back to index2021-06-02 Pharisees From the Greatest to the Worst
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Let's take our Bibles and turn over to Matthew chapter 23. 00:00:13.000 |
What a great and powerful song for us to sing to God. 00:00:26.280 |
And if there is no one else like him, our entire life's struggle is to make sure that 00:00:33.560 |
we build our life on nothing else but besides him. 00:00:39.280 |
Now, as we turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 23, just want to, as a heads up, you know, 00:00:45.320 |
we've had like an amazing walk through Hebrews, and so we're going to be changing tone to 00:00:51.240 |
a passage later in the Gospel of Matthew, and the tone's going to be really different. 00:00:55.560 |
You know, we had five-part sermon on what it really means to walk with perseverance, 00:01:01.600 |
looking up and forward, et cetera, and looking to Christ and thinking about his love. 00:01:08.400 |
The tone of this passage, it's drastically different. 00:01:12.520 |
The scenario is that as Jesus is walking towards the cross, the religious leaders at the time, 00:01:20.000 |
they constantly challenge him, they desire to trap him, and then they throw at him a 00:01:28.960 |
And in the midst of that, Jesus exhibits himself as such an authority, people are astounded, 00:01:36.280 |
and they're put into a place where they dare not ask him any more questions. 00:01:42.300 |
And as the tables turn, Jesus pummels them, the religious leaders, into the ground. 00:01:56.280 |
We're reading in Matthew 23, verses 1 through 12, and it says, "Then Jesus spoke to the 00:02:01.520 |
crowds and to his disciples, saying, 'The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves 00:02:09.040 |
Therefore all that they tell you to do, I'll tell you, do and observe, but do not do according 00:02:15.040 |
to their deeds, for they say things and do not do them. 00:02:19.380 |
They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling 00:02:27.560 |
But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men, for they broaden their phylacteries 00:02:34.300 |
They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful 00:02:39.300 |
greetings in the marketplaces, and being called rabbi by men. 00:02:44.360 |
Do not be called rabbi, for one is your teacher and you are all brothers. 00:02:49.620 |
Do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father, he who is in heaven. 00:02:55.260 |
Do not be called leaders, for one is your leader, that is Christ. 00:02:59.260 |
The greatest among you shall be your servant. 00:03:02.380 |
Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted." 00:03:10.860 |
Heavenly Father, as we take a look at your Word, we pray that as we're looking at Jesus's 00:03:17.480 |
rebuke of the religious leaders of the time, God, that you'd grant to us insight, that 00:03:25.440 |
you would grant to us humble hearts and open ears to receive. 00:03:29.840 |
And as we sometimes hear the correction, admonishment, and rebuke from the Word, I pray, Father God, 00:03:38.280 |
that it would humble us and mold us into the image of your Son. 00:03:44.520 |
And so we pray for blessing now as we study your Word, it's in Christ's name, amen. 00:03:50.280 |
So as we think about this passage, Jesus, I just want you to imagine, there has already 00:03:58.720 |
Like we got a question for you, you know, is it proper to pay taxes, you know? 00:04:04.560 |
We got a question for you, if this guy, he dies, and then his wife marries a brother, 00:04:09.880 |
and then da-da-da-da-da, what's it going to be in heaven, you know? 00:04:16.120 |
So there's already a crowd watching and exhibiting all that's going on between Jesus and these 00:04:21.160 |
Pharisees and scribes, but what he does is he's actually first not talking to them, he's 00:04:28.200 |
talking to the crowd and showing them what they need to see. 00:04:33.740 |
And what he does is he tells the crowd, "Look at these Pharisees and scribes." 00:04:39.040 |
Now for us in our day, when we think the word Pharisee, it's like a derogatory term, you 00:04:45.840 |
If I call one of you like, "Man, you're such a Pharisee," you'd be like, "Oh, what you 00:04:52.760 |
Because to be a Pharisee in the Christian circles, it's like you are the worst in the 00:04:59.140 |
You legalistic, self-righteous, pompous, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, okay? 00:05:04.220 |
And so to call somebody a Pharisee would be a horrible thing. 00:05:08.020 |
And there's an interesting sentiment here because if you think about the scenario then, 00:05:13.500 |
you have to kind of put yourself in not the shoes of the scribe or the Pharisee himself, 00:05:19.460 |
but maybe you first want to think about if you were a good Jewish individual going to 00:05:26.140 |
synagogue every week, multiple times a week, doing the offerings, sitting and listening 00:05:33.500 |
to the sermons, preaching a proclamation of the Old Testament, you were at the feet of 00:05:39.940 |
these religious leaders, getting their guidance on how to set your life and all the parameters 00:05:45.220 |
that exist, and then you just hear this onslaught, right? 00:05:50.900 |
And you would imagine then if you were in here and your whole life you were looking 00:05:55.500 |
at these guys like, "Yeah, you know, I'm not, I know I'm not like them, but these guys, 00:06:03.700 |
And then you see, you hear of this Jesus who's preaching with authority, doing miracles come 00:06:15.740 |
But that eerie feeling would cause you to think like, "Is it that bad?" 00:06:22.300 |
I know I see some of this, like I see their arrogance, I see them walking around in the 00:06:26.620 |
courtyards, I see them walking around in the places of honor, and I would wonder like how 00:06:36.620 |
