Clean the Inside

Matthew 23

What is the significance of the exclamation, “Woe”? 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Matthew 23:37

What are the sins Jesus diagnoses?   

Woes 1-2: You confuse and distort the pathway for others to enter into God’s Kingdom.

Woes 3-4: You confuse and distort the Scriptures.

Woes 5-6: You confuse and distort the meaning of spiritual maturity. 

Woe 7: You confuse and distort your history to justify yourselves. 

How did they confuse and distort the pathway for others to enter into God's Kingdom?  (Woes 1 and 2) 

--by making converts adopt practices based on their traditions and opinions and not Scripture alone    

Come to me, 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

How did they confuse and distort the Scriptures?  (Woes 3 and 4)   

--by de-emphasizing first or basic principles such as loving God and loving others in preference to their rules and traditions

He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8 

I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. Romans 10:2-3, NLT

How did they confuse and distort the meaning of spiritual maturity?

--by manipulating external appearances to solicit applause from others without making any progress towards true holiness

And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel 13:14

Though the attempt to claim justification (salvation) without a clear commitment to sanctification (growth) outrages our conscience, we usually repress this from conscious awareness, and the resulting anxiety and insecurity create compulsive egocentric drives which aggravate the flesh instead of mortifying it.  

Thus the Protestant disease of cheap grace can produce some of the most selfish and contentious leaders and lay people on earth, more difficult in a state of grace than they would be in a state of nature.  --Richard Lovelace

How did they confuse and distort their history to justify themselves? (Woe 7) 

--by claiming they were morally superior to their forefathers.  

What prescription does Jesus offer?   

Leaders and believers alike face the temptation to project an image of ourselves that disguises the truth. The daily, internal, Spirit-empowered work of pursuing holiness resolves this tension and integrates our private and public selves.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4 

The old taboos put the wild animals of lust and hatred into cages; there they remain, alive and dangerous, a constant threat to their captor.  Paul’s solution is more drastic: the animals are to be killed. The old method of holiness attacked symptoms: the true method goes for the root.  --NT Wright 

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Colossians 3:5,8  

Lust and anger feed on insecurity, attempting to overcome it by dominating other human beings, but always sinking more into fear and pride which causes more anxiety. The Gospel goes to the root of this problem. The freeness of God’s love attacks pride… 

Identify the wild animal that seeks to dominate you.

Consider that sin judged, condemned and crucified with Jesus. 

Cut off the supply lines that feed that false, old self.