Discerning Fake Leaders Matthew 23:1-12

Intro

I don’t get political in the pulpit on purpose

But the one guy who irritates me more than everyone else is our governor

Just this week it was reported that 700K people left in last two years

Yet he is in Washington lobbying to be president by proclaiming California is the model for the country

No one can afford a home, homelessness is the real pandemic, and schools are no longer about education but America should be like us

He is a fake leader

Everything he does is for the attention of the media

He has a small circle of people around him telling him that he is right, while the vast majority can’t stand the guy

Yet somehow he will be in serious contention to be the president one day and people will vote for him

As Christians, we need to be able to discern fake leaders, especially in the church

Jesus shows us several signs of fake leaders and how we should respond

This is some great application as we move forward in these crazy times

Read Matthew 23:1-5

Transition:

All the questions are done

He has put the naysayers to shame

Now he is going to use the rest of his time between now and the last supper to teach the people

Matthew 23 records Jesus’ last public sermon.

It was not a sermon on salvation, on the resurrection, or on principles for living the kingdom life but rather a vital and sobering message of condemnation against false teachers.

Jesus deals with the hypocritical leaders

Then he talks about end times

Finally he shares some well known parables

The next several weeks are going to be rich

I encourage you to be hear and bring your Bible, and journal, and a pen

Preach but Don’t Practice vs. 1-3

He starts our by warning the crowds about the spiritual leaders

The initial characteristic describing false religious leaders is lack of divine authority.

The key to our Lord’s point is the fact that the scribes and Pharisees had seated themselves.

The ESV doesn’t say it but the NASB does

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 23

saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses

They were not appointed by God to sit in the chair of Moses and had not even been elected by the people.

They had simply appointed themselves that position of authority

False leaders have been around since the beginning of time

Paul called them preachers of a perverted gospel

John called them antichrists who deny that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ

1 John 2:22 ESV

Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

The first instruction Jesus gives is to bey their teaching if it is in accordance with the law

vs. 3a Obey their teaching

Jesus obviously was not speaking comprehensively of the lies and errors they taught but only of their instructions that conformed to Scripture.

He had made clear that the righteousness acceptable to God must exceed the hypocritical, works-oriented self-righteousness

We are to obey Biblical teaching, even if the teacher is lacking integrity

Malachi 2:7 ESV

For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

Too many Christians ignore teaching and use the hypocrisy as an excuse

How many times have you heard someone say they don’t go to church because of the hypocrites?

Next time ask them if they are still sitting under Biblical teaching and obeying Scripture

vs. 3b Ignore their works

When the scribes and Pharisees did occasionally teach God’s truth, they did not obey it themselves.

False religious leaders are characterized by lack of integrity, hypocritically demanding of others many things they never do themselves.

The unbelieving religious leaders did not have the ability to keep God’s law even had they genuinely wanted to, because they possessed no spiritual resources to make such obedience possible.

Being unredeemed, they lived only in the flesh and by the flesh’s power, and the flesh is not capable of fulfilling God’s law

Only the new person in Christ can “joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man” (Rom. 7:22), and

only the redeemed life, the life “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph. 2:10) is able to do good works.

How many times over the last three years have politicians gone on TV to demand things like masks and vaccine’s only to be found breaking the exact same rule

Our notorious governor leads that pack

Shut down schools while keeping his in Private schools

Requiring outdoor dining then found dining inside

It goes on and on

The false religious leader tries, often unsuccessfully, to put a cap on his wicked behavior to keep it out of view, but in so doing he merely traps it underneath the surface, where it festers, putrefies, and becomes still more corrupt.

Jesus tells us not to follow in their footsteps

We are held to a standard of living

Using someone as an excuse for your behavior doesn’t fly

Signs of Fraud vs. 4-7

How do you know if someone is a fake leader?

Jesus shows us three signs

There is more in this section but these are the three themes

vs. 4 Pile on Unbearable Burdens

The first theme is unrealistic expectations

Have you ever seen those redneck pictures of someone loading a ton of lumber in a car not meant to carry it

Or maybe the picture of a truck in a third world country that looks like it is going to tip over because the stuff on it is piled too high

A fake leader will demand more of his followers than he does of himself

What makes it worse is that they lack sympathy

We’ve all had bosses like this

Their really good at demanding work from you but never seemed to follow through on their end

The worst one would twist it to make it your fault

Acts 15:10 ESV

Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

When the people failed to keep all of the requirements, as they were doomed to do, they were chided and rebuked by the leaders, who thereby added the burden of guilt to those of weariness and frustration.

The people were taught that it was only by their own good works they could please God.

If at the end of life the good works outweighed the bad, then God would grant entrance into heaven.

But the scribes and Pharisees offered the people no help in achieving even those fleshly goals, much less any spiritual ones.

The good news that Jesus brought, on the other hand, was that He would take away the load of sin that always outweighed their good works.

vs. 5 Do Deeds to be Seen

The Jewish religious leaders paraded their piety everywhere they went.

The center of their living was “practicing [their] righteousness before Men to be noticed by them

The motivation for all their pretentious religious activities and deeds is to be noticed by men.

Everything is done for outward show rather than from the heart, for fleshly gratification of ego rather than selfless service to God

Matthew 6:1 ESV

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Four times in the Pentateuch (Ex. 13:9, 16; Deut. 6:8; 11:18) the Lord commanded that His law was to be upon the hands and foreheads of His people as a reminder of Him.

The ancient Jews understood that command as it was given, not to be taken literally but as symbolic of God’s law

As the centuries passed, many Jews came to look it turned from making God dominant in their lives to making themselves dominant in the eyes of their fellow Jews

vs. 6-7 Love Attention

The scribes and Pharisees loved the place of honor at banquets.

They vied with each other for a place at the host’s table in order to be in the center of attention.

They especially loved the formal and respectful title Rabbi, which was used in that day much as “doctor” is today.

In fact, the Latin equivalent of rabbi comes from docēre, which means to teach and is the term from which the English word doctor is derived

Cultivate Authenticity vs. 8-12

Jesus declares, true spiritual leaders are to avoid elevated titles and be willing to accept lowly service.

vs. 8-10 Strive for Unity

Human teachers, including the apostles whom Jesus addressed on this occasion, are all brothers with every other believer.

No man’s calling, however unique, justifies his being given a title intended to portray him as being spiritually superior.

Ephesians 4:1–3 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The Lord went on to command, “Do not call anyone on earth your father.”

Jesus was of course using the sense of spiritual father, indicating a superior spiritual position

In direct contradiction of Jesus’ prohibition, the Roman Catholic Church and even some formal Protestant churches use the term father as an official form of address for their clergy.

Even the titles abbot and pope are forms of father.

The title of Father in a spiritual sense is to be reserved for God, who alone is the source of all spiritual life and blessing.

To call any human being by that name is a clear violation of Scripture.

vs. 11 Be a Servant

t Godly leaders not only avoid elevated titles but also willingly accept lowly service in their Lord’s name, following their Lord’s example

Matthew 20:25–26 ESV

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,

vs. 12 Humble Yourself

Micah 6:8 ESV

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?