WWUTT 2082 Beware the Scribes and the Pharisees (Matthew 23:1-12)

Jesus actually said to do what the Pharisees tell you to do, insofar as they're reading from the Word of God. But don't act as they act, for they are hypocrites, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. I thank you for letting me have the week to recuperate. I got pretty sick, and it really took a toll on my voice. I haven't been that sick in a long time. I'm not quite up to 100 yet.

In fact, I'll probably be pausing this lesson to take a drink occasionally, but I'm going to splice it all together. You won't even notice. I've got enough stamina here that I think we can get through a 20-minute lesson.

Matthew 23:1-12 and the Twofold Warning About the Pharisees

So let's pick up where we left off in Matthew 23. I'm going to start by reading the first 12 verses of the chapter out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.

Therefore, all that they tell you, do and keep, but do not do according to their deeds, for they say things and do not do them. And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.

But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men, for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. And they love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by men.

But do not be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father, he who is in heaven. Do not be called instructors, for one is your instructor, that is Christ.

But the greatest among you shall be your servant, and whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. This is Jesus, of course, warning the people about following the example of the scribes and the Pharisees, they who are hypocrites.

They will tell people to do one thing, but they themselves do something different. So you have the description of the Pharisees, first of all, in verses 1 through 7, and then Jesus turns that back to his disciples to tell them how they are to act with humility in verses 8 through 12.

So that's the two parts of this here. And once again, this being a lesson to the disciples on humbling themselves, on not exalting themselves, on not thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think of one another with sober judgment.

And so as Jesus gives this direction to his disciples, so we must consider ourselves the same. We must be humble, not desiring to have those great titles and great prestige, but being a servant in the kingdom of God.

So let's come back to verse 1. Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. Now, this is after all of the other lessons that he has taught in the temple. We've had one final challenge from the Pharisees.

That was in chapter 22, verses 34 to 46. Jesus challenged them right back with the scriptures. They were unable to answer him, so they've been silenced. And now Jesus warns about the Pharisees here, and then he gives the woes to the scribes and the Pharisees.

That's what is coming up next. We're going to get to at least the start of that tomorrow, beginning in verse 13. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. These are referred to as the seven woes as Jesus issues these warnings to these false teachers.

But for now, he's talking to the crowds. He's talking to his own disciples, warning about the Pharisees and who they are. Now, as it says in verse 2, the scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses, so they sit in the synagogues and they read the law and the prophets.

Now, Jesus goes on to say in verse 3,. Therefore, all that they tell you, do and keep, because what they are teaching comes from the law of Moses. If they are reading it from the scriptures, then you are to listen to what it is that they say, because they are teaching you God's word.

They're reading you the scriptures. Insofar as they are communicating what God has actually said, then you are to listen to the scribes and the Pharisees, because they are the learned men. They are the ones that have the scrolls.

Not everybody in Israel could read. And so when you go to the synagogues, when you hear the word of God read, you should listen to what the scribes and Pharisees say, insofar as they're reading from Moses, insofar as they're reading the scriptures.

But Jesus goes on to say the rest of verse 3, Do not do according to their deeds, for they say things and do not do them. So it may be that the initial reading that the scribes and the Pharisees would give in the synagogues, and the initial interpretation that they give to that reading, all of that is correct.

And that's probably in keeping with what we have in Nehemiah 8. They read from the book, from the law of God, explaining and giving insight. And they provided understanding of the reading. So that's what the scribes and the Pharisees do initially.

They'll read it, they'll give the clear interpretation, but then they go on to say things that's adding to the law, or they will give application that goes beyond the law and the prophets. Does that make sense?

So the interpretation which they give is in the main correct, but then their lives do not correspond with what it was that they just taught. So it is not the duty of the people to imitate the teachers, unless their lives are in keeping with what it is that they have heard them say.

They are to obey the law of God. They need to hear the reading of the law of God. And they need to do what it says. But they're not to frame their lives after what the scribes and the Pharisees, how the scribes and the Pharisees apply the law to their own lives.

And again, as I said before, they will add to the law. They'll take away from it. They will add to it. And they will, in adding things to the law, if you're not hearing from the law what these scribes and these Pharisees are saying, like they're adding to the law, if you don't hear that in their initial reading, then don't do what it is that they are doing.

For their life does not match with what God's word truly says. So do not do according to their deeds, for they say things, and they do not do them. And the things that they say are going to be that initial reading of the law of Moses.

When they read the law, they'll say it, you hear it, and you should do what they say, because it comes from God's word. But then the extra stuff they add on top of that, that's what you're to ignore. That's what you're not to do, because then you will come into the same hypocrisy that the scribes and the Pharisees demonstrate.

Adding to God's Law and the Contemporary Controversy Over Gay Weddings

So going on in verse 4, they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders. This is that adding to the law. So they're creating new commands and imposing that upon people, commands that you do not find in God's word.

