The High Call Of Kingdom Character

Secular -

A man was walking through a cemetery and saw a tombstone that read: "Here lies a politician and an honest man."

He scratched his head, looked at the grave, and said to his friend, "I didn't know they were allowed to bury two people in the same grave!"

Historical/Cultural Context -

This Gospel is written by Matthew, also known as Levi who was a former tax collector. It was most likely written between AD 50-60. Matthew left everything behind to follow Jesus. Matthew wrote primarily to Jewish believers—people who knew the Old Testament well. Matthew had one goal: to prove that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the King of Kings, and the fulfillment of God’s promises. Connecting the Old Testament prophecies to the life of Christ, proving that every word God spoke was coming true in Jesus. The key themes of the Gospel include Jesus as King, The Kingdom of Heaven, Fulfillment of Prophecy and discipleship.

Biblical Text -

Matthew 23:1–36 NKJV

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - God is more concerned with the purity of the heart than the polish of the performance.

Life Point- Servanthood Matters

Exegetical -

Matthew 23:1–12 BSB

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples: “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues, the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed. 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 your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Homiletical -

So Jesus was previously talking to the scribes and Pharisees and now turns to the crowd that is around Him and the disciples and is about to give His thoughts that will really make the Pharisees mad.

The first thing we have to understand here is that there is a difference between the office and the person who occupies the office.

Scripture states that the scribes and Pharisees are in Moses’ seat.

Meaning in the seat or office of teacher. Those that teach or rule over them.

He starts by saying they are teaching the law of Moses and to do what the law says, but don’t take their example as the example to live by. Because they aren’t even trying to practice what they preach.

Then He says why this is so by pointing out their hypocrisy.

They load people down with things they must do, works they must do, though it is not in scripture but they won’t help them do it. They don’t follow what they preach. Like at all.

They do not do works for God, but for the acclaim that they receive from man.

It says they broaden their phylacteries.

These are small boxes that would be carried by orthodox Jews and in them would be parchment written in Hebrew scripture that they would pray. This is still practiced today. The Pharisees would go beyond the standard 4 scriptures that everyone would carry and write much more than anyone else so that they would be seen in a certain light.

Their egos are stroked when they are honored. There is nothing wrong with honoring someone, but when that someone seeks it out and it gives them the big head. Then there is a problem.

They love being called Rabbi because it was a status symbol for them. It again puffed them up made them think of themselves more highly than they ought. Rabbi simply means teacher by the way.

When Jesus says you don’t be called rabbi He is meaning don’t be like them with the big egos

Matthew 20:26–28 NKJV

Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus came to serve. He wants all leaders to be servant leaders. Serve in your capacity that God has granted you. Serve in the way God has gifted you so that the body can be complete. Do not lord it over others.

This concept is through the scriptures and is what Jesus is getting at here.

Just because someone is a pastor, elder, deacon, whatever doesn’t make them automatically have a big ego or a big head if they come with the idea that they are servants. This is the way it should be in all areas of life. Whether it is the church, government, career, or family.

I was talking with someone about something different and they were telling me every time they started to get the big head or their ego was getting a little too big for their britches, God would usually allow something to happen to bring them down to size.

I don’t know of a single person who has been seeking God, and that is the key right there, who has not had this experience. Where God knocks you down a peg or two that you stay humble.

People in the world will tell you to seek power and authority, but the kingdom mindset is one of servanthood. It is inverted. It is different than the world.

If you want to be "big,” You have the wrong mindset. You have to learn how to be "small.”. True leadership isn't about how many people serve you, but how many people you are willing to serve.

Life Point - Character Matters

Exegetical -

Matthew 23:13–26 BSB

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred? So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the One who sits on it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier 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, scribes 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, so that the outside may become clean as well.

Homiletical -

Now we get to the seatbelt verses for the scribes and Pharisees.

These are like if you are in a roller coaster you need to hang on and get through it. But unlike a roller coaster these will convict them and us as we move through life.

Woe to them because instead of helping people enter the kingdom they end up turning people away.

Woe to them for those seeking God who want to be apart of the kingdom end up under such legalism that they miss the point entirely and end up worse than the Pharisees.

Legalism, or the practice of adding rules to your life that they Bible doesn’t teach, becomes so pervasive with people that they lose the joy of salvation.

You know some churches say women must were dresses, must not wear jewelry, and must not wear makeup. A preacher was asked one time if he thought women should wear makeup. His answer, it depends, does she need it?

Jesus points out that they try to find ways to circumvent the spirit of the law. By making oaths on the temple and saying it means nothing. The point is to no circumvent the law, to find a way out of your oath or you could say contract today. But to do what you said you’re going to do because you said you’re going to do it.

In this country our word used to be our bond. That’s all it took. Today, people are looking for ways out of their oaths and out of their contracts.

This is why when, for example, you go to buy a car it takes hours to fill out the paper work. The lawyers don’t want you to find a way out of paying for that car. So they are going to come up with the best legalize they can find.

It used to be when you said you are a Christian people knew how you would act and what your core beliefs are, but not so today. Christianity has become so watered down in most churches no one knows how a so-called Christian will act. Let it never be said that anyone in our midst here will act with ill intentions to others, but when they say they are a part of First Baptist Minneola they know that we will act in the way Jesus acted, whether they like it or not.

Jesus calls them hypocrites. They worry so much about the little things that they forget about the big problems they have in their own character. I learned long ago, God is more concerned about your character than He is about your ministry, and we all have a ministry in the body of Christ to perform, but if our character isn’t up to the task then He may just sideline us and go with a different person.

If these pharisees, if we would worry about God developing our character and making us more like Jesus then people would see that and we would not by hypocrites. Our word can be our bond again.

Life Point - The Cost Matters

Exegetical -

Matthew 23:27–36 BSB

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers. You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell? Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Homiletical -

Jesus actually is calling the Pharisees out by saying they are full of dead men’s bones. Now that would have been an insult because they priests and Pharisees would never touch a dead body because they would become ceremonially unclean so to say that they are full of dead men’s bones would be of great insult to them.

He calls them hypocrites many times in this passage. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t say one thing and do another, don’t make that you life style. Be the person Christ wants you to be.

He points out that they say they would not have killed the prophets, but in reality they sure enough would have and you know what Jesus tells them a prophecy and says that He will be sending them prophets, wise men, and teachers and that they will kill, crucify, and flog in their synagogues.

He is talking about what happened in the early church age and what is still happening to Christians around the world. We are being beaten, killed, and persecuted. It has started everywhere including here in the U.S. Don’t be fooled the time is coming and has come that you will not be tolerated for sharing Jesus. You will be called a bigot and seen as someone less than human because you don’t go along with the world’s ways of doing things.

Then He gives them the consequences of their actions, upon them will come all the righteous blood shed on earth. In other words, they will ultimately be held to account for their actions against God’s people. The Christians.

It’s not being reported very often but in Nigeria the Christians are being murdered by Muslims every day. On palm Sunday and Easter there was such mass murder that it bogles the mind. Yet nothing is being done about it.

I just read this week of a man who shared Jesus online. On Social media. Who happens to live in Egypt, he was arrested and given 5 years in prison for this.

Don’t think that you will be exempted from all persecution. Your time is coming too. Are you ready to make that ultimate sacrifice? Even if God never asks it of you personally, you need to be able to say that you will sacrifice your life for the sake of the Gospel.

Let me put it this way. Jesus doesn’t want a polished exterior; He wants a purified interior that is willing to bleed for the truth.

Life Principle– God is more concerned with the purity of the heart than the polish of the performance.

Call to Action – altar call….