Beware the Leaven of the Pharisees series

#2 The Righteousness of the Pharisees - Matthew 5:20

(Matthew 5:20 NIV)  For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

It is the false teaching of salvation by self-effort that Jesus confronts head-on in this verse and which all of Scripture, from beginning to end, contradicts. As Paul makes clear in the Book of Romans, even Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, was saved by his faith, not by his works (Rom. 4:3; cf. Gen. 15:6).

In Galatians the apostle explains that “the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (Gal. 3:22). Outside of sin itself, the Bible opposes nothing more vehemently than the religion of human achievement.

Jesus told a “parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt” (Luke 18:9). In that well-known story a Pharisee and a tax-gatherer went to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed self-righteously, ‘“God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other,” Jesus said, “for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (vv. 10-14).

The least-esteemed and most-hated man in Jewish society was the tax-gatherer, a fellow Jew who had sold out to Rome for the purpose of collecting taxes from his brethren. He extorted all he could get from the people, keeping for himself everything he purloined above what Rome required. He had forsaken both national, social, family, and religious loyalty for the sake of money.

The Pharisee, on the other hand, was the model Jew, highly religious, moral, and respectable. Yet Jesus said that, despite the tax-gatherer’s treachery and sin, he would be justified by God because of his penitent faith, whereas the Pharisee, despite his high morals and religiousness, would be condemned, because he trusted in his own righteousness and good works.

In the present passage Jesus teaches that the sort of righteousness exemplified by the Pharisees was not sufficient to gain entrance into His kingdom. To Jesus’ legalistic, works-oriented hearers, this was doubtlessly the most radical thing He had yet taught. If the meticulously religious and moral Pharisees could not get into heaven, who could?

After showing the preeminence (v. 17), permanence (v. 18), and pertinence (v. 19) of Scripture, Jesus now shows its purpose. From the context of those preceding three verses it is clear that He is still speaking of “the Law and the Prophets,” the Old Testament Scriptures. In saying that true righteousness exceeds the kind displayed by the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus said that, whatever they did with man-made tradition, they did not live up to the standards of Scripture.

The implied truth of Matthew 5:20 is this: The purpose of God’s law was to show that, to please God and to be worthy of citizenship in His kingdom, more righteousness is required than anyone can possibly have or accomplish in himself. The purpose of the law was not to show what to do in order to make oneself acceptable, much less to show how good one already is, but to show how utterly sinful and helpless all men are in themselves. (That is one of Paul’s themes in Romans and Galatians.) As the Lord pointed out to the Jews in the first beatitude, the initial step toward kingdom citizenship is poverty of spirit, recognizing one’s total wretchedness and inadequacy before God.

Empty Worship: Confusing the Traditions of Men with the Doctrine of God (Matthew 14:34-15:20)

One of God’s supreme commands is: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Ex. 20:7). That command obviously prohibits profanity or vulgarity in which the Lord’s name is used. It also obviously prohibits flippant, irreverent use of His name. But more than those obvious things, it also forbids any use of God’s name that is superficial, indifferent, insincere, or hypocritical.

It has been said that God’s name is taken in vain more often inside the church than outside. I can’t number the times I have heard Christians exclaim My God when presented with something that is a surprise to them or some bad news. They are NOT talking to God or even talking about God…they are simply using His name in a vain way…and it is wrong.

Hypocritical worship was among the worst offenses of ancient Israel. The Lord declared through Isaiah, “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you, yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood” Isa. 1:13-15.

Even the ceremonies and observances God Himself had ordained became unacceptable, because they were offered hypocritically and without meaning. Isaiah continued: “‘Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless; defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool’” (vv. 16-18).

Unless the heart of the worshiper is cleansed and purified, he cannot worship God acceptably, because he cannot worship God honestly and sincerely. The person with a sinful heart is opposed to God and it is not possible for him to worship rightly. Isaiah ends his prophecy with much the same warning as he begins it: “To this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; he who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; he who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol” (Isa. 66:2-3; cf. Prov. 21:27).

As they went through the pretensions of offering sacrifices, the people were no better than criminals and pagans, because their hearts were not humble and contrite, but proud and rebellious.

Through Amos, the Lord proclaimed the same message: “I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:21-24).

Malachi declared that to offer blemished and unworthy sacrifices was to despise God’s name (Mal. 1:6-7).

In Matthew 14:34-15:20 Jesus preaches the same message as those prophets: Hearts that are not right with God cannot worship Him. Jesus was still popular with the multitudes of common people, but it was not because they trusted in Him as their Messiah-Savior but because He fed and healed them. Their interest in Him was selfish and their devotion to Him was superficial. They had no desire to follow Him as Lord but only to get from Him what they wanted. They did not want to serve Him but rather wanted Him to serve their every whim.

Most of the religious leaders were already openly hostile to Jesus and had been plotting for some time how to kill Him (12:14). But to keep from antagonizing the common people who still followed Jesus, the leaders tried first to discredit Him before they openly attacked Him.

In the present passage Jesus confronts the Jewish religious system of His day head on, showing, above all, the emptiness and worthlessness of its worship. In doing so, He further crystallizes the irreconcilable conflict between His gospel and that system. As the conflict unfolds, Jesus is first seen as the compassionate Healer (14:34-36), then as the condemning Judge (15:1-9), and finally as the correcting Teacher (vv. 10-20).

(Matthew 14:34-36 NIV)  When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. {35} And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him {36} and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

The Compassionate Healer

After Jesus stepped into the boat with Peter, the storm immediately stopped (Matt. 14:32) and the boat immediately arrived “at the land to which they were going” (John 6:21). The land was Gennesaret, a small but very beautiful plain located between Capernaum and Magdala. According to Josephus it was a lush and extremely fertile area that produced a wide variety of crops. The fields and vineyards were irrigated from no less than four large springs, enabling farmers to produce three crops a year. Because the soil was so rich, it was all devoted to farming, and the area contained no towns or villages. It was therefore a quiet, peaceful region, inhabited by many kinds of birds and offering a good place for retreat and rest.

Jesus probably intended to spend some time there alone with His disciples; but again His plans were interrupted, because when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick. Although Jesus had previously healed thousands of people in that general area, there were obviously still many others who were sick with various afflictions.

The people’s confidence in Jesus’ miraculous powers was now so firmly established that they began to entreat Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak. They may have heard of the woman with the hemorrhage who had been healed by that act (Matt. 9:20) and assumed that anyone could be healed in the same way. Whatever their thinking and motives may have been, Jesus had compassion on them and honored their expression of faith, because as many as touched it were cured.

But Jesus wanted to do much more for them. Above all, He wanted to heal their sin-diseased hearts. That same day He offered Himself to them as the Bread of life which came down from heaven, which to eat would cause them never to hunger or thirst again and would give them eternal life (John 6:33-35, 48-51). But when they realized what it meant to eat that heavenly food and drink that heavenly drink, many of the shallow followers were offended and left Him (vv. 52-60, 66). Like so many people today who look to God only for what they want and care nothing for what He wants, most of the multitude had little to do with Jesus after He healed them.

Although He did not withhold it from them, Jesus was grieved that the people sought no more from Him than physical healing. Because they did not ask for a full meal, He did not refuse them a piece of bread. Because they did not ask for spiritual help, He did not refuse them physical. In spite of their superficiality, ingratitude, and self-centeredness, He mercifully healed them in order to reveal the compassionate heart of God.

The Condemning Judge

Just as Jesus offered compassion for the fickle crowds who wanted only food and healing from Him, He offered condemnation for the self-righteous, hypocritical religious leaders who wanted nothing from Him. They wanted nothing at all to do with Him, except what was necessary to discredit and destroy Him.

In this crucial passage we see the antithetical nature of the gospel message in Jesus’ teaching: The God of compassion is also the God of condemnation. Just as He heals those who come to Him, He condemns those who reject Him. In these nine verses we first see Jesus’ confrontation and then His condemnation of the unbelieving and rebellious scribes and Pharisees.

The Confrontation

(Matthew 15:1-20 NIV)  Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, {2} "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"

Then is indefinite and does not precisely indicate the time sequence between the healings and the approach of the Pharisees and scribes. It is possible that this confrontation occurred several days after the healings. From John 6:4 we know it was the Passover season and that many Jews were traveling through Galilee on their way to Jerusalem for the feast. It was the third Passover of Jesus’ ministry, a year before His final celebration of it with the disciples in the upper room.

Since Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem would not normally carry on their work in Galilee, it is likely their fellow religionists there had requested help in confronting Jesus, possibly channeling their request through the Sanhedrin, the high Jewish council. Jerusalem was the location of the Temple and of the most eminent schools of Judaism; and therefore this delegation doubtlessly carried heavy ecclesiastical weight. And because these Pharisees and scribes had prestige and learning superior to that of their counterparts in Galilee, Jesus treated them with greater severity.

