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All right, thank you so much. Good morning everybody. Last week, there we go, last week

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we celebrated as a church together at the park. Anybody was there? All right, I was

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not there. But I did see pictures, heard some great things about our combined services.

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My family and I, we actually were traveling on vacation all the way to the west coast.

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We were in Canada on Vancouver Island, wrestling bears and things of that nature. So it's good

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to be back here. We survived that. No, but it was a great time swimming, relaxing, just

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kind of chilling with some family. So it was good to be away, but it's good to be here

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to continue our service, I'm sorry, our series called Typography. And we've been talking

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about important places in the Bible and some impactful messages and things that took place

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there. And what that means for us today. So today, we're actually going to unpack a place

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that I got to visit myself and Greg, we got to visit on two separate occasions while we

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were doing our master's program, we got to visit Jerusalem. And you've heard Jen, she's

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traveling right now, right? She's traveling with your wife right now, but we've got a

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good opportunity for some of us where we've been overseas and been visiting some places

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that are in fact biblical spots. So today, I'll bring our attention to Jerusalem and

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we will be engaging in a story that kind of takes place on when I was there. And some

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of you know that you've been around for a long time. I'm kind of a hip hop baby. And

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you know, so a lot of times in my head, there's visuals or metaphors that I'll get. And the

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place that we're going to talk about today was kind of like a stage of sorts to me, the

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temple steps. So we'll take a gander and take a look at some of the pictures. We'll go to

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the next slide, please. And it reminded me, it's set to stay like a rap battle. So somebody

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like, Oh, God, here's Chris and his rap battle stuff. But because on the temple steps of

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Jerusalem, Jesus has some sharp words to the scribes and the Pharisees. So while I was

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there, I couldn't help but to think like, man, Jesus battled here. This is crazy. Let's

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go on to the next slide, please. So it wasn't a stage like that, but this is more of the

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stage of his choice for that, that these battles that we're here about today. But while we

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were there, this is actually a model. This is a model replica of what Jerusalem would

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have looked back in Jesus days. So this is a Jerusalem, the museum there. And so I was

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there, it's pretty big. Greg, did you get a chance to go? Yeah, it's pretty big. It's

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awesome. They really tried to do it to scale of what it would have looked like. And I remember

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kind of going around. And then I got to the place. I'm like, these are the steps, yo,

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this is so dope. So I wanted to make sure I took a picture of the stage. If you go to

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the next slide, then we actually got to walk there. So that's quite a big difference, right?

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Kind of looks like, honey, I shrunk the kids or something. But the temple is huge. And

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when you go on these steps, it's a huge place. A lot of times when we think about stairs

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or a staircase, it's like, it's not like that, my friends. It's big. Go to the next slide,

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please. And again, this is a kind of more of you can see the details of the temple.

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And you can see in the back, the temple steps. But also what I think is cool about the this

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here is that you can see the dip in there. And you've heard me talk about the Kidron

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Valley that exists. And on the other side of that dip is the mountain of olives. You've

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heard a lot of things about the Mount of Olives. And I say here in Rock Island, the Quad Cities,

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we actually get a really good idea of what that could kind of look like the views because

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we have long view, and then it kind of goes down and we can see a bridge. So you can picture

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on the other side of their Mount olives and Jesus walked this thing. All right, without

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the long view path, you know, it's rugged. There's no trails and things of that nature.

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So I love this because it kind of depicts the ruggedness of Jesus's everyday commute,

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no Uber or anything like that. But the Jesus Sandals that we know well from a lot of the

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pictures that he was traveling to the temple steps, we can keep going on another picture,

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right? So I was on the other side, right? And you can see the gold dome of the temple.

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You can see this is what it would look like when I went out to the Mount of Olives. And

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interestingly, in the middle, you see a lot of graves. You see all these tombs, a lot

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of whitewashed tombs that we'll get to that Jesus used some of these visuals in his rap

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battle. Well, he used some of these visuals to point out some of the things in the people

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on the steps. Let's continue on the next slide, please. So very, very hot that day. You can

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see how, you know, they had us right out in the sun for this presentation right there.

