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Matthew 3:7-12
While John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing, many of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to see him. But they did not come to be baptized by John the Baptist as they were there to investigate the ongoing actions of the event – to see if they would approve of John the Baptist and his preaching and baptizing.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were the religious leaders of the day. They were schooled in the Law of the Old Testament that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19-35). But they had become self-centered in their religious values; they knew that they were not able to keep all the Law as was the commandment to receive God’s blessing of righteousness, so they developed their own law that established one’s righteousness as in comparison to one another. This was not correct in the eyes of God but was man’s way of self-seeking righteousness on their own, without striving to follow God’s instructions for them but creating their own instructions as if they could obtain the righteousness of God without God. This is what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 5:20 (NKJV) as He declares, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” This statement sounds to be very bold, but there was no righteousness in the scribes and Pharisees in the eyes of God because they were self-righteous not God-righteous.
The Pharisees and Sadducees stood on the tradition that they were holy through inheriting holiness from their ancestors but were mistaken in thinking in this way. John the Baptist declares this to them in his preaching to them in Matthew 3:7-12 as he compares them to trees that will be cut down because they do not produce good fruit, and in his example of Jesus gathering His wheat but burning up the chaff that is left behind. The wheat is those who are the produce/product of Jesus in following Him and believing in Him. The chaff is those who refuse to believe in Jesus and are left behind, never to enter the kingdom of heaven.
This is an example of the self-righteous ways of man that is not righteousness in the eyes of God.
We all have an inner desire to excel in whatever it is that we do; we have a desire to be better than others – to the point that we become condescending to others in an attempt to make ourselves look better than they.
Jesus taught humility. He taught us to put others before ourselves. After Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, He instructed them in John 13:12-17 (ESV), “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”
To lower oneself in humility to wash the feet of another was one of the lowliest jobs of the servant – and I believe it still is today. But Jesus lowered Himself to this level to show us that humility to others is a great thing to have. Humility is not to be considered disgraceful or weak, but a required act in putting others before ourselves. The righteousness that comes through Christ Jesus does not come by presenting ourselves to be better than others, as was the ways of the Pharisees and Sadducees, but by humbling ourselves in obedience to God through following Jesus and the example that He set for us.
Dear LORD,
To humble ourselves is tough as we are full of pride by our sinful nature. But we ask that You help us to understand that the ways of this world are the ways of Satan, and the ways that You would have us to live in are not of this world but of heaven, where Jesus leads us to if we will put our faith in Him and follow the example that He has set for us. Please help us LORD to stand tall for Jesus by humbling ourselves to putting others before us. In Jesus name I pray, amen.