BE HUMBLE SERVANTS

Matthew 23:1-39

Key Verses 23:11-12

11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 

In today's passage Jesus pronounces seven woes on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. We all really want to be blessed by God. And God wants to bless us fully. So it is a terrible thing to see that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees worked so hard and sacrificed so much only to receive woes from God, not blessings. The disciples were in danger of falling into the same pit. And Jesus doesn’t want anyone to work and sacrifice so much, adopting this Pharisee lifestyle, only to be cursed. 

The key verses focus again on humility and service. Actually, they represent Jesus' own attitude and example which we are to put into practice. And the result will be many being led to Jesus Christ, coming under his care and growing as children of God, being blessed and living as blessings. 

1. They do not practice what they preach (1-7)

Look at verses 1-3. Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples about the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. They had just finished testing Jesus with their difficult questions. And Jesus passed with flying colors. In fact, no one dared ask him any more questions. The problem was that they had persisted in rejecting him, and finally Jesus, in great sorrow for the people, spoke about their hypocritical and destructive ways.

We cannot deny that the evidence of hypocrisy is one of the major hurdles or obstacles that hinder people from coming to the church fellowship and to Jesus. At Cal State LA I saw a bumper stick which read, "I like your Christ. But I do not like your Christians, because you do not do what your Christ did." Of course, this is a very poor excuse for any person to not follow Christ and obey his word, if indeed one likes Christ himself. Every now and then a student will talk about the Crusades of medieval times as an example of Christian hypocrisy as an excuse not to have a Bible study. However, we cannot help but accept that the daily actions of Christians has a powerful impact on people and their willing to come to Jesus Christ and the church fellowship or not. This hypocrisy is not about church members or leaders who make mistakes now and then or may falter, but about a general lifestyle that Jesus summed up in the expression, "they do not practice what the preach" (3b). 

This was the case with the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. The result to the people was to be loaded up with heavy loads and yet not receive any help from their leaders and teachers, not even one finger (4). They effectively shut the door to the kingdom of heaven in peoples' faces (13). They produced converts who were "twice" the sons of hell they were. By their influence others were led to be twice the hypocrite, liar, blind fool, and murderer as they were. If you were planning a banquet, you had better thoroughly check how many teachers of the law and Pharisees were coming so that you would not be embarrassed by not having a proper seat prepared for them. Although they were the leaders and teachers over the people, and so the people should rightly listen to them, Jesus taught that the people were not to follow their actions and do what they do. 

Of course, no one will say, “I want to be a hypocrite! I want to be like these Pharisees and teachers of the law!” Then why were the teachers of the law and the Pharisees like this? Look at the beginning of verse 5: "Everything they do is done for men to see..." The key factor is that they were looking for praise and acceptance by men only. So they made their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long that flowed in the wind dramatically and elegantly; they loved to get the places of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; and they loved to be greeted in the marketplaces where everyone can see and hear and be called 'Rabbi'! (5-7) They were not concerned about the people, but about their own appearance before others. They were too busy trying to exalt themselves so that everyone always knew just how important and honorable they were all the time and at any place. 

Here we see a sharp contrast between the teachers of the law and the Pharisees and Jesus. These religious leaders put heavy loads on the people but didn't lift a finger to help move them. Earlier in Matthew's gospel, Jesus said that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Jesus challenged his disciples probably more heavily than the Pharisees did. But one key difference is that Jesus always provided for and empowered his disciples to fulfill the tasks and challenges given to them, being with them to the end. For example, Jesus challenged his disciples to feed a crowd of 5,000 men, not including women and children. He helped them to see that they had five loaves of bread and two small fish. He accepted it, and then used it to feed all the people. In this way, the disciples grew up as men of faith and responsible servants of God whom Jesus entrusted the ministry to. 

There is a common phrase which says, "Do as I say, not as I do." Now Jesus told the people and his disciples that they indeed had to listen to the religious leaders, because they were the leaders who sit in Moses' seat. But they were not to follow their example. These verses show us something very important: our words are not the only way we teach. We teach by our outward actions just as strongly. But the danger is that we crave to be accepted by others, we have a sense of pride and belonging that long to be met. So we see that to go on the right way, we have to know from whom we are to get acceptance and praise from. This leads us to our next point from verses 8-12. 

2. Be humble servants (8-12)

Verses 8-12 tell us whom we are to do everything to get praise and acceptance from: God. Verses 8-10 give us the right perspective by which we are to view ourselves in relation to others. Jesus effectively levels the playing field here, eliminating the basis for competing with others or to exalt oneself over another. We are all brothers under God and Jesus Christ, our Father, Master and Teacher. So, not only are we under the same God, but we are part of a family. And the family is established to love, support, and build each other up.

