Luke Week 10 • Luke 11:37-12:34

Show Notes

Sunday, March 14th • Beau Bradberry

"In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."" — Luke 12:1

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Host

Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

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Thanks for listening.

Good morning.

Glad that you guys are joining us, whether you're here on campus with us or you're joining

us online.

You got a lot of announcements there, a lot of things are going on in the life of our

church, and we're thankful that you guys are on that journey and participating with us.

One of the things that I want to draw us all to, to kind of make note of, so it doesn't

sneak up on you, right, is Easter is early this year.

Easter is April 4th, the first Sunday in April.

Usually it's a little bit later in April, so I don't want you to think, oh, we got a couple

more weeks, when actually it's right here on us.

So we're going to do something a little bit different for Easter here at Willow Ridge

Church.

I don't know about you, but I grew up in a tradition where we had a sunrise service.

And so kind of beginning to think through, as we've been doing for all year, how we do services,

looking at doing services differently.

What we've decided to do as more and more people are coming back to our face-to-face gatherings

here, is to provide a third service for Easter, all right?

And so what we're going to do is provide a 730, and we're calling it like sunrise service.

I know the sun's up before then, but that's as sunrise-y as Baptists get, right?

So a 730 service.

In that service, there will be a full family, everybody out there, no nursery provided.

We're going to have some scaled back worship, acoustic worship that we're going to have,

but just gathered outdoors, out on the patio to worship together.

And then our 930 and 11 services will gather in here.

We'll still stream the 11 o'clock services, but the 930 and 11 will gather.

It's going to be more of a family service, meaning that we will provide nursery that day,

but that is it.

We're going to bring everybody in here together.

So we are going to do Lord's Supper also for each of those three services.

So we'd love to have you.

So maybe you're joining us online because you're not comfortable with face-to-face and being

in a building, but you would like to be with us.

We would love to have you.

And so you can come to that 730.

Maybe you're like, I love face-to-face.

I've been here since we reopened, but I want to try something different as well.

Come join us for that early morning hour, right?

I promise we'll have coffee available, right?

Pastor Dave's going to have it waiting on us and ready to go.

So 730, 930, and 11.

Here's one favor that we need to ask so that we can make sure we have the right amount of

seating is we're going to ask that everyone register on the church website for whichever

service that you want to be a part of so that we can be ready and equipped for you to celebrate

the fact that Jesus is risen.

Well, it's been a year.

It's been a long year.

It's been a different year.

It's been a difficult year.

One year ago today, we gathered as Willow Ridge Church for our last time normally, right?

From that moment on, in that day, we had begun and had fully made the transition from two services

to one service, an important piece for us as a body of believers.

You know, when my family, when we eat a meal together, half of us don't stay upstairs while

the other half eat, and then we switch.

We believe in our family that we eat together as a family, if at all possible.

And we are strongly convicted that that's what God's family needs to do as well.

And so we've made the transition to one service.

It wasn't easy.

Many of you took on sacrifices in order for that to happen, and we're greatly thankful for

those sacrifices that you made during that season.

Our students and our kids were gathering on Sunday morning and then back together, gathering on Sunday

nights.

If you drove past Willow Ridge Church on a Sunday night, you would see the parking lot filled.

Our Hispanics had Bible studies going on.

Celebrate Recovery had step studies going on.

Student ministry was meeting.

Kids ministry was meeting.

It was a packed place where God was doing a lot of things.

We had plans.

I don't know about you, but I'd be willing to bet at least one of your plans this past year

was canceled, right?

We had plans as a church.

We were going to go overseas, continuing in the journey to take the gospel to the nations,

to see some of you take your first steps on the foreign soil, not because you were going

to a resort, but instead you were going to a persecuted people to share the hope of the

gospel.

One year ago, we had a picnic planned for today, for that day, March 15th.

It was going to be a picnic where all members of Willow Ridge Church were invited to be there,

the English speakers and the Spanish speakers.

We were going to gather together for one big picnic.

Our youth groups were coming together to prepare food, to serve, to raise money for each's mission

trips that they were going to be a part of, and we had celebrated that, and it was a remarkable

work of what God was doing.

But then at three o'clock that day, and this is not me casting a stone at our governor, Henry

McMaster.

If one thing is COVID is created, in me is a greater sense of grace for people who make

decisions.

Because oftentimes, and you know this in your own life, we only make decisions based off

of what we have to the best of our ability.

And on March 15th, I believe that that's what our governor did.

About three o'clock that day, he placed us on a lockdown.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I think we were limited to groups no larger than 20.

And we were here, and we got youth all in this building preparing food for everybody.

I think most of them had gloves on.

And I remember walking around, and we were like, we got 24.

Uh-oh.

Like, what's going on?

Are the police going to show up and arrest us?

And so, like, we're intentionally like, this group work over here, this group work over

here.

You may need to hide, right, if they show up.

It's crazy.

You showed up, and you picked up your food.

