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Ranger Danger
Luke 11:37-54
After years of war between the Greeks and the Trojans, they were all tired. So the Greeks used a trick. They constructed a wooden horse, made out like it was an offering to Athena for safe travels, and retreated to the sea. The Trojans stole the horse and claimed victory over the Greeks whom they thought surrendered. But the Greeks weren’t done. From inside the horse, they emerged and conquered Troy. They did it in something that appeared good. Something spiritual. But it was deadly. It’s the same religious world. In fact, it’s deadlier. The most dangerous place is not the battlefield. It’s the place of religious observance, respectability, and honor. The greatest peril to the soul is not scandal committed in shadows, but pious sin parading in the light.
We must understand an often unspoken fact. Religious and morally precise people can be the most unrighteous in their quest to uphold what’s right to them. Doctrinally precise and pedantic people can also be very harmful, in their quest to defend truth. Why? They’re rangers of the religious world - protecting moral and doctrinal standards. Yes, all believers are called to do that, provided what we’re protecting is truly right. But if we’re rangers for our own preferences and morals, we’ll be dangerous.
And the Lord faced this danger - not only in Galilee, but now in Judea. He was called Beelzebub in Galilee. And now again in Judea. And at this dinner, he didn’t offer polite religious small talk, but diagnosed these rangers’ problem and warned them. And these words will also be helpful to rangers today. This passage holds a mirror up to every heart that values appearance over reality, ritual over righteousness, and man’s approval over God’s. We see here his diagnosis and warning. Firstly, he assesses their outward cleanliness and inward filth. Secondly, he pronounces a triple woe on religious hypocrisy.
Firstly, Christ’s assessment of their outward cleanliness and inward filth. In verse 37-38, Jesus was invited to dine with a Pharisee. It seems innocent at first, but we see the duplicitous motives of such rangers. Verse 37 states it was “as he spoke [that] a certain Pharisee [asked] him to dine with him, and he went in, and sat down (or more accurately, reclined) to eat.” It was during the same conversation with the Pharisees that he was invited by a Pharisee. To be clear, why would a he ask him to dinner? We can be very charitable and imagine the best motivation; but we don’t know anymore about him than what we’re told in the text and the context. And the text and context don’t favor him.
Remember, the Pharisees had already tried try to trick him. And earlier in Luke 11, they accused him of casting out demons by the devil’s power. These were the Jerusalem Pharisees. They’d investigated Christ in Galilee before and heard the assessment by Pharisees there. They’d tried to get him already. So the invite was simply another attempt to discredit him. And as expected, when he just sat down to eat, without washing his hands in a special way, “the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner,” verse 38. But this was disingenuous. In Galilee, the Pharisees already asked Jesus why his disciples didn’t wash their hands. So when he was down in Judea, it was perfect opportunity to make their point was clear - how could an unclean man cast out a demon? So this dinner invite wasn’t innocent. It was a Trojan horse. Their motive was clearly revealed in verses 53-54 - “And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge (or oppose) him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.” This was their purpose all along - to catch him to accuse him. In fact, who was at the dinner party? Verses 44 and 45 say there were scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers. So the invitation was not born of hospitality, but of inspection, investigation, for his incarceration. And their motive was fully exposed at the end. This was their duplicity - a veneer of fellowship which covered a heart of hostility; an outward welcome that masked an inward trap.
Our Lord turned the tables and exposed and diagnosed their root problem. This Pharisee was dedicated to scrupulous purity. When Jesus didn’t follow their rituals, as far as he was concerned, Jesus breached protocol. He saw Jesus as a cancerous soul. But Jesus revealed their cancer. Verse 39 says, “Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.” Christ went straight for the jugular - the very heart issue - and he revealed several root problems. The first was their wrong focus on the external and on self. The problem with the Pharisees is that they wanted to ensure their ceremonial purity. They had all of these scruples to follow. By so following them, they’d have satisfaction they were pure. Others would see them as pure too. Originally, only the vessels of the temple were to be washed ceremonially for the ministry of the temple - to be fit for God’s service. But the Pharisees extrapolated this to themselves. If they washed their cups and platters and hands in the same way, then what they ate wouldn’t defile them - and they’d be clean. This would elevate their regard in everyone’s eyes. “Wow! See what great lengths they take to be pure!”
