WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.919 Well, I invite you to take your Bible and turn with me over to the Gospel of Matthew. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:07.120 The Gospel of Matthew will be in chapter 23. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.800 Chapter 23. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:18.879 We're heading back into the Gospel of Matthew, something we've been doing for well, since 2022, January 2022. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:22.800 And we took a week last week with our commissioning service. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:42.479 And now we're back into Matthew 23, right in the middle of what is called the Passion Week, which begins with the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem and moves through his cleansing to the temple, his last supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and the resurrection. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:47.200 So the Gospel of Matthew slows down quite a bit here. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:57.200 The previous chapters that we've looked at over the past few weeks have been filled with confrontations that Jesus has had with some of the religious leaders of Israel. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:00.960 We see it increasingly becoming antagonistic. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:17.200 Several of the groups of them have approached Jesus with taunting questions, not sincerely desiring to know the truth, but rather to catch Christ out and to find a reason to condemn him or to accuse him before the Romans for being a rebel. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:27.040 And anytime Jesus would ask them a question, they would demur and refuse to answer, and also refuse to humble their hearts. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:40.480 Today we're going to look at the first part of what is a longer discourse. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:47.519 And here, in this first part that we're going to look at, Jesus addresses an issue that lays heavily on his heart. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:54.159 Now notice verse 1, he speaks to the crowds and to his disciples. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.159 And he begins to talk about the scribes and the Pharisees. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:03.599 Now, if you look down at verse 13, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:16.479 So beginning in verse 13, he directly addresses these religious leaders, but in the first 12 verses, he addresses the crowd about the religious leaders. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:31.360 And what he points out to them are warnings about key areas of concern that are prevalient among these religious leaders that Christ once eradicated from his people. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:41.599 Their hypocrisy, the heavy burdens they lay with uncaring hearts upon other people, and their hungering for accolades. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:50.080 He wants his own people to be absent of any of those things and have in place of it true humility. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:03:08.080 And so he instructs his people, using these religious leaders as sort of the background of what not to do, so that he might lead them to what they should be and do, humble people, just like their humble Savior. 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:35.120 So this morning, I want us to go through these first 12 verses and look at how Christ characterizes these religious leaders so that we might understand where not to approach our hearts and our hands, and so we might lead ourselves a different direction altogether, toward our Savior, and toward the transformation of our hearts to true humility and not to the kind of things that were characteristic of these men. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:44.240 The first thing that Christ acknowledges that these men are are hypocrites, that their lives are full of hypocrisy. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:47.919 Let's take a look at verses one and a few verses in. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:51.840 He said, Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.520 The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:03.280 Therefore, do whatever they tell you and observe it, but don't do what they do, because they don't practice what they teach. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:22.800 Is that when the word of God is presented, it is not meant simply to rest in our heads, but it is meant to filter through our lives and be characteristic of our behavior. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:30.399 And what was characteristic of these men was that they would speak out but not do. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:33.839 Now there's a couple challenges here for us. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:35.759 One is this Moses seat. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:36.639 What is that? 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:40.959 And what about this command to obey what they say? 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:55.439 Well, Moses seat, some people say was perhaps a real piece of furniture that was in the synagogue where someone who taught would actually sit as they proclaimed the Bible. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:06.879 Or others took it as a metaphorical reference to this position of authority, where they interpret for the people the demands of the Mosaic law. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:23.040 Either way, they are obviously speaking as though they were speaking the word of God, whether they were actually sitting on a Moses seat or if they were metaphorically speaking from the position of Moses and giving directives to the people. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.680 But there's another challenge here for our understanding. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.000 Do what they tell you. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:36.480 Well, should we take that at face value right off the top? 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:40.480 Because in verse 16, Jesus says that these men are blind guides. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:43.759 Well, do you follow a blind guide? 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:46.160 Should you follow a blind guide? 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:54.800 Well, one commentator, and I won't weary you with this, but he identified 10 possible approaches to dealing with this passage of scripture. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:06:02.240 And at the end of this, and I'm going number one, number two, number three, number four, all the way to number 10, and I'm thinking, okay, where's this guy going to land? 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:04.240 And he said, none of them are satisfactory. 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:06.160 I'm like, oh, great, thanks. