Devotional Sharing, Submitted by Daniel Kim, Gracepoint Berkeley
Matthew 23:8-12
What truth can save me from loving the recognition and attention described in vv. 5-7?
The truth is that I am a sinner. The truth is that I am guilty of sins past and present, and even if I try hard to forget them, ultimately I cannot deny that truth, a fact of history. Whenever I fall into the temptation of loving recognition and attention, I try to imagine myself standing before God. Would I be able to lift my head up high? Would I be looking straight at Him and saying that I deserve His attention? No, I instinctively know to hide my face and cover my mouth, because in the presence of God who knows all, I would know that my sins make me dirty. Even through such a simple thought experiment, I come face to face with the truth of my sins. So when I start loving the recognition and attention of people, I am, in a way, involved in deception, because I am ignoring this gigantic fact that I’m a sinner and pretending to be someone who is not a sinner. Who am I? Am I a saint deserving of recognition, or am I a sinner forgiven who ought to be forever thankful? The answer seems obvious when I embrace the truth about myself.
What things that I do, pursue, and desire have at its core the desire to exalt myself?
When I reflect back to how I was when I was younger, I can see, to my own shame, how much of my world revolved around myself. So much of my emotional resources was devoted to keeping track of how I was viewed by whom, thinking about what I can do to gain someone’s respect, etc.. Of course, if I were to go back in time and ask myself if I wanted to exalt myself, I would say “no.” The phrase “desire to exalt myself” seems too strong. I was just responding to my insecurities, my sense of inadequacies and the resentment that I felt toward any exposure of my weaknesses. But I realized that insecurities and resentment toward my own weaknesses is simply a euphemistic way of describing the fact that I wanted to exalt myself, since the solution to my insecurities was that I needed to rise above others.
Although the years of growth since that time has freed me from a lot of such a narrow pursuit of self-aggrandizement, I know that there is still that basic reference point of self-centeredness that lives in me, which needs to be constantly battled against. I need to particularly be careful about how I respond to my sense of inadequacies, because they are the areas in which I can pursue recognition and attention.
Reflect upon how Jesus embodied the paradox described in vv. 11-12 while on earth. What are some examples of people who also were able to live out this paradox?
Jesus lived out this paradox — by humbling himself to the point of death, he became the source of so much hope and life. By becoming the lowest, he proved himself to be indeed the king of kings, so much higher and greater than any earthly king. And as people follow in Jesus’ footsteps, I can see them becoming more and more like Jesus. While the whole world is set on an upward direction of self-exaltation and climbing the social class ladder, I find myself living among people who seems to be completely “clueless” to that competition. While everyone else are climbing, these people descend — they give up their jobs to go to the mission field, serve the people of a third-world country, spend their entire lives running an orphanage, pass up a promotion to minister to students, take a paycut to move to another city and plant a church, and limit their options and lifestyle to love people. The world looks at people like that and call them foolish. The world says you need to exalt yourself and goes on its way of doing that very thing… and in the process their lives become smaller and smaller. But I see those people around me, and I see that God has exalted them. Their lives are filled with higher joys, higher relationships driven by a higher cause. They are rich. They stand above the fray of the world. The world is not worthy of them. So I want to live that way, following in the footsteps of Jesus along with those who are also following him.
Matthew 23:5-7
- Reflect on the things that the Pharisees and teachers of the law loved. To what extent are their values similar to mine?
- How has this affected me in terms of doing “everything … for men to see”?
- What is so tragic about this?
Matthew 23:8-12
- What truth can save me from loving the recognition and attention described in vv. 5-7?
- What are the things that I do, pursue, and desire have at its core the desire to exalt myself?
- Reflect upon how Jesus embodied the paradox described in vv. 11-12 while on earth. What are some examples of people who also were able to live out this paradox?
Matthew 23:13-39
“Jesus’ woes are the angry laments of wounded love, incited by compassion for those whom religious leaders have led astray (see 23:37). Christians today often think of ‘Pharisees’ as hypocrites and hence do not feel threatened when hearing them denounced. But the Pharisees’ contemporaries thought of them as very devoted practitioners of the Bible, and of the scribes as experts in biblical laws. In today’s terms, Jesus was thundering against many popular preachers and people who seemed to be living holy lives–because they were practicing human religion rather than serving God with purified hearts.
“When rightly understood, Jesus’ woes may strike too close to home for comfort. When religion becomes a veneer of holiness to conceal unholy character, it makes its bearers less receptive to God’s transforming grace.”[1]
- What emotions do Jesus’ exclamations convey? Why would he feel this way?