There's a big controversy that's going on lately, and maybe you have heard about this, where it was revealed that Alistair Begg had said in one of his teachings back in September, this was actually several months back, but in a teaching that he did on his Truth for Life program, he had talked about a grandmother that had come to him and had said, I have a grandson that is marrying a trans person, and so should I go to the wedding?

And Alistair Begg's advice to her was, you should go to the wedding and you should take a gift. And so this has turned into quite the controversy, since it was revealed, these things that he said, which really only hit the internet this month.

So even though this was back in September, the controversy has really kind of stirred up the last couple of weeks. Becky and I have not done a Q &A since this whole controversy got stirred up. And so we're going to address that, God willing, on the broadcast this coming Friday, but we haven't had the chance to address some of those questions that have come to me via email since all of this controversy has gotten stirred up.

But no, you should not go to a gay wedding, because it is an endorsement of that unholy, ungodly union, which is not a marriage at all. Those who attend weddings are not mere spectators. They are participants.

Everybody who attends a wedding is a participant in that union that is taking place, because then your responsibility is to ensure that this man and this woman, because that's it, a marriage is between a man and a woman.

A man and a man cannot marry one another. We've got a world of depravity that's redefining these things, redefining terms, but a man and a man cannot get married. God is the one who created marriage. He gets to define it.

It wasn't that long ago we were in Matthew 19, where Jesus defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. And so if you attend a wedding, you are a participant in those vows that are exchanged, because you are to hold them accountable to the vows that they have committed to one another.

What happens if the pastor says something like, Does anybody have any reason why these two people should not be wed? Well, if you're sitting there at a quote-unquote gay wedding and you hear the pastor ask that, you absolutely should speak up and say, Yeah, these two people can't be united with one another because this isn't a marriage.

This isn't even a wedding. A Christian cannot in good conscience partake in something like that. As I said before, Jesus defined marriage in Matthew chapter 19, going back to the Old Testament, the way that God created marriage to be in the very first place, quoting from the creation account where God made male and female, and the man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

You have man and woman relationships all the way through that. The man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Jesus would not have attended a gay wedding if even such a thing was going on in his day, which it was not.

This is a relatively new phenomenon, by the way. It was the Netherlands were the first country in world history to recognize gay marriage, that a man and a man can be married to one another. This is a relatively new thing in world history, and yet now we're having these arguments as to whether or not a Christian can attend such a thing.

You cannot attend this. A Christian cannot participate in such things, and it's really heartbreaking that Begg insisted that a Christian should attend such a union and even take a gift to these two persons who are in rebellion against God, in an unholy union, who are desecrating something sacred that God created to be good, and yet you're supposed to attend this and even take a gift to them, as though to congratulate them and encourage them on this journey that's going to lead them to hell if they do not repent.

Begg went on to say that those who insist that you should not attend such weddings are like scribes and Pharisees. He said that the ones who would not attend such weddings are scribes and Pharisees, and he is doing the very thing here.

I love Alistair Begg. I have loved Alistair Begg, listened to his teaching for years, but he's wrong here. He is dead wrong here, and he is actually being as the Pharisee by tying heavy burdens and laying them on men's shoulders, and he himself is unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.

They do all their deeds to be noticed by men, that Jesus goes on to say in verse 5. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. Now the phylacteries, you've probably seen this before.

This is like a little box that such a rabbi might wear on his head, and what's in that little box is the law. He's written it down on a piece of paper. He's put it in the little box, which he wears on his head.

There are rabbis that still do this to this day, and they might also write them out on a piece of paper and tie it around their arm. So that's the lengthening of the phylacteries, and they're trying to show themselves as being more committed to the law than anybody else.

Look, I even wear it on my head, and I wear it on my sleeves. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments, and really, they broaden the law, don't they? They add things to the law that are not in the law, and such is the kind of false teacher that will tell you that you should be attending gay weddings, and if you don't attend them, well, then you're just acting like a judgmental, critical scribe or Pharisee, tying heavy burdens onto people, and trying to show themselves to be more righteous.

Look at these extra laws that I've made and I follow. Why aren't you following the laws that I have made? Verse 6, They love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and being called rabbi by men.

These men love these positions, and they love to exalt themselves to those places and wear these honorific titles. But Jesus goes on to his disciples to say in verse 8, Do not be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers.

Now, I am a pastor, and the members of my church call me pastor. So, am I going against this somehow? Because the people of the church would call me a teacher? I don't demand such titles. I don't require anybody to have to call me that.

It is what I do. It is the role that I fill. The pastor is not just a title, it's a function. And so, the office is the function, and the function is the office. I'm fulfilling that role of shepherding God's people with God's word.

And if the people of the church recognize me as pastor, wonderful. But I'm not requiring anybody to call me that. And I am not exalting myself as being anyone greater than anybody else in my church, because I have that title, because they would call me that.

