The Sermon on the Mount XIII

Subtitle:  Correcting the Righteousness of the Hypocrites IV

Matthew 6:16-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, March 3, 2024.

Today, we will finish this central section where Jesus corrects the righteousness of the hypocrites for his followers.  We will particularly be looking at fasting.

Let’s look at our passage regarding the way we should fast.

The way of righteousness in fasting (v. 16-18)

As Jesus has said in the other issues of charitable giving and prayer, so he says here.  The hypocrites are only fasting in order to be seen by others.  They want the glory and praise that comes from people.  It is an interesting thing that, in all the ways we shouldn’t be focused on others, we generally are, and in all of the ways we should be focused on others, we generally are not.  Of course, this is the tendency of our sinful nature.

I will give a caveat up front in this passage.  It is clear that Jesus is talking about a private fast that you may do on your own and not a group fast for a specific purpose.  Israel did have a fast on the Day of Atonement, in which everyone would fast.  We see some similar things among the early Church.  Acts 13 shows us that Barnabas and Paul were called into their missionary work during a time of group prayer and fasting.  Later, in Acts 14, they had been able to build many groups of converts.  We see Barnabas and Saul fasting and praying as they commended elders in each new church.  So, there is a time and a place for fasts within a community for specific purposes.  In such things, others will know that you are fasting, but generally so are they.

Jesus is not making a new law in which no one can ever see you fast, or you are in trouble.  The true point is that the hypocrites “love” others seeing them, rather than God.  There is no fundamental relationship of love to their times of fasting.  Thus, such group times of fasting should be the tip of the iceberg.  Ice bergs always have much more mass under the water (that you can’t see), then what is above the surface.  In fact, icebergs that have large chunks drop off under the water can even flip over. 

Again, Jesus is showing us how to please God in our personal times of fasting.

Last week, I mentioned The Didache, a document for new disciples whose title means “The Teaching.”  In this manuscript, new converts are told not to fast on Monday and Thursday like the hypocrites.  This may seem odd, if you don’t know the cultural dynamics in Israel at the time. 

The religious leaders had developed the tradition of fasting on Mondays and Thursdays.  It wasn’t required, but if you wanted to be seen as a righteous leader, then you pretty much needed to do so.  The idea is that new Christians who continue to fast on Monday and Thursday are doing so in order to avoid persecution.  You would look like you are following the traditions of the elders, and no one would suspect you are a Christian.  The point is not the day, Monday and Thursday.  The point is the reasoning of your heart.  What are you after?  They wanted people to see them fasting, and this is hypocritical.

Jesus is able to judge this because he knows what is in their hearts.  Yet, he doesn’t point to this.  Instead, he points to some external acts that they do, which reveal their hearts.  It wouldn’t take divine omniscience to recognize something was wrong with these guys who were always looking for attention.

Jesus points to their sad countenance.  They would walk around with a sad countenance when they were fasting, and most likely acted a little more weak than they needed to do.  Of course, it is not about sadness.  We may sometimes fast following a sad event, like the death of a loved one.  The point here is about drawing attention to the fact that they are fasting.  Jesus further describes them “disfiguring” their faces (NKJV).  Here is the idea of the Greek word behind this.  Whatever you are talking about will have something that is considered to be nice-looking, presentable condition of it.  When that is spoiled or ruined, this word would be used of it.  Thus, a person goes to bed at night not looking so bad,  but then wake up in the morning not looking so good.  We usually fix ourselves up to go out in public.  These guys would purposefully not fix themselves up, of course, because they were fasting.  This also drew attention to them.

I remember one time in grade school where a friend and I walked off of campus to his house in order to play video games.  The school called the house and my friend answered the phone.  We were busted of course and told to come back to school (where his mom worked no less).  As we headed to school, we figured our best excuse would be to say that we were feeling sick.  And, guess what, I had no problem looking pale and sick when I arrived at the principal’s office because I knew I was in trouble when my parents found out.  We should never underestimate the power of a hypocrite to put on an act that is worthy of an Oscar Award when they desperately want to do so.  I was powerfully motivated by my flesh.

However, God was not impressed with what these hypocrites were doing- I’m back to talking about the religious leaders of the days of Jesus.  Many people were impressed with their sheer volume of fasting.  However, I wonder if there were some people who were turned off by this? 

Jesus then tells us that “Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.”  God doesn’t owe them a red cent.  They want the praise of people and that is all they are going to get.  However, they probably vainly imagine that God is impressed with their works, like the praying Pharisee in Luke 18:12.  “I fast twice a week…”

Yet, in Isaiah 58, we are told that God is more interested in the heart that is behind the fasting.  If your heart is oriented towards God, then your fasting will become focused on the things that are important to God.  You will be focused on honoring His Name, living out His Kingdom rule and doing His will.  Yes, Isaiah speaks about helping the poor, but think about what that means in light of honoring God, His rule and His will.  We can help the poor out of a wicked heart as well.  We can do it as a moral cloak for selfish reasons.  However, when we love people as God loves them, it then becomes a clean thing.  They had gone without food, but the fought with one another and ripped off their employees.  They weren’t fasting for God, but for their own glory.  Am I working for the glory of God and His purposes?

