The Threat Of Christianity | Matthew 26:59-66
Sermon Transcript
Good morning. Good to see you today. Well, summer of 2019, my dog died. That's a great way to start a sermon, isn't it? Had a 14 year old dog, little Maltese. She had a heart issue. She passed away on a Sunday morning. So I had to wake up, you know, I found our dog, and then I had to go preach the 830 service. And so I'm thinking, I can't bury the dog. What do we do? Right? I have to go and preach. And so called one of our deacons, Johnny Hill, you might know him, to come over, and he hid the body for a little while, until that way, my children wouldn't wake up and see that and everything. So think my oldest one might have seen it, but the other ones didn't. So for about a year and a half, we had no dog, and it was great. It was and four children, no No aunt, no animals, no pets to take care of. And it was, it was great. And then coming out of COVID that fall, my youngest daughter went around and went to a house where they were breeding these puppies, and they were helping these breeders breed these puppies. And they had 21 puppies. They had two mamas. They had all these extra puppies, and what they were is they were these bernadoodle dogs, which is a mix between a Bernese Mountain Dog, which is a strong working sled pulling dog from burns, Switzerland, going through the Alps mountains with a standard poodle. And these dogs should never be these breeds. Never be bred together, because you have the the activity and the pogo stick jumping of the poodle, and you have the strength of this, this burner, this, this Bernie's mountain dog, and they're expensive. And so my daughter was like, Can we have one of these? He's like, No, we can't afford that. No. And she'd go over and play with these little puppies, and she had her own little favor and everything. And what if we just paid this amount? I'm like, No. I mean, we can sell you and buy one, but there's no. I mean, so Well, the breeder, the main breeder, who is older lady down in Somerville, she found out somehow that we were a pastor's family, and so she called my wife up and she said, I'm a religious person, and I heard you're a pastor's wife. I think God wants me to give you this dog for free. And I'm like, so then what do I tell my little eight year old? We can't afford a free dog. Now she doesn't understand all the hidden costs, and not so hidden costs. He just knows it's free, so I'm explaining it to it. So I was like, Okay, well, we'll get this dog. So we got this dog that we're all still a little afraid of, because it's 70 pounds and it's strong, and the dog walks you, you don't walk the dog because it's got that pooling power and it's got that jumping power and, and, but one thing it does is she has this ferocious bark. It's almost sounds like a Rottweiler. It's this ferocious mountain dog bark. So if someone doesn't know what the dog on the other side, she'll go right, and it's like, Wow, we got an intimidating little dog, even though she's real nice. And so when, when when she hears a threat, she barks. And there was a couple nights ago where we almost forgot to lock the back door, and I told my wife, I said we always forgot to lock the white back door, and the dog sleeps in the den, and she's like, it's okay. They wouldn't get very far, right, if they came in, because we got this this dog that's kind of like a guard dog, but that's what dogs do when they when they view a threat, when they see a threat, they bark. Christianity is a threat to organizations. It's a threat to our culture. It's a threat to our government, it's a threat to people. And when Christian values and Christianity encroaches into other organizations and other powers and things like this, those entities will bark. They will bark because Christianity is viewed as a threat, just like a guard dog, and that's what we're talking about today. We're talking about the threat of Christianity, and we're in Matthew 26 starting in verse 59 now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they may put him, might put him to death. But they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last, two came forward and said, This man said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three. Days, and the high priest stood up and said, Have you no answer to make what is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus remained silent, and the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, You have said so. But I tell you, from now on, you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his robes and said he has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard this blasphemy. What is your judgment? And they answered, He deserves death, Father in heaven, as we go through this story arc, if you will, Lord of Jesus, your betrayal and your trial and your crucifixion and death and burial, and it leads us to learning later in the year about your resurrection. As we go through this Lord, help us understand what we know we read this passage. Help us understand better the threat that you are to existing power structures, to entities that are not kind or welcoming to Christian beliefs and father as we get into an election season, and not just the presidency, but all other types of government spots are being filled. Help us have discernment on how we vote. Help us see the threats that Christianity provides to those who don't want Jesus. Give us wisdom on how to deal with it. Lord, I pray that I speak your words today, that your Holy Spirit brings forth, that we receive it, we ask these things in Jesus. Name Amen, I want to give us today three situations that Christianity threatens, three situations that Christianity threatens. Number one, it's a threat to corruption of all types. It's a threat to corruption. Verse 59 says the chief priests and the whole council, those ruling authorities in the Jewish religion, they were seeking false testimony. They were literally trying to find false testimony against Jesus so they could kill him. That was the whole purpose. What they were doing. What can we find that we would agree upon so that this threat to our well being, to