Pushing Buttons

Ignoring me when I speak. Interrupting. Talking over me when I have something to say that needs to be said. Saying, "OK, daddy," and then doing what they want to do.

My kids know how to push my buttons. I'm glad that Jesus' buttons were much more important, or else He'd spend a lot of time in frustration over the likes of me!

I spent a little time in Matthew 24 today, and reading The Desire of Ages, "Woes on the Pharisees." It seems to me that Jesus had some buttons that people could push as well. They often come out as "woes." Here's a list of them, as I can see them.

1. Pretense (v. 5-12). Everything done so people can see you're doing it. Being honored by people because of a title. Makes me wonder about people taking on titles in the church today... pastor, elder, deacon... How about brother and sister? Is it possible that this should be enough and that we shouldn't even accept being called those other things?
2. Exclusiveness (v. 13-14). Some get in, some do not. I wonder who they were trying to exclude, and for what reason? Gentiles? Jews who had fallen in ways they found unacceptable? People who fell too many times in their eyes? And they were hypocrites because they wouldn't enter the Kingdom through Christ, the only gate there is!
3. Expectations (v. 15). I'm not sure exactly what Jesus had in mind here, but a modern picture might show people who are worse off in the church than they were outside. Maybe it's the "[with an eager face] I was living a great life in the world! (Change face to somber and morose] Then I met Jesus" kind of testimony. Unrealistic behavioral expectations, joy-sucking religion... that sounds more like hell than heaven to me.
4. Hair Splitting (v. 16-22). Ever been around the guy that parses everything you say? The person who never forgets something you said months or years ago that you've long left behind? Pharisees were doing this with oaths for sure. I think it applies to more than just oaths, for when it's too our social advantage or standing (sometimes in the church even), we'll nitpick at words. Or when we want to color a conversation in a light that makes us look better, we'll alter the conversation a bit.
5. Violating God's Reputation (v. 23-24). There was blatant injustice, lack of mercy and faithfulness going on in this environment. Of all the things listed in this chapter, I'm not sure this wasn't the big one that would have sent Jesus over the edge. These people were supposed to represent to the world who God is. How did God describe Himself in Exodus 34:6-7? “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation." In other words, just about the opposite of what Jesus says the Pharisees were doing. Nit-picking over people and rules, rather than being open to the obvious issues of justice and mercy and faithfulness. Interesting that God describes Himself as such in the midst of giving Moses brand new tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments on them. It's like He was associating who He was... merciful, gracious, longsuffering, good, true, merciful, forgiving, just, righteous... with what the Law was supposed to be!
6. Pretense again (v. 25-26). Clean on the outside. Maggoty on the inside. The "I show up at church looking great!" but at home you're a beating-your-wife type of person. Kind of goes back to #1--pretense.
7. Pretense, yet again (v. 27-28).
8. Hypocrisy (v. 20-32). Well, I'm running out of words to summarize this stuff, obviously! But clearly these people didn't have a clue that they were doing the very things they said they would be innocent of. "Oh, I'd never do something like that!" I wonder if we should just stop saying that kind of stuff entirely!

Usually, there are 7 woes counted in this chapter. I included the 8th as I felt verse 5-12 spoke to one pretty strongly. Not the point. Jesus clearly has buttons that can be pushed! They have to do with character and how God's character is represented. Pretense and hypocrisy clearly upset Him. Misrepresenting God's character clearly earned His ire.

And here I sit, guilty of both. I can be as bad as anyone about nitpicking and trying to follow the rules, even while I'm not anywhere near where I should be on the inside. I am guilty of beating myself up mercilessly over a sin, of looking at the behavior itself without looking at the character behind the behavior. What I need is a character overhaul!

This chapter shows me what transformation is all about and why I need it every day! I am, on my own, a "teacher of the law and a Pharisee and a hypocrite." I may do the right thing as you see it. I might come to church and paste on the "look" I'm supposed to have. But on the inside, it's not always right.

I find myself praying more frequently a daily prayer for transformation, and I have to say that it's pretty liberating! The thing I feel sorry for the most with those that have the "woes" of Matthew 24? They're the ones in prison! They're the most miserable! They're to be pitied! But when I surrender that "Teacher/Pharisee/Hypocrite" person over to Jesus, the pressure is gone!

Pressure is something I control. It's something I can do something about. Stress? Not the same. Think William Tell and his son. William Tell, bow and arrow in hand, felt pressure. His son? Total stress-ball!

When I give myself over to Jesus? They both disappear! He is now in control! And when He is in control, no weapon formed against me shall remain (Isaiah 54:17), so the stress can go away too!

So, if it helps, here's the prayer I pray frequently (really, not often enough!). I don't encourage you to just do it verbatim, unless you really want to. Often, the words change to reflect how I'm doing in the moment, but here's the gist of it...

Lord, take every part of who I am, inside and out, and put it on your shoulders. Take it to the cross. It has to die! By your wounds I am healed. By Your blood I am clean! You love me. You gave Yourself for me. To live today has to be You and You alone. I choose to live transformed.