We started our Chick-fil-A drive-thru out there, and you got it, and you went.

We're grateful for what you did and your understanding in that.

I went in my office about 3.30, 3.45 that day, and I cried.

If you know me, man, I cry a lot.

I'm a crier.

I think real men cry, and we're okay with admitting that, but I cried.

I was afraid.

I was frustrated.

I was disappointed.

I was hurt.

My wife came in.

I don't know, Erin, if you remember this conversation, but Erin came into my office.

She had been in here serving plates, and she came into my office, and she said, are you

okay?

And I said, no, I'm not.

And she listened to me.

As my insecurities and fears and concerns and frustrations began to come out, she listened,

and then gave the greatest, godliest advice.

She said, we're going to get through it.

We're going to get through it.

And for the last year, we, me, you, we got through it.

We got through the last year.

There's things we wish we'd have done differently.

There's things that we celebrate that we did, but we got through it.

God worked.

God worked because we, we adjusted.

You know, you adjusted.

You, you began to do things differently at your home, with your family.

You, you rethought how you do family vacation.

You rethought date nights.

You rethought how to have activities with your kids.

We bought bikes.

We went out on trails.

Instead of going to arcades.

We did more picnics together.

We adjusted.

We adjusted life.

We adjusted here.

We went online.

The most petrifying thing that I've ever done in ministry.

We started online services.

And it is rough.

We got through it.

We got better.

And you extended us the grace to do that.

We did online Bible studies.

Everybody in the course of a week got introduced to this thing called Zoom.

Which you didn't know would take on so much with schools.

But we got on and we did our Bible studies and we met differently and we adjusted.

We adjusted with resources.

Probably the most proud that I've been of, of, of any of the ministries at our, at our church

has been with our children's ministry.

Like there, there's more resources that they work on diligently to be able to provide for

you as a family, whether you show up here on Sunday morning or whether you're going through

at home.

And so if you, if you feel like they haven't done enough, I just want to be honest with

you, that's on you because there's stuff that's there.

We purchased right now media in the world of, of Netflix and streaming for everything.

We, we purchased right now media and in our church jumped in and embraced that and started

online Bible studies where we could study things online and, and meet together.

And it was fantastic.

One of the things I remember kind of my highlight for, for all of this, Don, Don shared with

me one day that we were going to do a Facebook live magic show for the kids in our kids ministry.

And I thought that is the craziest idea that I've ever heard, but we did it right.

And it was, the gospel was shared and families logged on and kids and myself were wowed and amazed because I

still can't figure out how some of those things happen, but right.

Thought outside of the box.

It's what we did.

It's what you did.

We adjusted, we adjusted, we got through it, we, we changed and are doing things differently.

We changed, we had standards and then we decided our standards aren't, aren't quite right.

So we need to, we need to go above and beyond.

You did that.

So many of you did that.

When there's so many churches that have depended on government loans in order to not just make

budget because some of them still didn't, but to make payroll or to be able to pay their bills.

We had the opportunity and were eligible for the same loan and God laid on our heart to say,

no, thank you.

Because we believed of what God was going to do in you and God did and you did and God worked in you

and through you and you gave and you gave not out of ease and not out of comfort, but you gave out

of sacrifice and you gave faithfully and from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I know so many churches where during COVID pastors have laid off staff members, been laid off themselves,

taken massive pay cuts, that some of you have walked those same paths in your job.

We didn't.

I'm blessed.

And my family's grateful for you.

You went above and beyond.

We went above and beyond as a church.

We had a missions plan to go and we couldn't, but you gave to a missions plan, so we just gave it away.

We fulfilled every financial commitment that we said we would fulfill in 2020.

Every single one.

There was not a missionary who was denied a penny of what we had committed.

But then we were also, through your kindness and your generosity and your faithfulness with how God was working in you,

we were able to give above and beyond to some of our partners.

We were also able to give to churches and organizations that we weren't even partnered with,

but we heard about an opportunity.

One that I'll share with you is there's a church that we became aware of.

I'll say we're friends.

We're not partnering together, but we got a friendship with them.

And they're right outside, like literally two miles outside of downtown Atlanta.

And y'all know our state has been a little bit more lax on COVID restrictions, and that's for you to decide what you feel about that.

But Georgia and Atlanta especially was a little bit more restrictive during that time.

And as a result, men and women lost their jobs and didn't get paychecks.

And I don't know if you've ever tried to tithe off of zero, but that's hard.

And so this church was struggling.

In my conversation with the pastor, I said, where are you lacking?

What do you need?

And he said, it's not, we're not worried about anything else.

We're worried because we've spent all of our money.

We have no more money for benevolence.

And right now, I don't know if you've ever been to Atlanta in the summer,

but it is equally as hot as Columbia.

And he said, we have people who are making decisions.

Do I pay the power bill or do I buy groceries?

What do I do?

And so we gave to them, and they then in turn gave it away as well.