our way of life, Jesus can be put to death, verse 60, but they found none, because, of course, he was sinless, and many false witnesses came forward. Another account says that the false witnesses came forward and they they contradicted each other, but they still didn't care. Jesus posed a threat to the religious institutions of Jerusalem. He claimed to be God. He demonstrated this by many healings, by many miracles. He even brought three people back from the dead. He was the fulfillment of 1000s of years of prophecy that God would send a Messiah who would rescue his people from their sin. This Messiah would make people right with God. Yet this fulfillment of God's truth was a threat to this particular religious establishment. These people had power, positions of power. They had jobs. They had reputations. Many had made sacrifices through their life. They had worked hard to get where they were in this establishment, and they were not interested in Jesus fulfilling the plan of God. A number of years ago, one of my daughters was in elementary school. She was little like under third grade. It was the end of the school year, and VBS is right around the corner, so we sent her to school with these little bracelets inviting people to First Baptist VBS, and she started passing them out in her class, and her teacher told her she was not allowed to do that. And I thought that seems strange, so I came back and was talking. To my church staff about it, and I remember talking to Terry and Colby about it and and they were like, I'm pretty sure that's like, against the law. So like, I can't go in, but the child can do that. So I did. I went on some websites that defended your freedom, these type of websites and things, and found out that, yes, it was against her right to prohibit her from passing out these little bracelets that said, Come to our VBS. Here's the dates. And so I went and found the Supreme Court case that set the precedent and all this kind of stuff. And so I just bypassed the teacher, which I know supposed to go to the teacher, but, I mean, she told her she can't bring it. So I just bypassed it, sent it to the principal and said, here's all these links. Just want to let you know, like she's allowed to do this, right? And her teacher was supposedly a Christian, but maybe she was just scared. I don't know what it was. So the principal wrote back and admitted that she had no idea what the law was about this, and I don't blame her, because there's a lot of things they have to know and understand, but no idea what the law was. And she checked back with me in a few days. And so I guess she went to her supervisor. I don't know what she did. She came back, called me up and said, You're right. Annabeth is allowed and permitted to pass these out. And I said, I know. I'm not asking for like, permission. I'm telling you, this is why I sent you the links, like she's going to do this. She she can, she can do it. I'm like, Yeah, we know. Alright. And so she came back, and she invited the people to our VBS. And you know, Jesus is a threat to corruption, whether that corruption is is ignorant or whether it's intentional, he's still a threat to it. He teaches love, but he teaches justice and he teaches righteousness and corruption. Wants none to a part of that. And so Jesus exposes the greed in people's hearts. He exposes the hypocrisy people have he he exposes the the way that people are exploited through corrupt practices. And so he preaches a message of repentance, and then there's forgiveness, but he also gives accountability and challenges people to make changes to their lives, to make changes to their systems and corrupt leadership doesn't like that his ultimate authority as the as the Son of God, is in his call to follow him is to do so in integrity, to do so and in Truth and to confront corruption in places where they try to say, No, we're not putting up with this. Jesus is Christianity is a threat to corruption, and as a Christian, you will face this. You will face corruption in your life, and you might have to fight a little because if you don't, who will? You might have to make a phone call, you might have to send an email, and you do it in a nice way, in a loving way. And there's no perfect institution. We're all sinners. We're all prone to selfishness, we're all prone to corruption, but extreme corruption, like Jesus faced will not put up with Christianity. Will not put up with Christian beliefs. You might face this in a religious institution, Christian Schools, churches, you might face this. You might face this. You will face it in government institutions. Now there are many good people and Christians working for the government. We know that, but there's also many enemies of the gospel. Some like I said, are enemies out of ignorance. Some are enemies out of intentionality. These were enemies that wanted Jesus to be put to death, so they did what they did to be corrupt, to make sure he would die. Jesus and his followers are threats to corruption worldwide. Secondly, Jesus or Christianity is a threat to authority, to authority, just like no one is above the law, no one is above God, amen, no one is above the authority of God. The second half of verse 60 says, At last two came forward and said, This man said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. Now, Jesus did say this, and he was speaking metaphorically, because he wasn't saying, I'm going to tear down this building and bring in Jesus construction company in three days to rebuild it, bring my own contractors in here and rebuild this thing that would be impossible. That's not what he was saying. He was speaking figuratively. But they're saying. You're you said you're going to destroy the temple, verse 62 and the high priest stood up and said, Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus remained silent, and he remained silent right here, because it was a silly accusation. And sometimes, when there's a silly accusation made, it's not even worth responding to, sometimes you just don't say anything. If it's that silly of a thing, it's not worth responding to. It's better to not even entertain