An exposition of Matthew 23:1-39. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, December 9, 2012
Intro:
What do you do when you get one of “those” letters? You know the kind. “You have already qualified for one of the following fabulous prizes.” You discover that you are among a very select group to receive this offer. Of all the people on the planet they just happened to choose you. You can win a set of his and her salt and pepper shakers, a giant screen home theatre unit or your very own Caribbean Island.
Guess which one it is! Of course they also want to tell you about their very special offer. How do you react? You get angry don’t you? You throw the thing in the trash and you think – why don’t you just be up front? I’m not a dope. You’ve got something to sell. Tell me what it is and I’ll tell you whether or not I’m interested – but let’s drop the pretense. We inherently despise those who misrepresent themselves. No one likes a hypocrite. That is not a title anyone seeks to own. To be a hypocrite is to play a part. It is to put on. Pretending to be something that you are not.
Now, we’ve all met hypocrites. More than that, we all have been hypocritical. We’ve been inconsistent. We have said one thing and done another. That is part of our “fallenness.” My concern is that this disconnect between what we say or believe and how we behave is now deemed acceptable. In fact it is being encouraged!
During the so-called “enlightenment” a philosophical worldview came into prominence. It was a view that said religious truth is on a different plain from other forms of truth. From that there developed the idea that faith is a “blind leap.” It doesn’t make sense. It isn’t logical. And it doesn’t really relate to life. You have religious ideas over here and everything else is over there. I read an article on the New York Times awhile back in which a professor from Princeton was greatly disturbed about a speech given by Anthony Scalia, one of the justices of the Supreme Court. This professor believed it was a “chilling prospect for life in America.” His concern? That justice Scalia actually believed that a person’s religious faith should impact every area of their lives. It was chilling that there were people who really believed that they owed allegiance to a Sovereign outside of themselves.
Apparently this professor was concerned that someone might actually live the truth of their faith! With all due respect to the learned professor I’m convinced that:
Thesis: in a world that is long on tolerance and short on truth believers must exhibit authentic biblical faith.
- We have increasingly “privatized” faith.
- We have talked of “my personal faith, my Bible and my understanding.”
- We have said that our faith is a private matter – it is no one else’s business.
- Well, is faith personal? Yes!
- Is it private? Absolutely…NOT!!
- We believe within a community of faith – the church.
- We believe a body of truth – the faith.
- We have a divine revelation – the Bible.
- We answer to another – the Sovereign Lord!
Our text this evening gives us some insight into how our Lord views the connection between faith and practice. What we believe and how we live.
Text: Matthew 23:1-39
- We are nearing the end of our Lord’s earthly life and ministry.
- We are witnessing the last and greatest glory of the Temple as the Lord Jesus has assumed his rightful place as Lord of the Temple.
- He has declared himself the Messiah with his dramatic entrance into Jerusalem.
- He has cleansed the Temple rebuking those who turn the house of prayer into a den of thieves.
- He has silenced his critics as they have sought to entrap him.
- Now he has some things to say.
There are three things I want us to note from our text.
- Biblical faith demands consistency between belief and practice. (23:1-12)
- Biblical faith warns of the danger of hypocrisy. (23:13-36)
- Biblical faith weeps over the coming judgment. (23:37-39)