All of this begs the question, why should we fast at all?  Fasting is a way to bring  your fleshly desires under control.  They are a battle for everyone who wishes to become like God, like Jesus.  We do not want to be ruled by our flesh and its desires.  We don’t want to be a person of the flesh, but a person who is led by the Spirit of God.  James used the analogy of a wild horse.  Breaking in a horse so that it is useful is essentially a battle of will, and it requires wisdom.  Our flesh is naturally hostile to the things of the Spirit of God (His purposes).  Fasting is a mechanism by which we put a bridle in our flesh, so that it can be useful for the work of God’s Kingdom.

This brings us to a second purpose.  It not only brings our flesh under control, but it also orients and focuses us towards the things of Christ, of His Spirit.  Fasting is always accompanied by increased prayer.  We are telling ourselves that we would rather have God than a full belly.  God means more to me than food.  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  This is essentially at the base of all true fasting.  It is a worship of God.

Of course, we must avoid thinking that God is impressed, i.e., answers our prayers, for the sake of a quantity of days we fast.  In fact, we should be careful that our fasts are not driven by a single-focused prayer for a particular item or act that we desire from Him.  Ultimately, we come as beggars to God asking for wisdom to live out His purposes in this life.  “Lord, please lead me by Your Spirit!”

Jesus tells his disciples to fast in order to be seen by the Father, and not men.  In fact, he just assumes his people will give charity, pray and fast in this section.

The Father who is in the secret place will see your fasting and reward you.  This is different than prayer.  We don’t have to go into our closet to fast.  However, we should keep our private fasts hidden as we go about our day.  In this way, the “secret place,” or “hidden place,” is a spiritual place before God, no matter where we are.  No one can tell your belly is empty as you walk around.  We are to squelch the desire of our flesh to obtain credit and praise from the people around us.  This is what makes it a hidden place before God.

Jesus tells us to do the opposite of the hypocrites.  Instead of looking sad and a “disfigured” face, we should do all the things that we would normally do when we go out in public.  Jesus tells them to anoint their head and wash their face.  You might even want to slap your face a couple times to combat that pale look you might get when you are not used to fasting.  The whole point is to make sure that you do not stick out, so that people won’t ask if you are fasting, or guess that you are.

By the way, don’t be a person who is always asking people if they are fasting, or other such things.  Don’t be a guesser.  We are to be brothers and sisters walking together with the LORD.  We will have different expressions of love for God at different times, and that is good.  Let it be what it is.

Let me just say a few more things on our reward for fasting.  You may not receive everything that you want, or even prayed for.  Fasting is not the secret to receiving everything you want.  It was never about that.  In fact, we don’t always know what is good for us.  Sometimes, God is saying no to the thing we asked for, but giving us something greater (like intimacy with Him).

In Psalm 106:15, the psalmist says of the LORD, “He gave them their request, but He sent leanness into their soul.”  When Israel was in the desert, they began to complain to the LORD that there was no bread and meat.  God gave them what they wanted, but then sent leanness into their souls.  Why?  When things become more important to us than the presence and love of God, then they essentially become our God, even when we pray.  The life that we think we are deriving from them, however, always fails to satisfy the heart.  Our soul was not designed to be satisfied with anything less than the presence of God, relationship with Him.  Until God means more to us than bread, meat, water, gold, wealth, fame, glory, etc., our soul will always be spiritually starving and lacking the good thing it needs, God Himself.

If we will listen to the wisdom of Jesus in this sermon, then we will not be men and women driven by our flesh.  We will be a people who would rather have leanness of flesh, than leanness of soul.  It is not that there is always a choice.  I do believe God would have provided bread and meat for them, just as He did for Jesus when he fasted in the wilderness.  However, it would have happened in a way that was good.  Yet, sometimes you have to make a choice.  Fasting helps us to have a better grip on the lusts of our flesh so that we do not displease God, and miss what He has for us.

We are very blessed in these United States of America.  Perhaps, you have nothing that you need and would ever fast for.  How about just to know Jesus more?  Maybe, we should fast to ask God whether we have grown complacent and blind to all the things we should be fasting and praying for?  The Laodicean believers thought they were rich and in need of nothing.  If they had spent more time in fasting and prayer, they may have been enabled to see how spiritually poor they had become, how naked they were, and how spiritually blind they were.  Do not trust the eyes and the mind of flesh when it comes to spiritual matters.

Lastly, let me add that some people have medical conditions that make fasting hard, or even dangerous.  They may get the shakes, or have a glucose imbalance.  We must understand that this is not a contest and a necessity in order to please God.

