Humility or Hypocrisy
Matthew 23: 1 - 12
Intro: A story is told of a Texas rancher who met up with a Wisconsin dairy farmer. The 2 men talked about their land & the dairy farmer told the rancher that he operated his farm on 125 acres. The Texan, not to be outdone said, “Yankee, that ain’t nothin’. On my ranch I can get in my truck at sunrise and won’t reach the fence line of my property until sunset.” The dairy farmer snorted, “Shoot, I used to have a truck just like that.” (“Panorama of Parenting, Howard Hendricks, Dallas Theological Seminary) The point of this passage concerns the true nature of discipleship.
I Jesus speaks to the crowd and his disciples concerning the behavior of the Pharisees. (The Pharisees were a group within Judaism defined by strict religious rules. The group was mostly layperson without formal theological training.)
A VS. 3 – So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
B Here and in the following verses Jesus lays out the wrongs of the Pharisees. These were well-known by the people; but, none but Jesus had the courage to put them into words.
C The first “wrong” of the Pharisees is hypocrisy which is saying one thing and doing another. DO AS I SAY AND NOT AS I DO!
II VS. 4 – 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.
A The 2nd “wrong” is to burden others but do not act. The Pharisees don’t do anything to help the people with the burdens of everyday living.
B The wrong here involves another key word “service”. That word in GK is diakonia and is the word from which we get DEACON.
C The Christian experience focuses on service to others. ST. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel to all the world and if necessary, use words.”
III The final “wrong” cited by Jesus is found in the opening words of VS. 5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: . . .”
A Jesus goes on in VSS. 6 – 10 to list the things the Pharisees do in order to be seen doing them. Their motivation is not service; but, being seen as pious.
B There are those within its ranks of Christianity who say and do; but, deny their faith by the way the live when no one is watching.
C Perhaps you are sitting there thinking none of this applies to you; but, I want to tell you that it applies to every one of us.
Concl: The only true antidote for our sin is grace. The orientation of our lives toward God is a far greater indicator of the true discipleship of which Jesus speaks here. The true measure of our faithfulness is found not in the words we speak or the doctrines we accept but in the orientation of our heart.