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A lot of us, you know, our brains was kind of dead right there. You could see the smart

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people were in the shade. And I was like, yo, I hope we're not sitting here that long.

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But I had to kind of get up and just move around. I took this picture and I just noticed

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again what you can see when you're on the other side of the temple. Next slide, please.

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Some people say, well, how do you know that Jesus went to the temple steps all the time?

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There's a lot of scriptures about it. Matter of fact, when Jesus was young, it says in

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Luke 2 49, why were you searching for me? This is Jesus, little Jesus. Didn't you know

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I had to be in my father's house? There's a story about Jesus. You know, the parents

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lost him and he was over here. He's like, where y'all thought I was going to be at?

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My father's house. Go to the next slide, please. And Luke 21 37 through 38, how do we know

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that Jesus kind of went that path that I was talking about? It says each day Jesus was

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teaching at the temple and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called

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the Mount of olives. And all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.

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And this was myself and my cohort. We just were kind of looking at the view of the steps

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along the wall right there. And hopefully that gives you a little better visual of kind

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of the place that we'll be talking about as Jesus will use the geography of the place

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and some of these things that I just pointed out to you in the words and the choices that

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he used to confront scribes and Pharisees in this very place. So if you know, if you've

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ever had a chance to watch a rap battle or if you even haven't, but you can think of

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what it might be as two rappers that go head to head and try to outwit outshine one another

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with their words and rhymes. And they use a lot of imagery. They use a lot of metaphors

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to kind of dis or to put their opponents to make them look bad. Right. They also use a

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lot of keywords and references to things and places around them to show their knowledge,

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to show their creativity. It's very competitive. It's very confrontational form of art and

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entertainment. And again, and that's what brought my mind to this, uh, this particular

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metaphor because today again, we journey to the Southern steps of King Herod's temple

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where Jesus confronted the religious leaders with a powerful illustration that would have

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cut right to the core of who they truly were. We'll be looking at Matthew 23 verse 27 and

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28. Uh, you can take that. You can look at that on a Bible app. Um, if you do want a

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Bible or physical Bible, we do have some out in the lobby that you are able to take with

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you or to grab as well. To tradition, our church is to be present for the reading of

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God. If you want to stand up, you can do that, but just to be present for the reading of

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God's word, you can stand with me in spirit or physically Matthew 23, 27 through 28.

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Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs

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which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead

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and everything unclean in the same way on the outside you appear to people as righteous,

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but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Let's pray. Lord, thank you

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for your word. Um, for that it will speak to us today. Thank you for your son who came

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to show us the truth and the way help us to listen to your word and to follow your example

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and help us to be authentic and help us to be clean on the inside and not just on the

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outside and to learn what that means today in Jesus name. Amen. So this passage in Matthew

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23 is a part of a series of what they would call the seven woes that Jesus pronounced

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against the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. In fact, if we would have started at the

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top of Matthew 23, Jesus just goes in on them. Usually rap battles like three rounds and

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Jesus had way more rounds ready for him. He was like really letting these guys have it.

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Um, but at the particular passage, he chose to kind of expose some of their wickedness

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through the illustration of whitewashed tombs. But he also warns the disciples and the crowds

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not to follow their examples or listen to their teachings. Why? Um, before we dig into

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what Jesus meant by calling them whitewashed tombs, let me tell you a little bit about

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scribes and Pharisees. Now the scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders of Israel

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at that time. Sounds good, but they were supposed to teach and model God's law and God's love,

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but instead they twisted God's law, abused God's people. And I'll tell you a little

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bit more scribes were educated. Their business was to study the law, to write them out and

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make observations about them, the religious laws. They were experts in the scriptures

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and uh, the tradition and held traditions like they were like the elders, the OGs in

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the community. They had a lot of knowledge and influence in the society. Uh, the Pharisees

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were highly religious leaders concerned about knowing and keeping the law. They were strict

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in following the rules and rituals that they thought would please God and make them holy.