I have a brother whose adult life has been one physical battle after another.  Essentially, he has battled lupus and the variety of ways that it attacks his body.  He has been physically challenged his whole adult life.  He has other brothers who haven’t ever had a thing wrong all of that time.  On the one hand, a person can beat themselves up emotionally because they are so weak and think that God doesn’t care, and on the other hand, a person could think that God is quite pleased with them.  God knows your heart and He knows your physical frame.

I say this to challenge us in the area of fasting, and yet not to place a burden on those to whom this cannot happen, at least not in the traditional way of going without food.  It can be tough to accept our lot in life without blaming God.  It is even tougher to catch the vision and to rise up to the calling that is in those things we call weakness.  Sometimes it is our weakness that enables us to do the greatest spiritual good in the lives of others.  However, we have to learn that by the help of the Holy Spirit as we fight against the mind of flesh and bring it to heel.

This brings us to the third section.  Jesus begins to reveal areas that are pitfalls for becoming a hypocrite.  If you do not want to be an actor, a spiritual poser, then listen up as Jesus teaches us how to avoid it.

Revealing Areas that are Pitfalls for Hypocrisy

Our relationship with things (v.19-21)

Jesus first speaks to our relationship with things (verses 19 to the end of the chapter).  Chapter 7 will open with a look at our relationship with difficult people.  It will then move to our relationship with God.  Hypocrisy grows out of improperly relating with things, people and God.  He spends most of his time on this topic looking at things.

Before He gives us direct teaching on what to do and what not to do, Jesus deals with three images that ask a question.  This first one has to do with what our treasure is, and what our heart loves.  What’s your treasure?  We can pray for our heavenly Father to bring His heavenly things down to earth, but is that where our heart truly is?  This tension between loving earthly things versus heavenly things is important to face in your spiritual walk.  Yet, it is not just a metaphor, but more on that later.

Jesus commands us not to be laying up treasure on the earth.  The focus here is in storing up treasure, literally treasuring up treasure.  It does beg the question of what qualifies as “storing up,” but let’s hold on to that for a bit too.

Jesus gives us one immediate reason for not laying up earthly treasures that has leverage on a natural minded person.  It has to do with the threats that exist on the earth to the treasure that we store here.

He gives three different kinds of threats: moths (sentient but animal), rust (the laws of nature) and thieves (sentient beings).  If you want to retain wealth, then you will have to plan against these categories. 

Moths could just as easily be mice or rats, etc.  How many clothes, bins of grain, etc. have been ruined by such critters.  They have the ability to break past many of the best attempts at stopping them.

Rust is not even sentient.  It represents things that have no mind, but we might be angry with God about them.  Why would God create a universe where my hard earned stuff rusts, rots, essentially falls apart and is ruined?  This is why certain things have risen over time to be a better store of wealth than others.  Gold resists tarnish more than many other metals, and it also has a rarity that is enough to be desirable, but not so rare as to not be obtainable to use as money. 

As if animals and the laws of nature aren’t bad enough, then we have to deal with thieves.  In general, these are other humans who work extremely hard at stealing the accumulated hard work of others.  For some reason, they get excited at stealing from others rather than putting their hard work to honest ends.

For every thing a man does to make his wealth safe, another man can figure out how the safe works and see a way around it.  It is not hard to see that if one man can create something, another man can figure out how to dismantle it.

Today, we are being sold on digital currency because of the great trouble with scammers and thieves.  Yet, digital currency is just another mechanism created by a man.  It is a lie that it will be impossible to hack.  In fact, the greatest threat to stored wealth throughout all of history has been governments of some sorts.  Either your own government taxes it away, or another government conquers yours and takes it from you.  How much stored wealth was capture for the glory of Rome, or Genghis Kahn and his “Mongol hordes?” 

The main point Jesus is making here is not that you should be fearful of all of these things.  His main point is that you can spend your whole life amassing wealth on the earth, and then it is gone.  What have you obtained?  He doesn’t mention the ultimate robber of all wealth, death.

Thus, Jesus points us to a wiser plan.  Lay up treasure in heaven.  This continues this tension between heaven and earth.  We tend to think that a lot of stored wealth on this earth will make my existence heavenly.  However, this is not God’s way, and it is a way that causes pain, fighting and sorrow on the earth.  Before He gets into what it looks like to put treasure in heaven, Jesus balances out his argument.

You don’t need risk management plans for treasure that is stored in heaven.  The risks of earth cannot touch wealth stored in heaven.  You don’t need to purchase insurance for things in heaven.  Jesus is not only our insurance, but even more, he is our assurance that our spiritual treasure is safe.  God doesn’t lie, and there is no being in the universe strong enough to take it from Him.  There is no safer place in the universe for treasure.  He is the great Safe of safes.

Yes, there is a thief who dwells in the heavens, the devil.  John 10:10 tells us that he is a thief, a murderer, and a marauder.  Yet, even the devil cannot touch heavenly treasure.

