Obvious Truths from Obscure Scriptures
The Intolerance of Jesus
Matthew 12:30
 
There are a lot of things in life that are obvious.  Many of those truths are summed up for us in daily clichés.  For instance,
 
  • if you play with fire, you’re going to get burned
  • A rose by any other name would smell as sweet
  • An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
  • Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
  • Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while.
 
Suffice it to say, some things are just obvious.  Other things are just as true, they just aren’t as obvious.
 
For instance,
 
  • knowing a lot of facts doesn’t mean you’re smart.  I give you Washington D.C. as Exhibit A.  There are a lot of people with information, but no sense to use or apply it.
  • being busy doesn’t mean you’re productive.  Again, there are a lot of people who do lots of things but accomplish very little
 
Other truths have always been around; it just took a while to discover them.  Everybody has probably heard the brilliant yet absent-minded biologist Sir Alexander Fleming.  He was researching a strain of bacteria called staphylococci.
Upon returning from a holiday one time in 1928, he noticed that one of the glass culture dishes he had accidentally left out had become contaminated with a fungus, so threw it away. It wasn’t until later that he noticed that the staphylococcus bacteria seemed unable to grow in the area surrounding the fungal mould.
 
Fleming didn’t even hold out much hope for his discovery: it wasn’t given much attention when he published his findings the following year, it was difficult to cultivate, and it was slow-acting.  In fact, it wasn’t until 1945 after further research by several other scientists that penicillin was able to be produced on an industrial scale, changing the way doctors treated bacterial infections forever.
 
People have had fingerprints since Adam and Eve.  But it wasn’t until 1823 that Jan Evangelista Purkinje noticed how unique our fingerprints are, and even after that it took some time for law enforcement to figure out ways to use the knowledge.  But that discovery completely changed the way law enforcement conducts investigations and fingerprinting is used every day in police and detective work.
 
Most of us will use a microwave oven almost every dat.  But the microwave oven didn’t come about as a result of someone trying to find a better, faster way to cook. During World War II, two scientists invented the magnetron, a tube that produces microwaves. Installing magnetrons in Britain’s radar system, the microwaves were able to spot Nazi warplanes on their way to bomb the British Isles.
 
By accident, several years later, it was discovered that microwaves also cook food. The idea of using microwave energy to cook food was accidentally discovered by Percy LeBaron Spencer of the Raytheon Company when he found that radar waves had melted a candy bar in his pocket.
 
The ability was there; it just took some time and energy to discover it.
 
The same is true with the Bible.  There are some obvious truths.  The best example is the Ten Commandments.  They are simple, precise and to the point and anyone can understand what they mean.  A New Testament example is Romans 3:23:  “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Later in chapter 10 we are told, “For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
 
God made the message of salvation obvious because He wanted it to be easy to find and understand hard to miss.
 
Then there are some things, Scripturally speaking,  that are just as true, they just aren’t as obvious and it takes a little longer to find them or you have to work harder to discover them.  They’ve always been there right alongside the more obvious ones.  But because of where we are in our relationship with the Lord or because of changing life circumstances, we’ve never seen or heard them or maybe even needed to know them.
 
So what we’re going to do through the summer for the next 10 or 11 weeks is study some of those lesser known verses.
My goal is to help us see some “Obvious Lessons from Obscure Scriptures”.  In most cases, they are found in only one verse and presented almost in a passing way.  But I will tell you there are some dynamic, life-changing truths to be found in the obscurity of the Word of God.
 
Each one will stand on its own.  We are not working on a building theme or idea that requires you to hear the preceding sermon.  I know there are lots of things going on through the summer.  We have people who will be gone on vacations and mission trips and activities with your family.
 
But I hope you will be here as much as possible to learn as much as possible as we uncover these tremendous lessons.  Today we will begin with Matthew 12:30 and I want to talk with you about “The Intolerance of Jesus.”
 
Matthew 12:30
 
Jesus had just performed a notable miracle by healing a man who was possessed of a devil. It had made a profound impression on the people as they were faced with the undeniable evidence that He was, in fact, the Messiah.
 
Unable to dispute the miracle itself, the Pharisees tried to discredit the source of it by accusing Jesus of being demonic.  But Jesus counters that accusation by asking why, if He was a demon would he cast out a demon?  After all, it’s not too friendly to leave a brother demon homeless!   And it is amidst these accusations that he makes this statement that reveals His intolerance.  "He that is not with Me is against Me."
I realize it is a disarming title to offer, “The Intolerance of Jesus”.  Everything about that flies in the face of the popular, politically correct language we are being called to use today.
 
But I am convinced we will never understand our Lord if we fail to recognize His intolerance. In fact, that is the problem with the perception many have today of the Christ.  They have heard so much of His gentleness and love and compassion that refuse to believe there is more to His personality and person than that.
 
Certainly we should make much of the love and compassion and mercy and kindness of Christ.  We can never say enough about the range and depth and reach of His care and concern for lost mankind.
 
