Needed: Authentic Christians - Life of Christ Part 40

Now you know. Oprah Winfrey said that nobody knows the real Michael Jackson. At least that's the way they promoted her exclusive interview with him a year and 1/2 ago, and I agree with Ross and gosh, I don't really know much about Michael Jackson really liking the room like his music don't know very much about them, but all watches because of many definitely a major figure in America so I watch the interview after the interview.

I still don't like some of the things that he did on stage and still endorse some of the things that he's involved in.

I tell myself, liking the guy little bit. Many seem like a regular nice guy. How love for kids. He had this big thing in the backyard were invited kids over LG maybes just are regular old guys you know and I feel pretty good about it a year and 1/2 later, Jackson is just paid somewhere between 10 and $20 million or 14-year-old boy accuses him of sexual abuse. Now I know he's never been convicted in a court of law, but I mean hey, let's get real. You don't pay somebody $10 million for some you didn't do mean that seem reasonable to you. Seems right to me and so now we do know the real Michael Jackson and once again I feel victimized.

Once again I find myself saying Solomon where are you going to learn when are you going to wake up and stop being so gullible and so stupid and so easily duped.

How many times do you have to be burned before you really begin to believe that in the smoke and mirrors world. Almost nobody is what they appear to be how many times is going to happen to you. I don't know if if you ever feel like this, but I do a lot and sometimes I find myself thinking. Good grief is anybody anybody for real anymore. I mean it's like when you look in politics with you. Look in the entertainment industry.

When you look in medicine with you. Look in the church.

I mean, is anybody from real anymore and that's what I want to talk to about this morning. I want to talk to you about as Christians being authentic about as Christians being real about us Christians being genuine as human beings because I believe that in America today. There is no commodity that the church needs a bigger dose all been real authentic. So come on, let's look at what Jesus said and then of course will answer the really important question which is somewhat right.

Okay verse 37 Luke chapter 11, when Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him and so he went in and he reclined at the table but the Pharisee noticing the Jesus did not first wash his hands before the meal was surprised as everyone in Jesus wash his hands.

That seems like a reasonable thing to ask when are you gotta understand what's going on here when the Pharisees would sit down for a meal. The rabbis would sit down. They went through an elaborate handwashing ritual. They would first of all pull water from their fingertips down to their elbows and then they would take sober they would work it around in their hands they would turn it the other way and pour water. This time the other direction from the elbows down to their fingers and they would go through this ritual.

The closest thing I can compare to the day is it, like a doctor scrubbing optical in the operating room is, like with these guys with those and look you know handwashing is important I believe in handwashing. I believe in a lot, I mean that's how I got the months when I was 28 years old from not washing my hands. You say what you talking I was in church one day and is got game and I haven't seen for a while. I shook his hand us and we haven't seen Lisa watch Scott over the months. I said the mountains your full-grown human being can you possibly get them up to. So why did and I said well God bless your brother I feel sorry for you. I wash my hands. Went to lunch. Lunch was good.

About a week later I rolled over on a Saturday morning got up out of bed look like a chipmunk and I went to see the doctor and he said you got the most and I said I'm 28 years old I can have the months is when you got up and then I want to tell you some. I was one sick puppy. I became a handwashing fanatic. After that, I love you people but I guarantee I wash my hands for the lunch. After shaking your hand all morning long, you better believe it. And you better wash your hands after you shake my before you going my as my kids on the fanatic. We own a restaurant and I go guys in a goat note. We know, go wash your hands, I'm bad about it because it's a matter of good hygiene, but this is not why the rabbis wash their hands was not a matter of hygiene. It was a matter of religious rituals and the point they were trying to make was this. We are so clean on the inside. We are so righteous on the inside that we dare not let anything dirty come in us from the outside so we gotta go through this incredible ritual now Jesus looked at them they were mad at Jesus because he didn't do it.

Jesus looked at them and decided that these guys needed a reality check and so he gives it to look at this verse 39 then the Lord said to him, this Rabbi you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the outside of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness, you foolish people did not the same one.

