Exposing The Heart

When you have that, go ahead and stand for the reading of God's word. And in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts who devour widows' houses and for pretense make long prayers.

They will receive the greater condemnation. Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box.

And he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them for they all contributed out of their abundance.

But she, out of her poverty, put in all she had to live on. Amen. You may be seated.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your word. We ask that you would help us to understand ourselves, to understand others, to be on guard against those who desire honor and are pretentious leaders.

We pray that you would protect us from such things and you would help us to understand the hearts of ourselves and others. In Jesus' name, amen.

So as we've been going through Luke chapter 20, we've been seeing how Jesus responds to different people challenging his authority.

Now this passage ends that. So just to walk through this, originally Jesus' authority is challenged by a question about where he gets his authority from.

And he responds by asking another question and refusing to answer because of the insincerity of their question and their unwillingness to answer his.

Then he describes the parable of the wicked tenants to explain what their motivations are.

Then they ask him, by sending spies, a question about paying taxes to Caesar.

Now they do not understand the nature of his kingdom, that his kingdom is not of this world, so they think that because he's a king, he's going to require disloyalty to Caesar in order to have loyalty to himself.

But that's not the case, they have misunderstood. Then the Sadducees also misunderstand the nature of his kingdom and the resurrection.

He corrects them as well. And then everyone is silent.

They have nothing more that they can question him with. But he responds by pressing the offensive, as we saw last week, challenging them to answer how

David can speak of his son as Lord, what that must mean about the

Christ. It means that he has an authority that is greater than David's authority, that his throne is something more than a mere earthly throne.

And now he continues pressing the offensive, not just by showing that they do not understand the truth, but also showing what lies in their hearts, that they are not just ignorant, they are likewise guilty of desiring honor and raising themselves up because of, yeah, for false motivations.

So they have claimed to be intelligent people, but he shows that they are fools. They have claimed to be people of honor, and he will show that they are disgraced.

Now this passage about the widow's offering connects to this because it's here that he shows it in practice, that she gives more than all they because they give out of their abundance.

They are not motivated by true sacrifice. Don't know why the original people who, or person who put the chapters in ended up placing them where he did, but this passage seems to go together with the previous finally ending this passage about how

Jesus responds to all these people who are challenging his authority. Here, he exposes their motivations.

So we're going to do what we've done in each week past. Look first of all at the doctrine

Jesus gives, then what this says about his opponents and what it says about us and how we should respond to such opponents.

So all three of those, what the doctrine actually is, what this says about others and what this says about how we should interact with others.

Verse 45, in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples. This is worth paying attention to, who

Jesus is actually speaking to at any of the points in the narrative of the gospels. He speaks to his disciples, so he turns and he speaks to his disciples after having addressed the scribes.

He asks the scribes a question they can't answer. He turns to his disciples and says, look, let me explain to you what's going on with them and what's really going on.

Why can't they answer? Why are they in the positions that they are? But he does this in the hearing of all the people.

So his purpose is not merely to speak to his disciples and clarify to him, but to expose the scribes to all the people.

Then he continues on. Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplace, in the best seats, in the synagogues, in the places of honor at feasts.

So what do they like? They like walking around in long robes. They like the honor that they get from the kind of clothing that they get to wear to show their religious status.

They like greetings in the marketplace. They like people to honor them with greeting them.

You don't greet necessarily everyone you meet in a crowded place, but you greet those that you are especially interested in and they are people of honor, so people are going to be interested in them.

And then they like the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at feasts. They like honor in all these cases.

These are all public things. It's not just wearing long robes. It's walking around wearing long robes in public places.

It's not just getting greetings. It's getting greetings in the marketplace. It's not just seats of honor, but seats of honor at large events.

They like all the honor that they receive from people in public places.

He says that they devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.

Now, it's not precisely known in which way they would devour widows' houses.

Perhaps it's the case as scribes, essentially functioning in a legal capacity, they would be able to take advantage of inheritances.

A woman being represented by her husband in court, a widow not having a husband, not being able to deal with her inheritance in a legal sense the way a married woman would be able to, it might be easy for someone who operates in a legal capacity to ostensibly, for the sake of the poor, for the sake of the synagogue, redirect funds and to navigate the law in such a way that ends up depriving others of what is theirs.

Now, it's also possible, as some have taken from this later part of the passage, that the idea is too that they lay heavy burdens of generosity on the widows so that they would have to give more than they ought to give.

In fact, some have taken this next passage as not saying anything positive about the widow.

That when it says that she has given more out of all her abundance, some have rejected that that's really what that means, that she has given more.

