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The world sins · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Hopefully you have brought a copy of the scriptures with you.
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Speaker 1: If so, turn to the first book of the New Testament.
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Speaker 1: Locate chapter 23. I'll be reading for us the first
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Speaker 1: 12 verses of Matthew 23. These are words of warning.
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Speaker 1: They are not easy for us to hear. Not only
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Speaker 1: were they relevant in the days of Jesus, of course,
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Speaker 1: but equally relevant in our day where there is so
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Speaker 1: much religious fraud and so many religious phonies, not just
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Speaker 1: in pulpits, but among Christian ranks. that messages like this
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Speaker 1: need to be delivered on occasion just to jar us
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Speaker 1: awake and to take these things personally since they are
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Speaker 1: not just meant for someone else living way back in
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Speaker 1: the first century, but they're meant for people just like
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Speaker 1: us who can be caught up in the very same things.
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Speaker 1: You have your Bible open to Matthew 23. I'll be
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Speaker 1: reading from the New Living Translation. And you follow along
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Speaker 1: as we read together. Let's stand for the reading of
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Speaker 1: God's Word. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to
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Speaker 1: his disciples, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees,
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Speaker 1: or the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So
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Speaker 1: practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow
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Speaker 1: their example. For they don't practice what they teach. They
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Speaker 1: crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a
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Speaker 1: finger to ease the burden. Everything they do is for show.
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Speaker 1: On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with
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Speaker 1: scripture verses inside and they wear robes with extra long tassels.
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Speaker 1: And they love to sit at the head table at
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Speaker 1: banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues.
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Speaker 1: They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in
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Speaker 1: the marketplaces and to be called rabbi. Don't let anyone
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Speaker 1: call you rabbi for you have only one teacher and
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Speaker 1: all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And
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Speaker 1: don't address anyone here on earth as father, for only
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Speaker 1: God in heaven is your spiritual father. And don't let
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Speaker 1: anyone call you teacher, for you have only one teacher,
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Speaker 1: the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a servant,
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Speaker 1: but those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those
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Speaker 1: who humble themselves will be exalted. The message today is
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Speaker 1: not something you will hear in any other place outside
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Speaker 1: of church. It isn't popular. It isn't really wanted, but
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Speaker 1: it needs to be declared. So let's pray that our
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Speaker 1: hearts will be open to receive it and to remember it.
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Speaker 1: Please be seated. Our Father in heaven, you alone are
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Speaker 1: worthy of praise. You alone deserve the glory. But there's
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Speaker 1: this nature within us that wants to siphon off some
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Speaker 1: of that praise and to bask in some of that glory.
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Speaker 1: even before we hear what you have to say through
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Speaker 1: your word today, please accept our confession that we are
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Speaker 1: prone toward pride, that we do watch out for ourselves,
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Speaker 1: that we care too much about what other people say,
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Speaker 1: and we are far more important to ourselves than we
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Speaker 1: should be. Remind us that you take care of us.
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Speaker 1: You don't need us to watch out for ourselves. You
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Speaker 1: are the one who lifts up and puts down. You
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Speaker 1: don't need us to do that. You are the one
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Speaker 1: who makes decisions regarding promotions and demotions. You don't need
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Speaker 1: us to manipulate it or to fight it. Teach us, Lord,
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Speaker 1: what it means to truly rest in your good plan
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Speaker 1: and to rely on your arm of mercy. Help us
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Speaker 1: to become so self-forgetful that we serve others, and just
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Speaker 1: as quickly as we began, may we forget the serving,
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Speaker 1: for we have done it for you. Help us to
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Speaker 1: be keen to those random acts of kindness. Help us
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Speaker 1: to be very discerning to those moments when a word
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Speaker 1: of encouragement is in order or an opportunity to affirm another.
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Speaker 1: Deliver us from needing it for ourselves. Teach us in
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Speaker 1: the process of our growing up what it means to
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Speaker 1: be a servant at heart. Not to talk about it.
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Speaker 1: Not to put it on display, but to live it.
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Speaker 1: Help us to live it. Help us to be what
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Speaker 1: your son was so good at being. That is a
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Speaker 1: giver of mercy a helper of those in need. And
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Speaker 1: speaking of that, our hearts continue to go out to
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Speaker 1: those who don't know where they'll sleep tonight, who haven't
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Speaker 1: a car to drive, who haven't a job, a place,
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Speaker 1: who are feeling like wanderers, Help them, Lord, in their helplessness.
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Speaker 1: And somehow send along those who have big arms and
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Speaker 1: great hearts that they might be lifted up and encouraged.
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Speaker 1: Remind us when we slip in between the sheets tonight
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Speaker 1: to give you thanks for a bid. When we sit
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Speaker 1: down at a table to give you thanks for food.
