Matthew 23:23-28 Faith Through Love!

Matthew 23:23-28  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin.  But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.  You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.  You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law put on a good show for the people.  They seemed to be righteous, dedicated, consecrated to God and his will.  Humans tend to judge on the outside appearance, what appears to be right or good.  But God knows the heart of a man; He rightly judges what a man really is; his goodness, his evilness, his willingness to deceive or be upright.  God knows the intentions of men, their thoughts, their hopes, their secrets.  When Samuel the prophet chose the first king of Israel, Saul, he thought he had God’s man, for Saul was a half head taller than all the other Israelites.  He stood out in a crowd of men.  Surely, he was the man that should lead Israel.  Saul’s physical attributes made him the warrior king desired by the Israelites.  Saul had a humble heart when chosen as the king of Israel.  But sadly humility gave way to a self-willed attitude revealed in his defeat of the Amalekites.  He failed God by not completely destroying all the Amalekites and their animals.  He spared the king of the Amalekites and some of the better animals.  He lied to Samuel when he told him that he spared the better animals to sacrifice to God.  Samuel rejected this lie and judged Saul immediately.  You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!  (1 Samuel 15:26)  Saul’s self-will, his words and ideas over God’s everlasting word brought judgement upon him.  God’s word should never be secondary in a person’s life: God’s words should take preeminence over everything man thinks or does.  King Saul made two seemingly innocuous decisions in this situation, but both violated God’s irrevocable word, causing him to lose his right to rule Israel.  King Saul’s heart was not right with God.  Therefore, God told Samuel to ordain another man as the ruler of Israel.  He told Samuel the outward appearance of a man does not matter—only his heart matters.  The Lord does not look at the things people look at.  People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  (1 Samuel 16:7)  David the shepherd boy was selected as the next King of Israel.  In telling the history of Israel, Paul says David, was a man after God’s own heart; he will do everything God wants him to do.  (Acts 13:22)  David would follow God’s will in his leadership role, although human weaknesses would get him in trouble with God.  The priests that Jesus confronted were not faithful in their leadership role.  In fact their hearts were so contaminated that they were called vipers who were lethal to the people they ruled.  They were making decisions in their lives that were important to God such as tithing: You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin, but they neglected what was more important to God.  In their regulations and law bound attitude, they lost the heart and purpose of serving God.  

God chose the Israelites out of all the people of the world to show his justice, mercy and faithfulness.  The capstone of the law was to love others as you want to be loved, for that reflects how God loves people.  The religious leaders presented themselves as clean vessels, looking good on the outside.  You clean the outside of the cup and dish.  They received much praise and deference from the people for their outward lifestyle, but Jesus knew their hearts as God knew King Saul’s heart.  Inside they violated God’s nature; Jesus knew they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  They were vipers, hypocrites, living a lie, lacking integrity, not truthful to the people.  They championed self-will over God’s will.  They loved the world and the things of the world more than God.  They loved the praises of men, the places of honor, and money.  They were as all men, seeking lives centered on self-will, not God’s will.  The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?  “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”  (Jeremiah 17:9-10)  The deeds of the leading priests and the teachers of the law were deceptive and evil.  They were out to kill Jesus and eventually they got the Romans to hang Jesus on a cross.  Jesus discerned their nature very accurately when he said, You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  Their wickedness was so great that they were constantly seeking to kill Jesus.  Finally they succeeded in murdering him.  Rather than being leaders, serving the God of love; they served hate, divisiveness and murder.  They were Adam’s children, not God’s children.  They were of Cain the murderer, not Abel who pleased God with his gift to God.  As with king Saul, their failure to serve with integrity and obedience to God’s will brought them rejection.  Jesus rejected their leadership role and called them hypocrites, vipers.  His negative view of them caused Jesus to assail them with a list of three woes that led to his rejection of their outward form of godliness and inward evil inclinations.

