Practice What You Preach!

25^th Sunday after Pentecost

By Rev. Steven D. Spencer – Pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church

Matthew 23:1–12

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 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. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Grace, peace and mercy from God our Father and our Lord Jesus the Christ, Amen!

I. Introduction

There’s a story about a young seminarian who had just graduated. He received a call to a metropolitan church where he would serve as the associate pastor. On his first day the senior pastor gave him a list of people to go out to visit. This list was comprised of those members who hadn’t been to church in quite sometime. On the very top of that list was a man named John.  For 10 years John hadn’t attended church. The pastor had tried for 10 years get John to come back, but no luck. John had at one time been a faithful member even serving on several boards. But now he was a scoffer. He was ornery and cantankerous. Getting close to John was like trying to hug a porcupine. But you see the young pastor had no idea of how ill-tempered John was.  It might have even seemed a bit mean of the senor pastor to send the young pastor out to see John without warning him first.

By the end of the week the all the people on the list had been visited. Nothing was ever said about those visits. But it was quite a surprise to the senior pastor that Sunday. Sitting just 2 rows from the pulpit was John, in his old spot. The pastor was so surprised that he nearly forgot the words to his sermon. He couldn’t wait to talk to his young assistant. What did he say to John to get him back into the church?

That would have to wait. After services the senior pastor stood in the center aisle at the back of church greeting while the young pastor greeted at the side aisle. To the pastor’s delight John had exited coming up the middle aisle. The pastor reached out his hand and greeted John, “It is so good to see you John!”   And to the pastor’s surprise John responded, “It’s good to see you too, pastor!” The pastor couldn’t wait any longer he had to know what had been said to John: “John for 10 years I have been trying to get you to come back to church. For 10 years you told me that the church is full of hypocrites. What did the young pastor say to change your mind?” John smiled and said: “My mind hasn’t changed, just my attitude.”  Then what did he say that brought you back to church the pastor asked? Well John replied, I told him the same thing I’ve always told you. I’m not going to church because it is full of hypocrites. But then he asked me a good question, “Do you think God is merciful?” Yes I do!  Do you think God is merciful enough to make room for one more hypocrite? Yes I responded! And that’s why I’m back at church. The senior pastor smiled and said: “So you’ve finally seen the error of your way?” John nodded his head humbly and said, “Yes I was wrong in not allowing another hypocrite to lead this church please forgive me pastor.”

II. Practice what you preach!

What John was saying is: Pastor, practice what you preach!  That’s not a new message. That’s the same message Jesus is giving to the people in our text. For many people today, who are not yet Christians, hypocrisy is a huge obstacle. “The church is full of hypocrites,” our critics say this with a certain measure of truth. They remind us that Jesus spoke out against hatred and vengefulness and small-mindedness and point out that many Christians they know are hateful, vengeful, small-minded people. And that no doubt has a measure of truth. But to have Christianity rise or fall on “moral inconsistency” is not reasonable. As the Lutheran apologist John Warwick Montgomery once stated, “If Albert Einstein were arrested for shoplifting, would that make E=mc2 wrong?”  The ethical inconsistency argument grows out of a misconception–popular even among many Christians–that Christianity is primarily a set of rules, which, if we follow them, will make us good people. If that is true, then hypocrisy becomes a mortal sin. Failing to follow the rules leads to the demise of Christianity.

But our faith is not primarily about following the rules. Don’t get me wrong, Christianity is a strongly ethical faith. This does not mean, however, that Christianity is about a set of rules, in which Christians mechanically conform to a set of instructions. Instead, it is about a set of values which arises from being redeemed.” Being a disciple of Christ means we believe that God became flesh, that He lived among us as Jesus of Nazareth to restore the relationship that had been broken by sin.  That He includes us in God’s work of redeeming the world. And so we live in obedience to Christ’s commands both because we are redeemed and so that we can be a part of that redeeming work. The church is the redeemed and redeeming community. We share the forgiveness of sins which is in Christ alone.

