Culver Community Church

Pastor Chris Sweeney

Sermon Notes

January 20, 2019

Matthew 23:13 – 39 Woe to You! (Part 2)

{vs. 23-24} These leaders had the bad habit of paying attention to the little things while ignoring the important (majoring on the minors).  They had rules and regulations about everything, effectively expanding the true Law of God; but they still completely missed the point or spirit of that Law!  As we know, the whole of the Law is nothing more than a lesson in how to love (to be righteous or Godly).  It is amazing to me that someone could love the rules, and not the game.  Yet, that is what they were doing – loving the rules, but not the God who gave them or the purpose that those rules were given to accomplish.  Jesus gives an example and a humorous illustration of this, which must have made the crowd laugh (but certainly not the Pharisees!)

The example – God in Deuteronomy 14 commanded that the Jews bring a tenth (a tithe) of all the crops they produced and offer it to the Lord.  The obvious purposes were to teach obedience and dependence on God, oh yeah and to feed the priests!  It takes faith to give God your first and your best, and to know that He will keep you feed to the end of the month, or year!  The principles of tithes and offerings were well established in the Old Testament.  For examples: Abel made that first acceptable offering, Abraham and Jacob tithed even before the Law was given, Moses clearly established the command, King David praised those who willingly gave to the Lord and the prophet Malachi condemns the one who “steals from the Lord”!  In verse 23, Jesus described how the Pharisees were so conscientious is their observance of this requirement - they didn’t just tithe their money crops; they even tithed the herbs that grew in their gardens!  Picture this, instead of counting the bushels from the fields they were counting the seeds or grains plucked from their window box herb garden (If their wives used a little dill or basil in the chicken soup they put aside a tenth for the temple!)

Can’t you just see these hypocrites counting out and bringing in some special container the tiniest tithes (mint leaves, dill seeds etc.) – the container, cloth, bag or whatever they used to hold it would cost more than the tithe!  No doubt, they made a great show about this too!  Now I must be honest with you – if you bring in a couple basil branches or dill seeds, they will go to waste (we have no way to put them into service for the Kingdom) – don’t do it!

This tithing is a tough concept for us today, because one of the two key temperature gages of our hearts is where our money goes (the other is where our time is spent).  There are ministries out there preaching heresy on both sides of the issue – “send me money and God will heal, bless and even wax your car (LOL)” or “Tithing is only for the Old Testament, it has passed away!”  As New Testament believers, we are free to serve God, free to give and I highly recommend that you do give a tithe (simply means tenth or 10%) or even more (Whatever it is that the Lord, your generosity and your gratitude move you to give.)  One of the best places to find God’s principles for this is in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9 (i.e. give generously, regularly or faithfully and in proportion to what God has given to you).  There are built-in blessings for those who give, as long as they do it as God prescribes (willingly, hilariously, etc.)

However, Jesus’ criticism is not in their fastidious tithing but rather in the fact that they spend so much time and effort observing this minute rule while ignoring the major ones.  Bringing in the garden herbs will not cover over the fact that they were cheating the people (injustice), mercilessly piling on burdens (not helping those in need), or serving God from an adulterous (unfaithful heart)!  These were big in-your-face, obvious sins that should not have been ignored, especially so they could look good before men!  The corresponding Be-Attitude is “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”  Here Jesus tells them woe to you who are without justice, mercy and faithfulness!  It brings to mind one of the most powerful summaries of God’s Word found in (Micah 6:6-8).

The Illustration (hyperbole which is almost cartoon-like) - Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Jesus illustrated their folly with a humorous picture of a man so committed to a kosher diet that he would not swallow a gnat (the smallest of unclean animals - Leviticus 11).  These tiny bugs were considered unclean because they are an unclean flying insect and to be eaten the blood would need to be drained out from them – like a deer or ox.  The camel (often used in humor by Jesus) was the largest of the unclean animals, specifically named in Leviticus 11.  More than the funny image of a man trying to swallow a camel itself – this is also a pun because in Aramaic the names for camel and gnat sound very similar.

These men would bring something like cheesecloth with them so they could pour their wine though it, straining out any bugs that fell in (afterwards they would keep their cups covered).  It has been said that they would make a show of this too – displaying anything caught in the cloth for all to see – warning others and encouraging them to ‘do as they do’.  While swallowing (hole) a camel is as ridiculous as pushing a camel through the eye of a needle, this defilement was not as farfetched as it seems - there was a common practice of using camel dung as cooking fuel instead of wood because it was so scarce in that land.  Those who did this (not Pharisees!) were taking the most unclean product of the unclean animal and contaminating what they cooked over it (this was nothing like mesquite smoked Bar-B-Que!)  The take-away being do what is right as closely as you can but not at the expense of the big principles and ideas!

{vs. 25-28} Jesus gives a second illustration of this woe; the corresponding Be-Attitude “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  Woe to these Pharisees who are only considering the outside appearance, not the heart!  Again this is humorous – consider using an immaculately clean china cup that is filthy on the inside where it counts!  Even more, imagine knowing that the cup is dirty and then spending more time cleaning the sparkling outside!  This of course is all about their lives and not their dishware! 

The second illustration is of a whitewashed tomb, brilliantly sparklingly white in appearance but completely defiled on the inside.  It was the practice of the day to whitewash the tombs around Jerusalem before Passover every year so that the vast number of pilgrims would not accidentally defile themselves.  While the white makes them stand out – instead of drawing you to them, they should stand out as something repugnant!  Much like the Taj Mahal, beautiful beyond words on the outside – but really just a place to bury the dead!  The Pharisees similarly looked so good and religious, while inside (where it really counts, where God looks) they were terribly sinful.  God sees the heart, to the pure He rewards them (they see Him) but for the impure – woe to them!

{vs. 29-36} The final two corresponding Be-Attitudes “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” And “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” are combined together.  Here we see that the peacemakers and persecuted are the citizens of Heaven (God’s kids), but the Pharisees are the persecutors and belong to the Devil!

Instead of seeking peace with God and His servants they willfully refused and lashed out at them!  They are exactly like their forefathers (spiritually, not in the DNA sense), those who persecuted – who beat and killed the righteous men of God.  In fact, their hypocrisy is complete in that they testify against those actions, even venerating the victims while doing the exact same thing!  God’s most righteous Servant, the Messiah is standing before them and they hate Him with a burning intensity!  They are plotting His downfall and plan to kill Him (all according to God’s plan, of course!), but that is no excuse, they don’t know God’s plan!  (They will try the same things with the Apostles and early church after the resurrection!)

God has been patient, but the cup of iniquity has been filling up and it will be this generation who begins to reap the consequences.  Certainly, those who committed these vile acts will be held accountable by God for them . . . but it is this generation that will see the beginning of God’s wrath in the terrible destruction of Jerusalem!  Which is why we see the closing for this sermon of woes in Jesus’ lamentation over Jerusalem.

{vs. 37-39} Here we see the theme of woe – of sorrowful warning completed.  God longs to gather, to save but He will not do it against their will.  He will not crush them (who they are, taking away free will) in order to force them to return to Him.  Judgement is coming, but there is a promise of hope for the future - - - Jesus is coming again!  Israel, Jerusalem will see Him when they repent as a people and can say 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'