These men were familiar with Jesus’ teaching and ministry and came to Him with the specific purpose of proving Him to be an offender against their tradition. As soon as Jesus had begun to preach and teach, the leaders of the religious establishment realized He posed a severe threat to their legalistic system. Their religion was intentionally external and superficial, because it could be outwardly practiced with great zeal and diligence no matter what the condition of the heart or soul. It was a religion of ceremony and tradition that the most hardened unbeliever could follow. It was concerned with covering up sin, not exposing and cleansing it, with appearing righteous, not being righteous. Even before Jesus unequivocally proclaimed the truth in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:20), the Jewish leaders sensed that His kind of righteousness and theirs were diametrically opposed. The conflict ultimately resulted in the crucifixion—which they considered to be the victory of their way, whereas it was really its death knell.

The visiting leaders first asked Jesus, Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. They did not try to hide the fact that Jesus’ offense was against the tradition of the elders rather than God’s law. In their minds the tradition of the elders was superior to Scripture, in the sense that it was the only reliable interpretation of God’s Word. Just as Roman Catholics look to church dogma to discover what Scripture “really means,” most Jews of Jesus’ day looked to the tradition of the elders. In much the same way, many Protestants give more authority to the pronouncements of their denomination than to the Bible.

The Talmud, which is the repository of Jewish tradition, teaches that God gave the oral law to Moses and then told Moses to pass it on to great men of Israel. These men were then to do three things with the law they had received. First, they were to deliberate on it and properly apply it. Second, they were to train disciples in order that the next generation would have teachers of the law. Third, they were to build a wall around the law in order to protect it.

Because their hearts were not right with God, the rabbis’ wall-building “protection” of His law actually undermined and contradicted it. Their purpose was not to lead the people to worship and serve God from pure hearts made clean by Him, but to worship and serve Him by human means and from unchanged hearts. To provide the means for superficially keeping God’s commandments, regulation after regulation and ceremony after ceremony were added, until God’s own Word was utterly hidden behind the wall of tradition. Instead of protecting God’s Word, the tradition obscured and perverted it.

When the northern kingdom of Israel and then the southern kingdom of Judah were taken into captivity, the Jewish people felt as if God had abandoned them. The real reason for their captivity, of course, was that they had abandoned Him. They were suffering God’s judgment, just as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets had repeatedly and vividly warned they would.

While the Jews were in exile, scribes (the first of whom was Ezra) began to assemble and copy the various books of Scripture written to that time. They also began to make comments on various passages that seemed unclear; and gradually a larger and larger accumulation of interpretations was developed until there was more interpretation than Scripture. The distinction between Scripture and the traditions based on interpretations of Scripture gradually became less and less distinct, and before long tradition was more familiar and more revered than God’s own Word.

By Jesus’ day, the tradition of the elders had for many years supplanted Scripture as the supreme religious authority in the minds of Jewish leaders and of most of the people. The traditions even affirmed that “the words of scribes are more lovely than the words of the law” and it became a greater offense in Judaism to transgress the teaching of some rabbi such as the revered Hillel than to transgress the teaching of Scripture.

In the thinking of the Pharisees and scribes who approached Jesus on this occasion, it was therefore an extremely serious matter that His disciples would transgress the tradition of the elders. Jesus and His disciples disregarded all the rabbinical traditions, and the particular infraction cited here was simply representative of many others that could have been mentioned. But the disciples’ failing to wash their hands when they ate was considered to be an especially serious offense.

Wash had nothing to do with physical hygiene but referred to ceremonial rinsing. The purpose was to remove the ritual defilement caused by having touched something unclean, such as a dead body or a Gentile. Some of the rabbis even taught that a certain demon named Shibtah attached itself to people’s hands while they slept and that, if he were not ceremonially washed away, he would actually enter the body through the food handled by defiled hands.

The value of ceremonial rinsing was held so high that one rabbi insisted that “whosoever has his abode in the land of Israel and eats his common food with rinsed hands may rest assured that he shall obtain eternal life.” Another rabbi taught that it would be better to walk four miles out of the way to get water than to eat with unwashed hands. A certain rabbi who was imprisoned and given a small ration of water used it to wash his hands before eating rather than to drink, claiming he would rather die than transgress the tradition.

God had instituted certain prescribed ceremonial washings as part of the covenant given through Moses, but those were never more than outward symbols or pictures of spiritual truths. The Old Testament nowhere holds them up as having any merit, value, or blessing in themselves.

Water jars were kept ready to be used before every meal. The minimum amount of water to be used was a quarter of a log, enough to fill one and a half egg shells. The water was first poured on both hands, held with the fingers pointed upward; and it must run down the arm as far as the wrist and drop off from the wrist, for the water was now itself unclean, having touched the unclean hands. And if it ran down the fingers again it would render them unclean. The process was repeated with hands held in the downward direction, the fingers pointing down. And finally each hand was cleansed by being rubbed with the fist of the other. A strict Jew would do this before every meal and between every course in every meal (For a fuller discussion read Alfred Edersheim’s The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. 2, pp.10-13.).

Throughout history, man-made religion has attached great significance and benefit to ceremonies and ritualistic acts. Commenting on this universal tendency of man, Charles Spurgeon is reported to have facetiously asked his congregation, “If there were no Sunday morning service at ten, how many of you would be Christians?”

{3} Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? {4} For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' {5} But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' {6} he is not to 'honor his father ' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. {7} You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: {8} "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. {9} They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"

Before answering the Pharisees’ charge, Jesus gave a counter charge. He did not deny that His disciples  disregarded the rabbinical traditions; and He later explained to the multitudes (v. 11) and then to the disciples (vv. 17-18) why this particular tradition was worthless and meaningless. But He gave no answer or explanation to the accusing  Pharisees and scribes, dismissing their question as irrelevant. Instead, He asked them the immeasurably more important question, Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

Just as the Pharisees mentioned failure to wash their hands ceremonially before eating as an example of the disciples’ breaking tradition, Jesus mentioned the Pharisees’ overturning the fifth command-ment, honor your father and mother (see Ex. 20:12), as an example of their breaking the command-ment of God. He also reminded them of God’s penalty for breaking that command: He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death (See Ex. 21:17).

Bound up in honoring father and mother is the responsibility to show them respect and love and to help meet their needs while they are alive. One tradition taught that “a son is bound to support his father even if he has to beg for him.” But another tradition had come to supersede that one as well as the fifth commandment. It taught that whoever shall say to his father or mother, “Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother while they are alive.

The scribes and Pharisees knew the Ten Commandments well and could recite them easily from memory. They were the most educated of all Jewish men and were considered the supreme authorities on Scripture as well as tradition. They could not possibly have failed to see that this tradition directly violated God’s commandment to honor one’s father and mother. They knowingly replaced God’s specific command with their own contradicting tradition.

Anything of mine translates doôron, which means gift. Mark uses the more technical term korban (7:11), which refers to a gift or sacrifice specifically offered to God. Sometime in the past, a tradition had developed that allowed a person to call all his possessions korban, thereby dedicating them to God. And because Scripture taught that a vow to God must not be violated (Num. 30:2), those possessions could not be used for anything but service to God. Therefore, if a man’s father or mother asked for financial assistance, he could tell them, Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been given to God. The Greek text of the next phrase is more emphatic than the English suggests. He is not to honor might better be rendered, “He must not honor.” The vow did not simply allow withholding help from father or … mother but actually forbade it.

Except for what may have been actually given to the Temple or synagogue, however, the korban possessions remained in the person’s hands. And when he decided to use them for his own purposes, tradition permitted him to do so simply by saying korban over them again.

In other words, the tradition was not designed to serve either God or the family but the selfish interests of the person making the hypocritical vow. To avoid giving up his possessions in order to support his parents, he could declare those possessions sacred and unusable; but as soon as he wanted to use them for himself he could just as easily reverse the vow. The covert purpose of that tradition was to invalidate the word of God by circumventing the fifth commandment.

Angered by the callous selfishness of that tradition, Jesus said, You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me” (See Isa. 29:13).

What Isaiah said of the people of his own day applied to the hypocrites of Jesus’ day as well, and to those of our own. An ancient rabbi said, “There are ten parts of hypocrisy in the world, nine at Jerusalem and one everywhere else.” The same might be said of much of the church. Satan has no greater allies than hypocrites who go under the guise of God’s people. And hypocrites have no greater ally than tradition, because tradition can be followed mechanically and  thoughtlessly, without conviction, sincerity, or purity of heart. Because traditions are made by men, they can be accom-plished by men. They require no faith, no trust, no dependence on God. Not only that, but they appeal to the flesh by feeding pride and self-righteousness. Often, as in this case, they also serve self-interest.

Because traditions require no integrity of heart, they are easily substituted for true worship and obedience. That is why it is easy for people to honor God with their lips while their heart is far away from Him. And that is why ritual, ceremony, and other religious traditions are more likely to take worshipers further from God than bring them closer. And the further a person is from God, the more vain his worship becomes.

