerous leaders. Leaders who deceive are dangerous because
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Speaker 1: they gain a following, and those who follow often realized
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Speaker 1: too late the deception. What I'm saying will not be
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Speaker 1: politically correct, it will not be pleasant to your ears
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Speaker 1: or easy to sit through. It may help you to
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Speaker 1: know that these words represent Jesus' final sermon before the public.
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Speaker 1: Following this, his public deliveries were over. This was it,
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Speaker 1: This is his last sermon, and it's a scorcher. Here's
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Speaker 1: how one trustworthy expositor describes this sermon, referring to the
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Speaker 1: whole of Matthew twenty three, Jesus' words fly from his
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Speaker 1: lips like claps of thunder and spears of lightning. Out
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Speaker 1: of his mouth. On this occasion came the most fearful
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Speaker 1: and dreadful statements that Jesus uttered on Earth. Close quote
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Speaker 1: in proof of that. In the latter part of his
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Speaker 1: penetrating delivery, Jesus repeats the condemning vocative to all of
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Speaker 1: his listeners, woe to you, Woe to you, woe to you,
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Speaker 1: woe to you, seven consecutive times. You count them beginning
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Speaker 1: at verse thirteen. When you read it in the message,
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Speaker 1: it's You're hopeless. You're hopeless, your hopeless. Strong strong words,
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Speaker 1: I repeat, he calls those he is exposing, and I
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Speaker 1: quote hypocrites, sons of hell, blind guides, fools, robbers, filthy
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Speaker 1: vessels full of greed, self indulgence, and all sorts of impurity,
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Speaker 1: whitewashed tombs, snakes, vipers, persecutors, and murderers. Still quoting outwardly,
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Speaker 1: you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are
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Speaker 1: filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. As I said at the beginning,
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Speaker 1: these warnings are serious. Perhaps it will help you to
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Speaker 1: listen a little better if you will think of these
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Speaker 1: people as religious terrorists. You never know they're terrorists till
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Speaker 1: the explosion, till there's suddenly a death or a series
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Speaker 1: of deaths, and then you realize he was a terrorist.
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Speaker 1: You see, religious phony don't walk around telling you that
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Speaker 1: that's what they are. As a matter of fact, most
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Speaker 1: often you're very impressed by the externals. They make sure
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Speaker 1: of that. They're good at that. You see, all of
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Speaker 1: those Jesus Is condemning looked so religious, they dressed so impressively,
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Speaker 1: they sounded so righteous. They came across like pious saints.
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Speaker 1: But in reality they were savages because they were deceivers.
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Speaker 1: Admit at least some were absolutely sincere. But down deep inside,
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Speaker 1: when the lights went out and the crowds left, and
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Speaker 1: their heads dropped into their pillows and they searched their souls,
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Speaker 1: if they were ever able to do that, they realized
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Speaker 1: they were hypocrites. They told you one thing and they
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Speaker 1: lived another way. They were deceivers. Now, with your Bible open,
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Speaker 1: to Matthew twenty three. Please observe that before Jesus begins
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Speaker 1: his message, we read that he was in front of
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Speaker 1: crowds and his disciples. See it in verse one. Always
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Speaker 1: checked the context when you turned to a chapter of
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Speaker 1: the Bible. This, like every other chapter, has a context.
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Speaker 1: Jesus is standing among a crowd of unnamed people, as
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Speaker 1: well as among those who were his descis diciples, his
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Speaker 1: faithful followers. The crowds would be the general public, the followers,
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Speaker 1: you know, those who cared enough to have set aside
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Speaker 1: their plans in order to walk in his steps. So
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Speaker 1: there's a little different agenda for the two groups Verses
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Speaker 1: one through seven, literally verses two through seven, or for
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Speaker 1: the crowds, and I suggest verses eight through twelve would
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Speaker 1: be for the disciples. Let's look at them a little
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Speaker 1: more carefully. First, to the surprise of many who have
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Speaker 1: heard my warnings. To begin with, there were some things
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Speaker 1: they were to practice and obey that came from the Pharisees.