it. And that's what Jesus did. But the high priest pressed and said, I adjure you by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Verse 64 Jesus said, You said so. But then he says, but from now on, when you see me, I'm going to be seated at the right hand of the power, and I'm going to be coming back on the clouds of heaven. This affirms his authority, affirms his place as being judged. When Christ comes back, he comes back not as this meek, loving servant. He comes back as a loving judge, and he's a threat to authority, because he's the ultimate authority. Look at Matthew 28 Jesus came and said to him, partial authority in some authority, everything outside the government authority is given to me, is that? What it says all authority in heaven and none on earth, no and Earth. We're not just a religion in heaven. We don't just keep our religious beliefs up there. It's here too. All authority on heaven and earth, every facet of life has been given to Jesus. Christ amen all authority. Look at Ephesians, one that he worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and God seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, what Jesus was saying that he is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all Jesus' authority over all Philippians, two. Therefore God has highly exalted Him, bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus, Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father, that's our God, that's our Lord, that's our Savior. See, Jesus is a threat to all systems of worldly authorities because his teachings, they challenge the existing power structures. They each of those organizations, he brings new values after his own heart into a culture that often contradicts what he brings. See, Christianity is about humility. It's about service. It's about love. This is a message that is in direct opposition to our culture being self serving, to our culture oppressing others who don't see their needs. Jesus's message challenges all what we call earthly kingdoms and rulers who seek to maintain their own control. Why do you think there are closed countries where Christianity cannot come in? It's by design. Praise the Lord. As of this moment, we live in a country where we can do this freely, but they're not. That is not the case everywhere. Governments everywhere do not want someone coming in and saying, you're actually not in charge. God is in charge. We see this as we look at into our election season. Now I'll get up here. I'm not going to tell how to vote, but I'm gonna give you some questions to think about. Look at the candidates when we vote right? And I certainly have my political leanings, and you do too, which candidates are trying to to make things better. I. For the country and where you as a Christian can thrive, you as a Christian can actually thrive. Which candidates are okay with Jesus being authority in their life? How many organizations do do not like Christianity or Jesus, because God's vows are a direct threat to their authority. See, God is ultimately king of this world. We serve him first. So when we go to the polls, it can be difficult. For some of you, it's not difficult at all. But for some of you, it could be. You see this over here, that over there, you're like, Well, I don't know, and then that sounds horrible, and that sounds horrible. Well, that sounds great, and that sounds great. Who is going to allow you Christianity to flourish? Jesus is a threat to authority. Third, Jesus is a threat to injustice. Christianity is a threat to injustice. After he says this, says the high priest tores robes and said he's uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? And they said, death. Now it was against the law for the high priest to tear his robe. It's against Jewish law, but he did it anyway, as a protest, because it mattered more about his theatrics, about mattered more about his position than actually following God's law, even though he was supposed to follow God's law, Jesus told the truth he was God. He wasn't a blasphemer, but they judged him unjustly as a blasphemer, and they gave him the sentence of death that they should look at Leviticus 24 not that they should, but that was allowed for it. Leviticus 24 whoever blasphemes the Name of the Lord, shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The Sojourner as well as the native. When he blasphemes the name, shall be put to death stoning. Now he was crucified, so they didn't quite follow their law, but to be stoned. What is blasphemy? Well, one of two things, first, speaking irreverently or disrespectfully about God, or maybe even godly things. Man, if we had this law now, there'd be hardly anybody left Amen, probably good. Alright, I don't know, but the second thing that Jesus was guilty of in their mind was that it was blasphemy to to claim to have the power or the attributes of God. And he did make those claims. It wasn't blasphemous, because He was God. So Jesus was the ultimate victim of an unjust system and injustice. He was innocent, yet he was deemed guilty. I've heard that there's no guilty people on death row, that they're all innocent, that Jesus was truly, truly innocent. So as we close today, how can we as Christians? What do we do when the dog barks at us? Let me tell you, when my dog barks at me, and sometimes she does only when she has something she's not supposed to have. She gets behind a couch, she gets scary, and I can't get her because she growls and barks because she doesn't want she wants to, even though she's swallows socks and has already had surgery for that, she keeps eating them. She gets something she shouldn't have. She knows she wouldn't have it. She goes behind the couch in her little den. It's like her den area, you know. And then if I try to get there, she she growls. What does she do? What do I do when she barks at me? Let me tell you what I don't do. I don't bark back. What good would that do? Would be silly if I did that. Maybe I have it didn't work. Probably I don't know, but usually I don't. So what can we do listen? Number one, we need to be an advocate, advocate to who to those who are victims of injustice. Look at Proverbs. 