Sunday Devotional - Pharisee and Fair - That's Me!
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Transcript
Greetings Church! We got good news this week, it’s official that churches are allowed to re-open! Stay tuned in for updates as we are working on what that will look like in the weeks ahead as we will still be taking certain precautions in order to keep everyone healthy.
You know, In Matthew chapter 22, we’ve seen Jesus under fire from the Herodians, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees- and each of these groups have been silenced by His wise answers. Now Jesus has a question for them, in verse 42 (of Matthew 22) He asks them… (Matthew 22:42) Jesus wanted the religious leaders and the crowd to consider one of the scriptural indicators of who the Messiah (the Christ) would be. Now these guys knew scripture, and the obvious answer that everyone understood, was “The son of David.” Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5-6, 2 Samuel 7:12-16, all refer to the everlasting King who would come from the lineage of David. After they responded correctly, Jesus then asked a follow up question… (Matt. 22:43-45)
Jesus was quoting from Psalm 110, a Psalm that was rightfully considered by all the religious leaders to be referring to the Messiah. Psalm 110 talks about how the LORD God will make the Messiah’s enemies a footstool, how He will empower the Messiah to rule, how He will make the Messiah a priest forever, how the Messiah will shatter kings of this world, how He will judge the nations. This Messiah the Psalm is referring to is addressed as “my Lord” by the author King David. The title “my Lord” would typically be given to a father, an older brother, a prince, a king, but it wasn’t a title you would call your son, or one of your descendants. So, Jesus was asking here in Matthew why would David refer to his descendant as “my Lord”? Verse 46 tells us that no one had an answer, no- they were all stumped. I think the obvious answer is that the Messiah was to be a descendant of David, yes, but He was to be greater than David- He was going to be directly sent by and empowered by God Himself. Basically, this verse in Psalm 110 is pointing to the reality that the Messiah (Jesus) was a descendant of David- Yes, He was a man, but He also embodied God Himself- He was human and divine at the same time.
This was the mistake of the religious leaders, they expected more of a humanly Messiah King who would free them of their political and worldly troubles, but God sent Jesus- a divine Messiah King who desired to free them from sin and a troubled relationship with God.
And after Jesus blew their minds with His Messiah question, He then got really real and personal concerning their current spiritual condition. The entire Matthew chapter 23 is Jesus exposing the darkest, hidden areas of the hearts of the religious. And it would be so easy, to pass over the entire chapter with the attitude of “Glad He’s talking to the Pharisees and not to me,” but I’d like for us to quickly walk through some of the elements of this chapter, and with humble hearts, really consider if there’s anything He warned the Pharisees of, that might apply to us as well. I’m going to quickly move through the chapter, mentioning things Jesus called the religious leaders out on, I’d encourage you to jot down any notes, so that you can come back and look at the verses in more detail later.
Starting at the beginning of the Chapter, in verse 3, Jesus says the scribes and Pharisees weren’t doing as they were saying. In other words, they would say one thing, but do another. Many of us do this to a degree, but you might not realize it unless you have kids at the house who are starting to pick up your bad habits, that you didn’t even realize you were doing. Our “saying” and “doing” have to match- if they don’t, one has to change. Either stop requiring from someone else something you don’t require of yourself, or actually start doing the requirement that you are expecting from others.
Verse 5, and mentioned later in verses 25-28, these religious leaders liked to look good on the outside. I like to look good on the outside, not just physically, but I like for people to consider me as a good person, who has integrity, who is kind, honest, strong, smart, hard-working, close to God. But the reality is, even Pastors fall short. Even I fall short. There are times I am not kind. (Gasp!) There are times I am not honest- and those times I’m talking about are not times that I am intentionally in the moment trying to be dishonest, no- they are times in which I later look back and can see after giving it some thought, that I wasn’t quite communicating as accurately as I could have been. Sometimes I’m not very strong- there are days when it’s really easy to feel weak and get discouraged. But as a follower of Christ, there are things that He is continuing to work on in me, and I know there are things He is continuing to work on in you. May He continue to work on us in the inside, and may that work reflect and move its way to the outside, without us having to try too hard to manipulate other’s perspectives of us.