The only heart that can worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24) is the heart that belongs to Him; and the only heart that belongs to Him is the heart cleansed from sin and made righteous by Him. It is this divine cleansing that God has always offered to those who trust in Him. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you,” He said through Ezekiel, “and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezek. 36:26-27).

Unless that transformation happens within a person, his righteousness cannot exceed the hypocritical and superficial righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees—in which case he can never enter the kingdom of God (Matt. 5:20).

Jesus was condemned and crucified because He exposed the vileness of religious hypocrites who rejected God’s holy doctrines of grace in favor of their own sinful precepts of self-righteous works.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with tradition as such. Many traditions help us to remember, cherish, and honor things that are noble and beautiful. But when traditions are substituted for, or in any way distort or distract from God’s Word, they are an offense against God and a barrier to right worship and living.

When the precepts of men are taught as doctrines, man’s wisdom is elevated above God’s—which is the very root of all sin. It was Satan’s inducing Eve to trust her own wisdom above God’s that led to the fall and to every subsequent sin and evil in the world.

The Correcting Teacher (vs. 10-20)

Pollution has become a major problem in the modern world, and we read and hear much about it. The air; the soil, the rivers and lakes, and even the oceans have become polluted to a degree thought impossible a generation ago.

The Bible also has much to say about pollution, but this pollution has plagued mankind from its beginning. It is a pollution that cannot be seen, smelled, tasted, or measured. Yet it is more lethal than anything modern environmentalists oppose. The New Testament uses five different verbs, three nouns, and one adjective to represent the idea of pollution, or defilement, and various forms of those terms are used dozens of times. The five uses in the present text of defile and defiles (vv. 11, 18, 20) are all from the verb koinooô, which means to make common, unclean, or polluted.

God is concerned about the defilement of all of His creation, but especially about the defilement of man, who is made in His image, and most especially about the defilement of His own redeemed children. James admonishes Christians to hold to “pure and undefiled religion” (James 1:27), and Paul warns against consciences that are weak and  defiled (1 Cor. 8:7).

It is a terribly serious matter for Christians to defile themselves, because their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16-17). The Lord commends the church at Sardis for not having soiled, or defiled, its garments (Rev. 3:4), and in the eternal heavenly kingdom there will be no object or person who is defiled (Rev. 14:4;  21:27).

But even in our present earthly life, we are commanded to grow into the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:13), who is “holy, innocent, undefiled” (Heb. 7:26). Like His Son, God’s people are to be clean, pure, holy, spotless, unpolluted, and undefiled (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:27; 2 Pet. 3:14).

In Matthew 15:1-20, Jesus first states the principle of spiritual defilement, then describes the violation of the principle, and finally elucidates the meaning of the principle.

The Principle Stated

{10} Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. {11} What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'"

Because the time sequence between chapters 14 and 15 is not clear, we cannot be certain about the identity of this multitude; but it is probably the group described in 14:34-36 who had come to Jesus for healing.

This period of healing and teaching (see John 6:26-71) apparently lasted for many days, because it carried Jesus to numerous villages, cities, and countrysides (Mark 6:56). Sometime during this period the delegation of scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem had come to Galilee to discredit Jesus and had instead been discredited by Him.

The multitude had been standing on the sidelines, listening to Jesus condemn the religious leaders. Now He called them to Him in order to explain what He had just said about unscriptural traditions and empty worship.

Hear, and understand was a common idiom that meant, “Listen carefully and pay close attention,” and was used to precede a message of great importance. It was not that what Jesus said would be hard to understand but that it would be hard to accept. The greatest stumbling block to salvation has always been lack of acceptance and belief of the gospel, not lack of understanding it. It is precisely when the gospel is clearest—as when it was taught by Jesus Himself—that it is also likely to be the most unacceptable.

As usual, Jesus’ illustration was simple and based on the common knowledge and everyday experiences of the people. Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, He explained, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man. Spiritual defilement is a matter of the inside, not the outside. No spiritual or moral contamination can result from what we eat. The physical has no way of defiling the spiritual. “Don’t be deceived and misled by the foolish traditions you have been taught,” Jesus was saying. “The practice of washing your hands before you eat has nothing to do with making you undefiled. What matters is what is in your heart. It is the evil in the heart, which eventually proceeds out of the mouth, that defiles the man.”

No Jew should have been shocked at what Jesus was saying. Just as in the Sermon on the Mount, He was not teaching new truths but was simply reinforcing truths that God’s Word had always taught. Even the most unlearned among the crowd had doubtlessly heard the story of the Lord’s choosing David to be Israel’s king in place of Saul. When Jesse brought his sons before Samuel, the prophet thought that Eliab, the eldest, was “‘surely the Lord’s anointed.’… But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’” (1 Sam. 16:6-7).

Circumcision was the mark of the covenant given to Abraham, and it was looked on with the greatest possible reverence by Jews. But even before Israel entered the Promised Land, God declared through Moses, “And now Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?… Circumcise then your heart” (Deut. 10:12-13, 16).

The Old Testament repeatedly declares that the only religious ceremony or activity that pleases God is that which comes from a contrite, pure, and loving heart (Josh. 24:23; 1 Kings 8:23; 2 Chron. 11:16; Isa. 51:7; 57:15).

The expression proceeds out of the mouth ties in closely with the idea of not eating with unwashed hands. But Jesus was referring not simply to what a person says but also to what he thinks and does. In the parallel passage in Mark’s gospel, Jesus says, “The things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man” (Mark 7:15, emphasis added). A person’s defiled heart is expressed both in what he says and in what he does; but the mouth is the more dominant revealer of internal pollution, because it is through our words that hatred, deception, cruelty, blasphemy, and most other evils are most clearly manifest.

Mark also tells us that, in overturning this superficial, unscriptural tradition of hand washing, Jesus “declared all foods clean” (Mark 7:19). Jesus’ teaching that not what enters into the mouth defiles the man may therefore have been the most astounding thing the people had ever heard, because few things were more sacred to the Jews of that day than their dietary laws. Form was everything. Following the teaching and example their religious leaders, orthodox Jews lived entirely by externals —which are the marks of every false religion.

Jewish traditions had multiplied so much by Jesus’ time that it became impossible for anyone, even full-time religionists such as the scribes and Pharisees, to keep all of them. The rabbis had therefore developed “the law of intention.” If a person arose in the morning and said, “I intend to be pure all day,” he could waive the ceremonies and consider them fulfilled because of his good intention. The intention, of course, was not good at all, because its purpose was to evade rather than fulfill the tradition—showing that the Jews were hypocritical even about their own man-made standards.

If those ceremonial requirements and restrictions were entirely external, we might ask, why did God require them? God gave those outward signs in the early days of the Old Covenant, immediately after His people had spent four hundred years among the pagan, idolatrous, and morally corrupt Egyptians. The Ten Commandments were Israel’s first written communication from God, and before that time they had only limited knowledge of His character and will. After He called Abraham to be the head of His chosen people, the Lord gave specific instructions and directions to select leaders of His people from time to time, but He had not revealed Himself in any detail. And just as parents use pictures to help teach their young children, God used those symbols and pictures to help teach His truth to the children of Israel, who were then young in His ways.

God’s forbidding a person to sacrifice while ceremonially unclean was a picture of not coming to worship Him when not spiritually clean from sin. Outward cleanliness was a picture of inward cleanliness. The Old Testament nowhere teaches that circumcision, ceremonial cleansing, refraining from certain foods, or any such outward act—even though prescribed by God—could save a person and make him right with the Lord. As Paul makes clear, Abraham was counted righteous on the basis of his faith—before the rite of circumcision, or any other rite, was established. Circumcision was but “a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised” (Rom. 4:1-12). That is why, even from the earliest days of the nation Israel, God’s command was to “circumcise … your heart” (Deut. 10:16; cf. Jer. 4:4).

The book of Hebrews is a commentary on the book of Leviticus, and neither can be properly understood without the other. The writer of Hebrews continually reminds his Jewish readers that the Old Testament sacrifices were but pictures of the real, true, perfect, and complete sacrifice that Christ made on the cross.

The Old Testament priests were “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Heb. 8:5). The Tabernacle and its Holy Place were “a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation” (9:10).

The time of reformation was the time of the ministry and sacrifice of the Messiah, God’s Son. The Old Testament law—holy, righteous, and good as it was (Rom. 7:12)—nevertheless was “only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things” (Heb. 10:1).

It was always God’s desire and intention that His people “draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having [their] hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and [their] bodies washed with pure water” 10:22.

Hebrews 5:12 through 6:8 is devoted entirely to appealing to Jews who were considering the gospel, and perhaps had taken some tentative steps toward acceptance, to leave behind their symbolic ceremonies and sacrifices and come all the way to the living Reality to whom those symbols pointed. (See the author’s commentary on Hebrews.)

