The Eight Woes Part I

Matthew 23:1-22

Matthew 23:1–22 NASB95

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 observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. “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. “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. “But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. “Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. “But the greatest among you shall be your servant. “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ “You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? “Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. “And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. “And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

Big Idea

As God's people we are his representatives , when we don't represent him well there are consequences.

Introduction

When you become a Christian you are adopted into a family. As is the case with any family in order for the family to function everyone has to do their part. Everyone has to take on their role and their responsibility. One Responsibility that Christians have is to represent the family of God well. One of the things that my grandmother used to always say to teenage me was remember you are a member of the Ruff family. Make sure that you represent the family well. I remembered that message when I joined the military and they drilled into our heads, when you have on the uniform you represent the United States of America , make sure that you represent us well. Then I came into vocational ministry , and i started wearing a clergy shirt and collar. There are two reasons for me doing this. First I don't feel like trying to figure out what I'm going to wear on Sunday. The second reason is that when I wear the clergy shirt and collar I am making a statement about who I am. It doesn't allow me to hide the fact that I'm a Christian, so it makes me more aware of who I represent . In ancient times God's representatives were the people of Israel . As we examine the text today we're going to see what happens when we don't represent God well . The main point that we want to pull from this text, the big idea is this, As God's people we are his representatives , when we don't represent him well there are consequences.

Chair of Moses

Like any family we have family leaders. In the Christian family there are people who take on the role of leadership . In the time of ancient Israel those leaders were the scribes , the Sadducee, and the pharisees . In our text today we see Jesus addressing the scribes and the Pharisees. In the beginning of our text we see Jesus addressing the position of leadership that the scribes and the Pharisees have.

1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses;

To say that the Scribes and the Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses is to say that they hold a place of authority over the people. They are able to sit in judgment over the people . Jesus is also saying this because the Pharisees and the Scribes have a great responsibility. Now it's important to focus on the responsibility that they have, because it is the misuse of their power and authority and the lack of responsibility that Jesus is going to be speaking against. The scribes and the Pharisees are the leaders of God's people . They are called to represent God's people well. They aren't going to do that and there will be consequences.

Hypocrisy

Jesus starts by speaking to the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees.

The New International Version (Chapter 23)

3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. 4 “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.

Jesus tells the people to watch and listen. He wants them to do what the hypocrites say, but not to do what they do. Listen to the hypocrites but do not to be like the hypocrites . What the leaders are teaching is correct . The problem is that they are not behaving in the way that they are telling others to behave. Beyond that they added to the law. The things they added were so burdensome that the people could not possibly live by what the scribes and the Pharisees placed on them , and these men have no desire to try to help them or to try to live by the heavy laws that they have placed on the people .

They are being hypocrites, but Jesus doesn't say to ignore the scribes and Pharisees he tells the people listen to what they're saying just don't be like them .

Question

Now some may say why in the world should I listen to a hypocrite? What could I possibly learn from a hypocrite ?

The answer to that question is, you can learn quite a bit. Just because someone is hypocrite does not mean that they don't have knowledge, in fact they might have a great deal of knowledge. In the text it isn't that the scribes and the Pharisees don't know what to do. They know exactly what to do, they just choose not to do it. So the scribes and the Pharisees have knowledge , and they are the leaders of the community, and Jesus says to do what they say. He says to do everything they say. but do not do what they do.

Illustration

When I was in high school I played football. After every game the mothers of the football players would get together and prepare meals for the team . One particular meal the vegetable dishes were broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and string beans. One of the coaches stood at the end of the table and as the players were getting their food he made sure that each player got at least one spoonful of broccoli , one spoonful of Brussels sprouts, and one spoonful of string beans. He then watched to make sure that each player ate all their vegetables. The one thing that we all noticed is that this particular coach did not have any Brussels sprouts , broccoli, or string Beans. In fact he didn't eat much of the dinner at all, but we did notice that he helped himself to two pieces of cake. He made us eat our vegetables, this was a good thing, but he didn’t do what he told us to do. He didn’t eat his vegetables, but he did eat two pieces of cake. By listening to him we were reminded of what we should do, by observing him we saw what we should not do.

Question & application

So another question that might come up is how does one guard against becoming a hypocrite like the teachers of the law and the Pharisees

Jesus gives us the application. He gives us examples of what not to do and then he tells us why not to do it . Let's look at verses 5-12.

5 “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. 8 “But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 “Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. 11 “But the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Here Jesus points out that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees do everything that they do out of pride . They do these things because of how it makes them look to others . They want to have the titles . They want to be called rabbi, they want to be called father (Now I should point out that when Jesus is saying in the text that no one should be called father he's addressing the honorary title that was commonly used for teachers back then) So what he's saying is that the Pharisees aren't doing what is right because it's right they're doing it because of what they can get from it .