And because you and I are Christians, followers of Jesus, we are called to be a part of that redeemed and redeeming community; we must practice what we preach. We must practice what we preach not simply to avoid our critics’ charge of hypocrisy, but because Jesus calls us to do so

This started out strangely enough. After numberless hours of debating with them, refuting their application of the law, and pointing out how misguided they were, “Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; …’” (Mt. 22:1-3a). It must have caused a lot of head-scratching on the part of those that heard it. Here was Jesus, saying do what they said. I imagine it must have been one of those moments for the Pharisees, “Ah what did He just say? I mean we did it, we’ve finally done it, and we’ve won! He’s agreeing!”  It must have left them feeling pretty smug!

III. Practice What They Preach!

What about those who thought the Pharisees were being unreasonable! What’s wrong with Jesus? We thought he was on our side!

You see when people disagree with something; they want the whole thing thrown out. The people of Jesus day had a problem obeying the Law, the rules of the Pharisees’ and wanted Jesus to overturn it all.  When people get upset with leadership they want to claim it’s the system and throw it all out. But God pointed the pointed to the fact that He is the One who established the office of spiritual leadership. He established it for order and guidance. It is His office!

So Jesus concedes to the scribes and the Pharisees, the two groups largely responsible for the day-to-day governance of the Jewish people, saying they were actually entitled to some R-E-S-P-E-C-T. They have continued in Moses’ office of interpreting the will of God as it was revealed in the law, and by sitting in Moses’ seat, they exercised a teaching authority. To that extent, people were to “do whatever they taught and follow it.” But that’s where Jesus drew the line.

But as far as arrogance and smugness now Jesus deals with matter of the heart: “Do not do as the scribes and the Pharisees do,” Jesus warned, “for they do not practice what they teach” (Matthew. 23:3b). Don’t be the hypocrites that what these people are, Jesus says. By the way, the word hypocrite in the Greek means actor, one who wears a mask and plays a part. All too often, the Pharisaic approach to religion involved people playing the part, not the enjoying the substance of faith. Truly this was a matter of “Do as they say, but not as they do.”

By the way, whether we like it or not, we are no better than the Scribes and Pharisees. We live our lives in a mask, a mask ourselves from each other and from God. Today our world is all about wearing masks. Our culture is about creating, “rather than being”, real! We avoid putting ourselves in risk. I’m not pointing my finger at you. I think about my own answering the phone when someone calls and has a political poll and I hang up. I don’t want to lie but I don’t want to share information with them. Maybe it’s not about wearing a mask but avoiding allowing people seeing who I really am. A mask might be the mask of anonymity. The fact is that I fail to be a perfect Christian!

IV. We Can’t BUT Christ Can!

The Pharisees got one thing right! They give us a perfect example of what we are! We are a bunch of people with rules and regulations that we cannot follow. Each and every one of us has certain rules and requirement than we are not willing to obey. We fail each and every day to live God’s perfect Law, which is sin. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

But that brings us to the final verse in our reading. “The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” You see the Scribes and the Pharisees weren’t willing to humble themselves. They wanted notoriety, they wanted public visibility.  They thought by being visible, by being leaders they would be great. But Jesus message is not one of self promotion. The world loves self promotion! The devil loves self promotion!

Only one was willing to place Himself as a servant to all. Only one was willing to humble himself in the greatest of all ways. God’s own Son humbled Himself to be a man. He allowed Himself to be counted as least amongst all  for your sake. He put you ahead of Himself so that you might be exulted. He considered Himself as least so that you might be saved.

Jesus is the only way to heaven! He alone has paid the price, living a perfect life of obedience, humbling Himself as the perfect sacrifice on the cross. You will find no other way into heaven. For it is by Jesus work alone on the cross that you are saved. For through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus you can know beyond a doubt that all your sins are forgiven in Jesus name, Amen!

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.