Participants:
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000687S
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00:01 (Breath of Life Theme Music)
00:06 Sermon #B687 - The Struggle Is Real 00:20 Dr. Byrd: We have a word from the Lord for you today 00:22 and with that in mind we want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Matthew, 00:27 Matthew Chapter 23, one verse, two verses today Matthew Chapter 23:23-24. 00:35 Now I am going to read from the New International Version of the Bible, Matthew 23:23-24. 00:42 If you have an NIV or access to an NIV version, New International Version please follow me there, 00:49 New International Version, Matthew 23:23-24. 00:56 Matthew 23:23-24, the Word of God says, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! 01:07 You give a tenth of your spices─ mint, dill and cumin 01:14 but you have neglected the more important matters of the law─ justice, mercy and faithfulness, 01:23 you should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former." Verse 24, "You blind guides! 01:32 You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." Today our subject is entitled "The Struggle is Real, 01:43 the Struggle is Real." Let us pray God, 01:46 we asked right now in the name of Jesus that you would speak through me to speak to your people, 01:52 That oh God, I would cry aloud and spare not and Lord, I will lift up my voice like a trumpet today. 02:01 We pray for the power of your anointing in this place at this pulpit on this rostrum 02:07 but we pray for your anointing, the power of your anointing through the television 02:11 and the internet airwaves. That Lord, your anointing would destroy yolks today, 02:17 that your anointing would set captives free today, 02:20 that your anointing would make the lame to walk and cause the blind to see today. 02:26 So speak Lord for your servants hereth, hiding behind the cross of Jesus Christ forgive me of my sins 02:32 and may your word flow full and free and when the appeal time comes, then men, women, 02:37 boys and girls will say, "What must I do to be saved?" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 02:42 and thou shalt be saved. We pray this prayer, we ask these things in the name of Jesus, Amen and amen. 02:52 The Struggle is Real. 02:56 Today, there is a conflict in my soul, torn between religion and relationship. 03:06 Religion is embodied in the things we have been taught, 03:10 a set of beliefs that we practice based on what we have been instructed, consciously 03:17 or unconsciously to do. But somewhere in the midst of embracing religion, 03:23 it is God's divine will that we ultimately evolve into relationship 03:31 And it is in this text that Jesus reminds us of Pharisees who had religion but no relationship, 03:40 you will remember that the Pharisees had spent their lives being religious, 03:45 they had spent their lives being steeped in the legalities, legitimacy, legislations, 03:52 rules and regulations of God's law. They knew all of the cleansings, all of the feasts, 04:00 all of the ceremonies. They approached and saw God through the lens of legalism 04:06 because all of us see God through something, be it doctrines, be it creeds, be it concepts, 04:14 be it denominations, we all see God through the lens of something. 04:19 The Pharisees saw God through the lens of legalism because that is what they had been taught. 04:26 And so, they approached their relationship with God on the basis of their commitment to religion 04:29 and not their love for him. The thought was, "The more you kept the law, the closer you were to God." 04:35 And before we are too critical of the Pharisees, all of us to some degree, are religious 04:41 because sometimes I have learned in my ministry that there is nothing as dangerous as turning yourself 04:47 over to a room full of church folk. We have rules for which we have no scriptures, 04:52 we have all kinds of ideas and concepts of what is appropriate and inappropriate 04:56 and we will kill people over things that we later find out were not that deep. 05:02 But it is not just not church folk, it is folk in general, 05:07 we all see through the lens of something and we are in a struggle right now in our country, 05:13 right now in the United States because too many people are looking through life through their own lens. 05:20 What am I talking about? Ahmaud Arbery is shot while jogging, Breonna Taylor is shot while sleeping, 05:28 George Floyd has a knee to his neck. So, what has happened? People are marching, people are protesting, 05:37 people are mad, people are tired because through the lens of their experience, they see racism, 05:45 injustice and inequality, and they have had enough. 05:49 But then there are other people who look through the lens of their experience 05:54 and they say Christians should not protest, Christians should not march, 05:59 Christians should just be quiet and pray but I need you to look through another lens today. 