"They Do Not Practice What They Preach” | Matthew 23:1–12

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Well, good morning, good morning, we talk the whole not through good morning, good morning. To you and you and you. Oh man, it's just made somebody's day. Morning today, Jeff, it is a good morning Wednesday. Well, today's a big singing day because you sang a nice song for us, everybody's favorite song. But we have we have a segment. Yeah, we have a segment. Uh that we've been working really hard because the podcast just keeps getting cooler and cooler. Does it, Jeff? This little show we do and so uh and and now thousands of people did you see you had a thing blow up on you last week? He had like twenty five thousand views on one little short that you did. Yeah, I didn't know that, which. You look at it. So it's big man. You're a big time, big time So since you since you are single handedly making us a big time show, I thought perhaps perhaps with email, I thought perhaps you could help us with the theme song. We need a cooler themes. So I see, we need a cool theme song. And so today let's do you know there aren't any really great theme songs for the modern TV shows, not like there used to be. That everybody knows, But do you know the theme song? Maybe maybe the best theme song ever was to the Jeffersons. Oh of course you. Remember the Jeffersons. Can you do? Can you do a Bible guysed theme song for the Jeffersons? Because I asked chep GPT and and then you have it on your phone now about helping us out? So chat GPT. Yeah, yeah, well I'm not sure how good it's going to be, but I will attempt it. Okay, okay, okay, okay, here we go. So here's what chat Okay, it goes. We're moving on up to the word side, to a Bible fed life at sanctified. Well, we're moving on up with some lashing grace. We finally found our podcast. Please sins don't fly with the big guy, so we don't burn on the grill. Jesus did all of the r Ryan so we can get up that here to arriving Heaven, the big leagues, taking our turn and life. Remember Jephson goes out like that. As long as we living, it's you and me, buddy God takes away. I strive for where we're. Moving on up to the truth side, cracking jokes with the Lord. As our guide. Well, we're moving on up. The Bible guy, oh no, come along for the ride. The Bible guys are bone of five. Then and then it ends and he goes the Bible guys are bone of fire. Yes, that's it, right there, it is. Okay, we're canceling the rest of the thing and we're just going to do this the rest of the show. There it is that right there. All right. Wow, I don't know how good that was, but I attempted. I think we should talk to Dez and see if we can't just get that to be the new rolling is that it's you and I can just walking. That horrible don't fly with the big guy. We can do jazz hands. It'd be great. That's awesome. That's really funny. Okay, Well, thank you so much for all the powers that be that made that happen. Yeah. Well, you know, hey, it's it's my pleasure to amuse you, Jeff. That was In fact, I don't really care about anybody else as long as you last. But I'm good. That was fantastic. Hey, speaking of fantastic. Huh. You know what else is fantastic? Weddings? Weddings. Weddings are cool. Yeah, and apparently we're going to be talking about weddings today on Oh wait. A minute, Oh it's the opposite. I looked at the wrong chapter. Hey, hey, ready for this hate that's like, I don't know where you're going with that. Okay, how about this ready? That was fantastic. You know what is not fantastic? What seven woes? When people don't preach what, they don't live what they preach. Yeah, I just looked at the caption. It says seven woes. Okay, seven woes. So talking about a horrible transition. So so this one is they do not practice what they preach. Yeah. Yeah, which, by the way, is a very famous saying yes Jesus made popular. Yeah, he made a lot of popular saying yes he really did turn the other cheek, go the extra mile? Yeah, well yeah, much more than that. But just what you preach. And there are people who, by. The way, use sayings and they don't know where they came from, have any idea. Yeah, they had no idea when they say go the extra mile. No, I don't think almost anybody I know, unless they grew up in church, they would. Have no idea or ever cracked the Bible. Or ever cracked a Bible. They wouldn't even know that came from Jesus. Yeah. Well, we are in Matthew chapter twenty three today, and the premise of our podcast now is what if Jesus had a podcast? That's right, And so we're taking famous sayings that Jesus said, we're just kind of yeah, unpacking them. What content would he cover? Yeah? And furthermore, what would people ask him about it? And I think one of the things he would have covered was watch out for those Pharisees, because they don't practice what they preach. Probably so so as a matter of fact, funny enough, that's exactly what he says right here in Matthew chapter twenty three, in verse one, it says, then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow their example, for they don't practice what they teach. They crush people with their unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. Everything they do is for show on their arms. They wear extra wide prayer boxes with scripture versus inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. And they love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called rabbi. Don't let anyone call you rabbi, for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. Don't address anyone here on earth as father, for only God in Heaven is your father. And don't let anyone call you teacher, for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Is that it? Yeah, that's right. Well I'm only wrong for twelve Oh why you were talking about all the woes? I want you to go on. You want me to get into all the woes. Yeah, but that's