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Speaker 1: Look verse two. The scribes and the Pharisees, that is,
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Speaker 1: the teachers of religious law, and the Pharisees, who, by
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Speaker 1: the way, don't miss it, knew their scriptures. They really
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Speaker 1: knew the Old Testament. They'd spent their lives studying the scriptures,
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Speaker 1: the law of Moses, the Psalms, the prophets. So he says,
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Speaker 1: the teachers of religious law and the pharisees are the
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Speaker 1: official interpreters of the law of Moses. Everything right about that.
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Speaker 1: God drilled his law with his finger into stone, and
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Speaker 1: Moses took that law and gave it to the people.
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Speaker 1: The people gave it then to the prophets. The prophets
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Speaker 1: passed it along ultimately to people like scribes and pharisees,
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Speaker 1: the official religious leaders, who were to take the scriptures
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Speaker 1: and declare them everything right about that. I do that
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Speaker 1: every Sunday of my life, every time I get a chance,
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Speaker 1: I open the scriptures and I interpret the scriptures everything
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Speaker 1: good about it. And certainly the scriptures are good, so
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Speaker 1: he says of them, it's worth your time to hear
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Speaker 1: what they are telling you, to understand and obey the
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Speaker 1: teachings of Moses. That's what verse three, as it begins,
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Speaker 1: is all about practice. He says, practice and obey whatever
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Speaker 1: they tell you. But that's a big contrast. You could
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Speaker 1: hear the break screech verbally but don't follow their example.
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Speaker 1: They may deliver the truth from their lips, as Moses
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Speaker 1: has stated, but they live a lie. They say one thing,
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Speaker 1: but they live another way. In fact, if I were
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Speaker 1: to divide there the reason for not following them, I
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Speaker 1: would find three three of them. Look closely. Verse three
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Speaker 1: says they don't practice what they teach, so there was
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Speaker 1: a lack of integrity. If I teach one thing and
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Speaker 1: then I go out and live another way, I'm a hypocrite.
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Speaker 1: I'm a phony. I may speak it well, but I
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Speaker 1: don't live it well. And he says, because they do that,
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Speaker 1: don't follow them. They don't practice what they teach. Teaching
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Speaker 1: is good, they're living is poor. Don't follow their example,
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Speaker 1: so they lack integrity. They're consummate hypocrites. There's a second.
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Speaker 1: Look at verse four, and you who have lived under
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Speaker 1: legalistic teaching won't have any problem understanding this. They crush
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Speaker 1: people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger
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Speaker 1: to ease the burden. Look at those words. Their words
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Speaker 1: are crushing in that they add to what Moses has written,
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Speaker 1: and they make the words a burden, so they lack sympathy.
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Speaker 1: They don't help you live the life that God tells
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Speaker 1: us where to live. The responsibility of a faithful teacher
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Speaker 1: is not only to declare what God has said, but
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Speaker 1: practically speaking, to help people put it in the shoe leather,
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Speaker 1: to help people carry it out, to identify with the
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Speaker 1: pains and the groans of life, and to assist people
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Speaker 1: as they struggle to do what God has written and
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Speaker 1: to identify with the struggle. They didn't do that. They
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Speaker 1: laid the heavies on you and you had to produce,
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Speaker 1: and if you didn't, they judged you. So there's a
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Speaker 1: lack of sympathy. Third, and don't miss this verse five,
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Speaker 1: everything they do is for show the way the New
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Speaker 1: Living Translation reads, I like there's show offs. There's show offs.
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Speaker 1: What they do they do to be seen. So there's
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Speaker 1: a lack of humility. Did you get the three? A
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Speaker 1: lack of integrity, they don't carry out what they teach,
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Speaker 1: a lack of sympathy. They burden you with the requirements,
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Speaker 1: the dues and don'ts. And third there's a lack of humility.