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Speaker 1: And when we put a cold drink to our lips,
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Speaker 1: to give you thanks for something to drink. In the
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Speaker 1: process of growing up, Lord, may we guard against taking
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Speaker 1: for granted the simple things of life that are so
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Speaker 1: important Now, Lord, our gifts are really coming from you
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Speaker 1: because if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have our job.
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Speaker 1: We wouldn't make our income. We wouldn't be able to
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Speaker 1: be a part of what's known as a generous believer.
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Speaker 1: But because you were teaching us that, find favor in
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Speaker 1: our gifts today. We give them with great hope that
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Speaker 1: they'll be useful to others. And in the process, we'll
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Speaker 1: learn to be less selfish ourselves. You supply our every need,
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Speaker 1: and we count on that today as we give and
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Speaker 1: as we pray. In the name of Jesus, everybody sit. Amen. Today,
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Speaker 1: I'm delivering a warning to all of us. Please do
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Speaker 1: more than hear it. Please pay attention to it. And
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Speaker 1: remember it. A warning is a statement of impending danger
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Speaker 1: or evil. It is advice to beware. It is counsel
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Speaker 1: to cease an undesirable or dangerous course of action. A
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Speaker 1: warning does no good if it's ignored, shrugged off, or forgotten.
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Speaker 1: Warnings are meant to be taken seriously. This is no
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Speaker 1: time for a Sunday morning snooze. This warning is ultra
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Speaker 1: important because Jesus is the one who first delivered it.
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Speaker 1: I'm simply a messenger. Without him, I have nothing to say.
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Speaker 1: He first gave these words regarding those who were religious phonies.
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Speaker 1: If they had all ended in the first century, I
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Speaker 1: would have no reason to declare the warning today. But
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Speaker 1: they have proliferated over time so that now they fill
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Speaker 1: pulpits They occupy places among those called elders. They are
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Speaker 1: in Christian circles, Christian schools, Christian seminaries, Christian gatherings all
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Speaker 1: around the world. Religious leaders of that day, as of
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Speaker 1: this day, were deceived. Therefore, they were dangerous leaders. Leaders
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Speaker 1: who deceive are dangerous because they gain a following and
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Speaker 1: those who follow often realize too late the deception. What
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Speaker 1: I'm saying will not be politically correct. It will not
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Speaker 1: be pleasant to your ears or easy to sit through.
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Speaker 1: It may help you to know that these words represent
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Speaker 1: Jesus' final sermon before the public. Following this, his public
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Speaker 1: deliveries were over. This was it. This is his last
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Speaker 1: sermon and it's a scorcher. Here's how one trustworthy expositor
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Speaker 1: describes this sermon. referring to the whole of Matthew 23.
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Speaker 1: Jesus' words fly from his lips like claps of thunder
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Speaker 1: and spears of lightning. Out of his mouth on this
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Speaker 1: occasion came the most fearful and dreadful statements that Jesus
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Speaker 1: uttered on earth. Close quote. In proof of that, in
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Speaker 1: the latter part of his penetrating delivery, Jesus repeats the
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Speaker 1: condemning words vocative to all of his listeners, woe to you,
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Speaker 1: woe to you, woe to you, woe to you, seven
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Speaker 1: consecutive times. You count them, beginning at verse 13. When
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Speaker 1: you read it in the message, it's, you're hopeless. You're hopeless.
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Speaker 1: You're hopeless. Strong, Strong words, I repeat. He calls those
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Speaker 1: he is exposing, and I quote, hypocrites, sons of hell,
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Speaker 1: blind guides, fools, robbers, filthy vessels full of greed, self-indulgence,
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Speaker 1: and all sorts of impurity, whitewashed tombs, snakes, vipers, persecutors
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Speaker 1: and murderers. Still quoting, outwardly you look like righteous people,
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Speaker 1: but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
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Speaker 1: As I said at the beginning, these warnings are serious.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps it will help you to listen a little better
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Speaker 1: if you'll think of these people as religious terrorists. You
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Speaker 1: never know they're terrorists till the explosion. Till there's suddenly
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Speaker 1: a death or a series of deaths. And then you
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Speaker 1: realize he was a terrorist. You see, religious phonies don't
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Speaker 1: walk around telling you that that's what they are. As
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Speaker 1: a matter of fact, most often you're very impressed by
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Speaker 1: the externals. They make sure of that. They're good at that.
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Speaker 1: You see, all of those that Jesus is condemning look
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Speaker 1: so religious. They dressed so impressively. They sounded so righteous.
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Speaker 1: They came across like pious saints. But in reality, they
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Speaker 1: were savages. because they were deceivers admittedly some were absolutely
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Speaker 1: sincere but down deep inside when the lights went out
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Speaker 1: and the crowds left and their heads dropped into their
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Speaker 1: pillows and they searched their souls if they were ever
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Speaker 1: able to do that they realized they were hypocrites they
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Speaker 1: told you one thing and they lived another way They
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Speaker 1: were deceivers. Now with your Bible open to Matthew 23,
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Speaker 1: please observe that before Jesus begins his message, we read
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Speaker 1: that he was in front of crowds and his disciples.