The same God who made the outside of the cup also make the inside of the cup. I think about fellows you know what he saying here. You had the experience of reaching up in your kitchen cupboard and you pulled out a little porcelain Morgan looks gorgeous from outside nice and clean and shiny and then you go to pour coffee or submit it. You look down at it and is all this Stroman residue that's on down on the bottom are some I didn't really get down in there and work it just had that experience a lot because I do a lot of the dishes around our house and I just gotta stick it in full around over the drying rack and in later. You know when I look in it. I realize I didn't get everything that was in there to start with disgusting good drink out of that, I don't care how good that couples on the outside, you don't care how it looks on outside.

It is dirty on the inside and that's what Jesus is saying these people he say look, if you guys were as careful about cleaning the inside as you are about cleaning the outside. If you were as obsessed about purifying your heart and your attitude and your motives as you are obsessed about washing your hands you'd be better people. Everybody around you will get a bigger blessing, and you make a much bigger impression upon God and your presently making that he's on a roll so he keeps going. Here, look verse 42 he says woe to you Pharisees, because you give 1/10 of all your men and your room and all your other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. Once again we got a problem with outside appearance versus inside reality on the outside.

Jesus said you guys love to give people the impression that God is number one in your life and the way you do this as you give God lots of money and elsewhere in the Bible. He says you know you blow your trumpet and you marched down the street and you give your money and you want everybody to see you give your money so that they know you love God but Jesus said he on the inside.

The real truth is God's not number one in your life you are and the reason I know that is that you guys will compromise justice. Jesus said, you will compromise what you know is right and what you know is right just just to get what you want and people who have God number one in their life. Don't do that and he's going verse 43 he says woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and you love the greetings in the marketplace is here again we got another problem with an outside inside situation that you know if you go to synagogue worship that they'll never have an offering to never take offering.

Sounds like a great place not only minute they never take an offering is or how to get the money to run the thing. Well, the way they do it is they sell seats so they want what they sell seats. See if you planning to go to heaven to the Jewish religion. You better be there on Yom Kippur, you better be there on special holidays and the way they do it is they sell. You see for the year. Now, on the average Saturday you get a seat anywhere you want, but on the big days you better have your seat they sell seats to seats on all equally priced.

The most expensive seats were in the front and then they get less expensive as you move towards the back is what Jesus is talking about here.

The most important seats in the synagogue were upfront and when I was growing up. Every year my parents had to buy seats in the synagogue ours music towards the back, but nonetheless we had a seat and that's the way they do it now I gotta take the first time I ever went to church as 21 years old. I don't live Christian short time and never been in church my whole life and the first church I went to was little Baptist Church and I walking this little Baptist Church and this guy comes up to become a big name badge on says usher. So then he says, follow me on taking his seat so he walks me in his church and he walks me all the way down the aisle and put me right in the front. Well man. I said wow I love this church I love these people look at this. I know me at first, never hear anything I give me the best seat in the whole house. I should've been a Christian long time ago I hello McFly, I mean it took me a while to figure out how come I got the seat in the front. You know what I'm saying you talk about a cross-cultural experience friends but you see in the Jewish synagogue.

There is a real pecking order that works like this. It's front to back. And what Jesus was saying is God we have a problem here. The problem is it is rabbis you keep presenting yourself to the world on the inside is really caring about people on the inside is really wanting to serve people on the inside is really wanting to put people first.

But the truth of the matter is you don't really want to put people first. You want to be first you want to be in the front of the synagogue you want to be greeted. You want the prerogatives you want the privileges that come with being rabbi you want to give those up given to somebody else. So don't parade yourself around like you do.

Finally he says to them. Verse 44 woe to you, because you like unmarked graves that men walk by living realize her walking by great, I like the way he says it in Matthew 23 he said you are like whitewashed tombs, you know, that means the tomb is painted white on the outside, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside you're full of dead men's bones in the same way on the outside.

You appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness that you want to read the rest of the chapter versus 4552 you'll find the Jesus then turned his attention to the professional religious teachers.

