What ministry did Jesus bring?

“A New Ministry”

(Matthew 23:1-12, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 27, 2008)

Matthew 23:1-12 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, ³ so practice and observe whatever they tell you- but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. ⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ⁶ and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues ⁷ and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. ⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. ¹⁰ Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. ¹¹ The greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Introduction – The Extensive History of Proud Religious People

We have been observing the interchange between Jesus and the Pharisees for some time now, but we have never really explored where this religious group came from, and what happened to them in the centuries following the cross even down to the present day. In the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were part political party, and part Jewish religious sect. Their name means “separated ones.” About 100 years prior to the birth of Christ they became quite prominent. During the reign of the various Herods, their political influence seems to have waned some. On the other hand, their religious influence, particularly in the synagogues, was very strong. After the destruction of the temple in AD 70, the temple-oriented Sadducees receded in importance. Therefore, the importance of the Pharisees to the future of Judaism was quite remarkable. In fact, their teaching has continued to have a profound influence on Jewish thinking and religious practice down to the present day. The contest for the hearts and minds of Jewish people in the first century was not between Pharisees and Sadducees. It was between Pharisees and Christians.

Today we begin chapter 23 of Matthew’s gospel. During the next several sermons we will examine Jesus’ critique of the Pharisees and see by contrast the alternative that we are to enjoy in what Christ calls “the kingdom of heaven.” Just as so very many different groups of Christians today believe in and use the Nicene Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer, both the early Christians and the Pharisees were serious observant Jews, and they had many common beliefs. For instance, both groups believed in a coming resurrection of the dead. Eventually many members of the church came from the Pharisees. Nonetheless the Pharisees were frankly critiqued by Jesus Christ. I think that it is fair to say that the Pharisees were a proud religious people. I use the word “proud” in a negative sense, meaning that they were arrogant and self-righteous religious people, who were lacking in the kind of humility that should characterize those who believe in the Ten Commandments, since we should know that we violate them all. Proud religious people are everywhere, even today. Unfortunately, arrogant irreligious people are everywhere too. It should not surprise us that none of us have escaped this disease as of yet. There has been an extensive history of proud religion ever since Adam and Eve tried to make their own clothes as a way of hiding from God. Only God can clothe us rightly. Our pride and self-righteousness will be finished only when we get to heaven.

They sit on Moses’ seat (1-2)

We have mentioned the Pharisees, the religious sect most associated with synagogue life at this time. We should also mention the scribes again, who are the experts and teachers in the law, and were generally a part of the Pharisee group. When we talk about the scribe, we are talking about someone like me. I am a minister of the Word. I am supposed to give you a true presentation of the Bible in the Name of Jesus Christ. The scribes spoke for Moses.

The Law came through Moses. In the synagogues, the messages were delivered by someone who was seated. Moses was thought of as the Mediator of the Old Covenant. God spoke to Him and used Him particularly in the writing of the first five books of the Bible, the books of the Law. When someone took the chair in the synagogue in order to explain the Law of God to the people, He was speaking, in a sense, for Moses. That is why Jesus points out that the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Our situation is different in some ways today. The law came through Moses, but grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ. I do not sit in Moses’ seat, but I do stand in Jesus’ pulpit. The New Testament gospel and the whole of the Scriptures are now the grace and truth of Jesus Christ. The Bible is understood through the coming of Jesus Christ and through His gift of the Holy Spirit. When I read a passage and give you a message, I should be delivering to you the message of Jesus Christ.

It was a great privilege for the scribes to sit in Moses’ seat, representing such a great figure as Moses – a key figure in the history of salvation. Moses gave the Law, and He also applied the Law to the people. This was a very big job, and he ultimately could not do it alone. Even when Moses was still alive, other people were appointed to speak for Moses. This is part of what the scribes were doing in the synagogues. Beginning at least in the days of Ezra, an established tradition developed of reading the law and then giving people the sense of it. Of course there is a responsibility on someone who would sit in Moses’ seat to accurately present the message as Moses’ Himself intended it. How much more serious is it if I would speak in Jesus’ pulpit and bring you a message that He never would have given. As the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16, “We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” To speak for Christ is a fearful thing, but a great thing as well. To do this kind of ministry of the Word is a responsibility, and there is no one who is up to it.

