Sermon Tone Analysis
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Scripture Reading
Introduction
What is true wealth, and how is it measured?
What is of greatest value, and how will you be able to tell where you are placing your emphasis in terms of that which is truly of value.
Do you possess true wealth that will endure into eternity?
These are the kinds of questions that need to be addressed through this passage before us this morning.
Keep in mind that Jesus is still in the temple, at the time of the Passover.
This was a time of great jubilation and excitement.
The Jewish people would travel far to go up to Jerusalem for this great gathering that would take place for the observance of the Passover Meal, the sacrificing of the Passover Lamb.
It was a time of remembering God’s goodness.
It was a time of sacrifice of animals.
It was a time for giving monetary gifts to the temple.
That is what was happening around this time.
Men, women and children were gathered in their number.
But this particular Passover gathering was also the time where there was great tension.
The hatred towards Jesus was at an all-time high.
If anything, that had been escalated by the religious leaders’ failure to trap Jesus in a number of questions that they had posed to him.
To add further injury to their pride, Jesus had posed a question of his own about David calling his descendant Lord.
And they were silenced.
Tension was running high!!
It’s this situation of great tension that Jesus uses to teach on the spiritual depravity of the religious leaders, and the comparative spiritual wealth of someone who was really frowned upon and disdained in society.
One of the important truths that flows out of this text is that God’s standard of measurement is often far different from man’s.
In the words of 1 Samuel 16:7
1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV84)
7 ...The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
That is precisely what we find being brought to the fore through these two encounters that Luke places back-to-back in his Gospel.
As we look at this text, we need to be applying this to ourselves, and asking asking ourselves as Christians, “What does God think about my heart.”
When he looks into my heart, what does He see.
It’s not about what the world around me sees, or what the people at church see, or what my colleagues at work see.
Rather, it is about what God sees.
With that in mind, notice firstly…
1.
A Heart for the Praise of Man (20:45-47)
Following this round of questioning, Jesus begins to address his disciples.
He begins with a warning to them.
1.1.
The Warning (vv.45-46a)
In verses 45-46 we read…
Luke 20:45–46 (NIV84)
45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the teachers of the law....
Notice the important information that is pointed out here.
Firstly, all the people were listening.
And there was a throng, a great crowd of Passover observers, that were in the temple courts, and had been listening to Jesus and the religious leaders in their engagements and questions.
I think it’s safe to say that Jesus was the center of attention in this moment, whatever the motivations were for people listening to him.
But we also see that Jesus particularly addresses his disciples at this point.
I’m not going to argue here for who these disciples were that are referred to - if it was limited to the twelve, or to a wider group of disciples.
But the fact is there is a distinction made by Luke.
Jesus was giving a warning to His true followers, but in the presence of a wider audience.
I would suggest that this wider audience included Scribes, Pharisees and other religious leaders.
What’s really important to see here is that Jesus warns his disciples against the Scribes.
He sounds a clear warning against them.
He tells them to beware of the Scribes!!
I believe that this would more broadly apply to all of the religious leaders that were committing sins very similar to those of the Scribes.
What were those sins?
The rest of verse 46 gives the reason for the warning…
1.2.
The Sins (v.46b)
Luke 20:46 (NIV84)
46 “...They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
Jesus outlines a number of examples of the things that these religious leaders enjoyed doing as part of their lives, with all of them telling the story of a particular heart reality.
Flowing Robes...
“They like to walk around in flowing robes....”
These robes that were worn by the Scribes were designed to be flashy and prominent.
They were designed with the express purpose of showing to those around the Scribes that they were important.
Notice the words of Matthew 23:5…
As the Scribes would walk around, they would be sure to walk in a manner to demonstrate to the ordinary people that they were important and worthy of respect.
But excessively so!!
Greetings in the marketplaces
Next, we read that they “…love to be greeted in the marketplaces...”
Now, this obviously doesn’t speak about your usual friendly greetings that everyone would do as a common courtesy.
The greetings that Jesus refers to here were a greeting of respect when the people in the marketplace recognized their status as Rabbi.
They wanted the honor from the people.
They wanted to be esteemed by the people, and one of the ways that they could receive this was as they walked through the market-place with their robes, and the people all greeted them with an honorific greeting.
They were receiving these greetings of honor, and in doing so were being puffed up in their own minds.
They loved the attention and the adulation.
Now, we must understand that they would have simply believed that they’d earned this respect and honor through their hard work, and their diligent study of God’s Word.
But their hearts were deceived.
They were loving the attention they received, and more concerned about receiving this attention than with giving glory to God, and showing love and mercy to the people.
Important seats in the synagogues
Further to this, “they love to...have the most important seats in the synagogues...”
In the synagogues of that day, there would be seats in front of the raised synagogue platform on which stood the prayer leader or the person reading the Scriptures.
These seats were placed close by to this platform, and would face the gathered assembly.
Being seated in these seats, they would be in closest proximity to the person leading the Scripture reading or prayer.
And they would be seated watching the attendees, and having the gathered assembly see them there.
Simply being taken to such a seat would convey a sense of honor and importance.
Now, we need to understand that they had this love for that position.
It was a place of honor, and their hearts loved it.
They loved the people watching them.
Places of honor at banquets
A similar thing was true of them as they would attend banquets.
Jesus explains that they "love...the places of honor at banquets.”
We’ve already seen Jesus addressing this in a practical sense in Luke 14:7-8
The fact was that these Scribes and religious leaders sought out honor and praise from others.
When a banquet was arranged, they would want to get to the important seats.
This was their goal.
They wanted to be seen as those who are important, notable.
Their hearts were filled with pride in this sense.
As we look to verse 47, we find two further things that marked the lives of the Scribes.
They Devour Widows Houses
At the beginning of verse 47 we read that “They devour widows’ houses...”
There are no specifics given in terms of how they would do this.
There are a few possibilities in terms of what Jesus was referring to here.
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