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:09.360 I spent an hour for you to tell me I don't know. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:11.920 I started the conversation that way. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:16.720 Well, there's a lot of different ways that this could be taken. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:22.560 It could be taken about their claim to sit and to speak the directives of God. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:30.000 It could be talking about that we should listen to them only to the extent that they accurately portray the Word of God. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:34.480 Or it could be just a statement of sarcasm or irony. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:42.399 And there's a few other ones, or it could be for the purpose of just illuminating the second half. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.959 That these men don't do what they teach. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:53.519 And it's simply a sort of a figure speech or rhetorical device to bring that point to the forefront. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:54.720 Whatever. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:07:05.439 In any case, one thing is certain these men lay a responsibility of obedience upon people that they don't lay on themselves. 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:08.399 That is clear. 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:15.360 They require from everyone else things that they don't do at all. 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:21.439 They preach, but they don't practice. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.920 They press, but they don't live out. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:29.120 They will not take it up. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:37.439 The Apostle Paul made a similar charge in the book of Romans, verse chapter two, and verse 21. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:42.800 You who teach others, do you not teach yourself? 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.879 You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:51.360 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:54.240 You who abore idols, do you rob temples? 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:56.160 You who boast in the law? 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:59.519 You dishonor God by breaking the law. 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:01.680 Hypocrisy. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:25.920 This hypocrisy is meant to be a word to us, a word of wisdom, that there is in our hearts, all of us, a tendency to tell others what they should do without spending any time telling ourselves what we ought to do. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:44.240 And the Epistle of James picks that up a lot about the incompatibility of what people profess over against how they live or what they command as opposed to what they obey. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:50.879 And he talked about just the incongruence of some of the ways that we might act. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:09:02.159 With our tongue, we bless our Lord and Father, and with our tongue we curse people who are made in God's likeness. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:03.600 Ouch. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:14.559 So that hypocrisy of honoring God as sovereign creator and then blaspheming his creation. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:20.720 Blessing and cursings come out of the same mouth, James said. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:26.080 And brothers and sisters, things should not be this way, he tells us. 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:32.559 So the first indictment against these religious leaders is their hypocrisy. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:39.679 But the second thing that he charges them with are the heavy loads that they place upon people. 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:41.679 Take a look at verse four. 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:55.279 They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people's shoulders, but they themselves aren't willing to lift a finger to move them. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:05.039 They pile on the precepts and they pile it on and they pile it on and they pile it on. 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:13.120 And the persons who are listening to them are feeling the weight of ever-increasing responsibility. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:20.080 But instead of getting help, they just get someone who looks at them and says, Deal with it. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:23.840 It's your responsibility. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:44.879 And as they increasingly bow under the weight of that load, these men don't even want to help. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:51.919 Now, it's not a picture of them necessarily saying, hey, let me take uh 20 pounds off of you and I'll carry it with you. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:11:01.840 So much as it is, they're not looking at the person who's bearing the responsibilities and saying, let's make this load easier for you to carry. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:29.600 If you're backpacking, for instance, and you put on your backpack, and there's all the straps around on your shoulders, and different ones that you need to pull to bring the backpack closer to you, and there's different ways that you weight what you put into your backpack, and there's the belt that you put on, and there's a certain sequence that you do, also that the backpack might fit you properly and not be an encumbrance to you while you're hiking. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:36.399 Well, these guys would look at some novice backpacker and go, look at that. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:41.440 They haven't even snapped their waistbelt at all. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:44.480 And it's hanging down over their hips. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:50.879 And look at that, they put the heaviest thing on the top of their backpack. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:52.559 Unbelievable. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:57.679 Not willing to adjust and help and assist. 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:03.519 So someone might carry a load in a way that would be more helpful. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:28.559 This is talking about the kind of people that just feel like they've got the ministry, the heavy hammer, you know, who just want to say, here's the truth, deal with it, and don't think about how it's presented, and don't think about how it can be carried, but simply just think that their responsibility ended in the proclamation of it. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.080 This heavy-hammered approach. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:35.440 What's your problem? 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:36.960 Can't you carry that? 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:46.799 The scribes and the Pharisees are not willing to even lift a finger to help someone who's bowed under the burden. 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:54.000 And this is a negative statement about them in light of what's said about our Savior. 00:12:55.039 --> 00:13:02.559 Jesus in Matthew 11 said, Come to me, all you are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:10.159 These guys won't lift the finger to help the load shift to the proper proportions and places. 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:15.120 But Jesus said, If you're burdened, I'll give you rest. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:22.559 He said, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I'm lowly and humble in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:26.080 For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:37.759 Our Savior calls us to responsibilities of obedience, but he does so in such a way that these things are not hard for us, they're good for us. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:41.919 And he talks about his yoke. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:14:12.320 And this could either mean that it's a double yoke in which Christ gets in on one side and we in the other, and we plow the field with the power of his strength, or that the yoke, as a master craftsman, Jesus cuts and shapes and molds to fit the contours of our individual persons and personalities and lays them on us in a way that makes that burden carrying fitting and suitable to who we are. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:24.240 In another passage speaking about Jesus in Matthew 12, a prophecy out of Isaiah 42 echoes into Christ's life. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:29.840 He will not argue or shout, and no one will hear his voice in the streets. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:37.440 He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not put out a smoldering wick until he's led justice to victory. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:45.600 The scribes and the Pharisees had no sensitivity of heart toward other people, no willingness to help, not a finger to lift. 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:57.039 It could never be said about them a crushed reed they will not break, and a smoldering wick they will not extinguish, because they were all about stomping on it. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:02.000 But Jesus, he's helpful to burden people. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:05.440 A bruised reed he will not break. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.480 A smoldering wick he will not quench. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:13.840 There's a reference to the gentle character of our Savior. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:17.919 A reed, that's a relatively fragile plant. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:25.840 And when it's bent over, bruised, if you will, he's not going to snap it and say, Let me get a better one. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:44.480 Or if there's a bit of flax that's either being used to sort of tender and start a fire, or to keep an oil lamp lit, and it's not doing the job well enough, it's just simply smoldering away with smoke rather than bringing any heat and light into things. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:49.279 He doesn't say, let me try again, let me get a different match. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:51.759 He doesn't do that. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:58.320 He gently blows on the smoking flax, he fans it into a flame. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:02.639 He doesn't deal roughly with our weaknesses and our failures. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:05.120 Rather, just the opposite. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:18.720 He deals with us gently and tenderly and helping along the bruised reed to become strong enough, to move the smoldering flax to the point where it catches fire. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:22.320 He doesn't deal harshly with us. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:40.159 And this is what he's calling us to be, these kind of helpful people, sincerely serving the Lord without hypocrisy, but also sincerely helping others bear the burdens of life that they carry to help them along the way. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:46.000 Let's turn over to 1 Thessalonians for a minute and just take a look at a passage of scripture. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:54.720 That a lot of people think responsibilities of which lie simply upon church leadership. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:56.960 But Paul doesn't speak this way at all. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:59.679 He calls these things to all of us. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:08.160 In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, in verse 14, he says this. 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:22.799 Warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone, see that no one repays evil for evil. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:28.160 But always pursue what is good for one another and for all. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:30.799 Be helpful. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:32.400 Be helpful. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:37.920 And he lists different categories of people and how best to help those kind of people. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:45.359 There's the idle, which is really just a slim understanding of the fullness of this word. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:51.039 When you look through the whole context of this, is these are people who are idle because they're undisciplined. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:54.079 This is these are people who are idle because they're irresponsible. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:18:03.839 These are people that are idle because they're disorderly, not simply unable to work, but unwilling to work and therefore disorderly. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:08.400 To these people, he says, warn them. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:14.880 And then there's another group of people, encourage, right? 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:19.119 Comfort the discouraged. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:29.920 These people who are worried or fearful or feeling inadequate or lacking confidence or despondent or sad or weak. 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:31.599 Comfort them. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:35.680 And then there's the weak ones here. