Jesus uses strong language in Matthew 23, and by that I mean people hearing it would be shocked, and the labels he uses for others might leave the listeners open-mouthed and wide-eyed. He uses words like hypocrites, blind guides, blind fools, blind men, whitewashed tombs, serpents, brood of vipers. John MacArthur says of this passage that Jesus's words fly from his lips like claps of thunder and spears of lightning out of his mouth. On this occasion, says MacArthur, came the most fearful, dreadful, dreadful statements that Jesus ever uttered on earth. And we see the fullness of chapter 23 that we're only looking at the opening verses this morning. The fullness of the chapter is a great weight. of fearful, dreadful statements. Jesus is speaking without tolerance for false religion. He is neither. It is neither loving, nor is it noble to encourage error and to help facilitate error or to allow people to languish on paths of destruction as they travel such paths in their delusion. Jesus wants to proclaim the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by Him. And many in His day are leading sinners in error and falsehood, they themselves being blind, who are leading the blind. The words of Jesus in Matthew 23 challenge the status quo. He calls attention to the self-seeking, self-exalting behavior of religious people. He calls attention to the self-exalting self-righteous behavior of religious people. He is talking to those in His day who would be giving and memorizing Scripture and assembling together with the confessing people of God. He would be calling attention to those who might be praying beautiful prayers. Jesus is talking to those who seem to be, at least they say they are, following God, following Yahweh. Jesus shows In this passage this morning, that one aspect of true discipleship, which is his emphasis, in contrast to false discipleship, an aspect of true discipleship is humble service to other people. Jesus wants to instruct his listeners about true greatness. True greatness. And not only will he instruct them on this topic, Jesus, unlike them, practices what he preaches. He is the paramount example of greatness. The paramount example of service, and humility, and love, and honor, and virtue, and friendship, and holiness, and joy, and wisdom. Jesus is the paramount example of all of these things. Consider these facts. There is no one, and is no one, greater than Jesus. No one was a more devoted and true servant than Jesus. Never has there been any man who exemplified true, constant, perfect humility like Jesus. Jesus always loved others as they ought to be loved. No one who walked on earth was worthy of greater honor than Jesus was worthy of. No one possessed greater virtue than Jesus. No one was ever a better friend to someone than Jesus was to them. Jesus was holy, inwardly without sin, perfectly representing the Father in his ministry because of his purity and his obedience. No one had a deeper, more lasting joy than Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, Hebrews 12.3. Jesus desired in John 15.11 that His joy would be in His disciples, so that their joy would be full. It's His joy alone that can accomplish the fullness of joy for His people. That's how great the joy of Jesus is. Jesus's wisdom was superior to any of his contemporaries, as well as any who came before him. He said in Matthew 12, 42, that someone greater than even Solomon is here. The wisdom of Jesus was greater than that of any other person. So to reiterate, Jesus is the paramount example of greatness, service, humility, love, honor, virtue, friendship, holiness, joy, and wisdom. paramount example with these incredible characteristics of Jesus in view, then let's consider the importance of Jesus's words on a subject whenever he addresses one. Like in this case, if the world defines something one way and Jesus explains it to be something else entirely, you need to consider the credibility of the two sources. The subject Jesus is going to get to is true greatness. He's gonna contrast the self-pursuing, self-exalting behavior of the religious leaders of his day. And then those of us in the extended audience 2,000 years later to these words, we must consider that if we are confessing to know God like these in Jesus' day were, then his words must be for us. That we be duly warned to be walking in a way that is pursuing true greatness and some humble service to others. lest Jesus's words of woe and judgment fit us like a glove. Now, what does it mean to be great? The world believes that in order to be great, self-exaltation is the means and method for greatness. Self-exaltation. Serve, exalt, focus on yourself. You will almost assuredly become great, says the world. The problem with the way the world thinks is that it never thinks beyond the world. Self-exaltation is short-sighted. What if self-exaltation might lead in this world to temporary applause and adulation, but which also certainly leads to judgment by the world's true Lord? What if the world's understanding of greatness is not only wrong, but dangerous and damnable? What if those who are especially susceptible to the world's view of greatness and the hunger for being praised and applauded are those who claim to know God? This seems to be the audience