Sunday
Morning Bible Study
February
12, 2017
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Regular: 2900
words Communion: 2500 words Video=75wpm
I’d like to invite you to our upcoming Israel Trip, November 7-18. The cost is $3398 per person.
We need to have your initial $500 deposit in by May 1.
You will see places like Mount Carmel, Caesarea Philippi, Capernaum, Bethsaida,
Beit Shean, the Dead Sea, Masada, Qumran, Bethlehem, and four days in
Jerusalem.
There is also an optional 2-day extension trip to Petra for an additional
$1,000 per person.
You can sign up online.
This Thursday night is movie night.
We’ll be showing the movie “Origin”, how life began on earth.
If you think the origin of life can be explained through evolution, you
will be challenged.
Bring your brain for this one.
Luke was a doctor and a travelling
companion of the apostle Paul.
He wrote this book while Paul was
in prison.
In writing this book about Jesus,
Luke made use of other older documents like the Gospel of Mark, as well as
extensive eyewitness accounts.
Jesus’ ministry is well under way,
and the people have been amazed not just at the things He’s been teaching, but
the things He’s been doing.
We are now on the homestretch of Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus is now in Jerusalem, on His way to be crucified.
Luke has reminded us of what Jesus’ main purpose was in life:
(Luke 19:10 NKJV) for the Son
of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
We saw Jesus arrive in Jerusalem on a Sunday, to the shouts of an adoring
crowd, crying “Hosanna”.
The next morning, on Monday, Jesus came into the Temple and cleared out
those who were ripping the people off .
He then began to teach in the Temple, as He would every day until He would
be arrested.
We’ve been seeing how His teaching has been interrupted by spies from the
religious leaders who are trying to trip Him up so He can be arrested.
The political group, the Herodians, challenged Jesus on taxes.
The Sadducees challenged Jesus on the idea of life after death, on the
possibility of “resurrection”, on the notion of heaven itself.
Jesus’ answer left them speechless.
The Sadducees didn’t believe in
life after death, in a resurrection, and they were going to prove how silly it
was to hold to that belief.
They started by reminding Jesus of
the “Levirate Law” (Deut. 25), where a brother was required to married his dead
brother’s widow if his dead brother had never produced children.
Then they concocted a story where a
woman marries a brother who dies, then marries the next brother, who dies, and
on and on until she’s married seven brothers.
Their question was, “When they all
get to heaven, whose wife will she be?”
Jesus went on to tear their argument
apart by showing that there is no marriage in heaven, and that even Moses
hinted at the truth of resurrection when God spoke to Moses at the burning bush
saying, “I am the God of your fathers
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”. God didn’t
say He was their God, but that He
still is. He is the God of the living, not the dead.
This week He faces the Pharisees.
20:39-40 Pharisee Kisses
:39 Then some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken
well.”
:39 Teacher, You have spoken well
well – kalos
– beautifully, finely, excellently, well
The scribes were Pharisees.
Even though the Pharisees and Sadducees normally argue like Democrats and
Republicans, both religious groups have joined together to take down Jesus.
When the Pharisees heard Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees, they were
impressed.
:40 But after that they dared not question Him anymore.
:40 they dared not question Him anymore
dared – tolmao
– not to dread or shun through fear; to bring one’s self to; to be bold
At this point, the Herodians, Sadducees, and Pharisees all decide that it’s
not very smart to challenge Jesus.
But that won’t stop Jesus from challenging them.
20:41-44 Pharisee Challenge
:41 And He said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is the Son of
David?
:41 the Christ is the Son of David
Matthew records it a slightly
different way:
(Matthew 22:41–42 NKJV) —41 While the
Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.”
Whose son is He? Who is the Christ?
Pivotal questions.
The word “Christ” is a title, not a name.
It’s the Greek form of the word “Messiah”, the prophesied deliverer of the
nation of Israel.
Everybody in the audience understood that the Messiah would be a descendent
of King David.
