Speaker 1: 0:00

All right. Welcome to Madison Church Online. I'm Stephen Feith, lead pastor, glad to be back with everyone, and I want to start with a question, which is do you ever feel like and I think this hits some of you really hard this morning, from what I know in our conversations you ever feel like you're on a spiritual treadmill with God. You're running, running, running, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, and when you look around you haven't moved at all. You're still in the room and you're moving, moving, moving. You pray more, you read the Bible more, you say you know what, I'll volunteer a little bit more at church, but you're still in the same place. Spiritually, you feel like you're sweating, striving, you're spiritually exhausted or burning out and you're chasing approval that you cannot quite catch. Now. I think the reason that this happens to us, spiritually, at least in Madison, wisconsin let's call it the United States is because we live in a performance-driven culture, and what I mean is at work, you are only as good as your last project. It's not a what have you done for me over the course of your career, it's a what have you done for me lately? Kind of questions At school. Your worth is tied to your GPA, to your most recent test scores. In sports, you're defined by wins and stats and relationships. Even in our relationships, love can feel conditional, based on what you're bringing to that table. Love can feel conditional. The message is everywhere. You see it on social media, you hear it on the radio, you see it on TV, even when you're streaming. Do more, prove yourself, earn your place. And, without realizing it, we carry that mindset to church, to Madison Church, to whatever church we find ourselves in. We treat God like a boss that we have to impress. Jesus is watching. We treat him like a coach, deciding like am I going to make the team or not? And I really want to make the team. We think if I just sacrifice enough, if I just give enough, if I just behave well enough, maybe then God will accept me. But Jesus tells us something radically different in the passage that we're going to today, matthew 9,.

Speaker 1: 2:36

If you want to follow along as we conclude our series, jesus says I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Dallas Willard captures this tension perfectly. He says I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Dallas Willard captures this tension perfectly. He says grace is not opposed to effort. Okay, grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Effort is action. Earning is attitude, and what Jesus is saying is stop trying to earn what only mercy, what love can give.

Speaker 1: 3:11

Over the last six weeks, we have seen how Pharisees sincere, devout, faithful, religious people missed Jesus. Religious people missed Jesus. They missed God in the flesh right in front of them because they were caught up with a performance. They were on the treadmill, striving more, sweating more, doing more. And this entire series has been about holding up the mirror.

Speaker 1: 3:39

Not just talking about the Pharisees 2,000 years ago in your Bible, not talking about the person you came with today or are sitting by, but it's about looking at the mirror myself and saying where's the Pharisee who exists in me the last six weeks we've talked about. There's a Pharisee in me when I judge other people, but I don't show them mercy. There's a Pharisee in me when I perform publicly, but I don't show them mercy. There's a Pharisee in me when I perform publicly but I neglect my private life with God. There's a Pharisee in me when I know the right things, I can quote the scripture, I know the theology, but I don't live them out. And I think every week we've all felt and walked away with a healthy dose of conviction.

Speaker 1: 4:26

This series has been about me, it's been about you, it's been about us. And today we close with the final word, and one that ties the whole series together, because Jesus isn't just confronting the Pharisees out there, he's confronting the Pharisee in me, and he's saying if you miss this, here's one thing, and if you miss this, you're missing the entire thing, and that is that faith isn't about what you do for God, it's not about what I can do for God. Rather, our faith is about the mercy of God that comes to me, the love that comes to me, the love that sits at my table, the mercy that changes me, not from the outside in, but rather the inside out. So, matthew 9, if we're reading from verse 9, as Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth. Follow me and be my disciple, jesus said to him. And so Matthew got up and followed him. And so for those of you who grew up in the church or you've been around one of our teaching series where we talk about Jesus picking his disciples, this kind of just sounds like another one of those moments. Jesus is walking around and says, hey, you come, follow me. Well, we've seen lots of people say, yeah, sure, I'll do that.

