21st Century Pharisees

Introduction

Well, good morning. It’s good to see everyone here this morning. We have a full house and lots of visitors, and we’re just so glad that you decided to worship here with us this morning. And I’d ask if you would be turning in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21. We’ll be studying from there briefly this morning, in just a moment. Appreciate Ed and his good work this morning in leading us in worship. And we are so blessed to have so many good song leaders here. Everybody just does such a great job and appreciate his efforts. And it’s always, you always appreciate it as a preacher when the song leader asks you the day or two before, you know, what you’re preaching on, so they can try and work some songs around that.

And so I texted Ed last night, or he texted me, and then I responded, well, preaching on being hypocritical, so I don’t know if you can really do anything with that, but you can do your best. but he kind of he kind of was able to pull a few things out of that, and I appreciate that. speaking of being hypocritical, I’d say something about the AM game yesterday, but I won’t. because, well, Texas can barely beat Iowa State by a field goal at the last second. There’s not really nothing else I can say about that. in terms of being hypocritical. It’s another word that kind of goes along with that sometimes, and that is the word pharisaical.

You’re such a Pharisee. Maybe in your doctrine and your attitude. What do they mean by that? Pharisaical. That’s kind of a hard word to say correctly. Actually, it is a word. I’m not making this up, just so you know. Not making this up, it’s a real word. Maryam Webster defines hypocritical or pharisaical as being marked by hypocritical, censorious self-righteousness. I’m going to have to define all of those words from the definition. to be hypocritical. To say one thing and to do another. To basically be an actor, to put on a front, a face, a facade. Censorious. To be severely critical of others. And of course, self-righteous, being confident in one’s own righteousness, especially, I like this, when smugly intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others.

Well, I would never do that. Can’t believe she said that. What an awful person. I’m so much better than them. And all the while I’m talking behind their back. That’s being self-righteous. That’s being hypocritical. And if someone accuses us of being hypocritical, if someone accuses us of being a Pharisee. If that is true of us, then that’s not good. But of course, we would always be very slow to admit it if it were true. And we would probably be more apt to say something like, well, that’s ridiculous. Of course, I’m not a Pharisee. I’m nothing like the Pharisees were. The Pharisees were, I mean, you look in the New Testament, those were not really very bright guys. They’re a bunch of morons, basically, who somehow didn’t see Jesus for who he was.

He performed all these miracles. They looked past those things. They denied all the prophecies that he fulfilled. They denied him as the Messiah, and they murdered him. I’m not like that. I’m a good Christian. I believe in Jesus. I take all the conservative positions on his teachings and all the other teachings of the New Testament. I go to church every Sunday and I and every Wednesday, and I don’t engage in sinful behavior. I’m the model Christian. And those things may be true. But the problem with that is that sounds an awful lot about what a Pharisee would have said about himself or herself.

A Pharisee might have said something like, Well, I’m nothing like the tax collectors and the sinners. In fact, one of the Pharisees prayed just that. They might have said something like, I respect and obey the law of Moses to the tea. I do all the right things. I tithe. I make sacrifices. I worship in the temple. I take the most conservative positions, and even I do things that ensure following the traditions of the elders to make sure that I don’t even come close to transgressing the law. I’m the model Jew. Those two things sound quite a lot alike, don’t they? The Pharisees had that kind of attitude yet. Jesus says in Matthew 23 and verse 23 that they neglected the weightier matters of the law.

Without neglecting the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. It’s easy for us to do the same things, isn’t it? It’s easy to pronounce judgment that is sought on ourselves. Because we do and believe the right things. It’s easy to pronounce a harsh judgment on others because they don’t. And that makes us feel better about ourselves, doesn’t it? So here’s my question this morning. Can we sometimes be 21st century Pharisees?

