WOE TO RELIGIOUS OATHS

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Matthew 23:16-22

We are making our way through Jesus' strong admonishment upon the religious leaders of His day. What's interesting is that the same tendencies can be applied to leaders today. In verses 13-15 we saw that the legalism of the Pharisees actually served to shut others out of the Kingdom. Jesus continues to distinguish His Kingdom thinking with the natural practice of religious leaders with another woe.

16 "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, `Whoever, swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever, swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.' 17 "You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? 18 "And, `Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.' 19 "You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering ? 20 "Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. 21 "And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. 22 "And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it."

We have already seen that in matters of oaths the Jewish legalists were masters of evasion (Matthew 5:33-37). The general principle of evasion was this. To the Jew an oath was absolutely binding, so long as it was a binding oath. A binding oath was an oath which definitely and without equivocation employed the name of God; such an oath must be kept, no matter what the cost. Any other oath might be legitimately broken. The idea was that, if God's name was actually used, then God was introduced as a partner into the transaction, and to break the oath was not only to break faith with men but to insult God." 

Jesus is saying, "You have brought evasion to such a fine art that it is possible to regard an oath by the Temple as not binding, while an oath by the gold of the Temple is binding; and an oath by the altar as not binding, while an oath by the gift on the altar is binding." The whole idea of treating oaths in this way, the whole conception of a kind of technique of evasion, is born out of deceitfulness. The truly spiritual man will never make a promise with the deliberate intention of evading it; he will never, as he makes it, provide himself with a series of escape routes, which he may use if he finds his promise hard to keep. 

For Jesus your oath is bound in two ways. God hears every word we speak and God sees every intention of our hearts.

This was legalism at its best! Legalism lurks around every corner with all of its man-made distortions. It's so tempting for us all and easy to slip into at most every level. Life is not that complicated.

So, what is required for salvation? JESUS. And, what is required for holy living? JESUS. JESUS PLUS NOTHING.

ONE MORE THING: NOTE that Jesus calls the accepted religious leaders of the day two names-fools and blind guides. They were fools because they were spending most of their time and energies on worthless matters. They were called blind guides because, being positioned as guides they were not able to guide anyone. They were blind! They had no ability to see the way of the Kingdom for themselves and therefore no way to lead the people who looked to them as their guides. They were leading the people, but not toward the simplicity of Jesus and the Kingdom. I ask you. Do you see this same thing happening today? I just wonder what names Jesus has for our leadership today?

WOE TO RELIGIOUS LEADERS

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Matthew 23:13-15

13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore, you will receive greater condemnation.

15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."

Here Jesus directs a series of seven woes against the Scribes and Pharisees. Each one begins with "Woe to you!" The word connotes anger and sorrow. The word hypocrite occurs here several times. In the Greek, the word 'hupokrites' had to do with a dialogue on stage, which described an actor. Later, the word had a negative connotation which meant a pretender, one who acts a part, one who wears a mask to cover his true feelings, one who puts on an external show while inwardly his thoughts and feelings are very different. To Jesus the Scribes and Pharisees were men who were acting a part.

Their whole idea of religion consisted in outward observances, the wearing of elaborate phylacteries and tassels, the meticulous observance of the rules and regulations of the Law. But in their hearts there was bitterness and envy and pride and arrogance. To Jesus these Scribes and Pharisees were men who, under a mask of elaborate godliness, concealed hearts in which the most godless feelings and emotions held sway.

There is even an earlier understanding of 'hupokrites' and that is to by hyper-critical. This is precisely what these religious leaders were all about. When people tried to find entry into the Kingdom the Pharisees presented them with these hypercritical rules and regulations, which was as good as shutting the door in their faces.

Jesus accused these Pharisees of being missionaries of evil. The sin of the Pharisees was that they were not really seeking to lead men to God, they were seeking to lead them to Pharisaism. This is the same as being more concerned about getting people into church rather than being into a personal relationship with God.