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They had a lot of respect and authority among the people, but here's the problem. Eventually,

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a lot of the scribes and the Pharisees became corrupt and hypocritical. They made up their

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own rules, made up their own traditions that burden people instead of freeing people. So

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at this point, Jesus knew that they cared more about their reputation and status than

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about God's glory and about God's love and extending God's grace. So they looked good

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on the outside, but on the inside they were kind of evil and grimy. They had all the right

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answers. Imagine that they look good. Imagine that. And these were the top leaders of the

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day and no one wanted to challenge them except Jesus. So let's look what Jesus said to them.

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He called them whitewash tombs and what does that mean? And you kind of get the illustration,

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but uh, let me tell you a little bit about the background of the story. Um, especially

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like I mentioned earlier, having the privilege of visiting the Southern steps in Jerusalem.

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I just again remember standing in all imagining what it was like when Jesus stood there, when

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he taught there, when he was there as a kid, uh, from the Mount of Olives where we could

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visibly see tombstones to the ancient burial grounds. Um, we can kind of grasp, especially

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from some of the slides that I showed, some of the imagery that Jesus drew upon in his

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confrontation with the religious leaders, the temple, as you saw, that was my professor

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that was kind of taking some steps on the temple stairs there, but it was huge. It was

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magnificent. Um, it occupied a large space in comparison to all of Jerusalem. It was

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the center of worship and sacrifice for God's people. It was also the place where Jesus

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taught crowds of people many times during his life. Um, the Southern steps was the entrance

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to the entire temple Mount complex. People had to go through these steps to enter the

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temple courts where they could pray, offer sacrifices or listen to teachers. So Jesus

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went to these steps many times as mentioned in scripture earlier, he went as a child with

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his parents during Passover. He went as an adult to teach and heal people. He went during

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the final week of his life before he was crucified. So Jesus connection, uh, to the temple was

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deep and it was personal. And in this case it was actually confrontational. And again,

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as I sat and looked at the Eastern side, you all saw that there were tombs along the hills

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of Mount of olives and these tombs were ancient monuments. Some of them even predated Jesus.

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Some of them were even mentioned in the Old Testament. They were visible from the temple

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steps, especially during certain times of the year when they were whitewashed. Why were

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they whitewashed in order to worship the Lord in a temple, you had to be rich, really pure.

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You couldn't be tainted by anything that would make you unclean. So one of the things that

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would make you unclean was death. You couldn't touch the dead body. You couldn't touch a

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tomb. You had to stay away from any form of death whatsoever. But the problem was there

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were tombs everywhere around Jerusalem and some of them were not easy to spot. They were

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hidden under rocks or dirt or plants. So in order to help people avoid accidentally touching

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them and becoming defiled, they would whitewash them. They would paint them. Some people that

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had more money would make more monuments. You would see them a little bit more monumental.

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I actually got a chance to drive past. We walked past some of them as well and I got

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to point out a few. If I could show you, like, wow, that's great. There were some people

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that had money that would make sure they just looked really, really nice. Whitewashed very

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well. But in order to help people avoid touching them or be defiled again, they were whitewashed.

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But as we know, inside, they were still full of death and decay. So the confrontation itself

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was picturing Jesus standing on the southern steps looking towards the Mount of Olives

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with the tombs in view and he was unafraid of the powerful religious leaders that were

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out just doing their thing and Jesus confronted him. Now the confrontation with the scribes

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and Pharisees to me is pretty profound because it shows, you know, sometimes we look at Jesus

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and people use the kind of violent Jesus or when Jesus confronts people, they use that

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so they can be mean. Right? So look, he just called them out. He just told them, he just

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flipped the tables. I always say people really enjoy the flip table of Jesus. They can use

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that for anything. You can do something mean to somebody and be like, Jesus flipped tables.