Because they say, well, look, the scribes are devouring the widows, so she's been tricked into giving, and this is not actually a good thing that she is doing.

I think a lot of people, when they arrive at that conclusion, they're very concerned about modern prosperity gospel concerns, how different prosperity preachers trick people into giving a lot of their money.

Yet, Jesus, in talking about motivations, in talking about sacrifice, in speaking of the widow as having done more than all of them, and having really done this out of a sacrificial heart,

I believe he really is suggesting that she has done something good in what she has done. I don't believe we need to reject that.

She has done what is right. So the scribes, they devour widows' houses, and for a pretense, they make long prayers, so in the way they treat others, they end up cheating them.

In the way they treat God, they cheat him. They're not actually praying to the Lord out of a real desire to honor

God, out of a real desire to seek his blessing. It's to seek the blessing of others. They pray loudly in the streets.

They make pretentious prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.

There is a more certain and a greater judgment that awaits such people. Now, taking all that, what's the chief doctrinal truth that is given to us?

That is that righteous deeds are invalidated by unrighteous motives.

Righteous deeds are invalidated by unrighteous motives. It is impossible to please the Lord with wrong motives.

Bible says this in a number of places. One of the most clear is Hebrews 11, six. It says, without faith, it is impossible to please

God. Romans 14, 23, it says, anything that does not come from faith is sin.

You cannot honor the Lord just by doing outwardly those things which he has commanded.

Inwardly, you must desire the right things that you are to desire. You must do them out of a heart that truly desires to honor

God. Jesus said in Matthew 7, 22, that many on the last day will say, Lord, Lord, have we not done mighty works in your name?

Many people will point to their outwardly good deeds as indicating something about themselves.

Now, you might be used to thinking of that only in the terms of people thinking that they can merit their salvation, but people may also point to them not just of merit, but of evidence that there was something really going on in the inside.

The thing is that God sees the heart. He knows whether or not there was anything going on in the inside. He knows whether or not the

Spirit of God was working in you to move you to do what was right for the right reasons.

These are all invalidated by wrong motives. Now, this is not to suggest on the other end that having quote -unquote right motives validates any kind of sinful action or meaningless action that you might take.

There are some who think that because motives are what's important, that as long as you are operating with the right motives, that God would accept even sinful actions from you.

Well, if someone does something sinful with the right motive, or they do something very religious with a sacrificial motive, maybe they've been tricked into thinking that if they make a pilgrimage to a certain place or pray in a certain way, et cetera, that God would especially honor that, that because they have the right motive that God would accept that.

This is not to suggest that right motive baptizes and sanctifies any kind of sinful or neutral action, that is not the case.

But it is the case that any kind of outwardly righteous deed is invalidated by unrighteous motive.

It is not a good deed if it does not come from a heart that truly desires to honor

God. And he explains this, Jesus explains this by speaking of duties to man and duties to God.

I don't think that these are just two random examples that he's happened to pick. I believe he's trying to tell us about duty to man and duty to God.

He talks about them devouring widows' houses and the ways that they would give and the ways that they would think about their resources.

They are operating in selfish ways. We see elsewhere in the

Gospels that many would appeal to this law of Corban by which they would deprive their parents of any kind of honor, saying that they've dedicated their things to the poor.

And because they've dedicated them to the poor, they can't give them to their parents because they have to keep them for themselves since they have been so generous in giving to the poor.

So their ostensibly good deeds are not actually for good. They're not actually for the things that God has commanded or actually for the things that God wants.

Rather, they are for themselves. And so you can imagine how someone, like, for example,

Judas saying, shouldn't this money have been spent on something much better?

Shouldn't this perfume have been sold and then given to the poor? And he really wants to keep it for himself.

There are all kinds of ways that people do things that are ostensibly good, but not actually good because unrighteous motives invalidate righteous deeds.

It says also that for a pretense, they make long prayers.

So in your actions for God, are they actually for the blessing of man rather than for God?

When you honor God, are you doing it out of a heart that is truly honoring God, or is it only external, ultimately just for the praise of man?

In each of these, in our duty toward man, first table of law, and our duty toward God, the second table of law, either of those can be invalidated by unrighteous motives.

Giving, true giving, whether to God or to man, must be out of a right desire.

It must be out of a truly sacrificial heart. To give in a meaningful way is sacrificial.

You are losing something for the sake of others. If you give in a way that there's no difficulty for you, you are not giving out of the right kind of heart.

Second Corinthians 8 .3 talks about how the Macedonians gave beyond their ability. They are giving in a ways that actually hurts them.

