This morning I am going to touch on the subject of “hypocrisy.” It’s difficult to preach on this subject matter because none of us are without some form of hypocrisy in our life. Jesus told us not to point out the splinter in our brother’s eye until we have removed the log in our own eye (Matthew 7:3). He also told us that whoever is without sin let him cast the first stone (John 8:7), meaning that no one can point the finger at another, because each of us are guilty of sin.
It’s been said that “hypocrisy is like a pin. It is pointed in one direction, and yet headed in another.”(1) This observation is “to the point,” so to speak – and pun intended. It’s easy for us to acknowledge what we “should” do. This is when we are pointed in the right direction; to do what God is asking or calling us to do. The problem comes when we, like a pin, are headed in the opposite direction. I pray that the words of Jesus found in our passage of Scripture will move us beyond acknowledgement of what we need to do, and into action and obedience.
Matthew Provided an Example (v. 9)
9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
Right here, Matthew provided an example of the kind of fervor we should have for Jesus. We need to be so enamored with Jesus that we are willing to follow Him wherever He calls us, no matter what the cost to our own life. Just consider Matthew for a moment. He was a tax collector who had more income than most of his own countrymen; however, he was willing to give it all up for Jesus. Steven Curtis Chapman says that we need to be willing to “abandon it all for the sake of the call,” like Matthew did.
It’s important to note all that Matthew lost when he decided to follow Jesus, but we also need to recognize all that he gained. Commentator William Barclay says, “He lost a comfortable job, but he found a destiny. He lost a good income, but he found honor. He lost a comfortable security, but he found an adventure the like of which he had never dreamed. It may be that if we accept the challenge of Christ, we shall find ourselves poorer in material things. It may be that the worldly ambitions will have to go. But beyond doubt we will find a peace and a joy and a thrill in life that we never knew before. In Jesus Christ a man finds a wealth beyond anything that he may have to abandon for the sake of Christ.”(2)
I think many of us will agree that we need to be willing to forsake everything and follow Christ. We will even acknowledge that our life will be blessed if we do so; but how many of us are willing to do what Jesus asks? I believe the Lord wants us to consider if we truly practice what we preach and live what we believe. He asks us, “Do you truly follow Me, or do you only say that you will follow Me?”
Jesus Provided an Example (vv. 10-11)
10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Through Matthew’s abandonment of his former life as a tax collector, we are shown that we must be willing to forsake everything in order to follow Jesus if that’s what He asks. In these verses, Jesus Himself provided an example of what it means to do and follow the Father’s will. Jesus realized that He had some onlookers nearby who didn’t quite understand the call of sacrifice that He extended to those who wanted to follow Him. These onlookers, which were the Pharisees, needed to be shown what following Jesus and serving God the Father entails.
The New International Version says that “Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house” (v. 10). The Pharisees had been following Jesus around, watching Him very closely. They witnessed Jesus extend His call to Matthew, the tax collector, and here they saw Jesus eating with Matthew and his friends. The Pharisees were a pious group of people who prided themselves in the keeping of their religious traditions and rituals of religious purity, and they believed the keeping of these traditions worked out their salvation and favor before God. They also felt that anyone who did not act like them could not come into God’s presence.
The Pharisees viewed tax collectors as the scum of the earth, because they were willing to perform a job in which they took money from their own countrymen; therefore, when Matthew set out to follow Jesus, his example didn’t faze them much. To the Pharisees, he was ceremonially unclean and not worth associating with, and they believed he was destined to hell because he wasn’t like them. They felt that he couldn’t possibly know anything about following God, or recognizing and following the Messiah, because he wasn’t a Pharisee. Since Matthew’s example didn’t affect the Pharisees, Jesus tried to teach them a lesson by His own actions.
Jesus wanted the Pharisees to realize that outward appearance doesn’t determine a person’s heart or their relationship with God. Matthew was indeed a sinner, but so were the Pharisees. The Pharisees appeared as holy, but they were only trying to gain political notoriety and be recognized in the eyes of the people. Matthew did not put on a show, but he admitted who he was; he admitted his wrong, and abandoned the world in order to follow Jesus. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were deceitful about who they were inside, because they wanted political recognition for their acts of holiness.
Jesus wanted the Pharisees to realize that people need to be willing to forsake the world in order to follow Him. Matthew forsook his good paying job, and Jesus forsook worldly recognition. We must realize that God, unlike the Pharisees, does not judge our life according to the standards of men. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Jesus calls us to forsake the world in order to follow Him. When He calls us, we need to respond to Him like Matthew did and be willing to give up our job and our material possessions, if He asks us to. We need to be willing to follow Jesus’ example and give up our political status and be willing to admit that what people think of us doesn’t matter; it’s what God thinks of us that’s important. We must be willing to abandon it all for the sake of the call.