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Speaker 1: See it in verse 1? Always check the context when
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Speaker 1: you turn to a chapter of the Bible. This, like
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Speaker 1: every other chapter, has a context. Jesus is standing among
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Speaker 1: a crowd of unnamed people as well as among those
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Speaker 1: who were his disciples, his faithful followers. The crowds would
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Speaker 1: be the general public, the followers you know, those who
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Speaker 1: cared enough to have set aside their plans in order
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Speaker 1: to walk in his steps. So there's a little different
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Speaker 1: agenda for the two groups. Verses 1 through 7, literally
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Speaker 1: verses 2 through 7, are for the crowds, and I
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Speaker 1: suggest verses 8 through 12 would be for the disciples.
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Speaker 1: Let's look at them a little more carefully. First, to
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Speaker 1: the surprise of many who have heard my warnings to
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Speaker 1: begin with, There were some things they were to practice
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Speaker 1: and obey that came from the Pharisees. Look, verse 2.
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Speaker 1: The scribes and the Pharisees, that is the teachers of
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Speaker 1: religious law and the Pharisees, who by the way, don't
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Speaker 1: miss it, really knew their scriptures. They really knew the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament. They'd spent their lives studying it. the scriptures,
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Speaker 1: the law of Moses, the Psalms, the prophets. So he
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Speaker 1: says the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are
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Speaker 1: the official interpreters of the law of Moses. Everything right
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Speaker 1: about that? God drilled his law with his finger into
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Speaker 1: stone and Moses took that law and gave it to
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Speaker 1: the people. The people gave it Then to the prophets,
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Speaker 1: the prophets passed it along ultimately to people like scribes
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Speaker 1: and Pharisees, the official religious leaders who were to take
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Speaker 1: the scriptures and declare them. Everything right about that. I
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Speaker 1: do that every Sunday of my life. Every time I
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Speaker 1: get a chance, I open the scriptures and I interpret
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Speaker 1: the scriptures. Everything good about it. And certainly the scriptures
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Speaker 1: are good. So he says of them, it's worth your
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Speaker 1: time to hear what they are telling you, to understand
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Speaker 1: and obey the teachings of Moses. That's what verse 3,
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Speaker 1: as it begins, is all about. Practice, he says, practice
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Speaker 1: and obey whatever they tell you. But that's a big contrast.
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Speaker 1: You can hear the brakes screech verbally. But don't follow
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Speaker 1: their example. They may deliver the truth from their lips,
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Speaker 1: as Moses has stated, but they live a lie. They
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Speaker 1: say one thing, but they live another way. In fact,
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Speaker 1: if I were to divide the reason for not following
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Speaker 1: them I would find three, three of them. Look closely.
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Speaker 1: Verse three says, they don't practice what they teach. So
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Speaker 1: there was a lack of integrity. If I teach one
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Speaker 1: thing and then I go out and live another way,
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Speaker 1: I'm a hypocrite. I'm a phony. I may speak it well,
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Speaker 1: but I don't live it well either. And he says,
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Speaker 1: because they do that, don't follow them. They don't practice
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Speaker 1: what they teach. Teaching is good. Their living is poor.
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Speaker 1: Don't follow their example. So they lack integrity. They're consummate hypocrites.
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Speaker 1: There's a second. Look at verse 4. And you who
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Speaker 1: have lived under legalistic teaching won't have any problem understanding this.
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Speaker 1: They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift
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Speaker 1: a finger to ease the burden. Look at those words.
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Speaker 1: Their words are crushing in that they add to what
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Speaker 1: Moses has written and they make the words a burden.
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Speaker 1: So they lack sympathy. They don't help you live the
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Speaker 1: life that God tells us we're to live. The responsibility
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Speaker 1: of a faithful teacher is not only to declare what
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Speaker 1: God has said, but practically speaking, to help people put
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Speaker 1: it into shoe leather, to help people carry it out,
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Speaker 1: to identify with the pains and the groans of life,
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Speaker 1: and to assist people as they struggle to do what
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Speaker 1: God has written, and to identify with the struggle. They
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Speaker 1: didn't do that. They laid the heavies on you and
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Speaker 1: you had to produce. And if you didn't, they judged you.
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Speaker 1: So there's a lack of sympathy. Third, and don't miss this,
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Speaker 1: verse 5. Everything they do is for show. The way
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Speaker 1: the New Living Translation reads, I like. They're show-offs. They're show-offs.
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Speaker 1: What they do, they do to be seen. So there's
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Speaker 1: a lack of humility. Did you get the three? A
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Speaker 1: lack of integrity. They don't carry out what they teach.
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Speaker 1: A lack of sympathy. They burden you with the requirements,
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Speaker 1: the do's and don'ts. And third, there's a lack of humility.