From the time the Old Covenant was first given to them, God’s people were more concerned with outside ritual than with inside righteousness. Ritual requires no change of heart, no forsaking of sin, no repentance before God. It allows a person to display symbols of religion while holding on to his sins. It is religion of form rather than faith, and is therefore empty and hypocritical.

The people of Israel not only failed to appreciate the spiritual truths pictured by God’s prescribed ceremonies and restrictions but they also added their own pictures to God’s. And the more they multiplied the pictures, the more they trusted in the pictures and the less they trusted in God. Instead of pointing them to God, the traditions led them further from Him. Instead of enhancing faith, the traditions stifled faith and enhanced self-reliance and self-righteousness. Therefore, when God’s perfect Reality came to earth, His people were so enmeshed in their traditions and so far from His Word, that they crucified God incarnate.

The matter of externals was so deeply ingrained in Jewish thinking that even Jewish believers in the early church often had great difficulty forsaking them. Several years after Pentecost, Peter still could not accept the idea that all foods were now clean. It required a special vision from God, instruction repeated three times, and a special demonstration of the work of the Holy Spirit to convince Him that both all foods and all people cleansed by God are acceptable to Him (see Acts 10:1-33).

Even years after that experience, Peter slipped back into his old mind-set and for a while “began to withdraw and hold himself aloof [from Gentiles], fearing the party of the circumcision” Gal. 2:12.

Paul warns that the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. (1 Tim. 4:1-5)

The Principle Violated

{12} Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"  {13} He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. {14} Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."

From Mark we learn that Jesus and His disciples “entered the house” (Mark 7:17), probably the home where they had been staying in Capernaum. They were now away from the crowd and the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem, and the disciples said to Jesus, Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement? Jesus knew very well that His statement about ceremonial washings undercut the very foundation of the legalistic system of the Pharisees and that they would be greatly offended by it. He meant to offend them.

Just as their opposition to Jesus would continue to increase until they finally put Him to death, so would His accusations against them. He would accuse them of not entering the kingdom and of preventing others from entering, of devouring widow’s houses while making a pretense of prayer, of making their converts twice as much sons of hell as themselves, of carefully tithing their smallest herbs but of neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness, of appearing clean on the outside but of being full of robbery and self-indulgence, of being whitewashed tombs that contained filthy bones of dead men, of being full of hypocrisy and lawlessness, and of being of the same character as their forefathers who killed God’s prophets (Matt. 23:13-30).

The Pharisees so idolized their system of tradition that they actually taught that God spent all day studying His own law and all night studying the Mishna that interpreted the law. Some believed God presided over the heavenly Sanhedrin, that the rabbis sat next to God according to their holiness, and that together they studied the Halakah (the legal part of the Talmud) and made decisions.

They taught that, after God had spent such hard work studying the law and the Mishna, He spent three hours each evening playing with leviathan. The Lord was so distraught at the destruction of the Temple, they claimed, that in each of the three watches of the night He roared like a lion; and when He cried, His tears fell into the ocean and caused earthquakes. They even taught that, like themselves, God wore a prayer shawl and phylacteries.

Worst of all, they taught that when Moses died, God touched his body and was therefore Himself defiled and had to be cleansed by Aaron, the first high priest. They had carefully boxed the Creator of the universe within their imaginative, petty, foolish, and wicked system.

The first truth about hypocrites that is evident from this passage is that they are offended by the truth. People who live in spiritual and moral darkness cannot stand to be exposed to the light and be shown for what they really are. The truth tears off their masks and reveals the sinful, ugly reality behind it.

Second, hypocrites are destined for judgment, because, Jesus said, every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up. Those plants are the ungodly tares, which God now allows to grow alongside the godly wheat. But at the end of the age, the tares will be “gathered up and burned with fire” as God’s angels “will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire” Matt. 13:40-42.

Hypocrisy is so reprehensible in God’s eyes that Jesus condemns the sinner along with the sin. Jesus’ most constant and repeated charge against the scribes and Pharisees was their hypocrisy. They were so far from the kingdom and such intransigent enemies of the kingdom that the King said, Leave them alone, which could also be translated, “Keep away from them and have nothing to do with them.” In a similar way, when Ephraim had joined itself to idols, God said, “Let him alone” (Hos. 4:17), as if that people were abandoned to judgment.

It is spiritually dangerous to stay around apostates and others who steadfastly reject and oppose the gospel of Christ. If there is opportunity to witness to them, it should be done with the greatest of caution, “snatching them out of the fire,” as it were, and being careful not to get burned ourselves in the process (Jude 23). We should not even listen to “the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge” (1 Tim. 6:20). Exposing ourselves to such people and such teaching risks spiritual disaster (cf. 2 John 8-11).

Even Jesus did not debate the ungodly scribes and Pharisees. When He responded to their questions or accusations, it was always in the form of correcting their doctrinal error and of condemning their spiritual and moral wickedness.

Perhaps the disciples were told to leave them alone also in the sense of not trying to judge men in order to weed out those who seem to be tares. Human judgment is imperfect and would inevitably uproot some good plants with the bad (Matt. 13:29). Concern for the purity of God’s church sometimes makes believers want to take judgment into their own hands; but the Lord forbids that. In the first place, believers are not qualified for it; and in the second, it is not yet the time.

Third, hypocrites always lead others to disaster. It is bad enough that they themselves cannot and will not see the truth; it is even worse that they recruit others to their ungodliness. They are not only blind but blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.

The pit physically referred to holes that were dug in a field or pasture and filled with water for use as drinking troughs for animals. A blind man walking through a field would eventually fall into a pit. But the spiritual meaning of pit is hell. The blind guides are the Pharisees themselves, and the other blind are their converts, who become twice the sons of hell as their teachers (Matt. 23:15).

Jesus’ calling the Pharisees blind guides was a play on their own description of themselves as “leaders of the blind.” Jesus was saying, “Yes, you are leaders of the blind; but you are in the same condition as those you lead. You yourselves are blind.”

The Principle Elucidated

{15} Peter said, "Explain the parable to us." {16} "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. {17} "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? {18} But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' {19} For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. {20} These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"

The parable that Peter wanted Jesus to explain refers to the illustration of verse 11. It was not so much that the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant as that they found it hard to accept—just as had the crowd and the scribes and Pharisees. As already mentioned, even years after Pentecost, Peter was not able to accept fully the idea that all foods were clean (Acts 10:14; Gal. 2:11-12).

In what must have been a tone of grief, Jesus replied, Are you still lacking in understanding? “With all I have taught during the last two years,” the Lord was saying, “are you still like the multitudes who do not know what I am talking about? Do you still fail to comprehend the absolute superiority of spirituality over formality, of the internal over the external, of reality over the shadow?”

Continuing with the figure of eating, Jesus said, Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? In Mark’s account, Jesus’ adds, “because it does not go into his heart” (7:19).

Because food is only physical, it can only affect the physical. It cannot defile the inner person, represented by the heart, because the physical and the spiritual are of two different orders. Physical pollution, no matter how corrupt, cannot cause spiritual or moral pollution. Ceremonies, rituals, and other external practices cannot cleanse a person spiritually, and failure to observe them cannot defile a person spiritually. Ceremonial cleansing, even under the Old Covenant, never did more than picture spiritual cleansing.

Rather, Jesus said, it is the things that proceed out of the mouth and come from the heart that defile the man. The heart represents the inner person, his thoughts, attitudes, desires, loyalties, and motives. When the heart is filled with evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, fake witness, slanders, and other such ungodliness, these are the things which defile.

It was the Pharisees’ inner unrighteousness—shown in the extreme by their evil thoughts to destroy Jesus—that corrupted them. The central moral thrust of the Sermon on the Mount is that the basis of all sin is the inner thought, not the outward act. A person commits the sin when he wants to do it, whether or not he ever carries it out in action. Murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders, and all other sins begin in the heart (See Matt. 5:21-37).

The things that defile the man come from an unwashed heart, not from unwashed hands. The need is for God to cleanse men’s hearts, not for men to wash their hands.

Paul warned Titus that “rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,… must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach.… For this cause reprove them severely that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth” (Titus 1:10-11, 13-14). The apostle then goes on to say, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed” (vv. 15-16).

When a person is defiled on the inside, what he does on the outside is also defiled. But when a person is pure in heart—undefiled on the inside—he will see God (Matt. 5:8).

(Matthew 16:1-12 NIV)  The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. {2} He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' {3} and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. {4} A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went away. {5} When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. {6} "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." {7} They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread." {8} Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? {9} Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? {10} Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? {11} How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." {12} Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

As Jesus prepares to contrast the righteousness of the kingdom with the traditional interpretation and application of the Law, He does so with a strong warning to those who would enter the kingdom of heaven

Far worse than physical blindness is the reality that every person has been afflicted with spiritual blindness because of sin, and without the help of God through the work of His Son, Jesus Christ, spiritual life and sight remain forever impossible.