Verses 6-11, they liked the respectful title of Rabbi (teacher) and were perhaps enjoying more the idea of people following them, instead of following God. I believe Christian leaders today often still fall into this trap. God shows a leader something, and that leader then gets really passionate in trying to get everyone else to do that thing God showed them. “Pray this way, do this specific fast, ask for this specific thing, get involved in this particular ministry”- and while all these things can be good, we as leaders should desire others to listen and be obedient to God’s voice in their own lives- to be more concerned about others following Him- rather than so concerned about others following us as leaders.
Verse 13 they were not allowing others to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, this probably wasn’t an intentional act, but this was an unobserved consequence of the lifestyle they were living. We need to be very careful that the lifestyle we are living is one that encourages people into the Kingdom of Heaven, and not one that deters them from it.
These are some heavy rebukes- if at any moment you need to pause and reflect or pause and repent of something- please do! J
Verse 14 they weren’t caring after the widows, those who had no other means of provision in their lives, and they prayed long insincere, inauthentic prayers. Verse 15 instead of making Kingdom disciples, they were making Hellish disciples- again, I’m sure their intent wasn’t “Let me teach someone how to be a child of Satan” - no they probably were teaching Godly principles with their mouth, but never took the time to humbly search their hearts and review their actions to consider the poor discipleship that was occurring, by way of poor example they were setting.
Verses 16-22 they weren’t honoring their word. They would promise to do something, and then later when someone came to them to remind them of their promise- they would use an excuse, an excuse as lame as saying “Well, I had my fingers crossed behind my back when I promised that, so I’m sorry, I’m off the hook.” Today, we don’t even come up with excuses- we make a promise, and then just ignore and forget the fact that we never fulfilled the promise.
In verse 23-24, Jesus called the religious leaders out on their desire to fulfil small requirements, while neglecting bigger issues. Sometimes Christians do this today as well. We tend to highlight and be more concerned about certain sins- usually ones that are more obvious and detected on the outside, rather than focusing on some of the bigger issue sins that lay under the surface that aren’t as always easily detected.
In verses 29-31 Jesus addresses their false piety, their inability to see the connection between themselves, and others who sinned. (their ancestors) If you ever in your mind have said “Well, at least I’m not as bad as that person”- then just maybe Jesus is wanting you, (as He did the Pharisees here) to humble yourself and repent of that attitude.
Now after Jesus firmly stated His case against the religious leaders, there’s this tender moment in verse 37 where He mourns for the people there in Jerusalem. Just in case you started to see Jesus as this mean school master guy in this chapter, His loving heart is revealed through His simile of wanting to gather the people together there as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.
You see, Jesus doesn’t want to beat you or me up over our sin and the mistakes we make. He just wants us to see our sins and mistakes for what they are (rebellion/disobedience against Him) and He wants us to be able to humbly admit that we fall short and need His help. He wants to lovingly gather all people to Himself, but that can only be done through us admitting our sin, and receiving His forgiveness through His death and resurrection.
Perhaps you have never confessed your sin to God, and if not, right now I would encourage you to do that- to verbally, out loud, express your repentance and ask to receive Jesus’ forgiveness. Not only will He forgive you and give you a fresh start- He’s going to help you along the way as you study His word, learn from Him, and seek to follow His example.
Now to those who have already made a decision to repent and turn to Jesus, whether recently or many years ago- this concept of repentance is not just a one-time thing- it’s not something you do and then check off the list, never having to do it again. There is “repentance” that we speak of as- in the moment one turns to Jesus in repentance in order to ask Him into their life, but there is also “repentance” that we as followers of Jesus practice daily. We aim to have repentant hearts daily as the Lord refines us and continues to work out impurities in us, sometimes that we never even realized were there. So, yes you repent and turn to Jesus, and in that moment you become saved, a child of God, new and cleansed of sin spiritually- but from that day forward, a humble, repentant heart is still required as we all will still wrestle with sin nature in us, up until the day we are perfected in Heaven.
I pray that you allow the Lord to refine your heart today as you think on this passage in Matthew, and that you would be encouraged by Paul’s words from Philippians 1:6 “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Love you church, see you soon!