God told David that the Messiah would be his descendent.
(2 Samuel 7:12–13
NKJV) —12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I
will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will
establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne
of his kingdom forever.
Though this might initially sound
like a prophecy of Solomon, when the “forever” enters into the equation, it
goes beyond Solomon.
Isaiah wrote,
(Isaiah 11:1–2 NKJV) —1 There
shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The Spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon Him, The Spirit
of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit
of counsel and might, The Spirit
of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
This was another well recognized
Messianic passage.
Jesse was the father of David. The Messiah would come from the line of David.
Jeremiah wrote,
(Jeremiah 23:5 NKJV)
“Behold,
the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will
raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness
in the earth.
Jeremiah wrote 400 years after
Solomon’s reign, but just before the nation was hauled off to Babylon.
The coming king would be a descendant of David.
Jesus will now challenge the Pharisees from the Scriptures.
Last week we saw how Jesus took a
verse out of Exodus, a passage that the Sadducees believed in, and expanded
upon it, showing that even Moses taught the truth of life after death, the
resurrection.
This week, Jesus is going to take a
passage that the Pharisees hold to, and show them that maybe they haven’t spent
as much time with the Scriptures as they claim to.
:42 Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My
right hand,
:43 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’
:42 David himself said in the Book of Psalms:
Jesus is substantiating that David
wrote Psalm 110.
I make – tithemi
– to set, put, place; to make
footstool – two words are used here.
footstool – hupopodion
– a footstool; metaph. taken from the practice of conquerors who placed
their feet on the necks of their conquered enemies
foot – pous
– a foot, both of men or beast
Literally, “a footstool for your feet”
Jesus is quoting from Psalm 110, a well-known Messianic Psalm.
Psalm 110 is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament.
I’ve found at least fifteen
references to verse one in the New Testament.
(Mat. 22:41-16;
26:64; Mark 12:35-36; 14:62; 16:19; Luke 20:41-44; 22:67-71; Acts 2:34-35;
5:31; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20;
Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:13; 10:12-13; 12:2)
I’d say that for some of you, it’s the most famous Psalm you’ve never heard
of.
Jesus is quoting directly from Psalm 110:1
(Psalm 110:1 NKJV) The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right
hand, Till I make
Your enemies Your footstool.”
2 The Lord
shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! 3 Your people shall be volunteers In the day of Your power; In the
beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.
This is hinting at the reign of
Jesus over the earth after He returns.
He will rule from Zion, from Jerusalem.
4 The Lord
has sworn And will not relent, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”
The Messiah would be of the
priesthood of Melchizedek and not the priesthood of Aaron. This allowed the Messiah to be from the tribe
of Judah (like David) and not Levi (like Aaron).
5 The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. 6 He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries. 7 He shall drink of the brook by the wayside; Therefore He shall lift up the head.
This is speaking of the very thing
the Jews longed for, deliverance from their earthly enemies.
Jesus will do these things when He
returns for the second time. See Revelation 19 for more details.
:42 The Lord said to my
Lord
Some of your English New Testament
translations botch it here, but in the Old Testament passage, the first “lord”
is in ALL CAPS, while the second one only has the first letter capitalized.
This has to do with how translators
translate the Hebrew Old Testament.
The Jews have a very healthy
respect for the name of God, and they don’t want to ever pronounce the name of
God in an unholy or profane way.
Today, you will see some Jewish
scholars refer to God as “G-d”.
In the Hebrew, the name simply
consists of four Hebrew consonants, Y-H-W-H, or as some would pronounce,
Yahweh.
If you are reading
in Hebrew, and you come across those four letters, you are taught never to
actually pronounce the name, but to substitute the name with the word Adonai, which means “Lord”.
Most English translators have continued
this same respect for God’s name by translating YHWH as “lord”, but to
distinguish it from the actual Hebrew word Adonai,
our English translators will use all capital letters, or, “Lord”.