It does not just get them a name, it is something that is difficult for them to do.

In Second Samuel 24 .24, David has the opportunity to give a sacrifice that someone else is donating.

He says that he will not give a sacrifice to God, an offering to God that costs him nothing. So he recognizes that if this is not actually from me in a way that causes me any difficulty, it is not actually with the right heart that I would give such a thing.

It must be truly sacrificial for it to be an acceptable thing, for it to be a right thing before God.

And while Jesus is instructing in this way, part of what is signified by this instruction coming from Jesus in the way it has come, in his earthly ministry, in correction of the scribes, is to indicate something about Jesus himself.

When he is coming and he is bringing his kingdom, he is showing you as he has entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey as the king, he is showing you the nature of his kingdom.

His kingdom is one where, especially as he has talked about taxes, why is he not conflicted with taxes being given to Caesar?

Because his kingdom transcends. So he's not concerned so much with the outward as he is with the inward.

His kingdom is going to be a kingdom that is not a kingdom like the kingdoms of the earth.

One day it will be fully manifest, but it is a kingdom that transcends that. And so the kind of honor that would be given in this sort of kingdom is not one that is external, but one that is internal.

The kind of obedience that's rendered in this kingdom is not one that's merely external, but one that is internal.

Christ demonstrates that his kingdom will be like this. He is not merely setting an example for us of how we should obey in his kingdom.

He is the one who, as king, accomplishes this kingdom that is unlike the kingdoms of the world.

He is not just of human creativity, creating a kingdom that we must operate by some humanly assigned rules.

He is bringing something that actually has heavenly power. This is not something that you can enter into by your own power and begin of your own to develop the right kind of motives.

It is something where you need to be born again in order to be a part of the kingdom that Christ is bringing.

Those who would read a passage like this and think that, well, as long as I've got the right motives and I can just generate those of myself, then

I am in the clear. No, what you need is truly right motives, and those can only come from the spirit of God.

They can only come by the work of Christ in your heart to transform you.

He is setting more than just an example. He is explaining what is going to happen through the kingdom as he accomplishes that kingdom.

He is giving his spirit, he is transforming his people to be ones who render an obedience that is not merely outward, but it will be inward, will have the right kind of heart.

There are terms that describe this sort of thing. If this is helpful for you, I can give you some of these terms.

There's a term that's known as material obedience, where you're just doing outwardly what's required. There's also the term formal obedience, where you are actually rendering it out of a true sense of obligation.

Okay, this is what God wants. He doesn't just want material obedience, that outward kind of obedience. He wants true obedience, obedience that is really coming from the heart out of a sense of obligation to him, out of a sense of honor, out of a sense of trust in Jesus Christ as king, and that can only be accomplished by the work of the

Spirit of God within you. You cannot correct yourself. You cannot correct your own life.

You must turn to Jesus Christ. He will correct you. He will give you the strength to do so.

Now, the next part of this is not just that, not just that they have failed in these duties, but there is a greater condemnation that comes to them when they fail in these duties.

They have a greater sin. They have a greater judgment.

So it is, okay, so first point was that righteous deeds are invalidated by unrighteous motives.

The second one is that false teachers are motivated by unrighteous motivations.

False teachers have unrighteous motivations, and this leads to a greater judgment. Okay, false teachers have unrighteous motives.

They desire honor. The kind of positions that false teachers end up having are positions of honor.

They are the kinds of things that are honeypots for evil men.

I don't know if you've ever thought that before, but it's not just that occasionally evil men happen to wind up in such positions.

It's that positions of honor are honeypots for such people. They are attracted to such things like a fly would be attracted to a honeypot.

They desire this kind of honor where they'd have special kind of clothing, they'd have special kind of seating, they'd have special greetings, and people would recognize this.

And you see this in all kinds of different ways in our own era. There is the kind of dress that you see in certain denominations, you know, the very ostentatious robes, et cetera, that Jesus is specifically speaking against here.

In the Reformation, there was what was known as the Genevan gown, a gown that you would wear over your clothes.

The point of that was to prevent people from being distracted by the kind of clothes that they would wear, but that tradition ended up transforming into something else where now it's part of the show.

Such ostentation does not belong in the kingdom of God. It does not belong in the worship of God.

Similarly, you see a lot of people attracted to the whole conference circuit. God has set up his kingdom.

He has defined what the offices are. He's defined how it should work. The primary work being pastoring, et cetera.

But a lot of people are not drawn to that kind of work. They're drawn to the conference circuit where they would get to be paraded in front of many different people.

