Sunday Morning Service

Matthew 23 (Click title for audio access)

"Woe Is Me! • 1.16.11 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro

- Chapter 23 is the climax of a series of chapters that Matthew has compiled regarding the nation of Israel. Each chapter has been challenging, but none have been more clear than this one.

- The Lord began dealing with them in a gentle way, employing parables that shed light on their condition. Then, He allowed them to cross examine Him with their tricky questions.

- This chapter chronicles Christ's most direct and scathing assessment. For all intents and purposes, the contents of this chapter and the next are our Lord's final sermon on Earth.

- When one considers that He is now hours away from the Cross, we do well to pay attention.

Text

• Matthew 23:1-3 : "Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: 'The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do." : Jesus is speaking to the people standing around and His disciples.

- The religious leaders were listening, but He was not addressing them. They have been weighed and found wanting!

- But the multitudes and His disciples can respond and be warned. It's Christ's intent to free the public that saw these "models of righteousness" and were in danger of buying their charade.

- Jesus says to them, "Follow what they say, but don't follow what they do!" They sit in the seat of authority, in the stone seat at the front of the synagogue where they read the law.

- There is nothing wrong with the law. It should be listened to and it should be respected.

- What was said from that office deserved the public's respect, but the actual officers were not worthy. They taught one thing, but they do not seek to do it!

• Matthew 23:4-7 : "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’" : There are two areas that make the religious leaders suspect: Their ministry and their motivation.

- First, their ministry is burdensome. I like the way the NLT interprets this verse: "They crush you with impossible religious demands."

- The picture that Jesus employs is of a ship that is overloaded coming into port. It's barely able to move. This is how the religious people taught people to walk with God: Burdened!

- It's the nature of religion to burden people, to weigh them down with guilt and regulations. Jesus' style of ministry is to remove burdens and He offers to take yours!

- In contrast, the religious stand idly by, happy to leave you burdened.

- Second, their motivation is theatrical. They do things to be seen by men, the word there carries the root meaning of the word "theater." They were putting on a performance for people to see.

- Jesus gives us three examples of their outward show. The first regards their physical appearance. Their phylacteries were big and their borders were huge.

- God had told the Israelites to bind the word of God onto their hands and the frontlets of their eyes. They took this literally.

- All Jewish men had these little boxes containing scripture, attached to their arms or foreheads. The religious leaders made sure that theirs were bigger!

- The borders of their garments refers to a tassel that was attached to the garment that represented the law. They made sure that they had the best and longest tassel.

- The second example that Jesus uses of their outward show was in how they acted socially.

- Whether it's the feast within society or the recognition in church, they loved the attention and adoration of men. You would never discover them just fitting in.

- When they were out in town, the loved to hear men call them "Rabbi." They loved titles.

- How far this was from what Jesus instructed His people to be like! He wants us to recognize Him as our audience. He wants us to value His opinion above any other opinion.

- The danger of putting on a show for others remains to this day.

• Matthew 23:8-12 : "But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." : To His disciples, this is the word: Don't seek to be spiritually distinguished over another person. We all have One Teacher and Father! The rest of us are siblings!

˚ "In the Church of Christ, all titles and honors which exalt men and give occasion for pride are here forbidden." Charles Spurgeon

- The greatest serve each other! That's the greatness of God's Kingdom, Jesus being the greatest of all. He sets the tone for those who would live in His Kingdom.

• Matthew 23:13 : "'But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." : This is the first of eight "woes" that Jesus directs toward the Scribes and Pharisees. The word "woe" is an expression of great grief.

- It's less of a word and more of an expression. It's an onomatopoeia?

- Jesus takes no joy in the words that He says. These judgements are right and true, but they are said with exceptional grief.

- His charge is that they obstructed the Kingdom of heaven against men. I like the way the ESV puts it: They "shut the Kingdom of heaven in men's faces."

- Literally, as they are moving toward the door, the religious people slam the door!

- People wanted a relationship with God, but the religious ones found new ways to keep them at bay through their regulations and man made, self righteous attempts at external holiness!

- They barricaded the entrance to the Kingdom of God from the outside, keeping themselves and those who would wish to enter, out. I would warn us of the same.

- Let any man come who will repent of His known sin. Leave all the grey areas to the Holy Spirit!

• Matthew 23:14 : "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation." : The second woe deals with religious exploitation. Jesus says that they devoured the houses of widows. The word means "to strip bare" or "utterly consume."

- Their religious enterprise caused them to take advantage of these already poor women, seeking simply their own gain. Then, to cover their shameful activity, they offer great prayers.

- One can imagine vulnerable people who would give anything to such men, who promised to pray for their needs to be met.

- They acted as if they wanted to minister to these people. They stood there in the name of God and spoke as though they were speaking for Him.

- They knew that this was what God really wanted them to do. They knew who God had revealed Himself to be. They knew that God had made special provisions for widows in the word.

- Instead of caring for them, becoming a conduit through which God would minister to their needs, they sought to target them for their own gain.

- What they knew gave them greater responsibility and therefore, greater condemnation!

- We are not to minister for our own gain, whether it be financial or emotional. We are to minister as unto Jesus, purely because He would and solely for that person's betterment!

• Matthew 23:15 : "“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." : The religious leaders had an aggressive evangelization program. Expansion was important to keeping their way of life going.

