Slugging It Out with Caustic Critics, Part 1

Today on Insight for Living from Chuck Swindoll. Jesus in his earthly ministry attracted critics, and as time passed, they became increasingly more caustic and intense and downright ugly. And we realize as we read further into this story, Matthew records, they were determined to get rid of him. As fallen people, we have a natural tendency to romanticize fame. We love the idea of stepping into the limelight, finding glory and notoriety with all of its perks and privileges.

Hmm, that's not the way it works. With fame comes criticism. In fact, as your platform grows, so will your detractors. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll reminds us that Jesus during his earthly ministry was no exception. He seems to attract critics in droves and some of them quite hostile. Chuck is teaching from Matthew chapter 21.

He's titled today's message, slugging it out with caustic critics. We are moving through the book of Matthew on a rather steady pace. We come to the last section in Matthew chapter 21 in this series. Please turn to the 23rd verse of Matthew 21. I'll read for you from the New Living Translation excerpts of these verses since there are so many.

Just a quick word about context. Jesus is face to face with those who hate him, those who want him dead, and he's ministering openly, unafraid, and has decided to take off the gloves if you will and face these caustic critics fearlessly. He does so with wisdom however, as we shall see as he tells them two stories that disarm them and not until the end of the stories do they realize he was actually talking about them in both of the stories. Matthew 21 I'll begin reading in verse 23 and then we'll move to various sections of this last section of Matthew 21. 21-23 when Jesus returned to the temple and began teaching the leading priests and elders came up to him they demanded by what authority are you doing all these things who gave you the right I'll tell you about what authority I'll do these things I do these things if you answer one question Jesus replied did John's authority to baptize come from heaven or was it merely human they talked it over among themselves if we say it was from heaven he will ask us why we didn't believe John but if we say it was merely human we'll be mobbed because the people believe John was a prophet so they finally replied we don't know and Jesus responded then I won't tell you by what authority I do these things but what do you think about this a man with two sons told the older boy son go out and work in the vineyard today the son answered no I won't go but later he changed his mind and went anyway then the father told the other son you go and he said yes sir I will but he didn't go which of the two obeyed his father they replied the first verse 33 now listen to another story a certain landowner planted a vineyard built a wall around it dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice and built a lookout tower then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country at the time of the grape harvest he sent his servants to collect his share of the crops but the farmers grabbed his servants beat one killed one and stoned another so the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him but the results were the same finally the owner sent his son thinking surely they will respect my son but when the tenant farmers saw his son coming they said to one another here comes the heir to his estate come on let's kill him and get the estate for ourselves so they grabbed him dragged him out of the vineyard and murdered him when the owner of the vineyard returns Jesus asked what do you think he will do to those farmers the religious leaders replied he'll put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest verse 45 when the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable they realized he was telling the story against them they were the wicked farmers they wanted to arrest him but they were afraid of the crowds who considered Jesus to be a prophet you're listening to insight for living to study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll be sure to download his searching the scripture studies by going to insight world dot org slash studies and now the message from Chuck that he titled slugging it out with caustic critics there are many colorful names that we could give Jesus during his earthly life in ministry especially during the last week he was on this earth before they nailed him to a cross the name I would choose is probably not one that would come to your mind immediately but I think you will agree it fits it's the descriptive title lightning rod lightning rod just as a soft honeycomb attracts flies Jesus in his earthly ministry attracted critics and as time passed they became increasingly more caustic and intense and downright ugly at first they they veiled their comments unless it looked like they were as bad as they really were but as time passed they took off the gloves and they got after it and we realize as we read further into this story Matthew records they were determined to get rid of him criticism was their main tool and and it will wear on most people before I go any further as it relates to Jesus I want to say a few words about that about criticism since it is the occupational hazard of those in ministry it seems as though it ought to be addressed from time to time for there are those who live under the gun of criticism to the point of its being merciless and as a result it ultimately robs them of their joy and it erodes their will to serve and some in fact because the criticism becomes so intense decide simply to give up and