Most of these references were made by Jesus, Himself.
No doubt these people were awkward for Jesus to have to deal with. Jesus had a desire for all souls to be saved from their sins. Nevertheless, Jesus did find Himself having to rebuke the Scribes and Pharisees for the way they lived their lives.
Jesus was working hard to restore the people, to heal their bodies, to bring them peace and a better relationship with His heavenly Father. But many times He found Himself having to stop what He was doing, to deal with these Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus knew that the Scribes and Pharisees were divisive and disruptive.
We have to ask ourselves these two questions:
1. When the Scribes and Pharisees of the New Testament died out, did their way of thinking die out also? Unfortunately, no.
2. Is there still disruption and divisiveness trying to stifle what Jesus is trying to do for the people of our day? Unfortunately, yes.
These were some weird people, and we still have some weird people in the church today that we have to deal with.
Illus: Weird people make me think of a few years ago, when radio commentator Paul Harvey shared a true story of a woman and her frozen Thanksgiving turkey. The Butterball Turkey Company set up a telephone hotline to answer consumer questions about preparing holiday turkeys. One woman called to inquire about cooking a turkey that had been in the bottom of her freezer for 23 years. That’s right — 23 years.
The Butterball representative told her the turkey would probably be safe to eat if the freezer had been kept below zero for the entire 23 years. But the Butterball representative warned her that even if the turkey was safe to eat, the flavor would probably have deteriorated to such a degree that she would not recommend eating it.
The caller replied, "That’s what I thought. We’ll give the turkey to our church." (PreachingToday.com – Giving the Worst to Church; from Paul Harvey daily radio broadcast (11-22-95); from Charles Kimball, Allen, Texas)
There are some people in the church that we have to beware of because they are not what they appear to be. They work extra hard trying to give a FALSE IMPRESSION!
These Scribes and Pharisees were this kind of people. And the Lord said we have to BEWARE OF SUCH PEOPLE! They want to give the impression that they HAVE IT ALL AND KNOW IT ALL!
Illus: They remind me of a gentleman wandering around the campus of a college, looking for the library.
• He approaches a student and asked, "Excuse me young man. Would you be good enough and tell me where the library is at?"
• The student, in a very arrogant and belittling tone, replied, "I’m sorry, sir, but at this school, we are taught never to end a sentence with a preposition!"
• The gentleman smiled, and in a very apologetic tone replied, "I beg your pardon. Please allow me to rephrase my question. Would you be good enough to tell me where the library is at, you jerk?"
Look at what motivates these people. We have to BEWARE of some people that -
I. DRESS FOR THE WRONG REASONS
Look at verse 38, we read, “And he said unto them …Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing ….”
They say that the clothes make the man. These Scribes and Pharisees used clothes in the wrong way. Many people focus on clothing.
Illus: Did you hear about the elderly woman from Brooklyn who decided to prepare her will and make her final requests?
• She told her rabbi she had two final requests.
• First, she wanted to be cremated,
• Secondly, she wanted her ashes scattered over Bloomingdale's department store.
• The rabbi said, "Why Bloomingdale's?"
• She said, "Then I'll be sure my daughters visit me at least three or four times a week."
HOW DID THESE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES DRESS? They DRESSED TO IMPRESS!
There are two ways a person can dress to draw attention.
(1) A PERSON CAN DRESS EXTRAVAGANTLY
Illus: Every year, Hollywood actresses appear at the Oscar awards wearing clothing that cost thousands of dollars. Some gowns cost as much as $40,000.00.
WHY DO ACTRESSES WEAR THESE EXTRAVAGANT GOWNS? They want to be NOTICED!
The Scribes and Pharisees were much the same way. The long robe was the dress the nobility, the rich, the well-known, the person of style. It was a long robe reaching to the ground.
A man was not able to work in it; therefore, it was the sign of higher society. Jesus was not speaking against finer clothing. He was saying we need to BEWARE of people who will use clothing for the wrong reason. He condemned the person who was extravagant and whose mind was on attracting attention to themself.
Illus: Listen, our clothing tells a lot about us.
• If I see a man in a police uniform I know he is a policeman.
• If I see a man in a baseball uniform I know he is a baseball player.
• If I see a man in a fireman uniform I know he is a firemen.
Our clothing reveals what we are.
If I go to certain parts of this town and I see a woman wearing certain kinds of clothing, she is telling me what kind of a woman she is.
These Scribes and Pharisees had to WEAR THE NAME BRAND because they were out to impress others.
Illus: Did you ever see some of the movies where an actor puts on one of these collars backwards and makes everyone think he is a priest? He wants to fool people into thinking he is a priest.
This is exactly why the Scribes and Pharisees wore this long clothing. THEY WERE OUT TO FOOL SOMEONE!
Illus: They wore phylacteries. These were little leather type boxes which contained a piece of parchment with four passages of Scripture written on it. The Scriptures were Exo. 13:1-10; 13:11-16; Deut. 6:4-9; and 11:13-21.
• The use of the phylacteries apparently arose from a literal translation of Exo. 13:9 and Prov. 7:3. The true meaning of these two passages seems to be that we are to have the Word of God in our minds just as clearly as if we had it before our eyes. The great fault of the religionists was that they not only interpreted the passages literally, but they enlarged the little leather boxes to draw attention to themselves as being religious.
• They also enlarged the borders of their garments; that is, they wore outside tassels. God had instructed the Jews to make fringes or tassels on the borders of their outer robe. When a person noticed them, he was to be reminded to keep God's commandments. Again, the error was that the religionist changed his appear¬ance from others; he enlarged the tassels, drawing attention to his being more religious than others.