06:07 I need you to look through the lens of that child who does not know where their next meal is coming from, 06:13 I need you to look through the lens of that mother who is afraid that when her son leaves home, 06:17 he is not going to come back home. 06:19 I need you to look through the lens of that family who lives in a shotgun house with five people 06:26 and the kids are struggling to eat, no fault of their own, they were just born into this situation. 06:33 And no, the child should not have been aborted 06:36 but can we help the child if a child is born so the child can live? 06:39 I need you to look through the lens of a family that is sitting on top of their roof saying, "Help us" 06:47 because their house is underwater due to a hurricane 06:50 and they have no car or money to get out so all they can do is hope and pray that someone will see them. 06:57 I need you to look today through the lens of George Floyd's family, 07:02 who simply wants justice for their brother, 07:05 just like any other family would want justice if their brother was unjustly killed by a police officer. 07:13 I need you to look through the lens of Breonna Taylor's family, who can understand how their daughter 07:20 and their sister can be shot while sleeping. 07:23 And two of three of the officers can fire a total of twenty-two shots 07:29 and neither of them are charged with anything. 07:32 And the third officer who is charged is only charged with wanton endangerment 07:37 because he shot not at Breonna Taylor but he was shooting at the wrong apartment. 07:44 Look through the lens, 07:46 of a young black male in America, in an Adventist academy, 07:52 who wants to take one of the girls in his class on a date to the school banquet, 07:58 but none of the girls in the class will be his date because all the girls in the class are whites. 08:04 And their parents have forbidden them to go out on a date with a black boy 08:09 so the black boy either can't go to the banquet 08:12 or he has to ask special permission of the school to allow a black girl from his Church to be his date 08:18 just so he can have a date to the banquet. 08:22 So what I need you to do is stop talking for a minute, stop posting social media statements, 08:28 acting like you know it all and you live outside of your own little bubble 08:33 and that your experience is somebody else's experience. 08:37 And I need you to look through somebody else's lens today, the struggle is real. 08:43 You have never had to wonder where your next meal was coming from. The struggle is Real, 08:50 you have never been denied a bank loan because of the color of your skin. The struggle is Real, 08:56 you have never been denied a promotion because of the color of your skin. The struggle is Real, 09:03 you have never had to worry about getting a date to the banquet because of your skin color. 09:08 The Struggle is Real and I need you to look through a different lens today 09:14 but your problem is you are worried about policy, you are worried about protocol, 09:18 you are worried about perpetuating privilege, you are worried about being politically correct. 09:23 But you are not worrying about people trying to silence the notion that we do not need to call racism 09:28 and injustice by their right names, trying to use the fact that the originators of the 09:32 Black Lives Matter movement are not in harmony with Christian 09:35 and Church beliefs as justification to silence cries for racial justice. 09:40 Trying to say that Jesus would just preach the Sabbath, Jesus would just preach the Second Coming, 09:45 Jesus would just preach stewardship, 09:47 Jesus would just preach about the sanctuary that Jesus would not march, Jesus would not protest, 09:52 Jesus would not call sin by its right name, Jesus would not call its people out 09:57 but it was Jesus who turned over some money tables. In Matthew Chapter 21 and it is Jesus in our text, 10:07 Matthew Chapter 23 who is not playing. Jesus uses the expression "Woe unto you" eight times, 10:14 he uses the word "hypocrites" seven times, he uses the words "blind guides or fools and blind " five times. 10:20 And he says "Ye serpents and generation of vipers" one time each. 10:26 So, he says in our text, "Woe to you, teachers of the law." And Pharisees, he says, "You hypocrites! 10:35 You give a tenth of your spices─mint, dill and cumin 10:38 but you have neglected the more important matters of the law─ justice, mercy and faithfulness, 10:42 You have practiced the latter without neglecting the former, "You blind guides! You strain out a gnat 10:50 but swallow a camel." 