THE BEHAVIOR OF TEACHERS

THE BEHAVIOR OF TEACHERS Matthew 23:1-12 October 21, 2007 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Before the message, play the Matthew DVD – Matthew 23:1-12 Introductory Those words are from the New International Version translation of Matthew 23:1-12. With these words Jesus begins his last public sermon. And it is an interesting one—he is speaking to the crowds, including his disciples. The sermon is really a tirade against the religious leaders, namely the scribes and Pharisees. But Jesus is acting in line with God’s prophetic censure of false teachers from the beginning. In the tower of Babel incident, Korah’s rebellion and countless other spiritual catastrophes in Israel’s history, at the center of the problem was always a teacher/leader misleading the people. Ezekiel brought God’s stern judgment on them: foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. (Ezekiel 13:3) Jesus has already addressed this important problem: Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:15-16) Whether they are simply inaccurate in their teaching or in more devious levels of deception and apostasy. Teachers are called to a higher accountability, as James makes clear: Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1) This text scares me regularly, and helps keep me studious and honest. Here in Matthew 23, in unusually direct and scathing language, Jesus brings charges against the Scribes and Pharisees, who were the primary, official teachers of Judaism. This chapter is really a tirade against them, and as we study this text in the next few sessions, I believe we can learn a great deal about how our lives may conform more perfectly to the will of God. The Scribes/Pharisees didn’t practice what they preached The first charge Jesus leveled at the religious leaders was that of hypocrisy. In verse 1, Jesus affirms the importance of religious instruction, even linking the scribes and Pharisees to Moses, Israel’s most revered leader. He even reminds the crowd to listen to what their leaders teach and obey it because it is the law of God. But then he adds: But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. (verse 3) It will never do for spiritual leaders to live by the adage: “Do as I say, not as I do”. Those who handle and teach the truths of God, including instructions on holy living, should be the first to live out those principles, even if imperfectly. Right after that sobering verse on teachers in James 3, it says, We all stumble in many ways. (James 3:2) And John teaches if we say we have no sin, we are liars. We conclude that though teachers are sinners, they must be vigilant against sin in their lives, so as to be exemplary, and they must also by honest about their own shortcomings. Years ago, while I was in seminary, there was a professor whom I really liked. He was a brilliant teacher, concerned for his students, spiritually astute and in every sense a good educator. During the time I was a student of this man I was also working part time at a bookstore owned by a Christian friend. This man also managed the delivery services for the local newspaper. But he was very frugal and had only one phone number for the bookstore and the newspaper delivery service combined. So I often had to field the calls of disgruntled newspaper customers. One day I received a call from a customer who was unusually irate that his paper was being thrown onto his lawn instead of his sidewalk. With a high pitch, elevated volume and somewhat salty language this customer informed me of his extreme displeasure and his threat to unsubscribe if things didn’t change the very next day. As he ranted I thought I recognized his voice. As the tirade ended, I asked for his name and address so I could inform my boss. It was my beloved professor. He clearly did not know who I was—and that was the problem. I could have been a non-Christian, and might have easily known he was a ‘Christian’ professor. Now I know anyone can have a bad day, and no one should be judged solely on a single moral slip, but I must admit that my opinion of this teacher plummeted irreversibly that morning, and though he taught the truth the rest of that semester, it was much harder for me to receive it. The other part of this indictment against the Jewish leaders was that when they expected their followers to perform difficult religious duties, they not only didn’t do them themselves, but they were heartless toward those they burdened. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. What is clear from scripture is that much of what the leaders demanded of the people was beyond what God required. Whenever you feel unusually burdened by what is expected of you by religious leaders, first, check your own heart. If you are in good standing with the Lord and walking in the Spirit, but you still feel weighed down by religious obligation, cast a wary eye toward those who are teaching and leading you. This kind of religious control is devilish and toxic. Any church that controls you through guilt, depresses you through legalism and traps you in an ugly form of extreme devotion to your leader is wrong. And when the false teachers who are taking advantage of you and taking control of you seem to have no genuine pastoral sympathy it is cultic and wrong. It is Jim Jones and Jamestown in seminal form. Run fast and far from this from all forms of inappropriate control. Find a church whose teachers, leaders and elders have integrity and are biblically disciplined, pastoral and authentic. It is of utmost importance that those who teach should be examples of fleshing out in real life what they teach. Paul urged Timothy, …set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12) Jesus tells us what this means in the simplest of terms: practice what you preach. The Scribes/Pharisees loved to show off The second charge Jesus brings against the Scribes and Pharisees is that they were “show-offs”. Verse five: Everything they do is for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels of their prayer shawls long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi’. Back in chapter six, Jesus referred to the hypocrites who love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. There he was talking about the scribes/ Pharisees, and here he says “Everything they do is done for men to see.” What is absent in the spiritual leaders is the drive to do things for God, instead of personal aggrandizement and self-exaltation. False teachers and hypocrites are selfish in what they do; true teachers and leaders are selfless. They really don’t care about how they’ll look—they only care about God and how they can glorify Him. In his book Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller writes about a Christmas Eve when his view of God was changed, and how that affected his perspective on everything else. For my mother that year I had purchased a shabby Christmas gift—a book, the contents of which she would never be interested in. I had had a sum of money with which to buy presents, and the majority of it I used to buy fishing equipment…. I drifted in and out of anxious sleep, and this is when it occurred to me that I bought my mother’s gift with the petty change left after I had pleased myself. I realized I had set the happiness of my