in Matthew 23. Jesus is at the temple. The pagans who are worshipping other gods aren't interested in going there. You know who's interested in being at the temple and who are the audience of this passage and the religious leaders in the previous episodes? Those who are claiming, I know God. Jesus' words are for those who would make such a claim. And the fear and the dreadful nature of the statements would be that they fall accurately on us like a hand fitting into a glove. In other words, what if those who need to hear the warnings about self-exaltation are those who insist until they're blue in the face that I'm not self-exalting, I'm God-exalting? What if those who insist how God-exalting they are are the ones who need to hear the warnings about being so self-exalting? What if those who need to hear these words are those who really insist that they're all about God, following God's law, doing what's expected. I'm just trying to hold everybody else accountable to obeying God. What if those are the ones that Jesus is addressing here? Lest what be found underneath is a pursuit of things outwardly that's just all about the self and not a true love for God. The power and the horror of Matthew 23 is that it's written to people who are outwardly religious and who are thought by others to be those who know God. The horror of Matthew 23 is that it hits very close to home because here we are outwardly gathered, singing outwardly, doing things outwardly. But Matthew 23 is powerful and horrific because it addresses what may lie within our hearts, what we are susceptible to. Verses 1 through 7 tell us the Pharisees, or the religious leaders, which can be broadened to say, religious people, here's a tendency we might have. Pharisees exalt themselves. In the verses 8 through 12, Disciples humble themselves to contrast Pharisees, exalt themselves. And in verses eight to 12, disciples humble themselves. You've got this contrast between the self exaltation of the Pharisees and the humble status of the disciples in the last part of the verse. In verse one, it tells us, Jesus says to the crowds and to his disciples, what is to come here? The scene continues to take place in the outer court of the Jerusalem temple. Jesus has been here since Matthew 21, when he began in verse 23, it looks like, entering the temple on Tuesday of Passion Week to engage in a series of disputes with the religious leaders. We just finished the fifth and final one last Sunday morning. Jesus is still there in the outer court of the temple and is now going to engage in a lengthy teaching discourse. And it tells us the audience here is the crowds and the disciples. This might mean one of two things. It might mean the religious leaders have been so frustrated by their previous five interactions with Jesus that out of frustration, because they can't trap him, because they can't humiliate him, they just turn around and leave. Maybe they're not there. Matthew has been so careful to note their presence in the previous statements. Here he notes they're suspiciously not mentioned. Only the crowds and the disciples. It's also possible that religious leaders remain in the vicinity, but that the crowds and the disciples need to hear what Jesus says about them. So maybe they're there. Maybe they're hearing this, but Jesus is specifically not trying to address those religious leaders at the moment, but talk about them to the people who might be following the blind. And therefore the blow those blind are leading the spiritually blind. The Pharisees and the religious leaders are going to be critiqued. It seems that the emphasis, however we interpret the audience, is this. The crowds and the disciples are meant to hear what Jesus is saying about the religious leaders of the day who are so respected and so admired and what Jesus is going to say about their heart that underlines the things they do and why they do them. The harsh words against the scribes and Pharisees then are like a warning to the listeners. to repent, to follow Christ, to not follow after the self-exalting example of others, but rather to take up the example of Jesus Christ who is giving himself for sinners as a ransom, a ransom for many. I came not to be served, but to serve Jesus and to give my life. Matthew 23 is a long discourse. It's followed by Matthew 24, And that's followed by Matthew 25. It's the longest section of sustained teaching in the Gospel of Matthew. Other people aren't in dialogue with Jesus in these three chapters. Matthew 23, Matthew 24, and Matthew 25 is Jesus teaching a lot of different subjects. The Sermon on the Mount was long, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. This is the lengthiest section of the Gospel of Jesus' teachings here. It covers a lot of important subjects. And in verse two, what he opens with in verses one to seven, you have the Pharisees who exalt themselves. He mentions Moses's seat. He says in verse two, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses's seat. This probably recalls the posture a teacher would have in Israel. The Jews in the audience would be standing while the teacher was sitting and instructing them. And what the Pharisees and the scribes knew and memorized and taught the people about was the law of Moses. So when