AUGUST 10
scripture reading: Matthew 23:1–36

Clergy Malpractice

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! (Matthew 23:13)

When I was a boy, my mother taught me not to call people names. And yet the sermon Jesus preached in Matthew 23 is full of invectives and name-calling! But notice that his verbal projectiles were carefully aimed at the scribes and Pharisees and no one else. Six times he called them “hypocrites,” and five times he calls them “blind.” Beyond that he labeled them as “fools,” “sons of hell,” “whitewashed tombs,” and a “brood of vipers.”

Reading a passage like this causes one to ask: What made Jesus so angry that he would resort to name-calling like this? The answer is obvious: Jesus was upset because the men who were supposed to teach the truth and care for the sheep were instead propagating half-truths and abusing those under their care. God’s house had become toxic, and its leadership was guilty of gross negligence and spiritual malpractice. This made Jesus upset, really upset. An examination of the passage reveals four ways to recognize a toxic church, four marks of clergy malpractice:

,,Hypocrisy. Six times Jesus calls the religious leaders “hypocrites.” The word refers to someone who is pretending to be someone else. In the Greek world, this word was sometimes used for actors on stage who wore masks, playing as if they were someone else. The scribes and Pharisees pretended to be holy toward God and loving toward others. But it wasn’t true. Jesus hit the nail on the head when he observed, “They preach, but do not practice” (v. 3). Jesus knew that the greatest obstacle to faith in the world was not the prostitutes and thieves on the outside of the church, but the phonies on the inside!

,. Performance-based. Jesus knew that the Temple was meant to be a grace-based community where love covered a multitude of sins. Instead, the scribes and Pharisees had turned it into a religious workhouse where everyone’s actions were measured and evaluated by everyone else. “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” (v. 4). The message in abusive churches that comes through loud and clear is this: Try harder!

,. Image-driven. The scribes and Pharisees wore religious garments. They loved the places of honor at public events and the titles by which they were called. “They do all their deeds to be seen by others” (v. 5). But Jesus pointed out that, though outside these religious leaders looked shiny and clean, inside they were “full of greed and self-indulgence” (v. 25). They were like white- washed tombs, beautiful on the outside but inside “full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness” (v. 27). In a toxic church, the key question is not, “What does God think of me?” but rather, “What do others think? How do I look?”

,. Distorted priorities. The scribes and Pharisees had forgotten to keep the main thing the main thing. Consequently they were tithing their spices (!) and yet had forgotten all about “justice, mercy and faithfulness” (v. 23). Ooops. In toxic environments like this, it is the sheep who suffer most. Their leaders, by words and actions, have literally made it impossible for them to enter the kingdom of heaven (v. 13). And those “converted” into such a dysfunctional community become “twice as much a child of hell” as their leaders (v. 15).

What about the spiritual environment in your church? Is it toxic? Is clergy malpractice occurring? When Jesus came across such a community he got really angry. How should you respond?

A Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.
—A. W. Tozer

point to ponder • Have you noticed any toxicity in your church?

prayer focus • Authenticity and transparency before God and man.