mother [below] my own material desires. This was a different sort of guilt from anything I had previously experienced. It was a heavy guilt, not the sort of guilt that I could do anything about…..The guilt was so heavy that I fell out of bed onto my knees and begged, not a slot-machine God, but a living, feeling God, to stop the pain. I crawled out of my room and into the hallway by my mother's door and lay on my elbows and face for an hour or so, going sometimes to sleep, before finally the burden lifted and I was able to return to my room. We opened the rest of our gifts the next morning, and I was pleased to receive what I did, but when my mother opened her silly book, I asked her forgiveness, saying how much I wished I had done more. She, of course, pretended to enjoy the gift. The story is told of Francois Fenelon who was the court preacher for King Louis XIV of France in the 17th century. One Sunday when the king and his attendants arrived at the chapel for the regular service, no one else was there but the preacher. King Louis demanded, "What does this mean?" Fenelon replied, "I had published that you would not come to church today, in order that your Majesty might see who serves God in truth and who flatters the king." How would your worship, your giving, your service to Christ look if every benefit to you were taken away. There is a terrible pride, a measure of which we all have, that makes us feel miserable every time we don’t get credit or attention or someone’s thanks or admiration. Inflicted by this Pharisaic pride and self-centeredness, we are only happy when the spotlight is on us. You can pick out the Pharisees around you by the glazed look that comes into their eyes when the conversation wanders away from themselves. The scribes/Pharisees reveled in prestige, honorary titles and being respected by others. Jesus said to them, Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. (Luke 11:43) The “Pharisee” is so busy grabbing the glory, he has forgotten to give the glory to God, who deserves it. They love to be called “Rabbi” (respected teacher); they love to be in front, in the limelight and in with the in-crowd. He goes a step further, as he instructs his disciples in the fine art of leadership. What you see in these self-centered so-called leaders who love to be called Rabbi or Father or Great Teacher? Don’t do that stuff! And that brings us to the final indictment against the religious leaders. The Scribes/Pharisees failed to see ministry as service Look at verses 11-12: The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. During the American Revolution a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a small defensive barrier. Their leader was shouting instructions, but making no attempt to help them. Asked why by the rider, he retorted with great dignity, "Sir, I am a corporal!" The stranger apologized, dismounted, and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers. The job done, he turned to the corporal and said, "Mr. Corporal, next time you have a job like this and not enough men to do it, go to your commander-in-chief, and I will come and help you again." It was none other than George Washington. False teachers and would-be leaders are so concerned that they be noticed and acknowledged as leaders that they very often stay aloof from the work of ministry. Why, if I participate in such work that is beneath my dignity, then no one will know I am the leader! This is so utterly different from the attitude of Jesus, the Son of God who took the very form of a servant human, who subjected himself to insult, unjust suffering and even death, who said, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28) He said, I am among you as one who serves (Luke 22:27). A. T. Pierson in The Truth: Whatever is done for God, without respect of its comparative character as related to other acts, is service, and only that is service. Service is, comprehensively speaking, doing the will of God. He is the object. All is for Him, for His sake, as unto the Lord, not as unto man. Hence, even the humblest act of humblest disciple acquires a certain divine quality by its being done with reference to Him. The supreme test of service is this: 'For whom am I doing this?' Much that we call service to Christ is not such at all....If we are doing this for Christ, we shall not care for human reward or even recognition. You know, pride is very ugly. And there’s only one thing uglier than pride—it is fake humility. I love that old quote from Golda Meir, then Prime Minister of Israel, when she said to a young upstart who was feigning humility. She said, "Don't be so humble--you're not that great!" Francis Bacon said “A bad man is even worse when he pretends to be a saint.” B.W. Woods tells the story of a rabbi who was preparing for the Day of Atonement. He paraded around the synagogue, beating his breast and saying, "I am nothing. I am nothing!" A cantor noticed and followed suit, doing the same thing. The two walked through the synagogue demonstrating their "humility." The janitor witnessed this ritual and was reminded of his own sinfulness. He, too, began to beat his breast and cry out in attrition, "I am nothing." When the rabbi heard the janitor, he turned to the cantor and smugly said, "Ha, look who thinks he's nothing!" The smallest package in the world is a person wrapped up in himself. How to get humility quickly: 1. Memorize "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'"   2. Never compare yourself with anyone but Jesus. When you compare yourself with others you always come out feeling either way too bad about yourself or way too good.   3. Find the lowliest job you can that needs doing, and do it quietly and secretly. When you discover that sweet sense of kingdom joy, wrap it up as God’s gift to you. Remember it, and get yourself to the place where you’re addicted to it.   4. Keep an image of John 13 before you—Jesus washing the dirty feet of his disciples, and saying, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” [webmasters note: John 13:15] I want to urge you on the basis of this text, fellow believers, to • practice what you preach, talk the talk & walk the walk   • give the credit always to God and don’t steal any for yourself – for heaven’s sake, don’t “show off”   • always remember that to lead is to serve in humility But, Pastor Rich, we’re not all pastors and teachers: what does this text have to do with us? I remind you that to one degree or another, we are all called to teach. Make disciples of the nations, baptizing them and teaching them all that I have commanded you. [webmasters note: Matthew 28:19] We teach our children - training and instruction of the Lord [webmasters note: Ephesians 6:4] Romans 15:14 reminds us that we are all complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Colossians 3:16 exhorts every believer to Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you TEACH and admonish one another. We are all teachers, disciplers of others, and God is calling us to be faithful, humble and genuine teachers of His glorious truth. You may always come to Him to be filled with His resources, His power, His Holy Spirit, so you will be equipped for the ministry. Dwight Moody: God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves   [Back to Top]