1 Peter 1:4 tells us that God has called us to “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  In fact, this suggests that you “kept by the power of God” are His treasure.  This obviously comports with Malachi 3:17.  There, speaking to those who fear the LORD, God says, “‘They shall be Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘On the day that I make them My jewels.  And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’”  Jewels sparkle when they are in the presence of great light.  Thus, the resurrected righteous are described by Daniel in chapter 12 as shining like the stars.  The reason the battle is down here on the earth is because the devil knows that you are His treasure.

Jesus is teaching us that to make an earthly difference, i.e., cause His kingdom to come, we need to put our treasure in heaven.  So, how do we store treasure in heaven?  We do it by making the Kingdom of heaven our primary purpose: His Name, His Kingdom and His Will.  When we do earthly things for heavenly reasons, God credits it as true righteousness born of the fruit of faith in Jesus.  We can use our wealth of time, knowledge, money, relationships, etc. for reaching the lost and strengthening God’s people.

In fact, two people can do the exact same thing and for one of them it will be earthly treasure and for the other heavenly.  Let’s take as an example the raising of a family.  Two people can raise up the same number of kids into society.  One can do it for the glory of their family name, or their national fame.  The other can do it for the glory of the Lord.  Of course, they won’t do everything in raising those kids “exactly the same,” but you should be able to see the point made earlier.  Raising a family has a natural aspect that anyone can do, but it also has spiritual aspects. 

This brings up another point.  Don’t read this to mean that you will have nothing on this earth.  A family raised for Christ is great heavenly treasure, but it has earthly rewards to it as well.  Often those who try their hardest to obtain earthly rewards, at the expense of heavenly purposes, find that it never turns out as great as they had hoped.  The point is where your heart is.

This is why Jesus says what he says at the end.  “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Who or what has my heart?  What is my heart longing for, and what is it fixated upon?  The Lord’s prayer is a prayer that is focused upon the purposes of Heaven, and yet it still affects this world because God’s purposes are uniquely focused upon this world, particularly His image-bearers that He placed upon it.

He knows that we are flesh and blood, mortal.  As mortals, we will need literal, daily bread.  However, we can live out eternal purposes in these temporary lives.

The point is not about never having a bank account, or saving up to buy a house, etc.  It is asking the deeper question.  Messiah is asking us.  Do I have  your heart?  Or, does this world and the things thereof have your heart?  If you had to choose between Jesus and the desires of this world, which would you choose?

The apostle John reminded us of these questions in 1 John 2:15-17.  There he commands us (in the name of the LORD) not to love the world and the things of the world.  This world is passing away, and the things of it, especially the lusts that we have for things.  However, he who does the will of God abides forever!

This brings us back to the Garden of Eden.  Yes, there is a choice between innocence and knowledge of good and evil.  However, deeper than this is a question of love.  The serpent is tempting their heart away from what they already knew, God loved them greatly.  He tempts them away from the love of God towards the love of things (in fact, they are His things).  How can we be in right relationship with God’s things in our life?  It starts by not making them our treasure.  Instead, God Himself must be our greatest treasure.

God is the greatest good.  He is the source of all things that we might deem as good (and countless others that we are too ignorant to realize their goodness).  He gives us all kinds of things.  Yet, I guess He held back one thing, the knowledge of good and evil.  Have you been seduced by things that become nothing if they are divorced from God?  A love of things that cannot satisfy a soul that was made for the love of God is essentially what Romans 1 pictures.  We worship the creation rather than the Creator who made it all.  In the end, we will be left with things and a very, very lean soul.

God forbid!

Fasting/Treasure audio

Lessons from the Underground Church 3: Spiritual Exercises

This is a 13 week series that will not be posted on our website.  If you would like an audio of the sermon or a written article on the sermon contents then please contact the church at AbundantLifeEverett@frontier.com.  You can also leave a message at 425.438.1500.  Thank you for your interest.

A Time to Weep and a Time to Laugh

Mark 2:18-22.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 31, 2019.

The audio for this sermon will be up shortly.

“For everything, there is a season; a time for every purpose under heaven.”  This quote from Ecclesiastes 3:1 is the source of the title.  In life we generally understand what is happening socially around us.  Is it a happy time, or is it a sad time?  What is the circumstance or occasion and how does that affect my actions and words?  The answers to those questions often put a set of unspoken, social niceties upon us.

In our story today we have a situation where certain people are looking at the disciples of Jesus and wondering why they aren’t fasting.  Perhaps, it wasn’t on the order of a bride sobbing uncontrollably at her wedding, but it did stick out socially in the same way.  It was common for the strictest Pharisees to fast twice a week on Sunday and Wednesday.  Israel had been under the power of various world powers for centuries with only a few brief moments of hope.  So, these disciples of this new rabbi were under a lot of speculation.  Their lack of fasting stuck out like a sore thumb.

It is important to recognize that the Law of Moses only commanded fasting on one day of the year, the Day of Atonement.  Thus, this situation is not about observing the Law, but rather it is about establishing just who is more spiritual. Yet, true to form, Jesus answers this question by digging deeper beneath the surface and showing them the truth.  There is a time to weep and fast, but there is also a time to laugh and rejoice.  When a person finds Jesus, this is a celebration time which would cause all who understand it to rejoice as well.  Let’s look at our passage today.