And so we're thankful for you guys.

We as a church tried to model your faith, and we went above and beyond.

Over the course of 2020, we've continued to see lives change through the power of the gospel.

What it's all about.

Celebrate Recovery embraced online.

They had bumps in the road like we had bumps in the road as you try to stream and go through all those type things.

But they rallied together, and they kept going on.

They kept going virtually before they could come back together as one of our groups that went back face to face.

And through the ministry of Celebrate Recovery, I don't know if you realize this,

but 2020 has been marked by a year of unprecedented depression, substance abuse.

And it's been marked by Celebrate Recovery stepping into a lot of those areas within the men and women and families in their ministry and meeting needs and providing a place of safety and a place of comfort where people can come through and work through their hurts, habits, and hangups through the power of the gospel.

So they continued, figured it out.

And we've seen families and individuals' lives changed and freed from the bondage that held them before.

We've seen parents engage in different ways.

One of the things I kind of laugh about, my wife has been a school teacher for a long time.

My mom retired as a school teacher.

I was a school teacher for three weeks.

And said, nah, I can't do this.

Went back into ministry, right?

That's tough.

I don't know how y'all do that.

But we as parents, we became teachers.

I didn't understand how complex middle school math was until my kids would say, could you help me with this?

And I would think, absolutely.

No, I can't.

I have no clue.

Call an eighth grader.

All right?

But we did, all right?

As parents, we engaged in things.

We dove in.

And one of the exciting things that I've seen through COVID is parents engaging in the discipleship process.

So many of you decided, I can't drop my kid off on Sunday night, so I'm just going to go forward with it.

And here's what I believe.

You're a better parent because of COVID.

Discipleship became not what you dropped them off at, but the discipleship became what you do in your home.

And so you did it in a different manner and places that you weren't comfortable with, but God worked.

And as a result, lives were changed through the gospel.

We started a baptism class that Pastor Dave had been working on, seeing individuals and families go through that to understand more about what life with Christ means and the Lord blessed during that season in different ways to baptize some.

People joined our family.

Never forget our first Sunday when we came back face-to-face.

There wasn't a whole lot of us.

It was easy to pick out who the visitors were because you ain't ever seen them before.

And then it was different because they had seen you before.

Because they had been watching online.

And you began to realize, wow, y'all went through that and you stuck around with us.

We appreciate you, you know?

And they joined and they became part of our family and they've grown with us.

And now they continue to meet with us face-to-face.

And we continue right now.

We got families that are joining online with us.

They're at home.

They've got their convictions of the reasons why they're not here with us.

And we're glad that they're here.

Some of those families we know and we can't wait for them to be able to meet back with us.

And some families we don't know.

And we long for the day that we can meet them for the first time face-to-face this side of eternity.

Knowing that we'll meet face-to-face that side.

One of the interesting...

I'm going to call her a church member because I want to.

My grandmother started watching online.

She'd get on Facebook.

She didn't have an account.

My aunt would log her in.

And before she passed, in January, she became a part of Willow Ridge.

And I'm grateful for that.

And I wouldn't have had that without COVID.

You don't get to say that in a positive manner very often.

God worked.

God moved.

God worked in your life and worked in my life.

And we celebrate those things.

And it's been phenomenal to see the growth that you've gone through and the growth that you've experienced.

2020 was hard.

We all lost someone, I'd be willing to bet, over the course of that year.

We had to make tough decisions financially.

We probably got into arguments at some point in time.

Maybe somebody fussed at us because we were five feet behind them in line and not six.

You know?

You forget.

But we got into arguments and we got over it.

It's crazy politically.

We got through it.

Right?

God worked.

For me, a big piece of what 2020 has been all about and how God works, I want to share a story with you.

We're going to have a message today.

We'll read scripture.

It'll be brief.

If you were in children's ministry last service, I apologize ahead of time.

This is why we went over.

A lot over.

But there's a guy whose life and whose story became real to me over 2020.

A guy who's been a church, been a part of our church for a decent amount of time.

Not a long time.

But who most of you probably don't know him.

You never met him.

You may have seen him.

Be willing to bet you haven't spoken with him.

He's pretty quiet.

I guarantee you, you know his son and you know his daughter-in-law.

And you definitely know their kids.

It's the McGrady's.

Scott sings up here from time to time.

Sarah runs the words.

And I love their precious kids.

They ain't never met a stranger.

And that always warms my heart when they come up and give me hugs or their drawings that they've done during service.

They have.

I love it.

But I met Jerry.

Jerry's the dad of Scott.

And he comes in with them.

And he's quiet.

And before COVID, they would slide in somewhere near the back and they would sit there together.

And then as they would leave and you find yourself being taken into the warmth and the love and the family of the McGrady's.

And Jerry's kind of hang back and drift on out.

And Jerry, I'm sorry, went through a powerful time during this.

And I wanted to share the story with you.

And I asked his son, Scott, if Scott would kind of help me tell the story.