leave the ranks of ministry I have a friend who has served Christ faithfully over the years and in recent years for reasons other than that one has chosen to step aside he now has a mentoring ministry and a writing ministry and and he's a dear friend that I've loved and known for for decades name is David Roper and among the books David has written that have meant much to me and many people is a little book titled a burden shared and in that little book there is the best piece written on criticism just about the best that you could read rather than reading much of it I want to simply lift from those lines he writes these four characteristics of criticism that are worth my repeating and worth our remembering these four things are true of criticism number one criticism always comes when we least need it number two criticism seems to come when we least deserve it three criticism comes from people who are least qualified to give it and four criticism frequently comes in a form that is least helpful to us all four of those were true or when Jesus became the verbal quipping boy of the Pharisees and the scribes and the leading priests of his day their hatred of him grew beyond bounds so their criticism of him got hotter and hotter uglier and uglier I feel the need to clarify something before I go any further because some of you might think that this is a personal testimony that I'm giving today so let me put your mind at ease I don't know that a man could serve a more enviable position than I serve at Stonebriar Community Church this is a magnificent place to serve Christ your criticism has been rare and you have been far too kind and loving to me not all of you but I mean most of you most of you really the great majority of you I'm serious now I was jerking you around a little I nobody's perfect okay and you've allowed that to be true in my life and you've overlooked things I've said and done and and you've not taken me to task and I'm very grateful I genuinely am grateful uh some criticism is absolutely deserved and should be stated how it's stated is important where it is stated is equally important and the goal of doing so is again important but you have graciously over all of these years that I've served since we began this church you have very kindly allowed me to lead the ministry as I believe God would have me do it and I am grateful I have some dear friends who are not in ministry today because they were not I will use the word though it is deeper than that they are not as fortunate as I am and they have served churches that were pastor killers and they have endured uh awful awful words and actions from people who should have known better and I regret it that they in leaving the ministry left wounded and scarred and broken it is a pleasure to minister here at Stonebriar and I mean this with my whole heart I want to thank you for knowing how to love a guy and knowing how to give him room to be who he is and to lead as I feel his church should be led thank you for that you're the reason I'm still around stop to think about it well of course God had a little bit to do with it also but uh humanly speaking I I wake up every day excited about what's in front of me I look forward to every elder meeting that I have with our brothers when we meet once a month sometime for special meetings I look forward to every one of the meetings I don't I do not dread one of them I've known churches where I dreaded the elder meetings I've been in churches where well I remember being in one and we just were seeking the Lord's mind on how to how to be able to go to another place of serving and we got a phone call and it came from a good church that was interested in the possibility of my considering serving there and Cynthia knew who was on the phone and we knew the some of the people who were calling and and so when I was offered the opportunity to go in candidate there she overheard my words this is classic Cynthia and and I I'm saying well I'll tell you what I will really I'll really pray about this she said you pray while I pack so she packed and we left and I I've never looked back I I would never say that here not and I mean that what's there to leave some of the finest people on the planet and I'm privileged to have a part in this unfortunately as Jesus reached age 33 the pressure mounted and the hatred of those around him grew to where virtually every word was questioned and every act was doubted it wasn't a miracle from God it was a phony act he doesn't speak for God he speaks for himself and more and more and more were said and the crowds however didn't believe that and so it was this voice of small group of critics who were interestingly in leadership over the religious world and the great number of people who were following Jesus who loved him and believed in him so they were in a dilemma knowing that if they move too quickly to arrest him they would be mobbed by the people who believed in him or it was this give-and-take it was really Jesus was really the punching bag in this verbal fight and I use words that are used in a boxing ring on purpose because that's the kind of setting it is but the time the final week arrived enough was enough no longer time to turn the other cheek he needed to be as firm and as aggressive as they and he became that and we admire him for it remember what happened the last time we were together in the scenes of Matthew he came in and he turned over the tables of the money changers and he drove out the animals that were being sold for an extortion kind of amount of money and those who were exchanging money for an incredibly high rate he got rid of those people and he set the doves free and and it