1. Reaching for spirituality
Weightier matters
Mk 12:28-34
Mt 23:23

2. Reaching for spirituality
Where do we look?
Finding Spirituality in Life
Nature
Knowledge
Exercise
Emotional Experiences
Religion
Cairns (Stacking Rocks)

3. Reaching for spirituality
Where do we look?
Finding Spirituality in Life
Gen 1:27, God made man in his image
Like Johnny Lee’s Song
“Looking for love in all the wrong places”

4. Reaching for spirituality
Where do we look?
Finding Spirituality in Life
True Spirituality can only be found through the one true God who created us
All others lack lasting substance
Struggle is real, even for Christians

5. Reaching for spirituality
Where do we look?
In the Church
Changing routine
Focus on Mood, Emotionalism, Excitement, Enthusiasm, Fireworks, Exhibitions, Plays
Mt 23:23-24, Focus on Doctrine in Absence of the Spiritual
Struggle is real

6. Reaching for spirituality
The Weightier matters
Mt 23:23 - Judgment
Definition:
Judgment – dealing justly or fairly with another

7. Reaching for spirituality
The Weightier matters
Mt 23:23 - Judgment
Getting Priorities Right
Prov 21:3, To do justice and judgment
Mic 6:6-8, do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God
Mt 9:11-13, Mt 12:6-8, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice

8. Reaching for spirituality
The Weightier matters
Mt 23:23 - Judgment
Israel Struggled with Justice
Isa 1:21-23, the fatherless and widows
Isa 10:2, needy, poor, fatherless, widows
Jer 22:3-5, do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow

9. Reaching for spirituality
The Weightier matters
Mt 23:23 - Judgment
Israel Struggled with Justice
Mt 23:14, Devoured widows houses
Lk 18:1-8, Unjust judge and widow
Mk 7:10-12, Dealing with parents

10. Reaching for spirituality
The Weightier matters
Mt 23:23 - Judgment
God is not a “respecter of persons”
Meaning: partiality or favoritism
Rom 2:11, Col 3:25, I Pet 1:17, in judgment
Eph 6:9, of the slave or master
Acts 10:34, of the Gentile converts

11. Reaching for spirituality
The Weightier matters
Mt 23:23 - Judgment
Christians Warned Against Prejudice
Jas 2:1-9, Early Church Condemned
I Tim 5:21-25, Timothy warned against showing prejudice

12. Reaching for spirituality
The Weightier matters
Mt 23:23 - Judgment
We Desire to be Treated Justly
Mt 7:12, Golden Rule

13. Reaching for spirituality
The Weightier matters
Mt 23:23 - Judgment
Lessons
Our Responsibility Goes Beyond Doctrine
God Requires that we are Fair and Equitable
Prejudice is Blinding

14. Reaching for spirituality
The Weightier matters
Mt 23:23 - Judgment
God is not Wholly Just
God Offers Mercy in Place of Justice
Rom 3:23, all have sinned
Rom 6:23, wages of sin is death
Jam 2:13, Mercy rejoices against Judgment