The greatest of all heresies is the sinful conviction that any Church or people has a monopoly on God or of His truth, or that any Church is the only gateway to God's Kingdom. We must come to grips with the fact that Christianity doesn't own Jesus! Jesus is God's Messiah to the entire world-to every culture and to every people group.

ONE MORE THING: Jesus says the person who travels the earth to proselytize and convert others to become just like them in all of their hypocritical mode are worthy of hell. Now, remember this has nothing to do with some location of a burning fire later. He is saying that people like this who do these things are worthy of being thrown on the burning trash heap of Gehenna. Gehenna or the Valley of Hinnom is translated as hell. They have proven to be worthless trash.

All God is looking for is a person who is interested and leaning in with a heart bent toward God. This genuine hearted person has no need to proselytize the world or to make people act like him. BUT, he has the desire to be and do all that Jesus has said to be and to do. And, that in itself is contagious. Jesus uses this authenticity to spread around the world like a virus. It's a genuine movement of followers of Jesus!

THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES

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Matthew 23:1-12

In the 23rd chapter of Matthew Jesus zeroes in on the pompous leadership of the Pharisees. I want to move through this chapter to get a feel for what displeased Jesus most about the religious of His day. These attitudes and actions pose the greatest threat to living out the Kingdom lifestyle of Jesus.

In this first section Jesus sort of introduces who He is going to discuss: The scribes and the Pharisees. 1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. 4 They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling, to move them with so much as a finger. 5 But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.

8 But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. 11 But the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Remember that Jesus grew up in the Pharisaical culture of Judaism. He knew it well and is here beginning to point out the distortions.

NOTE He says to do what these teachers say, but do not practice what they do. The Pharisees did three things that were a constant distortion of following the Christ.

1-They made religion a burden upon everyone! Their whole outlook on religion had one fundamental effect. It made it a thing of thousands upon thousands of rules and regulations; and therefore it made it an intolerable burden.

2-They made religion into a show! The religion of the Pharisees became almost inevitably a religion of ostentation. If religion consists in obeying countless rules and regulations, it becomes easy for a man to see to it that everyone is aware how well he fulfills the regulations and how perfect is his piety. Jesus selects certain actions and customs in which the Pharisees showed their ostentation.

3-They elevated one above another! They lifted up the "holy" ones who performed this externalism best. They graded totally on the curve. They loved the position and title of Rabbi.

However in the Kingdom Jesus makes it clear not to call anyone Rabbi or Teacher or leader. This is a tough word for those of us who have worked and trained to become the "leader" or the "teacher"-to serve in a position in the church.

Some take this to an extreme and glory in leaderless movements. God has never moved among His people without leadership. Here's the difference as I see it.

FIRST-A leader God raises up is usually an ordinary, uneducated person. He picks out a Gideon, the small boy with a lunch bag, the poor, young virgin to serve as the mother of the Messiah, the common stone-cutter to serve as the Messiah's earthly father, ordinary fishermen to launch a global movement, or the speaking donkey. And, in the weakness and brokenness of these chosen ones God does amazing things.

SECOND-A leader God raises up is equipped by God Himself to lead, no matter his giftedness.

THIRD-A leader God raises up doesn't think in terms of exalting himself, but views himself as a servant of God who is called by God to serve all who God brings his way.

FOURTH-A leader God raises up is a learner from all who are in fellowship together. He knows the Lord is in the process of teaching him lots through the others who are walking together.

FIFTH-A leader God raises up goes into gatherings with others expecting Jesus to show up and minister in a meaningful way among those gathered.

SIXTH-A leader God raises up is not all wound up with his own vision and mission, but waits and listens for Jesus to lead out with His opportunities and orders.

SEVENTH-A leader God raises up hangs on to the bottom-line theme of Jesus about humility and exaltation. Jesus' classic statement, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." is in the context of His teaching on leadership.

