In our sermon Sunday from Matthew 23:8-12 Jesus” But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus is responding to the hypocrisy of the religious. He is speaking for equality in the body, as the above verses indicate. The religious had put burdens on others, practiced religious acts for show and self-aggrandizement. They loved honorable titles, etc, etc ad nausea.
The warning here in reaction to the religious hypocrisy is that all men stand equal under Christ. There are some religious teachers who “think of themselves more highly than they ought to think”, and quite honestly they are some followers who think of religious leaders more highly than they ought to think. Many Catholics are guilty of pope, bishop, priest (“Father”) worship, but so are Protestant, “I am of Cephas, Apollos, Paul” “I am of my favorite radio preacher, pastor, or author”.
But this equality under Christ does not negate authority in the church either. The Bible does speak about authority all over the place: patriarchs, judges, prophets, apostles, elders, etc. Perhaps the best balance is that no one is to take the place of Christ, and when an authority figure in the church is speaking under the Lordship of Christ he should be respected and listened to.
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