Around a year or so ago, in the back of my head, I began keeping a list of—I know it sounds weird—top 10 hypocrisies in history. It’s a long list. I’m not going to go through it because that would be the whole message, and I’m still working on it. Let me give you some contenders.
Probably number one is Judas, as he’s kissing Jesus, this act of intimacy and friendship while he’s betraying him. This is the height of hypocrisy, primarily because Jesus created Judas and showed so much compassion to him.
Another big contender might be Karl Marx. There’s probably no human in history who is responsible indirectly for more deaths than Karl Marx, as the originator of modern forms of socialism and communism. Well over 100 million bodies.
His hypocrisy is evident as he was writing the Communist Manifesto, trying to foment class conflict between the proletariat workers and the bourgeoisie owner (wealthy class), as he is not working and living off his father’s wealth.
Later he banned inheritances and recommended that they immediately be seized so that no one could inherit any money (to get the money out of wealthy families) while he was living on his father’s inheritance. Pure hypocrisy.
Here’s another one, a little closer to home: George Washington. The father of our nation has been called the greatest and most influential American. I would agree with that, remarkable man. But Washington’s relationship with slavery was pure hypocrisy.
How can a man like Jefferson or Washington believe all men are created equal and—while specifically saying we need to cast off slavery (slavery, they use that word) to England—while at the same time enslaving human beings? Andrew Roberts writes in The Last King of America,
“Although in 1776 Washington had roused his soldiers with talk about fighting supposed ‘slavery’ in the political sense, when it came to actual slavery, the King [King George III] had a far better record than the rebel.”
What does he mean by that? He meant by that King George III never owned slaves. He didn’t push for abolition, but he did give his royal assent to the act of Parliament in 1807 that banned the slave trade. Washington’s relationship to slavery was a bit more complicated.
As Peter Lillback explains in his excellent book, Sacred Fire, as a child, Washington was born into a slave-owning family. It was not even debated. Slaves were viewed as mere possessions.
But then, as a young adult, Washington began to mature in his view of slavery. You can see it when he began to forbid any slaves to be divided from their families, and for slave families to have their own homes. He’s progressing.
As he got older, however, Washington became convinced that slavery was morally wrong. He wrote to John Francis Mercer in 1786,
“Slavery is wrong, and we must do something to end it.”
But he didn’t.
Upon his and Martha’s death, Washington had all his slaves freed in his will and bestowed on them large gifts so that they could be supported financially.
As the father of our nation, he kind of embodies the moral maturation of our country in this area. Looking from our perspective, this seems like way too little too late, but from a universal perspective, it’s stunning because—in that day—nobody in the world (except for slaves) viewed it as wrong. Not in Africa, not anywhere. Slavery was practiced African on African way before Europeans came. It was normal everywhere, but was beginning to be viewed as wrong.
The reason I believe Washington is an important example of hypocrisy is that he illustrates for us how difficult it is to break free from our duplicity when our hypocritical patterns are culturally reinforced and personally beneficial to us, even when they harm others. This is a word for all of us, right? We’re no different. Let me say that again.
The reason Washington is an important example of hypocrisy is because his life (in this area) exemplifies how difficult it is to break free from duplicity when our hypocritical patterns are culturally reinforced and personally beneficial, even if they’re harmful to others.
That’s Matthew 23. You’ll see the cultural reinforcement, the benefit for the leaders, and the harm to others.
Matthew 23 is the climax of the temple controversies. This is Jesus’s last public teaching. We’re going to get a big teaching in chapters 24 and 25 known as the Olivet Discourse, but that is primarily to the disciples. You’ll see in verse one here, “Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples.”
This chapter, when I try to break it down, overwhelms me because it seems like Jesus is flooding us with descriptions and analogies and accusations and woes about the danger of hypocrisy. So it’s super hard to break down. Let me oversimplify it, and I’ll show you where we’re going the next four weeks.
1. Hypocrisy can’t carry its own burdens.
Can’t or won’t. That’s where we’re going to be today.