became fruit basket turnover I mean there were there were animals running there were people running there were tables turned over and it was really really a scene held there in that court of the Gentiles well the Pharisees who were the target of his attack they were like the mafia and the leading high priest was like the godfather and they because of what he was doing they hated him all the more so they came to him regarding his authority look at verse 23 of Matthew 21 you'll now get the context when Jesus returned to the temple that's where he turned over the tables and all the chairs and driven him out he began teaching again and notice who showed up the leading priests and elders came up to him and they demanded by what authority do you do these things hey who do you think you are who gave you the right to come in and take over like this that's the idea who gave you the right it's a question of authority so Jesus rather than bowing before them or letting them have their say decided he'd face off with them he took off his gloves and he said I'll tell you about what authority I do these things if you will simply answer a question so they say what's the question verse 25 did John's authority to baptize come from heaven or was it merely human you answer that referring to John the baptizer and they thought as the verses say if we say it was from heaven then they'll ask why didn't you believe him because they made life miserable for John by now John has been beheaded so we can't say he spoke from God but if we say it was from man we'll be mobbed because the people believe John was a prophet so they were impaled on the horns of a dilemma so they answer whatever school child does whenever he gets pushed in a corner and doesn't quite know uh we don't know see the answer at the end of verse 27 or the middle of it we don't know they knew but they weren't men enough to say so but Jesus took them at their word and turned tables on them then he said I won't tell you about what authority I do these things I love that turn about fair play we would say today however I have more to tell you Jesus would say I want to tell you a couple of stories and by the way stories that's a wonderful way to communicate because stories always have a plot and there's always a little touch of mystery or most often a little touch of mystery in a story and somewhere in a story you fit you fit in that story that's being told you you see yourself funny a story turns into a mirror and and he starts by telling them this first story look closely verse 28 what do you think about this a man with two sons told the older boy son go out and work in the vineyard today the son answered no I won't go but later he changed his mind and he went anyway I call this son the I won't but did son his first response was nope but later he decided to go and work in the vineyard so the father told the other son I'm in verse 30 will you go and he said yes sir I will but he didn't go I called him the I will but didn't son so we got two sons the first one was turned off at first but he later went the second son was turned on at first but he didn't go later because he changed his mind he wasn't going to go this isn't about sons and vineyards this is about those who are hearing the story look closely Jesus said 31 which of the two obeyed the father they replied well the first one look at Jesus answer he explained the meaning I'll tell you the truth corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you do for John the baptizer came and showed you the right way to live but you didn't believe him you were that second son you acted like you would listen in your robes of hypocritical righteousness but down deep inside you didn't listen these stories told by Jesus often carry a bit of mystery in them and while we're running out of time for today I'm glad to say that we've set aside several more programs to deal with this passage in Matthew 21 Chuck Swindoll titled his message slugging it out with caustic critics to learn more about Chuck in this ministry please visit us online at insightworld.org there's much more to explore from this 21st chapter of Matthew and maybe today's teaching has inspired you to dig deeper into the book of Matthew on your own if that's the case let me remind you about the searching the scriptures studies are easily accessed online feel free to print out the pdf and use the notes in your personal quiet times and pastors and leaders can use these notes for teaching a class or preparing a sermon to access the searching the scriptures guide for Chuck's daily teaching go to insight.org studies and as we conclude today's program I'm inviting you to become one of our monthly companions the steady financial support from our monthly companions has accelerated our pursuit of an audacious god-sized dream and that is to bring insight for living to all 195 countries of the world we refer to this mission as vision 195 by becoming a monthly companion you can have a ministry of your own by participating in vision 195 to sign up right now call us if you're listening in the united states call 800-772-8888 that phone number once again is 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org monthly companion thanks for your generous support of this nonprofit ministry insight for living I'm Wayne Shepherd sitting in for my good friend Dave Spiker be sure to join us again Tuesday to hear insight for living with Chuck Swindoll the preceding message slugging it out with caustic critics was copyrighted in 2017 and 2021 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R Swindoll inc all rights are reserved worldwide duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.