Speaker 1: 5:50

But I want to point out that Matthew's background and story and even career makes this a lot more difficult for him than, say, maybe Peter James or John. I mean, no doubt it was difficult for all of them to turn their backs on family, on friends, on vocation. But Matthew, he was a tax collector and that doesn't mean he just made money for Rome, it means he made money for himself. I mean he had a good career. He could make as much money as he wanted. It was that kind of career. He'd come over and he'd say I think you owe about this much in taxes. Now, how much was going to go to Rome and how much was going to go to Matthew? Only Matthew knows. So he could be literally as rich as he wanted to be, and to walk away from that into the path of Jesus is a big deal. And so, as you can imagine, you see Matthew coming around. You own property, or you have a farm or you have vineyards. You see Matthew coming around. You own property, or you have a farm or you have vineyards. You see Matthew walking around. You try to go hide, right? I mean you don't want to talk to him at all.

Speaker 1: 6:53

Tax collectors weren't just disliked government employees. They were despised as traitors, especially the Jewish ones. They worked for Rome, the oppressive empire that came in and took everything over. They conquered you, they humiliated you and now they're making you pay taxes on land God promised to you and who's collecting your fellow brother. To be a tax collector was to sell out on your friends, your families, your neighbor, your nation. You were a traitor. Socially you were untouchable. Spiritually you were unclean.

Speaker 1: 7:35

A rabbi wouldn't have just avoided having a meal with this person, as we see Jesus about to sit down and have a meal with him, but Jesus wouldn't even brush up against him in public. It's like when you're at the grocery store and you get too close to someone and in Wisconsin we say, oh right, he would have been. Like, nope, out of the way, I can't even touch you. And so when Jesus comes to Matthew's booth and Matthew is working and he says follow me, he isn't just recruiting another disciple, he's tearing down social barriers, social barriers. This is a reason why Matthew shouldn't even be considered for the job. There's got to be a million other people more qualified. He's confronting religious assumptions. Up until that point, there's no way a traitor could be a disciple of a Jewish rabbi. He was redefining what it meant to be holy. And Matthew doesn't hesitate, which likely means he's heard some things about Jesus.

Speaker 1: 8:36

Up to this point, we're at Matthew 9. So up until this point, jesus has been going around teaching, doing some miracles, and so word has gotten back to Matthew. He's considered it. Jesus is there. He says you know what I've thought about it, let's do it. Leaves it all behind.

Speaker 1: 8:51

A fisherman like Peter, james or John could go back to the nets if everything failed. Well, followed Jesus for four years. Guy was killed on a cross, didn't work out. I guess I can go back home apologize. You know, I was just doing young person things and, yeah, we'll get you back on the boat, we'll get you fishing again. But for Matthew, his career was over now. There was no going back to tax collecting and he had already cut ties with his family, his friends, his nation. He was all in on Jesus, with no option to do anything else. If this failed, and as such we read later Matthew invites Jesus and his disciples over to his home as dinner guests, along with many other tax collectors and other disreputable sinners, because when you're a Jewish tax collector.

Speaker 1: 9:39

The only friends you have are other people who don't have friends, other sinners and other disreputable tax collectors. So Matthew throws a party that no respectable Jewish person would be caught dead attending. But Jesus doesn't just join the party, he sits down and reclines at the table and he shares food and friendship with these people. And the Pharisees. They see this and they're horrified I mean, that's putting it lightly they're disgusted, they are appalled. To them, holiness wasn't a state of being. It wasn't something that God made you and said that you are. It was about outward actions and, as such, it was about separation. You had to keep yourself clean, keep yourself pure. Avoid compromise, stay away from sinners, don't associate with them. And so they asked Jesus' disciples, why does your teacher eat with such scum? Because in the Pharisees' eyes, this was unthinkable. If Jesus was sinning who he said he was if Jesus was God, the Pharisees concluded there's no way he could be eating with these unclean people, because God is holy and God is clean. And so there they felt like they had Jesus caught. See, stop, you're not this Messiah, you're not this great person.

