Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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It should be a warning to us that the religious leaders of Jesus’s day could be so zealous and yet so completely wrong.
It is striking to note that Jesus spent much of the time between his entry into Jerusalem and his betrayal and death confronting the religious leaders of his day. These leaders were trained, committed, active, and religious in every way, but they had distorted the faith that had been passed down to them and were unable to recognize that Jesus of Nazareth was, in fact, the promised Messiah of their hopes and longings.
Jesus knows he is on the way to his ultimate redemptive destination, Golgotha, and there is little for him to lose. So, with words sharper and more critical than ever before, he picks away at the very heart of the error of the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. In the stinging words of criticism, there is a gracious warning for us.
In the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, we see false religion masquerading as true religion. The humility of true religion has been replaced by religious pride. The grace of true religion has been replaced by legalism. The purity of heart found in true religion has been replaced by hypocrisy. The love of true religion languishes as the victim of all of the above. Jesus will not go to the cross without pointing out that what these religious leaders live and promote is the exact opposite of what he came to teach, to live, and to die for.
It is a loving and always appropriate warning to us that it is possible for you to be fully convinced that you are in the center of what is right and true and honoring to God, when actually you are in the way of it. Hypocrisy still lives. Graceless legalism still lives. Self-righteousness still lives. It is still easier to criticize than to patiently love, and to make demands than to serve. Where do these things still live? It is not enough to say that they still live in our churches. We must also humbly confess that artifacts of all of these things still remain in our hearts. The stinging critique of the religious leaders was not just for them; it has been recorded and preserved for us, so that we would not fall into the same errors.
Here is what is dangerous about false religion: it does a good job of masquerading as the real thing, with its zeal, its commitment to the regular habits of faith (prayer, giving, participation in formal worship, etc.), and its theological knowledge. But there is an even greater danger. False religion does not need a Savior. False religion is rooted in human righteousness. Rather than being broken, needy, poor in spirit, crying out for divine rescue, it comforts itself in evidence of its own righteousness. Think of the parable Jesus told of the prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18. The Pharisee essentially told God he didn’t need him, and he gave his good works as evidence of his independent righteousness, while the tax collector, overwhelmed with his sin, cried out for God’s mercy.
True religion accepts the worst news ever, and because it does, it runs to the best news ever. True religion doesn’t begin with a righteous résumé. It begins with the devastating acknowledgment of sin. True religion mourns corruption within, which cannot be defeated without divine intervention. True religion never has human righteousness at the center. No, it has the amazing grace of a self-sacrificing Savior at the center. Its hope is never in what we have done for God, but in what he has so lovingly done and continues to do for us. True religion never produces self-assured religious pride. It never produces independent self-confidence. It never causes you to look down on those less righteous than you. It does not produce soul-crushing legalism. In the soil of true religion, these grow: humility, love, gratitude, grace, peace, and dependency on God.
One of the central ironies of human history is that the religious leaders of Jesus’s day conspired to destroy the one who was their only hope in life and death. The One the Scriptures spoke of again and again (which they knew so well) was now in their presence, and they despised him and what he taught. While they wore their mask of righteousness, they sought to destroy the one who came to be our righteousness, wisdom, and redemption. On his journey to the cross, Jesus stops to expose a form of "godliness” that needs no cross.
Today, it is tempting for all of us to tell ourselves we are okay when we’re not okay. It is tempting for us to work to make ourselves feel good about what God says is not good at all. It is tempting for us to be unlovingly critical of those we perceive to be less righteous than we are. It is tempting to think we are spiritually mature because we are theologically knowledgeable. It is tempting to tolerate in ourselves actions and attitudes that we would condemn in others. It is tempting to see God as a means to an end, rather than the end that all of our hearts really long for. It is tempting to reduce our Christianity down to formal, public religious habits, a faith that lives most vibrantly for two hours on Sunday morning. On the way to the cross, Jesus exposes us to his condemnation of the religion of the Pharisees because there are still seeds of Phariseeism in all our hearts.
In this season of reflection, sacrifice, and gratitude, I want to give you an assignment. Take time to sit down with your Bible and carefully read Matthew 23. As you read how Jesus confronts the Pharisees, read with an open, humble, and prayerful heart. Allow those words of confrontation to expose and correct you, and as they do, may you grow ever more dependent upon and thankful for your Savior, who was willing to die to rescue you from the one thing you could never escape on your own: you.
GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions
1. Contrast true religion and false religion. How can you spot them in your church? In yourself?
2. How have you seen or experienced this truth: “It is possible for you to be fully convinced that you are in the center of what is right and true and honoring to God, when actually you are in the way of it”?
3. What practical things can you do to recognize and repent of false religion and embrace truth in your heart?
Read Matthew 23, and ask the Lord to convict you where conviction is needed.
Matthew 23 New Living Translation
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’
8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
13 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.
15 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!
16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.
23 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!
25 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First, wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.
27 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly, you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30 Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’
31 “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. 33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?
