Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

There have been a few occasions over the course of my life where I have had to be a part of an intervention in the life of someone I love.

And, for those of you who have had to be in to be a part of similar experiences, you know that these are among the most painful and excruciating moments that you could ever have to go through with a friend or a family member or member of your church family.

Because you have to look across the table or across the room to a man or a woman that you love, and wound them.

You have to have a love for them that is so strong, so selfless, so sacrificial that it is compelled to say devastating things to the person that you love, even if it means that person may be angry with you or even hate you for it, because you know that it is the only hope that person has.

It is the truth they have to hear, even though it is the truth they angrily have refused to hear.

As we come to , this is the tone with which we should understand Jesus to be speaking.

This is an intervention.

These are going to be hard words for the leaders of Israel.

The Great Prophet has come, and his message is one of judgement.

But, as hard as these words are, it is a compassionate lamentation, words of a brokenhearted God, that desires for his people to hear them and be broken and delivered from their hopelessness.

Though many will ignore them and hate him all the more for saying them, Jesus is calling Israel away from her own self-destruction and into hope and life.

God’s Word

Read

A Climax

“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples” Chapter 23 is really the climax of the what’s been happening in chapter 22. We’ve been witnessing Jesus under the scrutiny of Israel’s leaders as they’ve come to him with a series of riddles and challenges attempting to turn the crowds against him.

But, Jesus has not backed down one iota.

In fact, Jesus has given them far more than they bargained for, and by the time chapter 22 ends it says that ‘no one was able to answer him a word, nor did they dare to ask him any more questions.’

A Credible Savior

Now, Jesus turns to his disciples and the listening crowd after facing his interrogation to further apply and explain what they've just witnessed.

If you'll remember what we said, we said that it was the accusation of the leaders of Isreal and their goal to show that Jesus was seeking to abolish the law of Moses.

But, as Jesus had showed them, especially in his answer about the Great Commandment, He had not at all come to abolish the law.

In fact, He had come to fulfill the Law.

He was the Law, the Word incarnate, in human flesh.

So now, I want you to notice how Jesus drives this home to his disciples, first and foremost, and then to the rest of the crowd as they listen in.

He says, "These are the teachers and leaders of Israel.

They sit on Moses' seat, and they have been delegated a great and mighty responsibility by God.

They stand before you and teach you what is in the Law of God and all that God has stipulated to you in his gracious and loving covenant, and you should listen to them."

Now, I'm not sure this is what we expect to hear from Jesus at this point.

They are seeking to turn the crowd against Jesus.

They are seeking to tarnish Jesus' reputation and to have Jesus arrested and ultimately murdered, a feat they will accomplish in just three short days.

They have done nothing but make Jesus' life miserable, and Jesus has not exactly hidden his displeasure for the mockery they had made of God's temple, and yet here He was telling them to obey the things they were teaching.

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you” Now, Jesus turns to his disciples and the listening crowd after facing his interrogation to further apply and explain what they've just witnessed.

If you'll remember what we said, we said that it was the accusation of the leaders of Isreal and their goal to show that Jesus was seeking to abolish the law of Moses.

But, as Jesus had showed them, especially in his answer about the Great Commandment, He had not at all come to abolish the law.

In fact, He had come to fulfill the Law.

He was the Law, the Word incarnate, in human flesh.

So now, I want you to notice how Jesus drives this home to his disciples, first and foremost, and then to the rest of the crowd as they listen in.

He says, "These are the teachers and leaders of Israel.

They sit on Moses' seat, and they have been delegated a great and mighty responsibility by God.

They stand before you and teach you what is in the Law of God and all that God has stipulated to you in his gracious and loving covenant, and you should listen to them."

Now, I'm not sure this is what we expect to hear from Jesus at this point.

They are seeking to turn the crowd against Jesus.

They are seeking to tarnish Jesus' reputation and to have Jesus arrested and ultimately murdered, a feat they will accomplish in just three short days.

They have done nothing but make Jesus' life miserable, and Jesus has not exactly hidden his displeasure for the mockery they had made of God's temple, and yet here He was telling them to obey the things they were teaching.

