week of 9/17

Unit 25  Session 3

THE DENOUNCING PROPHET

MATTHEW 23

Jesus denounces religion that does not express the heart of God.

As Jesus continued to get closer to crucifixion, He strove for His people to understand that eternal life could only be obtained through faith in Him. For so long the religious leaders taught a works-based righteousness. They taught that you had to do good enough, be good enough, and look a certain way to truly belong in the household of God. But in their teaching and hypocrisy, all they did was lead the people of God astray, and they missed the Messiah because of it. In Matthew 23, Jesus denounced their hypocritical, misleading, and superficial religion to help them see the error of their ways.

Points to consider:

✞   Jesus denounces hypocritical religion.

     * What are some things that we can do 

        to help us avoid hypocritical religion?

     * How do you pursue authentic and 

        genuine faith rather than one based 

        on appearances?

✞   Jesus denounces misleading religion.

     * What are some possible modern-day 

        pharisaical beliefs within the church?

     * How can we guard against leading 

        others astray as well as guard against 

        being led astray by others?

✞   Jesus denounces superficial religion.

     * How do we avoid superficial and 

        shallow religion?

     * How can a belief that righteousness 

        is attained through our effort lead 

        to spiritual pride or lack of under-

        standing the grace of God?