Why don’t your disciples fast

This question that is presented to Jesus is interesting in light of the feast that Levi had thrown right before this.  The Pharisees first objected that Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors, and now they are objecting to the fact that the disciples of Jesus aren’t fasting.  It is clear that they are only trying to find fault with Jesus and his disciples by nit-picking.  Yet, there are some other things to keep in mind as we approach this.

First, it is odd that the Pharisees come with the disciples of John the Baptist.  They were not natural friends.  In fact, they were quite the opposite.  John was very harsh on the Pharisees who watched him like a hawk for errors as well.  In Matthew 3 we have a scene where John is baptizing those who were repenting of their sins, and the Pharisees and Sadducees show up.  John tells them, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.  And, do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.  Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  Second, John had publicly vouched that Jesus was the Lamb of God who had come to take away the sins of the world.  He was the Messiah.  So, why are these guys together? 

It would appear that the Pharisees figured out a connection that they had with John’s disciples that was different then Jesus.  Therefore, they most likely went to John’s disciples in order to put a wedge between them and Jesus.  Now, on the surface this is a valid question and John’s disciples are probably asking it in a valid way.  However, the motivation of the Pharisees is illegitimate.  They are using fasting as a pretext to cut Jesus down.  Really, this is a matter of personal choice and preference.  There is nothing wrong with fasting twice a week, but there is something wrong with judging others who do not share your personal choices and preferences.  They were stepping out of bounds.  Let’s look at the response of Jesus.

In verses 19-20, Jesus uses the analogy of a wedding and its bridegroom.  This is important because this is the exact same metaphor that John the Baptist used about Jesus in John 3:28-30 when he was speaking with his disciples.  “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’  The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.  The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.  Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete.  He must increase, but I must decrease.”  John clearly understood who he was in relation to Jesus the Christ.  Thus, the use of this analogy would have great significance to John’s disciples and would go over the heads of the Pharisees.  Just like a bride waiting for her groom, Israel had been waiting for the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ, who would rescue them from their oppressors.  The Pharisees did not accept Jesus as the Messiah, but John the Baptist had gone on record that Jesus was the one for whom they had been waiting.  This declaration created an awkward transitional time.  Some of John’s disciples immediately began to follow Jesus, but others were zealous for John and stayed with him.  Even when John was imprisoned, some of these disciples kept clinging to him instead of turning to Christ.  I do not say that to put them down.  I believe God knew that John needed friends who believed in him to stick with him because he had some difficult things ahead of him.  It wasn’t until John was executed that these who held back were forced to make a choice.

Whether like the Pharisees, or like John’s disciples, we are all tested in times when God begins to take us to the next stage.  Those who are “early adopters” will jump on board quickly and the “loyal laggards” will wait until the writing is on the wall.  The key is always understanding just who you are following.  Are you following a person, or an institution, or the Spirit of God, especially Jesus?  Being an early adopter is neither better or worse than being a loyal laggard.  What is more important is jumping on board what God is doing, whether than what man is doing.

Of course, the key point that Jesus is making is that it is a strange bride who weeps when the bridegroom shows up.  In this case, the disciples of John had more to be ashamed of than the Pharisees.  The continued fasting while the Messiah was in Israel was itself a sign of a lack of spiritual sensitivity against the Pharisees and John’s disciples, and not the disciples of Jesus.  They were only doing what would be natural, rejoicing!

Yet, Jesus notes that this happy time will come to an end because he will be taken away from his disciples.  This is in reference somewhat to the crucifixion, but even more to his ascension into heaven to wait at the right hand of the Father.  During that time, the disciples had plenty of difficulty and persecution with many of them being imprisoned and killed.  Thus, fasting is appropriate for believers during this time leading up to the Second Coming of Christ.  Yet, we should be careful of turning it into a badge of honor, much like the Pharisees were doing.

Fasting always represented humbling yourself in repentance before God.  It was an outward show, which involved wearing sackcloth, tearing your clothes, putting ashes on your head, and refraining from food for a period of time.  As Christians we should fast from time to time, but we should be careful of promoting the outward over the top of the inward.  We should also be careful of hold other Christians in contempt for not fasting as often as we think they should.  Fasting is not the secret to the spiritual universe; Jesus is.  Until you desire Jesus more than this world, no amount of fasting will do you any spiritual good.

This whole scene, and the analogy Jesus gives, implies that the first coming of Christ was not the wedding.  It would more aptly be seen as a betrothal.  Jesus came to Israel and “popped the question.”  A remnant of Israel said yes.  However, that question has been opened up to the Gentiles who want to participate in this coming wedding.  The wedding of Christ to the People of God will happen at the Second Coming (note: I state this without any reference to the specific timing of all the events associated with it).  Jesus will return to rescue his bride and wed her, never to be separated again.  Meanwhile he has been preparing a place for his bride in the heavenly, new Jerusalem.