The way that we guards against hypocrisy , is to guard against pride, And how do we guard against pride , with humility . Let's go back to the very first sermon about church discourse. Jesus brings a little child into the midst of the people he's teaching and says unless you become like little children you cannot enter into heaven. What did we learn about little children? In order to become like little children we must be curious, we must be humble, and we must be dependent on God . Over the past several weeks humility has come up over and over. Humility allows us to guard against pride which can lead to the hypocrisy. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were not humble, they were prideful . They did not do the right thing because it was right, When they did what was right they did it because of what they could get for doing the right thing. To guard against pridfulness, to guard against hypocrisy be humble.

Jesus points out that Those who exalt themselves will be humbled , and those who are humble will be exalted.

The Eight Woes

After Jesus explains the responsibility of the teachers and the Pharisees and he tells the people to listen to the teachers but don't do what they do he moves into pronouncing eight woes on the scribes and Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Today we're going to examine the first four of those woes .

Blocking the Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 23:13–14 (NASB95)

13“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

A woe is something that causes grief and distress, so when Jesus says woe to the scribes and Pharisees, he is denouncing what they are doing and saying that what they are doing will bring them and others grief and distress. Remember As God's people we are his representatives , when we don't represent him well there are consequences. Now we are going to start to see some of the consequences of not representing God as we should.

The first woe that Jesus pronounces over the scribes and the Pharisees is that they are blocking the Kingdom of heaven . He says look you all don't even try to get into the Kingdom of heaven.

The main issue here is that though these scribes and Pharisees are not doing what they should do to enter the Kingdom of heaven they are blocking the way for other people to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus says to them “ you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” In other words these men have no intention of going in but they also stand in front of the door and block the door so no one else can go in. The consequence is that it is harder for people to see and enter the kingdom.

Lack of Compassion & Greed

14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

As leaders within the community the scribes and the Pharisees were supposed to see to the needs of the widows, But they were not doing that . When Jesus said They devour widow's houses he was saying that not only did they not take care of the widows, they took advantage of the widows, and in order to look pious they would pray long prayers as if they were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Because they have not taken care of the widows, because they have taken advantage of the widows, and because they are trying to keep up appearances their condemnation will be greater.

Illustration

In the legal system there is a thing called mitigating factors and aggravating factors. So a person is found guilty of a crime and it's time for sentencing, mitigating factors are those things that the judge or the jury can take into consideration that will lessen the sentence. For instance you have been found guilty of stealing . You were stealing food from the supermarket and it is found that you have a hungry child at home . You are guilty of stealing but the fact that you have the hungry child at home might be a mitigating factor that lessens your sentence . Aggravating factors are those things that can cause your sentence to be increased, for instance you're standing before the judge and You have been found guilty of stealing and the judge realizes when he looks at your record that you are a repeat offender. You have done this several times . Not only have you done this several times, you have robbed this particular store several times . That would be an aggravating factor which could cause your sentence to be increased .

When we look at what Jesus is saying to the scribes and the pharisees we see men who have been found guilty and who are going to have to endure a greater sentence because of some aggravating factors. Jesus says “ woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites , because you devour widows houses.” now in this example the scribes and the Pharisees have been found guilty of devouring the widow's houses they have not done for the widows the things that they were supposed to do and not only that they have taken advantage of the widows so they're guilty. But Jesus then goes on to say “ and for a pretense you make long prayers; Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. So not only are these scribes and Pharisees not doing what they're supposed to do for the widows, they are taking from the widows. And then they're doing these long prayers in order to make it look like they are pious and doing exactly what God has called them to do The fake piousness is an aggravating factor that is going to make the sentence even harsher and so that is what Jesus is saying when he says you will receive greater condemnation. You're guilty and then there's this aggravating factors of you stealing from the widows and then trying to look so pious within the public.

Application

Whatever it is that God has called for you to do, do it , and do it for real , don't pretend to do it, don't make it look like you're doing it. Whatever that thing is that God has called you to do, do It so that there's no need to worry about guilt , and if there's no need to worry about guilt there's no need to worry about aggravating factors.

Misleading Converts

Matthew 23:15 (NASB95)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

A proselyte is a convert. Jesus is saying that these scribes and Pharisees will travel all over , and go through a great deal just to make one convert . The problem is that when they make that one convert the convert is not a convert to God, But they are convert for the devil . In fact Jesus says that when they make a convert the convert becomes closer to the devil than even they are .

We have to be careful who we study with and study under. We have to remember that everyone who calls themselves a Christian is not a Christian . Everyone who calls upon the name of Jesus isn't someone that believes in the power of Jesus . They may not truly grasp Jesus as Messiah, Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus as the son of God. And there are those who are false teachers and they know that they're false teachers , they know that they are deceiving God's people and they don't care. I think many of the pharisee and scribes probably thought that they were doing the right thing, but they allowed pride, power, and prestige to shade the way that they saw the world . So Jesus says woe unto them.

Not Knowing What is Important

Matthew 23:16–22 (NASB95)

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ “You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? “Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. “And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. “And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

Now Jesus addresses the scribes and the Pharisees lack of attention to the things which are important. When I examine this woe there are two things that I believe are happening here. The 1st and most obvious is greed. If you look at what the scribes and the pharisees are saying is important, it is those things that are valuable to them. The gold is valuable . The animals that are being offered up are valuable, So you can see that by placing an emphasis on the gold and the offering the scribes and Pharisees are showing their greed. The second thing I think is happening is that those things that are important to us are not what is important to God. The gold is important to us it's a currency it's a way of doing business but Jesus is pointing out that the gold is for the temple and the temple is the place where God dwells. Jesus points out that the altar has been sanctified it is the altar that sanctifies the offering. You couldn't grab any animal and offer it anywhere, it had to be offered on the altar. This woe reminds us that sometimes our priorities are not in line with God's priorities and we need to make sure that when that happens that we shift our priorities so that our priorities are in line with God's priorities.

Recap & Application

Now to this point the question that may come up is, what do i do with this information? Well I'm glad that you asked. First we have to be willing to listening to the wise counsel, from people who may not be that wise . Sometimes God may put a fool into your life to speak wisdom into your life . The pharisees and scribes were the religious leaders of the people , and the first thing that Jesus tells the people is to listen to their leaders. He says don't do what they do , because what they do is not correct , but do as they say . That can be a hard lesson to take in when we are listening to things that we know are true. Things that we know are wise . But the person who is giving us the information is not attempting to live in the way that they talk, and they're not wise. even with these people when they are giving wise instruction we should listen.

The next thing that Jesus wants us to do is to guard against pridefulness . Most of what the Pharisees did they did to be seen. They did it so that they could be honored by men . Jesus tells us that if our goal is to be honored by men then when we receive that honor, we've gotten our reward. There's no other reward waiting. So we need to guard against pridefulness. We guard against pridefulness with humility .

From here Jesus goes into the woes. Blocking the Kingdom of heaven, lack of compassion and greed, misleading converts, and not knowing what is important. And I think what we are to learn from the woes is this is exactly what not to do .

With the first woe blocking the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus points out that the pharisees aren't trying to get into the kingdom and they're blocking the way for anyone else to get into the kingdom. Now I'm going to assume that most if not all of us here want to enter the kingdom of heaven. We need to make sure that we are doing everything within our power to help to usher people into the kingdom of God. Not only do we not want to block the way we want to help people in.

With the second woe lack of compassion and greed,Jesus points out how the scribes and the Pharisees are not doing what they have been called to do , they are doing the opposite of what they are called to do. and are guilty, and they're going to receive greater condemnation because of the aggravating factor of stealing from the widows and then pretending they are so holy. For us Jesus is basically saying don't do this. Show love and compassion to those in nee. if you can help, also remember that all of us have a calling . Whatever your calling is do it, don't fake it for the sake of praise.

With the third woe Misleading converts , Jesus points out that these men are willing to cross land and sea to Convert one person , but that one person they convert ends up closer to hell than they are . The message here for us is clear . We are called to evangelize , but in so doing we must make sure that we are open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and we do not mislead people. Because here's the difference between what the scribes and Pharisees were doing and what we do. We show and tell. We show people Jesus in the way that we live , and we tell people about Jesus. The Holy Spirit does the rest of the work. If we understand this then we don't have to worry about falling into the trap of misleading people because we are allowing the Holy Spirit to do his work . It's not about us , it's about him.

In the next woe, Not knowing what is important the scribes and the Pharisees focused on those things that are important to the people of the world, not what is important to God. God wants us to be focused on him, he wants us to be in alignment with him so if we find that we have things in our lives that we value that are not of value to God we need to make sure that the thing we value does not interfere with our relationship with God.

Conclusion

Most bibles put the words of Jesus in red letters . Almost our entire reading for today's sermon is in red letters . These are the words of Jesus . These are the direct teachings of Jesus . Let us learn from his teachings, let us go out an attempt to live his teachings, As God's people we are his representatives , when we don't represent him well there are consequences. Let's live the way that God wants us to live. Lets represent him well.