1. The Parable of the Two Sons

People who are hypocritical, censorious, and self-righteous. People who think that because we believe all the right things, that makes us somehow better than everyone else. The answer to that question, unfortunately, and all too often, if we’re not careful, is yes. I want to look momentarily in Matthew chapter 21 at the parable of the two sons. And Jesus says here, and of course we’ve got to think about the context. And Jesus has just entered into Jerusalem for the last time, triumphal entry in the beginning of the chapter. He curses the fig tree in verses 18 through 19 and 20. His authority is challenged by these Pharisees, the priests, the chief priests, the elders. In verses 23 through 27. And as he continues his discourse with them, he says this.

He says, What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, Son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I will not. But after he changed his mind and he went. And the father went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, I go, sir. But did not go. Which of the two? Very simple question, Jesus asked. Did the will of his father? Of course, they answered the obvious answer. Well, it was the first. Even though he said he wasn’t, but he did. He did the will of his father. And Jesus said, Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him.

But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw that, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. Jesus asked a question that was so simple. To which the answer was obvious.

And then not do it. And still be counted as righteous and obedient or pleasing to the one who directed you.

2. The Fig Tree: Leaves but No Fruit

It says that the key interpretive point in understanding the parable of the two sons comes in defining to whom Jesus is speaking. For what we need to look at the overall context. For that, we need to look at the overall context of this passage. Matthew 21 begins with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as we’ve already mentioned. The whole point of Matthew’s gospel is to show Jesus as a long awaited Messiah. The crowd responds by shouting Hosanna’s and praises to the king. The king’s first act upon entering Jerusalem is to cleanse the temple in verses 12 through 17. Afterwards, we see Jesus cursing the fig tree in 18 through 22. And I want to look at that real quick. In 18, verse 18 of chapter 21, in the morning as he was returning to the city, he became hungry, and seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves.

And he said to it, May no fruit ever come from you again. And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How did the fig tree wither at once? Jesus answered them, Truly I say, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to this fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith. But the conversator goes on to say about this story, that this account may seem like an isolated story of cursing the fig tree. And it does seem kind of weird. It’s just he’s walking along, you know, here we are, triumphant entry, and then Jesus is walking along, and oh, fig tree, you’re cursed.

And then on we move to his authority being challenged. It does seem somewhat isolated. And yet, the commentator says that Jesus was making a strong symbolic point. The fig tree is often symbolic of Israel. He references Hosea 9 and 10, Joel 1 and verse 7. The fact that the fig tree had leaves, but no fruit is symbolic of Israel’s religious activity. For example, they had all the trappings of spirituality. Again, they looked good on the outside. They had leaves, but no substance. The part that really mattered, the fruit, wasn’t there. Israel may have had the leaves of activity, but not the fruit of repentance and obedience to God. Which is why Jesus tells them that the prostitutes and caste collectors will enter the kingdom ahead of them in verse 31.

3. Not About Our Words, but Our Actions and Hearts

And so what’s the message here that Jesus is trying to get across? In this parable of the two sons, the message is that it is not about our words. It is not even necessarily about our beliefs, but it is about our actions. And not even behind that, it is not even just about our actions, but also about our hearts behind the actions. What motivates us to do what we do? Is it fear or love? Pride or humility. Service or selfishness. We must do what we’ve been commanded to do. If we don’t keep his commandments, Jesus says that we do not love him. As we’ve been studying in 1 John, that thought is played out thoroughly. Also in the Gospel of John, in chapter 14, where Jesus is saying that I am the truth, the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me, he goes on to say in verse 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

In verse 21. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves him will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me. So, yes, keeping his words are important. But as the Pharisees and the Jews of the Old Testament forgot what was the reason for those commandments. As Jesus says again in chapter 23 justice, mercy, faithfulness, love, sacrifice. We cannot claim to be doing the will of God, make it look so to others, and then not fully do it. To the extent that God originally intended. That is love and mercy and sacrifice, not just the way that it looks.