Now to simply ask the question, "Is it that bad?" 00:06:42.180 |
I want you to take a look at Matthew 23 and hear the onslaught. 00:06:48.940 |
Starting from verse 13, Jesus rebukes them in such severity, we have to feel that extent 00:07:00.420 |
And what he says is, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, because you 00:07:07.900 |
You do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 00:07:13.300 |
You bullies, you act like some kind of guides, but in fact, you're just like bully bouncers, 00:07:23.820 |
What's more, verse 14, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour 00:07:29.820 |
widows' houses, and for pretense you make long prayers." 00:07:34.220 |
Yikes, I mean, you can be a bad guy, but to take advantage and exploit widows, old ladies, 00:07:45.460 |
Verse 15, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around, sea 00:07:49.660 |
and land, make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a 00:07:58.060 |
Verse 16, "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it's nothing, 00:08:03.740 |
but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, it's obligated.'" 00:08:07.340 |
You fools, blind men, which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the 00:08:15.020 |
He's saying, "You're so blind, you have no idea what's priority. 00:08:27.300 |
Verse 23, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, you tie mint and dill and 00:08:34.180 |
cumin and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law." 00:08:37.540 |
Verse 25, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you clean the outside 00:08:42.260 |
of the cup of the dish, that inside you are full of robbery and self-indulgence." 00:08:49.260 |
I'm already getting winded going through these, but you see, it just keeps going. 00:08:55.780 |
He calls them for their hypocrisy of looking nice on the outside, but being so decayed 00:09:04.980 |
Verse 29, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you build the tombs of 00:09:09.340 |
the prophets and adore the monuments of the righteous and say, 'If we had been living 00:09:13.380 |
in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the shedding the 00:09:22.540 |
We're so much better than those old guys, we would have never done that. 00:09:27.460 |
They make monuments to the people before them, their forefathers, and then they criticize 00:09:38.260 |
Verse 33, "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?" 00:09:44.660 |
That is not a question, even though it has a question mark. 00:09:51.460 |
You're going to be judged for all your hypocrisy, arrogance, and sin. 00:09:58.180 |
Doesn't it make you feel eerie that it's that bad? 00:10:01.860 |
But I'm willing to bet some of you now feel like that about today's generation. 00:10:06.420 |
You have celebrity pastors going up and crashing down. 00:10:10.360 |
You have people who are world-renowned, filled with heinous sin on the inside, when it looked 00:10:30.860 |
And these kind of disappointments make us feel like, yeah, I can sympathize with this 00:10:36.180 |
weird sentiment that the system around us is all messed up. 00:10:51.020 |
And so this is why as I prepared this sermon, I was like, man, this is intense. 00:10:58.020 |
This is surprising for some of us who are just like surprised by the intensity and the 00:11:04.140 |
severity and the sharp cutting edge of Jesus' words. 00:11:16.300 |
As Jesus is going to the cross, He loves His disciples. 00:11:21.740 |
So purpose number one of the sermon, I'm not just trying to scare you with this passage. 00:11:27.700 |
I'm trying to do justice to what it's doing, which is it should appropriately warn you. 00:11:33.020 |
If you have been taught by modern day and age old lies, everything's going to get better 00:11:44.020 |
We could have a great, great future, and we're going to have great churches, great families, 00:11:48.740 |
great government, and it's going to be awesome. 00:11:53.180 |
God has already told you in the last days, there are going to be more mockers, more false 00:12:00.460 |
People will be haters of that, which is good. 00:12:02.860 |
There's going to be conflict, and it's going to get worse. 00:12:10.780 |
There are many those who are around us who are going to tell you falsehood and leave 00:12:19.900 |
First John chapter four, verse one says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the 00:12:31.340 |
"Many false prophets have gone out into the world. 00:12:34.940 |
As a pastor in this church, as a fellow brother, I want to warn you just as Jesus did, beware 00:12:43.820 |
To influence the model, the teaching of the Pharisees, you have to be on the alert. 00:12:48.780 |
First Peter two, one through three, it says, "False prophets also arose among the people." 00:12:56.340 |
Do you think you're safe because you're here? 00:12:59.860 |
Don't look at each other with suspicion, but the scriptures are clear. 00:13:03.300 |
In the broader community, is it like surprise? 00:13:08.900 |
Are you completely caught off guard if one who claims to be a Christian, who says that 00:13:14.500 |
they are the thought leaders, now that's a kind of coined term, I want to be a thought 00:13:19.460 |
leader, now becomes something of an individual who produces what here says is, "There are 00:13:26.340 |
those among you," just as there will be false teachers among you, "who will secretly introduce 00:13:32.100 |
destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction 00:13:40.020 |
Because of them, the way of the truth is malign, and in their greed, they will exploit you 00:13:48.100 |
And I have this feeling right now in this generation, here in 2021, there has been lots 00:13:54.680 |
of people saying lots of stuff, and just as a brother, I have a worry. 00:14:00.940 |