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Speaker 1: Whatever they do they do to be seen. They're dripping
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Speaker 1: with self importance and conceit. We would say they paraded
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Speaker 1: their piety. They glorified themselves, appearing to be holy men
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Speaker 1: of God, looking like they were glorifying God, when in
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Speaker 1: fact they were glorifying themselves. If you read further into
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Speaker 1: the verses five, six and seven, you will see that
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Speaker 1: everything they wore, every place they sat, every word they prayed,
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Speaker 1: every act they did, every title they were called, was
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Speaker 1: designed to glorify themselves. And oh my, they love titles.
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Speaker 1: They loved to be called Rabbi, reverend, doctrine. I love
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Speaker 1: those titles. By the way, before I go any further,
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Speaker 1: it may may not have yet dawned on you. Jesus
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Speaker 1: had a lot of courage to say this because some
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Speaker 1: of those people were standing right in front of him.
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Speaker 1: You know, we're pretty good at saying these things behind
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Speaker 1: people's backs. Jesus is good at saying them to their fronts,
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Speaker 1: to their faces. Think of what that must have been like.
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Speaker 1: No one criticized scribes and pharisees until Jesus came along. Nobody,
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Speaker 1: and my, when he did it, he made up for
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Speaker 1: loss of time. He certainly did. In fact, I mentioned
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Speaker 1: the word doctor a moment ago. You'll find as interesting
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Speaker 1: as I did. The Latin equivalent of rabbi comes from
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Speaker 1: Docir docere long e. The word doctor is derived from Docir.
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Speaker 1: In Jesus' day, the title rabbi carried the exalted idea
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Speaker 1: and I quote supreme one, excellency, most knowledgeable, one, great one.
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Speaker 1: They love that title rabbi. Nothing wrong with being called
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Speaker 1: rabbi if that was your responsibility, But they loved it
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Speaker 1: because of what that represented. I read one case in
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Speaker 1: my research. One rabbi insisted that he should be buried
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Speaker 1: in white garments when he died because he wanted the
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Speaker 1: world to know how worthy he was to a here
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Speaker 1: before the presence of God. But isn't that nice? Dress
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Speaker 1: me in white? Because the world needs to know how
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Speaker 1: worthy I am to appear before God. No shame, No,
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Speaker 1: their religion, Let me put it in a sentence. Their
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Speaker 1: religion was an outrageous display of over the top ostentation.
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Speaker 1: Just over the top ostentation. It's an apt description of
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Speaker 1: the Pharisees lifestyle, everything called attention to themselves and how
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Speaker 1: they loved the limelight. Maybe it's time for me to
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Speaker 1: give you a moment to catch your breath. So let
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Speaker 1: me tell you a story, true story, many many years ago,
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Speaker 1: My has to be an over thirty or more years ago,
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Speaker 1: we were living in California. I was a friend of
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Speaker 1: a man who produced television broadcasts and excellent television shows,
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Speaker 1: and he wanted to do a television talk show put
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Speaker 1: together by randomly by four individuals who were not related
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Speaker 1: to each other. They were some different walks of the
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Speaker 1: Christian life and of all things. He asked me to
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Speaker 1: be one of them, and he asked another friend of
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Speaker 1: mine to be one. He asked someone we had never
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Speaker 1: none of us had ever met, to be one of them.
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Speaker 1: Represented a little school that he was the president of.
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Speaker 1: And then he asked a fourth individual who was not
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Speaker 1: in ministry, but was a Christian layman and was a great,
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Speaker 1: great guy. But anyway, when we got it was to
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Speaker 1: be filmed in Dallas. So we all were to catch
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Speaker 1: off flight and get Dallas, and then there we were
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Speaker 1: to meet and the night before go over the plan.
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Speaker 1: The next day film the two hour show one hour,
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Speaker 1: then the next one we'd film that. Fine. So the
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Speaker 1: one who produced the show said to a buddy of
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Speaker 1: my buddy and me, he said, look, I'd like you
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Speaker 1: to meet so and so at the plane. He's the
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Speaker 1: he's the one who comes from another part of the country.
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Speaker 1: I won't mention the country other part of the country,
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Speaker 1: and I'll just say when we ask, because you don't
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Speaker 1: have a picture of him, how will we know who
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Speaker 1: he is? He said, oh, you know, well that was interesting.