A person can dress in such a way to draw attention to themselves. But also-
(2) A PERSON CAN DRESS REVEALINGLY
A person can wear clothing that exposes the body, that actually attracts attention to certain parts of the body. A person can wear clothes that are too tight, too low cut, too high cut, too thin. A person can wear too little clothing, and things that fail to cover enough of the body.
Jesus very simply said to beware of dressing to attract attention. The Scribes and Pharisees used clothing to attract attention to themselves
Peter gave this advice to Christian women, in 1 Peter 3:3-5, we read, “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands."
In other words, they won their lost husbands to the Lord with what they wore on the INSIDE, not the OUTSIDE! The Lord tells us we need to BEWARE of people who use clothing to get attention, because they want you to think they are one thing when they are something else.
We have to BEWARE of some people that DRESS FOR THE WRONG REASONS and -
II. LOVE FOR TITLES FOR THE WRONG REASONS
Look again at verse 38 again, we read, “And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,”
We have to beware of greetings and titles that exalt man. The Scribes and Pharisees loved the titles that greeted and exalted them with honor. Note, the title was "Rabbi" which meant teacher or master. It was only a simple title, yet some loved and reveled in the recognition above other men.
It took a man who was supposed to be God's humble messenger and said, "Here I am; look at me." It honored the man and not the Lord.
Matt. 23:12 says, "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
WHAT IS THE MARKETPLACE? The marketplace is wherever the people are. It is the center of traffic, the place where a person is seen and can attract attention. It is:
• The streets
• The office
• The club
• The school
• The church
• The beach, etc.
1 Cor. 10:31 says, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
Listen, if we put something on our body and it does not bring glory to God, we should not put it on, because we are putting it on for the wrong purpose.
Our clothes, should not exalt us, they should exalt Him. It is not about us, it is about Him. And our life should exalt HIM!
We have to BEWARE of some people that DRESS FOR THE WRONG REASONS, LOVE FOR TITLES FOR THE WRONG REASONS and -
III. SEEK A HIGH POSITION FOR THE WRONG REASONS
He said we are to beware of those who SEEK CHIEF SEATS IN THE SYNAGOGUES.
Look at verse 39, we read, “And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:”
WHY DO MEN SEEK TO SIT IN THE CHIEF SEATS? They want to be admired. They not only use clothing to get attention, they use POSITION to get attention.
In the synagogue, the leaders and distinguished men sat on a bench in front of the ark (where the Scripture was kept), and they sat facing the congregation. No leader could be missed.
On social occasions, the most honored sat at the right hand of the host, then the next honored at his left hand, and so on, alternating from the right to the left down the table. Position and recognition was set.
Some loved the positions of honor, special seats, and places of recognition. There are those who love the restricted neighborhoods and clubs, the preferred lists. They love the preeminence (see 3 John 9).
It is not sinful to hold chief positions in the church, but it becomes sin when we hold these positions for the wrong reasons. It is the LOVE of such; the love and the feeling of pride because of the place and position, that is wrong.
We have to BEWARE of some people that DRESS FOR THE WRONG REASONS, LOVE FOR TITLES FOR THE WRONG REASONS, SEEK A HIGH POSITION FOR THE WRONG REASONS and -
IV. DO DEEDS FOR THE WRONG REASONS
Look at the first part of verse 40, we read, “Which devour widows' houses,….”
(1) These Scribes were lawyers. Of course others were guilty as well, but the ones who stood before Jesus were lawyers. They used their legal position to manage the wills and other legal business for the widows, and they cheated, devouring the widows by skimming too much out of their estates.
(2) They were religionists, professing to believe in God. Some used the guise of religion to steal from widows. There are some today that are lawyers, religionists, preachers, and institutional, civic, and Christian leaders (all professing hypocrites) who court the attention and favor of people, especially widows, for the purpose of securing money. They seek large donations, endowments, trusts, investments, and gifts to promote themselves and their institution. And the great tragedy is, such false and hypocritical hearts use the guise of religion to promote themselves and their false ideas. Their call to people is to institutional religion, not to the honor of God and the spirit of self-denial. Vain men, of course, are susceptible to such appeals, but widows in particular are exposed to those who seem to be so devoted to God.
A good example are the television preachers. They know the most vulnerable people on this earth are widows.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger was talking to his mail man one day at the end of the month. He said to him, “I guess your work is slow this time of the month, isn’t it?”
The mail man said, “Preacher, this is the busiest time of the month for me!” He said, “The reason it is the busiest time of the month for me, is because the television preachers know all the widows in this neighborhood will be getting their monthly checks in a few days and they use this time of the month to reach them so they can get a contribution from them.”
God said we are to beware of those who do not care about people. They give the impression they care, but the fact is all they want from these widows is their money.
We have to BEWARE of some people that DRESS FOR THE WRONG REASONS, LOVE FOR TITLES FOR THE WRONG REASONS, SEEK A HIGH POSITION FOR THE WRONG REASONS, DO DEEDS FOR THE WRONG REASONS and -
V. PRAY LONG PRAYERS FOR THE WRONG REASONS
Look at verse 40 again, we read, “…for a pretence make long prayers:….”
The length of prayer does not make it necessarily a good prayer.
These Scribes and Pharisees would pray long prayers and they did it because they wanted people to think they were really spiritual, when they were not.
Conclusion:
Because these Scribes and Pharisees misused clothing, widows, position, and prayers for the wrong purpose, the Lord said they shall receive the GREATER DAMNATION at the Judgment!
We have to BEWARE of some people that …
I. DRESS FOR THE WRONG REASONS
II. LOVE TITLES FOR THE WRONG REASONS
III. SEEK A HIGH POSITION FOR THE WRONG REASONS
IV. DO DEEDS FOR THE WRONG REASONS
V. PRAY LONG PRAYERS FOR THE WRONG REASONS