The seminary professors and he reamed them out over the very same issue when I come to go through it but at the very same issue, but a step back for just a minute from the intensity of Jesus's words as he's pretty intense is pretty strong language and let's ask a basic question, what is it that Jesus was so upset about what is it that was broken in these guys lives. The Jesus was trying to make them understand needed to be fixed.

That's the question the answer is that these guys had a monumental inside outside problem on the outside.

They carry themselves like righteous men like men of God.

But when you took a hard look at the inside it didn't match up in the really tragic thing is that they didn't even care about the inside. They were even worried about the inside the inside and the difference to them. As far as they were concerned, as long as they could keep the outside show up in the outside façade up and keep the game going on the outside. Everything was fine now. God has a word for these, people like to use is it right down in chapter 12 verse one he says to the crowd. Be on your guard against the yeast against the evil of the rabbis which is what hypocrisy hypocrisy comes from a Greek word in the Greek word means to wear a mask to pretend to be something that you're not. That's what was going on with these people and Jesus was trying to help them see that and understand that about themselves, but you know when somebody tries to make you realize that you're inconsistent that your hypocrite you want to do one of two things really going to humble yourself and say you know you're right and you deal with it or you hate them for telling you to do everything you can to get rid of one of these guys do look at verse 53 when Jesus left there the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions waiting to catch him in something he might say why so they could accusing why so they could killing why so they could get rid of it. Why so he stopped telling them they were hypocrites. That's why. And of course eventually they were able temporarily to get rid of.

Now let's stop the passage at the end of the passage, but let's ask the question what what it was and across while like to suggest to you that we talk about what's the missing element here. Okay if the problem was hypocrisy, then what's the opposite of hypocrisy. Let's take an SAT exam okay antonym hypocrisy what's antonym authenticity right genuineness.

In fact, the Greek word authenticity are authentic actually comes from a word of Pentecost which means to act like yourself to be real to be genuine where the inside and the outside matchup where what you see is what you get. That's what it means to be authentic, and this is something that as a society. Today we have got a major crisis in the whole issue of authenticity not just in the church but across all of our society. I don't know if you keep up much with demographics to relock the demographics you know the generations the busters and the boomers and the builders I got my own name for the people in detail. I called the blasters. I'm not sure if that'll stick with that, describes one… But anyway the other ones are used commonly and if you read some of this what you will find is there's an incredible cynicism and skepticism that is settling in to the twentysomething generation, the Buster generation that's really frightening. I was reading an article by Ian Williams. It's called trash that baby boom, and here's what he said he got even call himself a Buster they don't like that word Generation X on like that either lost generation like that either he calls himself a twentysomething or Thai. Well, whatever. Okay this what he said.

Another element of the boomers groupthink that drives us twentysomething years, knots, is that groups hypocrisy, which by now is legendary because of their hypocrisy.

We as twentysomething years have become philosophical nomads believing very little of what we hear and none of what we see, we've been backed into this corner by years of being shown what happens when you put your faith in anything that scary guy saying he saying we don't believe anything we see none of what we hear in the way we got here is by years of putting our faith in people putting our faith in things and being let down letdown letdown letdown and now were cynical about everything and you know it's true.

If you have baby boomers come into our church. They don't trust institutions people my age and they'll come in and they'll say, you know, lawn. I don't think I trust the church but busters come in and they say lawn. I will think I trust the church and make it worse.

Probably not trust you either.

I mean, it is a deep-seated cynicism and why they feel like this, it's because they've seen and heard and had too many non-authentic experiences with professing Christians. That's how they got there does not talk about the Jimmy Swaggart's and the Jim and Tammy Baker's and all the child molesting priest and prime time with his exposés of Robert Tilton and Larry Lee.

I'm also talking about the experiences that these people have had with every day professing Christians like mom like dad, like the church youth group like the Catholic school like things the church doesn't things Christians do that.

They seem anything brought about hypocrites. Do we deserve that reputation well is be honest folks, we done a pretty good job observing that, credibility loss, Bibles and pastors out of Willow Creek Community Church is a fellow that I know Bill tells a story about being a young Christian about going to a Christian conference at this church, and he goes to this conference and he sitting there in the meeting and the yellow panel discussion you go up on stage and the panel starts discussing whatever was they were discussing and then the panel starts, disagree. So the disagreement gets a little stronger little stronger little stronger.

