Five dreadful warnings from Pharisees and Scribes – Mat 23: 1-12 – Part 2

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Mat 23;13-22  “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. 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.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.“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.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that [i]sanctifies the gold? 18 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.’ 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

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. 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.’ 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.

  1. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples:
  2. The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat;
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.
  6. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,
  7. Greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’
  8. But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for Christ is one Teacher for you, and you are all brethren.
  9. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
  10. And do not be called teachers; for Christ is one Teacher for you.
  11. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.
  12. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

We started looking at a new chapter in Matthew 23. The Lord teaches us how not to be duplicate Christians, and what are the things we should avoid to be authentic, original, true people of God, and it comes in the form of terrible warnings and rebuke. It is important when reading this chapter to notice the audience at the outset. This chapter can be divided into three parts based on that. In verses 1-12, Jesus speaks to the multitudes and His disciples, and warns them not to follow the hypocritical practices of the scribes and Pharisees. Then, in verses 13-36, we read of the “7 woes” He speaks directly upon the scribes and Pharisees themselves. And finally, in verses 37-39, we read of our Savior’s tearful words of lament over the doom of Jerusalem for its hard-hearted rejection of Him. So, first comes our Lord’s warnings; then comes His 7 woes; and finally comes His words of weeping.

We started looking at the warnings in 1-12 with the Sermon Title: Five dreadful warnings from Pharisees and Scribes – Mat 22:1-12

We saw two.

DON’T PREACH WHAT YOU WILL NOT PRACTICE (vv. 1-4). If you do, this proves you don’t have three essential things. We see the Lord saying the Pharisees sit and teach from Moses’ seat, yet don’t do what they teach.

  • Divine calling
  • Divine regeneration
  • Divine love

DON’T LIVE AN EXTERNAL RELIGIOUS LIFE TO BE SEEN BY MEN WITHOUT ANY HEART RELIGION (v. 5). Verse 5: “But all their works they do to be seen by men.” They were very sensitive to all duties before human eyes, but careless towards secret duties before God. We all have this temptation. It is very easy for us to be men-conscious, not God-conscious. The reason we call our Christian life a spiritual life is because we are sensitive to the spiritual world, exercising our inner man in our relationship with God who is in secret. We do this in prayer, communion, reading the Bible, and meditation. If we are engaging in Christian life without those things in secret, our Christian life is nothing but a deceptive, hypocritical drama before men.

Today, the problem with many Christians and preachers is they don’t have an inner spiritual life, and they try to live an outside one. They are very active; thousands of people follow them. They are pastors of big churches. You see they have so many plans, they do many things, programs. One thing you will notice in all they do: everything is done to be seen by men. Their whole business is to be seen by men. Everything is planned so people think how pious and devout they are. Our Lord exposed that here and warns us not to be like that.

Now let us look at the other three warnings. The third one I want to call it as: DON’T USE RELIGION TO GAIN FAME AND BENEFITS IN THE WORLD (vv. 6-7) DON’T USE PROFESSED RELIGION FOR SOCIAL FAME AND BENEFITS — (vv. 6-7) “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.’”

The scribes and Pharisees were among the most highly respected members of the community. There is nothing wrong when people respect you for your work, but these people loved and were very fond of that, and did everything to get that respect. They were invited to important feasts; and when they arrived, they found that the best chief place at the table had their name on it. Okay, even if we say let them have the chief place at a feast, a horrible thing is when they go to the synagogue, which is the Old Testament church, where we appear in order to give all glory to God, and to humble ourselves before him, there they occupied the best seats. As if they possessed some kind of precedence, prerogative, and merit even before God in the church. A place where they sit high above everyone, where everyone can see them. Feasts and synagogue, chief places were occupied by them. What the Lord condemns is not occupying chief seats (somebody must sit uppermost), but loving them, using the word philos—intimate way, personally, prizing it. They value themselves so much, the best seat is their place; they seek it, and feel resentment if they don’t have it, and they do it even in the place where God is to be glorified. What is that but making an idol of ourselves, and then falling down and worshipping it—the worst kind of idolatry? It is bad anywhere, but especially in the synagogues. There to seek honor for ourselves, where we appear in order to give glory to God, and to humble ourselves before him, is indeed to mock God instead of serving him.