The reason some of your English
translations of Luke 20:42 don’t use the all caps for the first “lord” is
because Luke was written in Greek, and the Greek uses the same word for “lord”
(kurios) in both instances.
But don’t forget that Jesus is
quoting Psalm 110. His listeners know
what He’s talking about.
In the Hebrew Old Testament, David used two different Hebrew words for
“lord”.
LORD – Yahweh – “the
existing One”; this is God’s name.
Lord – ‘adown – lord,
master
You could translate the first phrase of Psalm 110 as, “Yahweh said to my
master…”
The idea is that David has overheard a conversation in heaven.
God (Yahweh) is speaking to someone whom David calls his “lord” or
“master”. God is telling this person to sit at God’s right hand until God takes
care of this “master’s” enemies.
:42 Sit at My right hand
Illustration
Little Bobby was spending the
weekend with his grandmother after a particularly trying week in kindergarten.
His grandmother decided to take him to the park on Saturday morning. It had
been snowing all night and everything was beautiful. His grandmother remarked,
“Doesn’t it look like an artist painted this scenery? Did you know God painted
this just for you?” Bobby said, “Yes, God did it and He did it left handed.”
This confused his grandmother a bit, and she asked him “What makes you say God
did this with His left hand?” “Well,” said Bobby, “we learned at Sunday School
last week that Jesus sits on God’s right hand!”
The chair on the right-hand side of a king’s throne was reserved for someone
with great influence on the king.
When Solomon was king, he had his mother Bathsheba sit on his right hand
(1Ki. 2:19).
So who would God allow to sit at His right hand? The Messiah.
Paul wrote to the Romans,
(Romans 8:34 NKJV) Who is
he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Jesus is not the one who condemns you, He’s the one that
died to pay for your sins.
He is also the one at the right hand of God who is praying
for you.
He has influence with the Father. All He has to do is to lean
to His left and whisper His request into the ear of God the Father.
Later in the week, Jesus will be on trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin.
(Mark 14:61b–64
NKJV) …Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, “Are You the
Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the
right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 Then the
high priest tore his clothes and said, “What further need do we have of
witnesses? 64 You have
heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.
What was Jesus saying to the chief
priests?
After His crucifixion,
resurrection, and ascension, He would be sitting on God’s right hand.
Jesus was laying claim to Psalm 110.
He’s saying that He will be the one sitting at God’s right
hand. He was claiming to be the Messiah.
(Acts 7:55–56 NKJV) —55 But he,
being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and
Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said,
“Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand
of God!”
(Acts 5:29–31 NKJV) —29 But Peter
and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather
than men. 30 The God of our fathers
raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. 31 Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and
Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
(Hebrews 12:1–2 NKJV) —1 Therefore
we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Lesson
Great Power
As you probably know, there’s no human on earth more powerful than Chuck
Norris (just kidding)…
Sitting at God’s right hand implies that Jesus as great power.
Jesus is even stronger than Chuck Norris
After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven – where exactly did
He go? Mark tells us:
(Mark 16:19 NKJV) So then,
after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down
at the right hand of God.
Jesus fulfilled Psalm 110.
The night before Jesus died, He told His disciples He was “going away” (or,
to sit at God’s right hand), and that after that happened, He would send the
Holy Spirit.
(John 16:7 NKJV) Nevertheless
I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not
go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to
you.
Jesus tied His
ascension (and sitting at God’s right hand) to the coming of the Holy
Spirit. This is what happened at
Pentecost which occurred about a week after Jesus ascended into heaven.
(He died on
Passover, Pentecost is fifty days after Passover. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day,
but appeared to His disciple for forty days before ascending into heaven.)