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Speaker 1: Whatever they do, they do to be seen. They're dripping
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Speaker 1: with self-importance and conceit. We would say they paraded their piety.
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Speaker 1: They glorified themselves, appearing to be holy men of God,
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Speaker 1: looking like they were glorifying God, when in fact they
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Speaker 1: were glorifying themselves. If you read further into the verses 5, 6,
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Speaker 1: and 7, you will see that everything they wore, every
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Speaker 1: place they sat, every word they prayed, every act they did,
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Speaker 1: every title they were called was designed to glorify themselves.
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Speaker 1: And oh my, they love titles. They love to be
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Speaker 1: called rabbi, reverend, doctor. They love those titles. By the way,
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Speaker 1: before I go any further, it may not have yet
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Speaker 1: dawned on you, Jesus had a lot of courage to
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Speaker 1: say this because some of those people were standing right
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Speaker 1: in front of him. You know, we're pretty good at
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Speaker 1: saying these things behind people's backs. Jesus is good at
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Speaker 1: saying them to their fronts, to their faces. Think of
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Speaker 1: what that must have been like. No one criticized scribes
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Speaker 1: and Pharisees until Jesus came along. Nobody. And my, when
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Speaker 1: he did it, he made up for loss of time.
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Speaker 1: He certainly did. In fact, I mentioned the word doctor
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Speaker 1: a moment ago. You'll find this interesting as I did.
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Speaker 1: The Latin equivalent of rabbi comes from dossier, D-O-C-E-R-E, long E.
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Speaker 1: The word doctor is derived from dossier. In Jesus' day,
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Speaker 1: the title rabbi carried the exalted idea, and I quote,
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Speaker 1: Supreme One, Excellency, Most Knowledgeable One, Great One. They loved
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Speaker 1: that title, Rabbi. Nothing wrong with being called Rabbi if
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Speaker 1: that was your responsibility, but they loved it because of
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Speaker 1: what that represented. I read one case in my research.
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Speaker 1: One rabbi insisted that he should be buried in white
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Speaker 1: garments when he died. Because he wanted the world to
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Speaker 1: know how worthy he was to appear before the presence
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Speaker 1: of God. Well, isn't that nice? Dress me in white
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Speaker 1: because the world needs to know how worthy I am
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Speaker 1: to appear before God. No shame. No. Their religion, let
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Speaker 1: me put it in a sentence. Their religion was an
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Speaker 1: outrageous display of over the top ostentation. Just over the
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Speaker 1: top ostentation. It's an apt description of the Pharisees' lifestyle.
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Speaker 1: Everything called attention to themselves and how they loved the limelight.
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Speaker 1: Maybe it's time for me to give you a moment
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Speaker 1: to Catch a breath. So let me tell you a story.
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Speaker 1: True story. Many, many years ago, my has to be
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Speaker 1: in over 30 or more years ago, we were living
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Speaker 1: in California. I was a friend of a man who
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Speaker 1: produced television broadcasts and excellent television shows. And he wanted
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Speaker 1: to do a television talk show put together by randomly
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Speaker 1: by four individuals. who were not related to each other.
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Speaker 1: They were different walks of the Christian life. And of
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Speaker 1: all things, he asked me to be one of them.
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Speaker 1: And he asked another friend of mine to be one.
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Speaker 1: He asked someone we had never, none of us had
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Speaker 1: ever met to be one of them. Represented a little
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Speaker 1: school that he was the president of. And then he
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Speaker 1: asked a fourth individual who was not in ministry, but
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Speaker 1: was a Christian layman. And it was Great, great guy.
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Speaker 1: But anyway, when we got, it was to be filmed
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Speaker 1: in Dallas. So we all were to catch our flight
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Speaker 1: and get to Dallas. And then there we were to
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Speaker 1: meet and the night before go over the plan. The
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Speaker 1: next day, film the two hour show. One hour, then
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Speaker 1: the next one, we'd film that. Fine. So the one
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Speaker 1: who produced the show said to my buddy and me,
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Speaker 1: he said, look, I'd like you to, to meet so-and-so
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Speaker 1: at the plane. He's the one who comes from another
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Speaker 1: part of the country. I won't mention the part of
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Speaker 1: the country. And I'll just say, when we asked, because
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Speaker 1: you don't have a picture of him, how will we
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Speaker 1: know who he is? He said, oh, you'll know. Well,
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Speaker 1: that was interesting. This was back in the days when
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Speaker 1: you could go all the way to the gate to
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Speaker 1: meet the person coming off the plane. Remember those days?
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Speaker 1: And so we went all the way to the gate.
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Speaker 1: We waited. We waited. And virtually everybody was pretty much
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Speaker 1: off the plane. And we kept looking for Mr. Hotshot.
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Speaker 1: And he didn't show up. And finally, let's call him Schlock.
