Stop Being a Jerk!
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever wanted to give someone a piece of your mind? Straight up tell them that they are being a jerk.
Well, I wouldn’t recommend it. Because, when we do that, we are probably being a jerk also. It’s the whole, when you point three fingers are pointing back at you. Which is why, when I was a teen I taught myself to point with my whole hand.
We get caught up in thinking about everyone else, and we don’t realize how much we suffer from the things that we get so up tight about. As in, we do the very same thing.
We are hypocrites.
And Jesus didn’t have very many nice things to say about hypocrites.
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
In this passage, we are going to see that the religious leaders provided deception and Jesus provided truth. Then we are going to ask the question, which are we?
Will you pray with me?
A. The Religious Leaders Provided Deception
A. The Religious Leaders Provided Deception
The religious leaders provided deception.
A. Based on Scripture
A. Based on Scripture
This deception they provided was based on Scripture.
Often times, we think of lies as devoid of truth. But the religious leaders were crafty, they based their teaching off of points of doctrine.
You could follow what they said, but what they did… not so much.
Jesus said:
So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
It’s the whole dad: do what I say, but not what I do, because the parent isn’t willing to change.
The Pharisees knew their Scripture. They knew the smallest strokes in it. They were able to say that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. They knew the significance of the tithing laws and the purification rites.
But, know those things provided a way for them to deceive. Their knowledge caused others to start following not just what they said, but also what they did.
B. Boosted by Pride
B. Boosted by Pride
This deception was boosted by pride.
Jesus pointed his finger at them as said:
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
Their focus wasn’t on advancing the worship of God or the holiness of the followers of God. Their focus was on increasing their reputation.
They wanted to be liked. They wanted to be looked up to. They wanted to have the spotlight.
This pride blinded them to their own faults and increased their oversight of those following their teaching.
They took the plain truths of Scriptures and instead of applying these truths to their lives, they began twisting them so that people would have to keep coming back to know how to live properly.
They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Even more than that, their focus on scripture and what they were going to apply was all wrong.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
They were focused on whatever one else was doing wrong, but not themselves.
C. Barricading Eternal Life
C. Barricading Eternal Life
This deception barricaded the world to eternal life.
Jesus said rather blatantly:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
He continued in verse 15
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
In their pride, in their twisting of Scripture, they stopped pursuing God and then they started actively warring against God. They caused those who followed them to do so as well.
We see this graphically illustrated in a few days as the religious leaders stir up the crowd in the early morning to demand that Pilate kill Jesus. Again and again, louder and louder, the religious leaders push the crowd to a screaming frenzy: crucify him!
I don’t think the religious leaders began their ministry expecting to kill the Messiah. They probably wanted to make a difference. But, along the way, they lost focus, became hypocrites, and provided deception to everyone who would hear.
2. Jesus Provides Truth
2. Jesus Provides Truth
In contrast to the Pharisees, Jesus stood and boldly proclaimed the truth.
While the Pharisees provided deception based upon Scripture. Jesus is the living word.
A. The Living Word
A. The Living Word
As he is proclaiming the sins of the Pharisees and religious leaders, he declares that the blood of all the prophets from Genesis to 2 Chronicles, the first and last books in the Hebrew Bible, are on their shoulders. He tells them:
Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
He declares himself to be the one who sends those prophets, sages, and teachers. God is the one who sends such as these. God is the one who sent Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, all of them to Zechariah and finally to John.
Jesus, by declaring that he is the one who sent the prophets, is declaring that he is God, the source of the prophets message. He is the one who holds absolute truth, who will never lead anyone astray.
When he says something, we know that it is true.
As John proclaims at the beginning of his Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus proclaimed the truth by being the truth.
B. The Humble Servant
B. The Humble Servant
While the Pharisees’ deception was boosted by pride, Jesus was the humble servant
As has been declared over and over, Jesus came, the King, as a servant, to provide what was needed for his creation.
He gave those listening to him a taste of that, when he mourned over them.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
He reaches out to his enemies, those who were actively working against him, and showed them love, saying that he yearned to provide what they were desperately needing, but they refused.
When chicks need warmth, during cold weather, during cooler nights, the hen will gather her chicks under her to provide necessary warmth. When danger comes, the hen will cluck lift up her wings and gather her chicks to provide protection.
Jesus offers to provide spiritual warmth in a land of death, to bring life to cold bodies. When the devil is trying to steal, kill, and destroy, Jesus offers protection, protection against the schemes of the devil, protection against the horrors of our own sin. And he cemented this offering by dying on the cross for our sins.
Jesus proclaims truth by being the humble servant.
C. The Way of Blessing
C. The Way of Blessing
While the Pharisees barricaded everyone to eternal life, Jesus provides the way of blessing.
He finished his speech with this cry:
For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Sadly, the religious leaders are very familiar with this cry. Jesus just entered Jerusalem to this cry as so many people proclaimed
The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
But the religious leaders tried to stop the cries, tried to get Jesus to disavow what they were saying.
But he couldn’t. Because is the king and those who follow the king, who come in his name, are blessed.
How are they blessed?
Well, they receive forgiveness. All their sins were nailed to the cross. God, the creator and judge, looks at them and doesn’t see sin anymore.
They receive fellowship. Because their sins are removed, they can have a relationship with their creator again, a relationship that bring joy, peace, hope, love, true life.
They receive a future. This life that is offered starts at the moment of faith and lasts for all eternity.
Jesus proclaims truth by being the way of blessing
3. Application
3. Application
Well, what does this have to do with us?
Well, first, do you have the life that Jesus offers?
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
When he said it, he was speaking truth. No other faith can offer eternity, a relationship with our creator, complete forgiveness of our sins.
He proclaimed this through his sermons. He proved it by his life and death. and so many have reaped his blessing by following him.
Are you doing this?
Second, if you are, is your focus on him or has it strayed to yourself and your impact on others.
We as Christians can so easily stray to the way of the Pharisees rather than the way of Christ.
We know that he is the Living Word, the Humble Servant, the Way of Blessing, but instead of reflecting him to others, we start reflecting the image that we want on others.
There is a good Christmas movie that came out last year: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
The synopsis of the movie is:
“The Herdmans are six siblings who have a reputation for being the worst kids in the world. However, when they take over the local church pageant during the holidays, they just might teach a shocked community the true meaning of Christmas.”
The church didn’t want them part of the play, because they were going to ruin it. The kids don’t have the reputation, the manners, the good Christian aura. And the church members start griping and complaining.
As people who were supposed to reflect Christ, they instead twisted the teaching of Scripture, tried to boost their pride, and took steps to barricade the Herdman’s from eternity.
Do we do this?
Do we care more about outward actions than about heart issues like Justice, mercy, and faithfulness? Do we exult the teaching of men, whether someone else’s or our own, whether new or old, above the Word of God?
Do we fudge on the things we care about, or how we present ourselves, in order to change people’s viewpoint of us?
Do we care more about what people think about us than about what they think about God?
In short, are we a hypocrite like the Pharisees?
If you look at yourself and you see some elements of that hypocrisy, how do you change?
By focusing on Christ and trying to imitate him.
Spend time studying the Bible and telling people what it actually says, instead of what you think it says. That way, you can introduce people to the Living Word, instead of yourself.
Seek ways to reflect Jesus as the servant, humbling yourself instead of boosting your pride. Apologizing, confessing, serving.
Continually come back to the Gospel and the blessings that come from it. Know nothing except Christ and him crucified. That way, we lead people to the Way of Blessing, instead of keeping them from it.
Instead of getting all uptight about someone who is doing what we have been doing, we tell them about Christ.
