Luke 20:41-21:4

How can we tell whether something is the real deal or just a real fake?

In the age of AI, it’s quite common to come across videos, photos, articles, all sorts of things that aren’t genuine.

It’s easy to get caught out by phony things. Sometimes that doesn’t matter. It won’t make much different to us if we see a photo of a giant shark eating a fishing boat whole.

But some things really do matter. Questions of life and death, heaven and hell, Jesus and eternity.

So, how can we be sure that we’re looking at the genuine article rather than a complete fake?

With AI, with anything else, the answer is often to simply take a closer look.

It’s crunch time in Jerusalem. Jesus has announced himself as Messiah. He’s been opposed from every side, but has silenced every objection.

But then and now, the question remains: is he the real thing, or is he yet another imposter? A fake? Well, take a closer look.

And then there are his opponents, who claim to be Israel’s true leaders, the arbiters of truth, the pinnacle of moral law-keeping. Are they to be trusted, believed? Take a closer look.

What does true worship look like? How can we know what actually pleases God?

As we take a closer look in this passage, we’re told to reject thoughtless religion, beware fake devotion, and become true worshippers.

REJECT THOUGHTLESS RELIGION

After being questioned at length by Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes, Jesus now asks a question of his own. Addressing the teachers of the law/scribes...

Luke 20:41 NIVUK

Then Jesus said to them, ‘Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David?

David was Israel’s king around 1000 years before Jesus. In 2 Samuel 7, God promised David that one of his descendants would sit on his throne forever.

Hence, it was widely believed and expected that the Messiah, the Christ, would come from David’s line.

At first, it appears that Jesus is questioning that idea (“Why is it said...?”), but he’s actually questioning these leaders (“Why do you believe this?”)

Luke 20:42–44 NIVUK

David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: ‘ “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ ” David calls him “Lord.” How then can he be his son?’

Jesus makes the point that David, writing Psalm 110, refers to the Messiah as his Lord, as though David is his inferior. But as the forefather of the Messiah, David is his superior.

He’s not suggesting that any of this is untrue. It is quite true!

Rather, Jesus is asking “Why is it said...” Why is it true? On basis do you hold this view?

And what does it mean about the Messiah? About who he is, if he is both David’s son, and David’s superior?

In Matthew’s account, we’re told that when Jesus asked this, Matthew 22:46 “No one could say a word in reply." Luke simply leaves the question hanging and unanswered.

The implication is clear. Israel’s leaders have no answer! They claim to be teachers of the law, the cleverest of the lot, but they can’t explain why they believe what they believe. And they don’t know what to really expect from the Messiah.

It’s as though they’ve never even thought about it, about the true identity and nature of the Messiah they claim to hope in.

This is thoughtless religion at it’s worst.

Jesus clearly has thought about the identity of the Messiah! He has understood that he is both the Son of David, and the Son of God. He is both both human and divine.

And he has proven it time and time again. In his humanity, he has wept at tombs, felt hungry and cold, suffered betrayal and loss.

In his divinity, he has demonstrated His authority over sickness, Satan, nature, death and sin.

Jesus is fully man and fully God. But this is the very idea that the religious authorities were failing to accept.

And as we take a closer look at their lack of answers, their religious is shown to be thoughtless and empty.

We’ve all seen those car-crash interviews, where some politician who is supposed to be in charge of a certain thing, supposed to be an expert, is shown to be absolutely clueless. It’s painful to watch!

But it’s even worse to be the one who is exposed.

Which leaves us with some uncomfortable questions for ourselves.

Why do you believe what you believe? You might say that Jesus is fully God and fully man, but can you demonstrate that from Scripture convincingly?

Or at a more basic level, could you give a clear answer to someone who asked you how to become a follower of Jesus?

When God calls us to himself, he doesn’t ask us to leave our brains at the door. Ours is a thoughtful religion. We don’t all have be Bible-college level professors!! We don’t need to be fluent in Greek & Hebrew, or to have read all of Grudem’s Systematic Theology!

But we should give thought to our faith, we should study God’s word to know why we believe what we believe, and so that we can give a reason for the hope that we have.

In taking a closer look, we can see clearly who Jesus is. He is the true Son of God, and true Son of God.

He is the real deal.

Beware thoughtless religion. And then...

BEWARE FAKE DEVOTION

Now Jesus turns from addressing the scribes, and speaks to everyone listening (including the scribes!)...

Luke 20:45–47 NIVUK

While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples. ‘Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the market-places and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.’

This is pretty damning! The teachers of the law are standing right there as he says this! Talk about speaking truth to power.

Jesus is publicly dismantling the scribes and their so-called devotion. Along with the Pharisees and Sadducees, they formed part of the religious elite. Untouchable by the common people.

They were responsible for teaching and upholding the Law of Moses, their seat of power being the Temple, where this exchange was taking place.

As Jesus says, on the outside they seem to be so incredibly holy...

They look the part, act the part and sound the part.

And yet in reality their devotion to God is fake. They’re not devoted to God, they’re devoted to themselves.

