Today we’ll begin our study of Matthew 23:1-12 in earnest. This account takes place during Wednesday of the Passion Week and Jesus has just finished answering the challenges of the religious elite. He has answered their challenge concerning the payment of taxes, the resurrection and the law. Look at Matthew 22:46 to see what the reaction of the crowd was: “And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.” He left them humbled and speechless.
He has answered every challenge that the religious leaders in the temple have thrown at Him. He himself has thrown a question out that talked about the deity of the Messiah that no one could answer and He then provided the answer Himself from the scriptures. And now He turns and begins to speak to the multitude as the religious elite are standing near. He talks to them about how those that are in charge are really far away from God and not they are lacking in divine authority. Look at Matthew 23:2-3a:
The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do.What does the phrase “Moses’ seat” mean? To say that you are sitting in Moses seat is the same as saying that you are God’s authoritative spokesman, or God’s voice on earth. The interesting thing to catch here is that Jesus is saying that the Pharisees and scribes have put themselves in that position and not God, as a matter of fact, some translations of the bible even render this verse as “have set themselves in Moses’ seat”. The authority that they had was not divine authority, they had not been given the right to stand and say “God says”. They had taken it upon themselves to sit in the place of protecting and interpreting the word.
What do we do with the idea that they had real authority but it wasn’t divine? Jesus recognizes their authority at the beginning of vs 3 “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do”. He’s saying that there is some real authority to their position, but it is not divine authority. It is not the same kind of authority that Jesus has, look at Matthew 7:28-29:
And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.Remember the way that Jesus phrased His teachings in the Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard it was said…but I say to you…”. Jesus was teaching on His own authority and the Scribes and Pharisees would never teach that way. They would always call either directly to tradition or reference some teacher other than themselves.
But even though their authority wasn’t from God let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We know that Jesus does not condone the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, all of His previous words attest to that. What Jesus is saying is that the word of God is the word of God. If they are speaking God’s truth then you should do it, isn’t that what He is saying there? Look with me at Isaiah 55:11:
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.God’s word is God’s word and God will accomplish His will and His truth even through a hypocritical, self-righteous false teacher.
Let me share with you for a second from my own background. I was attending a small Baptist church when I first felt the call to preach. I went to my pastor and told him of my call and do you know what this man of God asked me, “Could you come next Sunday with a sermon?” You’re kidding, right? He was supposed to say something like, “You foolish young man, you’re not supposed to be a preacher. You don’t have any qualifications or training or anything. Go back to your pew and sit there and be good”. I never dreamt in a million years he’d tell me to come back next week with a sermon. I had read verses like the ones that we had talked about today and I was really worried about being a false teacher. What if I’m just crazy? What if I’m a false teacher? What if I lead people astray? His reply simply was, “God will take care of that. He’ll weed out his own. You come with a sermon and the Church will listen to it and we’ll go from there.” So I did and several years later I’m a pastor of a small church myself.
Why is that important? Why would I share that with you? Because you never know where the man standing in front of you saying “God says” has came from. God’s word is God’s word, we are to follow and listen to only those who proclaim it for what it is: living, powerful, and true. Jesus tells His people to pay attention when the Scribes and Pharisees are teaching. When they are telling you the word of God you should listen to them. He would tell us today to be discerning in the way that we listen as well. Test all the teachings you are exposed to: my preaching, the preaching on the radio, preaching on any Church you find yourself in, teaching in any book you find yourself reading.
Did you catch the implied command to the crowd here? They themselves are to know God’s word. We are supposed to be so familiar with God’s word that when the Pharisees in our lives start drifting and leading us away from God we can say “Stop”. Isn’t Jesus telling them and us that we need to take some responsibility for God’s word? Remember that I have had no formal training and I became a preacher. Everything that I have learned I have learned from reading and testing and following the Holy Spirit. Please test everything I tell you to make sure that I am not leading you astray, and if I am leading you astray you have a responsibility. You must come back and say “Jeff you missed that one. You were wrong on that”. And that goes for any teacher you listen to, I would admonish all of us today to listen carefully to the people that preach.
Don’t just take everything that you hear from the pulpit or the radio as gospel, check it. Make sure it is from God. Be like the Bereans, test everything you hear against scripture. When you are taught those things that line up with the word of God, those things go and do. Be careful in the people that you follow and what you accept as truth. The implied command from Christ in this verse is to know God’s word so that we can recognize the falsehood.
Notice that I didn't say "If you don't like what you hear don't follow it". I'm not giving us an excuse to be disobedient to God's word. Let us also abandon our own pretexts and interpretations when they are in direct conflict with God's word. Let us also test ourselves to make sure that we are not wrongly handling God's word.
Pray for me as I lead my church. Pray that I have a hunger and a zeal for God's word. Pray that I will always follow His teachings in everthing that I do. I'll pray the same for you.
Grace and Peace to you all…
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