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Speaker 1: Schlock shows up. And he walks out. He's kind of
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Speaker 1: looking around like, where are those people who are supposed
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Speaker 1: to meet me? It was carrying two bags that looked
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Speaker 1: like they were maybe carrying two small pianos. And a
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Speaker 1: lot of stuff, a lot of heavy stuff. He had
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Speaker 1: a hat and a tie and a dark suit. That's
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Speaker 1: what I'm wearing. Anyway, we didn't notice him right away.
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Speaker 1: He kind of wandered around. He was a little perturbed
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Speaker 1: because someone went right there. I walked over and I said, well,
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Speaker 1: you must be Sam Schlock. And he said, Dr. Schlock.
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Speaker 1: I go, oh, of course, Dr. Schlock. So he said, here.
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Speaker 1: And he drops his bags. He says, carry these. I said, well,
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Speaker 1: you know, we had a little trouble finding you because
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Speaker 1: we didn't know what you looked like. We've never met before. Oh, really?
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Speaker 1: We're walking along. Tell me, what does the president look like?
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Speaker 1: I wanted to say a jerk. I said, you look like?
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Speaker 1: You look like a jerk. Sounded like a jerk. The
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Speaker 1: more we were with him, he was a jerk, you know,
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Speaker 1: and I... That night, of all things, someone in the
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Speaker 1: middle of the night ordered two Budweiser's and a basket
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Speaker 1: of pretzels and had them delivered to his room in
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Speaker 1: the middle of the night. Can you imagine someone in
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Speaker 1: our group doing like that on that guy? He was
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Speaker 1: really hot to be tied, you know. Boy, was he
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Speaker 1: mad the next morning. Anyway, we had fun doing that
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Speaker 1: TV show. If you knew what I am restraining right now,
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Speaker 1: you would be so proud of me. Classic example. What
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Speaker 1: was important to Schlock was Schlock. Not you, not her,
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Speaker 1: not the producer, not the program. It was all about him.
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Speaker 1: And don't you forget Total blind spot. Total. And I
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Speaker 1: have to tell you, when I went to bed around three,
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Speaker 1: I began to think, am I anywhere near that? God
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Speaker 1: help me if I ever get anywhere near. Because he
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Speaker 1: doesn't know that. Or he doesn't have someone near him
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Speaker 1: to tell him that. I wondered about his wife and
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Speaker 1: what she's got to go through to put up with that.
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Speaker 1: And his kids. And the school. You see, when you
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Speaker 1: think through this enough, you realize This isn't a message
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Speaker 1: for someone else. This is to you and me. Which
32:35
Speaker 1: is why he speaks to his disciples very carefully. His followers.
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Speaker 1: That's what we are. Hopefully we're followers of Jesus. And
32:51
Speaker 1: he says to us, Don't let anyone call you rabbi.
32:59
Speaker 1: That's the idea. I say it like that because there's nothing, again,
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Speaker 1: wrong with the title or even if you've earned your
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Speaker 1: doctorate and that's what you're known for, that's fine. But
33:11
Speaker 1: don't expect that. I tell the young men and women
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Speaker 1: at the seminary where I often have the privilege of
33:20
Speaker 1: speaking and I say to them, We all admire the
33:24
Speaker 1: fact that you work hard to get this degree. It's
33:27
Speaker 1: a tough degree. And we all admire the work you do.
33:33
Speaker 1: And ultimately, that piece of paper that states you're a graduate.
33:42
Speaker 1: Now you get that paper, and the very next thing
33:45
Speaker 1: you begin to work on is to get over it.
33:50
Speaker 1: Get over it. No one will ever ask about your GPA.
33:56
Speaker 1: No one will ever ask about how well you did
33:58
Speaker 1: at the school. Nobody cares but you. You're entering into
34:05
Speaker 1: a world where you give yourself up. Where you're really
34:12
Speaker 1: exalting someone else. Who wound up on a cross. So
34:24
Speaker 1: don't correct people on what title they call you. Just
34:29
Speaker 1: be grateful they called you. That's what he means when
34:34
Speaker 1: he says this. In other words, let me put it
34:38
Speaker 1: this way. Sean Pretentious Titles. Sean Pretentious Titles. Don't let
34:50
Speaker 1: anyone do that. For you have only one teacher and
34:53
Speaker 1: you're all equal as brothers and sisters. Would all of
34:56
Speaker 1: us remember that? There is no status. There is no
35:00
Speaker 1: rank in the Christian life. I'll never forget going. It's
35:04
Speaker 1: a wonderful visit I had with a former Hebrew professor.