I'm like, "Oh man, are people listening to all this trash? 00:14:10.780 |
But Scripture, knowingly, already ahead of the game, has given us this exhortation. 00:14:25.940 |
Are you able to appreciate that which is sound teaching from the Word of God versus that 00:14:32.900 |
Are you able to tell the difference between that which is simply worldly wisdom that has 00:14:36.960 |
the hint of wisdom because it's still wisdom, but far from the wisdom of God? 00:14:46.340 |
A purpose number two, obviously we have to watch our own lives very carefully. 00:14:53.340 |
Because although, yes, persecution, threats, it's out there, and it's going to come this 00:15:01.140 |
And it may be in here, as in just the community broadly, that someone who claims to be Christian 00:15:07.820 |
But the heart of the Pharisee could also be where? 00:15:12.700 |
And I'm going to tell you right now, this sermon was so difficult for me to prepare. 00:15:17.820 |
And just as a heads up, because the passage is in a rebuking tone and Jesus just does 00:15:23.820 |
a long list of the things that need to be corrected, this sermon is a bit long, okay, 00:15:32.740 |
And as you can tell, I am a pastor in the church. 00:15:39.140 |
Do I not see the subtleness of the heart of pride? 00:15:53.420 |
You know what's really interesting about this is that the Pharisees originated with good 00:16:02.980 |
Now you might be thinking, "Uh, what do you mean they're great people?" 00:16:06.380 |
In the human sense, they desired to be experts of the law. 00:16:13.020 |
They were the professionals to expound the truth and the Pharisees were called the parousiam 00:16:25.180 |
They began with intentions to be dedicated, consecrated for the purpose of God, to serve 00:16:39.660 |
But as we know, that agenda and intention, when fueled not by the spirit but by what's 00:16:47.340 |
simply here in the flesh, will always be perverted, will always be exploited. 00:16:54.220 |
And so what I want to show you today is there are three aspects in Jesus' rebuke where they 00:16:59.540 |
have taken something great and made it so horrendous. 00:17:03.700 |
The Pharisees have gone from greatness to being the worst. 00:17:07.660 |
Originally, I entitled this sermon, "These are the worst people." 00:17:11.900 |
I just wrote, "Pharisees, the worst people," right? 00:17:14.940 |
But I recognize there is this interesting pattern where even the good intentions we 00:17:19.500 |
have when met with the sin of pride, pride, it will come out to be the worst product and 00:17:27.460 |
And so let me move to the very first point of how the Pharisees went from greatness to 00:17:35.380 |
Point one, they carried the authority of God's Word with no integrity. 00:17:43.260 |
God gave them the privilege of not only having and receiving but teaching and expounding 00:17:54.420 |
Verses 1 through 3 says this, "Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples and 00:17:58.980 |
saying, 'The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. 00:18:03.700 |
Therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds, for 00:18:13.740 |
Understand that the Jewish people were hand-selected by God, not because they deserved it but because 00:18:19.500 |
of his kind intention and he blessed them with his good Word. 00:18:24.880 |
Some people think the law, you know, Pharisaical ritualism, away with you, right? 00:18:31.820 |
Clearly the scripture says the old covenant is done away because the greater glory has 00:18:36.500 |
The scripture also says in Romans, "The law was always good." 00:18:43.020 |
And so the people of God got the privilege, the responsibility, and the greatness to have 00:18:52.220 |
And then when he says here that the people have seated themselves in the chair of Moses, 00:18:56.900 |
that represented then the delegated and stewarded authority of God. 00:19:01.620 |
Have you guys ever heard the idea of ex-cathedra? 00:19:04.640 |
In the Catholic faith, they talk about how the Pope speaks ex-cathedra. 00:19:11.900 |
But what it's talking about is it comes with the authority that God has given. 00:19:16.060 |
And that's why even nowadays when you say, "Oh, here's the chairman of the board. 00:19:21.060 |
He is the expert and the authority on that topic in that department. 00:19:33.700 |
And that is why Jesus can say, this is really surprising, right? 00:19:36.740 |
He's about to rebuke them and give them this entire chapter. 00:19:39.260 |
I mean, again, if you look at your Bibles, it's just like, it just goes on, right? 00:19:44.380 |
But he says and gives us commandment, "You are to do and observe all that they tell you." 00:19:58.460 |
How many of you can listen to a man you know is an utter hypocrite who has tons of pretense, 00:20:04.180 |
who you know his life is not consistent, but because God has given him or, you know, like 00:20:09.020 |
a situationally, the authority of the Word of God is coming to you, you have to learn 00:20:15.300 |
It's hard to even learn from somebody just younger than you. 00:20:18.100 |
It's very difficult to learn from somebody who is an absolute hypocrite, right? 00:20:24.800 |
But every single one of us is called to have such a discretion and maturity in this day. 00:20:30.460 |
Because we do not immaturely then just cast out everything. 00:20:34.620 |
Whatever is true, good, whatever is in properly interpreted Word of God, it carries so much 00:20:41.660 |
authority, even if it is carried to you by an unworthy vessel, you obey. 00:20:51.120 |
As I thought about this, I was like, "Whoa, that's all strange and weird that that's in 00:20:58.240 |
The authority of God demands that kind of level of obedience. 00:21:03.840 |
But let's move to what the point right here was, was we're trying to learn. 00:21:08.520 |
