False Righteousness, False Ministry, False Greatness

Family, I want to begin with a personal story that illustrates a deeper spiritual truth. A couple of months ago, I was in my prayer room when I felt a strong urge to check on my youngest son, Josiah. What I would later learn happened that morning changed how I understand spiritual protection.

Josiah had taken our dogs outside for their morning walk when a wolf-like beast emerged from the tree line behind our house, sizing up our two dogs to attack them. Josiah went into a panic, yelling at the dogs to get inside. When our smallest dog wouldn't obey, he scooped up Chance, our Shih Tzu, and ran toward the house while yelling at our larger dog, Orlando, to follow. Orlando wouldn't move at first, standing there as the wolf closed in—maybe five feet away. But Josiah kept yelling, and finally Orlando ran to safety.

This didn't end that day. Over the course of weeks, it got so bad that we started walking the dogs in the morning with a flashlight and an air rifle to protect them. My daughter Abigail, who I've trained to shoot, would be out there on her shoulder with that rifle, trying to protect our two dogs from this wolf that kept preying on them every single morning.

The Spiritual Wolf Among the Flock

It's with this imagery in mind—the seriousness of Josiah's call to protect those he loved—that I want to talk about what Christ, the apostles, and the prophets warned about: one of the most dangerous threats to the life of the believer. More than your sins, your mistakes, and your failures that you repent of. Something far more nefarious and dangerous.

The prophet Jeremiah, around 600 BC, described this threat in Jeremiah 23:16:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, 'It shall be well with you'; and to everyone who follows their own heart, they say, 'No disaster shall come upon you.'"

This is the pattern: preaching blessings to people who don't respect Christ, treating him like a genie in a bottle. Preaching with no warnings. Listen to what Jeremiah continues:

For who among them has stood in the counsel of the Lord? For who has paid attention to his word and listened? Behold, the storm of the Lord, his wrath, has gone out, a whirling wind; it will burst upon the head of the wicked... In the latter days you will understand it clearly. I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

But if they had stood in God's counsel, "then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way and from their evil deeds."

God goes on:

Do I not fill heaven and earth? Have I heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I have a dream'? How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets? They exalt their name above mine. Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets who steal my words from one another. I am against the prophets who use their tongues and say, 'Declares the Lord.' Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all.

This is a threat, man. You swipe up and bump into them. You watch them on YouTube. You go to their conferences. You read their books. This is who Jeremiah is talking about.

Listen to what the apostle Peter said in the first century AD, in 2 Peter 2:1:

False prophets also rose among the people, just as there were false teachers among you, who secretly brought in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.

And Jude, the biological brother of Jesus, said in Jude 1:10–13:

These people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they instinctively understand, like unreasonable animals. Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Now listen to what Jesus himself said about them. In Matthew chapter 7, verse 15:

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruit.

They have Christian lingo. They have Christian antics. They have Christian programs. They write Christian books. They do Christian podcasts. They do Christian conferences. For lack of discernment, we thumb them, like them, support them, listen to them, and are led astray by them. But inwardly they are ravenous wolves—like that beast that came out after my dogs.

All throughout Scripture, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, there are warnings about this. Why? Because the prophets, the apostles, and your Lord knew that this would be the most dangerous threat to the church. When John is writing in the New Testament, he's not just warning about the devil. He's telling them: when we leave, ravenous wolves are going to come in behind us and wreak havoc among the flock. This is one of the most dangerous things you face.

You see it when you swipe up. You watch it on YouTube. They're sitting in your churches. They are false prophets and false teachers with false messages and false authority, ravaging the church. You listen to them, you thumb them, you like them, you support them, you read their books, you go to their conferences, and they rot out your soul.

Jesus' Last Public Sermon: A Warning

This is what we're about to unpack—a powerful text of Scripture. This is the beginning of the last public message Jesus ever preached. If his first recorded sermon was the Sermon on the Mount, this is his last recorded sermon. Of all the things the Lord could have said before he was executed publicly, he took this moment in history to warn his children and all future followers to protect themselves from men like this.

