Matthew 23:1-12 Mark 12:38-39 Luke 20:45-46
|
1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His
disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated
themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore
all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their
deeds; for they say things and do not do them. 4 “They
tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are
unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. 5 “But
they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their
phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 “They
love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the
synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being
called Rabbi by men. 8 “But
do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all
brothers. 9 “Do not call anyone on earth your
father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 “Do
not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. 11 “But
the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 “Whoever
exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be
exalted.
|
We all tend to follow the examples of others, especially
those who are in authority over us. Even
when we may not like some of the things we see in our authorities, we often end
up following those same patterns. Jesus
wants to warn His disciples not to follow the example of the Pharisees. They were the recognized leaders of that day,
but Jesus did not want His disciples to pattern their leadership after the
examples of the Pharisees. Jesus warns
His followers about the different aspects of the attitudes and actions these
men that they were to carefully avoid.
AVOID HYPOCRISY: Parents often say: “do as I say, not as I
do.” They can say that all they want,
but their children will still almost always end up doing as they do. When our words and our actions contradict
each other, our actions speak louder than our words. The Pharisees were full of flower speeches
about following the Law. They had been
placed in the position of teaching the Law.
For this reason, Jesus tells them to listen and obey their teaching. However, He followed that immediately with
and admonition not to do as they do.
Even though they were teachers of the Law, they were not followers of
the Law. They required levels of
obedience and following strict rules that they were not even able to
follow. The essence of the Law,
according to Jesus, was to Love God and love others. The religious leaders were worried about
defining what constitutes work on the Sabbath.
Spitting on the dirt was prohibited because it left a hole in the dust
that was considered digging. Spitting on
a rock was okay because it didn’t “dig.”
The lists of rules and regulations were interminable, but there was no
love. We are so attracted to rules. They make us feel like we are earning
something. We can never relate with God
based on merit. Grace is the only means
by which we can enjoy any relationship with God.
AVOID PRIDE: God created us for His glory. The essence of sin is entering into
competition with God for glory. Instead
of worshiping God, we want to be worshiped by others. We don’t use those words, but it is what is
in our hearts. Jesus is teaching His
disciples what not to do by pointing to the examples of the Pharisees. Pride shows up in our lives in many ugly
ways. Doing things to be seen by men and
receive their praise instead of living to please God. Attracting attention to themselves through
the things they wear. Sitting in the
most prestigious places at parties. Being
greeted in public and being called by special titles. Pride shows up in our hearts and minds in a
multitude of ways. All of them distract
us and others from the task of worshiping.
The terrible thing is that God sees all of our actions through the lens
of our motives. He not only knows all we
do but why we do what we do. Our pride is
clearly visible to Him. This is an area
we need to battle in our hearts every minute of every day.
AVOID TITLES: Another manifestation of pride was in the form
of the titles the Pharisees required others to use when addressing them. He said not to be called Rabbi or Leader because
these are titles that should be used for the Lord. He also said not to call anyone on earth
father because God is our Father. We
must never seek to put ourselves or others in a place that belongs exclusively to
God. God should have no rivals in our
hearts, minds or mouths. We should not
care about titles that are used because of levels of education or functions we
exercise in church. The only person in
the Universe who deserves a title is God.
If we are insisting that others use a title for us when they address us,
we need to check our hearts. Even if we
simply like being addressed with a title or feel slighted when someone does not
use a title for us, pride is likely a problem.
The Lord alone is worthy of praise and honor.
APPLICATION: Our words and actions must be consistent and in
line with the Word of God. All we do
needs to be for the glory of God and not in order to please men. There is only One Person who is worth of any
title. He is to be the one we worship
and all attention belongs to Him, not us.
Comments
Post a Comment