okay, because, like I said, I just didn't realize we were only doing twelve verses. That's why I said seven woes earlier. Okay, so prac you you kind of set it, you kind of set the table for everybody. Well, let's go read the seven woes. Hey, hey, let's let's be honest. My transitions missed on everybody that that transition was not well thought. Well, you were in the wrong passage, yes, and then beyond where we're actually reading. So you might say I did the before and the after, I missed the actual passage. Yes, So yes, I'm here for you, buddy. Thanks buddy. Uh so we have uh Jesus with the Pharisees. And wow, what an unbelievably strong uh rebuke. I guess, yes, right against the religious leaders. And again he wasn't He wasn't rebuking their position necessarily. He was rebuking their spirit, their mindset, their attitude, their what, their false humility, their arrogance, their pride. Right, So it wasn't. Necessarily about the fact that they were the religious leaders. It was the fact that they were not right and just about anything that they thought or how they acted. And so he's really saying, goodness gracious, right, because when you hear that, you could take it at face value, and you could be like, well, wait a minute, we call Chris teacher, right, what do you mean It says, don't call you teacher. You only have one teacher, you know, don't call anybody father. Wait a minute, we have religious people that we call father. Right. It's like, is that a sin? It's like, is it a sin to call me a teacher? It's like, what do you mean, don't call? And what Jesus is doing is he's talking about attitudes. He's not talking about titles, you know, He's talking about the spirit in which you are saying, like, hey, God is the only teacher right now? You and I teach, right, but we teach from the teacher capital t Right. That's the posture that Jesus is talking about. He's not saying it's a sin to call me or you or anybody else a teacher. He's saying, when you posture yourself as the teacher, that's where the sin comes in, right, Because he's saying, they love to be called the rabbi. They sit themselves at the highest place in the banquet table. They put you know, they make themselves the show that they're the spectacle. They're the ones to be admired, not God them. They place themselves as the people to be admired, and Jesus is saying, don't place yourself as the man, and so I quivate. Uh equivalent? What am I start trying to say? I'm trying Is that a word equivalent? No? No, huh, well I equal that to for instance, somebody coming up to me and saying, like, man, that was a life changing message, and me actually thinking. Man, I'm glad I was able to change your life. I'm glad I did that. Yes, thank you. So you're welcome. You're a welcome person. Right as if? As if, as if God isn't the one who. Does all the growing? Right? Right? So what is it? What does the Bible say? All says He says, we plant, we water, God gives them. That's correct. God does the growing. God does all the work. Right we were All we're doing is we're putting the seed in the ground. We're watering and saying, okay, God, make sure that you know. I pray that that grows. I pray it grows into a fruit or you know, a plant or whatever. And God does all the miraculous work and all those things. So I think it's interesting. I'm agreeing with you on this that it's really the intent of the rabbi language or the father language, and what he's pushing back against. It's it's very interesting. At the beginning, he says, you should do what they say, You should follow their teaching, right, do whatever they tell you, just don't follow their example. So they they were teaching God's words, so so they're the teaching of God's words you should do. They're the experts on God's words. You should do what they tell you as long as it aligns with God's words. Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. Remember when he said that, it's kind of the same idea. As long as they're following God's words, do what they say, but don't do what they do because they're hypocrites in the way that they're living. They don't even practice what they preach. So you should do the words of God, just don't model your life after them. And then it's his concern about the fact that they're adding so much to God's words. So the word of God that they were teaching was true, the law of God was clear. And then they would say, but let me tell you what that means. And then they'd go on for forty five minutes or an hour or two hours. As matter of fact, there were rooms full of books that the rabbis wrote about the Book, right, and we do that today. Where how many Christians do I know that have read dozens and dozens and dozens of Christian books but have never read the New Testament? Right? Right? They read about it, they don't read it, or have listened to so many podcasts or like us talking about the Bible rather than actually reading the Bible. And so what happens is people often begin to take the words said from guys like us and make them equal to the words of God. And those aren't the same. And thank goodness that we actually have God's word on the podcast, because there are some podcasts that bring up topics they never read from God's word. That's right, right, And that's why we want to spend time in God's work. God's words matter far more than my opinion about them matter. Well, I think I said this to you before, but I've never said this on the podcast. When I preached, I was I was a young man, and I and my pastor gave me big church. Right, you know what big church is, right? We call it big church back then, because you know, you and I grew up as youths. So I was in big church and I took a Sunday moment with all the grown ups and I got done and I said, how was it? And he said fantastic. He goes, it was great except for one thing. I said what, And he goes, it was more about your words than