The Pharisees went from greatness to being the worst in the sense that they had this 00:21:12.560 |
great privilege, but they carried it with no integrity. 00:21:19.680 |
The first element of it is Jesus describes that these individuals had no integrity because 00:21:30.180 |
Whoa, you just completely bypassed what God has been doing. 00:21:36.500 |
Hebrews chapter five, verses one through four teaches us that when it comes to the role 00:21:42.140 |
of leader, when it comes to the role of the priest in the past, God ordained that to be 00:21:46.500 |
a position where the priest sympathizes with the human being and speaks on behalf of the 00:21:53.420 |
But this priest has a ridiculously difficult job of making sure that he represents God 00:22:02.780 |
But what he says in verse four is this, "And no one takes this honor to himself, but receives 00:22:12.780 |
But today, I believe we are in a dangerous scenario when there is no quality control 00:22:21.700 |
If you look online, I looked it up just for fun. 00:22:26.340 |
You don't have to, there are different leagues of Christianity. 00:22:29.940 |
If you even just Google, "Can I get a master's in divinity online?" 00:22:33.420 |
You will find there are certain corporations that have online degrees where you can not 00:22:37.940 |
only get a master's in divinity, as if you could master that, but you could also get 00:22:42.380 |
a doctorate in divinity, and then you could have it within 30 minutes. 00:22:51.420 |
And then it says there, "Gladly serving 20 million people." 00:23:01.140 |
Unfortunately, we live in a day when, yeah, if a young man says, "I want to go to seminary," 00:23:12.620 |
And then if someone says, "I want to be a thought leader, and I'm going to blog away." 00:23:16.420 |
Someone says, "I'm going to record a sermon." 00:23:18.260 |
They just record themselves preaching as if they preach with authority. 00:23:21.820 |
Now, I'm not saying all of that is wicked, evil, or bad, but think about how dangerous 00:23:26.580 |
that could be when there are self-appointed individuals who are saying, "Listen to me," 00:23:32.180 |
and presenting it as equally authoritative as this. 00:23:40.900 |
But the greater element of the hypocrisy and the lack of integrity comes. 00:23:45.620 |
The worse, it gets worse, is because not only do they say these things without the kind 00:23:51.340 |
of appointment of God, God did not send them, but they say this stuff, but rather they say 00:24:04.140 |
Our struggle against false pretense, the hypocrisy of, "You say a lot, but you are not." 00:24:18.540 |
And Scripture says, "This is nothing new in terms of teaching, but you know this. 00:24:21.980 |
There is this common false belief that what matters a lot is the way people see me. 00:24:29.240 |
I don't want to look unspiritual, undisciplined. 00:24:34.200 |
I don't want to look stupid, uninformed, ignorant, whatever it may be. 00:24:38.520 |
And therefore, there is regularly a temptation. 00:24:41.600 |
I may not project myself like I am the leader of leaders, but I just at least want to project 00:24:50.760 |
An interesting part of that to me, and you may disagree with me here, but I saw a weird 00:24:56.160 |
pattern in Christendom over the last 10 years. 00:25:00.040 |
There were people I saw, they were just struggling with their faith. 00:25:05.720 |
And then there came this movement where they were just like, "You know what it is? 00:25:09.280 |
We have to have a vibrant relationship with Jesus because Christianity is not a religion, 00:25:21.160 |
You guys have heard from this pulpit, you need to abide and walk with Jesus because 00:25:25.080 |
you can know facts, you can intellectually have stuff memorized, and you can say the 00:25:30.480 |
right things, but if daily you're not abiding in Christ, you are far and low, right? 00:25:39.560 |
You can have a slogan like, "It's a relationship but not a religion," but now we have to ask 00:25:43.720 |
the question, "So did you build a vibrant relationship?" 00:25:47.200 |
Did you start making sure that you're communicating with Jesus and you have such a relationship 00:25:54.480 |
that when you needed comfort, you went to Him and you received His comfort and you felt 00:25:59.600 |
When you needed forgiveness, you repented, asked Him for forgiveness, and you were blessed 00:26:05.960 |
When you needed instruction, you went to Him and then you... 00:26:11.920 |
You know what happened over time is that wasn't the fruit. 00:26:14.800 |
You had people who just continued to feel guilty and then the gospel-centered movement 00:26:22.160 |
And there was this another slogan, it's like, "Gospel-centered this and gospel-centered 00:26:34.040 |
It is the kindness of God that has appeared to our generation to hear the message of Christ. 00:26:42.600 |
But it became a slogan, which now we have to ask the question, "So then did you get 00:26:47.680 |
Were you dedicated your life to preach this gospel to your friends, to your family? 00:26:53.860 |
You dedicated your life to live in the power of that forgiveness?" 00:27:02.720 |
Pharisaical hypocrisy is not, "You need to be righteous," because Jesus said, "Blessed 00:27:12.560 |
Pharisaical hypocrisy is when you say all this stuff, but there is actually no fruit 00:27:19.280 |
Even the good slogans you say, now obviously you can tell I am against slogan Christianity 00:27:24.440 |
because you tend to boil down what is supposed to be a vibrant, dynamic walk with your Father 00:27:31.000 |
into some kind of slogan phrase, which typically means you've already bought into the idea 00:27:36.840 |
that that's going to somehow make you spiritual. 00:27:42.900 |
You can say the best slogans, but if you say and you are not, then the heart of Pharisee 00:27:49.500 |
Even the good things we say, even the proper things we say, could cause you to have a Pharisaical 00:27:58.880 |