But we do well to look farther and discover more of His character because there is found in Him a perfect and masterful intolerance.  And the one thing the Lord cannot do is look past the need that lost mankind has to make a singular commitment to Him.
 
And if we will be true to the gospel, we cannot ignore that either.  It is the very heart cry of the Good News that men everywhere are in need of a Savior and there is but One who can save.  We dare not look casually at a dying mankind and pretend everything is OK because God loves them.  And we must have the intolerance of Christ that declares to that world there is only one way to God and that through Jesus Christ.
 
 
 
Now obviously, there is an intolerance that is not of God. And we need to avoid that.  And on the other end of the spectrum there is tolerance that ignores any standards.
 
In fact, I’ve noticed in my own life and those around me that we all seem to grow less rigid in our judgments as we grow older.  By what we’ve experienced and seen, we grow more sympathetic and understanding.  We learn the value of being gracious and merciful.  We come to appreciate those who’ve been gracious with us and we extend it to others.  The biggest evidence I witness of that is grandparents.  What would have got their children’s bottoms busted is now cute and to be laughed at with the grandkids.
 
And I mention that just to make sure you understand I am not shutting my eyes to that or ignoring the need for tolerance.  But the fact is, there are things in which it must be tolerated or it must be rejected.
There are some areas where no compromise is allowed.
 
There has got to be some things on which we stand and we shall not be moved, no matter how unpopular or politically incorrect the assessment.  And that intolerance must be in place if we have anything at all to offer a person who is crying out for help.
 
If we don’t have some unchanging, timeless, God-declared bedrock truths to offer people, they remain hopelessly lost in their sin.  You find it in the God of the Old Testament.  God said, "Thou shall have no other gods before Me." He is a jealous God and tolerates no rival.
He must be loved with heart and soul and min and strength. You find it in the poetry of the psalmist and in the message of the prophet and the preaching of the apostles.
 
And certainly you find it in the heart and character of  Jesus Christ. Never was there a as tender as the Lord. Never was man so swift to sympathize. Never did sinners so feel that they were understood. Never did the lost so feel that they were loved.  He loved us and He gave Himself for us. He says to every broken heart, "Come unto Me and I will give you rest."
 
But the same Jesus that looked over Jerusalem and wept tears from a broken heart because of their unbelief stands in this passage of Scripture to declare, “You’re either for me or you are against Me!”  There is no middle ground.  There is no room for undecided tolerance.
 
In fact, so determined was that intolerance, it sent Him to the cross.  It was because of His intolerance He died.  If there had been any room for variance or alternatives, there would have been no need for the crucifixion.  You can see His intolerance in His attitude toward
 
- hypocrisy
 
One thing Jesus couldn’t tolerate was pretending to be something you weren’t.  You can always detect an element of pity when Jesus is face to face with other sins. But for the hypocrite there is no pity, just the harshness of His wrath.  Listen to Him as He says, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites." That is the intolerance of Jesus Christ.
We can see His intolerance in what He declared about
 
- Himself
 
Jesus said, “I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.  No man comes unto the Father except by Me".
“No man knows the Father save the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him."
 
I dare the liberals of our day to say there are many doorways to the Father.  Christ Jesus stands and says, "I am the door."
 
Do you say there are many shepherds of the sheep? Christ stands in His majesty and says, "I am the shepherd."
 
Do you think there are lots of ways to quench your thirst or satisfy your appetite?  Jesus says of Himself, “I am the Living Water”  “I am the Bread of Life”.
 
He stands alone to be worshiped and adored.  It is Christ alone, the meek and lowly Savior, who lifts Himself up in isolated splendor. Friend of the friendless and brother of the weakest, He is intolerant of any sharing of His claims.
 
Hear His intolerance in His demands of
 
- His Followers
 
Make no mistake, He is willing to take the lowest place upon the cross, but He will not take it in your heart and mine.
When He was born in the fullness of the time, He did not ask for the splendor of the palace. He was born in a manger, reared in a lowly home, and grew to His manhood in obscurest of places.
 
But the moment He enters the kingdom of the heart, where He is king by conquest and by right, there everything is changed, and with a great intolerance He refuses every place except the first.
 
"Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me".  "Let the dead bury their dead; you follow Me."   “The one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven”.  To be a follower of Christ, we must, “Deny self, take up our cross daily and follow Him.”
 
Those are the demands of a King in His own kingdom on His own throne claiming His rightful place among His subjects. And when you speak of the meek and lowly Jesus, never lose sight of the fact that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He is divinely intolerant of anyone who would seek to unseat Him from His throne.
 
SO what is it that motivates this intolerance on the part of Jesus and what do we learn about applying it to our own lives?
 
First, the intolerance of Jesus is the product of
 
1. His Faith
 
The intolerance of Christ is the natural product of His perfect trust in God.
 
When someone is a stranger to you, it really doesn’t matter what anybody else says about them. You’re not bound or obligated to defend them or protect them.  In fact, you aren’t even affected by what they say or do. 
 
What is being said may be true, or it may not be true, but it is none of your business, and you do not know and you do not care.
 