A deeper point is made

Jesus gives two more analogies, in verses 21 and 22, that takes this point deeper.  This is not just about who has the best teacher in town, and it is not about whether a person should fast or not.  God was doing something bigger than Moses leading the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt.  This was a historical moment, not only to Israel and not only to the world, but to the history of the whole cosmos (spiritual and material).

The next analogy that Jesus brings up is that of the old garment and the unshrunk cloth.  In both of these analogies there is something that is old and something that is new.  The old garment has developed tears and holes that need mending if it is intended to be used.  To mend the old garment, one should not used new material due to the fact that the new cloth will shrink much more than the old.  Thus, the cloth will pull at the stiches and ruin the patch job.  Now, our modern society may have trouble identifying with this concern, but the people of that day would understand exactly what Jesus is saying.  So, what is Jesus talking about?

The old garment represents the Jewish religion under the Law of Moses.  Over the years, due to the sin of its people, the institutions and the devotion of the people had developed tears and gaping holes.  Jesus is God’s man to fix things in Israel.  Thus, it could be thought that the Messiah would raise up new leaders who could serve as a patch to the old system.  Jesus makes it clear that he is creating new cloth that cannot be used to patch up the Old Covenant.  He had not come to fix the nation of Israel so that it could continue on in the same mode under the Law of Moses, and within the same institutions.  He was not preparing his disciples to fit into the garment of Israel under the Law.  We could take this further now, but let’s move to the other analogy.

This is the analogy of the old wineskins and the new wine.  It is stating the same thing.  The old wineskins represent the religious institutions and their operators.  The disciples of Jesus represent the new wine that God is producing.  When Moses led Israel out of Egypt to Mt. Sinai, they were the new wine of their day.  The Law of Moses was also a part of this new wine in that it represented the container that these people would be placed within.  It is the outward form of institutions and ritual of the people of God.  The spiritual fervor of the people (though not perfect) was focused on following God into this new thing.  Yet, the spiritual work of yesterday does its work much like wine in a wineskin.  The skin is stretched out and the wine reaches an equilibrium between its expanding and the resistance of the wineskin.  Eventually the wine is used up and an empty, dry, old wineskin is left behind.  In Jesus the God of Israel was making new wine, but he was also preparing to pour them into a new wineskin, the Church of Christ.  The new work of Christ could not be put into the institutions of the Old Covenant.  Instead of reinvigorating the old institutions of Israel, the new wine would have completely destroyed it.

Thus, Jesus had come to institute a new covenant with the people of God.  This new covenant would have better promises and new institutions.  By the way, it may be worth realizing that, when Jesus comes back to set up the earthly kingdom, he will be leading us into a new thing again.  The Church institutions of this earth will become the institutions of that age.  Christ will be making new wine and pouring it into new institutions.

On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he told his disciples that the cup they drank from represented the New Covenant in his blood.  Hebrews 8:6-13 tells us that when the prophet Jeremiah prophesied of a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31), it was proof that the Old Covenant had become obsolete and would pass away when the new one came.  This is exactly what took place historically.  This should not be a matter of pride or arrogance of the new over the old because we could not have had the new without the old, which was once new. 

In fact, is it not clearly written on the wall?  The New Covenant is not so new anymore.  Over the centuries it has developed its own tears and gaping holes.  We can be tempted to try and fix everything in the flesh simply by calling what we do, the Spirit.  I encourage you to trust the Lord.  The answer is not to throw the Church and its institutions away, but neither is it to double down upon them as if they are the answer to salvation alone and the finished work of God forever.  I encourage you to trust the Lord and the words of him and his disciples over that of different men and institutions.  Jesus knows that we need a new garment.  So, we must do our best to be faithful with the institutions that he has given us.  Praise God that he has given us the Holy Spirit.  In Christ we can keep experiencing the new thing of God’s Spirit each and every day.  We can keep invigorated and renewed in him.  Yes, from time to time, the institutions of the Church grow hard and brittle, resistant to the work of the Holy Spirit.  It refuses to accept what God is doing.  Perhaps we should look at the history of the Church a bit differently.  Many people look back and see only failure, as one group splits from another and then another.  What if we saw it from the perspective of old wineskins?  Each time the institutions of the Church have grown hard and resistant to the Spirit, God has been faithful to provide new expressions and forms for those who belong to Him.  New institutions have cropped up only to become hard themselves.    No group can point to its beginning and declare that, because they were once new wine, they must still be new wine.  It doesn’t work that way.  Let’s be faithful Christians because our Lord is coming for a people who want him more than a certain religious form.

A Proper Response to Judgment

1 Kings 21:27-29.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 11, 2018.

In the 1970’s a program was developed to try and help juvenile delinquents, or those in jeopardy of becoming such.  It was called Scared Straight!  It involved giving the teens a tour through a prison facility and then having inmates speak to the kids about avoiding the path that they had taken.  Over the years there has been investigation into how well programs like this really work.  Typically it is found that they typically do not work over the long haul of a person’s life.

