This transcript was generated by whisper.ai. Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you to week 25 of our look through the book of Matthew. That means we're in chapter 23 this week. Chapter 23 of Matthew is Jesus talking to the Pharisees and he has some tough stuff to say to them. In many ways, this is one of the most negative chapters in all of the teaching of Jesus. When you take a close look at it, you can see some positive truth for your life. You can see how in the warnings that Jesus gave them, we need to hear warnings for our own life. And you can see how in those warnings, you and I can see the positive ways we need to live. The truth is, we could look back at these Pharisees as hypocrites who lived 2,000 years ago and this is what Jesus had to say to them, or we could take a more honest look at this chapter and realize we all struggle with hypocrisy. That's why Jesus taught these things to them. That's why the Holy Spirit put these things in the scriptures for us. So what can I learn from this? How can I change from this? Now tomorrow we're going to start to take a look at the seven woes of Jesus to these Pharisees, but he sets it up with what he has to say to them in verses 1 to 12. Listen to what Jesus taught. "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 'The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you, but do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and they put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see. They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long. They love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues. They love to be greeted in the market places and have men call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you only have one master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth father, for you have one father and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called teacher, for you have one teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. " Now at the end of this passage Jesus talks to those listening to his disciples about greatness through service. This was far from the only time he taught about this. It was a constant theme of his teaching. Jesus often followed his teaching about being great through serving with what I would call his daily greatness quiz. He says it here, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, whoever humbles himself will be exalted. " Every single day you and I face this simple test of greatness. Exalt yourself or humble yourself. You check one in every situation. In every relationship we face this same test. Am I going to exalt myself or humble myself? Choose one. Decisions ranging from the career that you choose to the car that you drive to the clothes that you wear. You're choosing, am I going to exalt myself or humble myself? From the greatest dreams to the simplest details we're facing this daily test. Who's going to be the first to apologize after an argument with your husband, your wife? Exalt myself or humble myself? How will I respond to this problem with one of my children as a parent? Will I exalt myself or humble myself? How am I going to handle this disagreement with a friend? Exalt myself or humble myself? Who gets the television remote control? Am I going to exalt myself or humble myself? Some people think that this choice to humble or exalt, that it's all with God. God humbles you through circumstances, he exalts you through other ones. He lifts me up or he lets me down. The truth of the matter is, Jesus taught here that there's a choice that you and I have to make. Whoever exalts himself, whoever humbles himself. When I humble my choice, that's the choice that I make. It's God's choice how he's going to respond to my choice. And Jesus tells us here, he's going to respond by exalting those who humble themselves. So how do you be great at this? How do you be great at being humble? It sort of sounds like a contradiction and reminds you of the preacher who said, I have a great sermon on humility, probably the best one you've ever heard. When it comes to what Jesus is teaching the Pharisees here, there is a daily greatness test in this. And it has to do with what you do with the way other people think of you, the way other people notice you. To exalt yourself, Jesus teaches here, is when you need others' notice. But you humble yourself when you start to notice others' needs. When you exalt yourself, as the Pharisees were doing, you need others' notice. And we all struggle with this. We all like to be noticed by other people, I do. But we can get to a point where we don't just like it or appreciate it, but we actually need it in our lives. Among the most noticed religious leaders in Jesus' day were these Pharisees. And they used religion, they used God as a cover for getting their need for notice met. You can use anything as a cover for that. That's what they happen to use. And Jesus reserves His sharpest judgment for these people. Not because they struggled, everyone struggles. But because they would not admit that they were doing everything religious just to get this need for notice met. Don't be like the Pharisees, Jesus said. Everything they do is done for people to see. And then He goes through this list. He says, first they make their phylacteries wide. What's a phylactery? I mean, it sounds like something you would see in a natural history museum. We have the exhibit of the fossil remains of the pterodactyl and the brontosaurus and the phylactery. Well, no, it's not anything to do with dinosaurs. It has everything to do with this little tiny box that they would put on their foreheads and they had a band that they put it on and it would have a scripture in it. And it was a way of fulfilling what the Old Testament talked about when it talks about