Who Sees You?
Matthew 23:1-12
Harry Stoliker
April 25, 2010 EBC
Listen
Who do you want to see you? That is what this section in Mt. 23
is about. The Key Verse is V.5 "Everything they do is done
for men to see." This is a scathing critique of the teachers
of the law and the Pharisees. All through the gospel Jesus has been
exposing the motives of people, especially the religious
leaders. The Sermon on the Mount was a surgical knife that
cut deep to the motives of men. 5:21 "You have heard that is was said to the
people long ago, "Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.
"But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment."
God sees the heart. We are always wanting people to
see our outward actions or appearances. 1 Samuel 16:7 "But the
Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his
stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees:
man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees wanted to be seen by men
rather than by God. They wanted to be seen as having the authority of God,
but their lives told another story.
V.1-4 Hypocrites Load Heavy Burdens onto Men's Consciences
V.2 The Pharisees and teachers "sat in Moses' seat" – i.e. they
taught the Torah as they sat in chairs in the Temple. Teachers normally
sat down. Even Jesus did – look at Mt. 26:55.
They sat in Moses' chair is a figure of speech for teaching the Torah.
At least in their minds they had the authority of Moses, but it
seems more ironical out of the mouth of Jesus because he is blasting their
hypocrisy in this chapter.
V.3 We certainly must obey anything that is taught correctly
from the Scriptures. We don't obey or follow the example of hypocrites
who don't live what they preach. Hypocrisy cancels out all divine authority
in false teachers. The power of correct teaching backed up by a
holy life is where divine power rests.
V.4 Some think that the image of tying up the heavy loads or
burdens before putting them on men's shoulders refers to the extensive debating
of the meaning of the Scriptures and the "hugely extended legal code"
which enslaved men rather than liberated them (France). What a contrast
to what Jesus said in Matthew 11:29-30 "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from
me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Hypocrites become legalists
who load other people's consciences with man-made laws.
Jesus frees us from man-made laws and enables us to
obey God's will with joy!
Notice that they refused to lift a finger to help move them – move
who? What? I take it that it refers to help move those loaded down
with the heavy loads of man-made legalism that the Pharisees put on
them in the first place. They offered the burdened consciences of men no help,
just more law. Jesus said come to me and I will give
you rest! Rest from your sin and burdened conscience through
the love and forgiveness of God, because of the Cross.
V.5-7 Everything they do is for the eyes of men!
V.5 "Everything they do is done for men to see." They craved
the recognition of men. They yearned for the eyes of men
to be upon them. They for wanted the praise and approval of man rather
than God; they wanted applause for their piety, admiration for their
religiosity, and esteem for their human accomplishments.
Notice how this says that "everything" they did was for the eyes
of men, all their deeds, all their rituals and religion.
They were addicted to getting notice by other people.
Then he tells us 5 ways how they went about trying to
get notice. (1) They made their phylacteries wide. Phylacteries
were small cube-shaped cases made of leather, containing
Scripture passages written on parchment, worn on the left arm and forehead.
Dt. 11:18 "You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and
in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be
as frontlets between your eyes." So if the Bible told them
to bind the word on their heads, why is Jesus chastising them about
it? The same with the tassels, they were to be a reminder to obey God
as well. The issue was that they were bragging about
their own spirituality, it was they were craving public recognition
and respect; it was an ego-satisfaction. They wanted to be conspicuous
in their religious façade.
(2) They made their tassels long, to call attention to their
piety. These tassels with a blue cord were attached to the four corners
of a man's garment as per Deuteronomy 22:12 "You shall make yourself tassels
on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself." They
were simply a visual aid in pursuing God Numbers 15:39 "And
it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments
of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which
you are inclined to whore after." Beware of visual aids, they can
become idols in themselves! They were not wrong in themselves, for
in all likelihood even Jesus wore tassels on his garments in obedience
to Num. 15:38-41 and Dt. 22:12.
(3) They love to sit in the places of honor at the banquets.
Banquets were social opportunities to exalt themselves. The head table was their
favorite place; it was visible, reserved for the honored guesses.
Again, visibility and pride are the issue. They hungered to be conspicuous.
(4) They loved the most important seats in the synagogue. Their
selfish pride polluted worship in the synagogues. Your thoughts when
you come to worship ought to be on the glory of God and not on gaining praise for
yourself in any way! (5) They loved to be greeted with the title
"rabbi" in the marketplace. "Rabbi" means "my great one" or "my lord."
People today are still in love with titles! "Doctor – so and so" "Reverend Jones"
– "Your majesty, judge Smith" – Professor Gonzolez…
Everything from dinner parties, to walking in the marketplace
to polluted worship was done for the eyes of men and
not the eyes of God.
