Jesus and His World: Religious Rulers

[00:00:00] Our heavenly Father, as we look forward to the hope of heaven, of eternal life, and we are reminded that our salvation is not because of our stations and powers, wealth and abilities in this life. [00:00:16] Lord, our salvation, our hope in heaven, eternal life itself and union with you is only possible because of your case, because you came into this world and did for us what none of us are able to do on our own. And, Lord, how inadequately we do even the things that we're supposed to do. [00:00:42] Lord, we sin and fall short constantly of your glory, all the while pretending to have a glory of our own that is deserving of godlike praise. Lord, we ask that you would humble us as we see the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us learn to see ourselves in him and find our salvation through his work for us and not ours. Lord, we ask for your blessing on these and that you would fulfill these requests. Now, as we come to the reading and preaching of your word, encourage us, Lord, and strengthen us. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. [00:01:26] Let's turn to God's word in Matthew, chapter three, verses one through eleven. [00:01:54] This passage introduces us. [00:01:58] It comes early in the Gospel of Matthew, and so it is part of this early accounting of Jesus'life and ministry. This is not technically or in any sense really a part of his birth narrative. This is much later on at the beginning of his ministry. But it does introduce to us an important group of people that are in Jesus'world in this time, and in some ways are part of and remain a part of our world as well, our time and place. And so I want to give attention to this passage and some of the people in it. [00:02:34] So, John, three, verses one through eleven. [00:02:38] In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. [00:02:43] Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, for this is he of who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. [00:02:57] Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his Waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. [00:03:16] But when he saw many of the Pharisees and sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bear fruit in keeping with repentance? And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [00:03:50] I baptize you with water for repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand. And he will clear his threshing floor. And gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. [00:04:13] May God be praised. You may be seated. [00:04:42] So Matthew in chapter three, introduces us. Or reintroduces us to John. John comes up early, right in the story about Jesus's birth. He is a cousin of Jesus. He was promised to Jesus'aunt and uncle through Mary. [00:05:03] And he was very special. Born in a special way in some ways. Like Jesus. Born to a woman who was barren and now was with child. And this one, this John the Baptist, he comes as a prophet in many ways. You can see him as the last of the Old Testament prophets. A link between. An important link between the Old Testament and the New Testament. He himself is the fulfillment of a prophecy. [00:05:34] And he is pointing to the one who is going to fulfill all things. Our savior and Lord Jesus Christ. [00:05:43] Isaiah, the prophet said, we read in verse three. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. This is John. [00:05:53] He's crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. And the way of the Lord is Jesus himself. The Lord himself has come. John's wearing these prophets'clothes. A garment of camel's hair, a leather belt around his waist. He's eating the food of locusts and wild honey. And people are listening. [00:06:15] People are coming. I love the way Matthew puts it. From Jerusalem and Judea and all the region around the Jordan. It's like they're just coming from everywhere. And coming to the river Jordan to hear, to see John. And even more importantly, to be baptized, confessing their sins. [00:06:38] But then Matthew introduces us to this group. The Pharisees and the sadducees. And they do not belong here. They do not belong. Not because they're not sinners and needing to confess their sins. But because they're people who don't want to confess their sins. Of course they belong there. Of course they need to repent. They need to be baptized. They need to bear fruit. In keeping with repentance, as John says. But they don't want that. That's not why they're there. And that's why John sarcastically says, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? [00:07:18] He calls them a brood of vipers. [00:07:22] Strong words from the strong prophet, man of the Lord. [00:07:28] And he points out their error in particular in verse nine. Do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. [00:07:40] They were there not confessing their sins, but they were there with confidence, with a critical eye, with a judgmental spirit, to look at what John was doing and say, what's this all about? I'm not impressed. What are these people doing? What's this guy doing? [00:08:00] Are we not the important ones in Israel? Are we not the ones who have Abraham as our father? [00:08:08] They saw their identity first and foremost in being jewish. [00:08:19] John, a jew himself, of course, reminds them, though, that this does not impress God. And it is not the thing in which we ought to stake our identity. Because God is able from these stones to