It is no wonder that Jesus frequently referred to hell as “outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30), because it is the eternal perpetuation of the spiritual darkness that unbelieving man refuses to forsake while he is on earth. Matthew 16:1-4 pictures spiritually blind persons who will never see, epitomized by the unbelieving Pharisees and Sadducees who refused to receive the light and life that Jesus offered.

In contrast, verses 5-12 give a picture of the spiritually blind who, by God’s sovereign grace, are made to see. The four characteristics of these persons are the reverse sides of the characteristics of the blind who will never see: they seek the light, curse the darkness, receive still greater light, and are taught by the Lord.

They Seek the Light

The disciples stood at a crossroads as they decided whether or not to hold on to the system in which they were reared and identify themselves with the Pharisees and Sadducees, whom they had been trained to respect and honor. The Pharisees were the recognized interpreters of the Jewish law and traditions, and the Sadducees were the religious aristocracy, which customarily included the high priest and the chief priests.

But the Twelve did not hesitate in following Jesus, and when He crossed back to the eastern, Gentile side of the Sea of Galilee, they came to the other side with Him. They genuinely sought God’s light, and they knew Jesus was Himself that light. Through Jeremiah, the Lord had promised, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you” (Jer. 29:13-14). The disciples had seeking hearts, and God honored His promise to lead them to Himself.

As He stood teaching in the Temple one day, Jesus declared to the disciples along with the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). The disciples believed that truth, and they knew that, as God’s light, He not only was to be seen but followed. They knew the Messiah would come “as a light to the nations” (Isa. 42:6) and, as David had proclaimed, would indeed be their “light and [their] salvation” (Ps. 27:1). Jesus was the light that illumined their darkness, and, though often stumbling and misunderstanding, they genuinely sought to follow Him.

But not everyone who became interested in Jesus was faithful to follow Him. When they began to realize the true nature of His message and the cost of discipleship, many superficial disciples “withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:66).

But the true believers knew they would never be able to have spiritual sight apart from the gracious work of God on their behalf through Jesus Christ. Some of them perhaps prayed with the psalmist, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Thy law.… Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes,… Incline my heart to Thy testimonies,… Thy hands made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments” (Ps. 119:18, 33, 36, 73).

They Curse the Darkness

Because they sought God’s light, the true disciples also, in effect, cursed Satan’s darkness. They had hungry hearts for God’s light and truth and were eager learners. They turned their backs on the willfully blind and corrupt Pharisees and Sadducees, who led their followers into deeper and deeper darkness and made them even more wicked than themselves (see Matt. 23:15). When Jesus asked “the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?’ Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God’” (John 6:67-69).

They were as naturally blind as the Pharisees and Sadducees, but unlike those unbelieving religious leaders, the Twelve recognized their blindness and came to Jesus for help.

They Receive Still Greater Light

As soon as the disciples arrived at the other side with Jesus, they realized they had forgotten to take bread with  them. They had left hurriedly after the confrontation with the Pharisees and Sadducees (vv. 1-4), and on the sparsely  populated northeastern side of the Sea of Galilee they were possibly many miles from a place where they could buy  food. Mark reports that they “did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them” (Mark 8:14), far from enough to  feed thirteen men even one meal.

Despite Jesus’ divine teaching, His perfect example, and His great miracles, the disciples still thought and functioned primarily on the physical level. When they became hungry after rowing to the other side of the lake, their  thoughts did not turn to Jesus’ provision but to their own lack. As He frequently did, the Lord took their extremity as a  divine opportunity to teach His truth.

That is an apt example of how Christians should disciple other Christians, walking alongside them and helping  them interpret life’s struggles, perplexities, problems, and opportunities in light of spiritual truth and resources.  Christian maturity is learning to live day by day by the light of God’s Word and in His provision.

Knowing the disciples’ concern over their lack of food, Jesus said to them, “‘Watch out and beware of the  leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” The imperative watch out is from horaoô, which has the basic meaning of  seeing clearly or taking notice of. “Open your eyes,” Jesus was saying, “and pay close attention to the leaven of the  Pharisees and Sadducees. Don’t be concerned about bread but about what is truly important. In the present situation,  what is important is the spiritual danger of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Christ was only months from the cross, and He had much more to teach the disciples and they had much more to learn. One day without food was of no consequence. But like believers in all ages, the disciples were caught up in the physical and temporal. Their spiritual vision was limited, and their spiritual attention span was short.

Because the disciples’ thoughts were on physical food they missed the spiritual warning, so that when Jesus  mentioned leaven they began to discuss among themselves, saying, “It is because we took no bread.” Perhaps they  thought Jesus was concerned that they might buy some bread to eat that was baked by a Pharisee or sold by a Sadducee  and that it would therefore somehow be defiled.

But such things were of no consequence to Jesus, as the Twelve  should have known from what He repeatedly said and did. Only a short while before, He had made plain that it is “not what enters into the mouth [that] defiles the man” (Matt. 15:11).

Jesus was not the least  oncerned about whether the  earthly bread they ate came from a Pharisee or a Sadducee, a Jew or a Gentile. Such matters have absolutely no  bearing on spirituality and godliness and were not in His mind when He spoke that warning.

The disciples were confused about what Jesus meant because their earthly orientation was a great barrier to  spiritual vision. Their response revealed again how much they needed divine help in understanding, prompting the  Lord to say to them what He had said numerous times before: “You men of little faith” (cf. Matt. 6:30; 8:26; 14:31).  They did not fail to understand because of limited information or limited intellectual ability but because of limited  faith.

“Why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?” “You should know that I am not speaking  about the fact that we have no bread,” He said in effect. “Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves  of the five thousand, and how many baskets you  took up? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets you took up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?” “If I were concerned about our having bread, I would simply create some Myself,” He implied, ‘lust as I did when I fed the five thousand in Jewish territory, where twelve baskets were left over (see John 6:1-14), and the four thousand in Gentile territory, where seven baskets remained (see Matt. 15:32-39). Have you forgotten those occasions so soon?”

When believers live on the level of spiritual trust and obedience, God makes provision for their physical needs. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus cautioned, “Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall he added to you” (Matt. 6:31-33).

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food,” Paul assured the Corinthians, “will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Cor. 9:10).

The Twelve needed to heed the counsel Paul would one day give the church at Philippi: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things’, (Phil. 4:8; cf. Col. 3:2). The Christian needs constant exposure to the Word of God and constant illumination by the Spirit of God.

Only God’s Word and Spirit can raise him above the cares, concerns, perplexities, and confusion that are the inevitable  heritage of life that is viewed and lived purely in the human dimension.

Jesus was grieved that the Twelve, after so much clear teaching and so many miraculous manifestations, were still living by human rather than by divine sight. But He was patient with them, as He always is with His own, and He knew they could not comprehend without divine illumination.

He then repeated the warning (cf. v. 8): “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Leaven made bread rise before baking and was used in much the same way yeast is used today. But the only method ancient peoples had for reproducing yeast was to save a small piece of unbaked dough, which was later used to start fermentation in the next batch of bread.

Because a small piece of leaven was able to cause a relatively large amount of dough to rise, the term was often used figuratively to represent any sort of influence—usually, but not inherently, a harmful influence, as seen in its use in Matthew 13:33. When the Israelites were led out of bondage in Egypt, the Lord did not allow them to take any leavened bread with them, symbolically representing His intention that the people take no influence of pagan Egypt with them into the Promised Land. Israel was to start life afresh, with no contaminating influence from the wicked, ungodly land of her oppression.

It was the spiritually contaminating influence of the Pharisees and Sadducees that Jesus here uses leaven to  represent. “Beware of their influence,” the Lord was saying. “Their way of thinking and living has no part in My kingdom or its righteousness.”

On another occasion Jesus explained that the leaven of the Pharisees was hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). their particular form of ungodliness was characterized by religious phoniness, external purity without internal righteousness. The legalism, formalism, and ritualism they cherished so dearly were a cover for spiritual uncleanness and deadness. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Jesus told them. “For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27).  And their hypocrisy adversely permeated the whole religious scene in Israel.

The leaven of the… Sadducees, on the other hand, was religious liberalism. To them, religion was primarily a means to earthly, temporal ends. They did not believe in angels, miracles, the resurrection, an afterlife, or anything else supernatural (see Acts 23:8). They were thoroughly materialistic and rationalistic, and they, too, had an adverse permeating influence with many.

Both types of leaven are enemies of the gospel. They corrupt God’s truth and God’s people. “Don’t let either the legalism of the Pharisees or the liberalism of the Sadducees influence you,” Jesus was saying. False doctrine is always a danger, no matter what its form, and it should be shunned and rejected by the believer wherever and however it is encountered.

The Galatian church was threatened by the legalistic perversions of the Judaizers, who insisted that observance of circumcision and the Mosaic law be added to the finished work of Christ. To them Paul declared, “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:2-3).