V.8-10 Not So With You!
What is Jesus prohibiting here? Are we to NEVER use any titles
at all? Keep in mind what Jesus is shooting at here. He is assaulting their pride
and love of the praise of men. IF we get any ego gratification from human titles,
we shouldn't use them. We would be much safer not to use them at all. V.8
"But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all
brothers." We are God's sons and daughters; there is a
level of love and familiarity that eliminates titles that are dangerous
pride magnets! That is why I am not offended at all by simply being
called "H." Now, if we are trying to train our children to respect adults,
we are not going to let them be quite so familiar. Mr. H works, or
something other, like Mr. Stoliker.
V.11-12 tell us what it's all about: humility before the eyes of God
vs. self-exaltation in the eyes of men. Mt. 23:12 "The greatest
among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will
be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Donald Whitney, in his book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life,
says this in a way that will sting you at first: "Do not desire to
be the principal man in the church. Be lowly. Be humble. The best man in
the church is the man who is willing to be a doormat for all to wipe their boots
on, the brother who does not mind what happens to him at all, so long as God
is glorified."
"Whoa! I don't want to be a doormat that people walk all over and
wipe their boots on!" But what if that brings God glory,
would you do it? Our pride needs to be challenged! Here's how CHS
put it: "When the corn is nearly ripe it bows the head and
stoops lower than when it was green. When the people of God are near
ripe for heaven, they grow more humble and self-denying… Paul
had one foot in heaven when he called himself the chiefest of sinners and
least of saints."
How would you know when you are being humble before the eyes
of God? The old Puritan John Flavel gives us some concrete help by
listing 10 Characteristics of a Humble man:
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I am amazed that the infinite, holy, all-powerful God loves me and
wants to have a relationship with me.
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I often think about how much greater God is than I am.
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I understand my weaknesses, and I am willing to talk about them
with others.
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When I serve others, my primary goals are to bless them and honor
God.
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I enjoy leading so I can serve others as I use my gifts.
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I enjoy following so I can assist the leader and serve
others.
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I do not mind serving in private ways, even if I am never recognized
or thanked.
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I often ask others for advice.
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I regularly study the Bible for guidance and direction.
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I compare my life to the standards of God.
My last point for this morning is this: How do we ever begin to
become this humble??? How do we ever begin to take our eyes off what other
people think about us? I believe it all starts when we realize that Father
is looking at us with his eyes of love. Nothing is so encouraging,
nothing makes us want to humble ourselves and be honest rather than hypocritical
than realizing that our heavenly Father looks at us with eyes of love. He sees us.
The Egyptian woman Hagar in Gen. 16 realized God was
all seeing when she met the angel of the LORD in Gen. 16:13 and said "You
are the God who sees me, I have now seen the One who sees me." Ps. 34:15
"The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry."
2 Chron. 16:9 "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole
earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him."
Matthew 6:5-6"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love
to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.
I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But
when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is
unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Oh, my brothers and sisters, if we would learn to live our entire lives as though
the eyes of our Father are upon us, we would be holy sons and daughters,
and not devious hypocrites who proudly crave that men
see all they do. Whose eyes do you want to live under?
There is a Latin phrase that I want you to learn to love and use
with one another. It is Coram Dei. Live Coram Dei!
Say to one another, "Live Coram Dei today my brother!"
R.C. Sproul writes: "Recently a friend asked me in all earnestness the same
question. He asked, "What's the big idea of the Christian life?" He was interested
in the overarching, ultimate goal of the Christian life.
To answer his question, I fell back on the theologian's prerogative
and gave him a Latin term. I said, "The big idea of the Christian life is coram
Dei. Coram Dei captures the essence of the Christian life."
This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of,
or before the face of, God. To live coram Dei is to live
one's entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God,
to the glory of God. (under the loving eyes of our Father)
To live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are
doing and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God.
God is omnipresent. There is no place so remote that we can escape
His penetrating gaze. To be aware of the presence of God is also to
be acutely aware of His sovereignty. The uniform experience
of the saints is to recognize that if God is God, then He is indeed sovereign."
Oh, brothers and sisters, live by live by the well named Beer Lahai Roi:
"the well of the Living One who sees me."
If you are a hypocrite, a man-pleaser, trying to hide from God, then
God's omnipresence will haunt you and scare you, as
it should. You should flee to the Cross of Jesus and be saved so that you will
no longer have fear the gaze of God. But if you love God with all your
heart, soul and strength, they you will find great delight
and comfort in knowing that God sees all things, no
one hides from God's eyes, God's eyes lovingly see all
his children and protects them.
Determine today how you will live your life. Who do you want looking
at you? There is plenty of property by the well Beer Lahai Roi,
come and build your life there!
Let's pray.