Teaching Text

MATTHEW 23:25-28

This Sunday, Pastor Tim continued our FOLLOW series with Jesus’ confrontation of the Pharisees in Matthew 23. He began with a warning about how easily we can read a passage like this as a guide for confronting everyone else's sin, but the better question is the one Jesus puts before us, “God, where do You want to confront me?” He returned to the story of David and Nathan, when David could recognize injustice clearly when it belonged to someone else but could not see it in himself. Matthew 23 asks us to resist that same instinct.

Jesus uses the word “hypocrite” repeatedly in this passage. Pastor Tim unpacked hypocrisy as the gap between what is presented and what is true, and traced three ways that gap can show up—in the standards we hold for others, in the difference between what we believe and how we live, and in the places where our own definition of right and wrong begins to replace God's. The Pharisees were not careless about their faith. They were serious, disciplined, and deeply religious. Their problem was that their outward devotion had become disconnected from the things Jesus said mattered most—justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

That tension felt particularly relevant to life in New York. Pastor Tim reflected on how much sacrifice the city requires and asked what that sacrifice is producing in us. Sacrifice can move us toward mercy, or it can slowly turn into bitterness and a sense that God and other people owe us something. Jesus' words from Hosea cut through that posture: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Following Jesus is not about becoming more impressive on the outside while neglecting what is happening within.

Pastor Tim then turned toward the freedom on the other side of that confrontation. The opposite of hypocrisy is not perfection, but honesty before God. We can blame others, point to the good things we are doing, or minimize our sin in order to avoid what is actually happening in our hearts. The gospel offers another way—we can step into the light because Jesus does what we cannot do for ourselves. David's response to Nathan was simply, “I have sinned against the Lord,” followed by the prayer of Psalm 51: “Create in me a pure heart, O God.” Jesus' confrontation is ultimately an invitation to take off the mask and come honestly before His mercy.

Sermon Recap

This Sunday, Pastor Tim continued our FOLLOW series with Jesus’ confrontation of the Pharisees in Matthew 23. He began with a warning about how easily we can read a passage like this as a guide for confronting everyone else's sin, but the better question is the one Jesus puts before us, “God, where do You want to confront me?” He returned to the story of David and Nathan, when David could recognize injustice clearly when it belonged to someone else but could not see it in himself. Matthew 23 asks us to resist that same instinct.

Jesus uses the word “hypocrite” repeatedly in this passage. Pastor Tim unpacked hypocrisy as the gap between what is presented and what is true, and traced three ways that gap can show up—in the standards we hold for others, in the difference between what we believe and how we live, and in the places where our own definition of right and wrong begins to replace God's. The Pharisees were not careless about their faith. They were serious, disciplined, and deeply religious. Their problem was that their outward devotion had become disconnected from the things Jesus said mattered most—justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

That tension felt particularly relevant to life in New York. Pastor Tim reflected on how much sacrifice the city requires and asked what that sacrifice is producing in us. Sacrifice can move us toward mercy, or it can slowly turn into bitterness and a sense that God and other people owe us something. Jesus' words from Hosea cut through that posture: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Following Jesus is not about becoming more impressive on the outside while neglecting what is happening within.

Pastor Tim then turned toward the freedom on the other side of that confrontation. The opposite of hypocrisy is not perfection, but honesty before God. We can blame others, point to the good things we are doing, or minimize our sin in order to avoid what is actually happening in our hearts. The gospel offers another way—we can step into the light because Jesus does what we cannot do for ourselves. David's response to Nathan was simply, “I have sinned against the Lord,” followed by the prayer of Psalm 51: “Create in me a pure heart, O God.” Jesus' confrontation is ultimately an invitation to take off the mask and come honestly before His mercy.