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Speaker 1: This was back in the days. We could go all
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Speaker 1: the way to the gate to meet the person coming
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Speaker 1: off the plane, remember those days. And so we went
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Speaker 1: all the way to the gate. We waited, we waited,
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Speaker 1: and virtually everybody was pretty much off the plane, and
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Speaker 1: we kept looking for uh, mister hotshot and uh and
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Speaker 1: he didn't show up. And finally, uh, let's call him
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Speaker 1: a shock shlock shows up and uh he walks he
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Speaker 1: walks out. He's kind of looking around, like, where are
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Speaker 1: those people are supposed to meet me. He's carrying two bags.
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Speaker 1: It looked like they were maybe carrying two small pianos,
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Speaker 1: and uh, a lot of stuff, a lot of heavy stuff.
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Speaker 1: Had a hat tied, dark suit. So it's what I'm
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Speaker 1: worrying anyway, uh uh he Uh, we didn't notice it
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Speaker 1: right away. He kind of wandered around. He was a
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Speaker 1: little perturbed because someone went right there. And I walked
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Speaker 1: over and I said, well, you must be Sam Schlock
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Speaker 1: and he said doctor Shock like, oh of course, So
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Speaker 1: he said here and he drops his bags. He says,
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Speaker 1: carry these. Uh. I said, well, you know, we we'd
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Speaker 1: had a little trouble finding you because we didn't we
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Speaker 1: didn't know what you look like. We've never met before,
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Speaker 1: or really we're walking along. Tell me what does the
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Speaker 1: president look like? I wanted to say, a jerk? So
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Speaker 1: you look like you look like a jerk. Sounded like
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Speaker 1: a jerk the more we were with him, he was
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Speaker 1: a jerk, you know. And that night of all things, Uh,
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Speaker 1: someone in the middle of the night ordered two Budweisers
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Speaker 1: and in a basket of pretzels and had them delivered
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Speaker 1: to his room. Uh, in the middle of the night.
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Speaker 1: Can you imagine someone in our group doing like that
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Speaker 1: on that guy? He was really hot to be tied,
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Speaker 1: you know. Boy was he mad next morning. Anyway, we
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Speaker 1: had fun doing that TV show. If you knew what
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Speaker 1: I am restraining right now, you would be so proud
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Speaker 1: of me. Classic example. What was important to Shock was Shock,
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Speaker 1: not you, not her, not the producer, not the program.
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Speaker 1: It was all about him. And don't you don't you
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Speaker 1: forget total blind spot, total not to tell you. Uh.
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Speaker 1: When I went to bed a round three, Uh, I
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Speaker 1: began to think, am I anywhere near that? God help
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Speaker 1: me if I ever get anywhere near it? Because he
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Speaker 1: doesn't know that, or he doesn't have someone near him
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Speaker 1: to tell him that. I wondered about his wife and
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Speaker 1: what she's got to go through to put up with that,
32:08
Speaker 1: and his kids and the school. You see, when you
32:19
Speaker 1: think through this enough, you realize this isn't a message
32:26
Speaker 1: for someone else. This is to you and me, which
32:35
Speaker 1: is why he speaks to his disciples very carefully, his followers,
32:40
Speaker 1: that's what we are, hopefully we're we're followers of Jesus.
32:51
Speaker 1: And he says to us, don't let anyone call you rabbi.
32:59
Speaker 1: That's the I say it like that, because there's nothing
33:02
Speaker 1: again wrong with the title or even if you've earned
33:05
Speaker 1: your doctorate and you're and that's what you're known for it,
33:08
Speaker 1: that's fine, but don't don't don't expect that. I tell
33:15
Speaker 1: the young men and women at the seminary where I
33:19
Speaker 1: often have the privilege of speaking, and I say to them,
33:23
Speaker 1: we all admire the fact that you work hard to
33:25
Speaker 1: get this degree. It's a tough degree, and we all
33:30
Speaker 1: admire the work you do, and ultimately that that piece
33:38
Speaker 1: of paper that states you're a graduate. Now you get
33:43
Speaker 1: that paper, and the very next thing you begin to
33:46
Speaker 1: work on is to get over it. Get over it.