Moses receives the law at Mount Sinai, he's going to be one who's mediating this law of God to the people. He functions as a kind of instructor. The people in Jesus's day are looking to the successor of Moses all along down the line, as Moses was followed by person after person after person, especially the priests who would instruct the people about God's law. Well, in verse two, he's saying the scribes and the Pharisees are the ones who are in this position. The people look to them as those who are in Moses's seat, if you will. And I think that's to picture this idea of a room where instruction is happening and the people are standing and the instructor is seated, which makes me think we're doing this all wrong this morning, but I'm not going to make you stand. So in verse two, He follows this up by telling them in verse 3, practice, therefore, and observe what they tell you, but not what they do, for they preach, but don't practice. Now, there could be a danger here in taking this too literally to where there's no exception to what Jesus means here in verse 3. Jesus clearly is concerned in Matthew's gospel up to this point with additional outside the law of Moses teachings that the Pharisees are crafting together, known as their oral law or oral tradition. that they are fencing the law of Moses with. So they're giving additional commands and restrictions for the people to maintain. But if someone is sitting in Moses's seat, I think the emphasis in they are communicating the law of Moses. So not everything the Pharisees would say would be wrong. Not everything they would say would be erroneous. So I take this to mean in verses two and three, that the Pharisees are the successors of the law, mediating it to the people as those who are looked to in a teaching capacity and instructing capacity. And this means that as far as they are communicating the Law, the people are to listen to this. Because in the end, the power of the Word of God lies not in people's ability to obey it, but the fact that it is objectively the Word of God. So even if the Pharisees are communicating the Law of Moses and fail to live up to what... the listeners are not to be those who say, well, they're not practicing it, And so therefore, it either can't be true or therefore I don't have to follow it or obey it. He seems to be saying you need to practice and observe the law. They're sitting in Moses's seat. But he does draw attention to the fact that they don't do what they are saying to the crowds. He says they preach, but don't practice. So it looks like Jesus is endorsing the teaching insofar as it agrees with Moses's law. But where an example of obedience is needed, the Pharisees don't provide that. Now, I want you to think for a moment why that is surprising. The Pharisees have these facts true of them. They give money in alms. They memorize scripture. They assemble for worship. They pray beautiful prayers. They go to the temple. And Jesus says to them, they don't practice what they preach. It would look like, if anybody is practicing what they're preaching, it certainly looks like these religious leaders. I mean, look at all the things that they're doing. So the thing we have to ask is, what is Jesus finding fault with here? If these religious leaders are known for doing these outwardly pious things, what does he mean that they're not practicing what they're preaching? What is it that the law of Moses, what is it that the Old Testament is demanding and requiring for worshipers that these Pharisees would proclaim in teaching the law, but fail themselves to practice? When you think about this as we're going through this, and we'll arrive, I think, at some answers. The Jewish leaders are not practicing what they're preaching. You hear that common phrase, right? He doesn't practice what he preaches. She doesn't practice what she preaches. Or hypocrite, or something like that. Somebody who is saying one thing in the Christian life and then seeming to not live up to it. Well, this is an idea that Jesus is pointing to in Matthew 23, verses 2 and 3. These religious leaders are not an example to look to because in some way they look obedient, but they're not actually obedient. That's the conundrum. If anyone seemed to know God and have a life that should be imitated, wouldn't it be the Pharisees? But Jesus says, no, no, they don't. He says not what they do. Don't you need to observe what they tell you, but not what they do. They preach, but don't practice. Well, we have to unpack this idea. This is alarming. What about their example should not be emulated? What is wrong underneath, given all the outwardly pious things they do? In verse four, he begins to explain. Verses four through seven are Jesus's explanation in these verses of why they're not to be emulated. Why they are not to be imitated as examples of obedience. He says in verse four, they tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. The image of a heavy burden here probably speaks of the traditions of the Pharisees that are added to the law of Moses. Because you see, in addition to sitting in the seat of Moses and talking about the law, the Pharisees are also adding other things that are not based in the law of Moses, but ways of protecting the law of Moses in their