- What does this impress upon me about the way God views me?
- Which of the woes apply to me?
Additional Questions:
Matthew 23:1-4
- Are there ways in which I do not practice what I preach?
- What can I learn from Jesus’ command to “obey them and do everything they tell you” despite the fact that they did not practice what they preached?
- What warning does this give me as a follower and as a leader?
Matthew 23:13-15
- What are some of the ways I might inadvertently shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces by my example?
- What can I do to address or prevent this hypocrisy?
Matthew 23:16-22
“On the popular level, people had begun using many surrogate phrases for God’s name, hoping to avoid judgment if they broke the oath. Pharisees endeavored to distinguish which oath phrases were actually binding…in any case, Jesus rejects their reasoning. Jesus rails in part against traditions that have created inconsistent standards of holiness. (We might compare churches today that…fight for the authority of Scripture yet care so little for it in practice that they ignore the context of verses.) …Jesus’ attack is ultimately directed against the profanation of God’s name.”[2]
- Why would the Pharisees and teachers of the law attempt to distinguish between oaths taken by the temple versus the gold, and the altar versus the gift?
- Reflect on the degree to which the Pharisees must have been out of touch with their inner motivations, given that they were capable of taking such measures to avoid genuinely obeying God . Are there similar ways in which I am avoiding confronting what’s in my heart by pointing to some technical compliance?
Matthew 23:23-24
“Jesus does not condemn scrupulous observance in these things (‘without neglecting the former’), but insists that to fuss over them while neglecting the ‘more important matters of the law’ (cf. 22:34-40)—justice, mercy, and pistis (here rightly translated ‘faithfulness’)—is to strain out a gnat but swallow a camel (23:24) both unclean creatures.”[3]
- What are the “more important matters” that Jesus is referring to here?
- What “trivial” or less significant things about Christian living detract me from understanding more deeply the fundamental truths of God?
Matthew 23:25-26
- How does keeping clean only on the outside only ultimately leave my inside “full of greed and self-indulgence”?
- What concrete steps do I need to take in order to “clean [myself on] the inside”?
Matthew 23:27-28
“When rightly understood, Jesus’ woes may strike too close to home for comfort. When religion becomes a veneer of holiness to conceal unholy character, it makes its bearers less receptive to God’s transforming grace.”[4]
- Meditate on the irony of a whitewashed tomb being thought of as beautiful.
- Are there ways in which I focus on external ritual or activities while ignoring inner corruption?
Matthew 23:29-32
“We sometimes think, if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, that we should not have despised and rejected him, as men then did; yet Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his ministers, is still no better treated.”[5]
- What is Jesus’ main criticism of the Pharisees?
- What might have caused the Pharisees to think that they were above the deeds of their forefathers?
- Why is it easy to think of the sins of other people, other cultures, or previous generations as something I would not have done?
- What are the things that cause me to overestimate my own righteousness?
Matthew 23:33-36
- Why did Jesus utter such scathing rebukes? What can I learn about Jesus’ heart from v. 34 and v. 37?
- In light of this passage, what can I learn about the role of harsh and offensive words in leading people to repentance?
- What has been my response to Jesus’ attempt at “sending [me] prophets and wise men and teachers?”
Matthew 23:37-39
“A hen gathering her chicks under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour’s tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them safe, and nourishes them to eternal life…In the mean time the Saviour stands ready to receive all who come to him. There is nothing between sinners and eternal happiness, but their proud and unbelieving unwillingness.”[6]
- Reflect on the words “but you were not willing.” Given God’s longing to embrace people, why would anyone be “unwilling” to come to him?
- As a Christian, what should be my heart be towards those who do not know God? Do I share God’s heart for those who do not know the gospel?
[1] Keener, Craig S., IVP New Testament Commentary Series: Matthew (InterVarsity Press, 1995-2005), Matthew 23.
[2] Keener, Craig S., IVP New Testament Commentary Series: Matthew (InterVarsity Press, 1995-2005), Matthew 23.
[3] Frank E. Gaebelein, Gen. Ed. Expositer’s Bible Commentary CD, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992) notes for Matthew 23.
[4] Keener, Craig S., IVP New Testament Commentary Series: Matthew (InterVarsity Press, 1995-2005), Matthew 23.
[5] Henry, Matthew. “Commentary on Matthew 23” In Matthew Henry Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible, (Crosswalk, 1706).
[6] Henry, Matthew. “Commentary on Matthew 23” In Matthew Henry Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible, (Crosswalk, 1706).