But second root problem uncovered by Jesus was their inability to see what they really were. They were blind to their inner faults. They thought that cleaning the outside was enough. That was their reality. Therefore, they treated the inner life of thought, motive, desire, and love - as irrelevant, so long as the outer life appeared respectable. So their root problem was not being able to see the main point - inner purity. They were full of ravening and wickedness.
The third root problem was a worldly perspective. They didn’t see themselves as God saw them. In verse 40, he said, “you fools, God who made the outside also made the inside. If you really understood that, then the inside would be of concern for you.” God made the inside and outside sees both. But they were foolish because they only kept outward purity, going to great lengths to keep ceremonially pure.
Now, all of these root issues stemmed from one root issue - the underlying issue was greed - covetousness. Their insides were full of ravening - meaning greed. Now, how did this manifest itself? Verse 41 reveals they hadn’t given their alms from what they had. Meaning, they only gave what was required. Verse 42 reveals they were very scrupulous - they even tithed the wild herbs growing in their garden. But didn’t give more than that. Instead, they loved the best seats in the synagogue and the greetings of the people in the market. They did just enough to fulfill the ceremonial law. So their root issues were - their focus on outward respectability, their inability to see their inward impurity, their worldly perspective, and their covetousness.
And so because of this, the Lord pronounces a triple woe on such religious hypocrisy. That’s the second thing he does. He not only diagnoses them. He pronounces woes. A woe is not a curse, but a divine lament. In other words, he was saying to them many times - what sorrow and terrible judgments await you, because of your greed and self-righteousness. And the Lord levels essentially 3 woes against them. The first, in verses 42-44, addresses their precise law-keeping for show but their defiled heart below. In a sense, we’ve touched on this. We’ve seen their greed, their precise tithing of spices, but no love. Christ got to the heart of the matter in verse 42 - they ignored justice and the love of God. So because of this misplaced priority, they’d face judgment. What was the Lord saying? You see, they were satisfied they had fulfilled tithe, they left the more important matters of the law undone. Now the tithe system in Israel was a form of taxation. There was a tithe for the poor, a tithe for the priests and Levites, and a tithe for feast days - with everything adding up to 23.3%. And so meticulous were the Pharisees in doing this, they even tithed the wild herbs growing in their homes. And they made a big deal of their giving. Matthew 6:2 reveals that they’d have heralds who blew trumpets when they gave. Why? Verse 43 - to be recognized. They loved the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and to be recognized in the markets. “Look, it’s Simon the Pharisee, he gave so much - his net worth must be incredible!” But that’s the problem. Their net worth was so high, but they only gave tithes, and not more. This showed they weren’t concerned for justice around them. God’s people were suffering, but I’ve already given the tithe. They neither loved God nor others. So they measured godliness in milligrams rather than love - the substance of religion. In actual fact, these respectable religious rangers of purity were impure. So when Christ pronounced a woe in verse 44 - he told them to lament, because they were like graves. They were unclean. But more than that, they’re unmarked and forgotten graves - not only will men forget them, God will passover them.
After Jesus tackled these things, a lawyer said to him - “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us.” These lawyers were professional Pharisees. And so Christ turned the light on another form of hypocrisy and pronounced his second set of woes on their oppressive requirements for the living, but hypocritical loyalty to the dead. As spiritual rangers, they burdened others with religious requirements but did nothing to help them, verse 46. Hopefully we remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We see it there. The rules of cleanliness prevented the Levite and Priest from helping a half-dead man. The rules became more important than showing mercy to a man. Similarly, their traditions had many regulations one what was considered work on the Sabbath. The Mishnah prohibited 39 kinds of work from sowing, plowing, reaping to making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying a knot, or putting out a fire, and lighting a fire. Some of these burdens went far beyond Scriptural requirement. In the modern day, a Jew is allowed to walk as many steps or carry as many things he wants to in his neighborhood on the Sabbath, as long as his neighborhood is enclosed with the eruv wire - a metal wire used symbolically to extended the property of his home. But when that eruv wire breaks, people can’t carry bags or push their children in strollers around their neighborhood, because it was considered work. So these laws made lives harder. And these rangers who crafted these laws were like government bureaucracies. They were never actually helpful. Their motto was not “Integrity, Service, Excellence,” rather it was “Obedience, Judgment, Disdain.”