Speaker 1: 11:06

To eat with someone 2,000 years ago it had more strings attached than it does today. I mean you can go out and have lunch with a coworker you barely know and it doesn't mean anything other than you had lunch with a coworker you barely know. But back then it meant friendship. If I ate with you, we're friends. It meant belonging, we're in this together and it often implied an approval of their way of life. Now, if you knew all of that, going into having lunch with a co-worker you barely know, you're probably going to want to read their statement of faith and their political views. Right, if it meant I'm going to endorse everything. You're like. I've got a few questions before I buy the latte.

Speaker 1: 11:45

Okay, it's at this point. I mean the Pharisees. It wasn't just about eating the wrong food. He was eating with the wrong people and this was defilement. Jesus, you're not holy, you're no longer clean. There's no way you're set apart. And then Jesus confronts them. He said healthy people don't need a doctor, don't need a doctor. Sick people do. And then he added, talking to the Pharisees now go and learn the meaning of this scripture. You know how audacious it would be to tell the experts of religious law hey, go and study this. I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. You to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices, for I have come to call, not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners. And Jesus is quoting Hosea 6.6, a passage the Pharisees already would have had memorized. And so again, this whole thing like study it. They're like what do you mean? Study it? I got to memorize, I know all about that.

Speaker 1: 12:58

In Hosea's day, the people thought God wanted if you're reading the greater context of Hosea here they thought God wanted more rituals, more sacrifices, more offerings. But God keeps telling them I don't want more of that stuff, I just want your steadfast love. They were offering all of these things, coming up with all of these extra processes and rules to make themselves like holy and set apart. Now God will love me, and the entire time God is like trying to yell at them. I just want your heart, I just want you. Jesus is telling the Pharisees you've misunderstood. Holiness, it's not about separating yourself from the sick. Keep them over here, and I'm over here and all of us who aren't sick. We're kind of like this really cool club that's not sick and we don't hang out with anyone who's in the sick club. He says it's about how much you, it's not about how much you sacrifice for God. It's about how much you reflect the mercy of God. It's about moving towards sick people and offering them healing, not judgments.

Speaker 1: 14:02

The Pharisees to the Pharisees, a sinner was anyone who broke their rules and remember they had their own rules. It wasn't just the law, but also. We get the elders involved and we have all of these extra things, the split hairs and read between the lines. And to the Pharisees if you didn't follow all of those, you were sick, you were out. But to Jesus, a sinner was anyone who opposed God's will, which meant the Pharisees themselves were the sinners in this story because they opposed God's will. And Matthew finds himself walking in God's grace.

Speaker 1: 14:41

The Pharisees considered themselves spiritually healthy because they measured righteousness by their sacrifices, but in reality, they were blind to their own sickness. They thought they didn't need a doctor, and that is the greatest sickness of all. The greatest sickness of all is thinking I don't need help, I don't need the doctor Now. Certainly there are a few differences between them and us today.

Speaker 1: 15:08

For the Pharisees, holiness meant staying away from unclean people, but, as I alluded to at the start of this, for us, holiness often gets twisted into something else Performance, image achievement. We don't worry about brushing against the wrong person in the street, but we do worry about looking the part, measuring up spiritually, keeping a record of our cleanliness. Well, I wake up and I read the Bible at five. Well, I wake up and I read it at 4.30. Well, I pray for two hours. Well, I pray for three hours.

Speaker 1: 15:45

Their trap was separation. That's what got the Pharisees separation. Our trap is performance, religious performance. And the heart of the issue remains the same, though, whether it was the Pharisees keeping away or us performing. It's mistaking outward sacrifice for inward mercy. It's about mistaking grace for works and works for grace. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once warned nothing is more dangerous than the presumption of righteousness. And that's exactly what the Pharisees in our story fell into. They thought holiness came through extra sacrifices. Well, if the law is the baseline, we have to do more. So we're going to do extra sacrifices, we're going to put in extra effort, rules and separations, and we're going to get really, really good at them in such a way that the people around us can't, so that they know how special we are to God.

Speaker 1: 16:42

But Jesus quotes one of the prophets, hosea. He says remember, in Hosea's day, israel was meticulous about the rituals, but God called them out because their hearts were far from him. God did not want more burnt offerings and God doesn't want more performance from you. Okay, he wants their and our, together, our love, our faithfulness, our mercy.