Next week,
2. Hypocrisy can’t see its own blindness.
The following week,
3. Hypocrisy can’t keep its own beauty.
That whitewash that looks so beautiful, it’s going to fade, and it’s coming down in judgment. Then finally, at the very end, we see Jesus’s heart for the hypocrite. That’s today and the next three weeks.
One of the keys to grasping the flow of this section (verses one through 12, the part we’re in today) is to look at the pronouns. You can tell who Jesus is addressing by the pronouns, two big ones: they and you. “They,” referring to the leaders, “you” referring to followers of Jesus (the disciples).
He outlines, first of all, the “they.” 10 times Jesus says “they” or “their” in six verses (verses two through seven). Look at the three characteristics of these leaders:
THEY
1. They assume spiritual authority.
Verse 2:
“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice” (Matthew 23:2-3).
It’s funny to read this when you think of the fact that the leaders are right there, “they.”
They sit on Moses’s seat. What is Moses’s Seat?
It could be a physical seat. Little warning of an upcoming advertisement: In a few weeks (maybe a month, something around there), I’m going to be announcing the next trip to Israel, so be alert. But when we go to Israel, we go to Magdala. Magdala is on the Sea of Galilee. We see where Mary of Magdala (Mary Magdalene) is from, and we visit the remains of a synagogue that dates to Jesus’s time.
Archeologists have uncovered, at that synagogue, a carved stone that features—on the stone—a menorah, ritual water jars, pillars, palm trees, and floral designs. Stones like this have been found at other synagogues. Many scholars believe this is Moses’s seat and that rabbis either sat on this or placed the Hebrew scrolls on this as they taught.
Jesus is saying the scribes and the Pharisees have literally seated themselves in the Moses seat, in this place of authority. Jesus could be referring to a physical seat.
Or it does seem better to me to see the physical Moses seat as a metaphor of a spiritual/legal seat/place. The scribes and the Pharisees have taken upon themselves the seat of authority of Moses. You see it in their writings:
One example in the Mishnah (which is the record of the oral traditions of the Rabbis): The Rabbis claim that when three of them
“have risen up as a court over Israel [they] are like to the court of Moses.”
Because they are physically present with the people, they actually end up (practically speaking) taking on more authority than Moses.
In our day, this tendency to assume spiritual authority is different but common. All you need is an iPhone, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and you can assume spiritual authority over thousands of people. Many of these teachers have no accountability to God’s Word, no accountability to the creeds of the church, or any group of elders, but they take authority over large swaths of people. Jesus is saying, watch out for these kinds of leaders.
2. They lay heavy burdens on their people.
“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” (Matthew 23:4).
These leaders continue to dream up legal requirements that demand more and more of the common person, but they have enough time to figure out loopholes so that they themselves don’t have to obey what they tell others to do. Even in the Mishnah—remember, again, it’s their record —they acknowledge this. They say,
“The laws of the Sabbath, festal offerings, and sacrilege— lo, they are like mountains hanging by a string, for they have little scripture for many laws” (M.Hag 1:8).
And you don’t see that as a problem… Heavy burdens, we’re going to come back to that.
3. They do their deeds to be seen.
They do their deeds to be seen. Verse 5:
“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” (Matthew 23:5-7).
Jesus has warned us of this kind of religious performance done to be seen back in the beginning of Matthew 6. But here he breaks down three categories of “to be seen” and two examples under each one. Let’s look at those.
What they wear:
These are boxes with scripture worn on men’s foreheads and left forearms. The Pharisees interpreted Deuteronomy 6:8 woodenly.
“You shall bind them [God’s words] as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8).
Jesus is warning us of leaders who display God’s Word but don’t love and live it. He’s not knocking the boxes. You want to wear a box on your head? Go for it. What he’s knocking is their desire to compare with one another. That’s why he uses the word broad. Like, “My box is bigger than your box. I’m more spiritual than you. See it?” Broad phylacteries.
Fringes are the tassels that are white with a blue cord sewn in and placed at the four corners of the robe. The purpose is outlined in Numbers 15:37-39. The purpose of these tassels is so that we remember God’s Word and we refuse to follow our own hearts. That’s exactly what he says there: Don’t follow your heart, follow God’s Word.