And instead of Scott helping me, he did a beautiful thing.

He wrote a letter.

And I'm going to read Scott's words, word for word, to you this morning.

As Scott helps to tell the story of his dad.

He says this, I wasn't sure what exactly you wanted me to send, so use as much or as little of this as you want.

Well, Scott, I'm going to use it all.

He says, Dad has been a believer for as long as I can remember, but he was never a churchgoer.

He encouraged us to go to church, but never went himself.

I remember having a conversation with him as a young adult about getting saved.

And he told me that he had been saved, but struggles with the idea of submitting to God.

And that was kind of how things went for the longest time.

When we started going to Willow Ridge and decided that it was the church for us,

we invited him every week until he finally broke down and came with us.

Then a few weeks later, he came again.

And then before long, he was coming every week.

He told me that Willow Ridge was the first church he really felt comfortable in.

As the weeks passed and Dad continued to attend it, it was amazing to see the changes God was making in him.

When Sarah and I were baptized, he was there with us.

Shortly thereafter, he started asking questions about baptism and started showing interest in being baptized himself.

Unfortunately, COVID happened, and he hasn't been able to attend church since because of his condition.

Dad has advanced lung cancer, COPD, heart disease, and a host of other issues that make going to many places impossible for him.

At any rate, things reached a point where we realized that we needed to go ahead and get Dad baptized for his health,

kept him from being able to do it.

And that's when we reached out to Dave.

Dad sat down with Dave, and he talked him through it.

And again, it was like seeing a different person there.

The strength of faith was apparent.

And even though I knew Dad was struggling through the issues he is facing from cancer,

it was apparent that he has found peace through Christ.

Anyway, I know you said short, but I tend to get a little wordy.

I hope this helps.

Take care, sir.

Scott McGrady.

So a few weeks ago,

we gathered here

one night,

and Jerry McGrady and his family came,

and we got to baptize Jerry.

Y'all check out the video.

Well, it's a pleasure and an honor to continue to celebrate baptism this morning.

Right here we got Jerry McGrady,

who's professed his faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior,

shared what God's been doing with him with Pastor Dave,

and we receive him for baptism

because he's been saved by Christ

and we'll spend eternity with him.

So, Mr. Jerry,

based off of your profession of faith

as Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior,

it's a privilege and an honor for me

to baptize you, my brother,

in the name of the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So,

2020

COVID

government,

whatever you want to call it,

stopped a lot of things.

It stopped your vacation.

It stopped your plans.

It stopped school.

It stopped jobs.

It didn't stop God.

And God kept working

and God kept moving.

So, in this time where we've got everybody

kind of giving their one-year assessment

that's met with praise and skepticism

and really nowhere in between,

we want to look at our one year.

It's been tough.

It's been hard.

But it's been good

because God's kept going.

I'm going to read the Bible in just a minute.

We're going to have an abbreviated message.

Let's pray before we do.

Lord,

Lord, I thank you so much.

Lord, for what you've done.

Lord, we didn't do anything.

We didn't.

We just said yes and you went.

And Lord, I feel like we were just holding on

to the edge of your robe

as you led us.

And Lord, you led us down the path

of trying to figure out

online worship services

and live streaming.

And you led us down a financial path of faith

that we've never experienced before.

And you led families down a path of discipleship

and church down a path of discipleship.

And all the time this was happening, Lord,

you're changing lives.

You're drawing people to yourself.

And you're being glorified.

And so God, I thank you for this opportunity

that we have to just be a part of this.

That in the smallness, Lord,

that is my life.

Lord, you allowed me

in your sovereignty

and in your grace

and in your goodness

to experience this past year.

And so, Lord, I thank you for that.

I thank you for Jerry McGrady.

And I thank you for so many like him.

2020, COVID, shutdowns,

masks, quarantines,

social distancing,

Lord, didn't stop.

You from radically changing his life.

And so we praise you for it.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

If you've got your Bibles with you this morning,

open up to Luke chapter 11.

In just a minute,

we're going to start reading in verse 37.

And we're going to read about an encounter

that Jesus has

with a group of Pharisees.

Now, if you know about Pharisees,

or maybe you don't know about Pharisees,

commonly Pharisees are viewed as

the enemy of Jesus.

And so if Jesus is the superhero of the story,

then the Pharisees are the villain.

They're the ones who are attacking Jesus.

They're the ones who are trying to

shut down the work that Jesus is doing.

But I want us to look at Pharisees

a little bit different.

That they really,

just as COVID didn't really shut down anything,

Pharisees didn't really shut down anything.

They changed things.

They altered things.

They made things look different.

But Jesus kept going.

In fact,

Jesus would oftentimes use

interactions with the Pharisees

where they think,

I got him

to often leverage an opportunity

to declare the gospel

in a way that

wouldn't have been possible

if not for the Pharisee.