raise up children of Abraham. God is not impressed with you and your genealogy, your heritage, even though it is, of course, God himself who gave that to them and honored them with that. He warns them that the most important thing is not their Jewishness, but it is faith in him who is to come. [00:08:58] Verse eleven. He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. [00:09:08] The lowliest of things that could be done here. These tasks of a servant taking off the sandals of somebody's dirty feet. John says, I would not even worthy to do that with this one who is coming. ThIs one who is coming. Jesus Christ. [00:09:27] This one John talks about in his glory and the glory of his judgment. With a winning fork in his hand, he will clear the threshing floor, gather his weed into the barn. An image of salvation, but judgment for the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. [00:09:46] Your relationship to Jesus is what matters more than anything else. [00:09:54] That's what John is pointing to. And he says this publicly, and he shows this for the people to hear. And it is a reminder for us to pay attention to and hear this morning as well. [00:10:07] I want to think a little bit with you and introduce you to the Pharisees and the SAdDucees. And think more about how it is they went so wrong. [00:10:18] What we can learn from it and how we can learn to trust more in our savior. [00:10:24] We've been talking as we've thought about the world that Jesus came into. [00:10:29] In terms of a lot of political authority. Up to this point, we've thought about the roman government. Caesar Pontius Pilate, a governor ruling over this land, one who was there to be a point of contact with Rome to squash rebellions, make sure the troops and things were there to protect and enforce. [00:10:52] We've talked about Herod, a king of the Jews, but kind of a puppet king, one who was loyal to the Romans, who did not care so much about the Jews, but mostly about his own security and his own station in life. [00:11:08] But in addition to these people, there were others. [00:11:12] In addition to the king, there was a high court called the SAnhedrin that dealt with political and religious legal matters. And that high court was made up of various people at various times, depending on what was happening at the time. Largely, it was made up of chief priests who were high rulers in Israel, but also various members of the jewish aristocracy and people who had power. The members of the Sanhedrin people, a body that comes up throughout the New Testament, was kind of a quasi political office, and it was often filled by people who could maintain peace and prosperity under Rome. [00:11:56] But that doesn't mean things were always friendly. In acts 23, we read about Paul trolling the Sanhedrin when he brings up this question about the resurrection. [00:12:07] The book of acts tells us that Paul looked at the Sanhedrin and he noticed that it was made up of Sadducees and Pharisees. Right. The groups were focusing on this morning. He sees the Sadducees and the Pharisees, one that affirmed the resurrection, the other that denied the resurrection from the dead and the afterlife. He brings this up in relation to his trial. There's this sort of free for all infighting among the Sanhedrin, and the whole thing ends and he doesn't have to go through with the trial. It's a clever move, and it reminds us that there are significant differences between these groups as well as some similarities. John, of course, is pointing out some of the similarities. Let's think about some of the differences between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. [00:12:55] The Sadducees were a people who belonged to a religious movement. So Sadducee is not like chief priest. Chief priest is an office. [00:13:07] Scribe is another sort of job. [00:13:11] A Sadducee is not a job. It's not an office. It's more like an identifier for a religious movement, somebody who belonged to a certain ideology and way of acting and thinking. [00:13:24] You might call it a political party, but it wasn't just political. Right? [00:13:29] Well, the Sadducees belonged to this religious movement. And their primary goal was maintaining jewish identity. And upholding certain ideas. [00:13:39] Theologically, they were the ones that denied the afterlife, denied the resurrection. And they did that by holding only to the Pentateuch the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses as the word of God. [00:13:53] Based on that and a Denial and a certain reading of that. They denied the afterlife, the Resurrection and angels. [00:14:03] Another marker of the sanhees, I'm sorry, of the Sadducees. Is they were largely composed, for various reasons, of the wealthy elite and jewish aristocracy. [00:14:15] This was perhaps what led to them to this strategy of action in maintaining jewish identity, which was kind of a holdout sort of strategy. Let's work with the Romans. Maintain as much peace and prosperity as possible. And assimilate as much as we can. Kind of like Herod was doing in this way. The Sadducees were fairly unpopular with the people and popular with Rome. It allowed them to maintain their wealth and status as part of. Because they were not undermining the roman government. But it didn't make them so popular with the people. [00:14:55] That's the Sadducees. The Pharisees were also a religious movement. Aimed at preserving jewishness. And had a particular theological viewpoints as well. So they affirmed what