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237. Woe to You Who Make Religion a Burden

Matthew 23:15, Luke 11:46
Key Verse: "Woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them."
Luke 11:46

There was a man, who has since passed, who attended our former church in Maine. When asked if he would be in Heaven when he died, he would always answer, "I hope so."

I would then walk him through the gospel and the joy of the assurance of salvation because of Jesus and not because of works. This man would always agree with everything I said, and I would assure him, then you will be in Heaven. But then, I would end the conversation with the same question we began with, "Are you going to Heaven?" Sadly, even after all that, the man would give the same reply, "I hope so."

Having the knowledge is far different from believing it, living it, and inviting others to join it. Sadly, probably many of the leadership in Jesus’ day, if you could get them into a one on one conversation, would answer very much the same as the man from our church.

This is the problem with believing that you have to earn your way to Heaven by your behavior, or through good works. You just never know if you will make the cut. Even the Pharisees weren't certain that they would make it to Heaven. They knew that, through their disciplined lives, they were doing better than the common Jew, so they believed that their chance of being first in line was better than most, but there was no assurance of salvation.

In Matthew, Jesus continues, "You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." (Matt. 23:15B) Jesus is referring here to the fact that the religion of Judaism was spreading throughout the known world. What we refer to as, "The Old Testament," had been translated into Greek, known as the "Septuagint," and many Greeks, who were fascinated by many religions were converting. However, once converted, because they were still physically Gentile, their burden of following the law was even heavier because they were not God's chosen, they had chosen God and, according to the Pharisees, any slip could send them back to eternity in hell, where Pagans belong.

Grace was not understood. It took Paul, a Pharisee converted to Christ himself, to make it clear to both the Jews and the Gentiles that "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:8-10) 

"The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and He adds no trouble to it." (Proverbs 10:22) Salvation from the Lord is a blessing, not a burden. We rest in the assurance of our relationship with Jesus, not on our works. Our good deeds are done in gratitude for God's gift to us, but not to earn our place in Heaven. Christ did that with His blood. Hallelujah!  Woe, (or whoa!), to anyone who makes belief in Christ more burdensome than that.

Hymn:  At the Cross

 "At the Cross" Hillsong

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