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Hey, Chris said Jesus battle wrapped. So I'm going to tell you like it is. And this is

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where it's different. This is where even I take a step back and we're like, this is kind

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of cool for me to think of a battle wrap or the point of battle wrap is really tear somebody

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down. Jesus wasn't trying to do that. He's trying to tell the truth of who they were.

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He wasn't really trying to be cute and stuff. He just did a direct hit. And he just used

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illustration. Like y'all really want to know what these guys like? Look, it's right there.

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But the profound thing, Jesus sees through the external facades and cause us to be honest

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with ourselves, to be honest with him, to be honest with one another. So just as Jesus

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exposed the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, I believe like even for us today in 2023,

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what we can see from that is not this mean Jesus that's pointing fingers, but how Jesus

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wants the best of us. Jesus wants us to be our true selves and Jesus, I imagine him looking

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at them, not being like me if I battle wrap, but saying, no, like, let's just knock this

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off. Let's knock this off. Like, I know who you truly are. You guys are like these white

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wash tombs. But obviously approaching or confronting people of this stature, he expected confrontation

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as we would if we had to confront someone with love, you can expect a little kickback.

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You can expect because all of us in this room are like a lot of the kids, you know, some

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of the first words that we know to say is no. That stays with us. Right? That kickback

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is within us. It's like a built in thing. It's like, no, no. All right. How many people

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that are a little older, like you enjoy being confronted about something that you know,

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like you know there's something about you that needs to be checked. But when somebody

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confronts that, how many of you are like, oh, I've been waiting for you to say that.

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I am so happy that you just put me on blast. I mean, thank you so much. Can I just hug

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you right now? You just don't hear about that. You don't want that. I mean, if you do, then

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that's special. And that's great. That's great. You know, I can't say like nobody does this

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because sometimes I'll have somebody be like, Chris, I heard you say that. But I'm actually

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genuinely I'm like, wow, you're that's awesome. But I'm not one of them that I enjoy a rebuke

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or rejoice over someone that confronts me. And again, I say confrontation in the terms

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of knowing that we need that, knowing that we need to be checked on some things or we

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need to knock some things off. Jesus called them whitewash tombs. And that would have

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just been a tough line right there. That would have been a diss right there. Can you imagine

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how they felt when they heard it? Can you imagine how the crowd reacted when they heard

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Jesus say that? Because sometimes there's people that can say stuff and you're scared

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to say it and you're like, oh, so and so said this. You hear what they said? This is so

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and so said this. So and you kind of use that as your way of confronting. I imagine there

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was some that have been abused verbally or whatnot by the Pharisees and scribes that

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rejoice that someone finally spoke up. But at the end of the day, I think that again,

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it's a hard pill to swallow. But sometimes we need that from Jesus. Sometimes we might

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be too concerned about our outside appearance than what is going on on our inside. I think

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if we took a poll, no one in here enjoys somebody that's being fake. You hear teens talk about

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all the time. Oh, that person's fake. They're fake. And I'll be like, what does that mean?

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They're just not real. They say something. Look at this text. I'll show you. But look

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what they text. So and so they're fake. Nobody likes. But we act fake. Nobody likes it. Done

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to them. Somebody being fake. But we act like that. How do I know? There's a lot of times.

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Hey, Chris, how you doing? Good. Good. It's just automatic. And one of the one time I

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went home, I knew I was like, I don't know why I said that. I don't feel like engaging

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the conversation right now. Not right here. Not in the aisle at Hy-Vee. Ask me if I'm

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good. All right. We don't want to get into the nitty gritty right on the spot like that.

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So we just by default say good. I don't know the best alternative, but I know that 100%

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of the time, sometimes we're just not good. And sometimes it's okay. Just to be like,

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I'm not doing that good. Oh, thanks for sharing. You might not even have to get all into it.