the Sadducees denied. They affirmed the afterlife, the existence of angels. The Pharisees affirmed the resurrection of the dead. They also affirmed the whole jewish canon, not just the Pentateuch, but then also other traditions as well. So we could say where the Sadducees reduced the Bible, the Pharisees added to the Bible. [00:15:33] And they had a very different strategy for maintaining jewishness. Instead of compromise and assimilation, they argued for and practiced high. What we could call distinction and separation, or even hyperdistinction and separation. [00:15:51] By following the purity Laws of the Old Testament along with lots of others. In addition to that, we get all these accounts throughout the Gospels and controversies about things like food laws, tithing, hand washing, who you eat with what you eat, these kinds of things. [00:16:12] These were a people that didn't mark themselves out by hobnobbing with Romans, although they did that, but priding themselves in that and belonging to that sort of social group. But they prided themselves in being distinct, in being different, in particular in being good, and, we could say, in being better. [00:16:35] In sort of a moral and righteous and purity kind of way. They offered this path to maintain jewish identity, but also power. At the same time. [00:16:46] It wasn't just about being different or about being moral. It was also about being influential, about being known about being powerful. These are the kinds of people who would stand on the street corner. And make sure that everybody knew that they were praying. These are the kinds of people that would make sure everybody knew how much they were giving and what they were doing. And made everything very, very obvious. [00:17:10] Because this is where they held their identity. Their hope was in this differentness, in being good and being better. And this was a very popular approach. Where the Sanhedrins were not so popular among. Or not. I'm sorry, the Sadducees were not so popular among the people. The Pharisees were kind of a populist movement within the people of Israel. [00:17:35] William Simon says, quote, the Pharisee campaign was one of laypersons. For laypersons appealing to the masses to take on the mandate of holiness within society. He continues, according to Josephus, the Pharisees represented 6000 heads of households. And had the power to oppose kings. [00:17:57] Even when the Sadducees held. This is really amazing to me. Even when the Sadducees held the upper hand in the temple. The chief priests of the temple still followed the dicta of the Pharisees. For they had the favor of the people. [00:18:14] As we know, populism is very powerful. And even though it may mean you are not a part of the elite. It can still give you lots and lots of power and influence in society. And so for that reason, the Sanhedrin would often be made up of both Sadducees and Pharisees. [00:18:35] And it was from these groups that there was a lot of power and identity in life to be found. So these groups are in many ways incompatible with each other, opposed to each other. And nevertheless, we see them being treated together so frequently in the Bible, so frequently that most of us probably have trouble remembering who thought what and which did which. There's just the Pharisees and Sadducees, right? As this group identified here as John does in verse seven. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers. He refers to them as this collective. He identifies their problem. Even though they're different in this similar way. [00:19:32] So what's the problem with the Pharisees and the Sadducees? [00:19:36] A lot of people today that the problem we see, or the problem exemplified in them, is institutional religion, right? These are the religious leaders, the religious authorities. And that's the problem with Christianity. Or reasons we doubt Christianity is because of institutional religion. But the Sadducees and Pharisees, if I said, were not institutions. They were movements of people. They were religious ideas and philosophies. And ways of acting. More than they were institutions. [00:20:14] These people gained power in institutions. But it was not the institutions themselves that were the problem. [00:20:23] What's the problem? God's the one who established the temple. God's the one who established the chief priests. God is the one who ruled over his people. And even in the new covenant, in the new church. We read that Jesus Christ gives to his church officers. Ruling elders, deacons, ministers. People who have qualifications that they must meet. And there are rules for church government and things like that. God gives institutions. Which, of course, can be corrupt. And there are such things as bad institutions. But the problem is not the institution itself or officialness itself. [00:21:04] The problem is the people. The problem is their hearts. Or, if we could put it more personally, us, our hearts. We, the people, are the problem. [00:21:21] What was the problem with the Pharisees and Sadducees in particular? [00:21:25] What was their common problem? [00:21:28] I think we can identify a few. [00:21:31] First of all, they had incorrect teachings. They didn't teach the word of God. In one case, they reduced it. In the other case, they expanded it. And then doctrines flowed from that. [00:21:44] Or missing teachings flowed from that. Accordingly, the second one that I think we can identify. Is that both were more concerned. With worldly