But the moment a man becomes a hero to you, or a woman becomes the love of your life, or a brother or sister is birthed into the family, then to hear that person aligned and attacked and embarrassed brings about a whole different set of emotions and responses.
 
That is the faith of Jesus Christ.  It was a faith that tolerated no attack upon the character and glory and magnificence of God.  It’s easy to be casually tolerant of the world’s blasphemy of God is what God represents means little to you.
 
That’s what allows you to sit through the filth of movies that ridicule His standards and drag His Holy Name through the mud and pay good money to witness it.  You can wink at sin and deny the necessity of the cross and pretend that everybody’s going to Heaven and it really doesn’t matter what you believe if your faith has no more backbone than that.  It’s no big deal.
 
But the faith of Jesus Christ declared that the Word of God would not be mocked; that it was established forever in Heaven; that we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
 
His faith stood for something and it mattered and it was to be highly regarded and that faith was intolerant of any challenge to its rightful place and privilege.
 
And so should ours be.  I will not tolerate the false religions of this world declaring they are equal and valid to faith in God made possible through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
 
I stand in opposition to those who brazenly declare there are many pathways to God and each one can choose his own path.
 
I defy those who lay their “holy” books alongside the Bible and say both contain the truth and Word of God.
 
The faith of Jesus Christ demands that we defend our faith and tolerate no challenge to its supremacy and uniqueness.
 
The intolerance of Jesus was the naturally outgrowth of His faith.  And it reflected
 
2.  His Knowledge
 
It was because He knew so fully and understood so deeply that there were certain things He could not bear. The great complaint we hear against intolerance is that it does not understand what others are going through.  The white man can’t understand what it’s like to be black.  The rich man doesn’t understand what it’s like to be poor.  The Christian doesn’t understand what it’s like to be homosexual.
 
Chances are, we’ve all experienced that kind of intolerance and most likely expressed it ourselves.  And generally, it’s because we’ve never walked where others have been.
 
But there is another kind of intolerance also.  Take the case of drunkenness or addiction.  There are a lot of people who treat those kinds of problems very lightly.  In fact, it would be safe to say they are very tolerant of many people very tolerant of them.  They laugh about drinking and tell jokes about drunks as if it’s no big deal.
 
But sometimes you meet a man, or woman who find nothing funny about drinking and drug abuse.  In fact, such joking isn’t funny at all and it’s not because they know so little, but because they know so much.
 
The addict is their son or daughter.  The drunk is their dad or husband.  They have seen the wreck and ruin of it and all the misery it brings.  And in their grief they grow terribly intolerant, and it is not because they do not understand; they are intolerant because they understand so well.
 
That is the case with Christ.  He is intolerant because He comprehends. He knows what sin is; He knows the misery and pain.  He knows the damage it causes.  He knows the families it destroys.  That’s why He is so stern when He says, "If you aren’t for Me, you are against Me.”
 
Thirdly, the intolerance of Jesus is the evidence of
 
 
 
3. His Love
 
It seems to me that love will tolerate everything except the harm of someone close.  What kind of parent is it that allows a child to be harmed and injured and abused?  It is the parent that does not love that child.   When love shows up, that parent will do everything they can to protect that child.
 
When Jesus came, He came in love.  His was a love that endured the worst, so much so that it went to Calvary to die. And because that love was so intense and so fervent, He calls us to a life of separation and purity.  God loves us too much to let us be defiled by the world and burned by the society around us.  He will everything He can to protect us and guard us and guide us and help us to have the very best He has to offer.
 
That’s why He clears away all the confusion and smoke and says, "He that is not with Me is against Me." It’s because the intolerant Christ loves us too much to let us miss His goodness.
 
One final thing.  His intolerance is a reminder of
 
4.  His Hope
 
If hell is real and Jesus is the only way to miss it, then why would Jesus tolerate any confusion about the issue?  The only hope lost mankind has is found solely in Christ Jesus and His death, burial and resurrection.
 
To refuse to share that message is to tolerate every competing belief that would damn men’s souls to hell.  That’s why Jesus said He was the Only way.  That’s why He tolerates no rivals.  That’s why He made statements like we read before us today.
 
It’s because man has only one singular hope of getting out of this world alive and it is Jesus, period.
 
Is your hope in Jesus?  Have you experienced His love?  Does your knowledge of life help you to understand the wages of sin is death?  Will you put your faith in Him?
 
Some people seem to think preaching Jesus as the only way to heaven is a bad thing.  But I want to remind you the good news is there is a way.
 
Can you imagine going to your doctor and he says  you have cancer and there is only one way to treat it.  Could you imagine saying, “Doctor, you’re too narrow-minded for me.  I wish you were more tolerant.”  No, you would say, whatever it is, whatever the cost, give me some hope.  Show me the way.  Tell me the truth.
 
That’s what I’m trying to do today.  God didn’t have to help us.  He could have left us to figure it out for ourselves.  But He made a way and his name is Jesus and He is the only way.  And whoever is not with Him is against Him.  It’s just that cut and dried.
 
Let’s pray.