Now, I want you to think about that.

All talked we’ve about for the last two months is the scribes and Pharisees conspiring to undermine the teaching and authority and credibility of Jesus to the crowds.

They’ve tried to trick Jesus and humiliate Jesus and undermine Jesus so that the crowds will stop listening to Jesus as a credible and authoritative teacher.

And, how does Jesus respond to them?

What is his very first instruction to his disciples and to the crowd that has watched on as Jesus has proven himself the superior teacher of the Law?

“You should listen to them as they teach you the Law of God.” Now, He’s not telling them to listen to the additions to God’s law or to the corruptions of God’s Law, but as far as they teach you God’s Law, you should listen to them and obey them.

You see, Matthew is laying the character of our Savior next to the character of the rulers of Israel so that we can clearly see that it is no contest.

They are filled with pride and ostentation and arrogance, and Jesus is filled with a humility that is so superior that He can have faced off against men who have wanted to humiliate him and then instruct his disciples to listen to them.

Brothers and sisters, it’s important that you know that your Savior is no hypocrite.

He is a credible Savior.

He doesn’t tell you to turn the other cheek all while He himself is unwilling.

He doesn’t call you to self-denial while He lives in self-indulgence.

He doesn’t call you to carry the armor of your enemy two miles when He is unwilling to honor his own.

No, brothers and sisters, in the face of his own humiliation and in the face of men who seek to embarrass and then murder him, Jesus makes himself last, and says, “Listen to them.

Observe what they say.

For they are in the seat of Moses.”

Don’t Copy the Pharisees

“but not the works they do” So, Jesus tells them to do what the Pharisees say, but He tells them not to do as the Pharisees do.

You've heard parents that say this, haven't you?

Do as I say, not as I do.

And, I tell you, there is no parenting method more ineffective than that.

And, there is no leadership more ineffective than that, but this was the leaders of Israel.

They loved to teach God's law, but they weren't as good to live by it.

They loved to place people beneath its weight, but they found ways to wriggle out from beneath it themselves.

The Pharisees knew the Law so well that they could find all of the loopholes; loopholes that they only allowed for themselves.

They oppressed others, while they set themselves free.

They were constantly adding to the Law and adding to the burden of others, all while finding ways to ease their own burden.

They were teachers, but not practitioners.

You see this was the wickedness of the Pharisees.

We often like to think of them as these guys who were always living by the letter of the law and being really stuffy, religious guy.

But, Jesus is telling us that's not really the picture.

They are the ones who like to APPEAR that they are living by the letter of the law to everyone else, when they're really not.

They like to make sure that you're living by all of their rules all while they're really doing whatever they want to because they know all of the loopholes.

Their religion has no integrity.

It's all a show for the world to see, and when the world isn't there to see it, it all goes away.

Copy Jesus

APPLICATION: And so, Jesus uses them as an illustration to his disciples as the ultimate illustration of the type of hypocrisy that is not tolerated in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus has no place in his community for a professing, but not practicing, Christian.

For the call to be a Christian is the call to come and follow after Jesus.

It is the call to go where Jesus goes and do what Jesus does by Jesus’ strength and for Jesus’ glory.

In the NT, there is no other definition of Christianity.

And so, brothers and sisters, if we are going to follow Jesus, if we are going to go where He goes and do what He does, again and again, what we see is that Jesus internally loves God and externally lives like it.

Jesus’ teachings and Jesus’ life are never out of alignment.

Now, of course, ours will be.

That’s why we need Jesus.

That’s why we need Jesus’ strength.

That’s why we need Jesus’ church.

But, we cannot stay that way, we won’t be able to stand it.

As often as we find hypocrisy, as often as we find hypocrisy, as often as we find misalignment between what is internal and what is external, we will repent and seek help.

Why?

Because we’re following after Christ!

He is our passion, and He is our King, and He is our love, and it is our joy!

So, don’t copy the Pharisees; copy Jesus!

Copy Jesus!

Slaves to Reaction