Are You Kind of A Big Deal? | Matthew 23:5

[00:00:00] We'll Truth Daily This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman. Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. Today's message won't be up. I'm necessarily a comforting message. I remember seeing a movie years ago, Anchorman, I'm not endorsing

[00:00:18] it by the way. There was some stuff in there that's not very godly. I got admit. But Anchorman was a guy who was really impressed with himself. He was played by Will Ferrell and

[00:00:27] he was on a party in this movie and he was trying to impress his girl. And he came up there and he said, Do you know who I am? And she goes, No, I don't think I do. And

[00:00:36] he goes, Well, I'm kind of a big deal. And she said, Oh, him any goes, people know me. Who says that, right? That's what made it so funny. A lot of people in our culture in the world

[00:00:53] and maybe people you know, and hopefully not you. But all of us can get caught up in that, right? And status, recognition, praise. What people think of us how much money we make,

[00:01:03] how much power we have, what position we have in life. I mean, a lot of people think that's pretty important. Do you know who I was felt like that was pretty important? The Ferrell season describes. Listen to what Jesus says about them. In Matthew chapter 23 verse

[00:01:18] five, they do all their deeds to be seen by others. In other words, a total motivation is to be seen by others that others might say, Wow, look at you. I'm impressed. That was their total motivation for they make their filactories broad and their fringe as long.

[00:01:38] What was a factory? This was a leather pouch that was placed on a scriber Pharisees forehead that had scripture is contained in it. And basically Jesus was saying, they have big filacories, large filacories to show how much knowledge they had and then the

[00:01:55] fringes on their garments indicated that they were holy men of God. That's what the fringes indicated okay. So, and they love the place of honor at peace. In other words, at the head table right next to the host, right? And the seats, the best seats in the

[00:02:12] Senate God's place in the front facing the congregation kind of like pastors. This was one of the reasons when I served at churches, I don't sit in the front look out

[00:02:23] at the congregation like, Look at me. I'd rather sit in a pew in my wife by frankly. And greetings in the marketplace and being called rabbi, I have other words, when they went to the marketplace, they kind of hung out hoping that somebody would recognize who they

[00:02:36] were and would come to them and call them rabbi because they were really impressed with their status and their education. Oh, my was Jesus letting these guys have it. Now, remember this is during holy week. This is probably the Tuesday or Wednesday of

[00:02:52] only week. And Jesus let them have it with both barrels quite frankly. And we're going to get into that here as as the days go by some of the things he said were just unbelievable.

[00:03:03] And he had he sent them early in his ministry. Oh, my goodness, he would've been crucified much earlier. So he waited until the last week, basically of his life here on earth before his crucifixion, obviously, to say some things that he felt needed to be said. Now what's

[00:03:19] the application for us? A lot of people and maybe we ourselves are really into recognition and praise and status and all these different things. But let's talk about how that really doesn't matter and how all those things are met in our relationship with God. Think about

[00:03:38] your status. What greater status is there? They're being called a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. I think of Jesus baptism and this is what God the Father says about you at

[00:03:49] your baptism. This is my beloved son or daughter and whom I'm well pleased and recognition. This is what God says about you. We have all the recognition we need in our relationship with God

[00:04:01] for He says, if you're not, I've redeemed you. I've called you by name. You are mine and praise when we serve other people in love, do you know what God the Father says about us? Well done.

[00:04:11] Now good and faithful servant. And think about think about the honorary positions. What greater position is there that's be called an accepted redeemed for given, loved, robed in the righteousness of Christ, child of God. Right? I mean that is so important. What people think? What does God

[00:04:33] think about you? He says, your mind, you belong to me. Nothing can separate you from my love and think about how important it is to have money. We have all the riches we need in Christ.

[00:04:46] Jesus the Bible says and power. There's no greater power in life according to the Bible than to serve one another in love. Jesus said it best when He said whoever would be first among you must be

[00:04:58] a servant and whoever would be greatest among you must be your slave. Wow. And remember that was in the context of the disciples saying, hey, when you come into your kingdom, can we sit on your

[00:05:07] right and left side? Actually John James and John's mother said that. Right? So Jesus was saying all this stuff that the world says is so important isn't important at all. You see it's so much

[00:05:22] more important to be known by our character than by how much we do or what we say or what people think of us. Right? And that's Jesus' point. He was saying the Pharisees and scribes are all about

[00:05:35] appearance, image and what people think. Right? For us as Christians, all of that is rooted and grounded in our relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The older we get, the more mature

[00:05:49] we become in Christ, the less what people think about us really matters. Right? And ultimately, people aren't impressed by how much we have or what we do or how successful we are. People aren't

[00:06:03] impressed by that. The thing that really makes people remember you is where you kind, where you consider it. Did you consider others more important than yourselves? Now all of this is law I understand that

[00:06:15] and so we go back to the gospel. We go back to the cross of Jesus recognizing that sometimes we put way too much value on what people think of us and how much money we make and what's

[00:06:25] status we have and what positions we owe. We put way too much status on that and what Jesus is saying not only about the scribes and Pharisees but also about us that really doesn't matter a tinkers

[00:06:36] doodle. He didn't use that word. What matters is, do you know Christ Jesus and do you find your identity in him? Billy Graham, one of the most respected theologians and obviously evangelists

[00:06:55] of all time was asked his question, you know what's Dr. Graham and he said, oh wait a minute, don't call me Dr. Graham, just call me Billy. I love that. He was saying the only thing that

[00:07:12] really matters to me is that I'm in a relationship with God through faith in Jesus and really ultimately folks that's what should matter to you more than anything. That you're in a relationship with

[00:07:25] God, through faith in Jesus Christ. Let that be your dearest treasure, your highest aim, your highest goal, your greatest security, your most secure identity that you are rooted and grounded and founded in Jesus Christ and ultimately that is all that really matters. And that is today's daily

[00:07:53] truth. Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.