These religious leaders claimed to know God, to be pleasing to him.  They looked good in their flowing robes and broad phylacteries on their arms and foreheads.  They looked the epitome of spirituality.  But they did not know the God of creation, for had they known God, they would have revealed him as the God of love and mercy to the people.  Instead, they emulated the secular world that sin had produced.  Inside of them as with all men who are in a sinful state, they were full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  Not a very complimentary picture for sure.  Paul talks about the state of men born of Adam by saying, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”  “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”  “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”  (Romans 3:10-15)  Jesus knew the nature of all men, but He loved them.  He knew they would turn on him as He went to the cross.  But Jesus loved people, and He expected the Jewish religious leaders to love the people, to treat them as a good shepherd would treat his sheep.  The sheep needed guidance, good pasture, and clean water; but the religious leaders were as hired hands.  They would only be guides of the people if the leaders received their just respect and praise.  He knew they would flee if they felt threatened.  Jesus threatened their leadership role, so they fled to the Romans to do away with Jesus.  Their hearts were as all men: self-serving, self-motivated, selfish in spirit.  In sinful men, God’s will and words do not motivate them, inspire them; only their will and their fleeting words are of importance to them.  All have turned away, no one is righteous, not even one.  But this desperate situation is not the closure to the story of men.  For Christ has come to set us free from the yoke of sin, the inherited sickness of Adam.  We are not under the burden of the law and regulations to please God.  The Pharisees and the teachers of the law placed the obligations of the law heavily upon the backs of the people.   Peter said to the church leaders, which one of us has kept the law perfectly?  God demands perfection.  The religious leaders were living lives of hypocrisy and lies, but Jesus, the Lamb of God, would set people free from hypocrisy and lies.  He gave his life for our freedom.  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. …  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.   (Galatians 5:1-6)  We are no longer bound by the law and its regulations.  We have one who fulfilled the law completely.  He is our perfection if we have placed our trust IN HIM, and not in our own works.  God desires us to be his children, and to be his children, we must come to him in perfection.  Our Adam’s DNA had to be changed to Jesus’ DNA.  As children of our parents, we carry their DNA.  To be children of God, we must be like him with his nature.  Jesus is God, God in the flesh.  We who are IN HIM have his nature.  The Pharisees and the teachers of the law had only the nature of the law and its regulations.  They did tithe, they did carry out the law to the best of their intentions, but they failed to have the law written on their hearts.  Justice, mercy and faithfulness escaped their lifestyle.  The only thing that really counts in a Christian’s life is faith expressing itself through love.  Christ has completed the work of perfection.  His plan for you is to prosper you in love, not to harm you, but to give you hope and a future with him.  He will listen to you today.  He has given you a voice to speak, words to say.  Jeremiah chapter 29 says God will be found by you if you seek him with all your heart.  Reject the woes of the Pharisees and walk in the joy of the Lord today. 

Matthew 23:15-22 Keep In Step!

Matthew 23:15-22  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.  “Woe to you, blind guides!  You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’  You blind fools!  Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?  You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’  You blind men!  Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?  Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.  And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.  And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

In the above focus we see evidence of the blindness of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees.  They claimed that the things they could see of this world were more important than the God they could not see.  Gold, gifts, materials in the temple and on the altar are counted as more important that the temple itself where God dwells and of more value than the consecrated altar where gifts on the altar were made acceptable to God.  They believed if a person swears by these earthly things, he is more bound to keep his oath than one who swears by the holiness of the temple and altar.  The temple and the altar were initially consecrated to God by sacrifices and prayers; they were made holy by these acts of the people.  The priests and the teachers of the law had elevated the gold and silver of the temple and the items on the altar above the things that were consecrated to God.  The temple was God’s dwelling place; He made it holy because of his presence.  The priests and the teachers of the law contaminated that fact by making things of this earth more important than God’s dwelling place.  The religious elite should have recognized that the temple was a holy place, a revered place because God’s Spirit was there.  Anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.  Confirming an oath or statement by supporting the truth of it by swearing on the existence of God or on the reality of the temple, his dwelling place, was very serious.  You have placed God as supporting your oath.  When God’s name is involved in a swearing, you are placing your words before God, words that will never be forgotten. Without God involved, with an oath based on the backing of gold and gifts, the statements are transitory and will fade in importance as soon as the words are released from the lips of the speaker.  When Jesus spoke about the permanency of the law, He related how serious something is when God is involved, when He affirms it.  The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John.  Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it.  It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.  (Luke 16:16-17)  In other words, the law and its merits will exist forever.  None of it will be forgotten by God.  The words of the law will abide forever in God’s domain, for what God says or supports will be in existence forever.  Consequently, any oath stated by man and supported by God will remain forever, never to cease.  That is why the oath at a marriage ceremony is so important.  Anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.  This oath does not fade out of existence; just as the law does not fade, neither does an oath that carries God’s unchanging will drop out of existence.  Jesus says something difficult for us to accept when He says not one part of the law will disappear from God’s awareness.  Because of the eternal marriage oaths, Jesus concludes that, Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.  (Luke 16:18)  Now as with the Law, no man completely satisfies every jot and tittle of the Law.  Therefore, we place our faith in Christ’s perfection not ours.  Jesus is our perfection.  He died as a man in the flesh and rose as the first of the redeemed.  We died with him and our imperfections of following the law died there too. This work is complete.  What about the waywardness in a marriage, violating God’s permanency of our oath?  Grace also covers that, for we exist IN CHRIST as new creatures.  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV)  Our fleshly imperfections are covered by God’s redeeming work IN CHRIST.  The priests and the teachers of the law could not conceive of this way to God.  They were not spiritual; they were tied to the gold and silver of this world.