4. Three Problems the Pharisees Had

Beginning in verses 1 through 12. Jesus outlines three problems that the Pharisees had. Jesus said to the crowds and his disciples, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. So practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. He’s saying there that they say things and they don’t do them. They’re hypocrites. And again, don’t mistake my point. I’m not saying that these commandments are unimportant. Jesus makes that very clear. So practice and observe whatever they tell you. He’s saying what most of, well, not all, but most of what they were saying was correct. It was true. They were good teachers of keeping the physical law. But they had forgotten the purpose behind it. And yet so often, he says, continuing in verse 4, they tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear.

They went on beyond the law. And they laid them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. And they love the place of honor at the peace, and the best seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplaces, and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for ye have one father who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

The first problem, verses three and four is that they say things and do not do them. The second problem is that they do their deeds to be noticed by men, verses five through ten. And the third problem is that they did not realize that greatness was found in serving. And so he pronounces several woes upon them. Continuing in verse 13, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For ye shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces, for you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Woe to you blind guides who say, if anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath. Again, examples of them going beyond what the law said. You blind fools, which is greater than gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred. And if you say anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing. If anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath. You blind men, which is greater the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred. So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it.

And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. They’re pronounced woes upon them in verses 13 through 15 for keeping others out of the kingdom of heaven. Woes are pronounced on them in verses 16 through 22 for making arbitrary man-made laws for binding that which was not binding upon the people, placing these heavy burdens on them that were hard to bear, and yet they themselves often were not willing to comply by them. Continue on in verse 23. Woe to the scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tied mint and dill and cumin and neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.

This woe is pronounced on them for stressing the particulars and forgetting the reasons behind them. For looking at this the minute. It’s interesting that they mentions mint and dill and cumin. These are very small things. And he’s looking at saying you do these tiny details. But you neglect the large things. You strain out a gnat. They would actually do, they would strain out all these things that they would have to use the wine and so forth in their sacrifices to make sure that they and when they ate to make sure that it was pure. And yet he’s saying, But you swallow a camel. You take out the tiny thing, but you don’t notice the big thing. He continued on in verse 25. Would you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

You blind Pharisee first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. They only cared about appearances. They did not care about the heart.

5. Are We in Danger of Succumbing to These Same Woes?

So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. And finally, in verses 29 through 36, he goes on to talk about how they killed the prophets and ultimately would kill Jesus himself. My question to us this morning is are we in danger of succumbing to these same woes? Do we tell others what to do? And then not do them ourselves.

To feel holier than thou? Again, it makes us better if we talk ourselves into it, saying, Well, you know, at least I don’t do this and I don’t do that, and you know, they ought to be doing that, but they’re not. But at least I don’t do that. It’s a way to justify that which we want to do, but we know we shouldn’t. It’s a way to justify the fact that we know we aren’t doing what we ought to do.

Are we only concerned about what people see? Do we desire to serve and put self last? That we might be first in the kingdom rather than keeping others out. Are we keeping others out of the kingdom by telling or implying to them that they will never be good enough? I think it’s easy to do that when someone walks in the doors and maybe they don’t immediately conform to what our consideration is of what the norm is. And maybe that makes people uncomfortable because they feel that. They feel the stares, the glances, the unapproval.

Are we making people feel uncomfortable because we are putting off a vibe of self-righteousness, a facade?

Perfection when inside we were full of dead men’s bones. Are we binding that which God has not bound? I think this is one area in which we must be especially careful. Because our traditions, much like the Pharisees, that they place these heavy burdens on others that were not in the law. Our traditions cannot become sin and righteousness doctrine. Just because that’s the way we’ve always done it, doesn’t mean it’s the only way. Just because that’s the way my parents taught me doesn’t mean it necessarily is. Just because that’s the way it’s been done since the 1940s or 50s, especially doesn’t make it the right way. Fifty years out of 2,000. If there’s something in our practice that has only been done for 50 years out of 2,000, and it’s not in the Bible?

