2003-06-27
Good Morning Fellow Believers,
In the course of writing these messages, the Lord leads me to certain subjects He wants me cover. I continue looking at what the Lord teaches us in MT 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount) about who will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. In my last message, the Spirit directed me to write about the Refiner’s fire, the Refiner being God. Today, we must look at the issue of hypocrisy and how the Lord Jesus dealt with it. MT 5: 20 reveals His attitude about it. “For I say unto you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Who were these scribes and Pharisees? What is hypocrisy? These are the questions we must be able to answer to best understand this one of Christ’s teachings.
The American College Dictionary defines hypocrisy as “the act of pretending to have a character or beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not possess” or “acting on the pretense of virtue or piety.” A simpler way of saying this in the spiritual sense is the to appear godly, but not align one’s actions with the will of God. The Pharisees and scribes were members of that sect of Judaism in Christ’s time that insisted that the law of God be observed as the scribes interpreted it and had a special commitment to keeping the laws of tithing and ritual purity. They exercised considerable power on the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, and had a lot of popular support. They believed people should obey all 613 laws, as outlined in the Talmud (a book of rabbinical commentaries on the Law and Jewish culture). Only Christ Himself was able to do this. Unlike the other, less numerous sect-the Sadducees, the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead. The scribe, in MK 12: 28, who thought that Jesus had answered the Sadducees well concerning the resurrection was probably a Pharisee.
At one point some scribes and Pharisees demanded that Christ perform a miracle in MT 12: 38. Christ’s reaction to this is clearly seen in MT 12: 39-42. “’How evil and godless are the people of this day!’ Jesus exclaimed. ‘You ask Me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of the prophet Jonah. In the same way that Jonah spent three days and nights in the big fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth. On the Judgment Day the people of Nineveh will stand up and accuse you, because they turned from their sins when they hear Jonah preach; and I tell you that there is something here greater than Jonah! On the Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will stand up and accuse you, because she traveled all the way from her country [in today’s SW Saudi Arabia] to listen to King Solomon’s wise teaching; and I assure you that there is something here greater than Solomon!” Sadly, these Pharisees and scribes had no idea they were in the presence of the second personality of God. They just didn’t get it! The real lesson for us is that we must be accountable for what we believe.
Christ warned about the hypocrisy of these Pharisees in LK 20: 45-47. “As all the people listened to Him, Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Be on your guard against the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplace; who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts; who take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers! Their punishment will be all the worse!’” When Jesus warned His disciples against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees in MT 16: 11, this was a clear reference to their propensity to mainly concern themselves with form and ritual to the great detriment of the content of God’s teaching. “Guard yourselves from the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” Remember that yeast is a symbol of sin, separation from God.
When we examine our own lives, we must keep God’s will in mind. As I’ve written before, the lifestyle prescribed in the Sermon on the Mount is one that we can live in today’s world, even though it won’t be easy. We are assailed with people who look for ways to cause us to spend our money on worthless pursuits or scams. We are constantly exposed to TV ads and programs that try to sell sexual promiscuity as an acceptable practice. We are encouraged by our society to be materialistic. And yet, Christ says in MT 6: 1-2, “Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public so that people will see what you do. If you do these things publicly, you will not have any reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give something to a needy person, do not make a big show of it, as the hypocrites do in the houses of worship and on the streets. They do it so that people will praise them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.” Christ also tells us not to commit fornication or adultery. The shameful example of Jimmy Swaggert’s behavior and his empty public, tearful confession serve as a glaring example of hypocrisy. Can we overcome the temptation to be hypocrites? I say, “yes!” Here’s why. PHIL 4: 13, “I have strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your altar today to acknowledge Your mighty attributes. You are a wise, patient, compassionate Deity, Who has seen fit to guide us through all the temptations Satan places in our paths. PS 31: 3-5, “You are my Refuge and Defense; guide me and lead me as You have promised. Keep me safe from the snare that has been set for me; shelter me from danger. I place myself in Your care. You will save me, Lord; You are a faithful God.” You are a just God, Who will not allow for unrighteous judgment. That is why we can place ourselves in Your hands and know that if we endure in obedient faith, You will grant us eternal life. That blissful life will be defined by close fellowship with you forever. The apostle Paul wrote about the hypocrisy of the traditional Jews in his time in RO 2. You give us an important message through him in RO 2: 28-29. “Rather, the real Jew is the person who is a Jew on the inside, that is , whose heart has been circumcised, and this is the work of God’s Spirit, not of the written Law. Such a person receives his praise from God, not from man.” This goes hand in hand with Your teaching, through Paul, in RO 12: 2, “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by the renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God-what is good and is pleasing to Him and is perfect.” We open our hearts to Your wisdom, Dearest Abba, and offer You praise for caring enough about us to give us these lessons. Hypocrisy doesn’t lead to the justice that You want us to practice, Your kind of justice. You want us to understand that the results of hypocrisy hurt others and keep us from gaining Your Kingdom in heaven. We pledge to examine our lives this week to see if there is any hypocrisy in them. If we find it, we will get rid of it. We confess that we have sin still in us and dedicate ourselves to expunging it from our lives with Your help. We offer You our adoration, worship, diligence, loyalty, glory, honor, trust, obedience, thanks, and utmost praise. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
The Holy Spirit leads me to discuss the issue of righteousness as it relates to inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. We’ll take a second look at MT 5: 10 [KJV], “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for their’s is the Kingdom of heaven.” I can’t help but think about Christ’s Parable of the Sower in MT 13: 1-9 which He explains in MT 13: 18-23. When our faith is weak, we are like the little seed that fell on hard ground and couldn’t put it’s root deep enough to really nourish the seedling that would come from it. When our faith is in this condition, we can’t begin the process of shutting Satan out of our inner selves and opening the way for the Holy Spirit to take hold of our own spirits. Christ told this story as a wake-up call to all of us to examine the condition of our faith and take whatever steps we can to strengthen it. The way to do this is to 1) seek God out through daily time with the Scriptures, after asking the Holy Spirit to help us understand them first, 2) have an active prayer life, 3) have fellowship with other believers, and 4) learn from the circumstances of our lives. Our examination of our own lives is not to be with guilt, but instead, to be with an open heart and an attitude of readiness to make the changes necessary to conform to God’s will for us. When we do this, God blesses us abundantly. Our hope of the resurrection is fueled as is our confidence that God is an always righteous Promise-keeper and Covenant Partner.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn