Jesus Versus the Religious Elite - Matthew 21: 23-32

What's Going on, Again?

Let's review the context of where we are in Matthew.  In our last study, we saw Jesus enter Jerusalem in a spectacle demonstration of His identity as Messiah, literally chase the hypocritical religious establishment out of the Temple, and use a fig tree as a way to teach His followers that the religious elite weren't truly in God's favor.  Obviously, all this behavior really angered the Jewish religious leaders, which ultimately led to their decision to murder Him.  Today, we see the confrontation continue...

You see, as we progress to this point in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus is becoming quite blatant in exposing the religious hypocrites for what they really are.  He will humiliate them, tell three parables defaming them, debate with them publicly, and then denounce and curse them.  We will look at the humiliation and first parable today.

But before we dive in, I'd like to remind you of one very important question: How do we apply these passages to our own lives today?  Clearly it's important, since such a large portion of Matthew's Gospel is devoted to it.  My viewpoint is that:

• These passages give us a clear picture of what hypocrites and wolves look like.  We can keep that picture in mind to prevent ourselves, our loved ones, and our church family from being hurt spiritually be such people.
• For some of us, these passages may bring to mind persecutors of sorts - the religious elite in our lives who may oppress, defame, or try to guilt trip us for not living the legalistic lifestyles they do.  We can find comfort in the fact that we are not alone.
• And, we should pay attention to what the religious elite are doing wrong in these passages, so we can be sure not to adopt such behavior ourselves!  We must be on constant guard against legalism and self-righteousness in our own lives.

The Wrong Question

 

23 When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?"

 

24 Jesus said to them, "I will go ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.

 

25 "The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?"  And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him?'

 

26 "But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet."

 

27 And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know."  He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

 

The religious elite didn't really want to know where Jesus got His authority from; they just wanted to trap Him, because He would be in the same predicament - either answer would get Him in trouble.  If He said His authority came from men, His followers would stop following Him, since clearly He couldn't be Messiah or even a true prophet.  But if He said His authority came from God, they would have grounds to execute Him for blasphemy (except for the fact that it was true, of course).

 

Jesus was never afraid or unwilling to answer when people asked Him who He was because they genuinely wanted to know (see John 4 for one wonderful example of this).  But in this case, answering will bring no good.  So, He doesn't just evade the question; He challenges them to answer their own question, just applied to John the Baptist.  The mastery of this tactic is amazing - He isn't hiding His identity, and in fact, His move to hold His authority and superiority over them in this confrontation shoves His identity as Messiah in their faces!

 

We can also learn from this passage that although debate can be useful in some situations (like the Christian philosophers, historians, scientists, etc. who publicly debate atheists and other religions' leaders to bring audience members to Christ, or having a private "debate" with a loved one you're trying to bring to Christ) - but only if it can bring about good.  In situations like the one here (for example, if a cult member is trying to "prove" that you're wrong and you're too unfamiliar with their beliefs to have a chance at persuading them), refusing to engage is not the same as denying the Truth or chickening out - it's the wise thing to do!

 

There Are Two Types of People in the World...

 

28 "But what do you think?  A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in the vineyard.'

 

29 "And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and went.

 

30 "The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, 'I will, sir'; but he did not go.

 

31 "Which of the two did the will of his father?"  They said, "The first."  Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of heaven before you.

 

32 "For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him."

 

Let's break down the symbolic components really quick:

• The man or the father is God the Father.
• The vineyard the world, the "mission field," our callings, the good works prepared before us - however you want to look at it.
• The two sons are two types of people who have interacted with God:
• The first son is a sinner who comes to repentance.
• The second son is a person who seems religious but isn't truly following God.

So, we see that God doesn't care how bad our pasts are - He only cares what we do with the present.  A man who murdered and raped but repents and comes to Christ is a blameless saint in Christ's kingdom, but a legalist who lives cracker-jack-clean and is heavily involved in the local church and charities but never comes to have a personal relationship with God, instead relying on self-righteousness, is not honored by God.

 

The original point for the religious elite themselves was that they were claiming to be something they weren't, so truly had no authority over God's followers.  I love how Jesus tells them this so blatantly in the second person (you), don't you? :-)

 

But for us, I see it as a call to rely on grace, not our own works or self-righteousness, and to keep growing in Him and to finish strong!

 

Is there anything else you saw in these passages that you'd like to add to our discussion?  What about questions - something I didn't make clear or spend enough time on? :-)  Leave a comment below!

 

Learn how to accept Christ's forgiveness here.

Wisdom and Knowledge - Part 6 of Spiritual Gifts

Today’s base verse is 1 Corinthians 12:8, “For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same spirit.”

The words wisdom and knowledge have a wide variety of meanings in our English language, so from a cursory glance, it can be difficult to determine precisely what they mean in the spiritual realm.  Let’s find out. :-)

Wisdom – Basic Definition

The Greek word used here for wisdom is sophia, meaning both skill and wisdom.  This is contrasted against the only other word used for wise/wisdom in the New Testament, phronimos, which means a practical, shrewd, applicable-in-the-world wisdom.  Sophia is sometimes (but not always) used in a spiritual sense:

And coming to His home town He began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers?”  (Matthew 13:54)

(Regarding Christians being put on trial for the gospel’s sake) … for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

(Luke 21:15)

But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of the task.

(Acts 6:3)

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will [different word used for knowledge than is used in the context of spiritual gifts] in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…

(Colossians 1:9)

So, from all of this, we can see that the spiritual gift of wisdom is a different kind of wisdom that comes directly from God and is applicable in spiritual matters…but that’s still not abundantly clear.  Let’s go deeper.

Wisdom – More Specific Definition

God actually provides us a case study in wisdom in the person of King Solomon.  Now, assuming that everything in the Old Testament and New Testament is identical is a dangerous assumption, especially considering that they were written in two different languages and thus inconsistent translation is totally unavoidable…however, in this case, we know that they are the same thing.

“The Queen of the South shall rise up with this generation at the judgment and shall condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom (sophia) of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”

(Matthew 12:42; almost identical in Luke 11:31)

So, Solomon’s wisdom is indeed sophia.  Now consider 1 Kings 4:29, “Now God gave Solomon wisdom (sophia in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament) and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore.”  Therefore, we have pinned down that Solomon’s wisdom is the spiritual gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8.

Now, in order to obtain a definition, what did Solomon ask God for when he asked for wisdom?

7 Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 

8 Your servant is in the midst of Your people which you have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. 
9 So give your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil.  For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 
10 It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice,
12 behold, I have done according to your words.  Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you…”
(1 Kings 3:7-12)

Wisdom, related to the gift of discernment/distinguishing of spirits, means having a supernatural ability to know the right, godly course of action in given situations and communicate this effectively to others.

Knowledge

The Greek word for knowledge in our base verse is gnosis, meaning a knowing or knowledge.  Compare this to the other words used for knowledge in the New Testament:

Sunoida – to share the knowledge of
Oida – to have seen or perceived, hence to know
Epignosis – recognition, knowledge
Do you notice a pattern here?  All the other words translated as knowledge involve in their very definitions learning the knowledge or arriving at it through observation – yet gnosis seems like you just…know.

This is affirmed in 1 Corinthians 13:2, “And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”

In this verse, knowledge is a very supernatural thing, lumped in with others supernatural elements.

I believe that the gift of knowledge can be manifested in two ways:

Firstly, we see that it means simply understanding deep spiritual issues that are confusing to a lot of people (1 Corinthians 13:2, 1 Corinthians 8:7, Colossians 2:2-3)

Secondly, based solely on personal experience, I’ve known believers who know things about people and situations that they simply had no way of knowing – and I believe it falls into this category, as well.  (In Scriptural examples of this, it usually occurs simultaneously with prophecy … as I mentioned before, that’s one of the sort of catch-all gifts that we’ll discuss at a later time).

A Final Thought

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

(Romans 11:33)

Join the Discussion!