Speaker 1: 17:14

Holiness doesn't begin with sacrifices we perform on the outside. It begins with mercy received on the inside and then it flows to the outside of our lives. We don't impress God with all of the outside stuff that we are doing. We invite God in, and his work in our lives leads to the outside stuff. So that's why Jesus can sit. Jesus, the holy of holies, perfect, can sit with Matthew and his friends, because mercy transforms the heart and then life. And it isn't new. Hosea declared it, micah declared it, paul writes about it From the beginning to the end.

Speaker 1: 17:56

The scriptures tell us outward sacrifice will never, ever be enough. You can try Others have Others, continue to do so, but it will never be enough. What God wants is your heart alive with his mercy. So we ask ourselves today which voice do I listen to? The Pharisee inside of me that says prove yourself, stay away from others, earn holiness by sacrificing, or the Savior before us who says receive my mercy. Come, sit at the table and let holiness flow from the inside out by the grace I give. And that decision isn't abstract. We're not having a theology lesson, nerdy stuff that's like, oh, we'll talk about it in the classroom, but it doesn't apply to how I live tomorrow or Wednesday or Friday. If holiness starts with mercy in my heart, then the challenge is to let that mercy flow out. All we've been talking about today is all of these outside things that I hope changes me from the inside, and what we need to learn and walk away with is mercy flows out of me. So the first thing is that mercy should change how I relate to God. Mercy in my heart changes how I relate to God.

Speaker 1: 19:10

When I've had a rough week spiritually and many of you know what I'm talking about you didn't wake up early and prayed. You haven't touched your Bible in a couple of weeks. We have spiritually neglected the things that we wanted to do. I was going to fast on Thursday, but I didn't, and I was going to go to small group but something else came up, or I just didn't feel like it, or whatever it is. We slip into old habits when I say, well, I can't connect with God.

Speaker 1: 19:35

Now the Pharisee inside says I can't come to God until I fix this. I'm a spiritual screw up. God, I'm so sorry for missing prayer and not reading the Bible and please forgive me so I can come before you again. Well, that's the Pharisee sacrifice, thinking Mercy. Inside out says come anyway, come as you are. I know you mess up. Jesus kind of gets that. He was, you know, for all of us in the room today. He was 2,000 years ahead of the curve. Okay, he knew you were going to mess up. And so this week for you, when you feel unworthy, whisper this truth God's love is a gift, not a reward. God's love is a gift, not a reward. And then live like it's true. Okay, don't just tell yourself, but then live like it's true. Pray even when you don't feel like you deserve to Come and worship, even when you feel empty, like you have nothing to give. Take communion, not as a prize for a good week, but a meal for a soul that is starving for its Savior.

Speaker 1: 20:41

Second, mercy changes how we relate to the people we would rather avoid. For Jesus, mercy wasn't theoretical. What was mercy in practice? Sitting at Matthew's table, sharing a meal with outcasts, the Pharisees built walls to keep people out, and Jesus built a table and pulled up a chair. So who's at arm's length in your life right now? Maybe it's the difficult coworker who's very hard to love. It's the neighbor who doesn't fit in with everyone else, the family member you'd rather not deal with more than once a year, at Thanksgiving, for like 45 minutes because of boundaries. Mercy moves us towards them. That doesn't always mean throwing a party, having a banquet. What it might mean to you this week is listening when you'd rather disassociate and tune out. It might mean showing kindness instead of writing someone off. It might mean making room at your table, maybe literally, for someone you'd rather exclude. Mercy invites us to build tables, whereas pharisaical thinking builds walls. Who will you be and what will you build? Tables or walls? One is the way of the Savior and the other is not.

Speaker 1: 22:10

And finally, mercy changes how we live as a church. What if Madison Church wasn't known for how busy or polished we are? I've read the Google reviews. That's not what we're known for, but I'm just saying like let's throw it out there. What if we were known for how merciful and loving we are? Instead, imagine someone walking into this place, whether a service or a small group or a coffee with you and saying I don't know if I believe yet, but, man, these people love differently. Man, I experienced mercy like never before.