When we look at what the Bible has to say about the concept of being scared straight, we find that when people are scared they will draw close to God, but then very quickly go their own way again.  The fear of punishment is not enough to completely change the heart of an individual.

Some people who read the Old Testament declare that they see a God who is vindictive and mean.  They don’t like the judgments that are always talked about in its pages.  Yet, they will often notice a stark difference with “the God of the New Testament,” as if He is someone different.  In the New Testament God seems so nice and non-judgmental.  The problem with this idea is that it is a gross mischaracterization of the Bible and specifically God.  Clearly such people have not read the Bible closely enough, neither have they read it with the proper intellectual honesty.  The truth is that the Old Testament is full of the grace of God (we have been studying how gracious God had been to Ahab though he deserved none).  Also, the New Testament is full of the judgment of God.  The famous John 3:16 verse about the love of God and His grace is followed up by verse 19 which states, “This is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”  The book of Revelation is all about the just judgments of God.  The Second Coming of Jesus is part of God’s judgments upon the kings of the earth and their armies.

Believers have a difficult job.  Many people are not convinced that there is a God, much less that they are in danger of His judgments.  If a person is not convinced that they are in danger, how then can they truly believe in Jesus as their Savior?  What would He be saving them from?

Our passage today explores some of these events as we see King Ahab being scared straight (at least for a little while).

Ahab humbles himself after God’s decree

Last week we looked at verses 19-24 of this chapter and saw that the prophet Elijah was confronting Ahab with the decrees or judgments of God.  Remember, at its core the word judgment isn’t necessarily good or bad.  It simply means that a person or situation comes before God’s attention and He makes a decision about whether it is good or bad.  Thus, judgment can be good if it is in your favor and it can be bad if it is not in your favor.  Of course that is viewing it personally.  From an objective point of view, it is the justice of the judgment that makes it bad or good.  A bad person will not like a good judgment because it will find him or her guilty.

When God had viewed Ahab’s actions, He decreed that His wicked deeds should be punished.  There were three aspects to the judgment:  

1. Ahab will die and dogs will lick up his blood in the same place that Naboth’s blood was licked up by the dogs (see the first part of this chapter). 
2. Jezebel, the queen and his wife, would die and be eaten by dogs outside of the city of Jezreel. 
3. Lastly, Ahab’s dynasty would come to an end with the death of all the male descendants of his biological line.  When Ahab hears these decrees, he is scared by what he hears and responds by humbling himself.

We are told that he tore his clothes, which would have been good clothes as a king, and he put on sackcloth.  Sackcloth is basically what we would call a gunny sack or burlap bag.  Even though he has more clothes, he wears the sackcloth as an outward symbol of his low place or poverty of his heart.  He also fasted (went without food and drink to some degree) and mourned over the judgment from God.  He carries out the traditional actions of one whose close loved one has died.  However, the news he has gotten is far more devastating than that.

Clearly Ahab believes Elijah and he should.  Elijah has a perfect track record.  Even though Ahab doesn’t like it, he is sure though that he is in trouble.  Now the outward signs are not the most important thing.  They only help us to see that the decree bothered Ahab and also that he was outwardly humbling himself.  But what was going on inside?  Repentance always begins with humbling ourselves before the word of God.  But then it must go on to do the actions that are indicative of true inner repentance.  It is not enough to feel sorrow over our judgment.  We must also see the true wickedness of our sin that brought that judgment.  I must sorrow over my decision to reject God’s way and choose my own, but also sorrow over the foolishness of my way.  Thus we must turn away from those sins.  Though Ahab believed the judgment spoken by Elijah, we do not see any later statements of him turning from his sins.  There is no, “Then Ahab got rid of all the prophets of Baal.”  There is no, “Then Ahab called all Israel together and instructed them to worship the God of Israel alone.”  There is no, “Then Ahab sought out the nearest relative of Naboth, gave the stolen vineyard back to him, and publicly exonerated Naboth’s reputation.”  These would have been the actions that were worthy of true repentance.  Regardless of the reality of this, in the moment Ahab is humbling his prideful self before the God of Israel and there is always hope when a person does this.  God met him where he was even though it wouldn’t last.  This is the grace of God.

God’s response to Ahab’s humility

It is most likely that this is the first positive word that Elijah ever received regarding Ahab.  God still gives Ahab one last measure of grace, even though He knows that Ahab will not follow through with his humility.  The grace comes in the form of a modification to the original judgment.  Now the death of Ahab is not modified and neither is the death of Jezebel.  However, the calamity that was to come and wipe out all of his male descendants will no longer happen during his life.  It will happen in the next generation.  Now that might not sound like much grace to you, but then you are in the safety of your house and do not have your whole family under the decree of death by God.  Such grace is really a test of our heart.  Will Ahab take God’s grace and run with it?  Will he change his wicked ways and live for the God of Israel alone?  Sadly we will find in the next chapter that this is not how the rest of the story goes.  Yet, God works with people in the moment.  He works with the sinner’s present heart, regardless of what it will be in the future.  Thus we should be careful with the grace that we are receiving today.  It is not an indication that we are now “bullet-proof” and into the future.  It is simply God’s grace.  What we do with it is incredibly important.

