"Authenticity"

This is on Solomon and I like to welcome you to our program today. You know it's a tremendous honor that God is given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward and I'm so glad you tuned in to listen and be part of that.

Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio and now let's get to the word of God all began with Jim and Tammy and then there was Swaggart and then there was the prime time exposé of Robert Tilton and Larry Lee and all of their money habits. Then there was an really continues to be all of the instances of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests and the thing about all of this aberrant behavior, and all these people doing it is they all claim to be Christians, which is something the media make sure that we know the result is that in the United States of America. Evangelical Christianity has become seriously discredited.

There was an article in USA Today that was entitled extremist action tarnish fundamentalists image and here's what it said.

USA Today sponsored a nationwide Gallup poll found that 57% of Americans consider fundamentalists to be intolerant and 55% of Americans surveyed call fundamentalist Christian fundamentalist extremists. In fact, social scientist John Green who teaches at the University of Akron says that the term Christian fundamentalist has become almost synonymous with a set of ugly adjectives such as and I quote intolerant, narrowminded, poorly educated anti-intellectual and just plain nasty people."?

How are we who are true believers in Jesus Christ. People who don't keep people out of money.

People who don't molest children.

Normal people who just want to love God and worship God help other people come to know God. How are we going to reestablish our credibility with the people here in the United States of America and around the world to reestablish our credibility and that of Jesus Christ and that of Christianity, with a world that is convinced we are a bunch of hypocrites.

Answer were going to do it by living lives of personal authenticity, living lives that are authentic and real and credible ourselves. That's what I want to talk to you about this morning because that's what Jesus talks about in Luke chapter 6 he talks about hypocrisy and he talks about authenticity because of the passage. Luke 61 Sabbath Jesus was going to the grain fields. And his disciples began to pick from heads of grain and rub them together in their hands and eat the Colonel's and some of the Pharisees asked why are you doing what is unlawful now. By the way will Jesus and his disciples were doing was not illegal.

They were stealing grain Deuteronomy chapter 23 says that what they were doing was allowed.

The issue was that they were doing it on the Sabbath. Now, skip down to verse six on another Sabbath. Jesus went to the synagogue and was teaching a man was there with right hand was all shriveled up and the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus so they watched him closely to see if he would heal.

Here is on the Sabbath, almost every family has a beat cop. So what is that the person in almost every family who goes around spying on every body.

Always check enough to make sure you're doing it right and riding on you if you don't put in the family of Israel. The people who play the role of beat cop with the Pharisees. They were the Inspector General's of Israel checked everybody out on everything to make sure everybody was deep, especially the rules of the Sabbath. How do you think they knew the Jesus walking through a cornfield was picking any corn if they were in the cornfield spine morning and many commentators think the man with the shriveled hand was a plant in the synagogue just to see what Jesus was going to do, but the Sabbath was there big thing they had 12 books of rules that they had compiled over the centuries of what you could and could not do on the Sabbath in the Mishnah 12 books of rules and these rules were in credibly detailed and oppressive. Listen to a few of on the Sabbath. A person was only allowed to walk 3000 feet from their home because if you walk anymore. It was work on the Sabbath. You were not allowed to swap an insect because of your Florida mosquito you were doing the work of an exterminator. Women were not allowed to look in the mirror on the Sabbath, one stroke explained that, screwball law. Well, the reason is the Rabbi said if a woman looked in the mirror on the Sabbath and saw that she got a gray hair. She might try to reach up and pull it out and then she was doing the work of a beautician that was a lie. You are allowed to dip the radish into saltwater if you wanted to eat it but you weren't allowed to leave it in the saltwater because if you left it in the saltwater you were pickling it, and network you are allowed to try to resuscitate a dying person. But if the person died. You were not allowed to reach up with and close their eyelids with your fingers because then you were doing the work of a funeral director right and this is just a tiny sampling of 12 books with the rules of what you could and could not do last week.

If you were here. You remember I said that these guys had taken the true worship of God and they had turned it into a prison to understand what I'm talking about now. This is not worshiping God. This is imprisonment that they had built Jesus a lot of problems with these guys and all the rules about the Sabbath, but the biggest problem he had is that they were hypocrites they were religious hypocrites use a long what you mean. Listen, friends, these people did not want Jesus and his disciples to eat when they were hungry and they did not want Jesus to heal up or crippled man on the Sabbath but brother. They had all kinds of loopholes worked into the system so that they themselves suffered no loss on that flip back with me to Luke chapter 13 and again Jesus is arguing with them about the Sabbath. Verse 15 he says Luke 13 verse 15, you hypocrites doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untied his ox, or his donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water using oxen and donkeys need water every day, or they would get sick and could die and that would mean a financial ramification for these people so they had worked in all of these Sabbath rules a way to make sure they got their donkey and their ox down little water so they didn't suffer any financial hurt. You don't have to turn there, but in Matthew chapter 12 Jesus refers to the same thing. He says if any of you as a sheep and it falls in the pit on the Sabbath, won't you go down, throw a rope around it and pull it out. Of course they were identical to lose a sheep they don't want to go to that financial loss Jesus said how much more valuable is a person finishing if there was a fire in their house.