And so in a lot of ways,

like you and I need to be thankful

that the Pharisees were there

because we get moments like this

of what we're about to read

where Jesus says,

hey, watch this.

I know what you're trying to do,

but boom, here we go.

Right?

And that's what we see.

So let's start looking at verse 37.

It says,

While Jesus was speaking,

a Pharisee asked him

to dine with him,

so he went in

and reclined at the table.

And the Pharisee was astonished

to see that he did not first wash

before dinner.

And the Lord said to him,

Now you Pharisees

cleanse the outside of the cup

and of the dish,

but inside you are full of greed

and wickedness.

You fools!

Did not he who made the outside

make the inside also,

but give as alms

those things that are within

and behold,

everything is clean for you.

And so this encounter,

Jesus had been speaking

and teaching

and a Pharisee comes up to Jesus

and says,

Hey, come to my house.

Have dinner with me.

Now I don't know about you,

but that's not a common encounter

for two strangers to have.

But it is common

for you and I

to invite someone

into our house for dinner.

And it's a very vulnerable thing, right?

You come into my house,

you see who I am.

You come into my house,

you see how I live life.

We sit down at the table,

we break bread together,

we share stories together,

we share life together.

And so this Pharisee,

and I don't know the intention

of his heart at the time,

has an encounter with Jesus

and he says,

Hey, come to my house

wash and eat dinner with me.

And as Jesus does,

there's something that is said here

that Jesus didn't wash before dinner.

Now, growing up, right,

before you came to eat,

at least at the house

that I was growing up,

it was kind of like,

I don't know about y'all,

but breakfast and lunch

were kind of like fair game.

You know,

if you were dirty

after being outside and playing,

I feel like,

hey, here's a peanut butter

and jelly sandwich

and just go on with it, right?

My wife probably cringed,

but that's kind of how I've done things

and she does things differently.

But now for dinner,

ever since growing up, right,

it's that moment where it's like,

okay, wash up,

it's time to eat.

Wash your hands,

it's time to eat.

And that's,

it's not only acceptable,

it's the norm

and it's what's expected.

Now over this last year, right,

even more so,

even more so,

right between the time

that you walk out these doors

and go out the other set of doors

to leave here,

there's multiple times

and places

where you can stop

and sanitize

and wash your hands.

If you walk into my home,

there's at least

four different places

from the time you enter

into the door

to you get to our table

in the kitchen

where you can wash your hands.

So what is going on here?

Like,

is Jesus being the gross guy

at the dinner table

who's like,

nah, I'm good,

you just gotta give

and accept

that I've got dirt

underneath my fingernails, right?

That's not what's happening

here at all.

This isn't a matter

of hygiene

of what's happening

and taking place here.

What the Pharisees

would do

during the time of Jesus

is there was

different times

where they would agree to,

would encourage,

and would teach

for a ceremonial washing

or a ceremonial cleansing.

And in order to eat

in the house

of a Pharisee,

what they wanted you to do

was ceremonially wash

so that you could partake

in life with them.

Now,

they weren't necessarily

worried about you

getting the germs

off of you

before they would

shake your hand,

before they would greet you,

before they'd pull up

a seat to their table.

What they were concerned with

is that you would

get rid of the sin

off of you

so that you could be worthy

to sit at their table,

so that you could be worthy

to dine with them.

Why?

Because they're good.

They've done it all right.

They followed

every in their mind,

every law

and every command

that God had told them to do.

But you have not.

So what do you need to do?

You need to go

and make yourself clean

before you can engage

in a relationship with me.

Now, here's the irony

of the situation.

There's only one person

who never needed

to be cleansed

from their sins.

It was Jesus.

So the whole point

of the conflict

of what we begin to see here

in this encounter

is you've got a sinful man

looking at perfect divinity

and saying,

hey, before you can

eat with me,

before you can fellowship

with me,

go and make

yourself clean.

Not because God's called

you to do that,

but because I've called you

to do that.

See, the irony

in this passage

of Scripture,

the hypocrisy

of what we find here,

but this was common

with the Pharisees.

The Pharisees

obsessed over

the external actions

of what they would do

and their goal

in doing that

and knowing that

their hearts

and their thoughts

were wicked,

but the goal

in making sure

that they observe

all of these

external actions

is so that people

would think

they're spiritually

more obedient

than they really were.

And that's why

Jesus says,

now you Pharisees

cleanse the outside

of the cup

and of the dish,

but inside

you are full

of greed

and wickedness.

Jesus says,

look,

the outside

doesn't really match

who you are.

And I love

his illustration

that he gives.

He gives the picture

of something

that you and I

can all understand.

A picture

of a dirty dish.

Now let's say

that after church

all of you

are going to go

and eat lunch

at our house.

Right?

And my wife

makes phenomenal,

absolutely wonderful,

out of this world,

best I've ever had,

lasagna.

I'm just going to tell you,

when you eat it,

you're going to be amazed.

All right?