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:39.279 Help the weak. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:48.799 Those who are weak, maybe physically, weak maybe morally, make maybe weak spiritually, maybe weak relationally. 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:50.319 Help them out. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:54.720 And then be patient with everyone. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:59.759 Exhibit the fruit of the spirit in all of your social relationships. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:03.359 So what is he saying here? 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:05.599 Be a helpful people. 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:16.319 Be the kind of people that will lift up a finger, that do help shift the load, that says, okay, let's start here. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:20.319 Let's put this belt on, make sure it sits on the top of your hip bones. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:21.279 There we go. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:26.480 Take this weight, put it in the bottom of your pack, and let's put this one here and that one there. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:29.119 Now let's let's put on these straps. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:30.000 And you see those there? 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:33.920 Pull them a little tighter, leave a little bit of room above your shoulder. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:34.799 There you go. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:35.599 That's it. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:40.160 Now pull those a little closer so things move closer to the back of your neck. 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:40.799 There you go. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:41.519 That's perfect. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:42.480 Not too much. 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:45.119 Now let's take this last one and strap it there. 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:46.960 You're ready to walk. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:48.400 Let's go. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:51.440 So, what do we do? 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:55.119 We think of people as they are. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:59.039 We spend time analyzing, not making quick judgments. 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:02.319 We ask ourselves, who is this in front of me? 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:09.680 Is this somebody with a pattern of behavior of disrespectful, disloyal idleness? 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:14.160 Is this a person who is, well, discouraged? 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:16.640 Is this a person who's weak? 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:17.920 Is this a person? 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:20.880 How am I supposed to deal with this person? 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:27.119 And then what is the suitable help that I can bring into this relationship? 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:29.279 Maybe I need to warn. 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:31.680 Maybe I need to comfort. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:33.839 Maybe I need to assist. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:36.880 But in everything I need to be patient. 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:40.000 In every way I need to be helpful. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:54.000 This is what the Lord is calling us to, and He's making this statement by way of the contrast to these arrogant, hypocritical, unwilling to help religious leaders. 00:20:54.240 --> 00:21:02.640 Now let's go back to Matthew and see as he continues this, because there's more to dig out of how these men are acting. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:12.160 Not only are they hypocritical and laying heavy burdens on people without a finger to help them, but they also hunger for accolades. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:21.920 Jesus says, They do everything to be seen by others. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:25.759 They enlarge their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:35.519 They love the place of honor at banquets, the front seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called rabbi by people. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:48.960 The whole focus of their religious activity was horizontal, man centered, well, self centered more, and not God centered. 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:57.039 They did all of their religious activities for the purpose of being seen by others. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:05.440 The phlactories they Broaden the tassels they lengthen, the places of honor that they desire. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:16.799 And we hear about marketplaces and synagogues and rabbis and all of these Jewish terms that point to us what's in their hearts. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:24.799 And the Lord says, just don't do what they do, don't make this the direction of your life. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:33.039 They do all of it to be seen because there's something they love. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:36.640 They love the best seats. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:38.240 They love the greetings. 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:44.480 And when they come over to dinner, they're not looking forward to a good bite to eat. 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:47.519 They're not looking to the warmth of your hospitality. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:50.720 They're not looking for the engagement of your conversation. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:55.759 They're looking for the please sit here honor. 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:02.720 So that others might see them brought up to the front or sitting at the highest place. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:16.240 They would come into some churches and they would see the thrones on the platform and go, now that's a seat I want to sit in. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:24.480 Or they would think about going to Colonial Boston and saying, Oh, people bought their pews. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:27.279 I know which pew I would want to buy. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:35.599 Or they would look at the size of a church and say, That's the church I would want to be the leader of. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:39.599 Look how large it is in relationship to all the others. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:46.880 Or they would hear of a conference coming up and saying, Is my name at the top? 