Citywide Baptist Church
Do you practise what you preach?
Jesus calls us to serve rather than to lecture others
Locations & Times
Citywide Baptist Church (Mornington)
400 Cambridge Rd, Mornington TAS 7018, Australia
Sunday 10:00 AM
As a church we have worked through 4 of the 5 of Jesus' teaching times in Matthew:
- The sermon on the Mount - How do we live?
- Matthew 10 - How we are sent
- Matthew 13 - the shape of the Kingdom of God
- Matthew 18 - how we are to live together
We now finish with Jesus' extended teaching about what it means to be faithful and what to expect when he returns.
Chapter 23 starts with an extended criticism of the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees.
- The sermon on the Mount - How do we live?
- Matthew 10 - How we are sent
- Matthew 13 - the shape of the Kingdom of God
- Matthew 18 - how we are to live together
We now finish with Jesus' extended teaching about what it means to be faithful and what to expect when he returns.
Chapter 23 starts with an extended criticism of the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees.
Scribes (teachers of the law): are people who make copies of legal and religious documents and are lawyers who can explain those documents.
Pharisees: are a Jewish pressure group who want to purify Israel through intensified observance of the Jewish law. There were two distinct schools a stricter (followers of Shammai) and a more lenient one (followers of Hillel)
Sadducees: the aristocracy of Jerusalem, including most of the leading priestly families, with their own traditions and teaching (including only trusting the first 5 books of the Old Testament and denial of resurrection).
Chief Priests: a group who control the temple and supervise all priests
Pharisees: are a Jewish pressure group who want to purify Israel through intensified observance of the Jewish law. There were two distinct schools a stricter (followers of Shammai) and a more lenient one (followers of Hillel)
Sadducees: the aristocracy of Jerusalem, including most of the leading priestly families, with their own traditions and teaching (including only trusting the first 5 books of the Old Testament and denial of resurrection).
Chief Priests: a group who control the temple and supervise all priests
In order to engage with chapter 23 we need to understand the battle that was happening in the previous two chapters
21:1-11 The Triumphal entry
21:12-13 Condemnation of the Temple because people were using it to make money
21:14-17 Children shout Hosanna and the priests and teachers are indignant
21:18-19 The cursing of the fig tree - an acted out parable
21:20-22 A reminder about faith and prayer
21:23-27 Jesus' authority questioned by the chief priests and elders
21:28-32 Jesus tells them that tax collectors and prostitutes will enter heaven before they do
21:33-46 parable of the tenants "the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit" - they will be broken against the cornerstone
22: 1-14 The parable of the wedding banquet: The 'wrong kind of people' will be invited to the banquet because they put on God's clothing and accept his invitation
22:15-22 Jesus evades the trap about taxes
22:23-33 Jesus evades the trap about marriage at the ressurection
22:34-40 The greatest commandment - Love God and love your neighbour
22:41-46 Jesus settles the question of who really knows the bible
21:12-13 Condemnation of the Temple because people were using it to make money
21:14-17 Children shout Hosanna and the priests and teachers are indignant
21:18-19 The cursing of the fig tree - an acted out parable
21:20-22 A reminder about faith and prayer
21:23-27 Jesus' authority questioned by the chief priests and elders
21:28-32 Jesus tells them that tax collectors and prostitutes will enter heaven before they do
21:33-46 parable of the tenants "the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit" - they will be broken against the cornerstone
22: 1-14 The parable of the wedding banquet: The 'wrong kind of people' will be invited to the banquet because they put on God's clothing and accept his invitation
22:15-22 Jesus evades the trap about taxes
22:23-33 Jesus evades the trap about marriage at the ressurection
22:34-40 The greatest commandment - Love God and love your neighbour
22:41-46 Jesus settles the question of who really knows the bible
Jesus now names what has been going on in the last two chapters, and by using the scribes and the Pharisees to describe what we should not be doing, he also shows us what we should.
Jesus defies cancel culture by telling us to listen to people who are speaking the truth... even if they are hypocrites.
For Jesus the truth comes from Moses (scripture) rather than the person who is speaking about the truth.
For Jesus the truth comes from Moses (scripture) rather than the person who is speaking about the truth.
Jesus then encourages us to pay close attention to what people do...
"You always make clear what you mean by what you do"
Dr. David Williams
"We always live up to our beliefs—or down to them, as the case may be. Nothing else is possible. It is the nature of belief."
Dallas Willard
"You always make clear what you mean by what you do"
Dr. David Williams
"We always live up to our beliefs—or down to them, as the case may be. Nothing else is possible. It is the nature of belief."
Dallas Willard
Who have been the people in your life that have practised what they preached?
https://www.menti.com/gg1pg7zoy4There is a real danger in focussing on ideas rather than people
In a world of personal branding and identity politics Jesus warns us that faith needs to be more than an identity.
We are to have one teacher... and his words are to be the basis on which we live our lives.
We are all on the same journey as one big family.
Greatness in the church is to be measured by behaviour, not by social status or words.
Small Group Questions:
1) Are there some things you know are right, tell other people are right, but find hard to do yourself?
2)Talk about people you would say "practise what they preach". What could you learn from them?
3)What parts of Jesus' teaching are you still struggling to put into practise?
4)What are the implications of us being "one big family"?
5) If greatness in the church is marked by service, who would you say are the "great ones" in our church?
1) Are there some things you know are right, tell other people are right, but find hard to do yourself?
2)Talk about people you would say "practise what they preach". What could you learn from them?
3)What parts of Jesus' teaching are you still struggling to put into practise?
4)What are the implications of us being "one big family"?
5) If greatness in the church is marked by service, who would you say are the "great ones" in our church?