Do you or anyone you know have the gift of wisdom or knowledge?  Can you think of more examples of these in Scripture?

James 3:13-18 Living with Wisdom

13 Who among you is wise and understanding?  Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Let’s do a bit of review…

You may remember us discussing wisdom back when we studied James 1:5-11.  You can go back and read the whole post here http://elijahsbunker.blogspot.com/2011/09/james-15-11.html , but I will also summarize what we learned about it here:

* Wisdom is a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12:8, 1 Kings 4:29).

* Wisdom is the ability to discern good and bad, right and wrong in your own life, and to pass this on to others (1 Kings 3:9).

So what is James saying here?

First, remember that James was most likely writing to Jewish converts, so they had a very works-based background. 

The point I see James making in this passage is that the Christians he was writing to thought they were spiritually mature, thought that they knew everything spiritual and were experts in righteous behavior --- but they didn’t live it.  They knew the right thing to do, but they didn’t do it.

James will say shortly thereafter (in 4:17), “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”  Also consider what Paul said in Romans 2:6-8, “[God] WHO WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.  Also remember how Jesus concluded a parable in Luke 12:20, “But God said to him, ‘You fool!  This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’”

It seems to me that if the Christians to whom James was writing were truly wise, they would have realized that testing God by living in unrepentant sin is playing with fire, quite literally.  Rather, they were acting like fools!

How can we apply that to our lives?

The answer is simple: DO THE RIGHT THING.  And, because wisdom includes sharing it with others, ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO THE RIGHT THING.

Obviously, it’s not quite that easy in practice, but the stark simplicity of God’s message to us in the passage remains.

Another Infamous Bible List

As I always like to do whenever I run across a “Bible list,” let’s evaluate what each item in verse seventeen means, individually.

Pure:   Greek hagnos.  Meaning free from defilement, holy, sacred, chaste, free from sin, innocent, pure.  In other words, living out wisdom means staying far, far away from sin – don’t joke about it, don’t condone it, don’t hang around with others when they’re engaging in it.

Peaceable:  Greek eirenikos.  Meaning peaceful, peaceable.  In other words, living out wisdom means not getting worked up about stuff that doesn’t matter from an eternal perspective, and not getting in fights with people.

Gentle:   Greek epieikes.  Meaning seemly, equitable, yielding, gentle.  In other words, living out wisdom means acting in a classy, dignified, appropriate manner – in your life, and in your relationships.

Reasonable:   Greek eupeithes.  Meaning ready to obey, reasonable.  In other words, living out wisdom means always being willing to obey God’s will – after all, He knows everything and has the best planned for us, so it is *reasonable* to trust His guidance.

Full of Mercy:   Greek eleos.  Meaning mercy, pity, compassion.  In other words, living out wisdom means that when others screw up, forgive them rather than judging them.

Full of Good Fruits:   Greek agathos and karpos.  Meaning good, generous, goodness, kind, kindness; meaning benefit, crop, fruit, descendants, fruitful, grain, harvest, proceeds, produce, profit.  In other words, living out wisdom means producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23); it means showing noticeable changes in the way you live – proof that God’s Holy Spirit is working in you.

Unwavering:   Greek adiakritos.  Meaning indistinguishable, without uncertainty, unwavering.  In other words, living out wisdom means that you need to practice what you preach – what you do should be indistinguishable from what you say and what you profess to believe.

Without Hypocrisy:   Greek anupokritos.  Meaning unhypocritical, unfeigned, genuine, sincere.  In other words, living out wisdom means that your good deeds stem from a true passion for God in your heart, you’re not just putting on an act to impress the church crowd.

If you’d like to dig more into this topic, I’d suggest reading the book of Proverbs – pretty much its entire focus is wisdom (both spiritual and practical) versus foolishness. J

Join the Discussion!

Did any item on the list jump out to you particularly?  Are there any personal experiences with wisdom you’d like to share with us?  Any other thoughts on the subject?

James 1:5-11

5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

7 For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,

8 being a double-minded man unstable in all his ways.

9 But let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position;

10 and let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.