But the irony was this. By behaving like this, they were exactly like their ancestors. In the Old Testament, God had sent prophets to rebuke the people. They were cheating each other in business, the rich were oppressing the poor, and government officials were corrupt. And in the midst of all this, they were still going to temple, giving their tithes, performing ritual cleansing. They relied on their outward performance. “Yes, we sin, but we also perform the rituals!” But when the prophets confronted them, they killed the prophets. And the irony of these Pharisees? They built monuments to these prophets when they were exactly like their ancestors. Perhaps they thought by building such monuments, they appeared spiritual, and it would cover their injustices. It’s like the Christian who lives an immoral life of being critical, hateful of others, who doesn’t minister to others, but waxes lyrical about the doctrine of the Reformers. And this is the Trojan horse in the church. You can’t imagine how many Christians honor such people with their strong convictions and knowledge and overlook their bad behavior. But if he truly understood the doctrine of the Reformers, his life would be overflowing with holiness and service. But no! He uses the doctrine of the Reformers to oppress people, elevate himself, rather than being transformed in true holiness.
That’s why Jesus said in verses 49 and 50 concerning this behavior of the Pharisees, they were worse than their ancestors. The ancestors disobeyed and had a form of godliness. These Pharisees not only disobeyed and had a form of godliness; they were undoing what every prophet had taught. Their ancestors were bad; but these were worse. They taught that such a form of godliness was enough. They were the ultimate epitome of hypocrisy. And if Jesus were to send them prophets and apostles, these rangers would kill and persecute them. The Lord even said in verses 50-51 this generation would face greater judgment. Why shouldn’t they? They had greater teaching and miracles from Jesus. The gospel was never preached as clearly before. There’d be the resurrection! And if they reject, they’d be guilty of rejecting the entire scheme of salvation taught from the very beginning.
This was the third woe that Jesus pronounced on them - their obscuring of knowledge and hindering of life. These law-experts were to be skilled interpreters of Scripture; they should’ve pointed people to the gospel. But no, they only pointed them to formal religion. Verse 52 - “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” The phrase “key of knowledge” is pregnant with meaning. A key unlocks a door so people can go in. And what it unlocks here is knowledge - the knowledge of eternal life. So they should’ve taught the gospel so people would enter into eternal life. But they didn’t. Not only didn’t they have eternal life, they were preventing people from having eternal life by their teaching.
Beloved in Christ, this can happen in the Christian church today. We see it the prosperity gospel - the gospel is not Christ saving us from hell - it’s Christ saving us from poverty. The motive is greed. The hyper grace gospel is also damning - it locks the kingdom by saying that God is all gracious and we need never repent anymore - that all sins and ungodliness are forgiven - leading to a loose, greedy life. These doctrines become the means of cleansing - but they don’t cleanse. But we Reformed have our own version. Salvation by knowledge at worst, or respectability by knowledge at the least - which is bad enough. To be satisfied because we can make a good and well-orbed confession. And sometimes because of rangers of such doctrine, we’re never allowed to forget them. Which is not a bad thing. But if it’s not accompanied by godliness, holiness, and outflow of love characterized by long-suffering, kingdom focus (not self-focus) - then such gatekeeping is dangerous. The impression is often fostered that that’s all that’s important. And it can create a hubris, a pride in us. We foster Jerks for Jesus. We chase after these things, rather than godliness. And this translates too into our catechism - how are we teaching our children? To seek after Christ, or simply to know about Christ?
It’s important to consider whether we’ve been imbalanced. Because this can be the very Trojan horse - that looks good - but can destroy our souls. Will we who teach be guilty of taking away the key of knowledge, who are so eager to give knowledge? To be clear, the need for contenders is never clearer than today. Rangers are good. Let all be rangers - who are concerned for the truth, for the inward life, for Christ and gospel. To know that our woes were placed on him, who took that ultimate woe upon himself. All our hypocrisies, covetousness, outward religion - he has taken. So today, he invites us again to a true cleansing - not a washing of hands, but a washing of our minds and heart. To confess our hypocrisy, and from that renewed heart, let justice, mercy, and the love of God flow freely.
1. Christ’s Assessment of Their Outward Cleanliness and Inward Filth (37-41, 53-54)
A. Their duplicitous motives (37-38, 53-54)
B. Their root problem (39-41)
2. His Triple Woe on Religious Hypocrisy (42-52)
A. Precise law-keeping for show but a defiled heart below (42-44)
B. Oppressive requirements for the living but ironic loyalty to the dead (45-51)
C. Obscuring of knowledge and hindering of life (52)
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Mark Chen, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2026, Rev. Mark Chen
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