Now, nothing is wrong with a stage; we have it in our church, and I was thinking we have two specially carved chairs on the stage. Those are not Moses’ seats. There is nothing special about those chairs. I don’t always sit on those chairs; anyone can sit there. Because it is on top, we made it a little nice. I get into the pulpit and onto the stage only when I preach, so everyone can see me—nothing wrong. But we should not yearn for that high place, and should not seek to be elevated above everyone. It is heart motivation the Lord talks about here. They loved to be welcomed as special, as if they were some great person. If there is any feast, marriage, birthday, they have to be seated on the stage, given importance, any program, they have to be the chief guest. All looking at the stage should see them. Even in the synagogue, they cannot be made to sit with others; a special seat of prominence for them, recognized as the supreme guests of honor, a special seat of dignity, a chief place, where people can see them as special men, and they loved it. They would come dressed in this robe, with phylacteries and long borders, maybe come a little late so everyone could see. They would come up and take their special place with the dignitaries. They should be given prayer, reading of scripture, preaching. They would parade ostentatiously, proudly, and boastfully your supposed piety before everybody.

This didn’t stop in the church, and the feast was not just indoors. See Verse 7, “greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’” Even when they walked down the street, or they went to the marketplace, a place for shopping and buying vegetables, groceries. There also they want people to treat them specially, as they walked in all this parading dress. Oh, how it pleased them, and fed their vain pride, when they would walk in the market. The crowd would scream, “Stand off people, behold here comes a Rabbi, Rabbi. See it says two times; it is a herald announcement: Rabbi coming!” They walk in that devout way with phylacteries and long borders. All people would bow their heads, remove caps and greet them. They loved it and enjoyed every bit of it. This was meat and drink and dainties to them; and they took as great a satisfaction in it. They will come to the market just to get this kick, if they had not been in the markets, where everybody might see how much they were respected, and how high they stood in the opinion of the people.

They were called the high title of Rabbi, Rabbi! See, we don’t understand the weight of this word today; we are not used to hearing it. It is a big word, the highest possible respect; it ascribed to the person so designated a very high degree of wisdom, such as justified him in dictating to others, and in having his sentiments propounded as a law. “Rabbi,” which meant “supreme honored teacher,” to say teacher in a Jewish culture is to say supreme one, superior one, your excellency, most knowledgeable one, great one as they are the source of truth. Therefore, it was so fondly delighted in by the Scribes and Pharisees.

So, maybe when they went to some shop to buy, “Ah Rabbi, welcome. I am blessed by your holy feet falling in my shop. Please take whatever you want, and give whatever you can give. Can I take money from you? Whatever you give. Oh Rabbi, take this vegetable free, more rice for you, extra for you.” So, they used their religion to the maximum to get a social name and social benefits.

To ensure they got all this, they even made it part of their traditional writings. One of the writings says “they have to be seen as faces of angels.” They give in their writings very elaborate directions about how you’re supposed to treat them and their office and their rank. If you don’t treat them that way, you’re in a lot of trouble in that community. There are even lists of things that you are to do to people who don’t treat rabbis/ministers the way they ought to be treated. And they laid such a stress upon it, that they gave it for a maxim that “he who does not salute his teacher, and does not call him Rabbi, provokes the divine Majesty/glory to depart from Israel,” so much religion did they place in that which was but a piece of good manners! In some churches if you don’t say a certain greeting, they get big trouble. They will not put food out. Why trouble? Say the greeting and eat the food.

So these Pharisees ensured everyone saw them as special and respected them. See again, these people were not born again, trying to put on a religious show. Their hearts are not humbled, full of ego, and they invent all these things to feed their ego. They wanted to be called that. They demanded to be called that. Actually, they took three greatest titles for them. Verse 7: Rabbi, teacher, source of truth, knowledge. It became a label for unteachable men who thought they had arrived so that others must grovel at their feet. They don’t need to learn. You see them in the Gospels. That is why they resisted Christ or anyone teaching them. They have to teach everyone; they are the source. In verse 8, they wanted to be called Father, source of spiritual life, they give life to people. And verse 10: Master, meaning leader. They had authority for direction and guiding, to rule people. These were the highest titles those days. Today’s names: doctor, professor, minister, pastor.

This is a warning the Lord gives. See how they used their religion to gain worldly fame and social benefits, and how they loved their respect. You can see the hypocritical pitfall that eventually led to! They wouldn’t say or do anything to impact that respect, but did everything and used their sacred role so as to maximize and protect the social benefits it gained for them. They wouldn’t want to say anything that would offend their people and stop them from giving them respect. Do you see how this can hinder them from preaching heart-piercing truth to people that can save them?