Jesus’s robe had tassels. Do you remember in Matthew 9:20, the woman with the issue of blood reached out and touched the fringe (the tassel of his robe) and was healed. So again, Jesus is not anti-tassel. He’s anti-measuring-tassels-to-try-to-display-your-righteousness. That’s not the purpose of the tassel.
Doing to be seen, for image and now status (where they rank). He gives two examples.
Verse 6:
“…they love the place of honor at feasts” (Matthew 23:6a).
Jesus is exposing the Pharisees’ love of social status. They were jockeying for that head place at the table.
They were also pursuing the best seats in the synagogues. In ancient societies, you knew who someone was by where they sat, so they were vying for those important seats because that made them feel more important. Hypocrites are all about seating status.
The women in the Women’s Bible study will see this in James 2. Jesus’s half-brother goes after this stratified seating arrangement. Like, “You sit over here, you’re a big giver. You sit over here, you’re a little giver! You’re important, you’re not.” James is essentially saying you’re denying the gospel with this stratified seating arrangement. Hypocrites are always worried about where we fit in, and Jesus is going after that.
Third category. Image, status, and now
Two examples.
They love “greetings in the marketplaces” (Matthew 23:7a).
The normal Jewish greeting is, “Peace be unto you,” “Shalom aleichem.” The rabbis added a few words:
“Peace be unto you, my master and my teacher.”
The word “rabbi” simply means “my teacher, my master.” Here Jesus is giving us example after example, exposing the hypocritical hearts of the leaders. “They.”
YOU
Then he turns to “you,” his disciples. The first “you” is back up in verse 3, but most of the “you”s are down in verses 8-11. In those four verses, you’ll see eight “you”s, or “your.” In contrast to the leaders, Jesus is making this distinction: Yes, human society operates this way, but I am calling “you” to something very different. Here it is. Again, three things:
1. Practice what you preach.
Number one, I’m calling you to practice what you preach. Back up in verse 3:
“…so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice” (Matthew 23:3).
This is surprisingly difficult to interpret because it sounds like Jesus is contradicting himself. Like, “Do what they say, but don’t do what they say.”
It’s led some conservative scholars to believe that Jesus is using irony here, sarcasm. Essentially saying, “Try to do what they say even though they’re not doing what they say,” sarcastically. Could be it.
I lean toward the second, wisdom. The reason is this: If the Pharisees are sitting in Moses’s seat (literally or metaphorically), they are claiming to represent Moses and communicating the teaching of God’s word. So to paraphrase verse three loosely, it would be, “Whatever they tell you that corresponds to what Moses taught (God’s Word), do that, but don’t do what they do.”
What do they do? They preach, and they don’t practice. They treat God’s word like a marketing tool to promote themselves and to burden others. Don’t do that.
2. Don’t seek titles or confer them inappropriately.
Second, “you” don’t seek titles or confer them inappropriately. Verse 8:
“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” (Matthew 23:8-10).
Why should we not seek titles or confer them inappropriately? Because ultimately you have one Father, one instructor, and you’re all brothers and sisters. The way you relate to one another should reflect these realities.
We know Jesus is not categorically rejecting titles. How do we know that? He uses them. He’ll use them later in this chapter. Look down at verse 34. He calls disciples, prophets, wise men, scribes. The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4:11,
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12).
“I thought we’re supposed to be anti-title. I thought Jesus was an anarchist.” No, Jesus is not anti-title when those titles are spirit-given gifts. Jesus is opposing title-hungry leaders and—brace yourself—obsequious followers.
What does that mean? What’s obsequious? Servile—good word—servile, groveling, like overly eager to please or honor. Like Jesus saying, “No, no, don’t do that. You’re rejecting the fact that you’re all brothers and sisters.” We’re all made out of the same stuff, saved by the same grace.
This can be confusing depending on what passage you look at. Because you have passages like 1 Timothy 5:17,
“Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17).
Or Hebrews 13:17a,
“Obey your leaders and submit to them…”
He goes on to say, and be a joy to lead, not an anarchist. But then you come here to Matthew 23, and he’s saying, don’t seek titles. Don’t confer them inappropriately. What do you do with that? I believe it’s two different perspectives.