Jesus castigates the religious leaders as blind guides!  They were recklessly ignorant of the important things of spiritual life.  They were blind leaders leading the blind.  Sadly, they were making their followers more devilish than themselves by considering the things of this world more important than serving God from the heart.  We see John the Baptist calling all Israelites to repentance.  Israel needed a revival, for the religious leaders had led the people astray.  Considering what to swear upon in the temple, revealed the wickedness of their hearts.  What is more important: gold or gifts?  They were focused on the things of the world, not on God.  These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.  Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.  What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”  (Matthew 15:8-11)  The priests were accentuating rules and regulations to please God, but their hearts were steeped in blindness.  Worldly possessions and wealth were important to them, more important than God’s ways and his desires.  Jesus knew their hearts, so He tells them, No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and money.  (Luke16:13)  They should not consider the gold of the temple and gifts on the altar more important than the consecrated temple and altar.  These artifacts are made holy by God himself.  With the wrong perspective of what is holy and what is not, they were serving their fleshly desires. They were serving the wrong master.  They should have known they had strayed from God’s perfection.  Jesus knew their hearts were far from God, fixated on the world.  He intimated that they were serving another master, not God.  This made the Pharisees angry.  The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.  He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts.  What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.  (Luke 16:13-15)  The wealth of this world is what people value very highly above God’s will, but for the priests to value these worldly things made them hypocrites!  For the wealth of this world and the love of the things in this world were detestable in God’s sight.

        

Because God’s promises are eternal and always before him, these priests were being blessed as children of Abraham according to God’s will.  When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”  And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.  People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.  (Hebrew 6:13-16)  God could swear by nothing higher than himself.  His existence is conclusive, final, and forever.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (John 1:1)  Jesus, the Word, God himself in the flesh, gave himself up to die on the cross, satisfying the wrath of God on sin.  He took our place and paid the price for our sins.  The redeemed who know Jesus the Christ as their Savior no longer swear on anything higher than themselves, for the Holy Spirit, God himself, dwells in each of us.  We cannot and do not seek anything greater than God in us to confirm what we desire, what we want to do with our lives.  We no longer swear on things that are greater than we are, such as the altar, the temple or even the throne of God.  We do not have to swear on such things for the Holy Spirit exists in us; his purposes and laws are written on our hearts.  His words are even at our mouths, and we need nothing more.  Consequently as ambassadors of his will, his words, we should be careful of how we live and speak.  We do not swear, asking God to confirm our desires in our lives or our promises to others.  We do as James instructed us to do.  Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else.  All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.   (James 5:12)  Do not say an oath such as, In God’s name, I will do this or that.  God hears those words and as Christians will hold us to them.  But because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we should be led by his words in us not by our own fleshly desires.   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  (Galatians 5:22-25)  We do not need to make an oath so people will believe our words or intentions.  We do not need to claim God’s authority in all we do.  No, we are free in the Lord, but our fleshly desires should not be for the world and its things, such as the teachers of the law and the Pharisees desired.  Instead, we are people of yes or no, all under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, true servants of the living Lord.  Brothers and sisters in the Lord, let us keep in step with the Spirit today and every day as we proclaim the Good News.  May we declare: Yes, we are going forward; and No, we will not turn back!    