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:50.319 Am I the one who's the featured speaker? 00:23:52.000 --> 00:24:01.759 And so they entered into the synagogues with all of their theatrics on full display for everyone to see and for them to admire. 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:05.440 They love the first and best seats. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:10.400 They love the greetings that match their self-perceived greatness. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:26.400 And whether they walked through the temple or they walked through the marketplace or they walked into the synagogue, Rabbi, father, teacher, oh that's what they love. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:30.000 Now, what's the application for us in this? 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:33.359 Well, it's pretty simple. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:35.359 Don't do it. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:37.599 Don't do that. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:43.680 You know, some things are best understood by what you don't do. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:45.839 You read the Ten Commandments? 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:48.160 Don't make a graven image. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:51.599 Don't, don't, don't, don't. 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:53.599 Here's one of those. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:55.759 Don't do the works they do. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:58.079 Don't love the things they love. 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:05.839 As Jesus is speaking to this crowd, he's calling his disciples to something different than all of this. 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:07.839 Different than this hypocrisy. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:11.440 Different than this heavy burden laying without a finger to help. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:18.400 Different than this sort of hungering after all of the accolades that could be given among men. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:25.839 One person put it this way: he said, Great, greatnessism is a major spiritual disease. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:31.200 And if it's not cured, it'll plague the church and will destroy the soul. 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:32.799 I agree. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:38.400 It reduces us to the worst of our passions. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:42.880 So what does the Lord call us to? 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:50.160 Well, that's what the second part of this passage is about in verse 8, all the way to verse 12. 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:55.119 You're not to be called rabbi because you have one teacher. 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:57.599 And you're all brothers and sisters. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:03.039 You're not to call anyone on earth your father because you have one father who is in heaven. 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:09.759 You're not to be called instructors either, because you have one instructor, the Messiah. 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:17.680 The Lord uses these religious leaders' prideful actions as a backdrop of what true discipleship looks like. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:21.519 Because the door to heaven is only small enough for the humble. 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:33.839 And the haughty hearts, no matter how loud they might be able to proclaim themselves, and no matter what titles they acquire for themselves, they're not going to be able to get in. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:46.559 And so Jesus here is challenging that self-promotion and this use of titles by saying that we, as his followers, are to be different. 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:48.880 Don't seek these titles. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:52.000 Don't seek rabbi, father, instructor. 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:58.640 He said our calling is not to be called anything special. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:01.839 That's our calling. 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:11.839 And if you want to be pursuing anything, pursue servanthood rather than titles and prominence. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:20.160 And so his disciples, he tells us, are not to insist upon titles or positions of status. 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:27.200 But were to recognize and to affirm the acceptable status of no status at all. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:31.839 And he gives us two reasons. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:35.359 First of all, you're all brothers and sisters. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:42.720 And secondly, you've got one father, one instructor, Jesus. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:44.640 Well, let's look at this. 00:27:44.880 --> 00:28:00.559 We have no need to be chasing after these titles and accolades of being called a teacher because, well, we have one father in heaven and one instructor who is the Messiah, the Christ. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:11.359 Matthew's gospel, Jesus uses the word father a lot, but it's always with reference to God the Father, not to a human. 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:17.759 Seventeen times in the Sermon on the Mount, your heavenly father. 00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:25.839 Now, if we call our earthly dads father, I don't think Jesus is telling us not to do that, right? 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:27.920 That's not what this is about. 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:34.960 This is about not calling our earthly Bible teachers father, is what this is about. 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:36.559 Why? 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:56.079 Because if we give this kind of prominence to a person, there's going to be some confusion and some commingling of that human with the authority and power and the soul-reserved place of honor that God Himself deserves. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:28:58.720 That's why. 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:01.440 Because you have one Father in heaven. 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:07.119 And you have one instructor. 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:08.480 Calvin said this. 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:13.359 He said, Christ is alone the schoolmaster of the church. 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:22.400 And he said, the sum of this teaching is that all should depend on the lips of Christ alone. 