Be the Student

Matthew 23:1-12New International Version (NIV)

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

I have recently moved onto my next audiobook called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.  Full disclosure here: My intention when I started the book was to implement some of the tools mentioned to help my kids comply with my requests.  However, I am learning more and more about the ways I have been fooled or tricked into purchasing something that I didn’t really need or want.  In fact, as I listen, I often find myself frustrated because I can identify the tactics that different salespeople have used on me.  And trust me, they are implementing so many psychological tools that get you to purchase things you may not purchase otherwise.  It’s a fascinating topic.  As I was deciding which scripture to use for this morning, I see Jesus as someone who is also advising against some of the same tools that religious leaders of the time were using to “sell their product.”  

As an example of this, Jesus points to the phylacteries and tassels worn on the Pharisees clothing.  A phylactery was a small box that had the law inscribed on a form of paper inside them and the longer the tassels were on their clothing, the more distinguished the individual.  They were signs of influence and power within the religious community.  The people that wore these were looked at as teachers and looked up to by the community.  However, these folks often forgot the importance of continuing to be students.  It is ok to be a teacher and someone of influence but the education must never stop.  This was the point Jesus was trying to make when he said “The greatest among you will be your servant.”  This applies in all aspects of life.  We often forget the aspect of serving... Especially when we are hoisted to the heights of influence.  We often forget that truly serving others is the essence of who we are.  For without service, our communities and and societies will crumble.  We should be constantly educating ourselves on how we can better serve those around us rather than sitting at the “place of honor at banquets” and the “most important seats in the synagogues.”  

Being a teacher in any aspect of life means that you have gained wisdom and knowledge in a certain field and it is now your duty to share that wisdom and knowledge with others.  However, the wisest of teachers know that they are never done learning.  Jesus is making the point that true teachers are not really teachers or instructors at all.  They are really still students, continuing to grow.  It is easy to point out mistakes, to tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on the shoulders of others.  However, we must be willing to do something to help.  Without the service side of being a leader, the leader falls short.  It takes time, but it is so true that leaders never stop learning.  To be rigid and believe that you have mastered the only way to do something is faulty and misguided for we are never really teachers.... Only students willing to serve and help others grow.  

That is why I am encouraging you to be the student this morning.  Jesus is the greatest teacher and we aren’t capable of being a better teacher than him.  Therefore, our greatest role within the communities we work and live is to be a great student.  The author of the book I mentioned earlier says the utmost important thing in dealing with someone trying to influence you one way over another is to trust your gut.  If your gut is telling you one thing but your mind is trying to convince you otherwise, then that should throw red flags.  Within the context of Christianity, I would give the Holy Spirit the credit for this “gut feeling”.  Most likely, we allow our head to make the call and do not trust our guts or the Holy Spirit enough.  We have convinced ourselves that our brains are smart enough to see through the fog.  But this is not the case because there is a psychological battle going on and those who have perfected the techniques to convince your mind are definitely using them against you.  This is why trusting your gut, and the Holy Spirit, are so important.  When it comes to religious teachings, if anyone is trying to instruct you to do something that seems counterintuitive to what Jesus would instruct, trust the Holy Spirit.  When it comes to compliance personnel, sales people, then trust your gut.  The author says if you find yourself liking the person trying to sell you something more than you should for meeting a stranger a short time ago, then trust your gut.  For if you don’t, you will most likely purchase something that you were psychologically tricked into buying.  

I want to share a story about a man named Charles with all of you.  He had a pickup but had recently gotten a new job that required him to drive much further to work each day.  The only issue was that he needed the room provided by the crew cab pickup to transport three kids around.  He looked at many different vehicles and even pulled the carseats out to see if they would fit.  Charles was not having much luck finding the room needed in a smaller vehicle.  As his search continued, he finally stumbled across a pretty good deal in a vehicle he hadn’t tried yet.  Charles thought he would give it a try and the seats fit.  Now came the part no one likes to deal with... the settling on a price for the trade-in and a final price for the new vehicle.  The salesman sat Charles down and shot him a price on the vehicle.  Charles was very pleased with the price of the trade-in but his gut told him it was a little high.  Nonetheless, the negotiations continued.  All of a sudden, the financing was passed onto two different folks that worked at the dealership and the salesman was in the role of playing good cop.  After a while, one of the gentleman came out and said that the salesman had made a mistake on the trade value.  He said that the salesman had incorrectly input the mileage of the trade-in.  And not just a minor screw up but a hundred thousand mile screw up that dropped the value of the trade-in by half.  Charles knew that the deal wasn’t so sweet anymore but he had already committed to the car.  He was also convinced that the new value was probably more accurate without doing any checking himself so Charles convinced himself that this was ok even though the deal wasn’t as sweet as he initially thought.  All this time, the salesman is playing the good cop and portraying the financial folks as the bad cops.  After not accepting this add-on and that add-on the deal finally goes through.  Charles ended up with the car he wanted and still at a decent price but felt taken in the process.  

One day Charles was listening to an audiobook in his new car about the psychology of persuasion and realized the tactics in play at the dealership were all a psychological game that convinced him of the great deal.  Charles still likes his car but feels ashamed and embarrassed for the way it all went down.  As you have figured out, I am Charles.  I didn’t want to share that story with you but it’s necessary because I don’t want it to happen to you.  The psychological battle waged on me that day was enough to convince my gut and to skew the teachings of Dave Ramsey in the favor of the car dealership.  I thought I was prepared to make the purchase.  I thought I was the teacher and instead I was taught an important lesson in the dealings of psychological persuasion even though I didn’t know it at the time.  However, my gut was telling me otherwise in that moment.  Maybe you have been in a similar situation.  It stinks and you don’t really want to talk about it due to the embarrassment and shame so you continue living with the choice you made spending each day convincing yourself that it’s ok.  Don’t.  Continue to educate yourself in all aspects of your life because those around you are using these tactics against you.  Once you make decisions that either your gut or the Holy Spirit tells you otherwise, you spend the majority of your time justifying them and this only spins you down a rabbit hole that is nearly impossible to escape from.  Despite my pride telling me otherwise, I had to share this with you because I have an obligation to serve each of you and glossing over the ways the world is out to get you is not fulfilling that obligation.  Jesus is the teacher, we are the students so may we always be willing to learn. May we always remember the words of Christ, “The greatest among you will be your servant.  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Amen