 

Matthew 23:8-13 Who Am I?

Matthew 23:8-13  But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.  And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.  Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.  The greatest among you will be your servant.  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.  “Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

In today’s passage, Jesus strongly attacks the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  He knows they are not only his enemies but God’s enemies.  Rather than being good shepherds, leading the sheep by still water in a lush pasture, they were leading the sheep to harsh land with little sustenance for finding God.  These religious elite were the blind leading the blind.  Their pretensions disgusted Jesus, for they were devastating the flock.  So much so, that John the Baptist called for all Israelites to repent and to be baptized for the remission of their sins.  The Pharisees’ attitude about God’s grace and mercy led the people into great darkness rather than into the light of God’s love for them.  As Hosea said long ago and later Jesus repeated,  For I, God, desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.  As Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there.  (Hosea 6:6-7)  The Pharisees and teachers of the law restricted the way to God by placing undue importance on the ceremonies of the law, rather than the people’s heart condition.  This idea of spirituality, of being right with God by outward obedience to laws and regulations, permeated the priests’ attitude about life.  This permeation was depicted in Jesus’ story about the Pharisee and the tax collector who entered the temple before God.  (See Luke 18)  The Pharisee entered assured of his righteousness.  Believing his lifestyle pleased God, he stood with this arrogance in his heart.  What he was unaware of was that he was made in God’s image; however, he was not a God-willed man, but a self-willed man, as was Adam.  He was living the life of Adam, determining what was good, worthwhile or purposeful for his own existence.  Of course, man’s self-willed nature is not only the origin of sin, it is the essence of sin.  On the other side of this binary choice of self-will or God-will: Adam or God, we see the tax collector in the temple.  The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’  “But the tax collector stood at a distance.  He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (Luke 18:11-13)  The Pharisee thought himself justified because his life was constructed religiously just as he desired; he believed his self-willed design of life was perfect.  But the tax collector knew his life was outside of God’s parameters for men.  He knew he was living a self-willed life, not a life under God’s authority.  Therefore, the tax collector begged for mercy, for he knew he was a sinner.  He needed the God of mercy, not laws and regulations.  Jesus asked, who went away from the temple justified?  The man who identified with the God of love and mercy found what he needed.  God heard his prayers and ignored the Pharisee’s words of self-acclamation.  

In the above focus, Jesus refutes any claim that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees had on their leadership role in the community.  People were not to call them Rabbi for all the men were brothers—no one should be considered special or above others.  Also, God is the father of all men, so people should not call someone on earth a spiritual father, for there is only one father God.  The people should not let anyone be their spiritual instructor, for only the Messiah reveals the true God in the right way.  By these negations, Jesus strips the religious leaders of their titles, their cherished position of deference and control over the people.  Jesus knows the Pharisees love their roles as overseers of religious practice.  The religious leaders were proud of their long robes with tassels hanging from them; their phylacteries large so people will know how spiritual they are.  Jesus knew they loved the seats of honor that were set apart for them at every gathering.  The religious leaders craved the words of respect that they received in the market places.  They had an air of importance, believing they were more worthwhile than others.  But Jesus knew their hearts, the wickedness that abided in them.  Therefore, He told them the greatest in the kingdom of God are of those who have a humble spirit.  The greatest among you will be your servant.  If anyone has a presumption in his heart of being better than others, he will be brought low by God.  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.  Jesus’ condemnation of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees was based on the way they lived and their attitude of superiority over the people.  Their lives were an obstruction to knowing God, not facilitators to knowing God.  The elite had a form of religion, but not the authenticity of knowing God.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.  Jesus came to the Israelites to open the way to God, to let the Jewish people know that rules and regulations will never open the door to God and his wonderful grace and mercy.  Jesus is that door: Jesus is grace and mercy.  I am the way and the truth and the life.  (John 14)  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees lived in their own darkness of the self-willed man.  They had perfected their way of rightness with God.  Their additional regulations to Moses’ law made it cumbersome for the people to find God.  Rather than bringing light to the people, they brought blindness, obscuring God’s grace and mercy towards the people He created.  Jesus healed the sick and the blind.  As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”  When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”  “Yes, Lord,” they replied.  (Matthew 9:27-28)  Jesus revealed God’s mercy to those in need. The religious leaders did not beg for mercy, for they thought they could see in their darkness. 

