One Is Your Master
“Be not called masters, for you have one master, even Christ.”
Mt. 23:10
These words,
spoken by our Lord during the last open discussion recorded between Him and the
Jewish leaders, took place during Jesus’ last week before His death, when the
leadership withdrew from such public discussion. The events as recorded in
Matthew, chapters 22-26, follow Jesus’ triumphal entry into
The Pharisees and
Sadducees had counseled among them-selves as to how to entrap Jesus with His
own words. But Jesus continually so
worded His comments in the form of questions so that some among the multitude
would take offense at whatever answers the Pharisees and Sadducees might
give. The Jewish leaders chose not to
give any answers but withdrew
from all further public discussion and began to plot behind closed doors as to
how to remove Jesus from the scene. (Matthew 22:46, 26:3-4, Mark 14:1)
Jesus then began
to speak to the multitudes directly and our key scripture is included in His
discourse about the Jewish leaders.
Jesus told the crowd to follow the teaching words of the Scribes and
Pharisees, for they sat in Moses’ seat and this was their responsibility from
God. But they were told not
to do what was done by the
leadership because their actions were hypocritical. He thus emphasized in His words that actions in obeying God’s commandments should
be motivated from the heart’s true desires and not from rote obedience to
ritualistic practices.
This admonition
was first given in Jesus’ earliest recorded sermon, the Sermon on the Mount,
when He stated, “Take heed that you do
not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward of
your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 6:1). The word rendered “alms” in this verse is Strong’s #1343 and is translated “righteousness” more than 90 times in
the New Testament, but only once as “alms.” In the NAS version, the verse reads, "Beware of practicing your
righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward
with your Father who is in heaven,” and similarly in other modern
renditions.
In this section
of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus specifies three general acts, all
illustrative of how we should conduct ourselves before God and man, namely,
1) giving material or temporal assistance (Matt. 6:2-4); 2) our prayer lives
(vs. 3, 5-9), denying the fleshly interests, but strengthening the
spiritual aspects of our lives
(vs.16-18). These are also illustrated in the model prayer Jesus gave to His
disciples as recorded in Matthew 6:9-13.
The emphasis is on avoiding
hypocrisy – which, seen in the Scribes and Pharisees, was in fact a piety
that was only skin-deep. Their actions were a veneer to cover up their
real motivation or actual heart attitude.
Jesus’
conclusion, when the spiritual leaders of
The word here
rendered “master” is Strong’s #2519
-- this is its only use in the New Testament. The Greek word actually denotes
several attributes and its unique use here is especially significant as Jesus
was defining not only His role, but also that of those who would be His
brethren. It has the aspects of a guide or teacher, an example and of one
who commands. We note first in this
verse, that His statement is that all His disciples are brothers -- none is
master over another, but all have Christ as their one personal Master. No person, called by God to follow in Jesus’
footsteps, is to look on another person as their head, leader or master!
We find many
scriptures that show the use of single instances of different aspects contained
in Strong’s #2519. For example, the
aspect of teaching or guiding is shown by one of Jesus’ followers when he asks,
“Good Master, what good thing shall I do
that I may have eternal life?” (Matt
On His last night
with His Apostles, Jesus set forth an example, demonstrating His teaching when
He taught the lesson of humility as He washed the feet of His Apostles: “For I gave you an example that you also
should do as I did to you” (John 13:15).
The disciples of Jesus down through the Gospel Age have sought to do the
will of God by following in Jesus’ footsteps and example.
As a Commander
or Leader, Jesus gave instructions
that came from our Heavenly Father: “A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved
you, that you also love one another. By
this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another” (John
The goal of
submitting to Jesus’ headship is demonstrated in yet another use of the word
“master” in 2 Timothy 2:21: “Therefore,
if a man cleanses himself from these {things} he will be a vessel for honor,
sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” The word here rendered “master” is Strong’s #1203 and means an absolute ruler. Paul clearly states that Jesus must be
absolute Ruler over our spiritual walk.
He continues by listing righteousness, faith, love and peace as
characteristic of those who “. . . call on the Lord out of a pure heart”
(v.22). We can rejoice that our absolute
Ruler and Head is governed perfectly by the royal law
of love as we strive to follow in His footsteps.
In naming Jesus
as their Master, His disciples frequently used a form with the connotation of teacher.
However, when Judas betrayed Jesus he also called him “Master.” “And
forthwith he came to Jesus and said, ‘Hail, Master;’ and kissed him” (Matthew
26:49). Here, however, the word is
Strong’s #4461, which means, “Rabbi”
and is so translated in most revised and modern versions. Perhaps in the use of this word, Judas also
revealed some of his own heart by using the title of honor that Jewish
religious leaders loved to hear!
Another instance
of the use of the word Master is
found in Mark’s gospel. “Therefore, be on the alert -- for you do not know when the master of the
house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or cock crowing, or in
the morning” (Mark 13:35). Here the
word rendered “master” is Strong’s
#2962 and is given more than 700 times as “lord”
in the New Testament. It has the thought
of “supremacy,” and is used, both of
our Heavenly Father and Jesus, especially in their roles as decision makers. Thus, the context is very important as this
indicates to whom the term is applied.
In this pass-age, it alludes to the glorified Jesus at His second
advent, which the scriptures frequently exhort us to watchfulness and prayer.
As we approach
the end of this age, it becomes more relevant that the only master in our life be Jesus Christ. We, like Paul, must be followers of Christ (1
Corinthians 11:1) and be ever watching in prayer, for these are perilous times
when all manner of temptation will be given in attempts to lure us away from
the one hope of our calling: “But realize
this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For
men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant,
revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable,
malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous,
reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; having a
form of godliness, but denying its power; avoid such men (who are)… always
learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:1-7). The Apostle Peter gave similar warnings in 2
Pet. 2:1-2, 3:1-4. During these times, we must be diligent in our study of the
Word and…“examine the Scriptures daily,
whether these things are true” (Acts
As we consider
these and related scriptures and focus on our Master, we see clearly that we
have but the one Master -- Jesus Christ, our Lord. We see Him: 1) As our Guide, leading and preparing the way by His example; 2) As our Teacher, expounding the
principles of righteousness in meaningful ways with examples for everyday
living so that we may do God’s will; 3)
As our Head or Commander, so we
may keep the commandment of true love, revealing our inner heart’s desire of
obedience to do the will of our Heavenly Father. Prayerful study of our Master,
in the Word with concordance in hand, will help strengthen our focus on Jesus
Christ.
By God’s grace,
strength and leading, we must daily seek to walk only with Jesus as our Master. He owns us; He purchased us with His own
precious blood. In our walk, we must be
alert for indications of hypocritical action on our part. We must also be watchful for indications of
hypocritical leaders or teachers, whose actions exalt self and not our Heavenly
Father. We must seek to purge self from
earthly characteristics that dishonor God and make us unfit for the Master’s
use. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and
in the strength of His might. Put on the
full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of
the devil. . With all prayer and
petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the
alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” (Eph. 6:10-11,
18). May we prayerfully and with full dependence on our Heavenly Father, seek to follow only One Master, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Guide, our Teacher, our Head, our
Master and all we will ever need! Amen
Herb Snyder