A ministry of disobedience (3)

In this exercise of preaching there is a speaker and there are hearers. If there is a big responsibility on the speaker, it is also true that there is a big responsibility on the hearers. Jesus says that the Jews should do what the scribes tell them to do. He goes on to add that they should absolutely not follow scribal behavior. The Pharisees do not practice what they preach. The point of this verse is not to endorse all of the teaching of the Pharisees. We already know that the Pharisees had a very wrong view of many things. The point is to expose the fact that they do not do themselves what they tell other people to do. In the long run, how a parent lives will be at least as important to children as what he teaches. The ministry that the Pharisees bring sounds like a ministry of hyper-obedience to the Law of Moses. It is instead a ministry of disobedience, and it only leads people to be disobedient.

A ministry of heavy burdens (4)

In their teaching, the scribes opened up the Law of God to their hearers. To be sure, they had mixed it up with the commandments of men, and that caused many problems. What if they had simply taught the pure Law from God’s Word? It was still a heavy burden on the hearers. Peter makes this point at the council in Jerusalem regarding the question of whether Gentiles needed to follow all of the old Jewish laws. He says in Acts 15:10, “Why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” At the time of the Old Covenant it was right to present the Law of God, but how should a scribe do it? Should he present the Law as if he had kept it, or should he mourn His own sinful failure to keep the weighty matters of the Law, and speak for Moses with humility and sympathy? Could it be that the scribes were energetic preachers of righteousness by Law, but that they never helped people in their struggle with sin? Could it be they did not lift the burden of the Law in their own lives, and then did nothing more than place it on the shoulders of their hearers? If that was the case, then their ministry was like the work of the old Egyptian taskmasters. They brought a ministry of heavy burdens, not for themselves, but for others, and they would not lift a finger to help with sympathy or aid. A ministry like that can never lift people up. It will only weigh them down.

A ministry of recognition (5-7)

It is a very disappointing thing to find yourself committing the very sins you preach against. You would think that scribes and preachers would never want to be seen in public again. Still, needy people want the recognition of others. We like to be called “reverend” or to lead in flowing prayers. Many like to have special clothes that set them apart. I don’t want to criticize anyone’s robes. The problem is that sinful men are being placed in the position of speaking for Moses, or even for Jesus Christ, and it is an overwhelming thing for a sinner to do that. In the case of the Pharisees, the Law was understood as requiring certain holy dress for all the Israelites, as a reminder of the Commandments. That was not good enough for the Pharisees. They needed everything to be twice as big so that everyone could see their commitment to being pure. They wanted the seats of honor, and every form of respect that would set them apart from the common worshipper. Such men would be happy to wear a gilded sandwich board everywhere announcing their humility before God, but it should have been obvious to everyone that they were living out a ministry of self-recognition. They could not feel holy unless they wore a badge that said so. That won’t do any good for anyone. It only creates a special class of people with an overwhelming job of self-promotion.

One Teacher, One Father, One Messiah (8-10)

The problem with this kind of ministry is that the ministers simply never measure up. Christ, the Son of God, did not come in this old way of man’s hypocrisy. He came low, so low that He performed the lowliest task – a sinner’s death on the cross. He sent forth the Holy Spirit as our One Teacher. He brought us the news of the love of our One Father, God in heaven. He Himself is our Master and the One Messiah. He brought us a new kind of ministry.

The Servant of servants (11-12)

He was the greatest man who had ever been born, and He came as the lowest servant. He has now been exalted high forever. We follow Him well, when we follow Him low, as servants of the great Servant. When He died for our sins, He took away not only the weight of our sin. He also relieved us of the unnecessary burden of self-promotion.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. How could Jesus tell people to do what the Pharisees said when the Pharisees were so wrong about many things?

2. Why does it seem so easy to find Pharisaic tendencies in one’s religious opponents?

3. How is the way of Christ supposed to be a different ministry than that of the scribes and the Pharisees?

4. What is real humility and how is it different from false imitations?