This modification of the original prophecy or decree of God begs a question.  Must all true prophecy come to pass?  Our knee jerk response is to quote Deuteronomy 18:22 and declare that a true prophecy must always come to pass and without any variations from the original prophecy.  It is true that passage I just mentioned lays down a principle that if God says something will happen, then it will happen.  Yet, this is not the only verse in the Bible on prophecy and it is not the only principle we should bear in mind when thinking about this question.

Think for a bit about the story of Jonah and Ninevah.  Yes, there was all that whale business (technically the Bible calls it a big fish).  But the crux of the story is God’s judgment on Ninevah.  Jonah finally walks into Ninevah and prophesies “In 40 days Ninevah will be overthrown!”  Wow, pretty specific and clearly a true prophecy representing the actual judgment or decree of God in heaven.  But when the king of Ninevah hears the words of God from Jonah, he is struck with fear and humbles himself in exactly the same way King Ahab does in this story.  He even commands the whole city to humble themselves before God.  Jonah 3:10 says, “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that he had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”  In a particular moment in time the Ninevites humbled themselves before the word of the God of Israel.  Thus God relented from or overturned His original decree completely.  Think about it.  On day 40, nothing happened.  I’m sure there may have been a few extra guards posted on the walls that day, but God had relented.  We know the story, but what would stop a person on the ground during those days of accusing him of being a false prophet?  Mustn’t the words of a true prophecy always come true?

This brings us to another principle when dealing with prophecies.  In prophecies of judgment, which decree punishments and even death, it is sometimes stated, but always implicitly understood that the judgments are spoken so that those who are under it will repent and turn from their sin.  In other words, the reason God warns us of punishments is so that we will repent, and be spared from them.  He isn’t going on record so that He will get the glory when people are destroyed.    Rather, it is to melt the hard heart of wicked people and induce repentance.  He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

If you want a chapter and verse on this principle then we need to go to Jeremiah 18:5-12.  We can call this principle the Mercy Clause.  However it is true towards the good and the bad.  Thus we probably should call it the Mercy/Justice Clause.  In this passage God has told Jeremiah that he can refashion Israel like a potter punches down the clay and remakes it when it isn’t shaping correctly.  Thus he tells Jeremiah to tell Judah that God intends to bring disaster upon them.  However, He also wants him to tell them to return from their evil way, and make their ways and actions good.  God then goes on to explain the Mercy/Justice Clause.  In verses 7-8 God posits a hypothetical kingdom that He has decreed judgment and destruction upon.  However, if that nation turns from its wicked ways, then God will relent from sending the disaster that He had already decreed to bring upon it.  Clearly, God’s purpose in declaring disaster is so that we can avoid it.  Notice that Ahab’s decree is only partially averted.  Most likely that is due to the fact that his repentance would not be complete.

In verses 9-10 of Jeremiah 18 we see that the opposite is true as well.  Here God posits a hypothetical nation that He has decreed to bless.  However, if that nation does not obey God’s voice (i.e. His words) then God will relent concerning the good with which He had already decreed upon it.  Of course this would eventually lead to God speaking a word of disaster over that nation in hopes that it would repent.

It is not God who is wavering in this principle.  It is us.  God is always true to His nature, and it is His nature to be gracious, but just.  He gives justice, but leaves room for repentance.  He gives people and nations far more time than they deserve to change their ways. 

Thus we must keep this principle in mind when we are judging whether someone is a true prophet of God or not.  I am not saying that this will make it an easy determination.  Sometimes we have to let things grow until they show their true colors.  Just like God we should give it time, but not for the same reasons.  We should give time out of the humility that we cannot see people’s hearts.  Whereas God gives time for people to repent if they are wrong, or grow if they are right.

Isn’t this the very heart of the Gospel that we are to take to the people around us?  It may not be “40 days” away.  But, all who have not put their faith in Jesus by coming into obedience to the word of God are under a judgment of being guilty.  The decree has already been given.  Its punishments hang over us even now.  Yet, Christians share the good news with people that there is a mercy clause in God’s judgments.  Yes, the soul who sins will die.  But those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.  These are not contradictory decrees.  One supersedes the other.

Friend, let us not bank on past righteousness and blessing of God.  Even the present blessings of God are not proof positive that we are okay.  Instead, let us walk continually with a heart of humility and the actions of a heart that is turning towards God and not away.  Thus, we need not live in fear, but we must not live in false pride either.  For those who hear this, don’t let the fact that God judges your life as sinful and deserving of judgment cause you to turn from Him.  To do so is to only seal your fate.  But if you will humble yourself, pray, and turn from those wicked ways, He will hear from heaven, relent, and even heal you.

Response to Judgment audio