34 “Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. 35 As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah, son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation.
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 38 And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
It is striking to note that Jesus spent much of the time between his entry into Jerusalem and his betrayal and death confronting the religious leaders of his day. These leaders were trained, committed, active, and religious in every way, but they had distorted the faith that had been passed down to them and were unable to recognize that Jesus of Nazareth was, in fact, the promised Messiah of their hopes and longings.
Jesus knows he is on the way to his ultimate redemptive destination, Golgotha, and there is little for him to lose. So, with words sharper and more critical than ever before, he picks away at the very heart of the error of the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. In the stinging words of criticism, there is a gracious warning for us.
In the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, we see false religion masquerading as true religion. The humility of true religion has been replaced by religious pride. The grace of true religion has been replaced by legalism. The purity of heart found in true religion has been replaced by hypocrisy. The love of true religion languishes as the victim of all of the above. Jesus will not go to the cross without pointing out that what these religious leaders live and promote is the exact opposite of what he came to teach, to live, and to die for.
It is a loving and always appropriate warning to us that it is possible for you to be fully convinced that you are in the center of what is right and true and honoring to God, when actually you are in the way of it. Hypocrisy still lives. Graceless legalism still lives. Self-righteousness still lives. It is still easier to criticize than to patiently love, and to make demands than to serve. Where do these things still live? It is not enough to say that they still live in our churches. We must also humbly confess that artifacts of all of these things still remain in our hearts. The stinging critique of the religious leaders was not just for them; it has been recorded and preserved for us, so that we would not fall into the same errors.
Here is what is dangerous about false religion: it does a good job of masquerading as the real thing, with its zeal, its commitment to the regular habits of faith (prayer, giving, participation in formal worship, etc.), and its theological knowledge. But there is an even greater danger. False religion does not need a Savior. False religion is rooted in human righteousness. Rather than being broken, needy, poor in spirit, crying out for divine rescue, it comforts itself in evidence of its own righteousness. Think of the parable Jesus told of the prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18. The Pharisee essentially told God he didn’t need him, and he gave his good works as evidence of his independent righteousness, while the tax collector, overwhelmed with his sin, cried out for God’s mercy.
True religion accepts the worst news ever, and because it does, it runs to the best news ever. True religion doesn’t begin with a righteous résumé. It begins with the devastating acknowledgment of sin. True religion mourns corruption within, which cannot be defeated without divine intervention. True religion never has human righteousness at the center. No, it has the amazing grace of a self-sacrificing Savior at the center. Its hope is never in what we have done for God, but in what he has so lovingly done and continues to do for us. True religion never produces self-assured religious pride. It never produces independent self-confidence. It never causes you to look down on those less righteous than you. It does not produce soul-crushing legalism. In the soil of true religion, these grow: humility, love, gratitude, grace, peace, and dependency on God.
One of the central ironies of human history is that the religious leaders of Jesus’s day conspired to destroy the one who was their only hope in life and death. The One the Scriptures spoke of again and again (which they knew so well) was now in their presence, and they despised him and what he taught. While they wore their mask of righteousness, they sought to destroy the one who came to be our righteousness, wisdom, and redemption. On his journey to the cross, Jesus stops to expose a form of "godliness” that needs no cross.
Today, it is tempting for all of us to tell ourselves we are okay when we’re not okay. It is tempting for us to work to make ourselves feel good about what God says is not good at all. It is tempting for us to be unlovingly critical of those we perceive to be less righteous than we are. It is tempting to think we are spiritually mature because we are theologically knowledgeable. It is tempting to tolerate in ourselves actions and attitudes that we would condemn in others. It is tempting to see God as a means to an end, rather than the end that all of our hearts really long for. It is tempting to reduce our Christianity down to formal, public religious habits, a faith that lives most vibrantly for two hours on Sunday morning. On the way to the cross, Jesus exposes us to his condemnation of the religion of the Pharisees because there are still seeds of Phariseeism in all our hearts.
In this season of reflection, sacrifice, and gratitude, I want to give you an assignment. Take time to sit down with your Bible and carefully read Matthew 23. As you read how Jesus confronts the Pharisees, read with an open, humble, and prayerful heart. Allow those words of confrontation to expose and correct you, and as they do, may you grow ever more dependent upon and thankful for your Savior, who was willing to die to rescue you from the one thing you could never escape on your own: you.
GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions
1. Contrast true religion and false religion. How can you spot them in your church? In yourself?
2. How have you seen or experienced this truth: “It is possible for you to be fully convinced that you are in the center of what is right and true and honoring to God, when actually you are in the way of it”?
3. What practical things can you do to recognize and repent of false religion and embrace truth in your heart?
Read Matthew 23, and ask the Lord to convict you where conviction is needed.
Matthew 23 New Living Translation
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’
8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
13 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.
15 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!
16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.
23 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!
25 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First, wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.
27 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly, you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30 Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’
31 “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. 33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?
34 “Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. 35 As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah, son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation.
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 38 And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