The Colossian church, on the other hand, was threatened by religious rationalism and liberalism. To those believers Paul wrote, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).

False doctrine is never to be trifled with or minimized. Jude warns that when a believer seeks to help deliver someone from a false system he should go about it as if he were snatching a brand from the fire (Jude 23). To get too close to a cult or pagan religion is to risk being burned.

They Are Taught by the Lord

Because the Twelve received His light, God gave them still greater light. Jesus explained that He was not talking about physical bread but was warning them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. By the Lord’s sovereign and gracious illumination, then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Jesus’ continual desire during His earthly ministry was to teach those who trusted in Him, the apostles in particular. Even after He rose from the grave He continued to teach during the forty days before His ascension (Acts 1:3). He had already provided for the continuation of His teaching after the ascension: “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:26).

A short while later He told His disciples, “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you (John 16:12-15).

Not only is the believer given God’s own Word to study and believe but is given His indwelling Spirit to illumine and interpret the Word. A vital part of the Holy Spirit’s present ministry is to elucidate God’s Word and apply it to the hearts and lives of those who belong to Christ. John assured his Christian readers, “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.… And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him” (1 John 2:20, 27).

Paul declared to the Corinthian believers, “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:4-5).

Writing as God’s apostle, Paul’s word was God’s Word, not human wisdom but divine. “For our gospel did not come to you in word only,” he explained to the Thessalonians, “but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thess. 1:5).

When on a previous occasion the disciples had asked Jesus, “‘Why do You speak to them [the multitudes] in parables?’… He answered and said to them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted’” (Matt. 13:10-11).

The majority of the people who heard Jesus teach and preach had no desire for the things of God, and therefore what He said made no sense to them. “While seeing they do not see,” Jesus explained; “and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.… For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I should heal them” (vv. 13, 15).

But to the Twelve Jesus then said, “Blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear” (v. 16). The difference was not in the innate ability of the disciples but in their willingness to be taught by God. They, too, were spiritually blind., but through their faith the Lord enabled them to see.

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him,” Paul wrote, quoting Isaiah. “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.… Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God” (1 Cor. 2:9-10, 12; cf. Isa. 64:4; 65:17).

As the believer studies God’s Word and allows God’s Spirit to interpret and apply it, he is divinely enabled to understand even the deep things of God. Though utterly blind in his natural mind and spirit, by God’s gracious provision he is given knowledge and understanding of the most important truths in the universe. As with the two disciples to whom Jesus appeared on the Emmaus road, a Christian’s heart should burn with wonder and glory as the Lord makes His truth come alive (see Luke 24:32).

To appreciate and be able to apply what Jesus said, it might help to define "the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees"...(we will study Matthew 23 in depth later…but need to make some quick points here):

 

1. THEY HAD A FALSE VEW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND WERE  KNOWN TO "SAY AND NOT DO"...(VS. 2-3)
Matthew 23:1-4: "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: {2} "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. {3} So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. {4} They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them."

At this time Jesus spoke directly to the multitudes and to His disciples, but the religious leaders, most particularly the scribes and the Pharisees, were within earshot nearby (see v. 13).

When the Jews returned to Palestine after the seventy years of captivity in Babylon, the Scriptures for a while regained their central place in Israel’s life and worship, humanly speaking due largely to revival under the godly leaders Nehemiah and Ezra (see Neh. 8:1-8). Ezra was one of the first Jewish scribes in the sense in which the title was used in Jesus’ day.

An ancient Jewish saying held that God gave the law to angels, angels gave it to Moses, Moses gave it to Joshua, Joshua gave it to the elders, the elders gave it to the prophets, and the prophets gave it to the men of the synagogue who were later called scribes. Over the course of the years, those synagogue scribes became responsible not only for copying and preserving but also for teaching and interpreting God’s law. There were no more prophets after the Exile, and the scribes inherited the primary role of spiritual leadership in Israel. In Jesus’ day scribes were found among both the Pharisees and Sadducees but were more commonly associated with the Pharisees.

Though they were often teaching the truth, they did not often practice what they preached! From them many parents got the saying "Do as I say, not as I do"

Righteousness to them was an outward conformity to the Law, with no thought for the inward heart. They said the right words and followed correct ceremonies, but did not inwardly obey the law.

The law of Moses was still in force, and Jesus and His disciples were expected to obey the law. Galatians 4:4: "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law..."

Truth is binding because it is truth, and not because of the one who taught it to us. It is a human tendency to accept the teaching (or reject it) because we like/don’t like the teacher

 

We’re obligated to listen to the truth and accept it even if it is taught by a hypocrite...those who accept a teaching because of the teacher are building upon the wrong foundation! (example of college student who doubted his salvation because the person who baptized him proved unfaithful)

(John 4:2) "...although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples."

They had a false concept of ministry (v. 4).

To them, ministry meant handing down laws to the people and adding to their burdens. In other words, the Pharisees were harder on others than they were on themselves.  Jesus came to lighten men’s burdens (Matt. 11:28-30). Jesus never asks us to do anything that He has not first done. The Pharisees commanded, but they did not participate. They were hypocritical religious dictators, not spiritual leaders.

2. THEY HAD A FALSE CONCEPT OF GREATNESS AND WERE  KNOWN TO DO THINGS TO BE SEEN OF MEN
Matthew 23:5-7: ""Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; {6} they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; {7} they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have
men call them 'Rabbi.'"

To them, success meant recognition by men and praise from men. They were not concerned about the approval of God. They used their religion to attract attention, not to glorify God.

The Pharisees also thought that position was a mark of greatness, so they sought the best seats in the synagogue and at the public dinners. Where a man sits bears no relationship to what a man is. Albert Einstein wrote, "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of
value."

They also thought that titles of honor were a mark of greatness. The title "rabbi" means "my great one" and was coveted by the religious leaders. Jesus forbad His disciples to use the title rabbi because all of them were brothers, and Jesus alone was their Teacher ("Master" in Matt. 23:8). There is a spiritual equality among the children of God, under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Jesus also forbad them to use the title father with reference to spiritual things. Paul referred to himself as a "spiritual father" because he had begotten people through the Gospel (1 Cor. 4:15). But he did not ask them to use that term when addressing him.

The Danger of False Righteousness

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. (6:1)

This verse introduces the section on the forms of religious righteousness and applies to each of the three illustrations in 6:2-18.

The story is told of an eastern ascetic holy man who covered himself with ashes as a sign of humility and regularly sat on a prominent street corner of his city. When tourists asked permission to take his picture, the mystic would rearrange his ashes to give the best image of destitution and humility.

A great deal of religion amounts to nothing more than rearranging religious “ashes” to impress the world with one’s supposed humility and devotion. The problem, of course, is that the humility is a sham, and the devotion is to self, not to God. Such religion is nothing more than a game of pretense, a game at which the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day were masters. Because their religion was mostly an act, and a mockery of God’s true revealed way for His people, Jesus’ most blistering denunciations were reserved for them.

But they were not the original or the last hypocrites. Since the fall of man there have been hypocrites. Hypocrites are mentioned in Scripture from Genesis through Revelation. Cain was the first hypocrite, feigning worship by offering a kind of sacrifice that God did not want. When his hypocrisy was unmasked, he killed his brother Abel out of resentment (Gen. 4:5-8). Absalom hypocritically vowed allegiance to his father, King David, while plotting the overthrow of his regime (2 Sam. 15:7-10).

The supreme hypocrite was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord with a kiss. Ananias and Sapphira hypocritically claimed to have given the church all the proceeds from the sale of some property, and lost their lives for lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-10).

Hypocrites are found in paganism, in Judaism, and in Christianity. Paul assures us there will be hypocrites at the end of the age. “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron” (1 Tim. 4:1-2). Hypocrisy is endemic to fallen man, an integral part of his fleshly nature. Persecution of the church helps to diminish the number of hypocrites, but even that cannot completely eliminate them.

Hypocrisy is never treated lightly in Scripture. Through Amos, God said, “I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:21-24). All of those religious acts had been prescribed by God; but because they were performed insincerely and were not accompanied by righteous living they were not acceptable to God. The sacrifices, offerings, and songs were not given to God’s glory but to the people’s own glory and self-satisfaction.

Outside of idolatry, the greatest sin both in Judah and Israel was hypocritical religion. The Jews were conquered and taken into captivity in large measure because they turned true worship of God into phoney mockery. In regard to that truth Isaiah says, ‘“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed cattle. And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats’” (Isa. 1:11).

The Lord continued by declaring His displeasure also with worthless offerings, incense, new moon and sabbath festivals, and hypocritical prayers (vv. 13-15). God wanted purity and righteousness, not perfunctory rituals. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean,” He said; “remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless; defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together…. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool” (vv. 16-18).

Similar calls to replace superficial ceremony with genuine righteousness are found in the other literary prophets (Jer. 11:19-20; Amos 4:4-5; Mic. 6:6-8; etc.), as well as in the book of Job (8:13; 15:34; 36:13).