31 open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth and judge righteously defend the rights of the poor and needy. The reason why they told them this is because there was no government program for this. Our government programs that are set for this kind of thing in our America are based on Christian morals and values. Now some of them are corrupt, as we know they don't work. The way they should. I don't think at all, but no one did this kind of thing. The Roman Empire could care less, and people outside the Jewish community in the Old Testament could care less about the poor and the truly needy. They had no advocate for them. So when there's people that we know who are truly having issues right now, sometimes it's hard for us because we think, well, that's just a scammer. Or if they could get help, if they really needed it, it'll be hard for us to have discernment. There people who really need it. We need to be an advocate for Secondly, we support the less fortunate. Look at Isaiah 117 support the less fortunate. Learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless. Plead the widow's calls. We do this in a Christ like way. We seek justice. We correct the oppression the fatherless. The Orphan had no advocate. They had no father, no mother. They would run down the streets. Orphanages were started in the west by Christians. That's where they came from. Before that nobody cared about them. The widow, the father or the husband, was the protector. He was the security in those days, and the widow was vulnerable. That's why even the New Testament, we urge us a church to serve our widows and take care of them. Sometimes people don't have what we call as good enough fortune as maybe you have. So we can help in that way, but we can do these first two things in a prideful way. We can do them in a mean way. We can do them in an aggressive way. That's not how we're called to do it again. We're not called to bark back. Look at number three. We live justly. Micah, 68 he has told you, oh man, what is good? What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. We do so in kindness. We do so in humility. We treat people with fairness. We treat people with dignity, you know, whenever I have an issue and the email I talked about I had another issue this year too, or how to talk to another educator, I mean, the old Charlie wants to just rip into somebody, you know, but I feel the Holy Spirit saying, here's how you're going to handle it. Here's you represent me. You represent our kingdom. And then when I say something inappropriate, I just tell them pastor across the street. And no, I don't say that just a joke. Holy Spirit will tell you how to act, right? Do this in a way that's loving, with compassion. And number four, build relationships. Build relationships. Galatians, 62 says, Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. This is talking about Christians helping each other out, but we are called to make disciples of people who are like us amongst coroner. Right is that it all nations, all nations. God has put you in places. You have believers in your life. He has put you in positions with people of different backgrounds, different communities. We are called to build relationships with with them, especially when they bark at us. You know, here's what I do when my dog barks at me, the few times she's angry, I don't bark back. I get her out. She's scared. She's territorial. She's protecting her territory. I get her out. I get her up on when she stands up, she's looking at me like this, right? Get her on my lap. She about breaks my bones. Gets on my lap, and I just rub her and I give her a hug. My wife comes in and says, What are you doing? You caught me being nice to the dog, right? And I just calm her down, and she sits down. See Christians. We're called to bring peace. We're the peacemakers. We don't. And bark back. We calm the situation. We talk about this Wednesday night when Peter cut off the ear of that servant in the garden. Things could have gone bad, really quick, swords clubs on both sides. It could have been a sword fight, loss of life. Jesus heals the man's ears, turns himself in essentially, and creates peace in a very tense standoff. That's what how we are to do it. But that takes courage. It takes self control. It takes love, which are all fruits of the Spirit, build relationships, because Jesus is a threat to injustice, and we're going to be victims of that injustice. So when the dog barks, we maintain calmness, we maintain self control, we maintain civility, but we also maintain the truth. Amen, Heavenly Father, as we close our time together today, we we realize that we are in this world, but not of it. We realize that we are here until you call us home. We realize that you are building the kingdom of God, both now and in the future, that it is here, but not yet. We realize that this world is not our home, but it is. We realize that we are citizens of heaven, but also citizens of Earth, and so give us wisdom. Give us clarity about how to engage our government, our politics, our organizations, people we come across to every day. How do we engage this way in the way you would do it Jesus, when there's corruption, when there's injustice and fairness that we handle in the way that you would, we don't back down from truth, but we calm the barking dogs, or that's a skill that you give us, it's the Holy Spirit, and give us Father, that wisdom to know when to do so, that meekness, that we might have the power to destroy someone, but we relent that meekness that we see in you, Father, as there's one here today that's never placed their faith in you, that today they would do so may they be made right with God through Jesus's death, burial and resurrection, and he's purchased salvation for those who would believe in Him, that he's given them the abundant life that you provide, that they've been born again and given a new nature in Christ, a new creation And Lord, for those of us that are believers, that you would show us how we are to live as we leave here today, we ask these things in Jesus name, amen.