True spirituality will not rely on what you say, but with integrity, you desire to model. 00:28:09.640 |
You look to the insides and you desire to bear fruit. 00:28:14.480 |
I wrote to myself little notes because, again, in this passage, Jesus turns to the crowds 00:28:24.320 |
I wrote notes when I was studying to myself, "Mark, as hard as it is to say, 'You need 00:28:30.280 |
to be in every way an example to this church.'" 00:28:33.760 |
Now, that's like a weird thing to say, right? 00:28:41.200 |
Be diligent to present yourself when approved of God. 00:28:47.760 |
Don't let people discredit you for your youthfulness, but you be a model to the church. 00:29:00.960 |
The reason why the Pharisees went from greatness to being the worst is also because, although 00:29:06.320 |
they were to be shepherds of the flock, instead they selfishly exploited the people. 00:29:13.640 |
What we see from Jesus' rebuke is not only that, look, you speak with authority, but 00:29:20.500 |
He says now, "You were supposed to shepherd these people, but you bound them like cattle. 00:29:37.720 |
"They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling 00:29:52.040 |
And again, God had called various shepherds within that era to lead the people to life 00:30:00.120 |
giving waters of the word, to be ready and prepared to receive the Messiah so that they 00:30:10.320 |
But instead, they gathered more rules and laws, maybe in a false intention of trying 00:30:17.320 |
to make these things pure and non-compromised, and they started attaching all these rules 00:30:23.560 |
And you've heard there's over 50 volumes of additional laws, burdens, the things you 00:30:32.200 |
And Jesus says and rebukes them, "Look at what you've done. 00:30:35.960 |
The people you're supposed to shepherd, you've burdened." 00:30:40.520 |
Now as I was praying and thinking about that, I was like, I guess part of me was thinking, 00:30:48.560 |
"Are the Pharisees just like horrendous, wicked, wicked people, or what happened? 00:30:54.680 |
Were they just trying to protect the law and that's why it went that way? 00:30:58.760 |
Why in the world do we do this kind of stuff?" 00:31:01.300 |
And as I reflected, I recognized this is coming back to the heart of the human flesh. 00:31:08.200 |
This is nothing new to you, but this is a meditation on the fact that every single one 00:31:12.520 |
of us, why would any of us do the same, where we would burden other people, command, but 00:31:23.760 |
Why would we take that responsibility of shepherding, but instead turned it around and domineer? 00:31:29.560 |
And it's because every single one of us has a spirit of royalty in here. 00:31:37.960 |
The moment you come out and you're able to speak, you command people, even your parents. 00:31:45.120 |
Later on, that comes exhibited in your brotherhood, like within the siblings. 00:31:49.660 |
And then later on, this voice comes out of your mind that says, "Why didn't you do what 00:31:58.680 |
There is this little spirit of royalty in our hearts that expects other individuals 00:32:09.800 |
And God said in the Old Testament, "When you establish a ruler, if you have a king over 00:32:16.080 |
you, do you understand what this king is going to do? 00:32:18.400 |
He's going to do the very thing every single one of you want to do." 00:32:22.960 |
You'll impose your laws, you'll impose your regulations, you're going to expect the people 00:32:26.520 |
to work, and then you're going to exploit those people so that you can satisfy your 00:32:32.200 |
That is the heart that we see in modern day politics. 00:32:36.320 |
That is the heart you see sometimes in conflict. 00:32:44.360 |
In Ezekiel 34, verses one through six, "The word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Son of 00:32:49.040 |
man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. 00:32:52.600 |
Prophesy and say to those shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Woe, shepherds of Israel, 00:33:03.120 |
You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. 00:33:05.440 |
You slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock." 00:33:08.880 |
"Those who are sickly, you have not strengthened, and diseased, you have not healed. 00:33:13.480 |
The broken you have not bound up, and the scattered you have not brought back, nor have 00:33:17.840 |
you sought the lost, but with force and with severity you have dominated them." 00:33:25.640 |
When there is pride in our hearts, we lack sympathy. 00:33:31.380 |
When there is pride in our hearts, we lack mercy. 00:33:34.680 |
When there is pride in our hearts, rather than seeing individuals as those whom God 00:33:39.200 |
has entrusted us to care for and to bring them along with great grace, we see them as 00:33:49.080 |
This is how the Pharisees went from great to being the worst. 00:33:55.360 |
Interestingly enough, the community at Stanford University did a psychological study and experiment. 00:34:05.640 |
They essentially put a bunch of people in the prison and then said, "I want to give 00:34:10.240 |
you some rules, and then I'm going to give you roles. 00:34:13.880 |
You guys here, you're going to be prison guards, okay? 00:34:22.040 |
And then on this side, "You guys are the prisoners, okay?" 00:34:30.240 |
And they made a documentary out of it, too, but it was very controversial. 00:34:34.960 |
You can imagine how controversial that may be. 00:34:40.160 |
The people who assumed the role of authority, all of a sudden they realized, "We need 00:34:48.000 |
"You better listen to us the moment we da-da-da-da-da. 00:34:54.320 |
And next thing you know, they assumed the authority of power, and they listed ... I 00:34:58.160 |
forget exactly how many more rules they implemented into the prison than that was already given. 00:35:13.920 |