An Aesop’s fable tells of a wolf who wanted to have a sheep for his dinner and decided to disguise himself as a sheep and follow the flock into the fold. While the wolf waited until the sheep went to sleep, the shepherd decided he would have mutton for his own meal. In the dark he picked out what he thought was the largest, fattest sheep; but after he had killed the animal he discovered it was a wolf. What that shepherd did inadvertently to a wolf in sheep’s clothing, God does intentionally. The Lord judges hypocrisy.

Speaking to the scribes and Pharisees on one occasion, Jesus said, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men’” (Mark 7:6-7).

Jesus used many figures to describe hypocrisy. He compared it to leaven (Luke 12:1), to whitewashed tombs (Matt. 23:27), concealed tombs (Luke 11:44), tares amidst the wheat (Matt. 13:25), and to wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15).

In New Testament times some people made their living as professional mourners who were paid to weep, wail, and tear their garments at funerals and on other occasions of sadness (cf. Matt. 9:23). It is said that some mourners were careful to tear their clothing at a seam, so that the material could easily be sewn back together for the next mourning. Both the professional mourners and those who hired them were hypocrites, hiring and being hired to put on a display of mourning that was entirely pretense.

Prosechoô (beware) means to hold, or take hold of, something and pay attention to it, especially in the sense of being on guard. The scribes, Pharisees, and other hypocrites are warned by Jesus to beware of the religious activities in which they had such pride and confidence. He was about to show them again how worthless, meaningless, and unacceptable to God those activities were.

Theaomai (to be noticed) is related to the term from which we get theater. It has in mind a spectacle to be gazed at. In other words, Jesus is warning about practicing a form of righteousness (dikaiosuneô, acts of religious devotion in general) whose purpose is to show off before men. Such religion is like a play; it is not real life but acting. It does not demonstrate what is in the minds and hearts of the actors, but is simply a performance designed to make a certain impression on those who are watching.

Such practices amount to theatrical righteousness, performed to impress rather than serve and to magnify the actors rather than God. The purpose is to please men, not God, and the activities are not real life but an exhibition. Such false righteousness, Jesus assures us, will never qualify a person for God’s kingdom (Matt. 5:20).

False righteousness such as that does have a reward—the recognition and applause of other hypocrites and of ignorant people. That, however, is the limit of the honor, because Jesus tells those who practice such hypocritical righteousness, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. God does not reward men-pleasers (cf. Matt. 5:16), because they rob Him of glory. It should he noted that your Father is used in the same sense as in 5:16, as a reference to the Old Testament sense in which God was Israel’s Father (Isa. 63:16), not in the New Testament sense of personal relationship by salvation (see Matt. 6:9).

The reference to God’s dwelling in heaven distinguishes the eternal character of divine reward from the transient, shallow praise that hypocrites receive from other men.

 The Practice and Reward of False Giving

When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. (6:2)

A hupokriteôs (hypocrite) originally was a Greek actor who wore a mask that portrayed in an exaggerated way the role that was being dramatized. For obvious reasons the term came to be used of anyone who pretended to be what he was not.

One of Satan’s most common and effective ways of undermining the power of the church is through hypocrisy. Hypocrisy, therefore, is a great peril to the church, and it comes in two forms: The first is that of nonbelievers masquerading as Christians. The second is that of true believers who are sinful but pretend to be spiritual. The warning Jesus gives here applies to both groups.

Augustine said, “The love of honor is the deadly bane of true piety. Other vices bring forth evil works but this brings forth good works in an evil way” Hypocrisy is so dangerous because it is so deceptive. It uses things that are basically good for purposes that are basically evil. “Hypocrisy,” he goes on to say, “is the homage that vice pays to virtue.”

Eleeômosuneô (alms) literally refers to any act of mercy or pity; but came to be used primarily of giving money, food, or clothing to the poor. It is the term from which we get the English eleemosynary; a synonym for charitable.

Jesus does not introduce this teaching with if but when, indicating it is something He expects us to do. To give alms refers to actual giving, not good intentions or warm feelings of pity that never find practical expression. When done in the right spirit it not only is permissible but obligatory for believers.

God has always delighted in acts of mercy and generosity, “Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you” (Lev. 25:35).

When Israelites freed a slave they were told, “You shall not send him away empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the lord your God has blessed you” (Deut. 15:13-14): God’s people were continually reminded in the Psalms, Proverbs, and prophetic writings to be considerate of and generous to the poor, whether fellow Israelites or Gentile strangers.

Jesus and the disciples had their own money bag from which they gave offerings to the poor (John 13:29). It is obvious, therefore, that it is only giving alms in the wrong spirit that is evil. The scribes and Pharisees gave them primarily to bring honor to themselves, not to serve others or to honor God.

The giving of alms had been carried to absurd extremes by rabbinic tradition. In the Jewish apocryphal books we read such things as, “It is better to give to charity than to lay up gold. For charity will save a man from death; it will expiate any sin” (Tobit 12:8) and, “As water will quench a flaming fire, so charity will atone for sin” (The Wisdom of Sirach 3:30). Consequently, many Jews believed that salvation was much easier for the rich, because they could buy their way into heaven by giving to the poor.

But just as a sympathetic feeling for someone in need does not help them unless something is given to meet their need, giving them money provides no spiritual benefit or blessing unless it is given from the heart. In any case, no act of charity or any other good work can atone for sin.

There seems to be no evidence from history or archaeology that a literal trumpet or other instrument was used by Jews to announce their giving. The figure was used by Jesus to describe the attention in the synagogues and in the streets that many wealthy hypocrites, not just scribes and Pharisees, purposely attracted to themselves when they presented their gifts.

The reward they wanted was recognition and praise, to be honored by men, and that became their reward in full. They have their reward was a form of a technical expression used at the completion of a commercial transaction, and carried the idea of something being paid for in full and receipted: Nothing more was owed or would be paid. Those who give for the purpose of impressing others with their generosity and spirituality will receive no other reward, especially from God. The Lord owes them nothing. When we give to please men, our only reward will be that which men can give. Seeking men’s blessings forfeits God’s.

There are many more subtle trumpets people can use to call attention to their good works. When they make a point of doing publicly what they could easily do privately, they behave like the hypocrites, not like God’s children.

Sometimes, of course, the pretense does not show. Knowing that it is wrong to give ostentatiously and that fellow Christians are likely to resent it, we sometimes try to make our good works ‘accidentally” noticed. But even if we only want people to notice, and do nothing to attract their attention, our heart motive is to be honored by men. The real trumpet blowing, the basic hypocrisy, is always on the inside, and that is where God judges. Hypocritical righteousness, just as true righteousness, begins in the heart.

The Practice and Reward of True Giving

But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. (6:3-4)

To not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing was possibly a proverbial expression that simply referred to doing something spontaneously, with no special effort or show. The right hand was considered the primary hand of action, and in a normal day’s work the right hand would do many things as a matter of course that would not involve the left hand. Giving to help those in need should be a normal activity of the Christian, and he should do it as simply, directly, and discreetly as possible.

The most satisfying giving, and the giving that God blesses, is that which is done and forgotten. It is done in love out of response to a need, and when the need is met the giver goes on about his business, not waiting for or wanting recognition: What has been done should even be a secret to our left hand, not to mention to other people. Whether the person we help is grateful or ungrateful should not matter as far as our own purpose is concerned. If he is ungrateful, we are sorry for his sake, not our own:

It is said that there was a special, out-of-the-way place in the Temple where shy, humble Jews could leave their gifts without being noticed: Another place nearby was provided for the shy poor, who did not want to be seen asking for help. Here they would come and take what they needed. The name of the place was the Chamber of the Silent. People gave and people were helped, but no one knew the identities of either group. (Cf. Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. 2 [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972], p. 387; Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969], p. 133; and William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, 2 vols. [rev. ed.; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975], 1:171, 188.)

Matthew 6:3 has often been interpreted to mean that all good works are to be done in absolute secrecy. But true righteousness cannot be kept entirely secret, and should not be “How blessed are those who keep justice, who practice righteousness at all times!” (Ps. 106:3). Isaiah says, “Yet they seek Me day by day, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that has done righteousness, and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God” (Isa. 58:2). John tells us, “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him” (1 John 2:29).

Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus had specifically commanded, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). The question is not whether or not our good works should he seen by others, but whether they are done for that end. When they are done “in such a way” that attention and glory are focused on our “Father who is in heaven” rather than on ourselves, God is pleased. But if they are done to be noticed by men (6:1), they are done self-righteously and hypocritically and are rejected by God. The difference is in purpose and motivation. When what we do is done in the right spirit and for the right purpose, it will almost inevitably be done in the right way.