And I'm not saying that everybody who engages in such things necessarily has wrong motives, but know that that is a honeypot for people who have the wrong kind of motives to go around and present at all the different conferences where they get to meet a lot of people, they get to receive a lot of honor.

There's also the fact that such positions come with a lot of ease, or they can come with a lot of ease.

Now, on one hand, doing the work of ministry, if done rightly, is incredibly difficult work.

If done wrongly, there's not a lot of accountability in a lot of ways.

There's a lot of ease, there's a lot of opportunity just to sit around and take it easy.

There's not as many eyes watching you as you might have in another kind of position. And so for all these reasons, people are attracted to these sorts of things.

You need to be on guard discerning for false teachers.

Now, I'm not saying that you should come to every teacher with an overly critical spirit, should operate with a sense of charity, but be on guard for false teachers.

Now, the way that most people discern false teachers is primarily what you would expect from that label is they are looking for false teaching.

They're looking for false propositions. This is not the emphasis that you see in Scripture.

Now, occasionally that is said. I've been reading through Deuteronomy with my family. The passage that we've read either this morning or very recently said that if someone comes and says a prophecy that's false, then you are not to fear that person, they're a false prophet.

But earlier, what it had said in Deuteronomy was that if someone came and told you things that came true, but is leading you away to serve other gods, that you're not to trust them, right?

So the idea that being there that while they're even saying true things, the truth or falseness of what they're saying is not the primary thing that you're necessarily supposed to be concerned with.

At DorianCon back in October, one of the things I presented on was on the sin of Balaam.

Balaam is presented repeatedly in the New Testament as the prototypical false teacher.

He's the prototypical false prophet. He's the most prominent false prophet you see in the

Old Testament. And he's mentioned many times in the New and he's alluded to about as many times as he has explicitly mentioned.

There are about as many allusions that you may miss if you don't know enough about the story of Balaam. He's alluded to many times.

He is the example false teacher that scripture gives us. But what is notable about Balaam and his prophecy?

It's actually all true. He can't, that's his defining feature. He can't actually speak contrary to what

God has given him to speak. And so he says many true things, but he is the example false prophet.

And so what are you supposed to be discerning about him? You're not supposed to be discerning primarily his words, although a false prophet may expose himself by false words.

You're supposed to be primarily discerning the fact that he is motivated by his own sensuality, his desire for honor and wealth.

And he appeals to the sensuality of people. After his prophecy, later on, he instructs the

Moabites in how they contempt the people of Israel. So he's never really saying anything false.

He's just appealing to certain motivations. That is how you should be thinking and how

Jesus is instructing us as well. When he says that you shall know them by their fruits, he's not talking primarily about their teaching.

In each one of those passages, if you look at the context, when he says you shall know them by their fruits, he's talking about you'll see them in the way they operate and their motivations.

This is how you should be discerning whether or not someone is a false teacher. Someone can be a false teacher not just by giving false teaching, but by neglecting true teaching, by all kinds of things.

And so God tells us to be discerning the heart behind that rather than just waiting for the most manifest kinds of false teaching.

You're supposed to nip it in the bud, not just when it is a massive flowering weed. And so what can you do?

How do you discern this thing? There are four things I'd tell you to look for. First is to look at how they give.

Are they giving sacrificially? If someone is in that kind of position of honor as someone who has been a servant of the people and a servant of God ultimately, are they giving in a really sacrificial way?

Could they be doing something different with their time that would actually make their life a lot easier?

Well, if that's the case, then okay, that's a good signal that they really are doing this for the

Lord. Is this actually a lot easier than anything else they could be doing?

Well, then it's a good sign that maybe they're there because it's easier, because it makes their life more honorable, et cetera, and not for other reasons.

Now, there's no shame in desiring the good work of ministry.

That's what 1 Timothy 3 says, is that if someone desires the office of elder, he desires a good work.

It is good to desire that kind of honor in the context that it belongs, but not just for the sake of the honor itself as you get to receive it from man.

Okay, so look at the way someone gives. Secondly, look at the way that someone would receive honor.

Are they receiving honor primarily for their own pleasure or for the utility in serving

God? So for example, when someone has a title, and you can see this among, it's kind of a,

I've seen it be a joke in universities where sometimes it's the more unaccomplished professors that are really insistent that you call them doctor, right?

Now, I think it's a good thing in an academic system to have some kind of sense of honor that you would learn from the right kind of people.

Those titles are good. It's not good just to level all things out. Fathers and mothers, when the

Bible says honor your father and mother, honor is a real thing. Those titles are a real thing, but in as much as those labels are just for the pleasure of people to stroke their own ego, it's not the same thing.

