SAWDUST

Mathew 23: 1 – 13



Used car sales men are rumored to be the most dishonest business men on the planet. It is said that they are capable of doing whatever it takes to sell a car no matter what condition it is in.
A little paint here, maybe some Bondo there it really doesn't matter does it. Sometimes, when there is trouble with the transmission, an old trick was to put a little sawdust in the transmission fluid. It helped the car run smooth as silk for a short time. Usually just long enough to to persuade the new owner that he got the deal of the century.
The car looked good, but under the hood, it is a piece of junk.
There are too many people with sawdust in them.
They look good, act like they have a direct line to God, say the longest loudest prayers, yet they are show. They'd rather look good than do good.

2 "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law.
3 You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.
4 "Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help.
5 Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next.

This no time to have sawdust in our transmissions.
It's time to admit all of our defects and blemishes to God. And place our faith in Him.

11 "Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant.
12 If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

Be yourself, not someone you're not.