Matthew (23): Seven Woes (I)

Here in Chapter 23 of Matthew, Jesus is delivering His final words – it’s the Tuesday before He dies and as He's surrounded by crowds, He directs His words squarely at the religious leaders. He condemns the nation's religious leaders for their part in confusing and abusing the generation of Israel under their authority. Jesus calls them hypocrites, and says their corrupt leadership was the cause for Israel rejecting Him and His offer to bring in the Kingdom. He reveals their corrupt nature and character and pronounces woe upon them as judgment. 

This chapter is important to us for a couple of reasons. First, there's the historical value of it, and then there's a very contemporary quality to it. Historically, we have to understand the role that these religious leaders played in driving Jesus to the cross and ultimately, Israel into exile. And, because of Israel's rejection of Jesus, it opened the door for the Gentile church to exist in the first place. So, in an interesting way, we can credit these men for giving us the opportunity to know Jesus. Of course, that's not to their credit, but it is the way God used their sin.

Secondly, perhaps more importantly for us, is that we need to understand the contemporary impact of Jesus’ words in Matthew Chapter 23 because He was speaking about the false teachers of His day. But there are false teachers in the church in every age, and there are certainly false teachers in the church today. And so, as Jesus exposes the methods and the motivations of the Pharisees, He's also teaching us how to recognize the false teachers in our day today. 

The earlier part of this chapter touched on how the Pharisees use their position of authority to turn worship into wealth, creating endless rules and restrictions for Israel and leaving them feeling discouraged in trying to please God. And they put all of those rules in a book they called the Mishnah which was a new law that sat on top of God's law. Ultimately, it became more important to the Pharisees than God's law, and the effect of the Mishnah was to rob people of joy and peace and their relationship with God. It invoked fear among the people because they were afraid of being judged for having failed to keep all of the endless rules within the Mishnah, and ultimately it misled them about the source of righteousness. That's the first step in their method: creating rules, making people feel discouraged. 

Secondly, the leaders made a public showing of their own ability to keep those rules perfectly, although they weren't keeping them perfectly at all. They were ignoring the rules whenever it suited them. They were hypocrites. And by cultivating this reputation among the people for their religious perfection, they became known as experts in how to please God and how to find God. And that led the people to turn to these men for counsel, for direction, and to seek some assurance from them that they'd be okay with God when the time came, that God would show favor to them for their efforts. 

And that led to step three, when you have discouraged people trying to find God and turning to hypocrites seeking their help in the process. It gave these religious leaders leverage, and they used that leverage for personal gain. They would request favors from businessmen, or they would go to the wealthy seeking some kind of payback. They required bribes if you wanted them to grant a divorce or if you wanted them to render judgment in some matter of law. They lived a lavish lifestyle, which was funded by the poor and the desperate people of Israel who were told that their contributions would carry favor with God and that three-step process burdened the people and allowed these religious leaders to turn worship into wealth. In Mark's Gospel, we get some confirmation of all of this. Mark says in Chapter 12, Verse 38:

Mark 12:38 In His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places,

Mark 12:39 and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets,

Mark 12:40 who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.”

Matthew has told us much the same thing that Mark did. But notice that Mark adds one important detail, he says, “these men like to devour widows' houses” and that's speaking about their unbridled greed and cynicism. These guys were so determined to gain from their positions, they were even willing to take a widow's last possession, her house.

The Pharisees were false teachers, simply put, and the Bible says we will have false teachers in the church today. But false teachers are not merely people who teach wrong things from time to time, because all teachers will teach wrong things from time to time. Peter describes false teachers in a very specific sense. He says this in 2 Pet 2:1:

2Pet. 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 

2Pet. 2:2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;

So Peter says false teachers are not merely people who got it wrong. False teachers are first and foremost unbelievers who portray themselves as believers in the church but yet do not possess what they claim to offer others. They claim to know the way to heaven, and yet they themselves deny Christ, and therefore are destined for hell. Peter says they're preaching a false message, a message that they try to convince others to follow after, and they do so by appealing to the lusts of those they preach to and by leading them in their lusts. They bring them into condemnation.

