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They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions,
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preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.'
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"Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates.
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Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven.
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And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them - Christ.
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"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant.
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If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.
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"I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God's kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won't let anyone else in either.
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"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.
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"You're hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, 'If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that's nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that's serious.'