10:53 This is the fifth woe addressed here in Matthew 23 and this fifth woe addresses a certain pettiness 11:02 and small things along with the neglect of weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith. 11:09 Jesus in essence is saying to the Pharisees, 11:12 "You are more concerned with tithing herbs than doing justice and showing mercy, 11:19 you are picky about little meaningless stuff and oblivious to major injustices." The Pharisees, 11:26 they were boasting, "We give tithe out of all that we get." But what good is that if you lack love, 11:33 lack joy, lack peace and the rest of the fruit of the spirits. What good is it if you can preach, 11:40 teach, sing, cast out devils, and pray and know the word but you do not know Jesus? 11:47 What good is it to have a diploma in Christian ministry, 11:51 but you have not been saved by the power of the cross? Do not get it twisted, 11:56 Jesus is not telling the Pharisees that the law is wrong or they should not keep the law 12:01 but rather they were missing the whole reason and purpose behind the law. 12:05 Our motivation friends for keeping God's law should be a love relationship, not solely religion. 12:13 It is love and law, faith and works, religion and relationship. 12:20 Law is the religion, but love is the relationship, you have to have both end not either or 12:26 and this is where the Pharisees had it wrong. 12:29 The Pharisees were more concerned with religion than relationship, 12:32 they were more concerned with outward acts of religion than what was going on in their hearts so 12:36 Jesus uses the example of how they tithe to point this out. 12:41 The concept of tithe, we all know what it means, it literally means to pay one tenth, 12:46 it was founded in the Old Testament Law, 12:48 God instructed his people to give 1/10th of all their crops 12:52 and products to the treasury of Israel as a way to support the Church 12:56 but the Pharisees had taken this far beyond what God had intended 13:01 and they were even tithing on the seeds of the herbs that they were growing in their homes. 13:06 In fact they were literally sitting down and counting out these tiny seeds; one for God, nine for me, 13:15 one for God, nine for me. But what is interesting here is when you read the text, 13:19 Jesus does not condemn them for tithing but what he does tell them is that while tithing on seeds 13:26 and doing other religious tasks, 13:28 be sure you do not lose perspective on what really matters in the kingdom, 13:33 which is developing a heart like God's. 13:36 In the Old Testament, tithing, a significant portion of the tithes were for the purpose of caring for the 13:42 less fortunate. And the spirit behind this was that God cares for the less fortunate, 13:48 so much that he made provision that their needs be met. But the Pharisees, 13:54 they had lost sight of the spirit behind the law and all 13:57 they focused in on was carrying out the latter of the law. 14:02 They really did not care about anybody but themselves, when they tithe their herbs and spices. 14:09 It was not because they thought they would help provide for the needs of somebody else, 14:13 it was so they can look good in front of others. But remember now, 14:18 Jesus did not condemn the practice of tithing, even when it came to those little seeds, 14:24 his problem was that they had neglected the weightier matters of the law. 14:31 Jesus borrowed this word "weightier" from the rabbinical tradition, which had divided the law into light 14:36 and heavy categories. What am I talking about? 14:39 The Pharisees problem was that they had inverted these categories 14:43 and had relegated the most important matters to the light category 14:48 and had elevated the less important matters to the heavy category which means 14:54 they were majoring in minors and minoring in majors. And like the Pharisees of old, 15:01 you just might be a modern day Pharisee if you judge the scriptures rather than being judged by them, 15:06 that you think you are better than other Christians, 15:09 that you are more interested in making clones of yourself than disciples of Jesus, 15:14 that you look for loopholes in God's Word in order to excuse your sin, 15:18 that you work harder at looking good than being good. 15:23 You weigh those religious things that you do as heavy 15:27 but you weigh those religious things that you do not do as light. 15:31 You weigh the sins that others commit as heavy but you weigh the sins that you commit as light. 15:38 But Jesus says, "You blind guides! 15:44 You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." Why does Jesus say this? 15:50 According to the ceremonial law in the Old Testament both the gnat 15:53 and the camel were designated by God as unclean animals that were not to be eaten by the Israelites. 16:01 So, Jesus picks them out here because they were the smallest and the largest of these unclean animals. 16:07 You see, back in Jesus day, 16:10 it was easy for a tiny gnat to get into a cup of water so in order to show how pious they were, 16:17 the Pharisees would go through great lengths to strain any gnats out of what they were drinking to 16:23 make sure they did not ingest one unintentionally. 