August 20, 2006

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

Common Religious Mistakes-#1

 

Introduction

a.     Over the centuries, religions continue to make some common mistakes in their teaching and practice.

b.     It is always wise to learn from our past mistakes and mistakes of others.

c.      Jesus corrected many of those common blunders in his masterful way of teaching.  His emphasis and understanding, of course, are always the right ones.

d.     Paul revealed why Israel failed to attain unto righteousness and why the Gentiles who did not have the law obtained righteousness.  (Rom. 9:30-33.)

e.     Whatever caused Israel to fail in this important matter should gain our attention.  It is the same reason why religions fail to find justification.

f.       What are some common religious mistakes?

 

#1: Emphasizing Outward Form Over the Inward

 

   When Saul was rejected from being king over Israel, Samuel, the prophet of God, sought after another man to replace him.  God knew what kind of man the Israelites would desire.  They, like us, wanted one that looked “presidential” or “kingly.”  God wanted someone that had a child-like faith in Him.  The Lord said to Samuel, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”  (1 Sam. 16:7, see Acts 13:22.)  Man fails at this very point in regard to many issues in life, not just the selection of a political leader.  It is also a common religious mistake and failure.  It is the outside versus the inside.  It is the form over substance; shadows instead of reality; and appearances over truth.  This mistake can be traced throughout biblical and religious histories.

   Physical circumcision over circumcision of the heart.  The Old Testament taught both.  God made a covenant of circumcision with Abraham.  (Gen. 17:10-12.)  It was a token of the covenant that God made with Abraham which included a land promise, a national heritage, and a seed to bless all nations of the earth.  From this point on, Israel was very zealous to keep this token, but not as careful to hold onto what it represented and meant.  God wanted them to “circumcise the foreskin of their hearts and not to be stiffnecked.”  (Deut. 10:16, 30:6.)

 

   The outward forms are always easier to keep.  We look on the outward rituals and forms instead of upon the heart.  In the New Testament period, this doctrine of circumcision had become so prominent among the Jews that it meant one was a faithful Jew if he was circumcised.  So strong was this tradition that Jewish Christians came down from Jerusalem and troubled the Gentile Christians in the region of Galatia.  They demanded that they first be circumcised, then be baptized.  Paul taught that circumcision profited only if one kept the whole law.  He wrote that the real Jew is one who has the circumcision of the heart, not of the flesh.  (Rom. 2:25-29.)

 

   Pharisees championed the outward.  Among the Jews, the Pharisees failed the most in this regard.  Jesus severely rebuked them for it.  He said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.  For you make clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also.”  (Matt. 23:25-26.)

 

   Pharisees were very careful about washing their hands and bodies.  They would not dare to eat without first washing their hands carefully.  It was a part of the practice of their religion.  They were holding to the tradition of their elders.  (See Mark 7:1-8.)  The Pharisees saw some of the disciples eating without washing their hands.  They were astonished that they ate bread without washing first.  You must understand that they were not thinking in terms of germs.  They were thinking about their religion and salvation and spirituality!  The Pharisees not only washed their hands, but their tables and utensils.  After coming from the market, they were afraid that they would become ceremonially defiled if they had touched a Gentile!  This is what the Hebrew writer had in mind when he wrote about “the doctrine of baptisms.”  (Heb. 6:1-3.)

 

   They loved to pray standing on the street corners with long flowing robes.  They impressed people with their outward religious appearance, but inwardly they were corrupt.

 

   Israel without the New Covenant.  If Israel rejected their Messiah, what would they have remaining to follow?  The Hebrew writer said that the Law was “a shadow of good things to come and not the very image.”  (Heb. 10:1.)  Paul wrote that their observances of the Sabbath, new moon, and dietary laws were a shadow, but the body is of Christ.  (Col. 2:16-17.)  Can you imagine Israel rejecting the Savior because they thought that they could be justified and saved by keeping these shadows and forms?  They have carnal ordinances and sacrifices without the reality.

 

   The heart is the most important.  What does all this mean?  It means that in Christianity the heart is what counts.  When we preach the necessity of outward forms of our faith, let us make sure that we emphasize first the necessity of having a heart that is circumcised and right with God.  Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is a classic statement on what God counts as important.  He wants people who are poor in spirit and pure in heart.  He wants followers who understand mercy and meekness.  He is watching to see if we hunger and thirst after righteousness.  When we pray and fast and give alms, we should not seek the attention of others.

 

   Jesus referred to several of the Ten Commandments; namely, Thou shalt not commit adultery and Thou shalt not murder.  Jesus then said, But I say unto you.  He then pointed to lust and hate that produced adultery and murder.  Jesus taught that we ought not to practice an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth.  He taught that we should love our enemies as well as our neighbors.

 

   “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting of the hair, wearing of gold, or putting on apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God a great price.”  (1 Peter 3:3-4.)  “Do you look on things according to the outward appearance?”  (2 Cor. 10:7.)  “Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.”  (Eph. 3:17.)  “For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is circumcision which is outward in the flesh.  But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God.”  (Rom. 2:28-29.)  “Though the outward man perish, the inner man is renewed day by day.”  (2 Cor. 4:16.)

 

   NT applications.  We have already made some applications with praying and giving and fasting.  (Matt. 6.)  Another application is baptism.  We can so emphasize the right form (immersion), the right doctrine (to wash our sins away), and its necessity (salvation) that we neglect faith and repentance which must precede it and under gird it.  (Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16.)  We can emphasize the need to commune with the right emblems on the right day in the right way, but fail to be broken over the death of Jesus our Lord.  Concerning attendance, we may come and not sing or pray or encourage those around us.  This is the failure of modern Christianity.  Like the Jews of old, we too emphasize the outward forms of religion and neglect the inner qualities.  Look at the descriptions that are often given for the church and who is a Christian.  Most of the things named are outward matters; not what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.  This is a common mistake in religion; let us not repeat it.  You can do all the right things outwardly and still be not pleasing to God.  He is looking on the heart.

 

 

 

#2:  Emphasizing the Heart and Rejecting All Outward Deeds

 

   Two mistakes.  Since it is the heart that matters in religion and God looks on the heart not on the outward appearance, some have erroneously concluded that the heart only matters.  But in the Old Testament, God desired both the physical circumcision as a token of the covenant He made with Abraham and the spiritual circumcision of the heart.

 

   God wanted the Israelites to practice the forms and shadows of the Law to point to the coming of Jesus Christ and spiritual practices of the New Covenant.  Some reject baptism because it is physical in nature.  They argue that the new birth occurs only in the heart.  This is a serious error.  We have compounded the error of the Pharisees by rejecting all outward acts of obedience.  Someone told me that they had decided that church attendance was not necessary for one to be saved because salvation was in the heart.  It is in the heart, but not in the heart only.

 

   Today almost all outward forms of religion have been jettisoned.  They have been declared unnecessary for salvation.  Often in Christianity there are two things that make up the whole.  Note some of them:

 

a.     The new birth includes being born of water and Spirit.  (John 3:5)

b.     Worship under the new covenant includes both in spirit and in truth.  (John 4:24.)

c.      What avails in Christ is a faith which works by love.  (Gal. 5:6.)

d.     Proper observance of the Lord’s Supper includes examining your heart and partaking of the emblems.  (1 Cor. 11:28.)

e.     Redemption includes both the teachings of Jesus Christ and his physical death on the cross.