I am not above anybody. In fact, just yesterday, I was in my office, was walking around in my church and praying to God and saying, God, I just want to be a servant of your church. I want to be a servant of your kingdom.

I want to teach your people God's word, and asking that God would bless me with that, with that work, that he would have me continue in that work. As I've just moved to a new place, living in Casa Grande, Arizona, and at a new church, I've only been here for a couple of months, and I want the Lord to bless me in that work and that effort, and that this church would be blessed with the teaching of God's word that would raise up God's people.

But I don't demand of anybody that they would call me anything or exalt me to any kind of title. Don't be called rabbi, for one is your teacher. God teaches me, and I teach God's people, and sometimes God's people teach me.

Just because I'm the pastor and I fill that role doesn't mean that I don't have anything to learn from the people that are in the congregation. I serve with a couple of elders who are wonderful, godly men, and they teach me things.

So we teach one another, we are building each other up, and I need the body of Christ to build me up. As much as I'm probably put in a position to teach others God's word, I need God's word taught to me.

And I actually had the chance to do that this past Sunday. I was actually visiting another church, Grace Covenant Church up in Gilbert, and that was a great church, wonderful. If you're up around the Gilbert area, I would encourage you to check them out.

So anyway, all that to say, I need to be taught as well. And far be it from me to think that I know better than somebody else, and they need to listen to me. So this is to be a humble role, that I am a servant of the church, not exalting myself over anybody else.

Do not be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers, you teach one another. Verse 9, and do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father, and he who is in heaven.

And, of course, you have the priests in the Roman Catholic Church that demand on being called father. We're not supposed to demand such titles. That title of father is a little bit different than being called pastor, because father's a headship.

To be called a father is to have headship over somebody else. And that's what a priest demands, that you recognize him as some sort of head over you. But I am not a head over anybody. As a pastor, I am not the head of the church.

Christ is the head of the church. And I have one father, and he is my father who is in heaven. As Paul says in Ephesians 4 .4, There is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

In 1 Corinthians 4, the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, If you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Talking about how he was the one who taught them the gospel, and so therefore he is a spiritual father to them. So this isn't something to say that nobody can ever be your father, for we have the illustration of spiritual fathers and mothers that's talked about in other places in the scripture.

It's just that you're not to demand this. You don't have headship over anyone else. But we are to be servants to one another. Verse 10, do not be called instructors, for one is your instructor, that is Christ, but the greatest among you shall be your servant.

And this is something Jesus had said earlier, if you want to be great in God's kingdom, you must learn to be a servant of all. Verse 12, whoever exalts himself shall be humbled. If you're going to be like these Pharisees, and you're going to exalt yourself to these positions, you're going to be humbled.

And whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. This is the thing that makes me tremble for Pastor Begg, because he is exalting himself in this way, claiming that he knows better, and somebody who would argue with him over this is actually a person who's a legalist or a scribe or a Pharisee, that's what Begg has said about them.

And because he has exalted himself to this place and added things to God's word that God has not said of his people to do, in fact, quite the opposite, Begg will be humbled if he does not repent. And I tremble for the man.

As great a teacher as he is, as great a teacher as he has been in my life, because like I've said, I've listened to Truth For Life for many, many years, but I hope the man humbles himself, and I hope that he listens to wise counsel, to other teachers around him who will come alongside him and say that he's wrong in the things that he is advising Christians to do, tying heavy burdens and laying them on men's shoulders.

Humility, Mutual Edification, and Not Using the Pharisee Card

It's pretty common that when somebody uses that Pharisee card, you know the Pharisee card, right? You want to be obedient to God's word. You want to do what God has said in his word. And you must. Jesus even said as much here.

You are to listen to what they say to you, and you're supposed to do it insofar as they're reading to you from the word of God. Do what God's word says. We should do those things. You want to be obedient to God's word, and every once in a while you'll have somebody that will come along and will call you what?

They'll say you're a Pharisee, because you want to be obedient to God's word. And really the reality is the person who draws that card is probably the true Pharisee. The person who's calling you the Pharisee might really be the Pharisee.

We are to be obedient. We are to listen to what God has said in his word, and do what he says. But do not exalt yourself in these things. Do not think of yourself as being greater than others. But we must humble ourselves and help each other, building one another up.

As said in Ephesians 4, beginning in verse 29, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Instead, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you. Heavenly Father, I thank you for what we've read here today, and I pray that it humbles us, that we not exalt ourselves, but we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, doing what you have said according to your word, and helping to guide one another in the truths that you have given to us in your scriptures.

May we be patient with one another, and not tying heavy burdens on each other that we're unable to bear, but we bear one another's load. We lift each other up, and we act in grace toward one another, for you have been gracious to us.

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we understand the text.