Recognizing Ungodly Leaders

Three interesting things about this chapter:

1. The strongest message Jesus preaches in the entire Bible. Jesus began preaching Sermon on Mount in ch.5. It was “Blessed are…” This sermon is the opposite it is “Woe unto you...”

2. The last public sermon of Jesus (Olivet Discourse is private discussion Jesus has with His disciples (Ch. 24-25).

3. For the most part it’s directed at the religious leaders (13-36).

Jesus has been calling out the religious leaders.

He said they were like a deceptive son who promised their father they would go to work but never did (22:28-32).

They were like wicked men who rented a piece of property from a man, refused to pay the man then killed his son in hopes of inheriting the property (22:33-46).

They were like citizens of a country who got so angry at a king for inviting them to his son’s wedding that they killed the messengers who were sent to invite them (22:1-14).

Jesus is no longer going to share parables with the religious leaders. He’s going to be as brutally honest as possible with them. But before He addresses them personally, He warns the disciples and the common people about ungodly leadership. That is what were going to consider this morning. We’re going to learn how to recognize ungodly leaders.

The first thing we may wonder is why ungodly people would want to be spiritual leaders at all.

Some do it because of family. We used to call such men Mama called and daddy sent. What’s that mean? Mama wanted him to be a preacher and daddy paid for his schooling.

Some do it because they think it’s easy money. They think they can work two days a week.

Some do it because they want to be viewed as good people. They think they’ll get accolades from man. They think they’ll be respected.

Some do it because they are power hungry. They want to be in charge. They like the idea of being head of a church.

The late great RC Sproul said that many times these men cannot handle being a pastor of a church. For that reason, they end up taking administrative roles in denominations or professors in Seminaries. They begin training other men to do what they were never called to do in the first place. They control denominations.

That was essentially what the religious leaders in Jesus’ day were doing. These unconverted men were preaching and training preachers.

How do we recognize such people?

1. False teachers can appear to be virtuous.

A. The scribes and pharisees appealed to the common man.

The Sadducees were not appealing to the common man. They were a wealthy sect. They were a powerful sect. They were a liberal sect.

The zealots were not appealing to the common man. It was clear they were in it for political reasons.

The Essenes were not appealing to the common man. They were too extreme. They cut themselves off from society, took a vow of poverty and many practiced celibacy.

The scribes and Pharisees were middle class men who worked jobs and loved their country.

B. They met a need.

There was 400 years of silence between the last prophet and Malachi & the New Testament.

During this time the Greeks were conquering a lot of land. They were responsible for Hellenization.

They were spreading the Greek culture to territories they conquered.

Judea was a victim of Hellenization. The Greek way of life was being forced on the citizens. Their language, their culture, their religion, their morals were all being spread among the Jewish people.

This new group called the Pharisees started to combat it. They elevated the Law of God. They called the Jewish people to reject this pagan culture and stay true to their roots.

They were patriots.

They were good Jews.

They were conservative.

The Scribes were experts in the Law. We don’t find the Pharisees in the OT but we do see the Scribes. Ezra was an important one.

Scribes made copies of the Law. They read the Law, they taught the Law. Their love and devotion to the Word of God was admirable to the common Jew.

C. Not everything they taught was wrong.

Jesus tells the people to listen to them (3). He says do what they say.

We have to qualify this.

Many times Jesus shows where they are wrong in their understanding of Scripture.

Jesus is saying when they actually teach you what Moses said, listen to them.

False teachers have to teach some truth or it’s difficult to deceive people.

Example of Jehovah Witnesses

Example of Mormons

We shouldn’t accept people as spiritual leaders because they are:

Patriotic

Meet a need

Conservative

Carry a Bible

False teachers can appear to be virtuous.

2. False teachers are hypocrites.

A. They have a position but not a passion.

They sit in Moses’ seat.

Was this a literal chair in the synagogues or was it symbolic? Some archaeologists have discovered special chairs in ancient synagogues so it could have been literal. Either way, Moses Seat at the very least represented a position in the synagogue.

To sit in Moses Seat meant you had the authority to teach the Law in the synagogue. You were in the pulpit.

The synagogue was a huge part of the Jews social life. If you didn’t go to synagogue, you weren’t a good Jew. So, to have that seat meant you were on display in front of your entire community.

Look at the end of verse three. “They say and they do not” “they preach but do not practice”.