view. And so they set up standards that are man-made and traditions that come out of their maybe well-meaning imagination, but things that they themselves feel like they can obey, but it constrains the people. It constrains the people. They become heavy burdens to the point where you can talk about the legalism of the Pharisees. Legalism is not obeying the law. Legalism is using the law and your own obedience to the law as a kind of measuring of your own righteousness and as a standard against which you are measuring others. And Jesus here is not talking about the fact that they shouldn't obey the law. No, something else is happening with the Pharisees in addition to what they're teaching from Moses's law. They're also tying heavy burdens hard to bear on the people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with a finger. In other words, they're not helping people to obey God. They're making it more difficult for people to obey God. They're becoming burdensome in their teachings. One writer says they multiply the number of ways in which a man may offend God, but they failed to help him learn to please God. They're having an unspiritual and uns and unbiblical strictness on others and very lenient on their own failings. And this seems to be most apt and clear in the verses to come, which we'll see in the coming weeks. This is probably to contrast within Matthew, something Jesus said earlier in Matthew 11. When the Pharisees have heavy burdens they're tying on people, did you think of Matthew 11 when Jesus says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest? for take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Jesus isn't minimizing obeying God. Jesus shows by His example and His teachings what the law means, how He is fulfilling it, what He has been sent to reveal, and how He is the deliverer for sinners of which He is the ransom. And Jesus is calling people to Him. People under the Pharisees' teachings are laboring and heavy-laden. And Jesus says, you need to come to Me. You're going after these people and sitting under them. They're in Moses' seat, but they're tying you up with heavy burdens. You need to run the race that's set before you, but your feet have been tied up. They're tying it up with all kinds of extra-biblical laws that they say you've got to keep these in order to be righteous. Jesus says, I'm going to give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me. So he's directing people to himself as if he's their instructor. Now, that's going to come up again in just a moment. He says, I'm gentle and lowly in heart. You'll find rest for your souls. This seems to contrast with the religious leaders. Their heart's not like that. Gentle and lowly. This is Jesus's heart, though. This is the only place in all the Gospels where Jesus describes what his heart is like. And when Jesus, who is the paramount example of joy and wisdom and virtue and purity and all of the things that we went through at the beginning, Jesus says, and here's what my heart is like. I'm gentle and lowly. You come to me. Learn from me. I will give you rest for your souls. Jesus says to them in verse four, and this is Matthew 23, verse four, they tap heavy burdens, hard to bear, lay them on people's shoulders. They themselves are not willing to move them with a finger. They do in verse five their deeds to be seen by others. OK, this is why they don't practice what they preach. Part of practicing what we preach is an awareness of how important the heart is. If someone does all of those things outwardly and thinks that's what the law requires, Jesus has shown already in the Gospel that the law emphasizes, and not just the law of Moses, but all the Old Testament, the state of the heart of the sinner before God. One can't just do things outwardly, Cain and Abel. is the perfect illustration from the beginning of the scriptures and Genesis of how two people can offer something outwardly, and yet the heart is different in one case versus the other. One is pleasing to God and the other is not. God rejects the sacrifice because in Cain's heart, not all was well. These Pharisees, in Matthew 23, 5, do all their deeds to be seen by others. In other words, their heart is wrong. Their heart is wrong. If they're proclaiming the Old Testament with all its intent and teaching the law of Moses, what does Jesus say the law means in Matthew 22? He sums up the law with the greatest commandment. Love the Lord your God. with all your heart, soul, and mind. And then the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus has already addressed in the previous chapter, loving God from the heart. And you know where he quotes that? He quotes it from Deuteronomy. And he quotes it from Leviticus, because when you read the Old Testament, to come away from reading the Old Testament and say, well, God just cares about what's outward, that's to adopt a pharisaical position and neglect the heart. Jesus here is saying these Pharisees are talking about the law. But why is it they don't practice what they preach? They still have these pious external things. But if from the heart they're not loving God and neighbor, then they're not practicing what they preach. Everybody else might be fooled, but God's not fooled. They do all their