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:26.559 He is who we follow. 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:29.200 That's the idea here. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:36.240 Jesus in John 13 said, You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, I am. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:40.480 He's our only teacher. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:43.359 God is our only Father. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:50.240 Now, He does call people to teach the Great Commission, go into all the world and what? 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:59.440 Teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you, but it's all things that I've commanded you, not all things they think they should be preaching. 00:29:59.920 --> 00:30:02.640 Preach Christ and what Christ wants. 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:11.599 So Christ is telling us this here so that the church might be easily rid of the cult of personality. 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:20.319 And boy, do we need to hear that in our age, in all kinds of circles. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:28.559 Went to visit her in her home. 00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:32.960 Dear lady, she had this like eight and a half by eleven. 00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:36.480 Well, it's probably bigger than that because it's A4 size, whatever that is. 00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:40.480 I'm not going to go into the details of John MacArthur sitting on her piano. 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:42.720 And I thought, well, that's interesting. 00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:46.319 I didn't think a whole lot about it. 00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:51.759 She appreciated John MacArthur's preaching, but having him on your piano is a little weird. 00:30:55.119 --> 00:31:03.599 And then sometime later, she asked me a question about Genesis chapter six and the daughters of men and the sons of God. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:05.119 And what is all of that? 00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:07.920 What are the Nephilim and all this? 00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:16.400 And so I spent several hours just crafting up like there are different views about what this is about. 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:26.319 Here's this view, and here's its strengths and weaknesses, and here's this view and its strengths and weaknesses, and here's another view and its strengths and weaknesses. 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:33.680 And I gave it to her, and she she talked to me again and she said, Well, what's John MacArthur's position? 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:39.039 And I'm like, she said, Well, that's the one I'm gonna believe. 00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:43.519 Ouch! Wait a second. 00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:46.480 He is not your divine interpreter. 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:56.160 Now I worked with John MacArthur and served him for eight years as a director of all the correspondence that would come into grace to you. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:00.880 And I had the responsibility of replying on his behalf. 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:10.559 So whenever he and I agreed, I would say the Bible says, and whenever we disagreed, I'd say John believes. 00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:14.319 And I was accurate. 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:21.359 I'm being a little jokey there, but nobody is meant to take that place. 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:25.599 Paul commended the Bereans, did he not? 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:26.559 Why? 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:31.200 Because they're like, is that true, Paul? 00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:33.359 Because I I need to see it. 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:34.000 Right? 00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:35.680 I need to see it. 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:39.599 They didn't go, I'm a Paul. 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:44.880 We need to preach Christ. 00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:47.279 We need to preach what Christ wants. 00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:49.839 Christ is the head of the church. 00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:51.519 God is the Father. 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:54.160 Christ is our instructor. 00:32:54.720 --> 00:32:56.160 Nobody else. 00:32:56.559 --> 00:32:57.920 Nobody else. 00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:08.319 There was an account in the 1800s of two Americans who went to London to hear two very famous preachers preach. 00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:11.680 And in the morning they went to listen to one of them. 00:33:12.079 --> 00:33:16.400 And they were talking to each other afterwards, and they said, So what do you think of the sermon? 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:21.359 And the guy replied, What a great preacher. 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:24.559 Fair enough, he was. 00:33:30.160 --> 00:33:32.640 And again, the question, what'd you think? 00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:37.440 And the reply was, What a great savior. 00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:40.079 Do you hear the difference? 00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:45.839 We have one father, God. 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:49.200 We have one instructor, the Messiah. 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:51.599 But the other reason, right? 00:33:51.759 --> 00:34:00.960 There's another reason here why you're not to be called rabbi because you have one teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. 00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:07.839 Yes, there may be different roles for people to have in the church. 00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:16.000 We all have different gifts and different responsibilities for the building up of the whole, but there's no different status. 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:17.599 Okay? 00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:21.760 There's an equality of status. 00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:25.760 We're all family with one father. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:34.880 And so Jesus' counsel is here is that we press forward with that status of equality. 00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:49.280 Now we may say, good morning, Pastor Doug, but pastor means shepherd, and shepherd's not a really highly thought role in any culture, and it certainly wasn't highly thought of in this culture. 