identities. [00:21:56] Than they were true union with the Lord. [00:22:00] Rather than seeking him and his promises. Through faith and through repentance. [00:22:06] They sought power and wealth. They sought influence and perhaps even standing with God. But through these other means. [00:22:17] Through worldly initiative and power. [00:22:21] And as they leaned into that. [00:22:24] The harder they leaned into that. The more hypocritical they became. [00:22:31] You know this, right? The more that you talk about how important. Let's say a certain moral code is. Even a really good one. Like not lying. And the more in depth you go. And the more particular you are. And the more adamant the r. The more you end up exposing your own inadequacies. The more. The brighter the light is, we could say, of the law shining into your light. The more you turn up that ball. Or those lumens. Right. The brighter it is. The more that's exposed. [00:23:07] The more hypocritical we are seen to be. [00:23:12] It's even worse if we are telling the world. That our hope. And the reason you should trust us. And the reason we're important. Is because of how good we are. [00:23:23] The more we put our confidence in that. [00:23:27] The more it gets exposed. As a false hope. As a false confidence. And that was part of the problem with them. The more they leaned into these other ways of salvation, other ways of strength and of peace and all of these things that we want in this life, the more their hypocrisy was shown. [00:23:51] Jesus points this out in various ways. In tithing, for example, he points out how they have all these laws and rules about tithing, this little thing and that little thing. But then at the end of the day, they defraud their own parents to sort of get what they want, or people who act and talk about the importance of prayer and how important it is to pray and all of these things. And yet, at the end of the day, it's not even for the Lord. It's just a show for other people. [00:24:24] This kind of hypocrisy, this way of saying, here is the way, here is the moral way, and then being caught in all kinds of gross immorality. It's despicable and it's broken and it's disgusting. And so John has strong words. [00:24:41] Jesus has strong words. [00:24:44] Later, we see him, Jesus, going into the temple and clearing it out, turning over tables, having zeal for his father's house, a house that is to be for prayer, not for the increasing of wealth and power of those who are connected with the temple. [00:25:05] The more we lean into alternative ways of salvation and life and health and all these sort of things, the more hypocritical we will become and be shown to be. [00:25:20] Jesus, however, is offering a better way, one that relies neither on jewish identity or gentile identity, for identity, for meaning, for power, for purpose. [00:25:38] Neither does he rely on, Jesus offers a way of salvation and a way of life in this world and a way to come that doesn't rely on being a man or a woman in particular, or being a slave or being free. [00:25:55] These things that are important and do have meaning and shape and move, and they're not meaningless, but they are not our chief identity, our chief hope, our chief way of succeeding and finding things in this life. [00:26:11] What is the better way? [00:26:14] It's Jesus. [00:26:16] Jesus offers himself a cornerstone on which the entire church can be built. [00:26:23] And the way that he does this is what's so important. [00:26:28] Jesus doesn't discard morality. He doesn't say, it doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter what you think. It doesn't matter who you worship. He doesn't do that. He says, all of those things matter, and we fail in regard to all of them. [00:26:45] He says, they matter. The law matters. You must do the law. You must obey the law, but you can't. [00:26:52] And you won't he exposes our hypocrisy, not so that we remain dead in our trespasses and sins, but so that we would see that this is not the way, that Jesus is the way. [00:27:09] And he shows that in this most marvelous way. [00:27:14] Instead of coming into the world and showing himself to be the most moral person, although he is, instead of showing himself to be the most moral person on the terms on which they define it, or the most powerful or the most influential, instead of showing himself to be the most wealthy or most acclaimed or most loved by the Romans or most loved by Herod or the Sadducees or the Pharisees or the Sanhedrin or the scribes or the zealots or the Essenes. [00:27:49] Instead of doing any of that, he goes really low. [00:27:54] He goes really low in terms of all of these things that the world values, and then he dies, and then he raises from the dead victorious over all of these things. [00:28:15] I want to read to you from Philippians. [00:28:22] Philippians, chapter two. [00:28:25] Paul says that Jesus in verse six, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [00:28:49] Going low, let's go lower. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient. Let's go lower to the point of death. Let's go lower even to the point of death. On a cross. [00:29:04] Verse nine then doesn't say, therefore he lost. [00:29:11] Therefore we ought to despise him. [00:29:14] Therefore he was cursed and rejected by God. Instead. It says, therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth, and under the earth and every tongue. Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. [00:29:43] Jesus exposes the weakness of the world by allowing the world to do its best to even put him to death, and then exposing it all for the rottenness that it is for the temporary nature of it is, for the hypocrisy that it is, for the inability that it has mortal things. Earthly things cannot attain immortality and heavenly life and the kingdom of God. [00:30:23] In an important high moment regarding the rulers, right before Jesus goes to these trials and all of these things that happen before they put him to death, Peter tries to. Well, he does cut off the ear of the high priest. [00:30:47] Jesus heals him. [00:30:50] Jesus says to Peter, put your sword away. [00:30:54] This is not how the kingdom of God will come about. [00:31:01] The Lord does not despise institutions. He does not despise the church or officers or these kinds of things. [00:31:10] He doesn't despise order or dignity or role or duty or function. [00:31:18] But salvation, the salvation that we hope to have, is not grounded in those things. [00:31:26] Instead, those things are grounded in Christ in the gospel. [00:31:33] These things must be grounded on him, devoted to his word and the promise of his righteous sacrifice. As the only thing that can save us. [00:31:43] The only thing. The only one that can save us. [00:31:48] The true church preaches a gospel that says we need faith in Christ, not the works of man. [00:31:58] We need faith in Christ to be in the driver's seat. We need the Lord himself to be the cornerstone. Because there's no hope in this world apart from him. [00:32:11] He's the only one that can save us from the evil things of this world. He's the only one that can save us from ourselves. He's the only one that can make us holy, make us distinct, make us valuable, make us worthy of dignity. He's the only one that can make us to be light, that shines in the darkness, a terror to those who put confidence in the flesh, but the hope of eternal life for those who don't. [00:32:43] He's the only one that can do that. [00:32:46] He does it as God. [00:32:49] God with us. God in us. God through us. [00:32:56] And so, as we hear John's warning, as we hear his warning to the Pharisees and the sadducees, we ought not to despise God or faith in him. Or seeking a holy life. Or desiring to navigate in wise ways. The ways and we're supposed to live in this world, but not be of the world. He does not calling us to reject that. He's calling us to reject a confidence and a hope. In our ability to do these things on our own. In our ability to secure these things in ourselves. [00:33:35] Give up on your hypocrisy. Give up on your legalism. Give up on the works of the law to save you from your sins. Put your hope in Christ through repentance and faith. For the Kingdom of God is at hand. [00:33:52] Let's pray. [00:33:54] Our heavenly Father, all glory and honor and praise to you, above all the powers that are in this world. [00:34:02] How remarkable it is, Lord, that you use both ecclesiastical and political and secular and common powers to do your work. Indeed, you set up for yourself ministers in this world. To exercise your work through the means that you have given them. But, Lord, we do not trust in these ministers more than we trust in you. And, Lord, we ask that you would help them not to trust themselves either. [00:34:33] You alone are God above all, and you alone are the one who has come into this world to save us and to establish for yourself a new heavens and a new earth in which all the angels sing and praise you for the good news of the gospel. [00:34:58] Lord, we ask that you would help us not to be trapped in a similar way by our own pride and our own lusts, the passions in which we clamor after the things that we want so desperately in this world. [00:35:14] Lord, teach us to give up on these things and to put our only hope in you. [00:35:21] Let us receive you not by confidence in ourselves, in our birth and our station in life, in our obedience to the law in store. Lord, let us put our confidence in you as the one who comes in grace, as the one who gives a promise of hope that is apart from works. [00:35:44] Indeed, Abraham himself, you tell us in your word, was saved through faith. [00:35:50] Let us receive the promised inheritance to him likewise through faith, faith in the offspring, faith in Jesus, faith in the one who was to come and did come, and will come again. [00:36:06] And Lord Jesus, we ask that you would help us to navigate the difficulties that we face in this world. It is so difficult to know what to do and how to act and where to be and who to be with and when and how to identify ourselves. [00:36:23] Lord, we ask that you would help us to not worry about these things so much, but instead to see ourselves purely and holy in you and let your light to simply shine. [00:36:37] Secure our hope in you, secure our trust in you, cause us to do those good works, to show and demonstrate that love, that people might see you in us and give glory to your name. [00:36:54] We praise you for the work that you have been doing ever since the Lord ascended the way that you have kept and preserved your gospel and continue to send it throughout the world. [00:37:10] We ask this morning that you would help us to be faithful to you and that you would do the same for our brothers and sisters here in our city and throughout the world. Lord, guide. Guide those who follow you in all righteousness. [00:37:28] Help us to keep our eyes fixed on you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.