And finally, the panel members were yelling and screaming at each other. Bill says on the young Christensen watches. I can't believe. Finally one of them stands up and then another one stands up and they start shoving each other up on the stage and one of them reeled back to hit the other one.

This is true, and the grabbing before he can hit him and just about then the bell goes off it is time to go. The next session you never guess what the next session was it was a worship session so they going to the sanctuary for this worship session and Bill says he sits down and lo and behold one of the guys was about ready to throw the punch in the meeting before walks up on the stage, picks up the microphone gets his big old plastic smile all over space and without one word of apology without one word of addressing the almost log some guy in the meeting before he says you know the Bible tells us that the mark of Christians is that we love each other so let's all stand and join hands and sing. They'll know we are Christians by our love that stand together and the Bible says he sat there and when does not compute.

Does not compute. What is wrong here. What is wrong is he is just been a witness to classic in authentic Christianity. That's it folks we do that, stuff. Of course we are guilty of that, stuff it.

Is it any wonder when this is what we demonstrate to the world around us and to young people in particular, is it any wonder that we got a credibility problem with people you know when I go out and try to speak to people about giving your life to Jesus Christ. Whether it's a deliveryman at the door somebody in the open air of people at a meeting doesn't matter. You know what's interesting you know what I find to be the number one objection that people have why the really they say they're not interested in believing in Jesus Christ, you say well they tell you they don't believe that Jonah was swallowed by the fish.

No that's not it. I don't believe Adam and Eve really existed, no that's not it. I don't believe Jesus rose from the dead know hardly ever get that one know what I get all the time why a preacher wants and he and I know a Christian wants and she is what I get all the time.

What that means is in authentic Christian living is doing far more to hurt evangelism in our society than any other single issue. I don't know if you get that same responsible. I suspect you do, let me just say that I bet there's some of you here this morning who been soured on Christianity just because of this kind of thing. Maybe you grew up in a Christian home, or you grew up going to a church and you saw a lot in authentic Christian behavior and you soured you so bad that still today your struggling to get over that is, there are long. You're right.

I feel that way. What you got to say to me what I have to say to you is this number one remember that the validity of Christianity depends on Jesus Christ, not Christians in the Jesus Christ is impeccably authentic.

He's never done one thing in authentic to you or anybody else. He is the foundation of Christianity. The second thing I'd say to you is, remember, no matter how hard we as his followers might even try to be authentic whenever going to make it 100% whenever going to be able to be 100% genuine and real and non-hypocritical if we were able to do that perfectly we wouldn't be sinners and we would need a Savior start with. Now if your little older little wiser now than you were years ago when you got soured on Christianity, I invite you to come back and take another look.

But to come back and take another look.

Realizing that all of this doesn't rise and fall on Christians behavior rises and falls on the validity of Jesus Christ. I hope you think about several long, Christian, good.

So this is great you're telling me that we can all be perfect. We can all be non-hypocritical. Don't worry about it and wait a minute by minute. That is what I said. That is, want to sit at all what I'm saying is if you're Christian, I think we need a revival of passion for authentic Christian behavior.

If we have any chance to make a mark on this world and friends. Bill Hibel's left that conference going back to Willow Creek and here's what he said is a result of the conference, I decided the best thing I can do for my church as its senior pastor is to lead an authentic Christian life. It's more important in preaching great sermons. It's more important than writing great books. It's more important than running a smooth organization. The best thing I can do to serve my church is as its leader live in authentic Christian life myself and I like to say to you that if you're Christian my dear friend, the most important thing you can do for the cause of world evangelism.