it was about God's word. I said, what do you mean. I was very offended at first. And he said, it sounds like you had your thoughts that you wanted to say about what you thought, and then you just picked random verses to support your thoughts. You just sprinkled in versus. To support your thoughts, he said, as opposed to taking God's word and teaching from the word. Yeah, and he said, and then and then here's the saying that stood out to me. He said. And he called me brother Chris, because back then, yeah, that's what they called you in that world. But he said, he goes, brother Chris. God promises to bless his words, not yours. And I remember thinking, oh, yeah, that's a pretty pretty important truth to remember, right, God promises to bless his words. That's that's that's that's a blessing that comes with it. Right, his word will not return void. Right, His word is powerful, effective, it is, it is. It is given for training and correction and instruction and training, righteousness, all that stuff. That's the power of his words. All of that comes with a blessing. But God doesn't promise to bless my words. So why would I build upon me? Right, you're supposed to build it. And then ever since then, I've always, you know, tried my best to say, Okay, this is centered around the word of God, even if it's a lot of you know, I've preached. Whole sermons around one verse. Sure, you know, so it's not the content. It is actually like everything's built upon the central truth of what God says. If everything's built upon that, then that's where God's word gets the priority. When when you and I first started working together, you know what, how long ago, almost five years now and half before you came on staff, we had some extensive conversations. Because you came on our team to become the lead teaching pastor. You took over the whole teaching team. All of the preaching, most of the messages go through you. I wrote the series that we just came finished, made new, but I kept sending it to you and I said, cristify it. Right, So you're the lead teaching pastor on a team, so almost everything goes through you. Right now. Kyle who's been on our podcast, Kyle dobam Meyer, he's been on the podcast many times. He's helping write this current message. Well, I would argue and say he is writing it, I'm but I'm cristifying it. Yeah yeah, well yeah, so it flows through you and that's your role on the team. But we had an extensive conversations before you came about the idea of the difference between preaching from God's word and preaching about God's word and the danger. In our context, we're highly attractional, we share the Gospel a lot, we're not shy about being topical. The danger is to preach about God's words rather than preaching from God's words. So that's a constant challenge for us. It's what we're constantly teaching our young preachers to be the is we preach from God's words. Everything should emanate from what God said, not from our opinions about what God said. And that's a difficult balance for preachers, even for people who like the brag about the fact that they're expository preachers, unless they're only reading God's words and they don't say anything else. There's also the danger that they're going to read God's words and then tell you everything they think about it, and they're only really preaching about God's word rather than from God's words. So there's always that danger. So there's a challenge for those of our listeners that have maybe a little bit more tenure in the church world. There's an argument about preaching style. Should it be topical or should it be expository And topical meaning, you know, we talk about marriage, we talk about finances, we talk about raising families, we talk about finding peace, wory angered that's right, and expository meaning we're going to preach from One Corinthians chapter six today, right, and we're gonna start at verse one, we're gonna end at verse twelve. We're gonna just kind of unpack it all. And the idea of expository preaching sometimes is the opinion would be that it is superior. I like both yeah, I like both ways. Sometimes expository is topical as well. Well. So here's my argument with this one. Jesus never ever preached an entire passage. So there's many times he quotes Jonah, he quotes Genesis, he quotes Deuteronomy, he quotes Isaiah. But he doesn't quote whole passages, right, so he uses the part that was necessary in the moment. But what Jesus did do was expose the text. And that's the point. So if I'm preaching about God's word, I'm not exposing the text. I'm just taking I'm using the text as a proof of what I'm trying to say. But if I'm exposing the text, then that is expository. Whether I'm preaching a topical message or what some would view as a verse by verse expository message, expository preach is always about exposing the text. And so here Jesus is saying, man, they love to add so much extra to God's words, and then they want all the credit. Call me father, call me rabbi. Right, And that's what Jesus is saying is their intent is thank you God for your words. Now let me expand on that. I'm going to make a bunch of extra rules. I'm going to do a bunch of extra things, and then I should get all the credit for it. You know, you should be impressed with me. In my brain, in the denomination that I grew up in, there were a lot of people who were full of themselves. And before I moved to Michigan, I would say, had I not met and worked for the church that I worked for and the people that granted, had I not met them, I probably would have been one of those people who thought more highly of myself. It's an amazing thing. Now you're super proud of the fact that I've become so helmbul I'm the most humble. There's nobody more humble than me. Yeah, thank god I went. I win. I win in humility. No, no, no, it is true because you know how sometimes you're like you're