4. Don’t Rob God’s Glory in Your Pride (vv. 8–10)

The Lord commands, “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.”

The Pharisees sought three great titles (Teacher, Father, Master), yet God, in His redemptive work, has decided to glorify Himself by these three roles:

  • Father: He is the source and sustainer of our spiritual life.
  • Teacher: Christ, the final prophet, is the supreme teacher.
  • Master: Christ is the King who will guide and rule our lives.

These are their prerogatives. These people, in their pride, robbed God’s glory by taking the honor and merit of these titles. The Lord is here teaching the crowd, “Now they love to be called like this; notice, ‘But you… don’t do that.’ It is robbing God’s glory in your pride.”

  • Verse 8: Rejecting ‘Rabbi.’ No man is the source of truth; no man invented the truth, nor does any man have special inherent revelation from God independent of the Word of God. Christ only is the Teacher, the great final prophet. Christ is the Teacher, and we preach what He has taught. All truth is derived from Him and proceeds from Him, and we must look to Him and Him alone as the source of truth for all faith and practice. No man should be called Rabbi, the supreme teacher. Don’t make men the source of truth. Also, those who thought they had full knowledge became unteachable men who thought they had arrived so that others must grovel at their feet. But Jesus reminds us, “One is your Teacher,” who has full knowledge. No man has arrived at that state in truth, so however advanced you are in your grasp of God’s truth, you have not arrived and you must always remain teachable. So, you are not to “think more highly of yourselves than you ought to think,” but recognize that “you are all brothers” in Christ. You are growing in truth. Nobody is a great one. Nobody is superior. He just puts us all on the same level; we’re all brothers. You have one Teacher, and that’s Christ. In the school of Christ, we are all brothers, all disciples of the same Master. School-fellows are brethren, and, as such, should help one another in getting their lesson; but it will by no means be allowed that one of the scholars steps into the master’s seat and gives law to the school.
  • Verse 9: Rejecting ‘Father.’ This is very strong: “No one on earth call Father.” There’s not a soul on this earth that gave you spiritual life, right? Nobody. The Sanhedrin members liked to be called father as if they were the source of spiritual life. And men in the ministry of some churches today want to be called father, as if they are the source of spiritual life. They are not. Our religion must not be derived from, or made to depend upon, any man. We are born again to the spiritual and divine life, “not of corruptible seed, but by the word of God; not of the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but born of God.” “Call no one Father on earth, for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.” He is the Fountain of it, and its Founder; the Life of it, and its Lord; from whom alone, as the Original, our spiritual life is derived, and on whom it depends. He is the Father of all lights (James 1:17), that one Father, from whom are all things, and we in him (Ephesians 4:6).
  • Verse 10: Rejecting ‘Master.’ The accurate translation is Master/Leader: “And do not be called teachers [masters/leaders]; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.” The prerogative of being your Master is Christ’s. He is the one who can guide you and rule you. He is the anointed King. Christ only is the Master, the great King, whom we must hear, and be ruled and overruled by. And if He only be our Master, then for anyone to set up themselves as dictators, and to pretend to a supremacy and an infallibility, is a daring usurpation of that honor of Christ which He will not give to another. Christ, the Messiah alone, was to be regarded as the source and center of all authority; and that they, of whatever rank they were, were to consider each other as brethren. No one else has that authority. Don’t call anyone else master.

Christ gives this warning because these Pharisees and Scribes (PS), in their pride, are robbing God’s glory, but His followers should never do that. It should never happen among you; never happen in His church. None of you are Father, the source of spiritual life; you cannot give life. None of you are a Teacher, the source of truth, an “arrived” teacher who doesn’t need to learn. None of you are a Master, who has the authority to command and rule. These are signs of false teachers who usurp God’s glory in their pride. You are brothers in the same school. Now, you disciples, you be true leaders and you avoid the things and don’t be like them.

We need to keep what God’s Word says here in balance with what it says in other places in Scripture. It is clearly not wrong to refer to someone in the church as a “teacher,” because, as the Scriptures say, God gave some to be “teachers” (Ephesians 4:11). Nor is it necessarily wrong to recognize someone as a “father,” because Paul himself told the Corinthians, “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). What’s more, the apostle John even referred to some older Christians who were mature in their knowledge of the Lord as “fathers” (1 John 2:13, 14).