They work the rules and so they can run in the house and save all their possessions and you know that don't rule about you can only walk 3000 feet from your house. What they wanted to take a longer trip with some Rabbi wanted to go see his brother somewhere and it was longer than 3000 feet you know I got around that your love is what they did is they set up on Friday, the day before the Sabbath, you fix two extra meals and you took at 3000 feet away from your house and deposited there you and just established a second home and then you could go 3000 more feet from your second home with individual more spaghetti and put it at that level, 6000 feet you could go 3000 more feet from your Florida home and you can keep this up as far as you want until you got where you wanted to go but they said to Jesus. Jesus don't you dare pick any coordinated if you're hungry, and don't you dare heal up or crippled man is been crippled all of his life on the Sabbath and Jesus responded to these guys with sharp rebuke turn with me to Mark chapter 2 because Mark tells us a couple of things that Luke doesn't about this confrontation. Mark chapter 2 regarding the corn that he'd eaten you. Remember that they said you can do this on the Sabbath, because when you grind it up like this. It's work.

Look what he said Mark chapter 2 verse 25 Jesus said, did you never read what David King David and his companions did when they were hungry and they were in need. Why they in the days of Bobbio for the high priest entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread that was lawful only for the priest to eat. Not only did David needed. David David all of his buddies. Then Jesus said to them, don't you guys understand the Sabbath was made for the benefit of man, but it was not made to be a prison man was not made to be in prison to the Sabbath, and besides, on the son of God in him Lord over the Sabbath. I'm doing around the Sabbath. I made this what Jesus is saying here is a look.

King David when his men were running away from Saul and when they were famished. They went to the temple. They took the special bread that God had said only the priest could eat and they hated and God never said one thing about it. Why, because with God. Human need is more important in ritual. That's why. And then what about this handicap man skipped down the chapter 3 chapter 3 verse three Jesus said to the man with a shriveled hand stand up in front of everybody and then Jesus turned to these Pharisees and he said to them, what is lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill, but they did answer him anything.

He looked around at them in anger and deeply distressed at the hardness of their heart. He said to the man stretch out your hand and he stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored folks Jesus could wait until the next day to do this you gotta wait until Sunday to do this. But Jesus said he's not going to because this man's need is more important.

Jesus said to them that all your stupid little and it's very interesting here in Mark chapter 3 verse five. The Bible says that Jesus was angry, you know, I looked in the Bible this week and this is the only place anywhere in the Bible and the New Testament word says Jesus was ever angry phenomenon on our Milan when he drove all the money change that attempt with the whip. Certainly, the Bible says he was angry, then no why when he said to Peter, get behind me Satan you don't savor the things of God but of no problems. As he was angry. Then the only place in the entire Bible which is Jesus was angry and what he was angry about was the Pharisaism the hypocrisy of these guys on the Sabbath, they would make provision for their own fire insurance in their own personal travel desires, but another person hunger.

They could care less about that on the Sabbath, they would show mercy to their towel their donkey there oxen there.

She but they refused to show mercy to a fellow human being in and the point is, these guys were bogus. They were massive (and just to prove it.

Look at verse six then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodian how they might kill Jesus. These guys like 12 books school rules to try to keep one of the 10 Commandments to the degree you the very same guys are going out trying to break the other one, thou shalt not kill. Now that ends our passage, but it leads us to ask the question much better. Thank you so what we've been talking about hypocrisy.

You know, the Greek word hypocrite toss actually is a stage where he was use of actors. That's where it began. The word hypocrite or hypocrisy actually means literally to wear a mask it means to pretend to be somebody that you're not as a stage actor would do and therefore it became what we think of today is a hypocrite who pretends to be one thing but is really not her. She's really not authentic or authenticity also comes from a Greek word for authentic cost, which means to act like yourself to be genuine to actually be what you claim to be. That's what it means to be authentic and what is the opposite of being a hypocrite is being one authentic or what you see is what you get. Maybe some of you here really been soured on Christianity because of the lack of authenticity in the life some Christian, maybe even today you still struggling to get over that. If that's how you feel. I hope you remember that the foundation of Christianity is the impeccable integrity of Jesus Christ, not his followers, and I hope maybe that you're a little older now and your little wiser now, and maybe life is made you more aware of your own inconsistencies. No matter how hard you tried to get it right that you're not as consistent as you wish were maybe as a result of that you will reconsider Jesus Christ on his own merit. What he did for you on the cross and his willingness to forgive sin if you been soured by some non-authentic Christian. That's not the real issue.

