Life for Show or Service

Transcription

1 Life for Show or Service Mark 12:38-44 READ 38 In His teaching He was saying: "Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places, 39 and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, 40 who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation." 41 And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. 43 Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them," Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on." Jesus makes an important here for us to understand, He differentiates between two kinds of people, the scribe who wanted the world to see his self-centered piety, and the widow. 1 There are those who want nothing more than for others to think them righteous. That is what Christ is describing in verses And then there are those who nothing of notoriety but sincerely desire to serve, regardless of how little others might think their service is. That is what we see in verses There are some thoughts we want to pull from these thoughts of our Lord. 2 1) When and Why Was This Teaching Given by the Lord? In Matt 23:1-36 we see the full account of the occasion of this teaching. It is apparent that the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees seeing the influence that Jesus is having on the people were beginning to become worried. If the people continued to be swayed by Jesus, then their seat of authority would begin to be weakened. That was unacceptable to them so they began to try and discredit Him in the eyes of the people. This thought pattern sets the stage for what we see in Matt. 22 and 23. In 22:23ff we see the Sadducees coming to Him and posing a question designed to trap Him. A woman that had been married lawfully a number of times, whose wife would she be in the afterlife. This is fascinating when you understand that the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and here they are asking Christ about what was going to happen in the resurrection. Obviously this was supposed to be a trap to get Jesus to say something that they could then use against Him. Christ saw this flimsy attempt and chastised them for their ignorance and pointed out that there is no marriage in the afterlife. The Pharisees, when they heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together to see how they attack Him. 1

2 Matt 22: But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, This is important to note. One of them, a lawyer. Remember that being a lawyer at that time and as a part of the Jewish nation meant that you were an expert in the Law of Moses. This man knew the Law and tried to word a question that would lead Christ into giving an answer that the people would not like. Again Christ answers with the truth from the Law. The question was what is the greatest commandment? Christ says that To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, is the greatest but that the second greatest is very closely akin to the first, Love your neighbor as yourself. The Pharisees had no answer for this, especially when Christ tells them that on these two commandments hinge the whole Law. In our studies in Exodus we talked about how that the Ten Commandments are broken into commandments concerning man s relationship with God, Love the Lord your God, and commandments concerning man s relationship with man, Love your neighbor as yourself. Interestingly, Christ takes advantage of the occasion with the Pharisees gathered together to ask them a question. Whose son is the Christ? Matt. 22: They answered David, but couldn t answer why David then called the Christ his Lord. Which he would not have done had the Christ been his son. They couldn t answer that. This sets the stage for the discussion in our text in Matt. 12. Our next discussion point is 4 2) Jesus warns His disciples, "Beware of the scribes..." (Mark 12:38). The Greek expression for "beware" is blépete, which implies see or perceive. His admonition was contrary to modern teaching about accepting people as they are. The politically correct world we live in says that we have no right to decide that a lifestyle or actions of people are not right. We are not allowed to make our own decisions concerning how to live. Jesus told His disciples to stay away from people who are not genuine, so as not to participate in their hypocrisy. Do you see the impact of that? If we don t take a stand for our beliefs and or what God says, then we participate in the hypocrisy of someone else s error. Christ instructs His disciples to beware of those who are all show and no substance. Jesus says, These scribes and Pharisees, have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. This is referring to positions of authority. They had set themselves up as the rulers of the people. They knew what the Law said and they were the ones that the people came to for interpretation and decisions concerning matters of the Law. 5 1) The scribes 6 Grammateus (grammateu, NT:1122) From gramma, "a writing," denotes "a scribe, a man of letters, a teacher of the law"; the "scribes" are mentioned frequently in the Gospels, especially in connection with the Pharisees, with whom they virtually formed one party (see Luke 5:21). 2