What the Lord is forbidding here in this context is what the Pharisees wanted people to see them and call them. They wanted people to give them all the honor and glory and see them as supreme teachers, the source of truth and knowledge as having arrived at full truth and knowledge, and as a Father who gives spiritual life, and as a Master, who has the authority to rule them. They were trying to rob God’s glory for themselves in their pride. Clearly, there is a place in the Bible to honor those who teach us truth. To respect them, admire them, and give due honor to those who are over us, as Paul says to the Thessalonians, as the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 13. There’s a place for that, but there’s no place to seek that, to desire that, or to clamor for that. For him that is taught in the word to give respect to him that teaches is commendable enough in him that gives it; but for him that teaches to love it, and demand it, and affect it, to be puffed up with it, and to be displeased if it be omitted, is sinful and abominable; and, instead of teaching, he has need to learn the first lesson in the school of Christ, which is humility.

5. Don’t Confuse Hypocritical Acting with Genuine Greatness (vv. 11–12)

The final warning addresses the confusion over what constitutes true greatness in the Kingdom. How many today are so confused as to what true greatness is in the Kingdom, so many just put on a show. People confuse them as great pastors, preachers, and ministers, but one who is serving people in all humility and labor is not seen as great at all. Only drama actors are seen as great. We shouldn’t be like that, so we shouldn’t be confused by hypocritical acting, but know what true greatness is. He shows it here.

  • Command and Promise of Service:“But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant” (v. 11).
    • Command: He that is advanced to any place of dignity, trust, and honor in the church, “let him be your servant.”
    • Promise: Take it as a promise: if you seek greatness in My Kingdom, be a servant. “He shall be accounted greatest, and stand highest in the favor of God, even in the midst of God’s people not only now, but for all generations, that is most submissive and serviceable.” That’s the path of “greatness” in our Lord’s kingdom—humble service in His name. Greatness consists in self-giving. Greatness consists in the humble outpouring of life for others. If you want to be great, then serve, that’s all. So, he that is greatest isn’t the one with the most degrees and the most titles and the highest rank, but whoever is the lowest servant. Whoever is the best server, whoever is the most selfless, whoever gives and gives and gives.

The danger of mere outward religious performance is that it can delude us into thinking that we have elevated ourselves into “greatness” in God’s sight.

  • The Paradoxical Divine Statement: And Jesus goes on to warn that “whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (v. 12). This is an often-repeated, paradoxical divine statement.
    • If we would be truly “great,” we would have to take a course of action that is quite a bit different from that of the scribes and Pharisees. If you are seeking to exalt yourself, you will be humbled. Calvin spoke of the two hands of God in providence. Each of us in our life is doing one of these two things: exalting ourselves or humbling ourselves. Which category do you fall into?
    • Negative Consequence: The Lord here says, “You want to be great in the Kingdom? Be a servant,” and the great reason He quotes is this often-repeated kingdom principle. You should be a servant, otherwise, negatively, this is the punishment that will come in providence and judgment for you. “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased.” If you are one in pride, always exalting yourself, this is the destiny of your road: you will be abased. You will be abased in your own eyes; you are exalting yourself because you love yourself so much, but soon you will abhor yourselves forever. For all eternity you will abhor yourselves. You will be abased before the world. Like God did to Nebuchadnezzar, in the height of his pride, was turned to be a fellow-commoner with the beasts; Herod, to be a feast for the worms; and then there is a day coming, when they shall rise to everlasting shame and contempt (Daniel 12:2); so plentifully will He reward the proud doer! (Psalms 31:23).
    • Positive Promise: Secondly, positively, why you should be a servant. If you really humble yourself in service, “He that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” Humility is that ornament which is in the sight of God of great price, the honor of being accepted with the Holy God, and respected by all wise and good men; of being qualified for, and often called out to, the most honorable services. Glory and honor are like the shadow, which flees from those that pursue it and grasp at it, but follows those that flee from it. However, in the other world, they that have humbled themselves in contrition for their sin, in compliance with their God, and in condescension to their brethren—what Pharisee looking for chief seats in feasts and churches in this temporary world—those humbling themselves in service shall be exalted to the greatest chief seat, shall inherit the throne of glory; shall be not only owned, but crowned, before angels and men.

It is just the reverse of the world. You want to be up, push yourself up. Push yourself. The Lord says, “Push yourself down, He’ll lift you up. Push yourself up, He’ll put you down.” No, you can take your choice. You want to be useful to the Lord, put yourself down. Down in the role of a servant, down in the role of a sinner who has no right except a God-given right, who has no knowledge except God-given knowledge, who has no wisdom except God-given wisdom, who is not one who gives spiritual life except God gives spiritual life. When you see yourself as simply a servant, that’s what helps you to understand where God wants you. Peter, who learned that lesson, teaches us, “Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand, He will lift you up.”

