Exposing Religious Phonies, Part 3

Today, from Chuck Swindoll. Model genuine humility. Don't announce it. Don't be like the guy that wrote the book How I Became the Most Humble Man in the World with 12 life-sized pictures. Don't promote it. Just live it.

Just live it. In such a self-forgetful way that you're surprised with anything that comes down the pike. The Pharisees were religious leaders in the first century that reveled in their self-imposed spiritual authority. In fact, they set overbearing rules for their community that were impossibly difficult to follow. The Pharisee of the religious zealots. He warned his disciples and the crowds that gathered to be wary of their pretentious ways. And once again, Jesus urged his followers to walk in humility. Chuck titled today's message, Exposing Religious Phonies.

Warnings are meant to be taken seriously. This warning is ultra important because Jesus is the one who first delivered it. He first gave these words regarding those who were religious phonies. Here's how one trustworthy expositor describes this sermon, referring to the whole of Matthew 23. Jesus' words fly from his lips like claps of thunder and spears of lightning. Out of his mouth on this occasion came the most fearful and dreadful statements that Jesus uttered on earth. Close quote.

In proof of that, in the latter part of his penetrating delivery, Jesus repeats the condemning vocative to all of his listeners. Woe to you. Woe to you. Woe to you. Woe to you.

Seven consecutive times you count them. Beginning at verse 13. When you read it in the message, it's, you're hopeless. You're hopeless.

You're hopeless. Strong, strong words, I repeat. He calls those he is exposing, and I quote, hypocrites, sons of hell, blind guides, fools, robbers, filthy vessels full of greed, self-indulgence, and all sorts of impurity, whitewashed tombs, snakes, vipers, persecutors, and murderers. Still quoting, outwardly, you look like righteous people, but inwardly, your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. They told you one thing, and they lived another way.

They were deceivers. Now with your Bible open to Matthew 23, please observe that before Jesus begins his message, we read that he was in front of crowds and his disciples. See it in verse 1? So there's a little different agenda for the two groups. Verses 1 through 7, literally verses 2 through 7, are for the crowds, and I suggest verses 8 through 12 would be for the disciples.

Let's look at them a little more carefully. First, to the surprise of many who have heard my warnings to begin with, there were some things they were to practice and obey that came from the Pharisees. Look, verse 2, the scribes and the Pharisees, that is the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, who by the way, don't miss it, really knew their scriptures. They really knew the Old Testament. They spent their lives studying the scriptures, the law of Moses, the Psalms, the prophets. So he says the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.

Everything right about that? So he says of them, it's worth your time to hear what they are telling you, to understand and obey the teachings of Moses. That's what verse 3, as it begins, is all about. Practice, he says, practice and obey whatever they tell you, but that's a big contrast. You can hear the brakes screech verbally, but don't follow their example. They may deliver the truth from their lips, as Moses has stated, but they live a lie. They say one thing, but they live another way. In fact, if I were to divide the reason for not following them, I would find three, three of them. Look closely, verse 3 says, they don't practice what they teach, so there was a lack of integrity. If I teach one thing and then I go out and live another way, I'm a hypocrite. I'm a phony.

There's a second. Look at verse 4, and you who have lived under legalistic teaching won't have any problem understanding this. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. Look at those words. Their words are crushing in that they add to what Moses has written, and they make the words a burden so they lack sympathy.

They don't help you live the life that God tells us where to live. Third, and don't miss this, verse 5, everything they do is for show. What they do, they do to be seen. So there's a lack of humility, a lack of integrity. They don't carry out what they teach, a lack of sympathy.

They burden you with the requirements, the do's and don'ts. And third, there's a lack of humility. Whatever they do, they do to be seen. They're dripping with self-importance and conceit.

And oh my, they love titles. They love to be called rabbi. You see, when you think through this enough, you realize that this isn't a message for someone else. This is to you and me, which is why he speaks to his disciples very carefully, his followers. That's what we are. Hopefully we're followers of Jesus. And he says to us, don't let anyone call you rabbi.