35:11
Speaker 1: And I sat in his office because I was struggling
35:14
Speaker 1: with a particular interpretation out of Proverbs 11. that I
35:18
Speaker 1: knew Dr. Waltke would know and would be able to
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Speaker 1: give me counsel on. He'd studied Proverbs, you know, and
35:26
Speaker 1: he could read it from the original text backwards. He
35:31
Speaker 1: really knew the text, and he really knew God, and
35:35
Speaker 1: he really had a walk with God. So I sat
35:38
Speaker 1: in his office. After I graduated, I was pastoring a
35:40
Speaker 1: church in the Dallas area. It really was Irving, and
35:44
Speaker 1: I went in to see him and He said to me,
35:46
Speaker 1: what's on your mind, Chuck? I said, well, Dr. Waltke,
35:51
Speaker 1: I've come to a section of scripture that I'm getting
35:53
Speaker 1: ready to teach in the next several Sundays, but I
35:56
Speaker 1: don't find it in any of the books that I
35:59
Speaker 1: would normally do my research in. I'm a little uneasy
36:01
Speaker 1: that I may not have interpreted it correctly. He said, well,
36:05
Speaker 1: let me hear your interpretation. So I gave it to him.
36:08
Speaker 1: A little bit of fear and trembling because I'm talking to,
36:12
Speaker 1: you know, Bruce Waltke. And yet he was as gracious
36:16
Speaker 1: as he could be. And he listened like this. When
36:21
Speaker 1: he looked at you, it looked like he was looking
36:23
Speaker 1: at the back of your cranium, right through your eyeballs.
36:28
Speaker 1: Never took his eyes off. And when I finished my
36:33
Speaker 1: explanation and he asked a couple of questions, how did
36:36
Speaker 1: you come to this? What was it that led you
36:39
Speaker 1: to that? That is unique. I thought that was a
36:41
Speaker 1: nice word, unique. And then I said, well, you know, Dr. Waltke,
36:48
Speaker 1: I know this is really different and I really respect
36:51
Speaker 1: your opinion. He said, stop right there. Chuck, there are
36:59
Speaker 1: no popes in the body of Christ. Never forget that.
37:06
Speaker 1: I'm no final authority. Yeah, I teach. I mess around
37:13
Speaker 1: in the languages.
37:14
Speaker 2: Yeah.
37:15
Speaker 1: And I love them. And I love that you would
37:18
Speaker 1: come talk with me. Why, I would say to you,
37:21
Speaker 1: if the Lord told you this, you better preach it.
37:25
Speaker 1: You better teach that. It's what the Lord showed you.
37:29
Speaker 1: You know what he said to me? There's one Lord.
37:33
Speaker 1: And I thanked him and put his arm around me
37:38
Speaker 1: and he said, ah, no, I thank you for coming
37:40
Speaker 1: and talking with me. And I The following Sunday, it
37:45
Speaker 1: was everything I could do not to quote Bruce Waltke
37:48
Speaker 1: as saying, you know, he's approved this. But I didn't
37:53
Speaker 1: do that. He didn't give me permission, and I'm not
37:57
Speaker 1: sure he would approve. But I don't need his approval.
38:03
Speaker 1: What I need is the assurance of the Holy Spirit
38:07
Speaker 1: that this is what God would have me declare. And
38:10
Speaker 1: I must be careful how I came to the conclusion
38:13
Speaker 1: that in the way I worked my way through the text.
38:16
Speaker 1: And then if I'm sure of that, and the language
38:21
Speaker 1: lends itself in that direction, I should declare it, fully
38:25
Speaker 1: acknowledging it's my interpretation. But how gracious it was. And
38:31
Speaker 1: there was no pretension whatsoever. Someone told me the other day,
38:35
Speaker 1: he saw Dr. Walke, it's been years and years and
38:38
Speaker 1: years and years since I've seen him. And I said,
38:41
Speaker 1: how was he? He said, same guy. gracious as ever
38:46
Speaker 1: isn't that wonderful after all these years same gracious man
38:54
Speaker 1: don't let anyone call you rabbi verse 9 don't address
39:00
Speaker 1: anyone on earth as father for God in heaven alone
39:04
Speaker 1: is your spiritual father so the next thing is resist
39:11
Speaker 1: pedestalizing others Don't miss these points, folks. They're where we fall. First,
39:20
Speaker 1: we like pretentious titles. Give them up. Set them aside.
39:29
Speaker 1: So you've got that. You've got an honor in receiving that. Great.
39:34
Speaker 1: Get over it. Let's get on with the work that
39:37
Speaker 1: we're called to do. Second, don't be guilty of pedestalizing anyone.
39:45
Speaker 1: Let me tell you. I won't get into the story,
39:48
Speaker 1: but Cynthia and I can tell you our story. We
39:51
Speaker 1: made the mistake of pedestalizing a minister. And when he fell,
39:55
Speaker 1: it was just about all we could do to keep
39:57
Speaker 1: on our feet. When you pedestalize anyone, you're in for
40:02
Speaker 1: a real disappointment because they've got feet of clay. They
40:06
Speaker 1: may not fall in some huge way, but they'll let
40:09
Speaker 1: you down. They'll show their humanity. And when they do,
40:17
Speaker 1: you'll be disillusioned. So this is wise counsel for all
40:21
Speaker 1: of us. It's okay to admire and appreciate. It's never
40:28
Speaker 1: okay to exalt and worship another human being. Never. So
40:37
Speaker 1: when he comes down to the very end, he says
40:40
Speaker 1: what we all need to remember. First, cultivate a servant's heart.