As a leader, if I am craving honor, respect, status, image, I am rejecting the way of Jesus. I’ve lost my way. That’s one of the reasons, you notice, from the beginning of our church— I remember way back when we rented one of our first buildings, there were big chairs on the stage where the important people were supposed to sit. I would never sit there because it just felt so weird.
From the beginning, as pastors, we don’t— People insist on calling us “pastor.” My name is Peter. His name is Matt, or Ryan. Why is that? It’s a little thing, but brothers and sisters all have different gifts, all vital for the body. None are more vital than another. We each have gifts to contribute.
From the leader’s perspective, we’re not demanding that kind of image-title-status stuff. However, when you flip it around, if I am blessed by someone I am serving under, the Bible would say to honor those who are worthy of honor.
Do you see how it’s two different perspectives? If someone is demanding it, you’ve lost your way. Craving it, seeking it, you’ve lost your way. If I’m not willing to honor someone who has done something honorable, I’ve lost my way.
Quick qualifier: I do believe kids should say “Pastor Matt,” “Pastor Ryan.” I do think there’s something there. “Most Reverend Hubbard.” We’ll put that in the bylaws. No. I shouldn’t have made that joke. I’m going to pay for that.
I do think it’s good for young people to respect their elders, but what Jesus is getting at is he is calling his people to live in a way that reflects the grace that we have been saved by. And the fact that we are all under our Father and his Son, Jesus (our Instructor, Savior), and so we should feel this tension. This leads us to the very climax, the main point:
3. Value servanthood.
You value servanthood. Verse 11:
“The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:11-12).
This is a theme we’ve seen consistently throughout Matthew. In order for us to hear what the Spirit is saying to us here in this context, I think it’s helpful to contrast verse 11 with verse four. Look back at verse 4:
“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” (Matthew 23:4).
You see the contrast? Verse 11, you’re a servant. Verse 4, you are actually adding to people’s burdens, not willing to move them. We can summarize this with “hypocritical leaders weigh people down, servant leaders lift people up.” For that to happen in the hearts of all of us, we have to humble ourselves.
Okay, sorry. I wasn’t planning on saying this. I should not, but I just have to. This week I was eating lunch with Ross, one of our former pastors, and— I don’t know how we got on this, but we were talking about a story that happened over 20-something years ago.
We were hosting a conference in the old auditorium and—close your ears if you’re sensitive to things like vomit—and this kid started throwing up in his chair, and he threw up all the way to the bathroom. It was quite remarkable. I think if there’s an Olympic event in running while vomiting, he’s got it.
I wasn’t right there. People came to us, Ross and I. At the time, I think we were the only pastors. I don’t even know if we had any other staff. They said, “We need the facility people.” And we were like, “We’re right here. I minored in vomit.” We spent about an hour following that kid’s trail, cleaning that up.
What the Spirit was saying is, “When you think you’re too good to clean up vomit, you probably need to resign.” We’re really blessed now to have teams of people, and I thank God for that. Our vomit department is amazing. Amazing. These people, these people. But what Jesus is getting at is a mindset, a mindset.
How do you view yourself? Are you too good to lift a burden off someone, or are you weighing them down? There are a couple reasons why servant leaders tend to lift up, and hypocritical leaders tend to weigh down. Let’s look at the foundation of that. Three things:
The difference between fake and real worship
First of all, servant leaders understand the difference between fake and real worship. Servant leaders understand the difference between fake and real worship. Let’s go all the way back to Isaiah 46:1.
“Bel bows down; Nebo stoops [who’s Bel? God of Babylon. Nebo is Bel’s son]; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts” (Isaiah 46:1).
What is Isaiah saying? False gods are burdens to be borne. They’re not real. You have to carry them. You put them in your backpack, you put them in your suitcase, and you haul them around. The living God who made heaven and earth, he goes on to say, look at verse 3:
“Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:3-4).
Here’s the difference between fake and real worship: Fake worship, you’re carrying your gods. Real worship, you are being carried by God. Saved by God through Christ. Massive difference.