Look at verses 11-12. Again, Jesus teaches the way of greatness through humility and service. In chapters 17-18, he taught that to be the greatest, one had to become like a little child. In this passage, he teaches further that the greatest will be a servant. So he challenges us even further since a servant is lower than a child. We all have the desire in us to be great, to be exalted and recognized by others. But seeking the most honorable seats, be greeted with fancy titles, and making a show for others to see and 'recognize' us are not the way to true greatness. Some are called Bible teachers, some Bible students, missionaries, shepherds, directors, etc. But we are all brothers and sisters under one God, who is our Father and Master, and one Lord Jesus Christ who is our Teacher. 

Based on today's passage, we are challenged to overcome our desire to exalt ourselves over others. The practical way is to serve others sacrificially, like a true, loving family. I heard a story about a man who worked hard and became a pastor. The next day after being ordained he was asked to clean the bathrooms at the church. He said, "No, I am a pastor now, I don't have to do that low level work anymore." When the senior head pastor heard about this, he showed this man this passage, telling him that you can never graduate from the level of cleaning the bathrooms. The young pastor saw the church fellowship like a corporate ladder. 

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees tried to utilize their position as leaders to exalt themselves. But this passage shows us what a godly leader is. He is a servant. Any leadership position is not a position that elevates, but actually brings down lower than others to make that person a servant. Two good examples are Moses and Joshua. Moses is called, "the servant of the Lord." He was a servant, but in God's eyes he was great and God used him, a humble servant, to lead the people of Israel, teach them God's word and ways, and to take care of them like a shepherd and a mother--even when they were not appreciative of Moses or the Lord. Joshua was under Moses. He was called "Moses' aide." He was a servant of a servant--even lower! In fact, it was not Moses whom God used to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, but Joshua, the servant's servant! But this message is not just for so-called leaders, but for everyone! (1) It is easy to demand service and humility from our leaders, but we must also demand this from ourselves, and that must come first. 

We learn from their examples that service and humility is required so that we all, ourselves and others, can be led to God through Jesus Christ. The word "servant" here is from the Greek word diakonos which means servant and implies a servant like a slave or a waiter waiting on others. And it is from this word that we get the word deacon used in many churches to signify a minister. A servant does not have his own business in mind. He has his master's will in mind and he carries it out fully. We are servants of Christ and he is concerned for his church. Our church fellowship may grow through us lowering ourselves more and more and serving each other as we serve Jesus Christ. It requires self-denial and even humiliation, but that is the mark of true humility. Verses 11-12 epitomize Jesus’ own life, attitude and example. Let’s read Philippians 2:5-11. He became a servant. He lowered himself to the lowest place. As we’ve seen in Matthew’s gospel, he poured out his life in service of others, to heal the sick, to teach the word of God, and to care for his disciples as he planted faith and in them and raised them up. He was obedient even to death on a cross for our sake. But God exalted him to the highest place. 

So when we look at Jesus and imitate him we find true love, humility, service, and greatness. As we look at Jesus, we have confidence in God who is humble and who sees and rewards the humble servant. And then we can be free from our selfish desires to exalt ourselves and to compete with others, free of having to show an outward appearance only to gain peoples’ praise, free of being conscious of positions and titles and numbers. Then the Lord empowers us to serve even the lowest position for the glory of God and with the joy of God. So it is the most blessed way to learn of and imitate Jesus fully. 

3. Woe to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (13-36)

In verses 13-36 Jesus pronounces seven woes to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. But even as he exposed their hypocritical practices, he also gave them a clear direction and warning so that they might turn from their ways. 

Let's look at verses 13-15, the first two woes. Jesus began his public ministry by proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!" (Mat 4:17). But the teachers of the law and the Pharisees promoted the opposite. They closed the door to the kingdom of heaven, hindered others, and from their converts were raised double the sons of hell. It means that they did not repent themselves. So they did not enter the kingdom of heaven nor did they teach others to do so by their own unrepentant lifestyle. They used their energy and resources to continually hound and badger and eventually kill Jesus. Even though they crossed over land and sea, meaning that they sincerely worked hard and sacrificed much, they were opposing God and killing others. Jesus opened the door to the kingdom of heaven, but they were shutting it. 

Look at verses 16-22. In these verses Jesus calls them "blind" three times (blind guides, blind fools, and blind men)! They were blind to God himself who sits on the throne and who dwells in the temple (21-22). What did they see? They focused on the gold and the gifts. Gold and gifts are visible, tangible, quantifiable, and can easily impress others. But God is Spirit and is invisible. But when they did not acknowledge and see God who is living and there, they made themselves and others out to be liars and to diminish the value and purpose of God's temple and God's altar and God's throne. Actually, what was valuable was placed under what was not so valuable--meaning, their value system was inverted when they didn't see God. And then they didn't see the need to be honest and faithful. 