So we're going to invite you

to our house

to eat lasagna.

And so you're pumped

because you love lasagna

and you show up

at our house

and we go

and she pulls out

that pan of lasagna

and she peels

that foil back

and the cheese

is just that ride

of toasted and gooey

and you can see

the bubbles on the side.

Y'all know

what I'm talking about?

It is getting close

to lunch, right?

And I open up

the cabinet

and there's no plates.

I don't know,

what do we do?

So all of a sudden

I realize

everything's dirty.

But it's okay.

So I'll go over

to the sink

and I reach down

into like the bottom

of the sink water.

Y'all know

what I'm talking about, right?

And I pull out

the plate

from the day before.

And on the top

of that plate

there's that

dried ketchup

and mustard

from where I ate

too many corn dogs

the day before.

And so it's alright,

I'll get it clean.

So I go

and I get a rag

and I get some warm water

going and I get some soap

and I create a lather

and I flip that plate

over to the bottom

of it.

and I wash

the bottom

of it

and I scrub

the outside

of that plate

and I rinse

it off

and then I turn

it over

and there's the ketchup

and the mustard.

And I go,

eh.

And I go over

and I go to that

wonderful dish

of lasagna

that she's made

for you

and I take

a big scoop out

and plop it

right on top

of that mustard

and then I hand

it to you.

What are you

going to do?

Somebody just said

nope.

I love that,

right?

Nope.

I ain't eating that.

That is not

happening,

right?

You're like,

but no one

would ever do that.

That's Jesus'

point.

That's his point.

No one

would ever say,

oh,

there's filth

and germs

and bacteria

in the inside

of this water bottle

but the outside

is good

so drink up.

No one

would ever

do that.

And for Jesus,

his point

is this.

Don't just focus

in on the outside.

The outside's important.

The outside matters.

Read James.

It's important

what we do.

But the inside

matters

and the inside

needs to be clean

because there's

danger

when it's just

the outside

that appears

to be clean

when the inside

is really filthy.

Later on

in chapter 11,

Jesus is talking

to the same group

of Pharisees

and he says this.

He says,

you're like

unmarked graves

which people

walk over

without knowing it.

And what he means

is this

during his time.

To be ceremonial

unclean,

you could do

certain things

which you would

become unclean.

And one of them

would be

to interact with

or touch

a dead body.

And they had

taken it to such

a degree

of making sure

that you didn't

interact with a dead

body or touch

a dead body

that all graves

must be marked.

And so

if a grave

is here

and there's

the marker

that's there

that you would

not walk

on top

of the grave

out of fear

that you might

become unclean.

So you would

walk around it

so that the ground

underneath you

had no death

that was in it

so that you could

be clean.

So look what

he says

to the Pharisees.

You're like

a dead person.

You're dead.

You don't get it.

You're not alive.

And in that

what is happening

in your life

is the death

and the decay

that is there

so that when

people walk

over you

or people

interact with you

or people

touch you

what you spread

is death

and what you

spread

is

filth

and destruction.

And so

chapter 12

verse 1

look down at this

it says

in the meantime

when so many

thousands of people

had gathered together

that they were

trampling one another

he began to say

to his disciples

first

beware

of the leaven

of the Pharisees

which is hypocrisy.

So Jesus

has interacted

with

the Pharisees

he's interacted

with the lawyers

and these are the

teachers of the law

right

and then people

begin to gather

and as the crowds

come

as people

were surrounding

them

Jesus

looks

at his

disciples

says

understand

this

beware

don't be like

the Pharisees

because what's

going to happen

is it can

take a hold

and it can

destroy

and what

destroys

is hypocrisy.

