Believer Beware - Matthew 23:1-36

I have a question for you: what is legalism, in the Biblical sense? A common answer is “dependence on works rather than faith for salvation.” That’s one way to define it, but that can be misleading because you can believe that salvation is through faith in Christ alone yet still be legalistic. 

How? Well, you can keep the letter of the law while missing the spirit of the law. If you are so bent on keeping a certain command that you forsake the meaning of God’s moral law as a whole, that is legalism. Also, you can put man-made traditions on the same level as God’s law and enforce them on others as if God himself dictated and requires those things. 

That is “legalism.” But again, you can hear those examples and agree and still walk away from here today thinking and living in a legalistic manner. Legalism is like carbon monoxide. It can take your life before you ever detect its presence.

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Often, I stumble on things to read that have uncanny relevance to my sermon for the week. This week it was a book by Sinclair Ferguson called The Whole Christ. In the book, Ferguson deals thoroughly with the meaning and origin of legalism. And get this: he says, “Everyone is a legalist at heart.” Everyone. But how can that be?

Well, let’s start with the lie that Satan presented in the Garden of Eden. God had given to Adam and Eve all things in the garden to enjoy, except for the fruit of one tree, the fruit of which God said would bring death. Satan twisted God’s words and implied that God was keeping that fruit from Adam and Eve because it was the best. God was depriving them, because that’s what He does, according to Satan implies. Satan causes Eve to doubt God’s Word and ultimately his character, and convinces Eve that God is not generous. No, He makes us earn what we get from Him.

And once Satan had set this lie in her mind, Eve could no longer see all the good things God had provided. Ferguson writes, “She could not see the forest for the tree. Now her eyes were on God the lawgiver and judge. In both mind and affections God’s law was now divorced from God’s gracious person.”

Her knowledge of God’s commands were detached from a personal knowledge of God himself. When you view God that way, you enter a system where everything must be earned. That view of God is the root of legalism. Now, Eve’s response was not to keep the law but to reject the law. She and Adam became anti-law. They threw off the restrictions God had put in place, which looks like the opposite of legalism.

But Ferguson notes that the root is the same. Both legalism and rejection of God’s moral law are “a failure to see the generosity of God and His wise and loving plans for our lives.” See God this way drives burdened, joyless obedience of the moral law, which is disobedience of God’s greatest commandment: to love God Himself above all else. To love God Himself is to trust Him, to rejoice in what He has given you, and to be content. But to do that, a person must trust not only God’s wisdom, but also, His goodness and love.

Can you say, from your heart, that at all times you believe the promises of God actively trust that God is for you? Are you always at rest, trusting that He means you no harm? Is there something out there that God must yet give you to prove that he is not against you? Is there something God could take away that would wreck your faith in him?

We must seek to grasp all that God the Father has given to us in his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus must be exalted to the highest place in our hearts, minds, and souls. “Everyone is a legalist at heart.” Fully trusting in God does not come naturally for any of us. Each of us finds ourselves, at some point, distrusting the goodness of God or thinking that we must earn what we get from Him.

Even if you’ve shrugged off the moral law, believing that in Christ how you live does not matter, you’re still a legalist because you’ve separated God’s law from God himself. But here’s good news: what sinful people have separated Jesus Christ joined together again. Jesus fully embraced and kept the Father’s moral commands to perfection while trusting in the goodness of Father’s character and intentions toward his people. But Jesus is still calling out legalists and warning us about legalism. 

But what is his warning? Well, two major warnings here in chapter 23. Beware the legalists, and beware your legalism. How can we identify the legalists? Well for one, we need to look out for those who add to God's requirements. Verse [1] Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, [2] “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, [3] so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 

Jesus respects their office, which is established by God, and if they read from God’s Word, the people should obey. But don’t look at these leaders and do like they do. 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.

They have gone beyond God’s written commands and created additional rules to follow. They put these rules to you as necessary for you to please God, and say that if you do these things well, you can be sure God is pleased with you. In fact, God will bless you. But Jesus says these things are a heavy burden on the people. Elsewhere Jesus says that to follow him is to take on a light burden, not a heavy one.

And because these legalists add to God’s requirements, they usurp God's authority. They put themselves in the place of God in people’s lives. Legalists construct (or inherit and perpetuate) an external code. They learn to keep it well, and they enjoy the self-satisfaction and the praise of others for keeping the code. 

Notice verse [5] They do all their deeds to be seen by others. They want to be seen as spiritual. Now, the anti-law folks, who shrug off God’s moral commands, want to be seen as spiritual also. They point to God’s grace as freedom to do whatever. Jesus is not dealing directly with them here, and yet, it is true that those who bear up under the weight of legalism must find some release, some outlet, some way to let off the pressure. So they become anti-law.

A legalistic must resort to some vice they see as justifiable, even if it is simply the vice of pride.Pride is not easily detected by the person tangled up in it. But others can see it. Notice what the Pharisees were doing, verse 5: For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. “Phylacteries” were small boxes they put on their lefts arms and foreheads containing brief excerpts from God’s law. This was a response to the Exodus 13 command that God’s law should be a sign on the hand and a memorial between the eyes.