deeds. Why? To be seen. To be seen. That's the driving motive. It doesn't mean they shouldn't be seen in assembling together or giving or praying or all these things. It's why they're doing it. It's why they're doing it. He gives you six examples in three pairs, from verses five through seven. The first pair is, they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. Second pair, they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues. Third pair, they love greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. In the book of Exodus, it tells us, in Exodus and in Deuteronomy, that they are to have the word of God on their hands and on their foreheads. And there was a practice in Jesus's day that took this quite literally. Now, I would say that we should learn the word of God and memorize the word of God and have it within us. They went so far in Jesus's day as to have a practice of employing what were known as phylacteries, which were small leather boxes. that contained scripture, verses from the Old Testament, especially from the Law of Moses in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. And they would wear these outwardly. They would wear these on their garments. And some of them would even have them fastened in some way on their head. There's also instruction in the book of Numbers, Numbers 15, verses 37 through 39, where the people are instructed to have tassels attached to their garments. So things that hang from the garment that have the word of God written on them in some way. And typically you would have four tassels on some sort of outer robe or garment. This was so very common, but notice the irony here. In verse 5, it says that they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes really long. What they're saying, what Jesus is saying here is these leaders take the boxes and they say, well, if we're going to walk around with with others who have these phylacteries either in some way on their hands or on their foreheads, then we're going to make sure ours are really large so that when people pass us there, they think to themselves, well, you know, the ones on my hand, I mean, they're just, you know, but then I look at this person, you know, this person's got a huge thing on his head or on his arm. They must really love God. It's a humorous picture, isn't it? It's almost silly. It's absurd. But then he says they also make their fringes really long. OK, so here's here's religious leaders that have their tassels so long that you just imagine them dragging the ground. Right. Wow. That person is really, really devoted. Their feet are getting tangled up in their tassels. And look, they just fell over on the ground. That person really loves God. They just tripped on their tassels. They love God so much. They can't even walk well. I mean, it's this crazy picture, though, of how committed the Pharisees were to be seen to be a certain way. So the phylacteries were practiced and the tassels were worn. I mean, Jesus even had tassels on his garment, right? This is a very common practice. The religious leaders, though, wanted to be better and bigger than everyone else. So the size of the phylacteries, the length of the tassels, they walked around and people were like, wow, look how much they love God. There's an irony in Numbers 15 where the tassels are spoken about. We could apply this to the phylactery boxes as well. In Numbers 15, 37, listen to these words and see how absurd it is that the Pharisees are doing what they're doing. Numbers 1537, the Lord says to Moses, speak to the people of Israel, tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And now why? It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them. Not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. That was a purpose to have the tassels. That the exaltation of their heart. What he says in Numbers 15, you're just inclined to whore after. And yet these religious external things have become a means of that very pursuit. It should fill us with a sense of ah! But be careful. Oh, you've got to be so careful. We've got to be so careful. Instead of thinking immediately, perhaps like a Pharisee might, I am sure glad I am not like them. We've got to be so careful. Numbers 15 warns us that God knows how our hearts are. We can just prop ourselves up with religious things. So Jesus says in Matthew 23, verse 6, Second pair, they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues. This is almost self-explanatory, you know, places of honor were at places where you could eat like at banquets. And somebody might walk in and see that seat open. and say, well, there's the place of honor. Obviously, they were saving it for me. And so I'm going to go and I'm going to take my place, right? That's what Jesus is saying. They love the best honorable seats. And same thing in the synagogue. It seems that places nearest the front where they could be seen, this is what they wanted because they wanted to be seen. The third pair, greetings in the marketplace as being called rabbi by others. This doesn't mean you know, saying hi to somebody in the marketplace. You know, marketplace was a greeting place where people would gather together in any town or village. It was a very social setting. And in light of this social setting, the