You say, “What does that have to do with hypocrisy?” Are you familiar with the expression “hurt people, hurt people?” Yes, something like that is going on here. Burdened people burden people. Spiritually exhausted people exhaust people. Shame-laden people shame people.
Here it is: If we’re not going to God, casting our burdens on him, the only one who can carry us, we will carry them ourselves, and we will end up passing them on to the people we are supposed to be caring for. We will burden them because we haven’t been unburdened.
Why do servant leaders lift up and hypocritical leaders weigh down?
The difference between a fake gospel and a real gospel
There are a couple of different versions of this: legalism and license.
Legalism is when you’re continually adding things, as we see in here in Matthew 23: burdening people down, thinking that the more list things I can do, I will earn favor, merit before God. That is a burden, because you can never do enough. Legalism.
But another form of this fake gospel is known as license. Today it comes in the version of “you do you,” that God is good with you. He loves you, and he’ll leave you just the way you are forever, which is a burden.
Peter touches on this in 2 Peter 2:19. He’s talking about false teachers who affirm you. He says in verse 19,
“They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” (2 Peter 2:19).
You’re not lifting a burden. You’re leaving someone burdened in sinful bondage. Jesus came to do the opposite. As we saw back in Matthew 28,
“…the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).
He serves us by saying to us, I will take your burden. I will it to the cross. I died for your sin and your shame, your failure, your hypocrisy. I paid for that for you. Be free. Live light.
“Come to me,” he says, “all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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” (Matthew 11:28-30).
One more. Why do servant leaders lift up and hypocritical leaders way down? Because servant leaders understand
The difference between leading out of insecurity or leading out of love.
Chad Van Dixhoorn has pointed out that the New Testament texts on authority consistently communicate that the job of the person in authority is to help ease the burden of those under our care:
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger” (Ephesians 6:4a).
That was so counter-cultural.
“Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way” (1 Peter 3:7a).
Honor them. He goes on to say,
“Masters…stop your threatening” (Ephesians 6:9a).
And later, treat them justly and fairly.
Jonathan Leeman, in his excellent book, Using Authority Well, summarizes the point,
“Easing the burden of those following you will always cost you something.”
A price hypocritical leaders are unwilling to pay. A price love will pay.
One question: How do I use the authority entrusted to me by God to ease the burdens of those around me? Pastors, elders, business leaders, ministry leaders, moms, dads, students, elder brothers, elder sisters… God has entrusted every one of us with some kind of authority, small or big. The Bible isn’t anti-authority; it’s anti-abuse of authority.
Again, what does this have to do with hypocrisy? Here it is: If my mind is all clogged up with worrying about image, status, and titles, I will not have any space to look around and see the people I am called to love in order to help lift their burdens.
When I walk into a room, if I’m dominated by, “What do people think about me? How am I going to fit in? Where do I fit in? What are people going to call me?” Do you see? There’s no space to love. There is no desire. It’s like, “I’m already overwhelmed. Hubbard, you’re loading me down with more burdens.”
No, I’m saying be free! Be free! Dump that junk of the status and the image and the titles and what she thinks of you and what he says about you. Be free in Jesus. Even if you’re in a position that should be respected, the Bible is not calling you to demand respect. It’s calling you to function respectfully. Leave that.
How should we think about that? Think about what Peter said in 1 Peter 5:
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.”
Why? He’ll lift you up at the proper time. He’ll take care of your image. He’ll take care of any status or title. Anything you need to worry about, just give that over to him. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. He’ll lift you up at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, for he cares for you.
You can care less about status, image, and titles because you know he cares more. If you worship a big God who carried your burden on Calvary for you, you can cast your cares on him, because he knows you. You know he cares for you. Let’s pray.
Father, I pray for all of us. Every one of us. Lord, please, may we leave today lighter than we came in because we are right now unloading sin, shame, desires to be well thought of, worries, and anxieties about things we have this week that paralyze us when we think of how we will be received in a new school or at a difficult job. We give it all to you. How people think about us, how many likes we get. We give it all over. We pray that our church family would be light because we stand in awe of a big God who carries us through Christ. We pray in Jesus’s name, amen.