When I first became pastor, it was a difficult, and I knew this was going to be awkward for me is to hear people call me pastor, and yet at the same time, because it was the first time in this church's history that we had had multiple pastors, and we had always preached plurality of elders, we had always preached parity of elders, which means an equality of elders that there's not like, oh, here's the senior pastor, and here's the junior pastor, or something like that, that there might be case for recognizing someone's accomplishments, yet at the same time, in the office itself, there's no distinction, that it was important, even for the instruction of the church, that I receive that title, and so I understood the utility of it, even though it was somewhat awkward.

Then later on, I realized also that there's a lot of utility, for example, in places like the counseling room, where I am trying to bring the word of God in a weighty way, and it is helpful for that title to be present in order that people would hear the word with the authority that it's supposed to have, so there's a utility to it, but now you can ask yourself, well, is that person operating under, do they like their title for the utility in how it helps them accomplish the task that God has given them, or is it for how it strokes their own ego?

That's one question you can ask as you watch someone operate with a title. You can ask that about their time as well.

There are particular privileges afforded to one who is in a place of religious honor, most especially the office of elder, explicitly that they are to be relieved of certain things in order that they can, as it says in Acts 6, 4, attend to the ministry of the word in prayer.

Other places of religious honor that are not necessarily the formal offices that God has ordained still would receive such things, and you could ask, now, is this being used just for pleasure, that he would be free from these things just for pleasure so that he doesn't have to serve, or is he using it so that he can serve in the special way that God has given him to serve?

Now, some people, they think that what you're supposed to be looking for is, oh, is he serving in all the ways?

Is he serving tables? No, this is not necessarily what someone is supposed to be doing. He's supposed to be free from certain tasks so that he can serve in the way he's supposed to serve, but is he using that time that he is supposed to be honored with for the purposes that he is supposed to use it?

Then the wealth. 1 Timothy 5 says that elders are worthy of a double honor.

Once again, I'm speaking primarily of elders because this is the office that God has given us, but there are all sorts of stations of religious authority that are informal kinds of places of honor that exist, just like the scribes exist in kind of this place of honor.

So this applies to many different things, but you can ask about 1 Timothy 5, if elders are worthy of double honor, and that's double compared to the widows, right?

So the widows in the previous passage are to be sustained. The elders are to be given a double honor so that they're more than just sustained, but able to be especially hospitable, able to be disentangled from secular affairs, et cetera.

Is that accomplishing the utility that it was designed for, or are they the kind of person who is using the money primarily for their own pleasure?

Not that we are not to enjoy a competent portion of the good things that God has given us, but you know what

I'm talking about. There's difference between living modestly and using wealth for the purposes that God has given it, or the kind of person who spends it on nice things to enjoy in the here and now that is not in tune with why they have been given this special honor, okay?

So people in stations of honor are given titles, they're given time, they're given money. How are they using them?

Are they using them to further the work that they are given, or are they exchanging the work that they do for that thing just to squander it, right?

There's two uses of it. One is to squander it like the prodigal son, the other is to actually use it for the purposes that God has given it.

So you can ask, how do they give, how do they receive? And then you can ask, how do they relate to those over them?

Okay, how do they relate to those over them? Are they jealous of those with more honor like Diotrephes and third

John? Are they jealous of those who have some celebrity? There's other ways for this to manifest too.

Maybe they are very enamored and starstruck by those who have some kind of celebrity, and they don't seem to be able to see through that sort of thing.

That can be another indication that someone has a wrong sense of what honor is if they are easily starstruck.

Then how do they relate to people under them? Are they fine losing followers, as Jesus was fine losing followers?

He says to those that he had fed, he had this large following, and he gives them hard teaching after hard teaching.

You must eat my flesh, you must drink my blood. He loses all these people, and he is absolutely fine with it.

He is fine standing alone. Or does he care a lot about losing people?

This is what you should be asking yourself about someone. Does he care a lot about losing some people, or is he fine standing alone?

Is his primary goal to really lead, which is going to involve some challenging things, or is it primarily to satisfy people?

Is it preaching to the choir, or is it really saying what needs to be said?

Those are different things. So how does he, so just to go over those again, how he gives, how he receives, how he relates to those over them, how he relates to those under him.

What are the underlying motivations? And someone can ostensibly be a very polite and giving person and have all these qualities, just like the scribes, right?

They're ostensibly very polite, et cetera, but once you see those factors come in that would expose those false motivations, how do they react?

