Passage
Matthew 23:1-12 (ESV)
Go, Stand, and Tell the Words of Life
Acts 5:17-42
Key Verse: 5:20
The Humble Will Be Exalted
Date: Nov. 17, 2015
Daily Bread
Key Verse: 23:12
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
First, hypocrisy condemned (1-7). The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were teachers. They should have served people with the word of God and prayer. But what they taught did not match their lives. Jesus told people to obey their teachings but not to do what they were doing. They made their phylacteries (leather boxes for scriptures) wide and long. They looked religious in the eyes of people but they sought human honor rather than God's. Jesus warned his disciples not to follow the bad examples but study the Bible and obey his words.
Second, the humble will be exalted (8-12). To exalt oneself is man's sinful tendency ever since Adam's fall. But we can learn to be humble and obedient to God our Father and to the Messiah our teacher. We are called to be servants who serve others. Jesus promised that one who serves will be exalted. We must learn from Jesus our teacher and from one another.
Prayer: Lord, thank you, Jesus, who became a servant of all. Help me repent of pride each day and learn to serve others today.
One Word: God exalts the humble
