Judging The Scriptures Series

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

ENGAGE

Many of you are probably familiar with Jeff Foxworthy, who is famous for his “You might be a redneck” sayings, like these:

You might be a redneck if…

• You own a home that is mobile and 5 cars that aren't.

• You consider the fifth grade your senior year.

• Taking your wife on a cruise means circling the Dairy Queen.

• You fish in your above-ground pool, especially if you catch something!

• You've ever made change in the offering plate.

As I went through that list, I did notice some of your reactions that lead me to believe that perhaps some of you have actually done some of those things. But that’s OK. We welcome rednecks here. In fact, if you are a redneck, you are in some very good company because Jesus and most of His disciples were pretty much the rednecks of their time.

But there is another group of people that Jesus often addressed much more critically – the Pharisees. Because of the way Jesus often rebuked them, we tend to look at the Pharisees very negatively. But in their culture, they were actually very highly respected and their love for God’s law is to be commended. It is the way that they tended to manifest their devotion to that law that Jesus took issue with.

TENSION

Unfortunately, while the Pharisees may not exist as a formal group today, the attitude of the Pharisees still exists, and Pastor Tim Keller writes about why this is potentially such a danger in the church:

We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.

I know right now many of you are probably thinking that you would never be a “modern day Pharisee”. But I think that during the sermon series that we’re starting today, we’re all going to find that it is a lot easier to become one than we might think.

TRUTH

So for the next six weeks, we’re going to study Matthew chapter 23, which contains Jesus’ most scathing rebuke of the Pharisees. And we’re going to use what we learn there to accomplish two things:

• The first thing we want to do is to help all of us recognize the areas of our life where we may have developed some Pharisaical attitudes.

• And then secondly, we want to develop some practical ways that we can deal with those attitudes in a Biblical manner.

So, with deference to Jeff Foxworthy, here are six indications that you might be a “modern day Pharisee”:

You might be a “modern day Pharisee” if…

• You judge the Scriptures rather than being judged by them

• You think you’re better than other Christians

• You are more interested in making clones of yourself than disciples of Jesus

• You look for loopholes in God’s Word in order to excuse your sin

• You major in minors and minor in majors

• You work harder at looking good than being good

Today, we will deal with the first of these identifying characteristics:

You might be a “modern day Pharisee” if you

judge the Scriptures rather than being judged by them

Go ahead and open your Bibles to Matthew 23 and follow along as I read the first 4 verses this morning.

[Read Matthew 23:1-4]

This teaching takes place on Tuesday of the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry. This has often been called the Great Day of Questions because beginning in chapter 21, the religious leaders have been peppering Jesus with questions. Beginning here in chapter 23 we find Jesus’ last sermon to the people of Israel and in that message He denounces the religious leaders and warns the people to stay away from them because of the damage they are doing.

The first 12 verses of the chapter are spoken to the crowd and the disciples, but Jesus’s words are obviously meant to be heard by the scribes and Pharisees as well. Then, as we’ll see in a couple weeks, in verse 13, Jesus turns and speaks directly to those religious leaders.

Although many of us are probably at least somewhat familiar with the two groups mentioned here – the scribes and the Pharisees – it’s probably worthwhile to take a moment to identify them.