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You could just say, no, I'm not. But the big question when I look at this, because it's

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hard because we can become legalistic too. It could be somebody like, well, what are

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we supposed to do? Whenever somebody says that, we're supposed to sit down and have

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coffee and talk to them about our lives? No. However, we can talk to God about what's going

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on. We can envision Jesus asking us how we're doing, looking at us and maybe even saying

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like, man, if I was on the temple steps, what would he be calling out in me right now? Imagine

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that battle taking place. But not to shame you, but to call out who you really are, to

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get rid of some of the trash or some of the fake facade. You can have that conversation

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with Jesus. You can have that conversation and say, God, Holy Spirit, just help me be

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who you truly want me to be. And sometimes I think that's better than just spilling your

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guts in aisle seven in Ivy. So practically understanding that Jesus knows and that Jesus

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is ready for that conversation. But we have to be the ones that are willing to step up

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on that stage. He already knows. He's already knew how they work before he got to the steps.

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We've heard the, many of us heard the verse on first John one nine that says that we confess

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our sins, he's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all

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unrighteousness. And sometimes we just forget these truths of that confession doesn't mean

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that we just have to go to a brother or sister and reveal everything. But we have a God that

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sees us and knows us. We also again can ask God's spirit to guide us into the truth that

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God will set us free to depend on him for the strength and wisdom and all of our situations.

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James four eight says, come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands,

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you sinners and purify your hearts. You double minded Galatians five 16 says, so I say walk

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by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And again, these are

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some scriptures that we can take and be super legalistic and say like, Oh my God, do this

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and this and this. But this is again, one of those things where it says that we can

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walk into the presence of God, we can ask God's spirit to help guide us. Another thing

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I was thinking about is we can love God's people and try to serve out the mission that

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God would call us to and try to figure this out. That's kind of big. When we think about

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our fellowship with God, the vertical way, and a lot of times we might forget about the

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horizontal relationship that we have with others. I was thinking a lot of us, we're

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in the day and age where we have a lot of superhero movies and stuff like that. But

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also was thinking about some of us, we want to act like we're bulletproof and nothing

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affects us. We're good, we got this. We might not let ourselves up under someone else's

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authority. That's tough these days. When you think about church, there's a lot of people

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that's going through deconstruction stuff and a lot of people maybe have church hurt.

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Back in the day, there was things when people were like, we got an accountability group

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or this group and we get together and do all that kind of stuff. I'm not saying that's

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not needed. I'm not saying it's here or there. However, is there someone in your life that

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you can build a reciprocal, trusting, loving relationship with that can be a truth teller

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to you? That takes a while to develop that. Hebrews 10, 24, 25 says, and let us consider

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how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up, meeting together

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as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another. Encouraging one another. What

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does that mean for us to be connected with another human being that we actually allow

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them to speak truth and life and love to us? Not in an abusive way, not in a way where

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they're in power over you, but empowering you. These are the practical ways I think

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that we can strive and move forward to having authentic relationship with the Lord and more

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of an authentic relationship with one another. I'd like to close with a poem that I wrote.

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A few years after, I think I wrote this poem early in my 30s. There was a time when I was

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reflecting on a very difficult season in life that I had in my college years. Greg and I,

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we went to the same college for youth ministry, but we didn't see each other. It's kind of

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crazy. We didn't even know each other. We went to the same Christian college, different

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years. He graduated for me and I showed up. We might have even been there at the same

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time. It's weird. We met later. But on this Christian campus, it was probably my sophomore

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or junior year, if some of you have heard my story before, it was a difficult time.

