Sermon Tone Analysis

April 26, 2015

*Intro* – (Read Lu 11:37-42) I love gifted impressionists.

A favorite was Rich Little.

John Wayne was one of his staples.

The first time they met, Wayne demanded, “Little, let me see you do that walk.”

Little bravely demonstrated his John Wayne gait to which Wayne said, “I’m glad you’ve still got it; I’m losing it.”

The truth is while impressions are fun, it doesn’t take long to spot an imitation.

It’s shallow; it’s fake; it’s exaggerated and eventually it shows.

Well, the same thing is true of spiritual impressionists -- moralists – someone looking good outwardly, but without any inward reality.

They might also be called a religionist.

Paul warns in II Tim 3:5 that they are “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

(nothing supernatural).

Avoid such people.”

And make sure you are not one of them.

Moralists are all dressed up but with no place to go.

They look great, but are spiritually dead.

That is the Pharisees that Jesus bluntly addresses in our text.

Churches have moralists, too – people thinking they are saved by good works.

Usually putting on an outward show for Christian friends, but living like the world the rest of the time.

Jesus point here is simple.

You may be the best dressed corpse in town – tie on, every hair in place.

But in the end, you are still a corpse – impressive outside, cold dead inside.

Unless morality is driven by an inner love for Christ and response to the HS, it is meaningless – a shabby imitation of reality.

Background: v. 37: “While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine [noon meal] with him, so he went in and reclined at table.”

Jesus accepts a lunch invitation.

But this one gets awkward fast.

Typically a Pharisee would never eat with a non-Pharisee who didn’t share his passion for law-keeping.

Jesus’ reaction suggests that this man was just looking for some way to trip Jesus up.

With time running short, Jesus wastes no time on small talk.

He bluntly tries to wake his host with 4 hard verbal punches to the chin, calling this man and his companions “fools” for their misplaced piety.

A lawyer interjects in v. 45, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.”

That leads to 3 more devastating punches to men who were not used to being questioned about their moralism.

Thus, in these vv, Jesus gives a total of 7 descriptions of how these men were dressing their dead selves to no avail.

Jesus rebuke here is intentionally direct.

It’s edgy to get attention.

But it is also an act of mercy, essentially calling these men to repentance while there is still time.

So, what constitutes a well-dressed corpse?

Looking good outwardly, inwardly dead?

More importantly, are you one?

*I.

Exhibitionists of Externals (37-41)*

Trouble strikes immediately.

V. 38, “The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner.”

Pharisees were big on hand-washing, not as a matter of physical or hygienic cleansing, but of ritual cleansing.

It was to offset any ceremonially unclean thing they may have touched – like a Gentile!

The method for washing was precisely defined.

For example, if you poured water over one hand, it was clean, but if you rubbed the other hand without pouring water on the second, everything was again unclean.

They were scrupulous – like a surgeon preparing for surgery.

So, was this washing prescribed by the Law of God? No, it was not.

This was just one of the hundreds of interpretations to the Law that the Pharisees had made so they could say they were perfect.

They were moralists of the highest order.

So here comes Jesus – and He doesn’t wash His hands at all.

Why?

He was not about to obey a tradition that the Pharisees considered more binding than God’s Law itself.

This is a pre-meditated, calculated move by Jesus to provoke a reaction.

He did that often to these religionists, trying to shake their confidence in ritual to appeal to their hearts.

He wants them to see that God’s law is about clean hearts, not clean hands.

He challenges them.

V. 39, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.”

Some criticize Jesus for bad manners, but, Beloved, Jesus came all the way from heaven to earth – “to seek and to save that which was lost.”

That’s the reason He came to lunch.

But He could not save someone who thought he did not need saving.

You can be sure that while His message was offensive, His manner was not.

Yet He could not compromise and let people go on thinking they were okay.

He wasn’t driven by 21st century PC concerns against hurting anyone’s feelings by suggesting that they are okay when they are not.

So, Jesus illustrates.

He compares their moralism to cleaning the outside of their dishes while leaving the inside dirty.

They were striving for holiness.

But they thought of it only in terms of external actions.

Their unattended hearts were so distorted with pride of position and ceremony they were in reality the very opposite of what they wanted.

Inside they were wicked,– totally missing the spirit of the Law.

Their traditions were mere loopholes for them.

By their own rules they were clean, but God looks on the heart.

And what He found there was pride, greed, selfishness, lasciviousness, anger, hatred and violence, all covered with a façade of moralism.

Like the little boy who came running to Mom: “Mommy, mommy, I’m 9 feet tall!” Mom asked, “How do you know that?”

The boy replied, “I just measured myself with this measuring stick I made.

I’m 9 feet tall.”

That’s the Pharisees – “We’re morally 9 feet tall!

We just measured with the ruler we made!” Jesus counters: “You’re 9’ by you; 0’ with God – no standing at all!”

They were totally focused on what one does.

Jesus was focused on what one is!

The word translated "greed" (αρπαγνησ) means to plunder or pillage.

In classical Greek it meant rape.

That’s what religion does.

It rapes people of their eternal souls by getting them focused on outward appearance.

God has always been about the heart.

The Pharisees should have known that.

V. 40, “You fools!

Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?” Fools ignore God.

He’s saying, “You guys focus on what you see -- outside.

You’ve forgotten who God is; He sees inside as well.”

Do externals matter?

Of course they do – but only as they reflect a heart of faith and love for God.

These guys had a huge disconnect between who they were inside and who they were outside.

That doesn’t work with God who made and sees both!

Moses challenges Israel to return to God Deut 6:2, then says in Deut 6:6, “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

Jeremiah 4:4 challenges the people: “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; [Physically?

No] remove the foreskin of your hearts.”

God says in I Sam 16:7, “For man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.”

It’s what’s inside that counts.