We see this problem of sightlessness in the tussle Peter had with Jesus.  Jesus was asking the apostles the question that was the essence of his ministry.  Is He the Messiah?  Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.  (Matthew 16:13-17)  God provided Peter with the words to name Jesus as Messiah.  Jesus was the one who would take away the sins of the world.  He expresses God’s will for Jesus on earth. “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”  Peter, a man as yet not filled with the Holy Spirit, expressed the correct response to Jesus’ question.  Later we see Peter responding to Jesus’ tale of his impending arrest and death saying, “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”  He thought with the help of the other disciples this awful thing would never happen to Jesus.  Earlier Peter’s lips were expressing God’s will for things; now he is allowing his Adamic spirit, man’s will, to replace God’s will for what will happen to Jesus.  As with the religious leaders, Peter jumped in front of Jesus on the path to Calvary and put his hand up and said, no, this will not happen to you, Jesus.  He was saying, our will be done, not God’s will.  The religious leaders were in front of the people’s path to God, saying no, first you must fulfill all the laws and our regulations before you can find God.  Peter intended to block God’s will in Jesus’ life.  Jesus knew Satan, the corrupter was now at the mouth of Peter.  Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.  Jesus harshly tells Peter, get out of my path.  I am going to fulfill God’s will, not your will or the corrupter, Satan.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were obstructors to finding God.  Satan used religion to impede the people’s path to God.  These elite were God’s enemies.  They were not the champions of the lesser, but of those who could help them maintain power.  They failed to know the God of mercy and grace.  They chose their self-will, status, and preference of the people over God.  Jesus tells the truth of their lives; He uncovers the deadness of their spirits, the dead bones.  They should have been concerned about the least in Israel.  They were not leaders, but hypocrites, pretenders.  Status, deference and power contaminated their lives.  Jesus talks about the judgement seat, when the sheep are separated from the goats, the pretenders.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  (Matthew 25:34-36)  Religion can get in the way of God’s intentions for people.  He wants to show his love and mercy for all people.  What are our parameters to God’s love?  The Jewish elite had their parameters, their regulations, their laws, what they thought was good or bad.  They placed them heavily upon the people’s backs.  Jesus clearly said, you have jumped into the path between God and man.  You are preventing them from seeing God.  Are you a preventer, or are you one who is showing God to the people around you?  Your religious talk or ceremonies are not very important, but your acts of love, your servanthood to all people are important.  Jesus expresses the throne room environment by saying the actions of people towards the ones He created are important to God.  Which binary choice are you serving: your will, God’s will; Adam, the self-willed man or Jesus, the God-willed man.  The first is sin, it expresses waywardness; the second is holy, in the arms of God.  Let it be said of you that you are the second man, a follower of Jesus the Christ, the Lord. 

 

Matthew 23:1-7 Speak Face-to-Face!

Matthew 23:1-7  Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.  So you must be careful to do everything they tell you.  But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.  They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.  “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.”  