religious leaders really wanted to be around there a lot. They wanted to be around the social setting a lot because they liked what people were saying to them. They liked hearing, they liked hearing the titles that made them feel better than everybody else in the marketplace. They loved that. They liked the greetings, they liked being called rabbi by others. They liked it, not because they weren't truly rabbis, not because they weren't actually those who knew the law, but because they liked how it made them feel as opposed to others who didn't have that title. That's what they liked. And again, it should fill us with a, oh God, help our hearts, right? We don't want these kinds of words to be true for us. We don't want our hearts to be what we incline to pursue and therefore using religious, external, pious things to prep ourselves up to be seen by others. God knows this. God knows this. We are not fooling Him, though we might fool everyone else for a long time. So earlier in Matthew 23, Jesus said the Pharisees don't practice what they preach. And by that, he means they do not have a love of God from their heart, soul, and mind, and loving others, their neighbors, as themselves. They are not doing that. Pharisees don't do what they do because they're loving God. They don't do what they do because they love themselves. Their lives are not about God exaltation. It is about self exaltation, the rules that they follow, their prohibitions and the things that they do fulfill. It's all about them. They sure look devoted, though they sure look devoted. Verses eight to 12 tell us disciples, by contrast, humble themselves. Now Jesus is going to make a statement in verses 8 to 10 where he's listing three titles. He says in verse 8, you're not to be called rabbi for you have one teacher and you're all brothers. In verse 9, second title, let no man call and call no man your father on earth for you have one father who's in heaven. And the third title in verse 10, neither be called instructors for you have one instructor, the Christ. These are three prohibitions, and in each case, Jesus gives a reason for it. He says in verse 8, you're not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher and you are all brothers. In the context here, I think we have to keep what's in view right before us here, lest we overread what he's saying, especially when you get to the second title, father. You say, well, what do I call my father, if not father? He's saying here in verse 8, 9, and 10 that we are all at the foot of the cross equal, sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God, and we do not have some sort of inherent superiority that titles capture. And in verse eight, if that's what the Pharisees wanted to be known as and in the marketplace has thrived under, then he says in verse eight, then you are not to be called rabbi. And I, and I take it to mean here that he is calling them to not love what these Pharisees are loving because they want these things for the sake of their own heart and adulation of the crowds. You are not to be called rabbi for you have one teacher and you are all brothers. It seems that in verse eight, Jesus is implying that he's the teacher. After all, people in the gospel come to him and call him teacher. They even call him rabbi. Even Judas does later in the gospel. In this situation, then, Jesus is saying, you are all brothers, all brothers. Jesus, in a way, levels the ground to where there's no biblical basis for any sort of Christian celebrity culture, where there are these famous Christians in our day who must be inherently somehow better than us. He says, you're all brothers. You're all family. You've got one teacher, ultimately. One instructor, one teacher. Now we know that we must not over-read this because in the other parts of the New Testament, like in the book of Acts and in 1 Timothy and in Hebrews, Jesus and the apostles speak about instructors and teachers in the church of God. And so he's not saying that there aren't people who should be teaching, but he's talking again in the context of why these people are desiring this particular position and title. And in verse 8, he's pointing them ultimately to himself, I think. If a disciple was following a rabbi, it was for one reason, that at the end of that particular apprenticeship, the disciple would become a rabbi. Jesus seems to be envisioning a whole other kind of discipleship here. He says you have one teacher, you're all brothers, and this is the kind of scenario that applies to all of us in this way. We never stop being disciples and end up one day graduating to be the rabbi, if you will. There is a sense that Jesus is the head of the body and we are all disciples always. I mean, it is a very different way of thinking about the disciple-rabbi relationship. If Jesus is the one they're to follow, they're not following for a season. If Jesus is Lord and Savior and Redeemer and their instructor and full and final interpreter of what the law of Moses means, then He needs to be followed, and there's no graduation class, if you will. The gospel is the school in which we are enrolled for our lives. It is the discipleship-teacher relationship. And we are disciples of Christ. In verse 9. We also have to keep in mind the context here