Andrew Bonar said he could always tell when a Christian was growing, and the way he could tell when a Christian was growing is the Christian would always talk more and more of Christ and less and less of himself. And he said it was like the Christian seeing himself get smaller and smaller and smaller until, like the morning star, he gave way to the rising sun.

So, we see the five warnings from these false religious leaders:

  1. DON’T PREACH WHAT YOU WILL NOT PRACTICE (vv. 1–4). If you do, this proves you don’t have three essential things: Divine calling, Divine regeneration, and Divine love.
  2. DON’T LIVE AN EXTERNAL RELIGIOUS LIFE TO BE SEEN BY MEN WITHOUT ANY HEART RELIGION (v. 5).
  3. DON’T USE RELIGION TO GAIN FAME AND BENEFITS IN THE WORLD (vv. 6–7).
  4. DON’T ROB GOD’s GLORY IN YOUR PRIDE (vv. 8–10).
  5. DON’T CONFUSE HYPOCRITICAL ACTING WITH GENUINE GREATNESS (vv. 11–12).

No one likes receiving a spanking. How much better to learn from someone else’s! Let’s receive a spanking today on the backs of these scribes and Pharisees. Let’s heed our Lord’s rebuke of them, and learn what pitfalls of hypocrisy we can avoid in our walk with Him. So, five spankings on the backsides of the scribes and Pharisees—will we learn from theirs for our own life? Jesus painted the picture clearly of the hypocrisy found in the most prominent religious leaders among the Jews. How are we to live as Christians? How are we to combat the native pride that can discolor our testimony as believers?

Applications

1. Don’t Use Religion to Gain Fame and Benefits in the World

Self-importance, craving attention, and arrogant posturing ruled the day with the very men who should have walked in humility because they knew the truth of God. But that truth had no application in their lives; instead, they used it to promote themselves. Rather than living for the glory of God, they lived for more recognition.

Oh, so much of this in the world today. Craving recognition, see, depraved men and churches never change. The Pharisees and scribes today are craving big, big titles, wanting to elevate themselves above others, introducing even unbiblical titles: Reverend, Doctor, Bishop, Professor, Abbot, Pope, Father, President, Founder, Chairman. Who is the founder of the church? Even though God says His name is reverent, the fearful one, they usurp God’s glory by taking that title to themselves, exactly like what the Pharisees did. See, this is not some old thing; even today the world is filled with Pharisees and scribes who use religion for the praise and benefits of the world. How many are in religion for show, prestige, and fleshly gratification, honor from men? That’s a sad thing; the church is filled with this today. When He says, “Don’t call Father,” the Roman Catholic Church is filled with fathers. Right Reverend Father in God. In the Anglican Church, the Church of England today, if you’re a bishop, your proper title is Right Reverend Father in God.

We have to watch against such hypocritical titles and elevating one another. Can you imagine introducing me to someone and saying, “This is Right Reverend the Most Divine Father in God Murali?” Oh, Lord, have mercy on me. I am a depraved sinner like you. I just happen to have a gift to teach and God’s called me to teach. Okay, the Bible tells us to give a role of Pastor; we should stop with that, and avoid calling any titles to lift anyone here. I have to examine my heart. Deacons, now, we are all brothers, and we must never elevate ourselves. God just called us officially to serve. That doesn’t mean we are more devout or pious than all. In fact, I can tell you some of you in our church are more devoted than me, have more faith than me. May we guard our hearts against lifting men in our church.

What about you? Examine your hearts. Don’t we all have a desire to get fame and reputation, and how many times do we use our religion to get that? Is this not a temptation we all have? People should call us a decent Christian, a godly man, a nice man. We want to maintain a good reputation before the world. How much of outward show do we put up and do things in the world for that, so people talk good about us? We want to get a good name from everyone, everyone should respect us. One way, yes, we should live in such a way that people should see us as good and honest men, but is that the primary desire? Do we crave that more than anything?

Don’t each of us have this desire? And do we see what hypocritical pitfall that will eventually lead to? Just to protect our name, our reputation, how many times have we adjusted with people? We have not shied away from telling the truth to them to the face. What is the greatest hindrance for us to boldly proclaim the Gospel? Isn’t that the reputation we want to maintain before the world, the social acceptance we want to have? Pharisees would not say anything that would offend people and bring any stain on their reputation. Do you see how it can hinder them from preaching heart-piercing truth to people that can save them?