In the above focus, Jesus tells the people they should pay attention to what the scribes and Pharisees teach, for the law is good, but they should not follow their example of how to live under the law.  But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.  Jesus instructs them that these religious leaders sit in Moses’ seat; therefore, they are important in the Jewish community.  This position of honor is best understood when Paul recants his condemnation of the high priest, Ananias, after his arrest in Jerusalem.  Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.”  At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.  Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!  You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”  Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!”  Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”  (Acts 23:1-5)  Paul knew the high priest was in a position of power because God allowed it and that he should not go against God’s will.  In the Old Testament we see Aaron and Miriam attempting to take the seat of Moses because they were resentful that Moses had married a Cushite.  By marrying a Cushite, Moses was diluting the blood line of God’s chosen people.  Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.  “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked.  “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?”  And the Lord heard this.  (Numbers 12:1-2)  The Lord was displeased with their attempt to usurp Moses’ special place with him.  They were striking against God’s will, attempting to replace their own will for God’s will.  God's anger burned against them, causing them to have leprosy, a disease contrary to God’s will for his chosen people, for God strongly protected his people in the wilderness, even their sandals did not wear out as they journeyed.  During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.  (Deuteronomy 29:5)  By judging Miriam and Aaron harshly, He reaffirmed Moses’ position of authority.  God told them that Moses was not just a religious person or a prophet.  They gathered knowledge about God through dreams and visions, but God spoke to Moses face-to-face, as one would with a friend.  He and Moses had a special relationship that no man or woman could usurp.  The Levites who held special privileges with God, for they took care of the tabernacle and the articles within the tabernacle, thought they could replace Moses as the leader of the Jewish people.  They were envious of Moses’ position of power and authority.  Since they were Levites as Aaron and Moses were, they thought they too could lead the children of Israel.  They resented Moses telling them what was holy and what was not, how to live and how to be in right standing before God.  Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses.  With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.  They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far!  The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them.  Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”  (Numbers 16:1-3)  Because of their desire to take Moses’ seat, God allowed the earth to swallow them up, bringing  death to them and their families.  These stories reveal how important Moses’ seat was in the Jewish community.  Therefore, Jesus said for the people to do what the religious leaders said, but do not do what they did, for their lifestyle was corrupt.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees lived very worldly lives.  They lived lives for their own honor and not for God’s honor.  They demanded from the people strict observance of the law, but they did not live under the same restrictions. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.  Their demands on the people were cumbersome burdens.  They always envisioned something more for the people to do to be pleasing to God.  They added their own regulations on the people above the demands of the law.  They were strict about ceremonial hand washing and the giving of tithes.  They even tithed their spices, claiming this kind of thing would be pleasing to God.  As with the cults and false religions of today, there is always something more to do to enter the kingdom of God.  In their worldliness, the Jewish religious leaders expected the people to honor them with the best seats in banquets and synagogues.  They expected deference from the people, revealing how much they loved their position of authority over the people.  John said for Christians to be opposite of these Jewish leaders.  Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  (1 John 2:15-17)  Jesus knew these religious leaders loved the world much more than they loved God.  Their lifestyles were a horrible pretense of being spiritual.  They lived far away from God’s intentions for them as leaders of his people.  They played a role that God knew was full of hypocrisy.  As with Korah and his followers, their judgment would be harsh, merciless and would come in their near future.  They were deceivers, loving the place of honor and control, but failing to know God as Moses did: face-to-face.  Instead of being a friend of God, they placed themselves in the enemy camp, living their lives for themselves and not for God.  They did everything for people to see, making their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long.  

But God has another way for all of us to occupy Moses’s seat of being favored by God.  He has sent to the world his Holy Spirit.  In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.  I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.  The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.  And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  (Acts 2:17-21)  The voice of God through the Holy Spirit would replace the burdens of the religious leaders and Pharisees.  As with Moses, people would communicate in a personal way with God.  The word of God would be in their mouths, and their hearts would contain God’s will for them; they would be instruments of the living God to all people of the world.  No longer would people need others to lead them from the seat of Moses.  God through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence would be the intimate director in their lives.  The new covenant would be written on their hearts and in their minds, not on stone.  “This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.  I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.  For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  (Hebrews 8:10-12)  Moses moved the people from captivity in Egypt to a new land in Canaan.  He moved them as God directed him.  He heard the voice of God and felt the glory of God every time he was in the Tent of Meeting.  God was with him face-to-face.  His countenance shined when he left the tent, so much so that the people could not look directly on his face.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees did not possess this glory, for they lived for the world.  Instead, they reflected worldly standards.  They coveted the things of the world, the honor of the world.  They loved the places of privilege at banquets and in the synagogues; they loved to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called “Rabbi" by others.  They sold their lives for the fleeting deference of people.  They sold their relationship with God and his desire for them to lead his people by longing for words of praise and respect.  As with the dissenters to Moses’ rule in the Old Testament, they gave up their position of acceptance with God by attempting to usurp the will of God in their lives to please themselves.  Dear friends we are so blessed with the Holy Spirit’s presence.  The Spirit lets us know the will of God.  We who are born again have a special relationship with God.  We are his cherished ones, his beloved children.  Therefore, let us display his life in us; his work in us, not our own work, not our own desires to live as the world does.  Let us not be as the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, living for ourselves, for our benefit.  Let us work for God, being a light of sacrifice for the world’s redemption.