I don't know

if you've

ever baked

bread

or dealt

with yeast

but leaven

is yeast

and what

I know

about yeast

is this

number one

a little bit

of the yeast

goes a long way

it doesn't take

a lot of yeast

a little bit

of yeast

goes a long way

and then also

I know this

once you mix

a little bit

of yeast

in with your

other ingredients

do you know

what you can't do

you can't go

remove it

it's not like

it's not like

putting pecans

in and then

deciding you

don't want that

so it's just

an inconvenience

let's pick

them out

once you mix

it

it becomes

a part

of what's

there

and a little

bit

goes a long

way

and Jesus

says that

hypocrisy

is the exact

same way

it spreads

and it moves

and it consumes

and it takes

over

I love this quote

that I found

this week

about hypocrisy

and it says

this

hypocrisy

puts the

bar

at an

impossible

height

and then

encourages

everyone

to pretend

that they're

jumping over

it

I love that

hypocrisy

says

let's put

the bar

at this

height

where we

know we

can't

clear it

and then

let's

don't even

try

but let's

let everybody

think that

we're jumping

over it

hypocrisy

says

that within

you

is the

realization

within

us

is the

realization

of

we're not

meeting that

we're not

conquering that

but we want

everybody else

to think that

we're doing

that

and that's

what hypocrisy

begins to

look like

oftentimes

you and I

and I'll be

honest with you

oftentimes

most people

in our

culture

they think

that hypocrisy

is when you

speak about

things that

are true

but then you

can't fulfill

them yourself

that's not

hypocrisy

hypocrisy

isn't declaring

the truth

of God

and then not

being able

to fulfill

the fullness

of that

in yourself

if that

was the

case

Jesus

couldn't

tell us

to not

be a

hypocrite

because I

would be

a hypocrite

every Sunday

morning

as we declare

the truth

of God's

word

so Jesus

says that

in this

to beware

to live

our lives

in a way

that's not

a hypocrite

so what

does this

look like

what's the

warning signs

of hypocrisy

for you

and for me

so I want to

give you a few

of these

this morning

we'll move

through these

really quickly

the first one

is this

hypocrisy

is a lack

of confession

hypocrisy

is a lack

of confession

hypocrisy

is an unwillingness

to confess

sin

and ask

for help

hypocrisy

is you

and I

feeling

that within

ourselves

there are

areas

in our

life

which are

just

private

and they're

personal

and no one

has the right

or the authority

to step

into this

one of the

beautiful things

that I love

about our

CR program

the ministry

that's there

one of the

beautiful things

that I love

about our

small groups

and what we

have

it is

this

it's

okay

to go

there

and not

be okay

it's

okay

to go

there

and say

you know

I've never

really shared

this with

anyone

but here

we go

because we're

commanded in

scripture

God's word

tells us

that we repent

before him

but we confess

to one another

right

confession

is not

just

between us

and the

Lord

but if

you're

going to

walk

in the

fullness

of your

faith

and obedience

and growth

there's

got to be

someone that

you sit

across the

table from

that you

look at

eye to eye

and that you

can say

I'm not

okay

and that in

turn

they can do

the exact

same thing

so hypocrisy

is a lack

of confession

the second

thing

hypocrisy

is man-made

standards

man-made

standards

hypocrisy

is saying

man-made

rules

that become

the standard

for others

holiness

now remember

what we talked

about the

standard is

the bar

I can't

clear it

but for you

that's the

standard

I'm going to

tell you I

clear it

you go clear

it as well

and the dangers

and the pitfalls

of religion

that we find

and in that

it causes us

to completely

miss

who Jesus

is

it's a

man-made

standard

that you

would have

to wash

yourself

before you

could sit

at the table

with the

Pharisee

and in doing

that the

Pharisee missed

who Jesus

was

the third

thing

for hypocrisy

hypocrisy

is comfort

with sin

now hypocrisy

externally

hates sin

hypocrisy

externally

really hates

the sins

of other

people

when we're

falling into

a good line

of being

a hypocrite

it ain't

hard for us

to be able

to point out

the shortcomings

and failings

of those

around us

but when

we're a hypocrite

we become

comfortable

with our

own sin

for a hypocrite

sin is okay

as long as

it's private

as long as

no one knows

about them

as long as

we don't have

to be

outed

for them

a line

that a hypocrite

likes to make

when confronted

with their sin

is who made

you God

don't judge

me

right

and here's

the difference

in love

when a

Christian

confronts

the sin

of another

Christian

they're not

practicing

judgment

they're practicing

vision

this is what

I see

this is what

I know

this is where

you are

come with

me

you know

we're told

in scripture

right

that we're

to look

engage

each other

by fruit

right

so God's

word calls

us to

confrontation

God's word

calls us

to say

now you say

that that's

an apple

but I

know fruit

and that

ain't an

apple

and I

love you

too much

to pretend

that it's

not there

right

hypocrisy

loves

false

holiness

right

when we

pretend

to be

more holy

than we

are

when we

pretend

to have

everything

put together

when we're

not

willing

to let

our guard

down

here's

I want to

close with

but what's

the big deal

why does

it matter

why can't

I just

have my

secrets

why can't

I just

have my

stuff

they're

personal

I have

my rights

to those

no you

don't

for either

one of

them

but Jesus

tells us

the danger

of hypocrisy

is this

God knows

God knows

our hypocrisy

is our

worst

kept

secret

if we're

not careful

there are

things you

and I

will take

to the

grave

that we've

hidden from

our spouse

that we've

hidden from

our parents

that we've

hidden from

our kids

our friends

our loved

ones

our church

family

we've got