33:52
Speaker 1: No one will ever ask about your GPA. No one
33:57
Speaker 1: will ever ask about how well you did at the school.
34:00
Speaker 1: Nobody cares but you. You're entering into a world where you
34:06
Speaker 1: give yourself up, where you're really exalting someone else who
34:19
Speaker 1: wound up on a cross. So don't correct people of
34:26
Speaker 1: what title they call you. Just be grateful they called you.
34:33
Speaker 1: That's what he means when he says this. In other words,
34:38
Speaker 1: let me put it this way, Shun pretentious titles. Shaun
34:44
Speaker 1: pretentious titles. Don't let anyone do that, for you have
34:52
Speaker 1: only one teacher, and you're all equal as brothers and sisters.
34:56
Speaker 1: Would all of us remember that there is no status,
34:59
Speaker 1: there is no rank in the Christian life. I'll never
35:03
Speaker 1: forget going. It's a wonderful visit I had with the
35:09
Speaker 1: former Hebrew professor, And I said in his office, because
35:13
Speaker 1: I was struggling with a particular interpretation out of proverbs
35:18
Speaker 1: that I knew doctor Walkee would know and would be
35:22
Speaker 1: able to give me counsel on. He could he'd studied proverbs,
35:26
Speaker 1: you know, and he could read it from the original
35:29
Speaker 1: text backwards. He really knew the text, and he really
35:33
Speaker 1: knew God, and he really had a walk with us,
35:36
Speaker 1: so I said, in his office. After I graduated, I
35:39
Speaker 1: was pastoring a church in the Dallas area. It really
35:43
Speaker 1: was irving, and I went in to see him, and
35:46
Speaker 1: he said to me, what's on your mind, Chuck. I said, well,
35:48
Speaker 1: doctor Walkee, I've come to a section of scripture that
35:53
Speaker 1: I'm getting ready to teach the next several Sundays. But
35:56
Speaker 1: I don't find it in any of the books that
35:59
Speaker 1: I would normally to my research, and I'm a little
36:01
Speaker 1: uneasy that I may not have interpreted it correctly. He said, well,
36:05
Speaker 1: let me hear your interpretation. So I gave it to
36:08
Speaker 1: it a little bit of fear and trembling because I'm
36:10
Speaker 1: talking to, you know, Bruce Walkee. And yet he was
36:15
Speaker 1: as gracious as he could be, and he listened like this.
36:21
Speaker 1: When he looked at you, looked like he's looking at
36:23
Speaker 1: the back of your cranium, right through your eyeballs. Never
36:28
Speaker 1: took his eyes, all of them. And when I finished
36:32
Speaker 1: my explanation, and he asked a couple of questions, how
36:36
Speaker 1: did you come to this, and what was it that
36:38
Speaker 1: led you to that that is unique? I thought that
36:41
Speaker 1: was a nice word, unique, and then I said, well,
36:46
Speaker 1: you know, doctor Walkee, I know this is really different,
36:49
Speaker 1: and I really respect your opinion. He said, stop right there, Chuck,
36:58
Speaker 1: there are no popes in the body of Christ. Never
37:03
Speaker 1: forget that. I'm no final authority. Yeah, I teach, I
37:12
Speaker 1: mess around in the languages. Yeah, And I love him
37:17
Speaker 1: and I love it that you would come talk with me.
37:20
Speaker 1: Why I would say to you, if the Lord's told
37:22
Speaker 1: you this, you better preach it. You better teach that
37:27
Speaker 1: it's what the Lord shows you. You know what said
37:29
Speaker 1: to me, there's one Lord. And I thanked him and
37:37
Speaker 1: put his arm around me and he said, ah, no,
37:39
Speaker 1: I thank you for coming and talking with me. And
37:44
Speaker 1: the following Sunday it was everything I could do not
37:46
Speaker 1: to quote Bruce Walkee as saying, you know, he's a
37:50
Speaker 1: proof this, but I didn't do that. He didn't give
37:55
Speaker 1: me permission, and I'm not sure he would approve it.
