Encounter Jesus – Luke Week 7

Woes to the Pharisees & Lawyers

Luke 11:37 – 12:3

AUDIO

Lecture Handout

Luke Week 7 – Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers Handout

Lesson Notes

On Sundays, we’ve been preaching through the Beatitudes of Jesus (Listen to “Kingdom Attitudes” Sermon Series). Tonight we have the anti-Beatitudes – rather than blessings, these are curses (the experience of God’s wrath) invoked by Jesus on the Pharisees and experts in the law for failing in their responsibility for the spiritual teaching and guidance of the people.

Setting the Stage (Read Luke 11: 37-41)

  • Invited to dine with a Pharisee – another banquet/Sabbath feast based on the reclining
  • Verse 38 – the Pharisee is “astonished” that Jesus didn’t perform the standard cleansing ritual
    • Only the priests were required to wash hands ceremonially, but Pharisees had extended God’s Law to other situations
  • Verse 39 – Most Pharisees followed Rabbi Shimmai’s thought that it was possible to cleanse the outside of the cup, but not the inside. Rabbi Hillel (and Jesus) disagreed.
    • Jesus calls out the false religiosity of the Pharisees – doing something to appear holy while being totally filthy inside
    • They are driven by greed and wickedness, not real love for God
  • Verse 40 – Since God made both the inside and the outside, both should be clean
  • Verse 41 -Give as alms what’s inside – give your heart to God and everything becomes clean
    • Cleanse from the inside out – get rid of the sin in their hearts that causes all external sin
  • Next will be 6 woes (curses) upon the Pharisees and teachers of Law for focusing people on the externals rather than their internal heart condition

 

3 Woes to the Pharisees (Read Luke 11: 42-44)

  • Verse 42 – Woe #1 – Legalism
    • Tithing on garden herbs not required under Old Testament Law
    • Pharisees extended the Law to include it – hyper-meticulous legalistic requirements
    • Yet neglected the greater things of God – justice and love (Micah 6: 7-8)
    • We make this mistake as well – making our faith about rules and appearances
    • We’re particularly bad about this with our children, who spend more time learning the rules of God than the love, grace, mercy and nature of God and the covenant of grace by which we ALL stand before God
    • Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied
  • Verse 43 – Woe #2 – Focus on status – they love the place of honor
    • A risk to anyone on the platform, why we must always humble ourselves before God and man
    • Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
  • Verse 44 – Woe #3 – They corrupt the people
    • Touching a grace made you ceremonially unclean, unfit for God
    • Pharisees were the primary religious teachers in Israel
    • Jesus says just coming in contact with Pharisees made you unclean because of the way they twisted and corrupted the faith and nature of God
    • Without people realizing it, the Pharisees led them astray through legalism
    • Why pastors/teachers are held to special account by God
    • Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God

Prayer – For the church in holding out the gospel of grace, living in humility, and teaching the true word of God

3 Woes to the Lawyers (Read Luke 11: 45-52)

  • Verse 46 – Woe #1 – Burdening people with rules way beyond the Law
    • Every law had extensive interpretation added by humans
    • A crushing and distressing burden that couldn’t be met
    • They didn’t even try to help the people meet the burdens
    • Are we a church and people that proclaims grace or works?
    • Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy – there is no mercy or grace in these lawyers
  • Verses 47-51 – Woe #2 – Killing the Prophets
    • Verse 47 – they were building “tombs” to memorialize the prophets
    • But their ancestors, hypocritical and self-righteous just like them, were the ones who killed the prophets in the first place
    • Verses 48-49 – in memorializing their fathers’ crimes, they were witnesses, yet Jesus knew they’d do the same thing to Him
    • God would send prophets like John the Baptist and apostles, and the lawyers will persecute and kill them (which we see in Acts and beyond)
    • Verse 50 – In doing so, they bring on themselves the bloodguilt of all the prophets who had been killed
    • Verse 51 – Abel to Zechariah, from 1st book of the Bible (Genesis 4) to the last of the Jewish Bible (2 Chronicles 24: 20-22)
    • Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness’ sake for their is the kingdom of heaven
  • Verse 52 – Woe #3 – Obscuring the Law through add-ons
    • Focus on externals and extra rules distracted people from learning God’s Law
    • Prevents others from finding God and being reconciled to Him
    • Even as they themselves rejected John and Jesus and failed to enter the Kingdom of God
    • Why we must be so extremely careful not to add anything to the gospel of grace – we are saved by grace through faith and NOTHING more
    • Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God – promoting peace with God

Conclusion (Read Luke 11:52 – 12:3)

  • Verses 53-54 – Pharisees and scribes seek to trap Jesus in His words from here on
  • Luke 12: 1- Massive crowds crushing in around Jesus
    • The leaven – the insidious yeast that transforms the dough; the tiny sin that infects everything – is hypocrisy
    • For disciples of Christ, there can be no hypocrisy, all will be revealed by God in the last day
    • Live a life of true integrity – where your private thoughts and actions match your public behavior

PRAYER – Praying for Integrity

 

Next Week: Luke 12: 35-48 (Be Ready!)