SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/6/2023 8:59 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: “False
Leaders Lack Humility”
Bible Reading & Meditation
Reference: Matthew 23:6-7
Message of the verses: “6 "And they love
the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and
respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi.”
It was back on the 22nd of September that
we began looking at “The Character of Spiritual Leaders,” and this covers verses
1-12 of chapter 23 in Matthew’s gospel.
So far we have not seen very good character references for the Jewish
Leaders, mostly the Pharisees.
This
is our fifth reference to these false leaders character lacking humility is the
title for this one. It probably is not
much different today than it was back in Jesus’ day as the false leaders love
the place of honor at banquets. MacArthur
says that “they vied with each other for a place at the host’s table in order
to be in the center of attention.” Here
is the meaning of the word “vied” “to strive for superiority.
I can understand why he chose that word to describe these spiritual
leaders. These false leaders were in
their glory being at the place of honor at banquets.
It
was out of the same motivation that the scribes and Pharisees would prize the
chief seats in the synagogues. So what
are these “chief seats?” They are on the
raised platform in front where the worship leaders would sit. Now it is not so much now at our church were
the raised platform would have a number of seats on it as the Pastor, song
leader, and perhaps others would sit waiting for their time to do what they
were up there to do. Usually the Pastor
would be the last one seated and then he would get up to preach the
sermon. Now at our church this is not
the case as our Pastor sits in the front row of the sanctuary awaiting his time
to get up and begin his message. Now in
the time of Jesus the synagogue officials would allow guest rabbis to come up
and speak as seen in the time when Jesus did this at Nazareth seen in Luke
4:16-21).
MacArthur
writes “Christian pastors are tempted at times to use their positions and the
Christian activities in which they are involved for their own gratification and
glory. Unfortunately, many congregations
encourage ostentation and show by providing elaborate and ornate pulpits and
other platform furnishing and by treating their pastors with unjustified
distinction.”
Now
back to our verses as not only did the scribes and Pharisees loved having seats
of honor but they also loved to have “respectful
greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi.” The scribes
and Pharisees loved to go around in town and have people notice them.
They
also loved the formal and respectful title Rabbi, and this was used in that day
much as “doctor” is used today.
MacArthur writes “In fact, the Latin equivalent of rabbi comes from docere, which means to teach and is the
term from which the English word doctor
is derived. In Jesus’ day, the title Rabbi
carried the exalted ideas of ‘supreme one, excellency, most knowledgeable one,
great one,’ and such. One rabbi insisted
that he be buried in white garments when he died, because he wanted the world
to know how worthy he was to appear before the presence of God.”
10/6/2023
9:27 AM
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