Kingdom Indictments pt. 2

On this sermon, Rev. Cristian closes the indictments of Jesus against the Pharisees found in Matthew 23:23-36. Unfortunately the first five minutes of the recording were lost. These included Scriptural reading and sermon introduction, which are added in this episode notes: ***There are out there, specially on the internet, hundreds of “solutions” to a whole bunch of problems that we face that are nothing more than patch work. The other day, for example, someone showed me a video of an easy solution for the timing belt of the car. It consisted on applying deodorant in gel to the timing belt of the car so it stops screeching… We all know what is going to happen, right?… the timing belt is going to snap! The deodorant thing is simply a patch solution. Or what about dozing yourself with Tylenol and hoping that it will fix your broken ribs?… It is a patch solution, it will not fix your broken ribs. Patch solutions never reach to the heart of the issue, they simply keep everything in place, and sometimes they make things worse. And there is something similar to that in the text. Because the Pharisees, as we will see, were champions in patch solutions. But those solutions solve nothing, in fact they deceive people, and because of that, Jesus continues His Kingdom Indictments against the Pharisees, so people may understand the problem and may come to Jesus instead. And we will see these indictments in two parts once again, first, condemnation against false practice, and second, condemnation against false self-image. Let’s see first, the condemnation against false practice. Now, I want you to remember brothers and sisters, what is the main issue here, the main issue is that Jesus, the King, has been rejected by the Pharisees. Instead of believing in Jesus, they have decided to believe in themselves and in their own efforts. The next verses then, are concerned with what the Pharisees called their piety, their obedience to the Law. So look how it all goes, listen to vv. 23-24: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”****