I hope you really let God talk to Dr. really what Christ did for you and your name. I have found that our personal integrity is a crucial element in people coming to know Christ and it's very important if you're a Christian, may I say the most important thing that you can do for the cause of world evangelism is to go out there in the marketplace, go out there in your neighborhood go out there and your family and live an authentic Christian life. Like Peter said in the Bible verse Peter chapter 2 live such good lives among unbelievers. He said that they may see your right deeds and give glory to God not willing to do that how we gonna do it. I want to give you three practical suggestions in his three keywords I want to give you here they are ready commitments reliance humility, but expand on them in the time I got left.

Commitment.

Commitment to what commitment to biblical obedience, folks, I have a premise my premises. This biblical obedience results in authentic behavior.

What I'm saying is when we take the word of God and we live the way the word of God tells us to live and we run our lives the way the Bible tells us to run and we have the kind of attitude. The Bible tells us to have when we live the way the Bible tells us to.

The result is that we will display authentic behavior that honors Jesus Christ. And if that's true, and I believe it is, then this approach to life demands high commitment. It demands a commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over every part of our lives. It demands a commitment to do what God tells us to do and God asked us to do as opposed to what we feel like doing because very often those two things will not need to say. That leads me to my second word. My second word is not the work commitment but the word reliance reliance on what you say log reliance on the power of the Spirit of God to enable us to live the commitment that hopefully we may to biblical obedience have a tape series out in our bookstore that I've done called living by grace. The subtitle is if I'm a Christian, how come I can't live the Christian life, and I will let you but I've been there before giving it on a Christian, how come I can't live the Christian life. How come I get up in the morning I pray and I go God, not today. It's going to be different God today. Are we to do your way. God today were going to do what you tell me and before about the house, particularly if you want by your children will ask how can that happen was very simple.

We have a sinful human nature that is so strong that about how much you committed to the Lordship of Christ are sinful human nature sometimes breaks through and causes to do things we wanted to. That's what Paul said in Romans chapter 7 he said I have a desire to do what's right. I can carry out for what I do is not good. I wanted to know the evil I don't want to do. That's what I keep going to feel like you sound like me so I wouldn't solve this, our second word was the word reliance you see this is why God put the Holy Spirit inside of every Christian to give us the power to do the blood.

We want to give us the power to live out the commitment we made hopefully to the Lordship of Christ. But we got to actively, deliberately, consciously rely on the Holy Spirit for that power. So many of us as Christians, we go out every day to live the Christian life. We get up in the morning and we walked out of the house we go from not going to lose my temper and I am not good news in the office today.

I'm not think that about my mother today doing it would be better if we got upset. Lord I am that it made the tickets today and I am going to get upset I would do all those things I don't even want to do unless Spirit of God lives to my life today. That's why God gave us the spirit of God and little acrostic. I used to help people remember this WHY willingness W what I want to do what's right.

H. Helplessness. God, I don't have a chance why using this more nominally you to your spirit.

You lives to me today and give me the power willingness, helplessness yielded tried out work but you know even if you committed to the Lordship of Christ in your plug-in. There still will be time to blow it because nobody out okay. How committed you are and how sincere you are, since they completely surrender to the Holy Spirit every minute of every day of every week of every month of every year of the life. Only Jesus could do that. So you gonna blow it. What's gonna happen then in terms of your authenticity is a will mail when I blow it by authenticity is gone forever know what is it not of you handle it right.

That's the third word, remember the third word humility. She would you go to person admit you blew it. And humbly ask them for forgiveness and try to make it right. I have failed many times you will communicate more authenticity to them than if you simply got it right in the first place. More authenticity.

You see, in order for our faith to be credible with unbelievers. They don't expect us to be perfect, but they do expect us to be honest honest enough to admit we were wrong.

Humble enough to try to make it right. It's not our lack of perfection. As Christians, the cost us our credibility. It's our lack of honesty and humility. And I grew up with a Jewish mother is Jewish accents. My mom is dead now, and in heaven, but I thought many times about establishing a support group actually recovery group and I thought I would call it a SJM adult survivors of Jewish mothers were sick people.

My mother and I never got along well at all and no matter what it was I would never admit to that woman. I was wrong. I would not give her action, thinking she was right. I grew up, went to college after my dad died, my mom was left with nothing. She went to work and back in the early 80s when I first come to this church. She ran into real money trouble and needed help. At the time Brenda and I had a mortgage and Marilyn we had sold a house in Maryland. We had a mortgage over here, and there was no money to give her except the money that I committed to giving to the Lord, she called out and told me she needed money and asked me if I could help her.

I said mama not to think about it when I thought about it I thought you know I don't like the way my mom spends money she buys things she can afford to buy cigarettes with her. She buys alcohol