Now the false teachers of our day or are doing things a little differently than the ones perhaps, of Jesus’ day. The tactics they use will vary from time to time, but they all share the same hypocritical, greedy desires. Paul tells us in First Timothy, Chapter four, that false teachers are hypocrites and liars with a seared conscience. They're like Pharisees and show no remorse for their lying words or the destruction they create. And Jesus warned His disciples to not only steer clear of these people, but to avoid adopting their methods. And in particular, He started with saying, “don't adopt the powerful titles that these men crave.” Jesus says:

Matt. 23:8 “But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.

Matt. 23:9 “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

Matt. 23:10 “Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. Matt. 23:11 “But the greatest among you shall be your servant.

Matt. 23:12 “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

So Jesus says the hypocrisy and the greed of the Pharisees and other religious leaders was most easily witnessed in their desire for these impressive titles that they like to put upon themselves. While the titles themselves aren't necessarily wrong, the problem comes when we're seeking for a title out of some selfish, greedy desire to exalt ourselves. And if we demand that people address us by these certain things in order to gain undue influence, honour and attention for ourselves, then Jesus says we're wrong.

Or if we use titles to control other people so that we can take that control and use it to acquire wealth or privilege, then we're wrong. And even if we don't have a title yet, if we are coveting the honor and the privilege and power that a title affords us, well, then we're already wrong. And that's the issue here when we do these things out of a desire to stand above the people and use that to our advantage - we're walking in the footsteps of the Pharisees - it's a kind of selfish pride. And as a result, it's the opposite of godly humility, Jesus says.

Pride in ministry is an ever-present danger, and you don't have to be a pastor to succumb to pride in ministry. If you're the kind of person who succumbs to that pride, it can all start with something as simple as seeking that people would call you by a lofty title. Jesus says flatly, stay away from that whole mess - don't seek titles, don’t seek recognition, and don't try to make ministry about privilege. Instead, He says in verse 11 that the one who wants to be greatest among us, that is the one who really wants to be exalted, ought to be the one who serves everyone else.

Now Jesus taught this same principle back in Chapter 18 where Jesus says honor and reward in the kingdom will be assigned to us based on our humility and sacrifice now. More sacrifice now means more reward later, or, as Jesus puts it in verse 12, if you exalt yourself now, you will be humbled later. If we turn that around and we exalt others and lift up others now, then, Jesus says, God will honor us for doing so in the Kingdom. Our selflessness will be remembered and rewarded. Our humility will be celebrated and honored in the Kingdom. And Jesus said back in 18 Matthew 18, that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. 

Paul says in Romans 12 that the spiritual service of true worship is making our lives living sacrifices, taking our life and turning it over to God, much like what Jesus is speaking about here. And that's how we receive honor. Perhaps in the course of everything that's happening right now, the Lord is giving us an opportunity to learn and practice humility and self-sacrifice. Could this time be designed by God for each of us to become more devoted to the needs of others?

Meanwhile, humility and sacrifice aren’t the Pharisees' priority obviously.  They like to talk about the Kingdom, but in reality, they are living for this world, and their greed had resulted in Israel being now left desolate, that is, without the Kingdom and without their Messiah. And as a result, Jesus now pronounces woe against these men. The word "woe" has a very specific meaning when it's spoken by Jesus, by God Himself. It is a pronouncement of eternal damnation. When Jesus says woe to something, the future of that someone or something is condemnation in Hades or utter destruction. There's no recovery from a woe when Jesus speaks it.

So Jesus pronounces a total of seven woes against the Pharisees in this chapter, and, of course, number seven being the number of completion, He's showing that the judgment of these men is assured and complete in God's eyes. The seven woes are against seven areas of religious sin committed by these hypocritical Pharisees, but they're not unique to Pharisees. They are repeated many times every day by religious imposters everywhere and even worse, these seven mistakes can also stumble true believers in the church who might get confused about seeking earthly gain instead of serving God. And in the course of studying these seven woes, we're going to not only learn about how false teachers and false religious imposters work but we’ll also see how we can do better in our own walk.  