I'm not saying to use that and say, "Oh my goodness, da-da-da-da-da." 00:35:18.520 |
But every single one of us has within us a desire for control. 00:35:25.520 |
Every single one of us has within us a desire and potentially a temptation to enact my way. 00:35:34.280 |
But scripture tells us good leaders are not so. 00:35:38.240 |
This is why I wrote to myself, "Good leaders are not so." 00:35:51.480 |
Good leaders, brothers and sisters, and you need to tell the difference. 00:35:54.640 |
When you give your ear to those who are giving you sermons, when you give your ear to those 00:35:59.120 |
who are trying to teach and guide your thought, those individuals are not trying to be thought 00:36:05.000 |
They're trying to be good and trustworthy, dependable servants. 00:36:10.720 |
And when they earn that trust, they're guiding you to God. 00:36:16.200 |
And what you see sometimes is scripture gives this exhortation, 1 Peter 5, verse 1 through 00:36:21.360 |
3, "Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the 00:36:25.760 |
sufferings of Christ and a partaker also of the glory that is revealed, shepherd the flock 00:36:31.480 |
of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, voluntarily, according to 00:36:37.600 |
the will of God, not for sordid gain, with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those 00:36:43.600 |
allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock." 00:37:02.400 |
What in your mind gives you permission to command all these people, "You better do it, 00:37:07.800 |
you better do it," and then you don't lift a finger? 00:37:11.000 |
And again, I come to the conclusion, you must have thought that you were royalty. 00:37:15.320 |
But I reflected a little bit more, and I recognized also that within modern day society, what 00:37:21.280 |
I see a lot are individuals who see the church and this Christian body in the complete wrong 00:37:32.320 |
I see people look at the church as an organization, as a business, as a program, as an institution 00:37:43.760 |
Because sometimes I see people comment about the church, the church needs X, Y, and Z, 00:37:51.280 |
But that is the wrong way of thinking about it. 00:37:55.120 |
Because the church was already given a framework of what it was supposed to be in terms of 00:38:04.240 |
In relationship to God, the primary depiction, the primary picture is number one, the bride, 00:38:18.320 |
For us to combat this arrogance and pride of the spirit of loyalty, you have to see 00:38:22.920 |
this church as a spiritual household of God of which the Father is very protective of 00:38:31.960 |
What we need in the church is not more commentators. 00:38:36.900 |
We need fathers and mothers who are willing to go alongside people. 00:38:41.200 |
We need fathers and mothers who are willing to get dirty and change some diapers. 00:38:44.820 |
We need older brothers and sisters who are willing to take younger brothers and sisters 00:38:50.900 |
We need aunties and uncles who are willing to give life-giving advice in the milestones 00:38:55.600 |
of people's lives, of their little nephews and nieces, there for the graduation, there 00:39:00.180 |
for their first job, there for their first kid, giving life advice from the Scriptures. 00:39:06.060 |
We don't need more commentators saying, "Y'all got to better do this to make your church better." 00:39:15.620 |
The church is a household of God that requires people to see that kind of harmony and unity 00:39:23.580 |
So, I wrote to myself, "Mark, do not ever just commentate on God's family, for when 00:39:41.820 |
You know, and the Scripture says in Proverbs, "Lots of words, lot of sin." 00:39:48.500 |
There is something fleshly in me, yes, that takes joy in just judging things and criticizing 00:39:56.980 |
And I need to remember this is the household of God of which we are all children, of whom 00:40:06.300 |
I can't come in like that, thinking I'm above this. 00:40:09.860 |
And therefore, if ever I give commands but I'm not willing to lift a finger, shame on 00:40:18.860 |
I need to be in the thick of the work of edifying and building this church, and that's why you 00:40:22.900 |
guys know our church takes church membership very seriously, because it is appropriate, 00:40:31.700 |
Next, point number three, the Pharisees went from greatness to the worst, because they 00:40:37.700 |
used God's given trumpets to please men rather than God, right? 00:40:46.220 |
When I say trumpets, these are signs and signals, signals, okay, to get everybody's attention, 00:40:53.340 |
to make sure that we know like this indicates something. 00:40:56.740 |
Rather than using it for the glory of God, rather than using for its purposes, they use 00:41:02.100 |
And the scripture says, Jesus says this to them, "But they do all their deeds to be noticed 00:41:07.140 |
by men, for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 00:41:12.240 |
They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogue and respectful 00:41:16.800 |
greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by men." 00:41:48.260 |
We can't look at a person and be like, "I know what's in your heart, you're Pharisee." 00:41:56.220 |
But Jesus cuts through to the core and says, "You love these, the glory of man more than 00:42:05.380 |
And by their love for the attention, they love it when people notice them. 00:42:14.020 |
I want you to just imagine with me walking around. 00:42:16.860 |
I actually pulled up a picture, but right now there's like this part of me, I was like, 00:42:24.300 |
I didn't want to just make fun of Jewish people, okay? 00:42:31.460 |
The heart of pride is every single one of us human problem. 00:42:35.380 |
But when you look up the photos, you have these individuals who are walking around with 00:42:43.020 |