37:59
Speaker 1: But I don't need his approval. What I need is
38:04
Speaker 1: the assurance of the Holy Spirit that this is what
38:08
Speaker 1: God would have me declare, and I must be careful
38:11
Speaker 1: how I came to the conclusion, in the way I
38:14
Speaker 1: worked my way through the text. And then if I'm
38:17
Speaker 1: sure of that and the language lends itself in that direction,
38:22
Speaker 1: I should I should declare it fully acknowledging it's my interpretation.
38:29
Speaker 1: But how gracious it was, and there was no pretension whatsoever.
38:34
Speaker 1: Someone told me the other day he saw doctor walk.
38:37
Speaker 1: It's been years and years and years and years since
38:39
Speaker 1: I've seen him. And I said, how was he? He said,
38:42
Speaker 1: same guy, gracious as ever. Isn't that wonderful after all
38:48
Speaker 1: these years? Same gracious man. Don't let anyone call you rabbi,
38:57
Speaker 1: And verse nine, don't address anyone here on earth. His
39:01
Speaker 1: father is if we're God in heaven alone, is your
39:04
Speaker 1: is your spiritual father. So the next thing is resist
39:10
Speaker 1: pedestalizing others. Don't don't miss these points, folks, there where
39:17
Speaker 1: we fall. First, we we uh, we like pretentious titles.
39:26
Speaker 1: Give them up, set them aside. So you've got that,
39:31
Speaker 1: you've got an honor in receiving that. Great get over it.
39:35
Speaker 1: Let's get on with the work that's we're called to do. Second,
39:40
Speaker 1: don't be guilty of pedestalizing anyone. Let me tell you.
39:46
Speaker 1: I won't get into the story, but something I can
39:48
Speaker 1: tell you our story. We made the mistake of pedestalizing
39:52
Speaker 1: a minister, and when he fell, it was just about
39:56
Speaker 1: all we could do to keep on our feet. We
40:00
Speaker 1: when you've pedicalize anyone, you're in for a real disappointment,
40:04
Speaker 1: because they've got feet of clay. They may not fall
40:08
Speaker 1: in some huge way, but they'll let you down. They'll
40:11
Speaker 1: show their humanity, and when they do, you'll be disillusioned.
40:19
Speaker 1: So this is wise counsel for all of us. It's
40:25
Speaker 1: okay to admire and appreciate, it's never okay to exalt
40:31
Speaker 1: and worship another human being. Never. So when he comes
40:38
Speaker 1: down to the very end, he says what we all
40:40
Speaker 1: need to remember. First, cultivate a servant's heart. Here's the
40:46
Speaker 1: path to greatness. Cultivate a servant's heart. Look at verse eleven.
40:51
Speaker 1: The greatest among you must be a what a servant?
40:58
Speaker 1: A servant? All of us would do well to improve
41:03
Speaker 1: our serve look for ways to help others get ahead.
41:09
Speaker 1: The message reads, do you want to stand out? Then
41:12
Speaker 1: step down, good counsel, The greatest among you must be
41:19
Speaker 1: a servant. Jesus teaches this, those who exalt themselves will
41:24
Speaker 1: be humble, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
41:28
Speaker 1: Second model, genuine humility. Model it. Don't announce it. Don't
41:38
Speaker 1: be like the guy that wrote the book how became
41:40
Speaker 1: the most humble man in the world with twelve life
41:42
Speaker 1: sized pictures. Don't promote it, just live it. Just live
41:50
Speaker 1: it in such a self forgetful way that you're surprised
41:56
Speaker 1: with anything that comes down the pike you. This past week,
42:04
Speaker 1: I want to spend a few closing moments on this
42:06
Speaker 1: very important point. This past week I pulled from my
42:10
Speaker 1: shelves a book that has helped me a lot to
42:16
Speaker 1: keep my feet on the ground and to keep things
42:18
Speaker 1: in perspective. It's a book by Paul David Tripp titled
42:24
Speaker 1: Dangerous Calling. If you have a friend in ministry, that
42:29
Speaker 1: would be a great book to give them. Dangerous Calling.