3 This said, in our following discussion I include both the scribes and the Pharisees. Because they studied the Law they considered themselves to have a better knowledge of what the Law said, people gravitated toward them for interpretation and judgments. Remember, to know is not evil. We are told to study to show ourselves approved. Knowledge is not evil. Arrogance or pride in our knowledge is a sin, and all too often is even worse than being ignorant. The scribes and the Pharisees were most assuredly students of the Law. They studied the Law of God. And after the return from the Exile, the duty of interpreting the Mosaic Law had fallen first to the priests, and later to a group called Scribes which had morphed into the Pharisees and scribes, who became professional students and teachers of the Law. Due to this important task, the temptation to assume authority not given by God was obviously great. Even today pride lurks at every Bible student's desk and behind every pulpit. We, too, must be careful lest we become proud peddlers of God's Word, using our knowledge as a stage to gain notoriety, instead of teaching. That said, we must also always be diligent to use God s word to convict the naysayer and or to give an answer to any who ask a reason for our faith. Some of the characteristics we see with the scribes and Pharisees are; 7 1) Jesus first mentioned their dress. "Which love to go in long clothing" (Mark 12:38). The Greek word translated "in long clothing" is stolaí. Stolê (masc.) was a long, flowing robe reaching to the feet, which was worn by kings and priests, or other persons of rank and distinction, we see this in Mark 16:5; Luke 15:22; 20: ) The scribes wanted to be set apart in order to receive homage. Some greetings were abject prostration, and might include kissing the sleeve or skirt of the clothing to show respect. Jesus prohibited the seventy He sent out from engaging in such activity: Luke 10:4 9 4 Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. Jesus wasn t telling His disciples to ignore people or to shun them, but His reference was to this practice of making a show of their greeting as the practice of the scribes and Pharisees apparently was. He was telling them that they were not to attract undo attention with an ostentatious show, but their task was to teach the word. Christ was stressing the urgency of proclaiming the Gospel. In Matt 20: And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first 3

4 among you shall be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. This brings us to the scribes and Pharisees. They made a show of themselves by seeking "the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts" (Mark 12:39). They wanted the so-called glory of the people. I say so-called because if that is what you are after. If you are looking for people to go ooh and aah about your vast knowledge and understanding then enjoy it now, because that will be the only reward you get. That is Christ s point in the passage in Matt. 20. If you want to be rewarded in heaven, to be first, then you must humble yourself on Earth and make yourself a servant to all as you try to bring the truth of God to the world. The scribes and Pharisees never got that. They were more intent on drawing attention to their glory than God's. Acts 10: Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. God doesn t care if you have money, brains, knowledge, it doesn t matter. God wants faithful obedience and accepts all who come to Him and do right. That means faithfully obey. Gal 3: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither bmale nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. God is not a respecter of persons, because in Christ we are all one. The truly sad commentary on the scribes and Pharisees is that they were totally unworthy of not only the honor they demanded for themselves but of any honor at all. They were devoid of compassion and were led by their lust for power and materialistic things. Mark 12: who devour widows' houses, told They completed their shame by saying long prayers for show. Remember the parable Christ Luke 18: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' 13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, 4

5 was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' Our communication with God must come from a humble heart and a realization that we are indeed the sinner who needs to throw himself upon the mercy and grace of God to be forgiven. By their actions they demonstrated their lack of love for either God or man, and because of their hypocrisy, Jesus said they would receive "greater damnation" (Mark 12:40). In contrast to these hypocrites and those who gave out of their surplus, Christ tells of the widow who sacrificed everything she had. 2 Cor 8: For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, 4 begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, 5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. Jesus commented upon the widow s gift to His disciples as seen in Mark 12:42,43. His comment wasn t that she had given so much, but rather she, like the Macedonians gave herself first. Even though her two coins would buy very little, in comparison to what she had they were the greatest gift given that day. That is the point of Christ s lesson. It isn t what we have or what we give, it s how we give what we have. If we hold back or give reservedly we become like the scribes and Pharisees. And friends this discussion is not about the dollar value of our contribution, its about the life that we bring to Christ. Are we giving half-heartedly, holding back. Are giving just for the show of what others might see. The widow had denied herself the necessities of life in order to give to God. But it was only the Lord who saw the great worth of her sacrifice in contrast to the wealth others had given out of their plenty. They had their reward from men, but she received her commendation from God Himself (Mark 12:43). Brethren, God isn t interested in the show we put on to others about our faith or knowledge or piety, He wants the substance of our hearts as we give ourselves to Him through Christ His son. 5