Further, when they didn't see God, they were blind to God's heart through the law, that is, they were blind to the spirit of the law. Look at verses 23-24. They kept the tedious and tiniest requirements of the law in terms of their tithing (offerings). But they neglected justice, mercy and faithfulness. Jesus compared their actions to straining out a gnat but swallowing a camel!  This straining is picture of straining out the little bugs, such as gnats, out of the drinking water. The point is that they paid close attention to these very, very small things but ignored the really big and important things. Why? Spices can be quantified and seen by others. The teachers of the law and the religious leaders can look very sacrificial and religious by these things people can see. But justice, mercy and faithfulness are invisible things and often go unnoticed. They were blind to the things God saw as most important, the things God wanted them to learn and to practice. It means that justice, mercy, and faithfulness are characteristics of God himself and that is the reason why his children must practice these as well. 

Look at verses 25-28. There was another important matter which they were blind to: their true inner condition. They didn't see themselves properly. Here Jesus compared them to their dishes and cups, and decorated tombs: very clean and beautiful on the outside, but dead on the inside and filled with everything unclean. People look at the outside appearance. We do this all the time and judge others. So it is very easy for us to habitually concern ourselves with our outward appearance and to gain peoples' praise and acceptance. But God sees what is inside. He knows what is in a person. It's a sad thing to see that these teachers of the law and Pharisees struggled diligently to present themselves to beautifully and righteous on the outside, but it was not acceptable to God who is the only Judge. It is possible for us to work so hard on the outside and neglect what is inside, where God looks. Jesus gave them a clear direction in verse 26: "First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean." The cleaning tool that God has provided for us is Jesus' word. As we accept it, repent when we hear it, and put it into practice from the heart, Jesus makes us clean. Jesus told his disciples in John 15:3, "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you." It means they had failed to repent. But we have the chance to be sincere and honest before God and not behind outward things. As we come to him just as we are, by faith in Jesus we can experience his cleansing power. 

This reminds us of King David's confession after being exposed of committing adultery and murder. David had looked good outwardly. The kingdom was doing very well. He was successful. But he sinned by committing adultery and then committed murder to try and cover up his adultery. However, God saw his sin and his heart and exposed him through the prophet Nathan. Finally, David confessed before God in sincere repentance, "surely you desire truth in the inner parts" (Psalm 51:6a). He found out first hand that God sees what is inside and it is there he desires us to be clean and truthful before him. We may think that we need the outward things and to get peoples' praise. But those are supplementary things. What matters first is what God sees, which is the inside. God made man, and he made him in his image and likeness. God is holy and pure. So he is looking for these qualities to made and manifested in his children and he cannot be deceived by our outward show. Learning of God and his character and putting those into practice in our daily life is more important than spices. 

Look at verses 29-32. Not only did they look like tombs, but they were good at building them for the servants of God that their forefathers had murdered. When they reviewed their history and how God sent prophets to them, they aligned themselves with those who murdered God's servants. But even then they didn't see that they were sinners too and needed to repent. The result was that they would do worse than their forefathers by murdering Jesus, the very person all the prophets spoke about, the Son of God. Jesus knew this (34). And yet, he still warned them to repent, opening the way for them to be cleansed and forgiven. He would even send his servants to them knowing they would be killed, all for the sake of these Pharisees and teachers of the law. However, it is very clear that unless they repented, they would help accountable for their sins and judged most severely. Look at verses 35-36. All of their efforts to display and present themselves well outwardly and before people were useless in preventing this judgment. Following Jesus' words of warning and repenting was their only way to escape this judgment. It is clear that they really worked hard, but the result was to receive a pronouncement of woe from God. We don’t want to end up like them. We want to hear Jesus say of us, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Mat 25:23). 

4. Gathered to Jesus (37-39)

It is amazing to see that Jesus' heart was filled with sorrow for them and for the people. He is so merciful to those who need mercy. Let's read verses 37-39. Jesus' lament over Jerusalem reveals God's merciful and loving heart. All throughout their history he wanted to gather them together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. The ultimate destination that we are to be led to is Jesus Christ, to come under his wing of care. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees had become so caught in religious activities, in exalting themselves, in getting praise from people, in their outward appearance, but in all these things they missed the real point, the ultimate goal: coming to God through Jesus Christ. God deeply loves his people. Today's passage teaches us the necessity of humbling oneself, repenting and serving others so that all may come to Jesus Christ. May God help us, based on this passage, to earnestly come to Jesus in humility and repentance, being honest before the Lord inside and outside. He is willing. Let's accept his mercy and love today. And may God help us to put into practice his mercy and love. 

One Word: Go to Jesus

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