That is one of the great theological questions that no one can answer. It’s right up there with, how many angels can sit on the point of a pin? Or, Can God make a rock so big that He can’t lift it. You may be thinking, Where in the world is this guy going now? Well, I am following up on my last blog. When I say, “Pharisee”, most of you reading this think about the people that constantly harassed Jesus. Those were the religious establishment guys in Jesus’ day. Jesus did not have a lot of patience with these guys.
Matthew 23
14Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer. Woe, unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity
Why am I mentioning this? Because we all have a little or a lot of Pharisee in us! Most churches have a little Pharisee in them! You say, “Surely you jest, not I?” “Not my church! Let me explain.
When Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, He was talking about their hypocrisy. They had rules for everything. They took the Old Testament law and added to it.
Do we do that today? Definitely! Let me give you an example! I recently was reading the bylaws and constitution of some churches as we are in the process of examining our bylaws and constitution at our Ann Arbor church. We are specifically examining the role of elders and deacons and their qualifications. Many of you are aware of 1 Timothy 3, where Paul is writing to his young protégée outlining the qualifications of elders and deacons. In that he says they must be “not given to wine”. He does not say that they must be tee totallers. Paul even tells Timothy in the same letter:
23And don’t worry too much about what the critics will say. Go ahead and drink a little wine, for instance; it’s good for your digestion, good medicine for what ails you.
Yet in one churches bylaws that I recently read, they say that deacons and elders must practice total abstinence. I guess they think that the Holy Spirit did not go far enough, we need to add a little. Sounds like something the Pharisees did. I could mention many more, but that is not my goal. I only want each of us to do a reality check as to what we believe.
You may be saying, “why is he picking on churches right now?” Well it ties in with knowing and trusting your Heavenly Father and His Word! He is the only one we can trust. Trust Him. Don’t trust religious people. They will let you down! I will let you down. I don’t want to; but I am not perfected yet.
We are afraid to take His word at face value. This started in the Garden of Eden. God told Adam not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When Satan confronted Eve she said that they were not eat of the fruit nor touch it. We don’t know if this is how Adam conveyed God’s instruction to Eve or if Eve added this herself. Regardless, that is not what God said.
We all think that we need to “add to”, “take away” or “explain away” from what scripture says. We all tend to have favorite scriptures that we pick out, rather than look at the entire work of Jesus and His Father’s word. We tend to ignore scriptures that don’t fit our religious theology. We make up our own theology regarding why we don’t see miracles on a regular basis! Is it any wonder why God is not blessing our church, why our pews are not full, why we can not meet our budget, why our young people are forsaking our churches!
We ignore the character of our Father. We have made up our own god to fit our self-made theology. We don’t do what Jesus told us to do. Why should people believe John 3:16 when we ignore huge chunks of what Jesus showed and told us
We ignore James 5:14-16:
“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. when it comes to anointing the sick with oil.”
We ignore Mark 16:15-19:
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
We ignore the sick among us. We spend so little time in prayer. We are too busy playing church! How much time and effort does your church devote to praying for the sick. This was a HUGE part of Jesus’ ministry. How did Jesus praise His Father? How did Jesus bring glory to His Father? He did His Father’s work! His work brought glory to His Father!
I love singing and praising God in song; but, I can find no example of Jesus doing this. Now, I do not want to stop doing this in our services; but, I think we should spend equal time praying for the sick and needy!
Be ware of the hypocrisy of ALL religious people, including those in your denomination, church, Sunday school, small group, or even within YOURSELF!
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