00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:55.440 Shepherds were, well, they were kind of rough characters, and so are most pastors. 00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:01.840 But there's nothing grandiose about being called a pastor. 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:10.880 There's nothing we should be doing to exalt others in any way, shape, or form. 00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:20.000 Because we are given a special and equal status of the family of God. 00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:25.519 And we treat each other as family, not some special thing. 00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:40.880 We have a membership matters class, and if you're just attending here and you want to know more about our church and how to become a member, you can listen for and attend our membership matters classes, which we hold periodically and hopefully are going to be having soon. 00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:51.760 There was a group that came in, and they all came from churches that where there was this sort of status of authority granted to certain preachers. 00:35:52.079 --> 00:35:55.440 And I was aghast at what I heard them talk about. 00:35:56.639 --> 00:36:06.400 That there'd be a procession behind the preacher as he made his way to the throne that was up on the podium, and he wouldn't even carry his own Bible. 00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:08.559 Somebody would carry it for him. 00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:10.079 You know? 00:36:11.760 --> 00:36:13.039 And I'm like, what? 00:36:13.519 --> 00:36:14.960 What do you mean? 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:16.719 The guy didn't have any arms? 00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:17.599 What? 00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:25.519 And then one time we were having a fellowship meal, and I love to cook. 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:26.639 It's fun. 00:36:26.800 --> 00:36:29.440 I don't like cleaning up, but I like to cook. 00:36:30.559 --> 00:36:34.000 I came out of the kitchen and I'm like grubby, you know. 00:36:34.239 --> 00:36:38.880 And one of the guys who was part of that group comes out and goes, I've never seen that before. 00:36:39.119 --> 00:36:40.000 I'm like, what? 00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:41.599 What do I got on me? 00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:47.920 And he said, I've never seen a pastor like in the kitchen. 00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:51.360 They're always like at the head table, sitting there. 00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:53.039 We all have to serve him. 00:36:54.159 --> 00:36:58.079 I'm like, no, it's not how it works. 00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:03.360 We all serve the Lord Jesus and we all serve one another. 00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:10.239 We don't scramble for these claims and titles of prominence. 00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:17.840 We don't want to obscure the unique role and place of God our Father and the Lord Jesus as our teacher. 00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:20.159 We don't want to get in the way of that. 00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:21.440 No. 00:37:22.639 --> 00:37:27.679 There's not to be any distortion of our family relationship as brothers and sisters. 00:37:28.239 --> 00:37:34.880 So if it means refusing these titles, then let's refuse them if they get in the way. 00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:39.599 Jesus gives two final points of application here. 00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:45.760 He says here that we're not to be called these things. 00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:50.000 And then in verse 11, the greatest among you will be your servant. 00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:52.159 Application one. 00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:58.639 Application two: whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 00:38:00.159 --> 00:38:02.079 John Chrysostom said about this. 00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:09.039 He said, in this passage, Jesus plucks up pride by the roots, yanks it out of the ground. 00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:16.719 And uprooting it must start here, in the realization that the greatest among us is the servant. 00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:27.360 Which is why Paul ran when he was looking for a way to help the church at Philippi understand humility and service, he ran to Jesus. 00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:39.679 And he says, This adopt the same attitude as that as Christ Jesus, who existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:46.800 Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant and taking on the likeness of humanity. 00:38:46.960 --> 00:38:54.159 And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross. 00:38:54.800 --> 00:38:56.480 You want an example of how to live? 00:38:56.639 --> 00:38:58.079 Look to your Savior. 00:38:59.760 --> 00:39:08.239 The second point of application: heed the warning of pride and walk in the promise of God's welcome of the humble. 00:39:09.039 --> 00:39:15.760 Because he says here, whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 00:39:16.079 --> 00:39:26.400 And Jesus intentionally ends with this sort of forward view brought into the present, telling us that the last day is going to be affected by our hearts now. 00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:44.239 And he tells us to listen because the day will come when you will either be welcomed and exalted in the shared glory of the victory of Christ, or you will stand there thinking you're about to be honored and you're going to be brought low into humility. 00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:50.079 Depart from me, you accursed, I never knew you, Jesus said in Matthew 7. 00:39:53.440 --> 00:40:02.000 Jesus is here, is calling us to heed the warning of haughtiness and to welcome humility. 00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:05.519 Pride is a deadly sin. 00:40:07.119 --> 00:40:09.360 How do we find a humble heart? 00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:11.679 C.S. 00:40:11.840 --> 00:40:20.719 Lewis made a great example of what that looks like in his one of the books in the Chronicles of Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. 00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:27.599 And there's a little boy that gets introduced to us right away, the very first sentence, a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrub. 00:40:28.960 --> 00:40:33.039 And he said he was called that and he almost deserved it. 00:40:34.800 --> 00:40:36.239 Why did he deserve that name? 00:40:36.400 --> 00:40:39.039 Because he was an awful boy with an awful name. 00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:41.599 I hope nobody's here named Eustace. 00:40:43.599 --> 00:40:45.679 Or Scrub for that matter. 00:40:46.480 --> 00:40:47.679