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Exposing Frauds
Exposing Frauds
Luke 20:45—21:4
From the conjunction AND that begins our text this morning, we see Jesus tying our current passage together with the previous one. Last week Jesus again pulled back the curtain on Himself—He’s Lord of all. Unlike the Sadducees, Jesus always asks the right questions. His sweeping significance, unpacked by Phil last week, corners all who hear. Jesus is not confused about who He is, and the whole of His life and ministry only confirmed His supremacy as LORD of lords, as well as confirming with startling clarity the reality of human blindness.
Having made His identity clearer, Jesus now wants to warn His followers about the identity of those who appear to be one thing but are yet quite another. Granted, in most cases when Jesus is viewed wrongly then lives that follow in that train are often a train wreck—at least in God’s eyes. But we need to see how these encounters with Jesus and the religious establishment are meant to be understood by His real followers. Certainly, discernment is one angle. We should be able to recognize true faith that issues into an honest life. Yet another important angle is this—just because we have it rightly settled in our minds who Christ truly is doesn’t mean we are immune from being unsettled by deception—either within ourselves or by those that mask about. Until our final resurrection we will always be vulnerable. Can we really number our gullible moments and our own hypocrisies?[1]
As Jesus turns to His disciples, and as He has left the Sadducees and Pharisees “bruised and bleeding” in the wake of His wisdom, He now sounds the alarm regarding hypocrisy, upstaging these highly regarded religious men with no less than a widowed woman[2] in our text this morning. In doing so, he points to a live example to teach what it means to be devotedly true before God’s face.
I. Beware of the scribes
We’ve come across these scribes in Luke before. They are the teachers of the Law who commanded unrivaled authority in first-century Palestine.[3] They were usually men over forty years old who were trained from childhood to be the primary interpreters and preservers of the Law. Many of them were lawyers and often they were chosen as local judges. Scribes were guardians of Jewish tradition and many regarded them as specialized keepers of divine secrets—and he who possesses the secrets owns the power, right? On top of all of these tasks, which afforded them unquestioned respect, they were the curators of Scripture, considered no less than divine work.[4] It’s obvious that these men would have been highly esteemed by the people. Yet, Jesus’ field of vision scans further. As one songwriter put it, He’s the “omnipresent cardiologist.”[5]
Note with me first why Jesus tells his disciples to beware of the scribes. He highlights…
Their Appearance
Verse 46, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes…”
To put it in a more current vernacular, these scribes liked to stay fresh and fly.[6] Of course they did. They were the crème de la crème among the Pharisaical ranks. For finer interpretations of the law, the rest of the Pharisees would consult them, as they interpreted the Law for the whole community in which they were situated.[7] Dapper was their modus operandi as they bandied about each day in public places. If they lived in Memphis, I imagine them being regulars at Oak Hall. These long, flowing robes were markers of wealth and distinction. And this makes sense knowing what we’ve considered about these religious elites from Luke. They loved the praise of man. Commentator Leon Morris captures it well, “While they thus liked to shine before people, they were careless of how they appeared before God.”[8]
There’s no sense in being categorically against dressing nicely. That’s not the point. The point is outward physical appearance can be an indication of an inner reality. In this case the hearts of these scribes measured public successes by whether or not o[...]
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By South Woods Baptist ChurchExposing Frauds
Luke 20:45—21:4
From the conjunction AND that begins our text this morning, we see Jesus tying our current passage together with the previous one. Last week Jesus again pulled back the curtain on Himself—He’s Lord of all. Unlike the Sadducees, Jesus always asks the right questions. His sweeping significance, unpacked by Phil last week, corners all who hear. Jesus is not confused about who He is, and the whole of His life and ministry only confirmed His supremacy as LORD of lords, as well as confirming with startling clarity the reality of human blindness.
Having made His identity clearer, Jesus now wants to warn His followers about the identity of those who appear to be one thing but are yet quite another. Granted, in most cases when Jesus is viewed wrongly then lives that follow in that train are often a train wreck—at least in God’s eyes. But we need to see how these encounters with Jesus and the religious establishment are meant to be understood by His real followers. Certainly, discernment is one angle. We should be able to recognize true faith that issues into an honest life. Yet another important angle is this—just because we have it rightly settled in our minds who Christ truly is doesn’t mean we are immune from being unsettled by deception—either within ourselves or by those that mask about. Until our final resurrection we will always be vulnerable. Can we really number our gullible moments and our own hypocrisies?[1]
As Jesus turns to His disciples, and as He has left the Sadducees and Pharisees “bruised and bleeding” in the wake of His wisdom, He now sounds the alarm regarding hypocrisy, upstaging these highly regarded religious men with no less than a widowed woman[2] in our text this morning. In doing so, he points to a live example to teach what it means to be devotedly true before God’s face.
I. Beware of the scribes
We’ve come across these scribes in Luke before. They are the teachers of the Law who commanded unrivaled authority in first-century Palestine.[3] They were usually men over forty years old who were trained from childhood to be the primary interpreters and preservers of the Law. Many of them were lawyers and often they were chosen as local judges. Scribes were guardians of Jewish tradition and many regarded them as specialized keepers of divine secrets—and he who possesses the secrets owns the power, right? On top of all of these tasks, which afforded them unquestioned respect, they were the curators of Scripture, considered no less than divine work.[4] It’s obvious that these men would have been highly esteemed by the people. Yet, Jesus’ field of vision scans further. As one songwriter put it, He’s the “omnipresent cardiologist.”[5]
Note with me first why Jesus tells his disciples to beware of the scribes. He highlights…
Their Appearance
Verse 46, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes…”
To put it in a more current vernacular, these scribes liked to stay fresh and fly.[6] Of course they did. They were the crème de la crème among the Pharisaical ranks. For finer interpretations of the law, the rest of the Pharisees would consult them, as they interpreted the Law for the whole community in which they were situated.[7] Dapper was their modus operandi as they bandied about each day in public places. If they lived in Memphis, I imagine them being regulars at Oak Hall. These long, flowing robes were markers of wealth and distinction. And this makes sense knowing what we’ve considered about these religious elites from Luke. They loved the praise of man. Commentator Leon Morris captures it well, “While they thus liked to shine before people, they were careless of how they appeared before God.”[8]
There’s no sense in being categorically against dressing nicely. That’s not the point. The point is outward physical appearance can be an indication of an inner reality. In this case the hearts of these scribes measured public successes by whether or not o[...]