taking the scripture and having it on your mind all day long. But what they would do is they would make the band that the phylacter was on bigger and bigger and bigger so it was more noticeable that they were carrying this scripture around. It's like somebody who gets a bigger Bible and then a bigger Bible and then a bigger Bible. You're not just carrying the Bible so that you can get God's Word into your life during the day. You want people to notice that you're carrying the Bible. You want people to notice that your Bible is bigger than their Bible. This struggle that they had in one way was a love of symbols. Instead of loving what the symbol meant, they started to love the symbol for what it got them, the notice that it got them. It's one of the struggles that we have. Now, you and I, we don't love the same kinds of symbols. We impress people with symbols like a logo, a certain kind of logo that's on our car that says it's a BMW or a Mercedes or a certain kind of logo that's on our clothes that says it's by this maker and so it's expensive. Now, God doesn't care about the make of car you drive, I don't believe. You don't have to drive a Hyundai to be a real Christian, but he does care about why you drive what you drive or why you live where you live or why you wear what you wear. If it's all to impress other people, if it's all to be noticed because you need others' notice, Jesus warns us about this love of symbols. He also says they have a love of recognition. He says they love the places of honor at banquets. And when you need other people's notice, you love recognition. You love to be in the first seat. You love to be told to stand up and everybody applaud, recognize who you are. That's when you realize you got to get your notice fixed. You need other people's notice. And then finally, he said they had a love of titles. They love to have men call them rabbi. When you fall in love with titles, it's because you're in love with other people noticing you. He says to the disciples, "Don't even let people call you rabbi. Don't even let them call you father or teacher. " And we look at that now and say, "Should we not call somebody pastor? " And I suppose the reason behind it is what's important. With these first followers, Jesus knew what would happen. If they were called rabbi, then the next people would be called senior rabbi, and then the next people would be called the most senior rabbi, and the next people would be called the most senior holy rabbi, and then you'd have the most senior holy beneficent rabbi, and we'd go on and on and on and on. When you love titles, you have to add more and more and more to show how important you are. Now, I don't think it's wrong necessarily to use a title like "pastor" or to call your father "father" or to call a teacher "teacher" if it's out of love and recognition of what they're doing. But when we want those titles in order to be noticed, in order to have this fix met in our lives of this need for notice, then you know you're in trouble. And Jesus says, "Don't walk down that road. It's an empty road. You're never going to get enough notice. That is a hole that's never going to get filled. The more notice you get, the more notice you need. " Jesus says the way that your life needs are met is instead you notice other people's needs. That's the only thing that's going to cure you of focusing only on your needs, the decision to focus on other people's needs. So Jesus says, "The greatest among you will be your servant. " We look around our world and the struggles that we have in relationships. Nations fight against nations, and cultures and tribes and companies fight against each other. When office cubicles fight against each other, they get in their own little wars. What would it be like if we decided to serve each other? If nations served nations, wars would go away. If tribes served tribes, wars would go away. If companies figured out how they could serve instead of fight, then all of a sudden the culture would change. Now you may not be able to change nations or cultures or companies, but you can change your cubicle. You can change what's happening with the person who's sitting next door to you. So what are you going to do today? What if you notice the need of the person in the cubicle next to you, in the office next to you, sitting at the desk next to you, in the car that's driving beside you? What if you notice their need? Mother Teresa once said, "God doesn't ask us to do great things. He asks us to do small things with great love. " So what small action with great love, what way could you serve the person that's next to you today? Maybe you notice that somebody gets a cup of coffee every day at 10 o'clock, so you get them a cup of coffee and bring it to them. They may think you poisoned it at first, I don't know, but it's a small way to say, "Hey, I care about you. I notice your need. I notice that you're a human being. " And that's what we're called to do. Jesus said, "I came to serve and I'm calling you to serve. " So you want to be great today? What great way can you serve someone else by doing a small action of love? Let's ask for God's wisdom right now. Jesus, we come to you who came to serve us. We come to you who is the number one expert at serving that ever walked this earth, and we ask for your wisdom. We need it. Help us to see beyond our needs and to see the needs of the people that are around us. Not only see them, not only notice them, but also, Lord, act, do something about them. Show us today what small action of love we can do for somebody we've known for a long time or somebody we've just met for the first time. Show us today, we pray. In your name, amen. Well, join us tomorrow. Jesus begins an honest talk about hypocrisy and warns us about the dangers of religion.