How do they react? In the old show,

The Twilight Zone, there's an episode, I believe it's called On Thursday We Go Home.

The premise for this is that this group of space travelers have crash landed on Mars, and they are waiting for someone, or maybe it's the moon,

I forget, and they're waiting for someone to rescue them. And so the leader of the ship has kind of been their leader, and he's been, you know, he's watching over them like a father all the time, and he's telling them that, you know, someone's gonna come and rescue us, and on that day, we're gonna go home, and people are all, you know, holding onto this hope.

Then someone finally shows up. Someone finally comes to rescue them, and he does everything he can to undermine it because his status as the people's glorious leader is going to be taken away.

That's exactly what's happening with the scribes here. Something has been introduced that's exposing their motives.

They're afraid of Jesus receiving the glory and honor, and so they're doing everything they can to secretly undermine him.

How do, don't just look at the most external things. Look at the particular, the particular temptations that would arise, and how does someone respond to those temptations?

Someone who behaves this way not even, may not even be doing so consciously. I don't believe that the takeaway that you're supposed to take from these scribes is that any false teacher is very knowingly and maniacally, you know, doing the thing where they're sitting in the armchair tapping their fingers, you know, petting their, you know, diabolical

Siamese cat, you know, having these motivations, right?

It's just, a lot of them may be hidden. They may not even recognize their own motivations. So you should not, the question isn't, you know, is this a person who seems sincere or insincere in those kinds of terms where they'd have to, the only kind of insincerity could be a conscious insincerity.

You should just be looking at the whole level of it. How do they give? How do they receive? How do they relate to those over them?

How do they relate to those under them? They, as I mentioned before, and as this passage mentions, will receive the greater condemnation.

Some sins are worse than other sins. Something that many people get confused by because they know that all sins are equally damning is they think that all sins are equal.

That is not the case. Just because all sins are equally damning does not mean they are all equally heinous.

Some sins, as it says in our catechism, by reason of several aggravations are more heinous in the sight of God than others.

If you imagine something, imagine a piece of sandpaper or something like that rubbing against your skin, if there's more grain on it, there's gonna be more aggravation against the skin.

And so any sin may be composed of lesser components that in composite make themselves a greater sin.

So what's greater here? What's greater than the typical sinner that they might come across that's not in the position of honor?

Well, first of all, they're harming more people in their position of leadership. Secondly, they're acting more deceitfully than the prostitutes and tax collectors, et cetera, that Jesus comes across.

They're acting deceitfully. And they are, I mentioned they're harming people, they're acting hypocritically.

They are receiving honor that is not due to them.

And they are also spoiling the heritage they have. They are neglecting and not appreciating the heritage they've received.

They have received the law in a better way than anyone else has. They should know it better. They should be following it better.

And so in those positions where they've received so much, they are obligated to give to God far more.

But they receive that which is not owed to them and they enjoy it. Jesus said earlier in Luke chapter six, woe to those who are rich because they have already received their consolation.

People who receive things that they don't deserve in this life will have that met in the next with the appropriate punishment.

The more that they have enjoyed things that do not belong to them, the more that that will be accounted for on that last day.

There will be a greater punishment to those who sin in these greater ways. And those who are in greater positions of honor, greater positions of opportunity, their sins are more heinous in the sight of God than others because of those several aggravations.

Now, lastly, okay, so just to recount, righteous deeds are invalidated by unrighteous motives.

False teachers have unrighteous motives. Last, true teachers expose unrighteous motives.

That's what Jesus does. If you ask yourself about the purpose of this passage, and I've been pointing this out previously, ask yourself, what is the purpose of the passage?

Has Jesus not been warning us about motives of greed?

Has Jesus not been warning us about motive for just honor for self already? What does this passage add to the previous passages that we have seen in Luke?

Is it just here to reinforce the idea, which is possible, although it seems unlikely, or is

Luke and the Holy Spirit in giving this indicating something else? And would it not be the same thing that this whole passage has, showing

Jesus as an example of contending with opponents of the faith? What does

Jesus do? Jesus exposes false teachers. He does not just let it slide.

He exposes the false teachers. He could, you know, he's already exposed their failure to answer.

He's already shown that they're wrong. Now he shows the heart behind all their wrong, all their wrong understanding of the

Messiah. He's not satisfied just to expose that they are wrong, but he exposes the heart as well.

So he turns there and he tells them that they like the greetings in the marketplaces, they like the best seats, et cetera.

And he does this in the hearing of all the people and he speaks to his disciples. So consider the audiences here. He speaks to his disciples, so he is protecting them from the false teachers.