The most important thing you can do to help McLean Bible church touch people's lives out there with the love of God, the most important thing that you can do to help us restore and reestablish the credibility of Jesus Christ and the church and Christianity in this society. The most important thing you can do is to go out there in that marketplace and live in authentic Christian life in front of everybody watching. That's the most important thing more important given a tape more important to bring in the church you live in authentic Christian life.got some suggestions. Real quick is a close how you doing I got 40s ready give a writing down consistency is my first E humility is my second E honesty that's my 30 and priority on people. My 40 item down and I want to expand on for just a second consistency. Humility, honesty, and a priority on people when he talked about it for second. What I mean by consistency. What I mean is that we go out there and we hold up the Bible to people in the world and we say this is the standard by which we ought to be living. This is the standard which we ought to be conforming to in our lifestyle and were right in doing that, that's correct, but consistency means that you and I have to be willing to live by the very same standard were telling the rest of the world they have to live by.

And when we don't we lose all authenticity and their site you'll George Washington was a great leader I was ever read the life of George Washington, which ought to George Washington got those men in the Continental Army to do things beyond what they should've ever been able to accomplish. They followed him across rivers to snowstorms. It was incredible.

The devotion that those men have for their leader and the reason they had it is because he was authentic in their opinion. He was real. He was genuine.

They believed in him.

They trusted him that how to George Washington, a patrician of the patrician ever achieve that kind of relationship with every day, and poor plebeians in his army. How did he do it, I'll tell you how he did it.

He did it by living the same standard. He asked his men to live at Valley Forge when those men were freezing to death. They had no close at hardly any flu they did have the wood to heat their barracks. I mean, it was brutal. He was offered the opportunity to move up the road into a nice warm cozy, comfortable farmhouse as the general of the Army and he turned it down and said no I'm staying right here with my men and he lived in those cold barracks and ate that cold food and shivered along with his men for that entire winter living by the very same standard.

He asked his men to live by. You want to know why he had authenticity with those men.

I'll tell you why.

It's because of consistency between what he asked them to do and what he was willing to do himself in. When our attitude is don't do what I do do what I say that is a massive authenticity buster you blow it wide open with your kids with your neighbors with people at work that will cut if you asked them to do something you and I are going to have to be consistent enough to live the same way number two humility admitting that you blow it admitting that you were wrong when you're wrong.

Going to somebody and asking for forgiveness.

You know what I found. Often humility will communicate more authenticity to people than if you got it right the first place. It's not lack of perfection that causes the world non-Christians to lose their respect for us. They will expect us to be perfect, but they do expect us to be honest were not to be humble and honest and authentic when we blow it. That's all they want to know why hate the Cowboys.

I'll tell you why I like the Cowboys.

The risotto like the Dallas Cowboys is because I don't like Jerry Jones, the owner that's waddle like the Cowboys. I think the Cowboys of the 90s is going to be go down in history as one of the greatest football teams ever. But I like him because I can't get past Jerry Jones is or what is it that Jerry Jones you don't like I don't like the way he treated Tom Landry. I don't like it after 32 years of faithful service with the Cowboys, Tom Landry found out that he was being fired over the television and the true story is because I know somebody who knows me was sitting at home getting up his television set on the friend called mom said Tommy watching TV. He said no is I think you better turn on the television to be real interest in what's happening in the news conference was going on where Jerry Jones was announcing a part of any and every until Landry was being fired 32 years of service you want to treat your worst employee. That way all those smiles Jerry Jones as on the camera all that nice guy exterior focus on today somehow don't buy one bit of it. He's a fraud. He's a fake he's a hypocrite and a snake in the grass. My opinion you sending the tape if you want say that's pretty strong. That's right. And that's the way I feel about that man a limit tell you something. Could he ever regain back credibility in my side. Yes, said he could after calling the snake in the grass. Yup, yet he could get it back. So what we have to do today would have to do that man would have to be willing to humble himself and go back to the audience where he wronged Tom Landry, which by the way was the whole world and you have to be willing to go on television and say I wrong Tom Landry. I mistreated this man. What I did was evil. What I did was cruel. What I did was disgusting, and I'm here to tell you that and to tell you I'm sorry and asked Tom Landry to come on television and forgive me that man when back credibility.

Jessica will he be willing to do that.