11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

The three main ideas presented here – wisdom, asking with full belief, and humbling yourself – are all so closely intertwined that I didn’t see any logical way to separate them.  So, we’ll address all three today.

Wisdom

Firstly, from 1 Corinthians 12:8, we know that wisdom (sophia in Greek) is a spiritual gift.  We also see this in 1 Kings 4:29, where God grants Solomon wisdom (still sophia in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament used widely in Jesus’s day). 

Secondly, from this story about Solomon, we can determine precisely what wisdom in the spiritual sense is.  In 1 Kings 3:9, Solomon prays, “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil.  For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”  So, we see that wisdom is the ability to discern between good and evil in your own life, as well as to share this information with others.  We’ll see why this is so crucial to possess in just a moment as we look into asking in faith…

Asking in Faith

In verses 6-8, we see God plainly say that if you don’t believe He can grant you what you ask for, He won’t give it to you.  Now, I personally don’t think this applies to believers who are struggling to have adequate faith.  Remember in Mark 9:24 when the man cries to Jesus, “I do believe; help my unbelief” and Jesus helps him?  Rather, I believe these verses in James are aimed at people who are comfortable with their lack of faith – the same people who, if their prayer is answered, will chalk it up to coincidence or their own ability rather than thanking God.  So, these verses serve as a warning to watch ourselves against becoming so complacent that we no longer believe in God’s ultimate power.

Additionally, I’d like us to look at verse 6b again: “…for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”  Does this sound familiar?  If it does, it’s likely because we see an identical analogy in Ephesians 4:14: “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.”  If we don’t have ultimate faith in God, we will be more susceptible to believing false teaching and cultish doctrine.  I also believe that this is precisely where wisdom ties back in – if we have the wisdom to determine what is good and what is bad, we will also be able to pick up on unbiblical teaching and avoid it.  We need faith, and the faith to ask for wisdom, in order to be spiritually strong enough to withstand the invasion of false doctrines into our minds.

Humbling Yourself

Verse 8 (“being a double-minded man unstable in all his ways”), part of the previous thought, provides a nice segway into the next verses on humbling yourself.  You see, the rich man in verse 10 needs to humble himself so he is not double-minded – he needs to humble himself so he does not get caught up in his wealth, power, and fame, and forget his faith.  We see the term “double-minded” only thrice in Scripture (twice in James and once in Psalm 119:113), and I see it as speaking of a person who is torn between God and the world.  Remember Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and wealth.”  So, those Christians who have the dual blessing and stumbling block of riches/high social position must purposefully and willingly humble themselves to maintain the faith to ask for wisdom to resist false doctrines.  (See what I mean about the concepts being interrelated? ;-))

I’d like to back up to verse 9 for a moment to briefly address “the brother of humble circumstances glor[ifying] in his high position.”  The Bible often defines things opposite of how the world does, and this is one of those cases.  Remember in the gospels when Jesus repeatedly said that “the last shall be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16, for example)?  Those in humble circumstances are permitted to avoid the major temptation of wealth, and can not get caught up in their high status now, knowing that they will one day have a crown and glory in heaven.  In this sense, it is also a blessing to be poor, because poverty on earth can result in far more spiritual richness.

Wrapping It All Up

Verse 11 states, “For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits.”  I love this verse, because it reminds me so much of Ecclesiastes (my favorite book in the entire Bible)…plus, it ties together everything in verses 5-11! :-)

Regarding wisdom – it tells us to seek a mind focused on eternity, because this temporal world will end.

Regarding asking in faith – it tells us to always trust in God rather than in ourselves, because sooner than we think, we will leave this world where we think we are in control.

Regarding humbling ourselves – it tells us to not acquire a bunch of earthly treasures and seek high status in this world, but rather to focus on spiritual treasures (see Matthew 6:19-21).

Today’s discussion starters:

1- If you have asked God for wisdom, in what ways have you seen Him grant it to you (and if you haven’t, do so right now! :-))?

2- How do you explain both riches and poverty being dual blessings and stumbling blocks?