16:26 They would often strain their liquids through a piece of cloth 16:30 and to let everyone know how meticulous they were, they would drink through clenched teeth, 16:35 just in case a gnat had slipped through the cloth undetected. 16:39 Now, let us be clear, the Pharisees were not literally eating camel steaks 16:45 but the point that Jesus is making in the text is that they were blind guides who had totally missed 16:52 out on what really matters to God. They were concentrating on dealing with small things with great care 16:59 and ignoring the big things all together, they spent hours splitting their deal, 17:06 splitting their coming into tenths and nine tenths, but they passed over justice, 17:12 mercy and faithfulness, as though these things did not matter. 17:16 They were so busy with intricate details they did not spend time on large matters, 17:21 they were concentrating on externals, rather than what comes from the inner heart. 17:26 They were fulfilling ritual rather than dealing justly with people, 17:31 they were so heavenly-minded that they were no earthly good, The Struggle is Real. 17:38 But as a Church, as the disciples of Christ, how do we deal with the struggle? 17:46 How do we overcome the struggle? I got two points I am making, I am going to sit down. 17:52 Number one, we have got to keep the main thing, the main thing. 17:55 When Jesus defines those things that are truth the weightier matters─ justice, mercy, and faithfulness. 18:02 He is affirming the words that the prophet Micah had written some seven hundred years earlier in Micah 6:8, 18:10 "O man, what is required of thee. Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God." 18:18 The Pharisees had forgotten that their God-given purpose was not to perpetuate rules 18:24 and activity that burden people down 18:27 but their job was to bring about righteousness in this world through the gospel that embodies justice, 18:33 mercy, and faithfulness. Our mission as a Church is not to help people learn a bunch of religious rules 18:41 or engaged in a bunch of religious activities, our mission is to help others 18:45 and help ourselves develop a relationship with Jesus Christ, where we show justice, 18:50 show mercy, and show faithfulness. 18:53 Let me remind you that this process is going to look different for each and every one of us in our lives 18:58 because we are different people with different experiences. But Justice is a principle, 19:05 Mercy is a principle, Faithfulness is a principle. 19:09 Number two, we got to love others. Now, when you read the Word of God and you read the Gospels, 19:15 you read Luke 11:42, it is the parallel passage to Matthew 23:23 19:19 and it offers a more explicit understanding what Jesus meant by the word justice. 19:23 Luke 4:11:42 says, "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, 19:30 rue and all other kinds of garden herbs but you neglect justice and the love of God. 19:36 You should have practice the latter without leaving the former undone." 19:41 Now, when Jesus uses the word "Justice" in Luke Chapter 11, 19:46 he has in mind the Hebrew understanding of the word justice as it was used in the Old Testament Scriptures. 19:52 There are three primary Hebrew words that are translated Justice in the Old Testament, 19:59 stay with me. And while they slightly have different meanings, 20:02 they all essentially mean to give a person what he or she is due. 20:08 In some places then, justice refers to punishment for sin but in other places, 20:14 justice is also used frequently in the sense of the protection or care that is due to people, 20:20 especially to helpless people who cannot help themselves, including the poor, the widows and the orphans. 20:26 The Old Testament consistently painted a picture of a God who cares for those who are weak, 20:33 cares for those who are helpless, and he expects us to do the same. 20:38 But this is the aspect of justice that the Pharisees missed, 20:42 they only wanted a God who would be just in punishing the sins of others 20:48 but they did not want a God who would be just in holding them accountable for giving protection 20:53 and care to the helpless. We are to treat others with mercy and kindness 20:59 but we are also supposed to provide justice for the least of these in our world by protecting them 21:07 and providing care for them. 21:10 But as long as those with the power in this world are obsessed with staying in power rather 21:18 than sharing their power and influence with and for the good of other people, 21:23 we are headed for a time of disaster. As long as the informed are purposeful, 21:30 keeping many of the marginalized uninformed and misinformed, we are headed for implosion, 21:38 too many social ills in our society have gone unattended for too long. 21:43 Too much racism in our society has been excused for too long. 21:49 Too much injustice has existed in our church for too long. 21:53 And it is only a matter of time before the have-nots confront the haves in a manner that is going to 22:01 produce casualties of a serious kind. 22:04 Now, do not misinterpret me, do not misrepresent me, do not lie on me, I am not advocating violence, 22:11 I am not advocating fighting, I am not advocating brutality but you need to know the Struggle is Real. 22:19 And we have got to appropriately deal with this struggle, this is not an issue of black versus whites, 22:27 this is an issue of right versus wrong. 