So, humble yourself and be exalted by God Himself or exalt yourself and be humbled by God Himself! YOU CHOOSE!

AN INVITATION TO DINNER

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Matthew 22:1-10

1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4"Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'

5"But they paid no attention and went off-one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

The events of this parable are completely in accordance with normal Jewish customs. When the invitations to a great feast, like a wedding feast, were sent out, the time was not stated. And, when everything was ready the servants were sent out with a final summons to tell the guests to come. So then, the king in this parable sent out his invitations long ago, but it was not till everything was prepared that the final summons was issued-and insultingly refused. This parable has two meanings.

FIRST-It has a purely local meaning. Its local meaning was a driving home of what had already been said in the Parable of the Wicked Vine-Growers; once again it was an accusation of the Jewish leadership. The invited guests who when the time came refused to come, stand for the Jewish leadership. Ages ago they had been invited by God to be his chosen people; yet when God's son came into the world, and they were invited to follow Him they contemptuously refused. The result was that the invitation of God went out direct to the highways and the byways; and the people in the highways and the byways stand for the sinners and the Gentiles, who never expected an invitation into the Kingdom.

SECOND-This parable also has much to say on a much wider scale. One of the surprising things indicated here is that God's invitation is an invitation to joy and not gloom. I see three reminders:

It reminds us that the things which make men deaf to the invitation of Christ are not necessarily bad in themselves. One man went to his estate; the other to his business. These weren't bad things, but normal things. However, when the good gets in the way of the best, then you have a problem.

It also reminds us that the appeal of Christ is not so much to consider how we will be punished as it is to see what we will miss, if we do not take his way of things.

Finally, it reminds us that in the last analysis God's invitation is the invitation of grace. Those who were gathered in from the highways and the byways had no claim on the king and they could never by any stretch of imagination have expected an invitation to the wedding feast, much less could they ever have deserved it. It came to them from nothing other than the wide-armed, open-hearted, generous hospitality of the king. It was grace which offered the invitation and grace which gathered men in.

The only way anyone will get into the Kingdom is by the grace of God-unmerited favor from God, Himself!

FOLLOW-THROUGH & FRUITFULNESS

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Matthew 21:28-46

28"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' 29" 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30"Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go. 31"Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered.

Jesus sets up two kinds of people: FIRST-The person who initially says that he will not, but then jumps in and works in the vineyard. Although the verbal response was negative, but the ultimate effect was that this person actually was a doer. NOTE this is the sinner, the non-religious.

SECOND-The person who initially says that he will yet does not go to work in the vineyard. This person quickly agrees to going along with the request of the father, but doesn't actually become a doer. NOTE this is the religious, the ones who you would expect to go to work in the vineyard.

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Jesus identifies the tax collectors and the prostitutes with the ones who initially aren't "naturally" with the Kingdom of God. Yet, because of their follow-through in actually doing the work of the father, they are getting into the Kingdom ahead of those you might think should be there already.

These same pseudo-righteous people are identified with tenants who were managing the landowner's land. See how He does this: 33"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.

38"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."

42Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43"Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

This parable tracks with the history of the Jewish reaction to God's blessings. The owner of the vineyard is God who gave His blessings for the Jewish people to manage. Yet every representative He sent to them, they turned on them, persecuted and some they even killed. These were the Judges and Prophets.

Then God, the owner, sent His own Son. They did the same thing to Him, too. Then, as the story goes, the owner went to the field to throw out the tenants and kill them. And after this, He gave the vineyard to others. In other words, this parable tells the entire history of the children of Israel in relationship to their God-Jehovah.

NOTE that the difference between the two types of people comes down to who will follow-through and produce fruit. The ultimate proof of whether something is of God or not is the fruitfulness. The proof is in the fruit! Now, one more thing. Remember what you must do to produce fruit? Abide or remain in the vine or hang on to Jesus. He will produce fruit in and through us. So, we are to be faithful and He will make us fruitful. That's the Kingdom way.