40:46
Speaker 1: Here's the path to greatness. Cultivate a servant's heart. Look
40:50
Speaker 1: at verse 11. The greatest among you must be a what?
40:55
Speaker 1: A servant. A servant. All of us would do well
41:03
Speaker 1: to improve our serve. Look for ways to help others
41:06
Speaker 1: get ahead. The message reads, do you want to stand out?
41:12
Speaker 1: Then step down. Good counsel. Good counsel. The greatest among
41:18
Speaker 1: you must be a servant. Jesus teaches this. Those who
41:23
Speaker 1: exalt themselves will be humble and those who humble themselves
41:26
Speaker 1: will be exalted. Second, model genuine humility. Model it. Don't
41:34
Speaker 1: announce it. Don't be like the guy that wrote the
41:39
Speaker 1: book How I Became the Most Humble Man in the
41:41
Speaker 1: World with 12 life-size pictures. Don't promote it. Just live it.
41:49
Speaker 1: Just live it. In such a self-forgetful way that you're
41:54
Speaker 1: surprised with anything that comes down the pike for you.
42:03
Speaker 1: This past week, I want to spend a few closing
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Speaker 1: moments on this very important point. This past week, I
42:10
Speaker 1: pulled from my shelves a book that has helped me
42:14
Speaker 1: a lot. to keep my feet on the ground, and
42:17
Speaker 1: to keep things in perspective. It's a book by Paul
42:22
Speaker 1: David Tripp titled Dangerous Calling. If you have a friend
42:28
Speaker 1: in ministry, that would be a great book to give them.
42:32
Speaker 1: Dangerous Calling. You know what I believe to be the
42:36
Speaker 1: most dangerous career on earth? The ministry. The ministry. You
42:46
Speaker 1: have the power of God at your fingertips, and it's
42:51
Speaker 1: to be delivered by a broken human vessel who is
42:57
Speaker 1: not deserving of that calling. So it's dangerous. And we
43:04
Speaker 1: can so easily fall into the trap of feeling like
43:09
Speaker 1: we've arrived. His book is filled with warnings. The third
43:15
Speaker 1: section of his book is The Danger of Arrival. And
43:21
Speaker 1: there's a chapter called Self-Glory. Very convicting. I read it
43:29
Speaker 1: again toward the end of this last week. In it,
43:34
Speaker 1: he lists several characteristics, damaging characteristics of self-glory. I don't
43:43
Speaker 1: want you to write them down but I want you
43:47
Speaker 1: to hear them. He offered 10, and time doesn't allow
43:51
Speaker 1: me to give all 10. I'll give you a select
43:54
Speaker 1: number of them, all of which make you quiet and
43:58
Speaker 1: make you think. They're very convicting for all of us,
44:04
Speaker 1: not just individuals in ministry, because we're all given to self-glory.
44:11
Speaker 1: We all tend toward pride. Soon as we earn something,
44:15
Speaker 1: we got to deal with the pride of earning it
44:18
Speaker 1: or whatever. Anyway, I'll list six of them for us.
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Speaker 1: Number one, self-glory will cause you to parade in public
44:32
Speaker 1: what should be kept in private. Repeating, self-glory will cause
44:44
Speaker 1: you to parade in public What should be kept in private?
44:51
Speaker 1: Number two, self-glory will cause you to be way too self-referencing.
45:02
Speaker 1: Will cause you to be way too self-referencing. Proud people
45:07
Speaker 1: like to talk about themselves a lot. Proud people tend
45:12
Speaker 1: to like their opinions more than others' opinions. proud people
45:18
Speaker 1: tend to think they know more and understand more than others.
45:23
Speaker 1: They think they have glory to offer, when in fact
45:26
Speaker 1: they have none. They have none. Self-glory will cause you
45:35
Speaker 1: to be way too self-referencing. Number three, self-glory will cause
45:41
Speaker 1: you to talk when you should be quiet. Those who
45:49
Speaker 1: are proud of themselves tend to say more than they
45:55
Speaker 1: need to. Number four, self-glory will cause you to care
46:04
Speaker 1: too much about what people think of you. And interestingly,
46:14
Speaker 1: can also cause you to think too little about what
46:17
Speaker 1: people think of you. You can be so stuck on
46:21
Speaker 1: yourself that even a comment made for your good that
46:27
Speaker 1: may be confronting will be ignored and missed altogether. One
46:36
Speaker 1: of my profs confronted me when I was a student.
46:39
Speaker 1: I got to know him really well and he felt
46:42
Speaker 1: a closeness that I felt with him and I was
46:44
Speaker 1: so grateful for it. He told me on one occasion,
46:48
Speaker 1: I'll never forget it, Chuck, you got a great sense
46:51
Speaker 1: of humor, but there's a problem. Often it's at another person's,
46:59
Speaker 1: it's at the embarrassment of another person. He was right.