so we understand what he's saying and not to over read it. Call no man your father on earth for you have one father who is in heaven. He's appealing to the fact that not only are they brothers together, but they're also children. So whose children are they? Well, they're God's children. Well, but they might also be biological children, right? If their father is alive, what are they supposed to call their father? I don't think Jesus is saying it's wrong to call your dad father or dad in some way. Again, it's about the heart behind these religious pursuits. So in verse 9, what he's wanting to draw attention to is the Father. These titles were ways of drawing attention to themselves. What Jesus is saying is, you have one ultimate teacher, you have a heavenly Father. the answer to human pride and the remedy that we must enact day in and day out is to draw attention to one greater than ourselves always. And that's what Jesus is doing here. He's pointing them to himself and he's pointing them to the father. And again, in verse 10, he's going to be pointing them to himself. So it's almost like the son, the father and the son, a little arrangement here where he frames the father in these three titles. So he says, you call no man your father on earth, for you have one father who is in heaven. He's wanting to remind them of the greater reality here that can easily be eclipsed. In verse 10, neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. Again, it's not as if in the book of Acts or the epistles, there's no call for people to instruct others and engage in instruction themselves and to be instructed. Keep in context here what this sentence must mean in light of what Jesus is teaching. He's not wanting them to grab after titles for power and prestige and the pursuit of self-exaltation that they would do what they're doing to be seen by others. No, nothing like that. He is abolishing rank in the people of God in this sense. In Christ, Paul says, there is no slave or free or Jew or Greek or male and female in that way. The distinctions before God, spiritually speaking, we all fall short of the glory of God. And we do not maintain some sort of inherent superiority. This is what the Pharisees were failing to grasp. This is why they were not practicing what they were preaching. And then we get to verses 11 and 12, which is where the whole passage is heading. The whole passage is heading for this moment where he says in verse 11, the idea of what the greatest among you really is like. Given the behavior and the self-exalting path of the Pharisees and the scribes, he says in verse 11, the greatest among you shall be your servant. And I want you to think a moment about in the ancient world, how low a servant was viewed. They were the lowest in the house. Lower than the children in the home. because the child was still family and an heir of the inheritance. But the slave and the servant in the home would do the most menial of tasks, including the washing of dirty feet, where people would come into the home and they would be ready to dine. And then the slave is going to have to do the most menial task in that sense. Jesus is saying the greatest among you shall be your servant. Jesus is defining greatness here with humility because he goes on to say in verse 12, whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. What is the picture of humility that Jesus has just prepared us to imagine in verse 11 earlier? A servant. So when he goes on to talk about humbling oneself, he has in mind the model and the practice and the example of servanthood, love and compassion. So what Jesus is picturing here. When he wants to think about greatness, Jesus thinks about the greatest by going to the lowest in their culture. This is shocking to them. This is a shocking thing for people to hear. You want to know who's great, Jesus says, let's think of the lowest position that people would not jockey for or say, oh, well, I want to do that. I'm going to line up and get in the front of the line for that. No. This is an astounding statement showing us that the kingdom is a paradox way of viewing the world. It's a way of turning things right side up because the path of self-exaltation might gain temporary applause and promotion in the world, but it is a path of destruction. Self-exaltation is short-sighted. The problem with the way the world thinks is it never thinks outside the world. What if there's a God before whom all the nations will be raised and they will stand before him? He says in verse 12, whoever exalts himself will be humbled. And this probably has in view the last day. the last day. So he's picturing two paths, one that leads to life and one that leads to destruction. The idea of exalting oneself in this life, whoever pursues the life of self-exaltation, what will happen for that person? He says they will be humbled by God on the last day. The Pharisees and the scribes need to be worried. They need to be deeply concerned for their own hearts. They need to be alarmed and awakened because they have pious things they do and they're not giving attention to their heart. And so they can do all those things. And at the same time, Jesus says, you're not practicing what you're preaching because you've got to love the Lord with all your