Is there anyone in this room who doesn't enjoy looking good? We all do--whether we admit it or not. And when we feel like we don't look good, it affects how we feel about ourselves. There was a study done by researchers at Yale University sometime back on what are often called "bad hair days." This study found that on those days when our hair just won't cooperate, we feel less smart, less capable, more embarrassed and less sociable. What was surprising to the researchers was that men, not women, were most likely to be affected by bad hair days. (1) [Of course, some of us men no longer have to worry about bad hair days.] We all like to look good.
It's like the story of a man who married a woman who was unattractive. But she had a beautiful singing voice. He loved to hear her sing--and for that he married her. One morning, however, he woke up and saw her sleeping next to him, hair in curlers, cream on her face. Desperately he tapped her on the shoulder and whispered, "Sing, Molly, sing." Anyone who says that looking good is not important is deceiving himself.
A few years back there was a poll on the Internet that asked this question, "Which one member of your family is the best looking?" You want to guess how respondents answered? The top rated answer in the poll was, "Me." A majority of the respondents listed themselves as the best-looking member of their family. That corresponds with another public opinion poll which asked people which member of their family was the smartest. Once again, "Myself" or "Me" were the highest ranked answers. But when asked which family member was most likely to tell a lie, "Myself" or "Me" only ranked ninth out of ten possible answers. So most of us think that we are better-looking, smarter, and more honest than the rest of our family. (2)
This brings us to the Pharisees of Jesus' time. The Pharisees were a group of Jewish scholars who were experts in the Law of Moses. In some ways they were the best people in the land. Following God's commands was the focus of their lives. Nothing wrong with that. But somewhere along the way, the Pharisees seemed to miss the point. In their desperate desire to obey God's laws, they begin piling on more and more rules. Soon, the Pharisees had compiled more than fifty volumes of rules and laws that a Jew must follow to be considered righteous.
And there were some significant differences between how the Pharisees viewed the life of faith and how Jesus viewed the life of faith.
FOR ONE THING, THE PHARISEES VALUED RULES OVER RELATIONSHIPS.
The Pharisees were caught up in following the rules. As we noted last week, Jesus was passionate about establishing relationships. Jesus has been teaching about loving God and loving one's neighbor. He's trying to say to the Pharisees and anyone else who will listen, "Faith's not about rules; it's about a relationship. It's about falling passionately in love with God. And once you know God and love God, then you will be inspired to live a pure and holy life. The rules will come naturally." (3)
Hundreds of years before Jesus' time, the Jewish prophet Jeremiah said much the same thing. He said that for the time being, the people had God's Laws carved into stone. But someday, the Lord would make a new covenant with His people.
Jeremiah 31:33-34 says, "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "˜Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. (NIV)
That's the promise of what happens when we are in a true relationship with God.
We can't condemn the Pharisees because we are so often guilty of the same twisted thinking--substituting rules for relationships.
Simeon the Stylite separated himself from sinful society by choosing to live at the top of a narrow pillar many stories high. He spent thirty-seven years living at the top of various pillars as a sign of devotion. Other monks became jealous of Simeon's religious devotion, so they began building their own pillars to live on. Soon, pillar-sitting became a full-blown competition.
Agnes de Rochier was a nun who lived in the 1400s. At the age of eighteen, she asked to be entombed in a cell inside a church. Workmen built a brick cell around Agnes' body, leaving only a small opening through which Agnes could breathe, hear the prayers and Masses performed, and receive food. She lived eighty years inside this self-imposed prison. Instead of going out into the world to minister to others and to share the good news of Christ, people like Simeon and Agnes spent their lives in this absurd, self-contained state of supposed devotion. There are still people today who believe that the Christian life is one of rules and regulations, rather than transformed living. (5)
THE PHARISEES' RELIGION ALSO VALUED APPEARANCES OVER AUTHENTICITY. In other words, looking good was more important than doing good.
Jesus said, "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them "˜Rabbi.'"
Pride and position were more important than sacrifice and service. The most important thing became what other people thought. There is an old Jewish folktale that illustrates in a hilarious way this kind of attitude. The men of the city of Chelm decide that they must do something to prove their town's importance. One man suggests that they choose the wisest man in town and name him "Chief Sage." None of the surrounding towns has a chief sage. Everyone agrees, and so Moishe the tailor is chosen to be chief sage.
Now, how to distinguish Moishe, their chief sage, from every other man on the street? The men of Chelm decide that as chief sage, Moishe must wear a pair of golden shoes. Then, everyone who sees his golden shoes will know that he is chief sage. But as Moishe tramps through the streets of Chelm in his gold shoes, he steps right into a mud puddle. The mud covers up the gold shoes completely.