God used figurative language, but they created a display to serve as a badge of honor. Jesus is redefining spiritual leadership for his disciples. Notice verse [6] and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues [7] and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. [8] But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. [9] And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. [10] Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. [11] The greatest among you shall be your servant. [12] Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 

These Pharisees and scribes loved the title and the rank and the reputation. But they were supposed to be servants: serving God, His Word, and His people. Instead, they were only serving themselves, adding laws to serve their own self-righteousness. See, keeping God’s laws (or adding laws and keeping those) becomes self-serving when we separate them from the loving and gracious God Himself.

Jesus then turns from his followers to the scribes and Pharisees, and he gets specific. But each of these indictments shows us something about ourselves. Beware your legalism. Notice with each of these that Jesus points out their influence on others. For instance, you could cause others to trust in their own works for salvation. Verse [13] “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. They turn people away from Jesus. 

They encourage self-righteousness. Verse [14] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation. This verse is interesting. Your Bible may have a note pointing out that verse 14 is present in Mark and Luke but not in the oldest Matthew manuscripts. But it fits the theme that these leaders were taking advantage of the people. They betrayed trust and abused their office.

Verse [15] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Legalists lead others to do what they do. They lead people away from the gracious God. Now, these next verses discuss giving their word or oath. 

You could cause others to look for ways around obedience to God. The idea is that you are only bound to your word if you swear in a certain way. Verse [16] “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ [17] You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? [18] And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ [19] You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? [20] So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. [21] And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. [22] And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

The scribes and Pharisees were disconnected in their hearts from the gracious loving God of Israel. When you live legalistically, you have to find some way out sometime. This is why it is commonplace for a person to reason in their minds that their pet sin is justifiable. They may even think, “I keep the rules so well. I deserve this outlet. In fact, when you look at the rules ‘this way’ it’s really not even wrong.” 

Have you seen someone, or have you done this yourself? You find that while you so rigidly keep various rules, you easily give yourself over to some habitual sin. You’ve disconnected God’s law from His person. And you’ll teach others to do the same. 

Also, your legalism could cause others to misunderstand the gravity of their sin.Verse [23] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. “Mint and dill and cumin” were greens and garden herbs.

These leaders were careful to count out exactly one tenth of these things to give as a tithe. That’s fine, but insignificant compared to things like justice and mercy and faithfulness. Jesus says, These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. [24] You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! OT law stated that both gnats and camels were unclean and not to be eaten. They would strain their food to remove little gnats. You would have to be careful not to eat a gnat by accident. It would be difficult. But it’s not so hard to avoid eating a camel. What if a person labored to remove every single gnat from their food,

and then devoured a huge camel with no guilt? Without even blinking! It makes no sense. Neither does it make sense to be intentional to meticulously tithe one tenth of your beans and your grain and so forth while being content to act unjustly, unmercifully, and unfaithfully. Disconnect. The law of God, the person of God.

Also, your legalism could cause (or teach) others to hide their sinfulness. Modeling legalism leads others to focus on externals and conceal what is internal. Verse [25] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. [26] You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

They look spiritual. They look holy. But notice verse [27] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. At that time, the practice was to make a tomb white and easy to see so someone would not accidentally touch it and become ceremonially unclean. As a result, the tombs would look nice. They might even look inviting. Imagine: you’re walking, you see a nice, clean stone.

Might look like a good place to sit down, even spread a cloth and eat your lunch. But within, it contains a dead person. It’s not a clean stone table. But it looks good outwardly. Verse [28] So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 

Now last but not least, Jesus points out that your legalism could cause others to follow a path of doom. Previous generations of religious leaders had persecuted and killed God’s prophets. Later generations built monuments to the prophets, as if to make things right. It looked spiritual; looked righteous. But at the same time, they are persecuting and rejecting Jesus, and will soon put him to death! They are no different from their ancestors.

Isn’t it true that later generations like to engage in moral posturing, looking down their noses at past generations, condemning past behavior, while overlooking their own sin? Look again at verse [29] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, [30] saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ [31] Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. [32] Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 

Their rejection of God’s Son proves that the torch has been passed to these legalists. And with this statement, Jesus describes what they will yet do to his disciples. Verse [33] You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? [34] Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, [35] so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 

“From Abel to Zechariah” implies the completeness of the rejection. Their rejection of God’s prophets is complete, and so the judgment would be just. Verse [36] Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. We know historically that many of them would witness the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D., roughly 40 years later. This would be devastating to Judaism.

But how does this apply to us today? How do we rid our lives of this legalism? Even if you define and are aware of it, it’s like carbon monoxide: hard to detect. How do we keep from separating God’s law and His person. An excerpt from the writings of John Calvin helps us here. He says, 

“Our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ. We should take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is “of him.” If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing (or pouring out). If we see strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity, in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he was made like us in all respects that he might learn to feel our pain. If we seek redemption, it lies in his passion; if acquittal, in his condemnation; if remission of the curse, in his cross; if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; if purification, in his blood; if reconciliation, in his descent into hell; if putting sin to death, in his tomb; if newness of life, in his resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in his kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to him to judge. Let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other.”

Everyone thinks they understand legalism, like they think they understand Christ-centeredness. No Christian would say they are a legalist. No one Christian would willingly reject Christ-centeredness. But look closer at a person’s words and life. Look closer at your own.

Without Jesus constantly front and center in our minds and hearts, we separate God’s person from his law. Beware of looking somewhere other than Jesus Christ. Beware of laboring to know and follow God’s rules without knowing and following God Himself. All the fullness of God dwells bodily in the person of Jesus Christ. Do you know him? Have you put everything else aside to receive him and follow him?

Let’s pray together.