You know in Deuteronomy, it says that you shall impress these words on your heart and 00:42:47.740 |
your soul, so you shall bind them as signs on your hand, on the frontals of your forehead 00:42:55.620 |
So if you look up a picture of a Jewish individual and you look up phylacteries, they have more 00:43:00.780 |
They have this leather box right here that has miniature scrolls, but they also have 00:43:03.980 |
a leather band with the scriptures around their wrist and they wrap it around their 00:43:07.540 |
middle finger, around their arm and they look like ninjas, okay? 00:43:10.740 |
And then they have these garments where they have blue cords running down and in order 00:43:17.620 |
And in order to show off, look how much I know, look how devout and look how significant 00:43:25.900 |
They made it bigger and bigger and the rabbis had to make rules. 00:43:34.000 |
Think about for us in our generation, how foolish we have become wanting attention. 00:43:41.700 |
I went to the zoo with my family and there was this young girl with this long stick and 00:43:45.620 |
her camera and she's doing the whole, again, if currently this is your job and I'm making 00:43:56.060 |
She was walking around and everything she did, "Look guys, I'm looking at the polar 00:44:02.180 |
And then it's so funny because the zoo, you've got this path, so she just happened to be 00:44:07.340 |
in front of us in everything we did and the whole time I was just so bothered. 00:44:14.500 |
"I'm eating cotton candy," like, oh my God, right? 00:44:19.580 |
And if you've ever done the thing, it's like, "Look guys, I'm reading my Bible at the coffee 00:44:23.140 |
shop with the light coming in, the soft light," it's like. 00:44:28.580 |
It's like maybe you in your heart of hearts wanted to just inspire some people to do devotions, 00:44:36.060 |
But we live in a generation where it's like, "Do it for the gram." 00:44:40.580 |
But do you have any idea how biblical that is when literally Jesus said, "I want you 00:44:44.580 |
to do what you do in the privacy of your own closet with God because I don't want you to 00:44:52.860 |
just have this reward and have nothing from God." 00:44:59.260 |
Do you, the Phariseeism is you live for the praise and reward of this world and your judgment 00:45:10.340 |
And so as a warning to us, as a warning, the trumpet that God gave, now realize this, it 00:45:27.180 |
I'm not going to raise my hands and worship." 00:45:30.780 |
You're still afraid of the same thing, right? 00:45:37.740 |
The problem is we loved it and then there are people who fear it and it's the same thing. 00:45:48.060 |
Obviously we had a generation of people who loved self-esteem. 00:45:53.060 |
So they loved it when their parents were like, "You're going to be a leader." 00:45:57.420 |
They took SAT class and like, "Oh my gosh, you're going to excel. 00:46:02.660 |
And I grew up in that generation where everybody was just like, like everything I read was, 00:46:09.180 |
And then people cared so much about your self-esteem, they wanted to build you up. 00:46:20.540 |
My parents think like, "It's A plus or bust, right? 00:46:32.500 |
But then now the response also, I don't think they've learned. 00:46:38.100 |
Your love for leadership, your love for self-esteem had with it the desire to hear, "You're going 00:46:46.420 |
That same desire is embedded in this culture that magnifies pain. 00:46:53.300 |
Oh my gosh, you don't know the pain I've been through. 00:46:57.100 |
Now what I say, I say with a caveat, there are people who have been in legitimate deep 00:47:10.060 |
But the reason why I call this out is because the fruit of this, this that I see has not 00:47:16.300 |
The fruit of this has been, "You guys need to talk to me. 00:47:27.140 |
You're still looking for the platitude of, "You're okay. 00:47:34.020 |
Whether you call it self-esteem or this, it's the same thing. 00:47:37.900 |
And in that picture, when I counsel people and they tell me their problems, I draw it 00:47:41.620 |
on a map and I ask them, "Show me where God is. 00:47:46.940 |
In your pursuit of fixing your problems, and yes, you may have the deepest pains that I 00:48:06.360 |
For us as Christians, our lowest point is when we do not see the glory of God. 00:48:19.820 |
But there is a complete different path for you than what the Pharisees took. 00:48:25.020 |
There is an immensely different path for us to have greatness, to own greatness, and to 00:48:30.860 |
actually not project greatness, but be great. 00:48:45.500 |
For one is your teacher and you are all brothers. 00:48:48.500 |
Do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father, he who is in heaven. 00:48:54.220 |
Do not be called leaders, for one is your leader, that is Christ. 00:48:59.020 |
But the greatest among you shall be your servant. 00:49:03.780 |
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." 00:49:11.260 |
Let's first take a look at what Jesus says in verse eight through ten. 00:49:17.860 |
Don't call anyone your father, and do not be called leaders yourselves." 00:49:26.820 |
I guess our church leaders, we're just egotistical, right? 00:49:31.060 |
Because I walk around and say, "Elder James, Elder Philip, Elder Joe," and I give them 00:49:41.820 |
Question, am I going against the direct teaching of my Lord here? 00:49:49.220 |
What we see is he does this thing where he says, "I don't want you to seek the title 00:50:00.220 |
But also you don't call other people father." 00:50:11.120 |
What is it that you want when people call you rabbi? 00:50:20.180 |
Your intellectual clout, that is so tempting. 00:50:24.220 |
But for us as Christian, what is the solution so that you do not arrogantly follow this 00:50:29.900 |
temptation to be deemed the chair of the board of the theology department? 00:50:38.620 |