That's the idea. I say it like that because there's nothing, again, wrong with the title or even if you've earned your doctorate and that's what you're known for, that's fine. But don't expect that. In other words, let me put it this way, shun pretentious titles. Shun pretentious titles.

Don't let anyone do that. For you have only one teacher and you're all equal as brothers and sisters. Would all of us remember that? There is no status. There is no rank in the Christian life. Don't let anyone call you rabbi.

Verse 9, don't address anyone on earth as father, for God in heaven alone is your spiritual father. So the next thing is, resist pedestalizing others. Don't miss these points, folks.

There were we fall. First, we like pretentious titles. Give them up. Set them aside. So you've got that, you've got an honor in receiving that, great, get over it. Let's get on with the work that we're called to do. Second, don't be guilty of pedestalizing anyone.

Let me tell you, I won't get into the story, but Cynthia and I can tell you our story. We made the mistake of pedestalizing a minister and when he fell, it was just about all we could do to keep on our feet. When you pedestalize anyone, you're in for a real disappointment because they've got feet of clay. They may not fall in some huge way, but they'll let you down.

They'll show their humanity and when they do, you'll be disillusioned. So this is wise counsel for all of us. It's okay to admire and appreciate. It's never okay to exalt and worship another human being.

Never. So when he comes down to the very end, he says what we all need to remember. First, cultivate a servant's heart. Here's the path to greatness. Cultivate a servant's heart.

Look at verse 11. The greatest among you must be a what? A servant. A servant. All of us would do well to improve our serve. Look for ways to help others get ahead.

The message reads, do you want to stand out? Then step down. Good counsel. The greatest among you must be a servant. Jesus teaches this. Those who exalt themselves will be humble and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Second, model genuine humility.

Model it. Don't announce it. Don't be like the guy that wrote the book How I Became the Most Humble Man in the World with 12 life-sized pictures. Don't promote it. Just live it.

Just live it in such a self-forgetful way that you're surprised with anything that comes down the pike for you. This past week, I want to spend a few closing moments on this very important point. This past week, I pulled from my shelves a book that has helped me a lot to keep my feet on the ground and to keep things in perspective. It's a book by Paul David Tripp titled Dangerous Calling. If you have a friend in ministry, that would be a great book to give them. Dangerous Calling. You know what I believe to be the most dangerous career on earth? The ministry.

The ministry. You have the power of God at your fingertips and it's to be delivered by a broken human vessel who is not deserving of that calling. So it's dangerous. And we can so easily fall into the trap of feeling like we've arrived. His book is filled with warnings. The third section of his book is the danger of arrival. And there's a chapter called Self-Glory. Very convicting.

I read it again toward the end of this last week. In it, he lists several characteristics, damaging characteristics of self-glory. I don't want you to write them down, but I want you to hear them.

He offered ten and time doesn't allow me to give all ten. I'll give you a select number of them, all of which make you quiet and make you think. They're very convicting for all of us, not just individuals in ministry, because we're all given to self-glory. We all tend toward pride. Soon as we earn something, we got to deal with the pride of earning it. Or whatever.

Anyway. All this, six of them for us. Number one. Self-glory will cause you to parade in public. What should be kept in private? Repeating. Self-glory will cause you to parade in public. What should be kept in private?

Number two. Self-glory will cause you to be way too self-referencing. Proud people like to talk about themselves a lot. Proud people tend to like their opinions more than others' opinions. Proud people tend to think they know more and understand more than others. They think they have glory to offer, when in fact they have none.

They have none. Self-glory will cause you to be way too self-referencing. Number three. Self-glory will cause you to talk when you should be quiet. Those who are proud of themselves tend to say more than they need to.

Number four. Self-glory will cause you to care too much about what people think of you. And interestingly, can also cause you to think too little about what people think of you. You can be so stuck on yourself that even a comment made for your good that may be confronting will be ignored and missed altogether. One of my profs confronted me when I was a student.

I got to know him really well, and he felt a closeness that I felt with him, and I was so grateful for it. He told me on one occasion, I'll never forget it, Chuck, you got a great sense of humor, but there's a problem. Often it's at another person's, it's at the embarrassment of another person.

