James warns the church, doesn’t he? “For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in bright clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:2-4).

False teachers love the greetings in public places. They love prominence and public adoration. They love titles. Now in verses 8-11, “But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called instructors; for One is your Instructor, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant.”

We have to make some sense of this because there are teachers in the church, there are people who have been given the gift of teaching. We are even told to honor teachers, so when Jesus talks about instructor (rabbi) and father, we can’t take this in the absolute literal sense, because you have a father and a mother and that does not mean that Jesus is saying, “Don’t call your father ‘father.’” In fact, Paul refers to himself as Timothy’s father in the faith. Throughout then the New Testament, we are told that Abraham is our father. So that’s not what Jesus means here.

The second use of the word instructor in verse 10 is a different word than the word teacher in verse 7-8. In verse 10 it means a leader. This is somebody who serves as a guide, one who shows the way. 1 Corinthians 4:15 Paul says, “For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.” If what Jesus is saying is to be taken literally that you can’t call somebody a teacher or father, Paul violated both of those in one verse, so that can’t be what Jesus means.

We are also told in Hebrews “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” “Obey your leaders and submit to them—for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account—so that they will do this with joy and not with groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.” (Heb. 13:7, 17).

What does he mean then? This is about men demanding honor that belongs to Christ and to God. These rabbis demanded the honor and the glory that belongs only to Jesus Christ. We see what they were doing and in Matthew chapter 24 they were presenting themselves as another Christ. The Pharisees were saying that they were the way to God, they were the mediator, they were making a Messiah of themselves and their teaching. This was to take honor that belongs to Christ.

Don’t call anybody teacher like that! There is no person who can substitute for Christ. There are going to be other christs – don’t listen to them, don’t go out to see them, refuse to follow them, because Christ is our teacher. You see, there is honor that belongs to God. When we use the term Father, He says here, “Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.” This is to call somebody else into the place of serving where Christ is and where God is. It is to supplant the position of God and put a man in His place. To call one leader or guide. There is only one who shows us the way, and He is the Way.

When we think about this, we have to realize, these things in this regard are exclusive to Christ. Revelation 4:11 says, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” The glory belongs to God alone. We don’t share His glory in that way. The glory goes to Him. He alone is worthy.

Revelation 5:12, “Saying with a loud voice, ‘“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’” That should never be attributed to a man outside of Jesus Christ. He is the only one truly worthy.

Revelation 15:4 says, “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” Now, this is why we take these words, and this is why, by the way, we can look at its use and the first use that comes to mind, especially with the word father, is when we look at the Roman Catholic Church. The word for father, priest, abbot, and pope, all come from the same root word, and they all refer to father. So every step in the way of being a leader in the Roman Catholic Church, is a claim to be the father, and I don’t mean a father, I mean “The father.” For the pope to say he is the vicar of Christ, that means he is the person of Christ on the earth today. That’s what he means by that proclamation. So he claims to be the Father represented by the Son in his person as the pope in Rome. Jesus said don’t do that. How much more clear could He have been?

We need to remember who Jesus is and we need to remember the danger of men trying to put themselves between us and God. Here is the glory of the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer. It means as a believer in Jesus Christ, you through Christ have direct access to the Father and don’t need any other person to stand between you and Him. Now teachers are given to encourage us, to instruct us, to equip us so that we might better serve God. He intends that. He gives a spiritual gift related to that. But in no way ever in the history of the church should a man put himself between you and God. To do that is to be called rabbi, to be called father, to be called teacher in that way.

That’s actually blasphemous. It is to assume a position that belongs only to Christ. We have one Father in heaven Jesus says. That is how He taught us to pray, isn’t it? “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.’”

The Pharisees, like all false teachers, put themselves between the people and God. They thought that they had to be magnified in the eyes of the people to bring people to God. Jesus says that’s absolutely not the way this works. That’s dangerous. They are false teachers and they are doomed.

He says in verse 11-12, “The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” He goes back to what He’s been teaching in Matthew 18 and Matthew 20 before we got here. The first, you’re going to be last. The last, you’re going to be first. You want to be the greatest? Be like a little child. You want to be at the top of the list? Be a servant. You want to be a leader? Be a slave.

James 4:6 reminds us, “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” Do you want more grace? Not that we can earn it, but you want more grace? You know who God gives grace to? The humble. As you are humbled before Him, He pours out grace upon grace. First off, you have to have grace to be humble, and then as you are humble, He gives you more grace. Why? Because as soon as you realize how humble you are, you’re liable to not be humble. So He gives you more grace so that you can continue in that humility, that’s the heart that Jesus is looking for in those who would teach His word. Humility, dependence upon Him, knowing that it’s His Word that matters, not our opinion. It’s His law that matters, not our tradition. It’s the fruit, the life that He lives through us that matters, not what we can do and produce for Him. It’s what He has come to produce in us and through us.

Really what Jesus is saying, He’s saying, you Pharisees think it’s all about you, and you miss the point. Jesus says “It’s all about Me.” Say, how proud of you, Jesus? Well, yeah, He’s Jesus. He is worthy. He is glorious. He is holy. If any creature in all of creation, ever, if any being in creation, ever had the right to be proud, it’s God, isn’t it? And how does God demonstrate that? By wanting His glory to be magnified. And that’s what we’re called to do. That in everything, we do it all for the glory of God.

This was the Pharisees problem. Everything they did was for their glory, not the glory of God. So here, Jesus warns the crowd. He tells them, listen when they preach the word, but don’t follow their example. They are hypocrites. They’re doing what they do to be seen by men. They’re stealing the glory of God, glory that belongs only to Him. This is the nature and desire of all false teachers. They, like their father the devil, want to sit in God’s seat.