Where is Your Christianity

Where is Your Christianity?

March 22, 2009

Introduction

Wednesday evening, I made reference to a sermon that I preached in 1964. I said at that time that we have a lot to say about five in our religion. First of all, there are the five steps to become a Christian: We must hear the gospel, believe the gospel, repent of our sins, confess our faith in Jesus as the Son of God, and be baptized.

Next come the five items of worship. We must sing and pray, we must give of our income and partake of the Lord’s Supper, and we must listen to the message from the word of God. I mentioned the fact that often times as a visual, we use our fingers. We can count the five steps to become a Christian on our right hand and five acts of worship on our left hand, so what is wrong with this picture? If we look at it, it may be too symbolic of what happens to us sometimes. We have our Christianity on our fingers instead of in our heart.

Eric expressed an interest in that sermon. That was before the age of computers. Yesterday, I looked through a notebook of old sermons, but it wasn’t there. What was the point of the sermon? The point of the sermon is easy. It illustrates a problem that we have with our Christianity in some cases. We attempt to restructure a rough approximation of the Old Testament with rules and regulations, but again, we do have a problem: we end up with a form of religion, but we miss the heart of the matter.

Body

I. Is the matter of the heart something that concerned Jesus?

A. He began His sermon on the mount with the Beatitudes. – Attitudes

B. He condemned the Pharisees on numerous occasions.

II. The Pharisees religion was not good enough.

(Mat 5:20 NKJV) "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

A. Were there good things about the Pharisees?

1. They were very religious.

(Luke 18:11-12 NKJV) "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men; extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. {12} 'I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'

a. “His hands” were in great shape: the things he did.

b. He became proud of himself.

'God, I thank You that I am not like other men.”

2. He forgot a very important matter.

a. “But by they grace of God, there go I.”

b. This time in a spiritual sense. How did he get where he was?

B. It was too much about “the hands”!

1. Their works were for the wrong reason

(Mat 23:5 NKJV) "But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

2. Jesus does not want us doing things for our own glory.

(Mat 6:1 NKJV) "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

C. They looked good on the outside.

(Mat 23:27-28 NKJV) "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. {28} "Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

III. So what is wrong with having our religion on our fingers?

A. It is too easy to become mechanical rather than spiritual.

(Mat 23:23 NKJV) "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

1. Some read this, and still miss the point.

2. They concentrate on this part:

These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

B. It’s easy to get hung up on our own righteousness.

1. This was the problem of the elder brother.

(Luke 15:29-30 NKJV) "So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. {30} 'But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.'

2. God is looking for our humilityl

(James 4:6 NKJV) But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."

IV. It is important to do all that God has told us to do.

(1 John 2:3-4 NKJV) Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. {4} He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

A. Paul put no confidence in the flesh, or his accomplishments.

(Phil 3:3 NKJV) For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,

B. It is important that we worship God in Spirit and in truth.

(1 Cor 14:15 NKJV) What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.

1. Jesus said it very well.

(John 4:23-24 NKJV) "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. {24} "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Conclusion

I. So where is your Christianity? Is it only in your head or on your fingers, or is it in your heart?

II. If you are here and subject to the invitation of Christ, we would urge you to come today.

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