heart and your soul and your mind, your neighbor as yourself. And if it's just all about esteeming and exalting yourself, then you can't be esteeming and exalting God at the same time. Just as you cannot serve both God and money, you can't serve God himself. So this is an end time reversal here. Whoever exalts himself is going to be humble. But what about the one who is living under the fear of God in this life, loving God with all their heart, soul and mind, loving others as themselves? This person is loving others in an example of humble service. They're not marked by how great they are. They see themselves in light of who God is. And they are astounded that God loves them and has shown them mercy. And they want to love others and serve others as well. Whoever humbles himself, what will be the case for them at the end? They will be exalted. They will be lifted and raised up. Jesus's disciples, and this is us by extension, we must place serving others as a high priority in the Christian life. We must arrange our lives with an ambition to give ourselves for the benefit of others. It's not about us. It's not about me. It's in giving service, not in receiving the adulation and the applause of the crowd, that true greatness exists. I heard a friend of mine say at Southern Seminary that discipleship is not just about service projects, it's about becoming a servant people. So it's not just doing things outwardly. There is a heart behind that that must characterize us for those who know God. Servants were not viewed as great. And if all you want to be thought of by others is that others would look at you and think about how great and wonderful you are, then think about what Jesus is saying here in Matthew 23, that in Jesus's day, the image of the servant was one that the society around him would not look at and say, well, that's great. Servants were not viewed as great. They were the lowest in the room. Jesus is turning the world's reasoning on his head. The lowest are the greatest, he's saying. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. There's a shocking scene in John 13, when in verse 3, it tells us that Jesus, knowing the father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God. He rose up from supper with his disciples and he laid aside his outer garments and he took a towel and he tied it around his waist and he poured water into a basin and he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. This is unprecedented. No God in any myth in the ancient world ever had a story like this. And the word that became flesh takes off the outer garments, picks up a slave's towel, takes a slave's posture, does the work of the servant and the slave in the home. And they don't know. Peter says in verse six, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus says, what I'm doing now, you don't understand now, but afterward you'll understand. Peter says, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus said, if I don't wash you, you have no share with me. Peter rethought that. We said the Lord, not my feet, only my hands and my head. And Jesus says the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet is completely clean. You're clean, not every one of you. He knew who was going to betray him, which is why he said, not all of you are clean. And then after he washed their feet, put on his outer garments, resumed his place. He said to them, do you understand what I've done? He says, you call me teacher and Lord, and you're right, for I am. If then your Lord and teacher, if I've washed your feet, You ought also to wash another's feet, for I've given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. For truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master. And if we look at that and say, well, Jesus did that, I would never do that. Then we are saying we are greater than our master. And Jesus says that is not the right view of yourself. You are not as a servant greater than the master. And if the master does that, then we are not too good or important to serve other people. Because Jesus is the greatest servant of all. He tells us, Paul does in closing, he tells us in Philippians chapter two, have this mind among yourselves. This is the mind we've got to have, folks. This is the servant, love, compassion, serving others. This is the mindset, Philippians 2 5, here's the mind to have among yourselves, which is in Christ Jesus, who, though in the form of God, he was did not consider equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing. Taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. Even death on a cross. Earlier in chapter two, Paul says, so if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, then complete my joy by being of the same mind. Having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind, do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves. which is yours in Christ Jesus. And if we're going to love each other as we ought and serve one another as we ought, oh, we need the gospel of Jesus Christ, which tells us of the word that became flesh. And at one point during one supper on the week he was going to die, took a towel and washed the feet of his disciples. And he said, now I've done this as an example for you. Love each other in this way.