like you're like, yeah, I'm humble, and then somebody around you goes, no, you're not. And I'm not even saying humble. I'm saying like anything right, Like like I'm not angry, Yeah you are angry, right, And you're like you're like, no, I'm telling you right now. You know, it's all these things where I'm not legalistic. No, you're way more legalistic than you think you are. No, I'm not. It's like you can't see things in yourself. That's what James tells us, right, we can't see things in ourselves. And so I think I would have been that kind of person that thought I had the right perspective on humility, especially when it came to this exact topic. Like a preachers who think too highly of themselves, they actually believe their own press, right, they go into the lobby and they deliver this great sermon and then let's just say they have like ten people come up, or twenty people or thirty people, and they come up and go, dude, that was one of the best things I've ever heard. There are actual people who preachers, teachers who will actually start to believe their own pressure, and they'll actually believe themselves important. And it's like, yes, of course I'm important in that in the right perspective, right, like God, God has asked me to you know, blah blah blah. Hopefully I have the right perspective. So yeah, I'm important to a degree. But when you start believing your own press and you actually believe that you're more important than you are, there's this arrogance that reeks. And I'm just saying this. When I moved to Michigan and I worked for you know, the lead pastor there and his associates. I am so incredibly grateful that they taught me almost above anything else, that that about humility and about like, hey, you're replaceable, you know, you're keep the right perspective, and so all this, all these warnings of like, you know, not wanting to be you know, exonerated and sitting at the at you know, to be to be the most important person in the room, just like the rabbis acted. I really truly thank God for my mentors in my life who demonstrate humility to such a degree to where now I recognize it in other people when people start to think of themselves important and I just sniff it that quick, you know, and I'm just like, gosh, do you actually think you're that important? Because you're not, and neither am I. Right, God, God gives the increase, like we talked about, right, God's the one. It's it's God. It's all about God. And by the way, when it comes to you know, remember you said preaching about God's word as opposed to preaching God's word. Somebody told me a long long time ago. In fact, I heard at a conference and he said, just ask yourself this question. Whenever you have a truth that you're teaching, whenever you have a point or a sub point or anything else, he goes, ask yourself, is that does that? Is that exactly what the scripture says? Like? Does your point come directly from that passage or that verse? Right? Like is that true? Are you exposing the meaning or. Is it like a close cousin or are you trying to you know, ay, did you find a verse that kind of. Heard an entire message preached on and it came to pass? So it's a nice sentiment, right, it's not here to stay. It came to pass. But that is never the point behind those those unless you're unless you're you're preaching about the Bible, you're not preaching from the Bible. I can imagine that being biblical in a certain way, and I can imagine most sermons about that not. Yeah, yeah, most of it. Right. So then he ends it with this idea, the greatest among you must be a servant. This is how you know he's talking about heart intent. They loved adding way more than what God had to say. And then he goes listen instead of being this prideful guy that is blowing people's minds with how they talk and then expecting them to call you father a rabbi. He said, the greatest among you is going to be a servant. Right, those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted. And so the greatest leaders are those who take a position of servanthood. First, a few years ago, several years ago, I had somebody who had been attending our church for a couple of months, probably six months, finally came and said, Hey, I'm a little confused. You know, you know my past, you know where I came from, and I'm surprised I haven't been invited to be on the board because they were significantly the chairman of the board in another place. And so what do you have to do to be on the board here? And I said, well, what ministry are you in? He said, oh, well, we haven't you know, we've just been kind of resting. We haven't gotten a mystery. I said, what are you leading a small group? Who are you discipling in our church? I said, dude, we have no room for you on the board. If you can't come in and serve, don't you come and demand to have a place of leadership, because the greatest among us are the servants among us. Right, So we find our leaders, we find those that can guide the rest of our congregation from those who are serving the congregation, right, and then all the other biblical qualifications that come along with that. But this is the beginning, is the greatest among us are those who are serving Jesus washing the feet right. Right. So these guys wanted to just preach and then get all the credit, but they weren't serving, and Jesus goes, that makes me sick. They're a bunch of hypocrites, right, yeah. And they they say it, they don't do it, and that that's literally what it says. They're not they're not living what they preach. Right. And it's all about the heart, right, which is why last podcast we talked about Jesus says, this is the work that's required of you. Believe right, got to change your heart. He'll change you from the inside out. That's right. That's great. Well, hey, that's a good place to end, and so hopefully we will see you tomorrow on the Bible. Guys,