The seven woes are organized as a chiasm, and what it means is that they're paired up. The first and the last are paired up, and the second and the second from the last are paired up in this chiastic structure. And since you have a total of seven, there's an odd one in the middle that isn't paired up with anything. That middle point, the fourth point of the seventh, is the main point of what Jesus is saying, and the chiastic structure helps point your attention to it. Now, the first of these seven woes in Chapter 23 Verse 13 Jesus says, 

Matt. 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

So Jesus' first woe against the religious leaders is this - they rejected the eternal life of the kingdom, and they prevented others from entering it as well. They talked about entering the kingdom all the time, but the way they actually thought they could enter it was a barrier to achieving it. That is, they trusted in their own works based on the Pharisaic system of religion, thinking that that would approve them before God. They thought that doing good works, their works of law, would bring them righteousness and that by earning righteousness in that way, God would have no choice but to allow them into heaven. It's called self-righteousness, and Jesus says it was actually a barrier to heaven. The Bible says you cannot become righteous in that way, Paul says in Romans 3: 20 

Rom. 3:20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Rom. 3:21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

Rom. 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;

Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

What Paul just said is this: the standard for entry into heaven is the glory of God, which is a phrase that means the perfection of God, and Paul says we all fall short of the glory of God. We all are less than perfect. And if the standard into heaven is perfection and we're all less than perfect, we all have a problem. So works, that is, trying to make up for your imperfections by doing something good - that idea falls short also because works cannot make us righteous enough to enter heaven. It does not matter how many good things you do from this point forward, none one of those good things can erase the sin you did yesterday.

And the Pharisees taught that their system of rules was capable of creating that righteous outcome, that it would get you into heaven. And so they taught that, and the people who heard that listened and they obeyed that teaching and they tried to do the works of the Mishnah to enter heaven. Jesus says in the process the Pharisees were not only cutting themselves off from heaven for having followed the wrong system, they were also cutting off the people. They were barring others from the opportunity to know the truth because they laid out the wrong path.

And this is a clear repudiation of anyone who would tell you that there are many paths to heaven, or that all roads lead to heaven. This clearly says that there are bad roads that don't lead you to heaven. Any system of works, whether it's the one the Pharisees invented or something else that's on the earth today - none of them please God, none of them results in entry into heaven, none of them can erase sin.

You have to have a solution that takes away your sin, not merely encourages good behavior, and that is the “system” that Jesus gave us - that faith in His good life, His good works will give us what we lack. And His death on the cross will pay for the sins that we did.  Earlier, Jesus said in this chapter, if you want to be exalted when you reach the Kingdom, you have to be willing to be humbled now. And there is no part of life where that is more true than in the matter of salvation itself.

As Jesus shows us in Luke's Gospel in this parable:

Luke 18:10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

Luke 18:11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

Luke 18:12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’

Luke 18:13 “But the tax collector, 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!’

Luke 18:14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Notice the Pharisees was quick to exalt himself, claiming all the good things that he was doing for God. And he self-righteously declares that he is worthy of God's praise, unlike this sinner standing next to him. He praised himself which is a way of saying he thought he had merit. He had his own right and privilege to go to heaven. He earned it. Meanwhile, that sinner recognized that he had no hope apart from God's mercy, and so he humbly throws himself on the mercy of God and asks for forgiveness. And Jesus said, that man who is willing to humble himself will be exalted. Meanwhile, the one who was busy exalting himself will be humbled.

So, true salvation is recognizing that apart from God's grace, you have no hope to reach heaven on your own. You know the old adage you'll hear sometimes, that God helps those who help themselves? That’s not only not in the Bible, it's actually contrary to the Bible. God helps those who recognize they have no hope to help themselves, and as a result, they seek God's help. That's the gospel.