We better not bind that. Because that’s what the Pharisees did. That makes us 21st century Pharisees. One way to scare people away from the church is by making them feel inadequate by binding that which God has not bound. Are we stressing the particulars but forgetting the why? And this goes hand in hand with the previous point. Yes, we should be at worship, but we need to stress not just the fact, but the why. Because we should have a love for it and a desire to worship God. Going back to chapter 23 and verse 3. So practice and observe what they tell you, but not what they do, for they preach, but do not practice. And verse 23 again, neglecting the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness.

These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. Yes. The observances are important. But the reason behind it is equally as important. Yes. Women should dress modestly, but out of a love for professing purity. And finally, our appearance is our main concern. Going back to verse 27 and 28, what a vivid picture Jesus paints. Of being like a whitewashed tomb. It looks so clean and pretty and pure and white on the outside that then you think about what’s on the inside. It’s filth and death, bones, all kinds of impurity and uncleanness. And he says, that is what’s inside of you. Let that never be said of us. Are we only refraining from sin that people know about? And believing the right doctrine so that people look at us and see how good we are?

Or is it just a physical, a whitewashed tomb? Are we actually cultivating a deeper love in our hearts for God because of what he has done? Or do we just want to be looked upon as those who are, oh, look, those that church over there, they are sound. They are conservative. And they stand for the truth. We want to be those things.

But we want to do it for the right reasons. And finally, are we putting to death the prophets? What prophets you say? How do you respond to someone who confronts you and pricks your heart about some sin in your life or something else you ought to do but are not doing? Or maybe you’re putting Jesus to death again on the cross by falling away from him, Hebrews 6 and verse 6. I’ll say it again: we cannot have the trappings of spirituality, but lack the substance. We cannot have the leaves of activity, but not the fruit of repentance or obedience to God. Because as Paul writes in chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians, if I do not have love, it profits me nothing. I can do and say all these things, but if I don’t have love, it matters little.

6. If I Do Not Have Love

Turn with me over to the 1 Corinthians chapter 13, beginning in verse 1. If I speak the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy dong or a clinging symbol. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. If I do all the things that we’ve listed here, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing. I am nothing. I gain nothing, Paul writes. All that we do must be done out of love for God and for others.

Conclusion

And as I said before, it’s not just about our actions, but the motivation for them. And so, what is our application and conclusion this morning? Often we think that we’re okay because we know and say the right things. Okay, so you don’t smoke, you don’t drink, dance like us, steal. But do you pray? Praise, preach, teach, encourage, or suffer for the sake of Christ. I look at the denominational world around us and I see a lot of error. But I also see some examples that we might follow. How often are people in the denominational world more willing to suffer for the cause of Christ, to face adversity, to talk openly about their faith, to talk about spiritual things, to profess Christ, to teach the gospel, to pray and believe in the power of God in their lives and to change their lives.

If they live that better than us, that makes us Pharisees. Telling others what is right, but not willing to lift a finger to do them ourselves. More concerned about tithing, mints, and dill and human and neglecting the weightier matters of the law. Jesus says these things you ought to have done without neglecting the others. You blind guys straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. The Pharisees become lost in the minute details while neglecting the law’s overarching intent. They miss something obvious. We have to be careful that does not happen to us. Paul writes when he says, If I have all love, it profits me nothing. If I don’t have love and do all these things. So what if you believe the right things? So what if you don’t do all the wrong things?

It matters little if we are not doing the good works that Christ calls us to do. It matters little if we these things are not done out of love. We’re just making a bunch of noise, a noisy gong, a claiming symbol.

If it’s not done out of love. We cannot say to the Father, Yes, I will go. And then not go. That is a failure to do his will. And his will is simply this: that we love him, serve him, obey him, and bring others to him. If we aren’t truly doing that with all of our hearts, then what are we doing? Why even bother? We’re being 21st century Pharisees, self-righteous hypocrites who will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven and are in danger of bringing others down to this. So what are you doing this morning? Don’t be a Pharisee. Be a disciple, a follower of Christ. Do his will. Put him on in baptism for the forgiveness of your sins. Or make your life right if you have wandered away from him.

If there’s anyone here this morning that needs to respond to the gospel, why don’t you come now as we stand and sing?