There is a singular, unique, perfect knowledge you can have, and that is our Savior Jesus 00:50:52.360 |
And for me to know Christ and to be known by him is the solve-all. 00:50:59.560 |
I could be foolish, ignorant, not only not an expert, but completely deficient in my 00:51:08.780 |
But to know Christ and him crucified, that's my ambition, amen? 00:51:20.140 |
And so what he says is what's the emphasis of this passage is not that no longer should 00:51:24.340 |
we ever call anybody a leader because the rest of the New Testament teaches us you establish 00:51:29.020 |
elders at the church, you establish those who are going to rule well, and those of you 00:51:34.020 |
who are young, remember the passage that I read in 1 Peter, you need to submit to your 00:51:39.380 |
But what he says is you need to understand that there is one teacher, one father, one 00:51:47.580 |
Your desire for protection, all of you who long for security, all of you who long for 00:51:56.860 |
affirmation by somebody who has the authority to affirm you, can I tell you, you have one 00:52:05.420 |
And we sang, I came back to that song, holy, there is no one like him. 00:52:18.340 |
Because even as I teach, I have a Lord over me. 00:52:20.900 |
Even as I teach, I have an authority above me. 00:52:23.140 |
And the greatest thing for you to understand is that I have no authority. 00:52:33.360 |
But the crazy thing about this and the paradoxical thing about this is I have greater authority 00:52:41.560 |
You have no authority, but you have greater authority than a panel of experts. 00:52:50.420 |
His one singular authoritative word and his one great presence over my life makes my job 00:53:01.620 |
So long as I tie you to the voice of God, this ministry will succeed. 00:53:06.300 |
Guys, I'm going to just confess to you, in this generation, part of the reason I felt 00:53:10.300 |
the need to preach this is because I'm worried. 00:53:18.460 |
And right now, what I see is a progression of false thought, reaction to false thought, 00:53:30.700 |
You have people elevating things that should not be elevated. 00:53:33.760 |
You have people in the name of authenticity elevate doubt, elevate this whole deconstruction 00:53:43.660 |
Let me just comment on that for a brief second. 00:53:47.740 |
Because we're not elevated of the glory of God. 00:53:50.300 |
When we're so concerned about my path, my process, that I don't care whether God is 00:54:00.140 |
questioned, where I'm not considerate of whether my God is being put through the ringer, and 00:54:06.500 |
I glorify and make beautiful that which is questioning God, we're elevating the wrong 00:54:13.860 |
But right now in our day, that feels pretty authentic and real. 00:54:23.220 |
But this passage to me, there is a path for us to greatness and security. 00:54:30.920 |
There is a way for us to be in the will of God, which is to understand and be under this 00:54:35.980 |
one singular authoritative final source, amen? 00:54:41.180 |
And for us, then the challenge is going to be, I need to make sure that I am seeking 00:54:47.700 |
I repeat for you a passage that I read earlier, John chapter 5, verse 44. 00:54:51.700 |
Jesus asked this question, "How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and 00:54:57.260 |
you do not seek the glory that which is from the one and only God?" 00:55:02.300 |
The question there is, how can you have faith? 00:55:08.220 |
If your heart is longing for the affirmation of people, you have an adulterous love relationship 00:55:15.700 |
that cannot allow you to have intimacy with God. 00:55:20.660 |
And that is at the core of the pride, selfishness, and the erroneous way of the Pharisee. 00:55:30.340 |
But the second thing what he said was that in order to seek greatness, that the greatest 00:55:35.500 |
among you shall be your servant, whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles 00:55:44.060 |
So underneath this point, if principle one, you needed to recognize that there is one 00:55:47.860 |
teacher, one father, one leader over you, and we have him who is the solution to all, 00:55:53.980 |
your path to humility is to recognize that your responsibility is actually to humble 00:56:00.940 |
yourself, then entrust your entire life to God who will establish you. 00:56:10.300 |
For us, there is a paradoxical way to greatness. 00:56:16.420 |
Your goal is going to desire and dedicate yourself to be that soldier of Christ. 00:56:21.580 |
I have a great cause, I have a great commander, and my job is to serve that goal. 00:56:29.980 |
You have a desire, a dedication in your heart. 00:56:32.580 |
This is my home, my family, and my job is to be a great family member, a great brother 00:56:38.500 |
and sister, father or mother, older brother, auntie, grandpa, whatever you may be, I am 00:56:48.700 |
To be a dependable servant is to us our great path. 00:56:53.740 |
And when God, the master of all, the teacher of all, and the father of the house says to 00:56:59.380 |
you, "Good job, my servant," that to us is going to be greatness and glory, nothing else. 00:57:10.660 |
Every other, like, accolade, fame is going to be nothing compared to that, amen? 00:57:17.460 |
I will leave you with this final passage from 1 Peter 5, verse 4 through 10. 00:57:23.980 |
In the context of Apostle Peter warning against false teachers, he says, "And when the chief 00:57:30.260 |
shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." 00:57:38.340 |
"You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves 00:57:45.460 |
For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 00:57:49.260 |
Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the 00:57:55.620 |
proper time, casting all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."