I don't know but you know what the interesting thing is, if he went did that. He's not informing the world of something we don't already know, we all know he was wrong already. We know is wrong. All he's doing is giving us the assurance that he's authentic enough as a person that we can trust so that when he's wrong he'll admit and you know it's interesting every body that you've ever done wrong to know you're wrong if you go tell them how I was wrong. They won't stand there and go really. I never thought that don't worry, that won't happen. They know you're wrong you kids know you're wrong when you blow it. Your friends know you're wrong when you blow it.

The purpose of going to them is to show them that you're honest and authentic enough as a human being that they can trust you want to win authenticity with people. It doesn't mean you have to be perfect. It just means you have to be humble when you blow it.

Third, got hurt, honesty, what I mean by that is, full disclosure being upfront plaintiff straight with people not manipulating people not deceiving people not tricking people so that after people deal with you. They don't feel like they dealt with used car sales. That's what I'm talking about. People may not like your opinion. They may not agree with your position.

They may not like what you're saying to them, but if you want to be authentic with people the way to do it is that people have to have the assurance that when they deal with you what they see is what they get you in a tell of the straight truth, you're not going to play ring around the Mulberry Bush with them but you're gonna deal with them honestly. Fourth and finally placing a priority on people, folks, this is a world that doesn't do that. This is a world of places a priority on using people to get things done and if we want to establish authenticity as a church we as a church. The church goes around and says we value people we go around and say God loves people. We go around and say people are first with God. But then when we come and we mistreat people and we use people and we see people as tools to get what we want instead of treasuring them and valuing them as people.

What are we doing blowing all of our authenticity because the inside and outside of what were saying our matching up does the church ever do that, you know it does. Some of you been chewed up and meet grinders by churches who didn't love you, but they love what you could do for. They didn't really want you, but they wanted everything you could give them into four many of us here know what is like to be treated that way by a church or Christian organization friends if we want to earn authenticity in our world and we as a church have to treat people as the most valuable thing we value people, not for what they can do for us, not for what we can get out of them, not for how they can advance some purpose of ours, but we value them because there people there not a means to an end.

They are the and if we're willing to do that will win an authentic hearing from the world. I'm at a time close by saying this when you want to cut down the forest. Had he cut it down. What one treated time right if you want to win the world of Christ to make a difference in this Washington community how we can do it will and do what one person at a time and what's the foundation on which were to reach one person at a time. Is it to passing out tapes no is it to give in our tracks. No is it to bring people to church. No is about on the watch Christian television whiskers radio, no standing wrong with any of those things no but you know what friends if there is not a foundation of authentic Christian living that your building out on you not getting anywhere, anywhere, our personal authenticity as Christians is the key to touching that world out there. My prayer for you, as a result of your being here this morning. My prayer for you is that God will speak to your heart and say you know I want to make you George. I want to make you Susie, I want to make you Bill, I want to make you Tammy an instrument of world evangelism. Let me tell you, I'm going to do. I'm good to do it by helping you live in authentic Christian life you will and let me do that for you're not because that's how we can reach people, and I hope this to some changes that need to be made in your lifestyle because of what we talked about this morning that you ask God to help you make a spray heavenly father, thank you for the word of God being so practical and thank you that it speaks to the real issues of life. I want to thank you for Jesus's words to us this morning, reminding us that it's not what's on the outside accounts.

If the inside doesn't match.

Lord we ask you to forgive us both as individuals and as as members of the church at large. Those of us who Christians here to forgive us for the times where we've been very sloppy about our authenticity where we've kinda dismissed it is not really been all that important.

What we've heard the cause of Christ by living that way and I pray that you would speak to our hearts this morning about the need to to revive our passion for real, genuine, authentic Christian living where Jesus is the only way and you know what they were ever going to reach this world the only way were ever going to restore the credibility of the church and Christianity in Jesus Christ, so send us out of here.

I pray this day committed to a new birth of authentic living in our lives as Christians. Maybe some of us need to go back and see people that we wrong. Maybe some of us need to change the way we operate with people maybe some of us need to change things in our lifestyle. So were more consistent, whatever it may be dear God give us the courage we need to make those changes and give us the help we need, because will need your power and use a sword as a result of all of this, I pray to make a difference in this world for Jesus Christ.

I pray these things in Jesus name, amen