There was no shortage of scribes and pharisees, but Jesus said there was a shortage of laborers.

It was all academic for these men.

B. They did not offer spiritual relief.

They made life more difficult for the Jews.

“Bind heavy burdens…and lay them on men’s shoulders”

The Law was hard enough to keep but they added to it.

Have to wash your hands a certain way.

Can’t do a thing on the Sabbath Day.

We see it today in some:

You can’t eat certain foods.

You can’t have your hair cut a certain way.

You have to observe certain feasts.

You have to observe the Sabbath on Saturday.

The people had no idea how to be saved. They had no idea how to be relieved of their spiritual burden. The gospel wasn’t being preached.

Jesus said, “Come unto Me and you will find rest”.

No matter how deep a sermon is it should contain the simple gospel.

Every preacher has a responsibility to tell the people how to find rest, how to find forgiveness. If we do not, then we are hypocrites.

The Doctor who tells you you’re sick and dying then sends you on your way without a prescription isn’t worthy of the title doctor.

The preacher who tells you you’re a sinner and dying but sends you away without the prescription of the gospel isn’t worthy of the title “preacher.”

C. They had no sympathy for the people.

The imagery is of a pack mule in verse 4. Get that in your mind. There is a mule. It’s loaded down with stuff. It can barely go. Walking beside it is a man carrying nothing but a stick. He prods the animal along. The mule is doing all the work, the man is getting all the benefit.

I saw this often in Haiti. Mules and horses were not treated well there. They’re used to pull carts, transport supplies and carry tourists up and down mountains.

The people had become the pack mules of the religious leaders. They piled all sorts of extra rules and traditions on the backs of the people while they received the benefit.

Look at verse 4. It says they wouldn’t lift a finger to help.

The people were using the strongest part of their bodies-their shoulders. The religious leaders wouldn’t use the weakest part of their bodies to help- their finger.

They didn’t care about the people.

One of the reasons Jesus was so popular was He cared.

He cared for lepers.

He cared for women.

He cared for children.

He cared for those who had a loved one die.

He cared for souls.

There was no connection between the preachers and the people. They didn’t come down from Moses’ seat to be among the people.

I don’t know if you know this or not but there are lazy preachers.

Too lazy to study the Word and put a sermon together that will offer spiritual relief.

They tell jokes and ramble for 30 minutes.

They steal a sermon offline.

Too lazy to serve in the church.

If it’s not in their job description, they won’t do it.

They won’t cook a meal for someone.

They won’t walk the streets and tell people about Jesus.

They will plan missions but never do missions.

They’ll tell the church to go, while they sit.

They tell the church to serve, while they rest.

They’ll tell the church to give, while they keep.

False teachers are hypocrites:

They have a position with no passion.

They offer no spiritual relief through the gospel.

They have no sympathy for the people.

3. False teachers love to be recognized.

A. They go to great lengths to appear to be spiritual.

They make broad their phylacteries. This is a prayer apparatus.

I’ve seen them used many times by Jewish people. Today they are called Tefillin. They have their roots in Deut. 6 where Moses says the Word of God should be on your head and on your hand. What does that mean? Its symbolic.

The Word of God should be on your head- in your mind.

The Word of God should be on your hand- you should practice it.

But somewhere along the line they decided to take this literally and they invented the tefillin.

It has two leather boxes that contain portions of the Word of God. It has leather straps. One strap is wrapped around the arm seven times and a box is placed on the bicep.

The other is wrapped around the head and the box is placed just above the eyes on top of the head. Once they have it on they read Scripture and pray.

When you see someone wearing one for the first time it is odd. It’s elaborate. The religious leaders in Jesus day weren’t satisfied with a normal tefillin. They had to exaggerate it. Their boxes were big. Imagine them walking around with a big leather box attached to their forehead and their bicep.

They enlarged the borders of their garments. Jewish men wore tassels in obedience to God’s Word. The purpose was to remind them of God’s Word (Numbers 15:38-40). Jesus even wore them (9:20). Remember when the woman touched the hem of His garment? That’s what she touched.

The religious leaders made sure their tassels were longer than everyone else’s. It was overkill. The way they dressed shouted “Look at me! I’m religious!”

We have this in our day.

People wear Christian shirts but live like the devil

People make posts about God on social media then post profanity and ungodliness.