42:35
Speaker 1: You know what I believe to be the most dangerous
42:37
Speaker 1: career on earth, the ministry. The ministry you have the
42:46
Speaker 1: power of God at your fingertips, and it's to be
42:51
Speaker 1: delivered by a broken human vessel who is not deserving
42:59
Speaker 1: of that calling. So it's dangerous and we can so
43:04
Speaker 1: easily fall into the trap of feeling like we've arrived.
43:11
Speaker 1: His book is filled with warnings. The third section of
43:16
Speaker 1: his book is the Danger of Arrival, and there's a
43:22
Speaker 1: chapter called self glory, Very Convicting. I read it again
43:30
Speaker 1: toward the end of this last week. In it, he
43:35
Speaker 1: lists several characteristics damaging characteristics of self glory. I don't
43:43
Speaker 1: want you to write them down, but I want you
43:46
Speaker 1: to hear them. He offered ten, and time doesn't allow
43:51
Speaker 1: me to give all ten. I'll give you a select
43:54
Speaker 1: number of them, all of which make you quiet and
43:58
Speaker 1: make you think. They're very convicting for all of us,
44:04
Speaker 1: not just individuals in ministry, because we're all given to
44:08
Speaker 1: self glory. We all tend toward pride as soon as
44:13
Speaker 1: we earn something. We got to deal with the pride
44:17
Speaker 1: of earning it or whatever. Anyway, I'll list six of
44:24
Speaker 1: them for us. Number one, self glory will cause you
44:30
Speaker 1: to parade in public what should be kept in private.
44:41
Speaker 1: Repeating self glory will cause you to parade in public
44:47
Speaker 1: what should be kept in private. Number two, self glory
44:55
Speaker 1: will cause you to be way too self referencing will
45:02
Speaker 1: cause you to be way too self referencing. Proud people
45:07
Speaker 1: like to talk about themselves a lot. Proud people tend
45:12
Speaker 1: to like their opinions more than others opinions. Proud people
45:18
Speaker 1: tend to think they know more and understand more than others.
45:23
Speaker 1: They think they have glory to offer, when in fact
45:26
Speaker 1: they have none. They have none. Self glory will cause
45:34
Speaker 1: you to be way too self referencing. Number three. Self
45:40
Speaker 1: glory will cause you to talk when you should be quiet.
45:48
Speaker 1: Those who are proud of themselves tend to say more
45:55
Speaker 1: than they need to. Number four. Self glory will cause
46:02
Speaker 1: you to care too much about what people think of you,
46:11
Speaker 1: and interestingly, can also cause you to think too little
46:16
Speaker 1: about what people think of you. You can be so
46:21
Speaker 1: stuck on yourself that even a comment made for your
46:26
Speaker 1: good that may be confronting will be ignored and missed altogether.
46:35
Speaker 1: One of my profs confronted me when I was a student.
46:39
Speaker 1: I got to know him really well, and he felt
46:42
Speaker 1: a closeness that I felt with him, and I was
46:44
Speaker 1: so grateful for it. He told me on one occasion,
46:48
Speaker 1: I'll never forget it. Chuck, you got a great sense
46:51
Speaker 1: of humor, but there's a problem. Often it's at another
46:55
Speaker 1: person's it's at the harassment of another person. He was right,
47:04
Speaker 1: I've learned to stop doing that. I need to hear
47:09
Speaker 1: that strong word at another person's expense. That's the word
47:16
Speaker 1: I was looking for. You have a sense of humor,
47:20
Speaker 1: but it's often at another person's expense. In other words,
47:24
Speaker 1: there's sarcasm. Be careful about using sarcasm as humor because
47:33
Speaker 1: usually someone else is the brunt of it, and they're
47:37
Speaker 1: usually the ones not smiling. Anyway, back to this list.
