Leaven of the Pharisees
We were talking in bible class recently about the life of Christ, in His Galilean ministry, and how the Pharisees were so foolish. The foolish thing was that they were scholars, teachers of the law, and they missed it. They knew the prophecies of the Messiah, but they were blind to Him being right in front of them. Their pride and hard-headedness kept them from seeing the fulfillment of those very prophecies before their eyes...
Friends, while we are right to call attention to their foolishness and condemn their pride & stubbornness, do we consider ourselves? Do we ask ourselves if we, too, are being just as foolish as they? They knew the law, they knew the prophecies, they knew the promises, they knew God would bring it to pass. Is this any different than us today?
We have something they didn't and that is God's complete, revealed word for all time. But because we have the complete revealed word of God before us and they didn't does not in any way excuse their behavior; they had the law and the prophets and Jesus Christ right before them - never, in the history of man, has anyone ever had a valid excuse not to obey/apply God's word, and no one ever will. God has always furnished man with what he needs to obey Him as He requires (2 Pet.1:3; 2 Tim.3:16-17). However, what this means for us is we're that much more foolish for missing it if we refuse to apply God's word to ourselves having had the blessing of knowing the whole story of those who have gone before us. When we fail to learn the lessons ourselves and make correction, we are just as foolish, if not more so.
We have God's word before us and readily available every day, and how many of us know it, believe it, teach it, tell others what they must do, but fail to properly obey it ourselves? How do we, having this all before us, still somehow miss it? When we fail to make the personal applications ourselves, just like the Pharisees who failed to connect all the dots, and we fail to put into action all the knowledge we have stored up then we are certainly being foolish and hard-headed and we will answer to God for it.
How many of us, like the Pharisees, are too hard-headed to fully trust and have the faith we should in the promises of God? How often do we doubt God by failing to do as He has instructed? How often do we say, by our actions, "No, God, that's not how it is, You have it wrong...I'm going to do this my way, accept it as righteousness, Lord." We condemn the Pharisees, but are we not worse when, having the complete word of God before us, knowing it very well (becoming scholars even), we choose to reject it? We, through our willful ignorance, reject the very word that will provide us with what we need to have salvation and lead us home to our Father.
While we set out to know, believe, and do as God has told us let's not slip into the destructive pattern of the Pharisees. We can be lost friends, let's be vigilant to keep from the evil one & not only know God's word, but be faithful to follow through and do it (Jms.1:21-25).
Friends, while we are right to call attention to their foolishness and condemn their pride & stubbornness, do we consider ourselves? Do we ask ourselves if we, too, are being just as foolish as they? They knew the law, they knew the prophecies, they knew the promises, they knew God would bring it to pass. Is this any different than us today?
We have something they didn't and that is God's complete, revealed word for all time. But because we have the complete revealed word of God before us and they didn't does not in any way excuse their behavior; they had the law and the prophets and Jesus Christ right before them - never, in the history of man, has anyone ever had a valid excuse not to obey/apply God's word, and no one ever will. God has always furnished man with what he needs to obey Him as He requires (2 Pet.1:3; 2 Tim.3:16-17). However, what this means for us is we're that much more foolish for missing it if we refuse to apply God's word to ourselves having had the blessing of knowing the whole story of those who have gone before us. When we fail to learn the lessons ourselves and make correction, we are just as foolish, if not more so.
We have God's word before us and readily available every day, and how many of us know it, believe it, teach it, tell others what they must do, but fail to properly obey it ourselves? How do we, having this all before us, still somehow miss it? When we fail to make the personal applications ourselves, just like the Pharisees who failed to connect all the dots, and we fail to put into action all the knowledge we have stored up then we are certainly being foolish and hard-headed and we will answer to God for it.
How many of us, like the Pharisees, are too hard-headed to fully trust and have the faith we should in the promises of God? How often do we doubt God by failing to do as He has instructed? How often do we say, by our actions, "No, God, that's not how it is, You have it wrong...I'm going to do this my way, accept it as righteousness, Lord." We condemn the Pharisees, but are we not worse when, having the complete word of God before us, knowing it very well (becoming scholars even), we choose to reject it? We, through our willful ignorance, reject the very word that will provide us with what we need to have salvation and lead us home to our Father.
While we set out to know, believe, and do as God has told us let's not slip into the destructive pattern of the Pharisees. We can be lost friends, let's be vigilant to keep from the evil one & not only know God's word, but be faithful to follow through and do it (Jms.1:21-25).
Thanks for dropping in.
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