- We learned last week that, like Jesus, the Pharisees also had disciples. These would have been their "proselytes," foreigners who had been converted.

- This person who has turned or converted, has not been turned from sin to salvation, nor has he been converted to Christ. He has become religious like them and is double condemned!

- He believes himself to be righteous and has been convinced of that by these religious people.

- Now, he was condemned before because of his sins, and he is condemned after, thinking that his sins have been dealt with!

- This is Christ's most scathing word: Religion makes a person a son of hell! What is a son of hell? Anyone who would promote any other righteousness apart from Christ!

• Matthew 23:16-22 : "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it." : Oaths were forbidden by God. He wanted His people's "yes" to be "yes."

- His people however found ways to make oaths and then found ways to break their oaths by swearing on things that were less sacred.

- "Oh, I swore on the temple" which would have been an unbinding oath. The gold or the gift were considered binding oaths that could not be broken.

- The point is that they honored the letter was honored but the spirit was broken. The gold was only worth anything because of the temple and the same with the gift.

- They were transgressing the command of the Lord with their silly institution.

- Let your yes be yes and your no be no!

• Matthew 23:23-24 : "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!" : Mint, anise and cummin are very small herbs. The Pharisees would take a few leaves of mint, a few microscopic pieces of anise and cumming and make sure that God got His!

- This was the meticulous nature of their tithing. They didn't miss a single grain, but they left out what should have been done. Righteouness, having mercy upon others, stirring faith in God.

- The heart of religion is to give to God that which is the least costly. Tithing was right for them to do, but it was out of proportion with the things that should have been concentrated upon.

- These people strained out a gnat, literally pouring wine through cheesecloth, not wanting to offend the law of God by taking something with it's lifeblood in, but Jesus is saying that they swallowed a camel, the largest unclean animal in the scriptures!

- Jesus is saying that they were guilty of missing the forest for the trees, spiritually speaking!

• Matthew 23:25,26 : "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also." : The religious leaders were satisfied with righteousness that they could see in themselves and others.

- A cup or dish could look beautiful and shiny on the outside. But who would ignore the cleaning of the inside? It's interesting to consider what Jesus is saying.

- What was inside of them was meant to be served out to others. What came out instead? Extortion and self-indulgence. Greed and unrestraint! They would never be filled!

- Jesus tells them what He would tell us: Be worried about what's within you, not what you look like on the outside! The priority is to be sure that the inside is clean.

• Matthew 23:27,28 : "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.'" : What a beautiful tomb that you have? It might be a beautiful place to sit and remember the one who has passed, but nobody would want to have lunch inside of one!

- Whenever a big feast would come up, the religious leaders would have the tombs whitewashed, in order to impress those who would be coming into town.

- Everything appeared beautifully, which a freshening up will do even for a tomb!

- This is the essence of the religious. They had this polished veneer, but were full of extortion, self-indulgence, hypocrisy and lawlessness! Everything they condemned, they were guilty of!

• Matthew 23:29-33 : "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?" : There were men that the religious leaders considered to be heroes that we also consider heroes.

- The prophets of the Old Testament were men of renown, men of the highest character and the greatest bravery. They were treated terribly by the nation of Israel.

- Turn over to Hebrews 11. Here's a good description of how they were treated.

• Hebrews 11:35-38 : "Women received their dead raised to life again.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth."

- This was the testimony of Israel with regard to these holy men of God. The Pharisees and scribes built them monuments and visited their sites saying that they would not have done the same!

- Jesus called them the sons of those who had committed murder! Now, as the NLT puts it, Jesus said, "Go ahead and finish what they started!"

- When Jesus calls them serpents and brood of vipers, He is calling them sons of Satan!

• Matthew 23:34-36 : "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation." : Jesus is speaking as the one who had been sending these prophets before He even came! He sent these men and they were all mistreated.

- Now, as they are about to kill God's final messenger, the Messiah, every righteous drop of these men's blood would be upon them!

- That generation, just about 40 years later, would bear the brunt of their wickedness.

• Matthew 23:37-39 : "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" : Everything that Jesus has said needs to be seen from this vantage point.

- Jesus wanted to gather them in, care for them, bless them, but they were not willing! That is often the issue. Jesus wants to work in the lives of people but they refuse Him.

- The picture of the hen gathering her chicks is more stirring to me after I heard this story of a hen who was discovered sitting dead on her nest.

- During the night, a weasel had come and sucked the blood right out of her head, but the hen did not move, choosing to hide her chicks with her body.

- She sacrificed her life, gave up her blood for the safety of her chicks. This is what Jesus wanted to do for them. Instead, the temple would be left without God's presence!

- But the hope remains, as one day, Israel will say of Jesus at His second coming, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." Even in this dark hour in history for Israel, Jesus gives hope!

- One day, they will come back to Him and He will be still be their Messiah and Lord!

Conclusion

- It's easy to listen and hear about someone else's hypocrisy. It gets uncomfortable when we are confronted with our own.

- We are just as prone to fail in any of these areas, especially in this day and age when image is often more important than authenticity.

- We need to honestly love the Lord with all of our hearts, minds and souls, expressing that toward Him with every good work that He commands.

- We need to love each other as ourselves, serving one other and stirring each other toward good works while doing them ourselves!

- There is one audience worth pleasing and He does not look like any of us in here!