He did not use his last public sermon to talk about love. He did not use it to talk about grace. He did not use it to pronounce blessings. No—this whole chapter 23 is full of warnings, woes, and damnations. Watch the Lord. The good shepherd himself used his last public sermon to try to protect those who have ears to hear, to guard your heart from false teachers, false messages, and men with false authority.

Before this sermon, Jesus had just confronted the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. He rocked them with his wisdom and his use of the word of God. This reminds us that some of the greatest battles—in your mind, in your heart, in your life—follow the pattern of the Lord. You can defeat the devil with the word of God. You can back him down in your mind with the word of God. You can come against him in your house with the word of God. When he comes for your marriage, give back the word of God. When he comes for your heart, give back the word of God. When he lies to you about your past, give back the word of God.

After Christ backed down the religious elite and corrupt Pharisees with the word of God, he now begins his last public sermon. We're looking at the first half today. The second half comes next week.

Three Exposures: False Righteousness

The first thing he exposes to protect you from men like this is false righteousness. Matthew 23:1–2:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses's seat. So do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works that they do. For they preach, but do not practice."

He pivots away from the Pharisees toward his followers, toward the crowd of thousands—people who have watched and need one last opportunity to repent and protect themselves from the Pharisees.

Moses's Seat and Stolen Authority

He speaks publicly about their false righteousness. The Pharisees sit on Moses's seat. Moses was a great man of God, a great prophet. He was the one through whom God wrote the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Moses wrote those by the Spirit. He's hailed as one of the greatest men in the history of the Christian faith.

In the first century, synagogues had a big stone seat at the front called Moses's seat—a seat of authority. The literal Greek reading of this verse says the Pharisees "sat themselves" on Moses's seat. That is, they took that throne of authority that God did not give them.

We see the same thing happening today. You see people who call themselves apostles when God did not anoint them. People who call themselves prophets when God did not call them. People who call themselves pastors when God did not call them. They start churches when God did not call them to start that. Just because you have a gift doesn't mean you need to start a church.

What these men did—the Greek says they "sat themselves" on Moses's seat. They took authority that God did not give them. Nowhere in Scripture do you see God giving the Pharisees authority over his people. But what we do see is a hypocritical, corrupt, darkened group of men who hijack authority for themselves and use that authority to exert dominance over God's people.

Preaching Truth from Broken Vessels

Now here's what's remarkable. The Lord said: "Do whatever they tell you, but don't do what they do. Because they preach, but don't practice." Wait—wasn't he going against them the whole chapter before? Some scholars believe he's being ironic. Others believe he's telling them: as long as they're telling you the truth from the scriptures, and that only, you must obey that.

This shows us that God loves people so much. He will work through broken vessels, even evil vessels, to get you the word of God. Even through vessels he has rejected. This is important for you to remember: just because you hear truth from someone's mouth doesn't mean God has affirmed that person. A false prophet will not give you lies only—they will mix lies with truth. You might say, "But they quoted Scripture." That doesn't mean God affirmed them. God did not affirm the Pharisees, but Jesus said: as long as they teach you from Moses's law, obey that and no further.

But watch—don't do what they do. Don't follow their behavior.

The Hypocrisy of Preaching Without Practice

Hear me, American Christians. Don't be people that post and don't live that. Don't be people that preach, come down, and don't live that. I can tell you from being up here: it's easy to preach and not live what you preach when you come down. It's very easy. That's why the best thing some false preachers can do is stay on the platform—because as soon as they come off, they have no virtue. Or the best thing they could do is stay off the platform, because as soon as they come up here, that's the only virtue they have. They can move a room, move a crowd, move an arena. Come off the stage and don't do anything they just preached.

This is the Lord warning you and me: don't preach and not practice. Don't be like these men. You got all these scriptures in your profile, but you don't live them. Don't be people who have confession without a life to match.

We see in these men a false righteousness. They have no righteousness from God. They create their own by taking over Moses's seat, sitting themselves in a position of authority that God did not call, did not appoint, did not raise them up to. They take their own authority, give themselves their own names, start ministries outside of God's will. And you flood those ministries. The Lord, in his love for his people, would then go on to expose their false ministry.