He was right. I've learned to stop doing that. I needed to hear that, that strong word at another person's expense.

That's the word I was looking for. You have a sense of humor, but it's often at another person's expense. In other words, there's sarcasm.

Be careful about using sarcasm as humor, because usually someone else is the brunt of it, and they're usually the ones not smiling. Anyway, back to this list. Number five, self-glory will cause you to struggle with the blessings of others. Self-glory is always at the base of envy. When you're envious of someone else, you're thinking about yourself.

It will cause you to struggle with the blessings of others, and we're commanded to rejoice with those who rejoice. Someone gets promoted, fantastic. How wonderful. Let's celebrate. Someone has something great happen.

Let's get together and have a party. Let's celebrate your promotion or what you've accomplished. Self-glory doesn't like to go to parties like that. Sixth and finally, self-glory will cause you to resist facing and admitting your own sins, weaknesses, and failures. It was the longest time before I realized the value of just being who I am.

I have my wife to thank for most of that. She endured years of bad preaching and my attempt to do what I was called to do. She finally said to me, why don't you just try being who you are? And I thought that maybe is the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life, which sounds like self-glory, doesn't it?

And she said, no, really, it works well at home, and I think it would work well in public. Just don't be too afraid to tell them where you struggle. Or as Jim Peterson with the Navigators taught me, don't be afraid to let people see the cracks in your life. Wise counsel. But self-glory doesn't like that. I don't want you to think I have any cracks in my life. Whereas when you get rid of that nonsensical way of thinking, you freely say I struggle with that even more than you do.

Or I understand that battle. Been there many times. OK. Strong words today.

Straight talk. Be careful about who you listen to as a religious leader. Be careful. I care about you 10 years from now. When you've been following someone you shouldn't have been following. Pay attention to what they say and what they don't say. Remember that little list.

Watch it when nobody's watching. And when you're looking for someone to really exalt, choose Christ. Choose Christ. The great apostle who saw himself as the least of all the apostles said, I glory in nothing but the cross of Christ. John Bowring wrote from that line out of Galatians 6, In the cross of Christ I glory, towering o'er the wrecks of time. All the light of sacred story gathers round its head sublime. It's about the cross. Bow with me, will you? Put the cross uppermost in your mind.

Think of Christ who bore it for you. And as you sit there, thank him. Thank him for going through what you didn't have to go through so that your sins would be paid for in full. And you would have a path to heaven. Based on his greatness. His faithfulness.

Not yours. And if you've never trusted in Jesus, trust in him now. Turn to him now. Help us all, our Father, in this me-ism age. Help us all who have learned all through life how to watch out for ourselves. How to come out on top.

How to look good. Give us an ability to get beyond that. And live for the glory and good of Christ. He must increase.

We must decrease. In his matchless name we pray. Amen. Because we're all equal as brothers and sisters in him. You're listening to Insight for Living. And to learn more about Chuck and this ministry, please visit us online at insightworld.org. Over the past several programs, we've been reminded that it's not the sole duty of the clergy to interpret the Bible on our behalf. It's important, Chuck says, that we search the Scriptures on our own rather than relying on others to present the truth. Well, I'm pleased to tell you Chuck has written a daily devotional for you that celebrates this theme. It's called God's Word for You. And listen to the subtitle because it gives you a taste of what this book is all about.

The subtitle is An Invitation to Find the Nourishment Your Soul Needs. Every entry in this devotional contains an insightful quote about the Scriptures, a brief devotional from Pastor Chuck, a prompt to help you grow in spiritual maturity, and a Bible verse to meditate on. To purchase a copy of this devotional from Chuck, go to insight.org slash offer.

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If you're listening in the U.S., call 1-800-772-8888. Or give a donation today online at insight.org. . You've heard him teach about the Holy Land, using word pictures to make us feel like we're actually strolling through the old city. Learning about Jerusalem is fascinating for sure, but seeing the land of Israel with your own eyes is life-changing.

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Join us again tomorrow when our study in Matthew continues on Insight for Living with Chuck Swindoll. The preceding message, Exposing Religious Phonings, 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.