22:31 And any Psychologists will tell you that the first step to correct what is wrong is to identify wrong, 22:38 to acknowledge wrong, to call out wrong, it is wrong to mistreat people, it is wrong to devalue people, 22:45 it is wrong to dehumanize people, it is wrong to dismiss people, it is wrong to belittle people, 22:51 it is wrong to ignore people, it is wrong to put people down, it is wrong to lie on people. 22:58 And the day is coming where every knees shall bow, every tongue must confess that Jesus is Lord. 23:05 The day is coming when my God is going to deal with wrong. I am always preaching about the Second Coming, 23:13 Jesus is soon to come. Get your house in order, Jesus is soon to come. 23:18 The hour is late, Jesus is soon to come. Stop playing church, Jesus is soon to come. 23:26 Stop majoring in minors, Jesus is soon to come. Stop talking about other people and their business 23:33 and get some business of your own together, Jesus is soon to come. Yes, I want Jesus to come. 23:41 And I want this virus of racism, injustice and crime to end but maybe, just maybe, 23:50 just like Jesus warned the Pharisees in his day that they were doing evil, 23:54 even though they thought they were doing good, maybe, just maybe, 23:57 the Lord is giving more time to modern-day Pharisees so we can repent. 24:05 But this means more than praying and writing statements, this means more than voting and marching, 24:12 this means more than preaching and protesting, this also means we need to repent. 24:20 We must repent and share the love of Jesus with everybody, Black, White, 24:28 and Brown, repent, repent, repent and tell the truth. Get out of your bubble and tell the truth, 24:41 get out of your bubble and look through somebody else's lens and tell the truth 24:47 because the truth is stronger than racism. The truth is stronger than hate, 24:52 the truth is stronger than a lie, the truth is stronger than evil, the truth is stronger than guns 24:58 and bullets, the truth is stronger than dogs and water hoses and he shall know the truth 25:03 and the truth shall set you free, repent and tell the truth. In this equality, in this fight, 25:11 we need some people, not just black people but we need some white people too 25:17 and all people who will tell the truth. 25:21 and will tell the truth. Quit majoring in minors, keep the main thing, the main thing, 25:27 love others and love God because when you love God, you cannot help but love others. 25:36 These are political times, these are racist times, these are coronavirus times, these are hurricane times, 25:45 these are wildfire times but I am so glad troubles do not last always. 25:52 I am so glad that he that will come, shall come, and he is not going to tarry 25:58 I cannot be silent, I won't be silent, I won't stop preaching, I won't stop marching, 26:05 I won't stop protesting because the Lord is my light, my salvation, whom shall I fear. 26:12 The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid with the wicked, even my enemies, 26:18 and my foes came to eat my flesh they stumbled and failed.though war should rise up against me 26:23 and this will I be confident. One thing that I desire of the Lord and that what I seek after, 26:32 that I will dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, 26:43 to dwell in his tabernacle. And in the time of trouble, he shall hide me, hide me in his pavilion, 26:54 in the secret place of the most high shall he hide me. The Struggle is Real. 27:08 Thank you very much for tuning in to this week's Breath of Life broadcast. 27:12 We hope and pray that you've been blessed by Dr. Byrd's inspirational message. 27:17 If you would like to hear this sermon in its entirety, 27:19 please feel free to visit us at www.breathoflife.tv. 27:25 Or, call us at (256) 929-6460. 27:38 Dr. Byrd: Pain, loss, trama, 27:47 in life we experience these things. 27:51 My wife and I have a story, 27:53 we have a testimony of how we lost 27:58 our first born daughter in a horrific car accident. 28:04 We have this new sharing book, its en-titled “Gone.” 28:10 And, in it I want to share with you 28:13 how God has helped me, 28:16 how God has helped my wife, how God has helped us, 28:20 as we had to endure the fact that our first born daughter is gone. 28:30 www.breathoflife.tv 28:34 [END] |
Revised 2020-09-30