Three Exposures: False Ministry

Listen to verse 4:

They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

The people of God have the word of God. At some point, the Pharisees—spiritual leaders in Israel—began creating oral laws to try to force people to be obedient to the written word. Over thousands of years, they developed thousands of oral laws and built a fence around the word of God. They took those oral laws and codified them in a book called the Mishna. Then they exalted their manmade doctrines above the word of God.

By the time Christ's ministry begins, the common people are underneath heavy burdens of this oral law—thousands of them that robbed and choked out the life from serving God. Every day is filled with thousands of rules and regulations. They had rules for everything. On the Sabbath you couldn't even go one mile. The people were grieved with all these burdens.

What the Lord said is this: these men see God's people suffering and will do nothing to ease their suffering. These are like shepherds in our country who see the plight of God's people and do not shed a tear in prayer. They don't care about the socioeconomic status of God's people. They don't care about the spiritual well-being of God's people. They only care about feeding themselves.

Let me speak for myself: if I'm a sheep, I want to be under a shepherd that sheds tears for me. I want to be under a shepherd that prays for me. I want to be under a shepherd that cares about me. I want to be under a shepherd that reads the word to me. I want to be under a shepherd that will fight the devil for me. I don't want to be under a shepherd that hears me suffering, sees me suffering, sees me going through, and all they care about is getting out of the sermon, going home, and going to sleep.

You won't catch them on their knees during the week. You won't catch them shedding a tear during the year. They do not care about the well-being of God's people. There are American shepherds like this all across this landscape. The only thing they care about is their next sermon, their next honorarium, and where they're going to eat on Sunday. They do not shed tears for the people they preach to. They don't care about them. They don't pray for them. They don't fight for them. They don't stand in the gap for them.

This is false ministry: preaching laws to people and doing nothing to ease their suffering by caring for them, praying for them, loving on them, trying to help them. They don't smell like sheep. They're not in community. They don't know what's going on in the church. They don't smell like sheep.

Three Exposures: False Greatness

Now he exposes their false greatness. Verses 5–7:

They do all their deeds to be seen by others. They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love the places of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace and being called rabbi by others.

They do all their deeds to be seen. Everything they do is for a show. They bring attention to themselves to eclipse the glory of God. They preach to be seen. They do ministry to be seen. They dress to be seen. They post to be seen. They do stuff just to bring attention to themselves.

The Phylacteries and the Fringes

How did the Pharisees do this? Two ways. First, they made their phylacteries broad. In Deuteronomy 6:8, God told his people: "You shall bind [my words] as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes." The Pharisees took that literally. They created a little leather box called a phylactery and put scriptures inside. Then they would get a strap and tie the box to their forehead. They'd tie another box to their left hand. And they'd walk around the street with boxes on their forehead and left hand to show everybody, "I'm holy. I'm righteous. I've got the word."

But to get even more attention, they made the boxes bigger. Now they're walking around with a giant box on their forehead. Just so everybody sees them and thinks, "Oh, they're righteous."

You see people do this today, right? They do everything on the outside to try to prove to people, "Oh, you're righteous." They do everything for a show. When I first read this this week and studied it, I wept at my desk. I cried because their behavior reminds me of what we see in this country—pastors and leaders who have made Christianity a celebrity culture.

We're fighting about who's got the best buildings, who's got the best shoes, who's got a private jet. We've turned Christianity into a celebrity culture. We do things on purpose to put ourselves in positions to be worshiped by men. Everything we do is for a show. We post for attention. We preach for attention. We dress for attention. We do everything just to be seen. It happens all across this country. And when I see it, I cry.

You see them walking through airports with all this fancy garment. We do all this stuff just for somebody to notice you. You're so insecure. You need to be noticed all the time.

They also made the tassels of their garments long. God told his people: "Put tassels at the bottom of all your clothing, and each tassel represents the commands I gave you. Put a blue cord on it." That's why blue is special to Israel. But the Pharisees would take their cords and make them real long. When people saw those long fringes, they'd say, "Oh, these people are really holy."

Jesus was wearing one of those. That's why the woman with the issue of blood grabbed hold of it. The Scripture says when the Messiah came, he would have healing in his wings. She knew the word of God. So she didn't try to grab his body. She just grabbed his wings. She kept saying to herself, "If I only touch the hem of his garment, I know that I shall be healed."

She believed what she read. Some of you want deliverance, but you don't believe what you read. You need a marriage change, but you don't read what you believe. You don't believe what you read. You want God to move in some area, but you don't believe what you read. I believe. Do I have anybody else that believes? I believe.

The Love of Titles and Seats of Honor

And they love the best seats in the synagogue. They love sitting in the high seats where everybody can see them. And greetings in the marketplace. Now hear me: the Lord is not against front court seats at the Hawks game. He's not against a special seat at a gown. He's not against that. The operative word here is love. They love special seating. They love special greetings. They love to be in public in the marketplace—the busiest place in the city—and have people say, "Oh, Pharisees. Oh, rabbi."

They love that stuff. They love being called rabbi, which means "master" and "lord." They love titles that give them glory. Who called you an apostle? You gave that title to yourself. Who called you a prophet? You gave that title to yourself. Who called you a pastor with no church? You gave that title to yourself.

All across this nation, even in this room, we have people whose soul is title-struck. I don't care. Especially in the church—it's one of the only places where insecure people can come in, take a title to stroke their ego, and build their insecurities. That's why we, especially Black people, love titles. We introduce ourselves with titles. We get mad if somebody doesn't use your title.

It's dangerous to find your identity in your title. What happens if it changes? What happens if you lose it? You lose yourself. I am a pastor by divine calling—a calling I ran away from for four years. I don't throw that title around. I don't even introduce people as "Pastor Phillip." You don't even see it in my name on the introduction slide. My name is Phillip. I'm only "Pastor Phillip" by God's divine assignment. My identity cannot be found in that. If God takes me out of the pastorate, I still have to be a disciple.

Did you stop having a love affair with titles? Especially all of you who look like me—we love titles. The church is the platform for the insecure to build a monument for themselves, to stroke their ego with titles. God help us. We bump into you in the airport, and we don't call you by your title.

The Protection: Humility and One Master

After the Lord exposes their false righteousness, he says: don't act like them. Their false ministry: don't behave like them. Their false glory: don't act like them. Stop looking for glory. He will now protect his followers with these final verses. Verse 8:

But you, do not be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father—he who is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, who is Christ.

He says: don't act like them, American Christians. You're not to be called master. You're not to be called rabbi. For you have only one teacher—Christ. And you are all brothers and sisters. Call no man your father on earth. Call no man instructor, for you have one instructor—Christ.

Now hear me: the Lord is not against you calling your biological father or calling a man a spiritual father. He's not against you calling somebody a teacher. Even Paul taught us in Ephesians that God calls some people to be teachers. All throughout the New Testament, we see people called teachers. What the Lord was saying is: don't allow people who use titles to become God to you. They cannot use titles to replace God in your life.

There is only one true Father. There is only one true instructor. There is only one true Master. There is only one who forgives sins. There is only one who died on a cross. Only one who shed his blood for you. This is false greatness, false glory.

That's why the Lord said: those of you who will be great should be servants. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Why is favor on that man? Why is favor on that ministry? He doesn't look like a preacher. He doesn't look like a pastor. He can't even put together a good sentence. You think a fancy garb makes a man holy? Is a man with a robe any holier than me with ripped jeans on and a chain around my neck?

Too many false teachers, false messages, false authority. But there is one who deserves all the homage, all the honor, all the praise, all of your worship—the man who came from glory and humbled himself to become a servant, even unto death, and who was raised and highly exalted. He laid an example for us of humility and true righteousness.

True righteousness does not come from behavior or the phylactery. It comes from the cross, where Christ died, taking his perfect righteousness and imputing it to the sinner who repents. He taught us that real ministry is about service unto others, not being served. He taught us that real greatness is down, in humility, not in trying to be a show.

You will know them by their fruit. May the Lord protect your ears and protect your eyes and protect the one soul that you have from these false preachers, false authorities, and false teachers running rampant in this country. May your soul be purged from the lies and the filth that you have taken in. May you be washed in the word and in the blood of the Lamb. And may you have a ministry that is authentic, a righteousness that comes from Christ, and a greatness born in the fire of humility.