Jesus denounces religion that doesn’t reflect God’s heart.

Scripture: Matthew 23: 1-7,13,15,23-28 

Central Truth

The Pharisees were only concerned with following the law, and Jesus accused them of only doing so to gain status and attention. If this is our aim in following Jesus, then we are being hypocritical and are motivated by our own glory. All attention—all glory­—belongs to Christ.

Key Question

Why is it important for us to be authentic followers of Christ?

Keep in Mind

Students today crave authenticity in their relationships, in authority figures, on social media, and especially in religious figures. They’ve lived in a unique time period of superficiality perhaps unlike any other time period, which is only further perpetrated through social media. It’s hard for them to distinguish what’s authentic because it’s incredibly easy to be fooled by perceptions—filters and edited photos or videos. Jesus craved authenticity from His followers as well. Many students may feel even more connected to Christ when they realize He disapproved of superficial and inauthentic faith. Some students may have been burned in the past because of someone else’s hypocritical faith, but we can encourage them to model authentic, life-changing faith for others. 

APPLICATION

If someone modeled you in following Christ, would it make God proud?

THE WIN

FOR THE STUDENT: Students may not realize others are watching how they live, especially if they claim to know Christ. People are listening to their language and watching their behavior because they are desperate to find someone who is real. We can encourage students to strive to imitate Jesus so others can imitate Him too. 

FOR THE LEADER: Our students will model our behavior and our devotion whether we realize this or not. And students are also great at spotting a hypocrite—someone doing something for attention or for the wrong reasons. When we redirect all glory to Jesus, we model for them what it looks like to live for God’s glory rather than for our own glory.