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Right in the middle, I was questioning a lot of things. I was going through a lot. It was

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very hard and almost kind of abandoned ship, I would say, to even what I thought was my

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calling as a youth ministry. I was like, man, this ain't for me. I'm going through so much

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stuff right now. I felt like I'm on this Christian campus and I'm a youth ministry major. I'm

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supposed to have it together. And I didn't. So for either my sophomore or junior year,

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I just felt like I was just this fake dude saying all the right things, trying to do

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all the right things, trying to look cool. But inside, I was crumbling. So this is a

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poem I wrote for that time where I was at in my Christian faith as I reflected on it

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a few years after graduation. It's called When I Was 22. It's a long time ago. When

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I was 22, I thought I had this Christian thing down. Christian college, youth ministry major,

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check. Christian girlfriend, yeah, she's a believer, check. Job, save a little, spend

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lots every two weeks. I had a check. Back then, anyone would have banked on me as a

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guy making wise investments with my time, with my energies, but I was in a place where

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my faith became fake. You know, nobody witnessed the war, this war raging within and somehow

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inside this Christian campus bubble, I conformed more to pop culture, insulated by Christian

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community, passing Bible classes, answering any question about whom did Christ come for

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and after class was over, I'd be snuggling up in sin's comfort. All name brand Christian

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actions with a generic soul satisfaction and embracing gospel benefits, believing biblical

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truths, but bumping into the side as my life's guide. So when it came to how I was living

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biblically, I had no problem pushing boundaries and extending my lines. My blessed assurance

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was more like a little insurance. And honestly, at that time, my salvation was like an insurance

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policy. I become immune to the life giving biblical truths of my identity. I forgotten

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I was a poem written inside of the person of Christ existing to carry out his inner

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desires, but I crammed so many selfish things. First, I always showed up late for my good

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works. In other words, when it came to my relationship with Christ, I could have remained

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clogged art or he could have used another vessel. My junior year, my heart attacked

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my junior year. God attacked my heart. So weary from wavering, no longer content with

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complacency, tired of tottering, grieving over his gracefulness. I felt like I felt

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like I had my first tattoo. The way I was nervous for God's word to touch me one long,

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slow scratch on heart with sharp needled rebuke, Ephesians five one, seemed like it tatted

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my soul and that still voice woke me from my spiritual slumber. It was as if I heard

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God say, Chris, you have a choice to make. Why do you think imitating me means just sounding

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like me or just talking like me? Not just remembering what I've said. What about walking

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like me, living like me, loving like me? But I love you. I paid for your debt with my breath

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and your breaths belong to me. My sacrifice is the only thing giving you the freedom to

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exhale. Imitate me. And I remember confessing and feeling the weight lifted. I was an inmate

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set free walking away from the prison I'd made for myself. At 22, I thought I had this

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Christian thing down and all I was was a poor reflection of foolish follower. And I learned

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something that the world is dangerous, but through Christ's death and resurrection, I

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saw my biggest danger was me, a child of God, just hearing his voice but doing nothing.

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I'm glad I came to my senses because I assure you, Jesus is much more than blessed insurance.

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Amen. It says a lot where I was at with my faith at the time wrestling with issues and

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theology and all these things thinking I was just wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. And even writing that, it was very difficult

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and saying it was difficult thinking about the place that I was and if I would have just

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believed in all the lies and believed that I couldn't go back to Christ. And my hope

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for us as a church is that we can bring ourself on the stage sometimes and understand that

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sometimes we need to look Jesus face to face for what it is and let him call out who we

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are so we can come to him. Not only with that but to think again about what does that mean

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with people here, people that we live with and have a community with, what does that

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look like? There are some people that yearn for a community where you could be held accountable

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on some things. If you know you need that, you should seek that. If it's just someone

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that you can be a truth teller to and say this is what's really going on and just someone

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that needs to be an ear for you, ask God to direct me into the things that I need so I

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won't be walking around feeling like I'm just this white wash tomb showing up, everything

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looks great but really on the inside it's not. Let's pray. God thank you so much for

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your word. I pray God that more than anything that we can feel encouraged, God that we all

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can understand the battle within ourselves and our minds and our hearts and our souls

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and our spirits, sometimes even mentally grueling. We pray Lord that instead of being intimidated

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or whatnot, that we can envision looking into eyes of love, eyes that love us and care for

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us but lips that will tell the truth to us about who we are and how much you love us.

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I just pray Lord that we can ask your spirit to guide us in this way to a closer relationship

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with you. In your name we pray. Amen.