The teachings of Matthew 5:16 and 6:1 are often thought to conflict with each other because it is not recognized that they relate to different sins. The discrepancy is only imaginary. In the first passage Jesus is dealing with cowardice, whereas in the second He is dealing with hypocrisy. A. B. Bruce gives the helpful explanation, “We are to show when tempted to hide and hide when tempted to show”

Never in the history of the church have Christians been so bombarded with appeals to give money, many of them to legitimate and worthwhile causes. Knowing how and where to give is sometimes extremely difficult. Christians are to give regularly and systematically to the work of their local church. “On the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper” (1 Cor. 16:2).

But we are also called to give directly to those in need when we have opportunity and ability. Both the Old and New Testaments make it clear that willing, generous giving has always characterized the faithful people of God.

God does not need our gifts, because He is entirely sufficient in Himself. The need is on our part and on the part of those we serve in His name. Paul told the Philippian church, “Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account” (Phil. 4:17).

Giving is described in the Old Testament as a part of God’s cycle of blessing. “The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered” (Prov. 11:25). As we give, God blesses, and when God blesses us we give again out of what He has given. “You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you” (Deut. 16:10). We are to give freely out of what God has given freely.

The cycle applies not only to material giving but to every form of giving that is done sincerely to honor God and to meet need. The way of God’s people has always been the way of giving.

From Scripture we learn of at least seven principles to guide us in nonhypocritical giving.

First, giving from the heart is investing with God. “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Luke 6:38). Paul echoes Jesus’ words: “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6).

Second, genuine giving is to be sacrificial. David refused to give to the Lord that which cost him nothing (2 Sam. 24:24). Generosity is not measured by the size of the gift itself, but by its size in comparison to what is possessed. The widow who gave “two small copper coins” to the Temple treasury gave more than all the “many rich people [who] were putting in large sums” because “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” (Mark 12:41-44).

Third, responsibility for giving has no relationship to how much a person has. A person who is not generous when he is poor will not be generous if he becomes rich. He might then give a larger amount, but he will not give a larger proportion. “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much” (Luke 16:10). It is extremely important to teach children to give generously to the Lord with whatever small amounts of money they get, because the attitudes and patterns they develop as children are likely to be the ones they follow when they are grown. Giving is not a matter of how much money one has but of how much love and care is in the heart.

Fourth, material giving correlates to spiritual blessings. To those who are not faithful with mundane things such as money and other possessions, the Lord will not entrust things that are of far greater value. “If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?” (Luke 16:11-12).

Fifth, giving is to be personally determined. “Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). Righteous giving is done from a righteous and generous heart, not from legalistic percentages or quotas. The Macedonian Christians gave abundantly out of their deep financial poverty because spiritually they were rich in love (2 Cor. 8:1-2). The Philippian believers gave out of the spontaneous generosity of their hearts, not because they felt compelled (Phil. 4:15-18).

Sixth, we are to give in response to need. The early Christians in Jerusalem shared their resources without reservation. Many of their fellow believers had become destitute when they trusted in Christ through baptism and were ostracized from their families and lost employment because of their faith. Years later Paul collected money from the Galatian churches to help meet the great needs that continued to exist among the saints in Jerusalem and that had been intensified by famine. There have always been charlatans who manufacture needs and play on the sympathy of others. And there have always been professional beggars, who are able to work but would rather not. A Christian has no responsibility to support such people and should take reasonable care to determine if and when real need exists before giving his money. “If anyone will not work,” Paul says, “neither let him eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). Encouraging indolence weakens the character of the one who is indolent and also wastes the Lord’s money. But where real need does exist, our obligation to help meet it also exists.

Seventh, giving demonstrates love, not law. The New Testament contains no commands for specified amounts or percentages of giving. The percentage we give will be determined by the love of our own hearts and the needs of others.

All of the previous principles point to the obligation to give generously because we are investing in God’s work, because we are willing to sacrifice for Him who sacrificed Himself for us, because it has no bearing on how much we have, because we want spiritual riches more than financial riches, because we have personally determined to give, because we want to meet as much need as we can, and because our love compels us to give.

As in every area of righteousness, the key is the heart, the inner attitude that motivates what we say and do. Public righteousness is not to be rejected, but it is to be done in the spirit of humility, love, and sincerity. “For we are [God’s] workmanship,” Paul reminds us, “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

Also as in every area of righteousness, Jesus Himself is our supreme and perfect example. He preached His messages in public, He performed His miracles of healing, compassion, and power over nature in public. Yet He continually focused attention on His heavenly Father, whose will alone He came to do (John 5:30; cf. 4:34; 6:38). Even though He was one with the Father, while He lived on earth as a man Jesus did not seek His own glory but that of His Father (John 8:49-50).

When we give our alms…in secret, lovingly, unpretentiously, and with no thought for recognition or appreciation, our Father who sees in secret will repay us. The principle is this: if we remember, God will forget; but if we forget, God will remember. Our purpose should be to meet every need we are able to meet and leave the bookkeeping to God, realizing that “we have done only that which we ought to have done” (Luke 17:10).

God will not miss giving a single reward. “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13). The Lord knows our hearts, our attitudes, and our motives, and every reward that is due us will be given.

It is God’s perfect plan and will to give rewards to those who faithfully trust and obey Him. And it is not unspiritual to expect and anticipate those rewards, if we do so in a spirit of humility and gratitude—knowing that God’s rewards manifest His grace to the undeserving. We can meet His merciful requirements for rewards, but we can never truly earn them.

The greatest reward a believer can have is the knowledge that he has pleased his Lord. Our motive for looking forward to His rewards should be the anticipation of casting them as an offering at His feet, even as the twenty-four elders one day “will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power’” (Rev. 4:10-11).

3. THEY WERE KNOWN TO NEGLECT PARTS OF GOD'S LAW
Matthew 23:23-24: ""Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. {24} You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."

In their case, they would emphasize the "lighter" matters of the law, while neglecting the "weightier" commands. Or as we would say today, they "majored in minors and minored in majors"

In today’s language this might be the person who gets "bent out of shape" when a slight change is made in the order of the worship or the time of the worship but will go right out and gossip and slander a person without the slightest hesitation! And the sad part: they will justify themselves
even though the time of service or the order of worship isn’t found in the scriptures and gossip and slander is listed many times as sin!

4. THEY WERE LOVERS OF MONEY
Luke 16:13-15: ""No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." {14} The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. {15} He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight."

"Mammon" or money was their god, though they would be quick to deny it and try to justify themselves before men. Does this sound like any "prosperity" preachers we see and hear today?

Was Christ too hard on them?
· they challenged His authority
· they misapplied His words
· they accused Him of sabbath violations
· they attributed His power to the devil
· list could go on and on....

Such was the level of "righteousness" the scribes and Pharisees had as a group! Why must our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees? THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE KINGDOM DEMANDS  MORE!

Matthew 5:20: a person must have more righteousness than a religionist to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Note three facts.

1.  Righteousness is necessary to enter heaven.

2. The religionists, the Pharisees and the Scribes, had some righteousness. They just did not have enough. They were, in fact, strict religionists. They worked at obeying thousands and thousands of rules and regulations, governing everything ranging from dress and social behavior to ministry and work. However, they lacked the one essential: loving God so much that they would deny themselves and seek their righteousness in His Son, Jesus Christ.

3. The point is shattering: a person must have more righteousness than a strict religionist to enter heaven. Many are religious, but few are strict religionists. What did Christ mean? Who can enter heaven if a strict religionist cannot?

There are four facts in this verse that must be heeded. They should stir everyone of us, stir us to search our hearts and make sure we are approaching God as we should.

1) Many religionists make the same fatal mistake that the Pharisees and Scribes made. They seek acceptance with God...

· by giving God a formal worship instead of giving God a confession of unworthiness and of their need for Him in a personal way.

· by giving God good works instead of giving God their hearts

· by giving God a clean and moral body instead of giving God a confession of needing help spiritually.

· by giving God only a part of their lives, instead of giving God the total abandonment of themselves.

2) Many make the fatal mistake the religionists made, but to a lesser degree. They worship and do good...

· to be respectable in the community

· to seek the acceptance of God

· to have the fellowship of others

· because they were forced by their parents to do good

· to feel comfortable within their own consciences.

· to secure the approval of family and friends.

· because they were taught to do good.

3) Some feel they must do good to be acceptable to God. Their motive in life is to work and work at doing good in order to secure God’s acceptance. They have never learned the truth: they cannot do enough good to be perfectly acceptable to God. They must trust His love—that He loves them so much that He will take their trust and count it as righteousness.

Þ Many worship and do just enough good to satisfy their consciences. They do just enough good to make them feel comfortable and acceptable to God. But they miss the whole point. What God is after—the only thing that makes a person acceptable to God—is the giving of his total being over to God (day and night) in unworthiness and confession: that he has need for God in his life now and forever.

Þ in trust and love: that he trusts and loves God because God has given His own Son and promised to accept him in His righteousness.

Þ in thankfulness and appreciation: because God has accepted and assured abundant life now and eternally.