And so the lesson of the first woe is this: beware false teachers who spread a false gospel of works that will not save you. Not all roads lead to heaven, so be sure you pick the right teacher who understands the true gospel and preaches the gospel of grace - that is, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 

Now moving on to the next woe in verse 15 (we are skipping verse 14, which is the “8” woe that can only be found in the KJV version – the subject matter was covered above in Mark 12:40 though). 

Matt. 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

So this is the second of seven, and Jesus says the Pharisees liked to travel the world to convert just a single person if they could, and converting them to the wrong system and that’s the essence of this condemnation. They weren't converting people to faith in the coming Messiah. They were winning converts to Pharisaic Judaism. They didn't call people to trust in the Word of God. They were calling people to trust in the Mishnah.  They were winning converts to self-righteousness and to their system of religion, not to being disciples of the Messiah.

Adopting Pharisaic Judaism was a little bit like entering a secret society – like you had to knock a certain amount of time to get in the door, and you had to know the secret handshake and all the rest… People felt privileged to be allowed to join the pharisaic movement, but in doing so, they adopted this severe lifestyle. It was a lot of hard work, and performance standards were very high to be considered a Pharisee. Never mind the fact that they were all hypocrites. And it made the followers who would adopt Pharisaic Judaism feel special and qualified and worthy of heaven. Kind of like they had arrived, religiously speaking.

But it's also for that same reason that Pharisaic Judaism didn't appeal to many people. It wasn't easy to recruit people to Pharisaic Judaism, and that's why they had to go out of their way to find new recruits, just as Jesus describes here, traveling far and wide to recruit that next generation of Pharisees who would be willing to put up with all of the difficulty that came with wearing the title.

But as they did, as they recruited this next generation, these new recruits would come in even more zealous for the Mishnah than their forefathers were, so that over time the Pharisaic movement became even more exaggerated, even more zealous and farther from the truth. And that's why Jesus says the newest members would be twice sons of hell, as the ones who recruited them were. 

And this is not unique to Pharisaic Judaism either. It's a characteristic of false religion and false movements, and especially of those that find their way into the church. That is, someone will come at some point championing some minor issue, some special cause within the church – they have this thing that they want to make a point about, and they champion it even more than they do Christ Himself.

And as they do, they will eventually win converts to their cause, to their pet issue, whatever that is. And here's the problem - they are winning converts to their thing, they're winning unbelievers to the belief in their special pet project. They're making them disciples of that cause rather than preaching the gospel and making them disciples of Jesus. And so as a result, you end up with people who come into the church thinking themselves saved because they've agreed with some pitch. But the pitch that they agreed to was not the pitch of “believe and be saved”. They've confused agreeing with that pet cause with agreeing with the Gospel because they don't know the difference. 

And that was Jesus's complaint in the second woe against these men - they had become advocates of a religious system of their own making rather than advocates for God and His Word. So if the first woe was believing in a false gospel, then the second woe is preaching a false gospel to others. 

The first sin was having the wrong content. The second sin was having the wrong objective. The first mistake led the individual themselves and those who followed in the condemnation and the second mistake just amplified the effect. 

So Jesus pronounces woe on the Pharisees for both their sins - that of having the wrong gospel and of converting people to the wrong thing. All of that is dooming souls to eternal punishment. We need to recognize the seriousness of what we are about in the church. We are about our Father's business. We're serving a living God who is in pursuit of souls, and often we will only get one chance to influence somebody in a conversation. We're an ambassador for Christ, so speak of Jesus and Him crucified and nothing else. 

As Paul says, don't become an advocate for secondary issues, and especially not for things that are false or disruptive or destructive or just pointless. We have to make sure we have the gospel right, and that we can explain it succinctly and plainly, and that we don't offer them anything else in place of it. Don't be an advocate for things that distract from the truth. Be there to witness to the truth, in humility and self-sacrifice, because we all know there's a day coming very soon - when this world has gone on, the next one will have come. And when we get to that day, wouldn't it be nice to be surrounded by brothers and sisters who believe the same message we did because we shared it with them in humility?

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