47:04
Speaker 1: I've learned to stop doing that. I needed to hear
47:09
Speaker 1: that strong word. At another person's expense, that's the word
47:16
Speaker 1: I was looking for. You have a sense of humor,
47:20
Speaker 1: but it's often at another person's expense. In other words,
47:24
Speaker 1: there's sarcasm. Be careful about using sarcasm as humor. Because
47:34
Speaker 1: usually someone else is the brunt of it, and they're
47:37
Speaker 1: usually the ones not smiling. Anyway, back to this list.
47:47
Speaker 1: Number five, self-glory will cause you to struggle with the
47:50
Speaker 1: blessings of others. Self-glory is always at the base of envy.
47:57
Speaker 1: When you're envious of someone else, you're thinking about yourself.
47:59
Speaker 1: It will cause you to struggle with the blessings of others,
48:04
Speaker 1: and we're commanded to rejoice with those who rejoice. Someone
48:09
Speaker 1: gets promoted, fantastic. How wonderful. Let's celebrate. Someone has something
48:16
Speaker 1: great happen, let's get together and have a party. Let's
48:20
Speaker 1: celebrate your promotion or what you've accomplished. Self-glory doesn't like
48:29
Speaker 1: to go to parties like that. Sixth and finally, self-glory
48:34
Speaker 1: will cause you to resist facing and admitting your own sins, weaknesses,
48:39
Speaker 1: and failures. It was the longest time before I realized
48:46
Speaker 1: the value of just being who I am. I have
48:52
Speaker 1: my wife to thank for most of that. She endured
48:56
Speaker 1: years of bad preaching and my attempt to do what
49:04
Speaker 1: I was called to do. She finally said to me,
49:07
Speaker 1: why don't you just try being who you are? And
49:12
Speaker 1: I thought that maybe is the dumbest thing I've ever
49:15
Speaker 1: heard in my life, which sounds like self-glory, doesn't it?
49:20
Speaker 1: and she said no really it works well at home
49:23
Speaker 1: and I think it would work well in public just
49:29
Speaker 1: don't be too afraid to tell them where you struggle
49:33
Speaker 1: or as Jim Peterson with the Navigators taught me don't
49:36
Speaker 1: be afraid to let people see the cracks in your
49:38
Speaker 1: life Wise counsel. But self-glory doesn't like that. I don't
49:45
Speaker 1: want you to think I have any cracks in my life.
49:49
Speaker 1: Whereas when you get rid of that nonsensical way of thinking,
49:52
Speaker 1: you freely say, I struggle with that even more than
49:55
Speaker 1: you do. Or I understand that battle. Been there many times. Okay.
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Speaker 1: Strong words today. Straight talk. Be careful about who you
50:14
Speaker 1: listen to as a religious leader. Be careful. I care
50:20
Speaker 1: about you 10 years from now. When you've been following
50:24
Speaker 1: someone you shouldn't have been following. Pay attention to what
50:29
Speaker 1: they say and what they don't say. Remember that little list.
50:38
Speaker 1: Watch it when nobody's watching. And when you're looking for
50:50
Speaker 1: someone to really exalt, choose Christ. Choose Christ. The great
50:58
Speaker 1: apostle who saw himself as the least of all the
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Speaker 1: apostles said, I glory in nothing but the cross of Christ.
51:10
Speaker 1: John Bowering wrote from that line out of Galatians 6,
51:15
Speaker 1: in the cross of Christ I glory. towering o'er the
51:18
Speaker 1: wrecks of time. All the light of sacred story gathers
51:28
Speaker 1: round its head sublime. It's about the cross. Bow with me,
51:35
Speaker 1: will you? Put the cross uppermost in your mind. Think
51:42
Speaker 1: of Christ who bore it for you. And as you
51:47
Speaker 1: sit there, thank him. Thank him for going through what
51:52
Speaker 1: you didn't have to go through so that your sins
51:55
Speaker 1: would be paid for in full and you would have
51:59
Speaker 1: a path to heaven based on his greatness, his faithfulness,
52:08
Speaker 1: not yours. And if you've never trusted in Jesus, trust
52:15
Speaker 1: in him now. Turn to him now. Help us all,
52:26
Speaker 1: our Father, in this me-ism age. Help us all who
52:33
Speaker 1: have learned all through life how to watch out for ourselves,
52:37
Speaker 1: how to come out on top, how to look good.
52:43
Speaker 1: Give us an ability to get beyond that and live
52:49
Speaker 1: For the glory and good of Christ. He must increase.
52:57
Speaker 1: We must decrease. In his matchless name we pray. Everyone said. Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message. Exposing religious phonies. Was copyrighted in 2017
53:13
Speaker 2: and 2021. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021.
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Speaker 2: by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
53:24
Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.