secrets that

we can

take to

the grave

with us

but here's

the thing

after the

grave

they're

exposed

the Bible

tells us

in Revelation

that the

righteous

and the

unrighteous

will both

be judged

we will

stand

before

God

and in

Luke 12

verse 2

here's what

Jesus says

nothing is

covered up

that will

not be

revealed

or hidden

that will

not be

known

therefore

whatever you

have said

in the dark

shall be

heard in

the light

and what

you have

whispered in

private rooms

shall be

proclaimed

on the

housetops

right

Jesus isn't

talking about

calling someone

out on

social media

right

posting

some nice

stuff

Jesus

is talking

about

gossiping

when we

find out

this

information

about

people

and then

making sure

that others

know under

the guise

of prayer

requests

right

that's not

what Jesus

is talking

about

what Jesus

is talking

about

is this

you got

things that

you want

to take

to the

grave

well here's

what you

got to

understand

when you

stand

before

God

what was

in dark

is going

to be

brought up

to light

right

what was

whispered

in the

privacy

of a

room

is going

to be

shouted

from the

rooftops

so how

do we

avoid

how do

we not

walk

through

that

well we

walk

through

just by

Jesus

what he

said

beware

of the

leaven

of the

Pharisee

don't

bring that

in

and here's

what I

tell you

we'll

wrap up

with this

this morning

what I want

you to take

away is

this

there's

freedom

in that

God

knows

God

knows

you know

why you

don't

confess

anything

to God

because

he already

knows

that's

why we

repent

to God

repenting

is saying

I'm sorry

confession

is declaring

what we've

done

we repent

to God

because

God

knows

and what

does God

do every

single

time

he brings

in

grace

he brings

in

forgiveness

he brings

in

freedom

and that's

what it

looks like

not being

a hypocrite

right

is found

when we

accept

the grace

of God

that God

gives us

I'm gonna pray

in just a

moment

but here's

what I

want to

say

Mark

and Jennifer

Babb

are here

and they

lead our

CR

ministry

some of

you guys

right now

2020

has been

a tough

year

it's been

a hard

year

it's been

a long

year

all right

and in

this year

you've been

taking some

of the

things in

your life

and you've

been hiding

them here

and hiding

them here

and hiding

them here

and hiding

them here

and what

you're doing

every single

time that you

do that

is you're

connecting

another weight

of sin

and struggle

onto you

that builds

you down

and builds

a layer

of destruction

around your

life

you know

with CR

with our

celebrate

recovery

with our

small groups

with the

different ones

that we

have meeting

one of the

greatest things

that we can

give you

an opportunity

to do

right

is find the

freedom in

confession

the freedom

in a safe

place to share

your hurts

your habits

your hangups

your struggles

right

so that we

can find the

freedom

that God

has for us

and live

in that

so Mark

and Jennifer

if y'all

wouldn't mind

after the

service is

over with

if y'all

might hand

back in

the back

with me

and if

anybody

has any

information

about CR

Pastor Dave

will be there

as well

if we've

got information

about small

groups to try

to connect

you with

because we

want you to

walk in

what God

has given

you

let's pray

Lord we

thank you so

much for this

time and this

opportunity that

we could be

here

Lord I

thank you for

the grace

extended to me

by our church

family as I've

gone a little

over this

morning

but I just

Lord I think

it's so important

for us to be

able to see

what you've

done

Lord where

you've worked

where you've

moved

Lord in a

culture of

negativity

in a culture

of being a

skeptic

in a culture

of conspiracy

Lord can we

be reminded

of the grace

of the goodness

of God

which covers

all of

these

Lord and

you've done

that

Lord and

now as

we're here

my fear

Lord

the burden

of my heart

is that there's

so many of us

who've walked

in here with

a facade

that everything's

okay

that everything's

good

that I'm

exactly who I

need to be

and where I

need to be

Lord

it's just not

true

and that deceit

that is in us

it's taking root

like cancer

and spreading

throughout

it's consuming

us

and what we

need Lord

we need to be

able to walk

in the joy

of our salvation

and that's

not found

in the depths

of our secrets

but it's found

in the freedom

of our confession

and so Lord

I pray that as

we respond

to your word

this morning

number one

that we would

embrace a heart

of repentance

to you

Lord

that we're

sorry

where we

faltered

we're sorry

where we

failed

Lord

we ask

for you

to take

our crooked

paths

and to

make them

straight

Lord

we ask

you

to work

and move

in our lives

to set us

free

from the

struggles

that we

face

but then

Lord

we invite

others

into that

journey

with us

to help

us

to see

the blind

spots

around the

corner

to see

the areas

of our

life

that we're

neglecting

to live

in a

posture

and an

attitude

of confession

where secrets

and lies

are exposed

and where

truth

and hope

is replaced

Lord may we

not live

in isolation

but may we

live in

community

the bond

of Christ

that joins

us

and it's

in Jesus

name we

pray

amen

I'll be

down front

during our

time of

worship

after the

service

be back

in the

back

if you

want to

talk

or pray

we're

here

if you

need to

come down

here

and lay

have a

time of

repentance

but don't

walk out

of here

the same

way that

you walked

in

don't

carry the

burden

that you

are never

intended to

carry

alone

would you

stand

as we

worship

thanks again

for listening

to the

Willow Ridge

Church

weekly

podcast

we hope

that you

enjoyed

listening

to this

week's

message

if you'd

like to

learn more

about who

we are

or explore

additional

resources

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and I'll see you next time to see you next time.