People have Christian bumper stickers and drive like the devil.

You’ll see someone zoom by you with a bumper sticker that says, “Prayer is not a crime” and you think to yourself “No, but speeding is.”

It’s a lot easier to look like a spiritual leader than to actually be one.

John the Baptist didn’t look like a spiritual leader- but he was one.

Jesus didn’t look like a spiritual leader, but He was one.

Some preachers put more thought into what they are gonna wear than what they are gonna preach.

Here’s the thing. Leaders should not dress in such a way to draw attention to themselves.

Some dress up with suits and shoes that cost thousands of dollars to draw attention to themselves.

Others dress like bums in the pulpit to draw attention to themselves.

There is no dress code for the pulpit. But you should dress modestly and never dress in such a way that when people are listening to you preach all they can think about is the way you dress.

B. They love to be seen at public events (6).

If there was a banquet they wanted to be seated in the uppermost seats. They wanted a seat near the host and beside the people of rank. When people looked at the host or those of rank, they would see them there. They wanted to be at the head of the table so to speak.

They wanted the chief seats in the synagogue. Even if they weren’t preaching, they wanted to be recognized while someone else was preaching.

There are preachers like that.

If a prominent person dies, they want to be a part of the funeral.

If there is something going on in the community they want to be seen.

If there is an opportunity to be in the paper, they wanna be in it.

If they visit your church they want you to recognize them.

They say “Oh, but brother Kyle if you wanna be a good preacher you gotta get your name out there!”

No, you don’t. If you wanna be a good preacher, you gotta get His name out there. It’s not about me or you. It’s about Jesus.

While I’m at it, let me talk for a minute about social media. Some preachers have to post their opinion about everything on social media.

Brothers and sisters, we have medical experts in the pulpit now. I had no idea!

You’d think some of these fellas have run out of Bible to preach.

Too many preachers find the hot topic of the culture and can’t resist inserting themselves in the middle of it.

We don’t have to insert ourselves into everything. We can’t help but have an opinion but we sure can help putting it out there for the whole world to argue over.

John the Baptist said his goal as a preacher was to disappear.

He told people to repent of their sins.

He told people to follow Christ.

Our job is not to be seen by the world. Our job is to make sure the world hears the gospel. If your passion is to be popular get out of the pulpit and let someone take your place whose goal isn’t to get likes and follows on social media.

C. They love titles (7-10).

Look at all the titles in verses 7-10.

Rabbi, Master, Father.

They were seeking titles.

The title made a distinction between them and others. It was enough just to be a brother.

I had a person once who was coming to Bible Study. She insisted I recognize her as elder when I spoke to her among the other Bible Study students. She said she was ordained, and I needed to respect the office.

I told her no. I told her that we call each other brother and sister here. She had a title and wanted everyone to know it.

It’s a shame that preachers today have fallen into the same sin as these religious leaders.

“Call me Doctor, I earned it!” I’m not calling anyone Doctor who doesn’t have a stethoscope.

“That’s disrespectful on your part!” they say.

No, it’s prideful on your part, I say.

Degrees are like underwear. They are great for support but there’s no need for us to see them.

We have institutions that make a hierarchy in the church with titles like “Father, Reverend, Very Reverend, Right Reverend, Pope, etc.”

Let’s just stick with the titles the Bible gives us: Pastor, deacon, brother and sister. That’s enough.

Jesus says at the end of verse 8 that we should avoid titles because we are all equal in Christ. We are all family because we are in Christ.

A title normally means I have climbed the rank. It means I don’t have to do certain things any longer because I am above those things.

Jesus says if you are looking for a spiritual leader don’t look for a title. Look for a testimony of service.

Look at verses 11-12.

The greatest are the servants. The ones God exalts are the ones who humble themselves in service.

After two weeks of Pre K Linda Wilbanks 5 year old grandson came home with a mighty big compliment. Little Nick told his grandmother that he was the smartest kid in class. With a deep sense of pride Linda asked him if that was what his teacher said. Nick replied “no ma’am. I had to tell her.”

That’s not it folks. Giving ourselves a title means nothing. If we are who God has called us to be He will tell us and others will recognize it as well.

False teachers only have influence because people allow them to. We should be careful to never exalt a man to the office of a spiritual leader who:

Appear to be virtuous but are actually hypocrites.

Would rather be recognized for their title rather than known for their service.