The men of Chelm decide to craft a pair of leather shoes to cover Moishe's golden shoes and protect them from mud. What a problem! Now the leather shoes cover up the golden shoes. How will anyone know that Moishe is the town's chief sage if they can't see his golden shoes? Finally, the men of the town come to a solution: Moishe will wear the golden shoes on his hands. Now, if any outsider wants to know who Chelm's wisest man is, they can point to the fellow who wears gold shoes on his hands. (6)
If you laugh at that story, then do so cautiously. We live in what is arguably the most appearance-conscious nation on earth. From a young age, we are bombarded by societal messages telling us that appearance is more important than substance. And many of us have fallen into this trap.
The Pharisees, following the directions laid down in Deuteronomy 11: 18, wore small leather boxes called phylacteries on their wrists and foreheads. These phylacteries contained verses of Scripture on them. Unfortunately, some of the Pharisees began wearing larger and larger phylacteries, as if to show that they were even more religious than their colleagues. The Pharisees did the same thing with the tassels they wore at the corners of their garments. A fierce competition developed over who wore the longest tassels on his robes. It would be similar to a competition between Christians over who had the most WWJD clothes in their closet or the biggest fish symbol on their car.
In a May 2002 issue of Us Weekly, a celebrity magazine, model Marcus Schenkenberg claims that he often gets paid $5,000 a night just to hang around top nightclubs and look good. The nightclub owners reason that Schenkenberg's good looks will draw in customers. (7) Is Marcus Schenkenberg a young man of character, intelligence, or great talent? We don't know. But he looks good, and in our society that's all that matters.
AND FINALLY, THE PHARISEES' RELIGION VALUED "RESPECTABILITY" OVER RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Remember Jesus' words in verse 6: "...they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them "˜Rabbi.'" Some of the Pharisees were using their religious position as a status symbol.
A certain pastor was less-than-encouraging when his daughter announced that God was calling her to serve as a missionary in Uganda. At first, he refused to let her go. Don't you know that Uganda is a very dangerous place for Christians? he asked. After two years, the young woman finally set out to pursue her calling. As the pastor watched her plane rise into the sky, he commented that he had wanted his daughter to be a respectable Christian--not a real one. (8)
What makes the difference between a respectable Christian and a real one? Jesus makes that very distinction in verses 11 and 12: "The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Jesus never wore fancy robes with long tassels. He hung out with outcasts and sinners, not with the movers and shakers. Instead of expecting the place of honor at banquets, Jesus took the place of the lowest servant and washed his disciples' feet. "Respectable" members of society got nervous when Jesus entered the room. He didn't play by their rules.
Back in the second century A.D., an anonymous man wrote a letter to a friend in which he described these Christians, who were hated and harassed by their neighbors. He wrote, "They marry and have children just like everyone else, but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table but not a shared bed. They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven." And listen to this next line: "They obey the appointed laws and go beyond the laws in their own lives." (italics mine).
"They love everyone," he continues, "but are persecuted by all. They are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are dishonored and yet gain glory through dishonor. Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life." (9)
Jesus wasn't trying to abolish the Law of Moses. He was trying to go beyond it, to show people the abundant life that flows from living in a true relationship with God.
Let me close with a story about two men who illustrate Jesus' principle very well. Brothers David and John Livingstone had very different goals for their lives. John dreamed of being rich and famous. From a young age, David dreamed of following Christ. Both boys achieved their goals.
John Livingstone became rich and famous. David Livingstone became a medical missionary to Africa. He was never rich, although he did become famous as one of the best-known missionaries of the 19th century.
In his later years, he was offered the chance to return to England as a hero and live out his last days in comfort. Here was his chance to bask in the admiration of the people! To reap the rewards from his many years of service! Instead, David chose to remain in Africa, where he lived in poverty. He died of a tropical disease. Both brothers lived out their dreams. And yet, on John Livingstone's tomb are engraved these words: "Here lies the brother of David Livingstone." (10)
"The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." The saddest secret in most churches is the number of people who sit in pews week after week, year after year, and never develop a true relationship with the living God. They keep all the rules. They look good. They are respectable. But they are spiritually dead. Don't be one of those people! There is an abundant life waiting for those who are willing to seek God's face and live in God's will.
1. Emphasis, Nov/Dec 2001, p. 32.
2. Les Krantz. The Definitive Guide to the Best and Worst of Everything (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997), pp. 44, 48, 49.
3. Contributed by Michele Miller, Reader's Digest, Nov. 88, p. 16.
4. Thanks to Rev. Bill Akers for this insight.
5. Richard Exley. Deliver Me (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), pp. 84-85.
6. Josepha Sherman. Rachel the Clever and Other Jewish Folktales (Little Rock: August House Publishers, Inc., 1993), pp. 147-149.
7. Us Weekly, April 29-May 6, 2002, p. 53.
8. Robert H. Spain, How to Stay Alive (Nashville: Dimensions, 1992), p. 13.
9. Leadership. Spring 87. Contributed by Wayne Rouse.
10. Michael P. Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker Book House, 1989). Cited in Tommy Barnett. Adventure Yourself (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 2000), pp. 131-132.