This is one of the reasons Peter references Psalm 110 when he’s explaining
the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
(Acts
2:32–36 NKJV) —32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being
exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 “For David
did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at
My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’ 36 “Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom
you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Peter equates sitting at God’s right hand with Jesus ascending
to heaven (which David hadn’t done)
The outpouring of the Spirit on the church proved that
Jesus has ascended into heaven and had kept His promise of sending the Holy
Spirit.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they would know…
(Ephesians
1:19–20 NKJV) —19 …what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who
believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He
worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His
right hand in the heavenly places
Because Jesus is at the right hand of God, He is in the place of the great
power.
He wants to make that power available to us.
That power comes as you learn to yield yourself to the Holy Spirit.
:43 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.
Turning enemies into a “footstool” means that an enemy is conquered,
humiliated, and used for furniture.
The idea is that Jesus will be in heaven, sitting at God’s right hand,
until it is time for Him to come back and set up His kingdom on earth.
:44 Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?”
:44 how is He then his Son?
Here’s the stumper for the Pharisees.
Fathers were to be respected by their sons, not the other way around.
The term “Lord” (Hebrew adonai) could
be properly used by a son for his father, but not by a father for his son.
The Messiah was indeed a “son of David”, and rightful heir to the throne
through the biological genealogy of His mother Mary.
The Messiah was also the “son of God” because of the virgin birth, God was
His father. Jesus was God in flesh.
Jesus was both David’s “son” and David’s Lord.
20:45-47 Pharisee Rebuke
:45 Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples,
the
hearing – akouo
– to be endowed with the faculty of hearing, not deaf; to hear; to hear
something
:45 He said to His disciples
Though Jesus is speaking loud
enough for everyone around Him to hear, He’s addressing these concerns
specifically to His disciples.
He doesn’t want us as disciples to act like the “scribes”.
Jesus is going to give this warning
loud enough for all the people around Him to hear.
We can assume that the Sadducees
and Pharisees will hear this as well.
But don’t lose sight that He is
addressing this specifically to His disciples, to those who have chosen to
follow Jesus.
:46 “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love
greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best
places at feasts,
:47 who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These
will receive greater condemnation.”
condemnation – krima
– a decree, judgments; condemnation of wrong, the decision (whether severe
or mild) which one passes on the faults of others
:46 Beware of the scribes
Beware – prosecho
– to bring to, bring near; to turn the mind to, attend to be attentive;
give attention to, take heed
The scribes were Pharisees who made the official copies of Scripture.
They were the recognized “experts” in religion.
We’ve talked about the scribes
being Pharisees, but they had specific duties as “scribes”.
These were men who made copies of
the Scriptures.
In ancient days, this was a
painstaking, tedious process.
They didn’t copy word for word, but
letter for letter. And then they’d count
the very letters they’d copies to make sure they got it all right.
These were also the men who were
the experts in the Scriptures.
Any “new” teaching had to be okayed
by them.
Jesus isn’t saying that all “scribes” were bad, but only the ones who had
the following characteristics.
:46 who desire to go around in long robes
who desire – thelo
– to will, have in mind, intend
to go around – peripateo
– to walk; to conduct one’s self
long robes – stole – a
loose outer garment for men extending to the feet, worn by persons of rank
The longer a person’s “stole”
was, the more important they were.
There were rules as to how long a
scholar’s robe should be.
For the sake of “humility”, there
was a limit to the length, it wasn’t supposed to touch the ground, but some
didn’t always go by that rule.
Some wore their robes so long it
was like a bridal train, dragging on the ground behind them. (Mat. 23:5)
Gill: The rule for the length of a scholar’s
garment was this:
“his flesh must not appear under
his garments, as the light linen garments, and the like, they make in Egypt;
nor must his garments be drawn upon the ground, as the garments of proud men,
but must reach to his heel, and his glove must reach the top of his fingers.”
According to this rule, the
garments of the doctors were to be so long as to cover the whole body, even
down to their heels, but were not to be any longer; and by this it appears
their garments were very long; but they did not always go by this rule; some
had their garments so long as to have a train after them (Mt 23:5).
This kind of garment (stole)
is usually a good thing in the New Testament:
When the Prodigal Son came home,
his Father told the servants to bring out the “best robe” (stole) and
put it on the son (Luke 15:22)
This is also the word used to
describe the “white robes” that the saints in heaven will be clothed with (Rev.
6:11; 7:9,13,14)
But the scribes aren’t the kind of
people who want to wait for someone to “give” them a “robe”, they want to take
it and wear it on their own.
Jesus said the scribes wore extra-long robes to impress people.
(Matthew 23:5 NKJV)
But
all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad
and enlarge the borders of their garments.
They wanted attention.
:46 love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the
synagogues, and the best places at feasts
love – phileo
– to love; to approve of; to like; sanction; to welcome; to be fond of
doing
If Jesus were to ask the scribes what were a few of their favorite things,
if they were honest, they’d reply:
greetings in the market, best seats in the synagogues…
greetings in the marketplaces
greetings – aspasmos
– a salutation, either oral or written
marketplaces – agora
– market place, street
They loved to hear their name called out loud at the mall with their
appropriate titles attached.
“Salutations most exalted reverend doctor pastor Cathers”
the best seats in the synagogues … feasts
the best seats – protokathedria
(“first” + “seat”) – to sit in the first seat, the first or chief seat
Literally, the “first place” or
“first chair” in the synagogues.
They wanted to be sure they got the recognition they felt they deserved whether
it was at church or at the mall.
They wanted people to know who they were.
the best places at feasts
the best places – protoklisia
(“first” + “reclining place”) – the first reclining place, the chief place
at table
feasts – deipnon
– supper, especially a formal meal usually held at the evening
Literally, the “first couch”.
They wanted to be honored
everywhere they went.
Lesson
It’s all about me
The scribes were self-centered people.
Sometimes being self-centered manifests itself in your conversations with
others.
Sometimes being self-centered manifests itself because you keep finding
your feelings getting hurt.
Maybe you’ve worked hard at your job, but you feel like your boss doesn’t
appreciate you.
When you are leading a ministry at church, you can fall into the trap of
thinking that people don’t like you when they don’t fall over themselves to
come to your meetings.
When I find myself worried that people don’t like me, I’ve
got my motives for doing ministry all wrong.
Parents, I don’t think this means
that you allow your kids to disrespect you.
But you don’t teach them to respect
you as a parent because your little feelings got hurt.
You teach them to respect you so
they will learn to respect other people in authority in their life.
John warned the church at Ephesus about a man who actually didn’t want the
apostle John to come to church:
(3 John 9 NKJV) I wrote to
the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does
not receive us.
If you love to have recognition from people, you’re going
to have a hard time serving God.
:47 who devour widows’ houses
devour – katesthio
– to consume by eating, to eat up, devour
This doesn’t mean that widow’s
houses were made of gingerbread and that these guys ate them up.
These hypocrites would put on a show of religion, yet take advantage of the
most helpless of people.
There are religious leaders today who make a point of targeting poor people
on a fixed income, convincing them that they need to give all their money to
their ministry.
:47 for a pretense make long prayers
pretense – prophasis
– a pretext (alleged reason, pretended cause); show
The scribes would draw attention to themselves by their lengthy public
prayers.
Lesson
Impress God, not people
Matthew recorded Jesus adding a few more words to our passage:
(Matthew 23:10–12
HCSB) –10 And do not be called masters either, because you have one Master,
the Messiah. 11 The greatest
among you will be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself
will be exalted.
Our goal in life should not be to impress others, it should be to impress
God.
God is impressed by humble servants who put others first.
Paul wrote,
(Philippians 2:3–4
NKJV) —3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in
lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of
you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of
others.
He also wrote that true love
(1 Corinthians
13:5b NKJV) …does not seek its own…
This year on Valentine’s Day, make sure you keep God’s ideas about love in
mind.
Jesus doesn’t want us to be like the Pharisees, He wants us to be like Him.
He wants us to be loved by Him.
He wants us to love like Him.