He is speaking to others so that they can turn away from the false teachers to him.

He is turning them away. And then lastly, he is rebuking the false teachers themselves.

The scribes are in the audience. He's rebuking them. He is not afraid to name names.

Many people are afraid to name names. They're very partial, right? You'll see people speak with all kinds of boldness to stuff that's really far away from them.

Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, I use them as examples all the time in my sermons. It's a lot harder to use, it's a lot harder to name names that are close to you.

Or even worse, are people of honor that are honored among those that you would want honor from.

Because if you attack them, you might lose the honor. That's why the scribes and the Pharisees, the scribes and the chief priests and the elders, they have not gone after Jesus directly.

Why is it they haven't gone after Jesus directly? It's very plain in this passage. It's because they know the people like Jesus.

They don't want to lose the honor of the people. If they only cared about truth and did not care about honor, they'd just challenge him directly.

But they keep challenging him indirectly. They ask questions in ways that don't expose what their position is.

They're not willing to expose their position. They send spies. They are not willing to challenge him directly.

But Jesus turns it around and he does not reciprocate the politeness of keeping it on the down low.

He names names, he challenges them directly. And this is surprising for most people because this is not how they operate.

A lot of people operate in the same way where they want, okay, well, if they're kind of preserving my honor, keeping it on the down low,

I'm gonna preserve their honor by keeping it on the down low. You know, sycophants never attack hypocrites because they want the same thing, right?

A sycophant wants honor. The hypocrite wants honor and he has his position for the same reasons the

Sadducees does. And a sycophant does not attack the hypocrite directly because he wants the same honor the hypocrite has.

Do not be the sycophant. Be like Jesus. He directly attacks these things.

These things must be said. They must be addressed. Now, in summary, what does this mean for your own life?

Be careful how you would give. Give in a way that is truly sacrificial. Do not engage in comfortable piety.

A lot of people consider themselves right before the Lord and there is sufficient evidence that God is working in their life through the

Holy Spirit because they have this comfortable piety where they give him a few external honors. That is not the sign of someone in whom

Jesus' kingdom has really invaded. The one who Jesus' kingdom has really invaded is giving in a sacrificial way.

It's like the widow giving her mites. You know, she is offering her life for that kingdom of God.

Give in a way that's truly sacrificial. Recognize also the danger of hypocrisy. The scribes, part of the greatness of their sin has to do with the fact that they had such opportunity and such knowledge.

You, being in a church like this, have a privilege that very few people receive.

And I say this without any kind of self -flattery, but this is a church that has very, very specific doctrine, very developed doctrine, very direct understanding of a lot of the word of God, significantly more comprehensive than you'd find in a lot of places.

That comes with a temptation to be like the scribes, to be a hypocrite that enjoys having this sense of honor of being especially knowledgeable in the word of God, but not actually with any kind of use of it that God would appreciate.

Recognize that you have a greater duty, you have a greater obligation from the position that God has placed you in, even having placed you here.

We live in a country where the word of God is abundant, and you are in a particular church where the word of God is especially abundant.

That comes with obligations. Do not be like the hypocrites.

Do not engage in a comfortable piety. Engage in real sacrifice.

And do not give expecting in return. There will be a reward on the last day.

That is the return that you are supposed to expect. It is right to expect that. Hebrews 11, six says, without faith it is impossible to please

God, for the one who comes to him must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. So the right kind of faith, the right kind of motivation is operating under a sense of reward, but it is a distant reward.

If you were expecting honor from God in this lifetime, you will not necessarily receive it.

If you were expecting people to give back in return, and this happens frequently where someone will serve, but then if they don't get enough thank yous, they're not satisfied, this is very common in church.

And I, you know, I want to be appreciative of others for the sake of encouragement, et cetera, but if you ever serve in church and you are disturbed by the fact that no one seems to have noticed, then who were you doing it for?

Were you doing it for others or were you doing it for God? God notices. Now there's a place for asking yourself, did this have the effect?

Was this actually beneficial to people? And asking yourself if they appreciated it in that sense. But if you are more concerned for, if you are concerned for the honor of others are not satisfied not to receive it and just know that God was watching, who were you doing it for?

Do not give that kind of gift where you're expecting in return, even if it's just gratitude. Excuse me,

Proverbs speaks of this as being a cloud without water. Cloud without water is someone who gives a gift or boasts of a gift that he did not give.

If you're giving, but then you're expecting something in return, it's not really a gift, is it?

So do not give to the Lord in that way. Do not serve, especially in the context of church, in that way where you're expecting something in return.