47:47
Speaker 1: Number five, self glory will cause you to struggle with
47:50
Speaker 1: the blessings of others. Self glory is always at the
47:54
Speaker 1: base of envy when you're end as if someone else
47:58
Speaker 1: you're thinking about. Yourself will cause you to struggle with
48:03
Speaker 1: the blessings of others. And we're commanded to rejoice with
48:06
Speaker 1: those who rejoice. Someone gets promoted, fantastic, how wonderful. Let's
48:14
Speaker 1: celebrate someone has something great happen. Let's get together and
48:18
Speaker 1: have a party. Let's celebrate your promotion or what you've accomplished.
48:28
Speaker 1: Self glory doesn't like to go to parties like that. Sixth,
48:33
Speaker 1: and finally, self glory will cause you to resist facing
48:36
Speaker 1: and admitting your own sins, weaknesses and failures. It was
48:44
Speaker 1: the longest time before I realized the value of just
48:49
Speaker 1: being who I am. I have my wife to thank
48:52
Speaker 1: for most of that. She endured years of bad preaching
48:59
Speaker 1: and my attempt to do what I was called to do.
49:06
Speaker 1: So she finally said to me, why don't you just
49:08
Speaker 1: try being who you are? And I thought that maybe
49:13
Speaker 1: is the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life,
49:17
Speaker 1: which sounds like self glory, doesn't it? And she said, no, really,
49:22
Speaker 1: it works well at home, and I think it would
49:26
Speaker 1: work well in public. Just don't be too afraid to
49:30
Speaker 1: tell them where you struggle, or, as Jim Peterson with
49:34
Speaker 1: the Navigators taught me, don't be afraid to let people
49:37
Speaker 1: see the cracks in your life. Wise counsel, but self
49:43
Speaker 1: glory doesn't like that. I don't want you to think
49:45
Speaker 1: I have any cracks in my life. Whereas when you
49:49
Speaker 1: get rid of that nonsensical way of thinking, you freely
49:53
Speaker 1: say I struggle with that even more than you do,
49:56
Speaker 1: or I understand that battle, been there many times. Okay,
50:04
Speaker 1: strong words today, straight talk. Be careful about who you
50:14
Speaker 1: listen to as a religious leader. Be careful. I care
50:20
Speaker 1: about you. Ten years from Now, when you've been following
50:24
Speaker 1: someone you shouldn't have been following, pay attention to what
50:29
Speaker 1: they say and what they don't say. Remember that little
50:34
Speaker 1: list watching when nobody's watching. And when you're looking for
50:50
Speaker 1: someone to really exalt, choose Christ. Choose Christ, the great apostle,
50:59
Speaker 1: who saw him as the least of all they possible said,
51:03
Speaker 1: I glory in nothing but the Cross of Christ. John
51:10
Speaker 1: Bowring wrote from that line out of Galatians six. In
51:15
Speaker 1: the Cross of Christ, I glory towering over the wrecks
51:18
Speaker 1: of time, all the light of sacred story gathers round
51:29
Speaker 1: its head, sublime. It's about the cross that with me, William.
51:38
Speaker 1: Put the cross uppermost in your mind. Think of Christ,
51:43
Speaker 1: who bore it for you, and as you sit there,
51:48
Speaker 1: thank him. Thank him for going through what you didn't
51:52
Speaker 1: have to go through, so that your sins would be
51:55
Speaker 1: paid for in full, and you would have a path
52:00
Speaker 1: to heaven based on his greatness, his faithfulness, not yours.
52:11
Speaker 1: And if you've never trusted in Jesus, trust in him
52:15
Speaker 1: now turn to him. Now help us all our father
52:26
Speaker 1: in this meism age, Help us all who have learned
52:33
Speaker 1: all through life how to watch out for ourselves, how
52:37
Speaker 1: to come out on top, how to look good? Give
52:43
Speaker 1: us an ability to get beyond that and live for
52:49
Speaker 1: the glory and good of Christ. He must increase, we
52:57
Speaker 1: must decrease in his matchless name. We pray everyone said amen.
53:08
Speaker 1: The preceding message exposing religious phonings was copyrighted in twenty
53:13
Speaker 1: seventeen and twenty twenty one, and the sound recording was
53:17
Speaker 1: copyrighted in twenty twenty one by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
53:21
Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
53:26
Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited.