What Did Jesus Teach About Being Good and Bad Fruit?

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. -Matthew 28:19-20

Leadership and Servanthood

This is the fifth part of my series on what Yeshua (Jesus) directed his Jewish disciples to teach the newly minted Gentile Messianic disciples to obey. It's also the fourth of a series of Yeshua's teachings in the Book of Matthew on Leadership and Servanthood. To summarize Part IV: What Did Jesus Teach About Humility and Mercy:

In a nutshell, we learn that Yeshua taught his Jewish disciples and we Gentile disciples that in all our dealings with people, regardless of our relative position in our congregations, communities, and in life, we are to act humbly, to value everyone, to realize we are all important and unique to God, to be forgiving, and to grant as much mercy to others as God has granted to us.

That is what we can say about what Yeshua taught the Jewish disciples to teach the Gentiles disciples about humility and mercy. Remember though, he also told the Jewish disciples to teach the Gentile disciples "to obey everything I have commanded you". In order to understand what everything means, we need to press on. Even after several blog posts, there are more teachings to study.

Matthew 23 is often referred to as the Seven Woes chapter and seems to be one of the most critical commentaries Yeshua (Jesus) makes about teachers of the law and Pharisees. This is one of the places where traditional Christianity gets the idea that all Torah teachers, scribes, and Pharisees were evil and bad and, in fact, one of the passages that Christianity refers to when it supports the position that the teachings of God were replaced by the grace of God, as if the Word and God's grace were somehow mutually exclusive. Of course, they can be made "mutually exclusive" if we emphasize one and minimize or completely do away with the other.

It seems the more accurate lesson to be learned from the Seven Woes is what happens when leaders who should be servants instead appoint themselves as "lords" over the rest of us; that is, lords over those people who only want to sincerely follow God.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. -Matthew 23:1-4

It would have been within the rights of the Messiah and King to overthrow the corrupt religious leadership in the Jerusalem of the First Century CE, but Yeshua taught obedience rather than insurrection. However, he defined the difference between obeying the teachings of Torah and imitating the actual behavior of the corrupt "blind guides" who did not practice their own teachings but rather, created additional burdens for the people to bear, beyond the Torah of Moses.

This is usually where Christianity and much of the Messianic, One Law, and Two House movement states that the Oral Law is a fiction created by the Rabbis in the post-Bible era, but many of the commandments in the written portion of the Torah don't explain how to actually obey the commandments. Here's another way of looking at it from my previous blog post What Did Jesus Change? Ritual:

Torah can be considered both written and oral. Remember, Moses was on Sinai with God for 40 days, so they must have talked about something. Actually, the oral law makes a certain amount of sense, once you realize that many of the commandments in the written Torah don't explain how to obey them (just how does one wear fringes on the four corners of a garment?). In that, the oral law modifies the written law so that it is "operationalized", describing the mechanics of how to perform the various commandments.

In all likelihood, Yeshua wasn't speaking against the Oral Law, what was given to Moses by God but not, at that time, written down, but rather those requirements that went above and beyond the mandates of God and indeed, those directives that actually contradicted the Torah (see Mark 7:1-5).

Why would the religious leaders of Yeshua's day do such a thing?

"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. -Matthew 23:5-12

Human beings in First Century Jerusalem were just like human beings today. We all tend to want to be admired and some people want and even feel they "need" to be leaders, to be acknowledged as leaders, to be looked up to, fawned over, called by exalted titles, and praised by other, "lesser" men and women. That kind of flies in the face of teachings about being a servant and demonstrating humility and mercy. Yeshua also made his point by saying the following:

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. -Matthew 7:15-17

It's one of the dangers in modern Messianic and One Law congregations when we put on tzitzit, tefillin, and let other people call us "Rabbi", particularly when we don't have the educational background in Torah, Talmud, and particularly when we lack humility. Even if we start out sincerely desiring to serve God and to serve people, the attention we receive in leadership roles can turn our heads and our gaze away from God and to that person we see in the mirror.

It's why we need to learn the substance and fabric of what Yeshua taught us to obey before we even consider the form and mechanics of how to practice our roles and our worship. It's why I've chosen this form of learning and teaching the lessons of the Master. But let's continue. First woe:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. -Matthew 23:13-14

Translation: As teachers and religious "authorities", if you not only refuse to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven by obeying God, but prevent others who want to go in from doing so as well, you are opposing God. Second woe:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. -Matthew 23:15

Translation: Teaching someone to be a disciple of your order, denomination, or discipline does that person no good if what you teach them to obey is not from God, but from you. If you do this, "woe to you". That can't be good. Third woe:

Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it. -Matthew 23:16-22

Translation: You have a case of messed up priorities. What's more important, the "stuff" we use in worshiping God or God? Also reminds me of this:

Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. -Matthew 5:33-37

Translation: Don't shoot off your big mouth and don't make promises you can't keep, especially using God's Name. Keep it simple. Just say you'll do something, and then do it. Fourth woe:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. -Matthew 23:23-24

Translation: Another priority mess up. You "sweat the small stuff", putting the mechanics and the ritual of Torah obedience ahead of the actual fabric and substance of Torah: justice, mercy, charity, humility, grace. Do you think that the most important thing in your life and what's most important to God is how you tie your tzitzit, lay your teffilin, and how well you pronounce prayers in Hebrew? When's the last time you visited a sick person in the hospital or donated canned goods to your local foodbank? You can obey the Torah form and the Torah substance. Do all of Torah, not elevating one part over another. Fifth woe:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. -Matthew 23:25-26

Translation: It doesn't matter how "holy" you look on the outside if inside, your true nature is self-indulgent, greedy, full of envy and hate. Especially now, with Yom Kippur just days away, repent of your sins. Return to God. If you clean out what's inside you, the outside will take care of itself. Sixth woe:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. -Matthew 23:27-28

Translation: Yeshua is saying the same thing as he did in the previous "woe". Remember, you can fool people with your outer appearance, but "God, who knows the heart (Acts 15:8) sees the unrepented sin that dwells within you. Seventh woe:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! -Matthew 23:29-32

Translation: Just because you build churches, synagogues, and memorials to saints and prophets doesn't mean that your motives are pure and that, given a chance, you wouldn't have rejected those holy people in order to further your own ambitions.

I remember being part of a Bible study in a church I used to attend many years ago. We were studying the 40 years of wandering in the desert by the Children of Israel and the struggle of the Jewish people to obey God and to follow His ways. One older gentleman in the class remarked that if we (Christians) were there instead of the Jews, we would have been obedient. The words in the "seventh woe" immediately came to mind and it's sad because I know that he truly believed what he was saying. He just didn't realize what it was like to be in that place and that time. Another way of putting it is to say:

Blowing out someone else's candle doesn't make your's burn any brighter -Anonymous

Yet what Yeshua says in condemnation and anger is also said with pain, anguish, and longing. What he says of Jerusalem, I believe, he also says of us:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" -Matthew 23:37-39

Conclusion: This lesson addresses the theme of how servanthood and leadership can be corrupted and used to serve our own ends at the expense of those people who depend on us to be salt and light. What did Yeshua tell his Jewish disciples to teach the Gentile disciples to obey when we discover we are producing "bad fruit"?

1. If you're not willing to give up your arrogance and hypocrisy in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, don't prevent those who want to obey God from entering, too.
2. Don't "convert" someone to your way and don't teach unless you are teaching what God says and not just what you want to say.
3. Don't make your practices and your religious clothes and your prayers and "sacrifices" more important than obeying the Torah of doing justice, mercy, and charity. Obey all of God's teachings.
4. Just say something and then do it. Don't make a big deal out of "swearing" to do it.
5. It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside to impress others if your insides are full of sin. Clean out your sin and don't worry about appearances.
6. Don't believe you are better or more holy than others, especially when all the while, you just want to serve yourself rather than God. Stop fooling yourself.
7. Despite all your sins and faults, God loves you and wants to gather you in to Himself. However, you won't see Him until you are ready to accept Him; you won't see Messiah until you accept what Messiah teaches.

Important: When Yeshua said, "You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former" (Matthew 23:23), he is arguing against choosing the Law over Grace and arguing against choosing Grace over the Law. He is saying there's nothing wrong with the practice of what Christians call "ritual" (wearing tzitzit, keeping Kosher, ceasing work on the Shabbat, and so forth) and in fact, he's saying that the "ritual" practice should be kept and we should also do the "grace" part of Torah (visiting the sick, giving to the poor, giving honor to the aged, and so on) as well. In other words (pay attention!) the teaching of the Law and the teaching of Grace are not mutually exclusive; they are part of the whole Torah!

In a nutshell, for today's lesson, we learn that as disciples and people responsible in the Kingdom, we must serve God and not ourselves. It doesn't matter how holy we look on the outside if we're unrepentant on the inside. We can't teach and lead if we're not willing to be taught and to follow Yeshua. We are condemned if we exalt ourselves and consider the superficial practices of religion more important than the true meaning of the Torah. If we want to obey Him, we must obey everything He teaches. God wants to gather us, but we will be alone until we wholeheartedly welcome Yeshua and bless his name.

Note: My next blog post will be the final lesson on Leadership and Servanthood, but there are other lessons to learn from the Master as well. There is much that Yeshua taught the Jewish disciples to teach we Gentile disciples to obey.