Many times, though, when Jesus starts speaking to us about following Him we can become a Pharisee ourselves. As a hypothetical illustration, perhaps someone from our church could get excited about following Jesus just like Matthew did, but then we become frightened. That person’s actions might convict us that we need to be following Jesus with the same fervor and reckless abandonment; but instead of following Jesus wholeheartedly, we might reject His calling. We might also reject the individual, possibly saying things like, “That person hasn’t been a Christian long enough to know any better than to act like that!” Or perhaps, “If we act like him people will talk badly about us.”
Like the Pharisees, if people aren’t like us and if we’re not careful, we might decide to reject them even if God is working in their life, because they aren’t like the status quo; but let me tell you, the status quo are quite often the status slow. They are slow in understanding the ways of God. You’ve probably heard that there is security in numbers. Well, many times if an individual can huddle around enough others who reject God’s calling then they feel secure, and feel justified in their actions by other people. Keep in mind that people will not try our actions in the end, but an Almighty God, whose ways are perfect and just, will judge us.
Jesus Challenged the Pharisees (vv. 12-13)
12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
When the Pharisees asked Jesus why He was associating with tax collectors and sinners He replied that those who are well have no need of a physician, but only those who are sick. Jesus was pointing out the Pharisee’s lack of godly character by telling them they were the ones who were actually in need of a physician. Jesus said, “You are in need of spiritual healing.” “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’.” “If you can learn what this means then you will be healed.” This saying applies to us as well. If we can find out what this statement means and abide by it, then we will have favor with God and find spiritual healing.
This verse comes from Hosea 6:6, which says, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” In ancient Israel, people had a problem, which was this: The Israelites would worship foreign gods, and commit numerous sins on a regular basis, and then come into the temple for worship acting like nothing was wrong. Many of the Israelites were hypocrites, and this angered the Lord. He told them that He did not want to smell the aroma of their sacrifices, and that He would not accept their worship until they sought the knowledge of God. Listen to what God said to Israel in Amos 5:21-24:
I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
The statement, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” basically means, “I desire action, not talk.” God wants more from us than just our words of praise on Sunday morning. He wants us to act on following Him each and every day of the week. Paul told us in Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship” (NIV); or “your reasonable service” (NKJV).
We tend to think that our worship of God is satisfied by attending church, reading the Bible and by praying; but Paul said that our true worship is demonstrated by acting in obedience and faith to God’s calling. Presenting our body to God as a living sacrifice to be used in His service is our true worship. Forsaking the world in order to follow Jesus is the only sacrifice that is absolutely pleasing to God.
Like Israel, if we come to church and profess to know that we must abandon our life to kingdom service, but yet we don’t do what we have acknowledged is right; then God won’t accept our worship either. If a church is declining in attendance and struggling, it just might be that God is refusing to hear the noise of that church’s songs and its many prayers, because the people don’t practice what they preach.
Time of Reflection
Jesus challenged the Pharisees to understand what He meant when He said, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” He presents us with the same challenge today. How will we respond? Will we say “amen” when the preacher speaks of abandoning one’s life to God’s calling, and then never follow the Lord wholeheartedly? Will we proclaim that we need to be a witness to people, and then let opportunities pass us by? Do we really love people enough to share with them about Jesus, or is our talk of love just that; is it just talk?
In Ezekiel 33:31 we read, “They come to you as my people do, they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but with their hearts pursue their own gain.” I hope that what we just heard in this verse can never be said of us as individuals or as a church.
If there is someone here to whom God is speaking about abandoning your life to follow Jesus in His service, and you acknowledge that this is what you should do, but yet you find yourself clinging to this life and to the things of the world, then Jesus wants you to consider whether or not you are all talk and no action.
If there is someone here who has acted like one of the Pharisees and tried to hinder someone’s excitement about God because they have convicted you of your own need for a little excitement, then Jesus wants you to think about showing a little mercy to others. If you can’t show mercy then don’t expect Him to accept your sacrifices. He said, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”
Jesus not only wants us to acknowledge where we have failed Him, but He wants us to ask His forgiveness; and He wants us to experience a change of heart. You have the opportunity right now to truly act on what God has asked of you. Will you surrender to Him? Will you come today?
NOTES
(1) Michael P. Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997), 201.
(2) William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1958), 339.