Jesus told His disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18-21). In another place, if they called Me Beelzebub, the worst word, what will they call you, because I tell them the truth?

Oh, how different we are from our Lord. How much we love the world calling us a good man, “He will not interfere with anyone,” “he and his work,” “godly man.” How we love to protect that, even at the expense of not preaching the Gospel to them, fearing they will hate us and say all kinds of names. Oh, may we remember this warning: let us not use our religion for worldly fame or a good name. Let us not worry what will happen to our reputation if we preach the Gospel.

If we find that the profession of our faith in Christ somehow wins us the applause from this unbelieving world—people all respect us; they should because of our good behavior—and if we are careful not to tell the truth or offend them for fear of reputation, may we repent of that.

How shameful if we use it to get worldly benefits. I have heard some would go into worldly situations, markets, and say, “I am a Pastor” for getting social benefits, to get vegetables and groceries at a lower rate or free. What shame! The great honorable name of God’s servant is given, yet you go like begging, using that for worldly benefits. Do you do that? Do you use religion for social benefits?

Professing our religion in such a way as to protect our reputation with this world, or to win social benefits that we may derive from it as a result, is a dangerously slippery slope. We will soon be compromising our profession in such a way as to gain the most social approval. This is hypocrisy! And God protect us from it by helping us not to do as the Pharisees and scribes did, who professed their religion in such a way as to gain social benefits from it!

2. Don’t Rob God’s Glory in Your Pride (vv. 8–10)

“But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.” Christ alone is the Teacher. The supreme source of truth is Christ. Do we take credit for that? Do we glorify and give honor to Christ for all the truth? You say, “Pastor preached a nice sermon. Good, it was useful.” But do you stop at that? One reason you may not benefit from preaching is that you just see it as coming from the Pastor and not see Christ’s authoritative Word. If this is the case, if you treat this as Christ’s Word from heaven, will you just hear and go? Oh, you will go home, as you will honor Him as the final prophet: “Lord, you taught me this great truth through the pastor. Lord, you are the final prophet. Unless you teach this savingly to me, I heard it externally in my ears. My pastor as a man can only teach to my ears, but you alone, the one great Teacher, can preach to my heart, illuminate my mind, and make this truth savingly beneficial to me. Help me to meditate and understand and use this to transform my life.” For He alone is the supreme Teacher, the source of truth. Unless you learn from Him, you cannot savingly learn anything.

How do you and I rob Christ’s glory in our pride? Do I rob Christ’s glory when I assume that I did a great preaching? He is our Father. Today I am born again. Just like we saw in the free will lesson, if not for God’s giving me rebirth, I cannot will and do anything spiritually good. He is our Master. Do you give Him that honor and obey Him as your Master? Or are you robbing that?

Don’t Confuse Religious Performance with Genuine Greatness (vv. 11–12)

Just external acting will not exalt us in the Kingdom. How people are mesmerized with these performance pastors, not realizing what true greatness is! This all boils down to the fact that if we don’t have true regeneration, we will live for men’s eyes and do all this hypocritical show, and not have any spiritual life.

Here is the challenge for authenticity as Christians. It is not the title we wear that matters. It is whether we serve others selflessly in the name of Jesus Christ. Even as our Lord came “not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many,” we are to follow His example. He served all kinds of people; He washed their feet. Do you dirty your hands in serving others? Do you invest time and energy in serving others? That is the mark of authenticity as a follower of Jesus Christ.

“Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” Or to quote Peter, who learned some special lessons about humility, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). “It is in giving service, not in receiving adulation,” writes Leon Morris, “that true greatness consists.”

Conclusion

Beware of the peacock syndrome in seeking to draw attention and adulation to yourselves. As Christians, all glory, honor, and praise belong to Christ. We must check ourselves because pride sneaks up when we least expect it to rear its ugly head in our lives. We are but His servants sent into the world as salt and light, and as ambassadors of His Kingdom. May He find us to be faithful, humble servants.

The blessed tendency of Christianity contributes to the welfare of the community:

What a world would this be if all were brought to this standard of morals, this exercise of mutual kindness! Look at the primitive Church, and there you see it realized (Note: Acts 2:44-47). O that it might be realized amongst us, and that every one of us in our respective spheres might thus shine as lights in the world! All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

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