They like to be seen - to be noticed, to stand out and stand above everyone else.

They love to be respected - to be adored, and greeted with honour, to have people stand up when they walk in. To have people address them with fancy titles and honorifics.

They love to have the best seats wherever they go - to be guest of honour at every event, to be the most important people in the room.

It all looks so impressive. They were the celebrities of their day (so they thought). And worse, they thought they deserved it.

But take a closer look. Because while they claim to be morally superior, to be Israel’s teachers, to be experts in the Law...

Luke 20:47 NIVUK

They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.’

It’s not 100% clear what devouring widows’ houses involved, but we can imagine that it meant somehow profiting from widows instead of supporting them - the very thing the law instructed them to do.

In fact, throughout the Hebrew scriptures, the Lord told his people to take care of the most vulnerable in society - widows, orphans, foreigners etc. And the Lord made clear that he would deal most severely with those who mistreated and abused these people.

And while the scribes might sound impressive with their long, wordy, complicated prayers, it was all for show. It was so other people would think they were so spiritual, so sorted, so holy.

There are two sides to this warning.

On the one hand, we should beware following people who aren’t genuine in their devotion to the Lord.

They might not be easy to spot. Like scribes, they can often look the real-deal, sound like the genuine article spiritually. But underneath they are only serving themselves.

In some cases, they will be people who are getting richer while their followers are getting poorer.

In other cases, they will be exerting control over people lives without them realising it, demanding more and more while giving less and less.

To be clear: no human leader is perfect. Even the best kinds of leaders will have corrupted hearts and their motives will be divided.

Only Jesus is worthy of absolute devotion. He is the only one we should truly follow. Look for leaders who point to him.

And pray for your leaders, that we may be kept from the corruption of power, wealth and influence, and instead be truly devoted to our Lord Jesus.

The other side to this warning is that none of us become like these scribes.

Because we are all open to fake devotion - saying one thing but meaning another. Saying we love Jesus but really loving ourselves.

That’s a real danger, isn’t it? We don’t to be accused of being fake followers, do we?

We need to pay careful attention to our hearts, to regularly appraise ourselves and the true condition of our love and devotion towards Jesus.

We need to help each other in this. Lovingly point out where things might be inconsistent, or asking hard questions - “Are you really trusting the Lord in this? Are you really praying? Or are you trying to do it in your own strength?” and so on.

We need to reject thoughtless religion, beware fake devotion, and finally...

BECOME TRUE WORSHIPPERS

It seems as though as Jesus was saying these things, something caught his eye in the temple that helped make his point even stronger...

Luke 21:1–2 NIVUK

As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.

There were certain parts of the temple courts with treasuries - offering boxes - where worshippers could bring their gifts in support of the upkeep of the temple.

Some of these were in the part of the temple accessible to women, which is where this must have taken place.

Here are the wealthy worshippers, bringing their large gifts. No comment is made about this, either good or bad.

And then here is a poor widow bringing her gift of two very small copper coins.

These coin was called a lepta. Equivalent to around £0.05 in today’s money. Next to nothing.

The contrast is clear. The wealthy gave lots. The widow gave virtually zero.

On the surface it seems that she should hardly have bothered. Compared to the wealthy putting in thousands or more, this widow hasn’t given anything.

Or has she?

Luke 21:3–4 NIVUK

‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’

How he knew this, we’re not told.

But consider what Jesus is saying. This widow has proven that she has a heart that is devoted to the Lord, not by the size of her gift but by what it cost her to give it.

Jesus has spoken often about what it means to be a disciple - take up cross, deny self, follow me.

Leave your fishing nets, leave your tax collecting booth, follow me.

Sell everything you have, give it away, come follow me.

While the scribes are amassing more and more wealth, power and influence, the disciples of Jesus Christ are those who lay it all down at his feet, offering up themselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

We follow our Saviour who gave himself for us, as we give ourselves for him, each other and the gospel.

It’s a radical call to radical discipleship.

To be clear, this isn’t just about money, giving to the church or other gospel causes, although that is an important part of our devotion and worship to the Lord.

We don’t talk too much about money at New City, because we don’t want to place a heavy burden on anyone, nor do we want you think that we’re only interested in your cash.

We’re not. We’re interesting in your souls!! We want to see as many souls won to Christ as possible, brought to faith in the good news of Jesus.

The reality is, that costs money. So giving is important.

But what is important is not the size of the gift but the heart of the giver.

How you give matters more that what you give.

And the same is true of anything we do for the Lord - serving, witnessing, giving, loving another, and so on.

True worshippers know the Lord. Love the Lord. Serve the Lord.

Because theirs is a thoughtful religion.

Theirs is a genuine devotion.

Theirs in a true worship.

How can we tell if we are the real deal or just a real fake?

Take a closer look at your heart.

Do you really know and love Jesus? How can you grow your knowledge and love for Jesus? How can you help someone else grow their knowledge and love for Jesus?

Don’t be caught out. Don’t be left wanting.

Know Jesus. Love Jesus. Serve Jesus.