Speaker 1: 22:50

That's the kind of church we started 11 years ago, that we wanted to start 11 years ago. It's the kind of church Jesus calls all of his followers to be, and it's not something big that's going to happen immediately. It will literally as we hold up the mirror. It takes all of us to sit by the person we see sitting alone on a Sunday morning, to walk over and say hello to the person who looks uncomfortable here in this space, not knowing what other churches they've been a part of or if they've been a part of a church at all. It's about inviting someone over to not just share a meal but to talk about faith and to let them vent about how their family doesn't love or accept them. And you assure them that well, I do and Jesus does, because mercy isn't abstract. It's not a theory that we're talking about this morning. It's something that we do. It's practiced in small, concrete ways that flows out of the heart transformed by God's love, and we show mercy as a church because we are a community that God has shown mercy to. We're paying it forward.

Speaker 1: 24:04

The Pharisees show us what can go wrong when faith becomes about proving ourselves, and Jesus shows us what can go right when faith becomes about receiving mercies. There's two different ways, there's two different paths. There's two different destinations. One is very liberating and one is not. And this is personal for me, because I've always been a person who's been wired to strive. I've known forever Mom and dad, if you're watching. I've known forever. You've loved me, appreciate it, love you too. I've never doubted my parents' love, even when I've screwed up in major ways. But early on I noticed a feeling I like, which was their sense of pride in me when I accomplished something. Mom and dad, not your fault, it's a personal issue I'm still working through.

Speaker 1: 24:49

So, as such, I wanted to achieve and achieve more. You know it was cool when I made the football team, but then I really needed to make the A team because it wasn't like good anymore. They just. Well, you made the football team. You've done that before, okay. Well, I got to make the A team. Well, you make the A team. Well, it's not just good enough to make the A team. I want to be a starter, and not just a starter on defense. I want to play on both sides of the ball. It was always moving upward. Now I want my stats to be better than last year's stats. It wasn't good enough just to get into the one that people said was out of reach. Last week Jason was here and he pulled out a medal right and it said 4.0, valid Victorian. You all applaud for him. You know I got into Wheaton and he did it okay. So I just want to set the record straight. Jason, I had to do it.

Speaker 1: 25:34

It was this drive within me. The good wasn't good enough and isn't good enough, and this drive has followed me everywhere. It me everywhere. It's caused marital problems for me, always trying to outdo myself. It comes into my parenting. When my kids don't do well, I feel like a failure. That night I'm sitting down like why didn't I do better for them, as if I had anything to do with it. It comes into my ministry where somebody's having a spiritual issue in the church. I feel like a bad pastor Because if I was good at my job, how could you struggle? I take too much on.

Speaker 1: 26:11

I know that this message is probably more for me than it is for you, the Pharisee in me. When I look at the mirror, it says prove yourself, work harder, earn your worth, stephen. And it's constant Work harder, earn your worth, stephen. And it's constant. It's constant. It's always talking to me. But then I come to Jesus's words in Matthew 9, and he says, stephen, I desire mercy, not more sacrifice. Jesus comes up and words I'm on the treadmill and I'm pushing faster, faster, faster. Jesus comes up and words I'm on the treadmill and I'm pushing faster, faster, faster, faster, faster. He comes up and he kicks the plug out from the wall and he says slow down, step off. Stephen, you want to sit with me? How would you like the rest? And I'm reminded his love isn't a trophy I can earn, it's just a gift I'm given.

Speaker 1: 27:07

Cs Lewis put it this way the Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because he loves us. And that's what we remember as we come to our communion table today. Communion isn't an activity to perform or a sacrifice to prove ourselves. Communion isn't an activity to perform or a sacrifice to prove ourselves. It's the table that Jesus reclines and says come and join me when you gather. The table is for sinners and it's for achievers, it's for Pharisees and it's for failures. It's a meal where he says sit down, rest and receive my mercy. The Pharisee in me says prove yourself. The Savior before me says receive my mercy. The Pharisee in me says prove yourself. The Savior before me says receive my mercy. Which voice will you follow?