Now, a lot of that has to do with our duty towards man and each other, but especially consider how you would worship before the

Lord, that you should worship in a way that is appropriately modest. Pharisees, excuse me,

I keep saying Pharisees. This passage speaks of the scribes. In Matthew, it loops the Pharisees into this as well.

But the scribes have, the scribes are engaging in prayers and the kind of worship that brings attention to themselves.

This is how many people worship. And a lot of churches, that kind of thing is encouraged, right, very ostentatious worship where you're being very expressive and everything is sort of justified that, oh, he's just doing that before the

Lord. And you imagine that may be the case because his eyes are closed. But really, it's to get attention or there's something performative about it.

Be on guard for that kind of thing, especially in your own heart. When you pray, pray in a way that is for the

Lord. Now, there is reason to pray in a way where you would express things that God already knows.

In fact, God already knows everything that you're going to say. And it is good to pray when with others in an instructive way so that they can pray along with you as it says in the

Psalms. But if you are praying in such a way in front of others to impress them by your knowledge, et cetera, then that is not helpful.

That's not the kind of thing that's described here. If you are singing in a way that is designed to impress others, whether it be by gestures, whether it be by the way that your voice is discordant with others, that is not good.

It is good to pray loud or sing. It's good to pray loud. It's good to sing loud. So I'm not suggesting that you should sing quiet.

That's not singing modestly. That's not the right kind of modesty. You should sing loud as an encouragement to others. But you should not,

John Wesley has a set of directions on singing. One of them is that you should not ball. I think that's a good word.

Balling is where some of your notes might take a different shape rather than being these distinct notes that are as they are printed in the hymnal, kind of joined to each other so that parts of what you're singing loudly are different than what other people are singing.

Now, in a lot of churches, there's one person who's supposed to do that, who's up front, who's the leader, who's kind of doing all sorts of extra things.

But that can happen in churches that are also properly congregationally singing. You can sing in such a way where you're kind of joining notes together and doing it in such a way that a lot of your voice stands out not just as being loud, but as hitting different notes than other people.

Hopefully you understand what I'm talking about. I think balling is a good word for that. So worship modestly before the

Lord. And then discern, discern false teachers. They are not, you should be charitable towards others.

I'm not saying that assume that every pastor you come across is a bad one or every seminary professor is a bad one, but know that that kind of position is a honeypot for wicked men.

It is a honeypot for evil men. And be on guard for that kind of thing. Look for how they receive, how they give, how they respond to those over them, how they respond to those under them.

Look for the influence of temptation of their life and rid yourself of any celebrity worship. Do not be yourselves starstruck by anyone.

It's good to recognize someone who has honored the Lord in special ways and to receive their word with a special kind of honor, but it is, but do not be so starstruck to not realize that these are just men.

They are just men. And then lastly, accept honor.

Accept honor in a way that operates under the utility that God would have that honor to operate under.

That was poorly worded. Use honor to further

God's purposes. It's not that you should never receive honor. Jesus says this in a very hyperbolic way.

He says, call no man father, call no man teacher, et cetera.

It's okay to call your own father, father. It's okay to call a teacher, teacher. He's getting at something deeper than that.

He's getting at the idea of honor not being just for its own sake, but having utility.

Even if it's some title just as the father of your own family, these things are supposed to have utility.

Use them for, honor is supposed to have the utility that God has given it for. Don't just squander the honor that you've received.

Use it in the way that God has instructed. And all this is indicative of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

He has come. His kingdom is not of this world. It is a greater kingdom.

It transcends the kingdoms of this world. Its obedience and loyalty to him as king is different than the kings of the earth.

The kings of the earth, we heard earlier about what kings can punish. Kings can't punish the heart.

They can only punish what is external. But Christ is Lord over even the heart.

He is above all that, but he has come to conquer not just men outwardly, but even to conquer their hearts.

And he has come and he has brought his spirit to conquer the heart. Submit to him with your whole heart, by his spirit.

Be led to know the things of God. Be led to obey God as you ought.

And there are wonderful blessings to be had in that kingdom. Honors that are much greater than the honors that the scribes seek.

On that last day, they will be disgraced and God's people will enjoy an honor that is so far beyond the honors of this world.

So much better than a long robe. So much better than a hello at the marketplace. So much better than a seat at a feast, amen.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for Christ's instruction. We ask that we would apply it to our own lives, especially as we see that we are to be motivated by the right things.

We pray that no unrighteous motivation would invalidate our deeds. And we ask that we be rightly motivated by your spirit, desiring those things that are truly part of your kingdom.