Tag: Pharisees

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There Has to Be a Standard

SEPTEMBER 19

MATTHEW 7:4_and behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Generally, you think you’re always right. When caught in the wrong you cry, “Foul!” or, “Stop judging me!”

What’s in your heart? “It’s only wrong in your eyes. As long as I feel it’s right for me, then it’s right! Don’t judge me!” 

There has to be a standard for right and wrong, otherwise life is total chaos. If you find God’s standards to be judgmental, the devil agrees—“Those standards really don’t apply to you. After all, Jesus didn’t judge the woman caught in adultery. He let her get by, why shouldn’t you?“

John 8 (KJV): “3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, ‘Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?’ 6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him … 7 He [Jesus] … said unto them, ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her’ … 10 When Jesus … saw none but the woman, he said unto her, ‘Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?’ 11 She said, ‘No man, Lord.’  And Jesus said unto her, ‘Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.’”

Don’t miss tomorrow!

PRAYER

Holy Jesus, Help me build my life on Your standards. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.   

 Christ sets standards for life—He helps me follow them!

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A Big Stick

SEPTEMBER 18

MATTHEW 7:4_and behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

According to Zechariah 2:8 (KJV), God considers Israel the apple of His eye:

“For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me [an angel] unto the nations which spoiled you [Israel]: for he that toucheth you [Israel] toucheth the apple of his [God’s] eye.”

Paul saw Israel and the Jews as the apple of God’s eye. He saw Christians as a blot in God’s eye. He could not see the true blot—his own sect, the Pharisees.

God saw the fervor with which Paul attacked Christians. And because God sees the heart, it was clear Paul’s fervor came from love and devotion to God. It was that love and devotion which caused God to choose Paul (not the other way around) to become a two-fold fixer for His beloved Israel.

God used Paul’s great zeal to publicly proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. This cleared away the beam from the eyes of any Pharisee with a true heart for God. God also used Paul’s zeal to bring salvation to the Gentiles. The Messiah died for the Gentiles as well as the Jews.

Because Paul had been so far off the path, God used a big stick (discipline) to straighten him out.

Then God used Paul in an amazing way.    

PRAYER

Holy God, Please use my zeal to share Your truth. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.   

Christ chooses to use me in the world—I will let Him!

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The Point Is …

SEPTEMBER 17

MATTHEW 7:4_and behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Let’s begin to dig to the core of this whole judgment thing.

In the Apostle Paul’s view, he was doing God’s work when he persecuted and condemned Christians. He considered Jesus and His teachings to be far too radical for the Jewish religion. After all, they had the laws God gave Moses. To turn some of the laws upside down as Jesus did, had to be from the devil.

Jesus proclaiming He and the Father as one was blasphemy—to Paul. Merriam-Webster defines blasphemy as, the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God. Paul, a Pharisee, believed Jesus-followers should be annihilated.

The point is: Paul, especially as a Pharisee, should have recognized who Jesus was. It is understandable that Paul could have seen Jesus’ radical teachings as destructive to the Law— thus the mote. But it was Paul’s own beam which blinded him to belief in the physical presence of the Messiah. 

Paul was a fixer. Taking out Jesus-followers was his way to fix. Paul was also a disciplinarian, and his form of discipline on Jesus-followers was both brutal and deadly.

But God saw something in Paul that people did not see …

PRAYER

Messiah, Please don’t let my beams blind me to truth. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.   

Christ wants me to have 20/20 vision—In the truth!

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Powerful!

SEPTEMBER 2

MATTHEW 7:1_Judge not…

Mercy sakes, if there is any phrase that is overplayed in our time it is, “Don’t judge me!”

Judging was not a part of Jesus’ agenda.

John 12:47-48 (KJV), “47And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”

Judgment was a part of the old covenant. When Jesus taught this sermon He taught Law transformation. He transformed the Law with mercy. Jesus’ presence in the world is how mercy was added. This is how Jesus became the perfect balance of judgment and mercy.

Jesus did not take away judgment, He just added mercy. “48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

When Jesus went back to heaven He had dramatically changed the world. He did it in a radical salty-lit-up fashion. His disciples should keep that world-changing alive in the same way. So, if Jesus was more mercy than judgment, that’s the life for salty-lit-up disciples.

In the short amount of time Jesus spent on the earth, He affected the world in a way no one ever had.

John 12:19 (KJV), “The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him [Jesus].”

Powerful!

PRAYER

Almighty God, I want to follow Your example of mercy, not judgment. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.      

Christ changed the world—He calls me to!                                                                     

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The Light of Truth

JULY 23

MATTHEW 6:23_thy whole body shall be full of darkness…

What causes the whole body to be full of darkness? Evil. You can be totally blind, but still have light inside if your eye is single—focused on Jesus.

In the John chapter 9 account of the man born blind, Jesus pointed this out to the Pharisees. The blind man believed in Jesus and worshiped Him. Because of the blind man’s ability to know who Jesus truly was, he received sight. This was not physical sight (although believing faith has much to do with physical healing). Jesus had already given him that. This was receiving the light of truth—giving him freedom.

The Pharisees did not believe. Jesus said they were blind. Although they had physical sight, their lack of faith in Jesus caused their whole being to be full of darkness—holding them in bondage.

The evil eye sees double. It cannot distinguish truth from lies. An evil eye has stepped off the path and lost its light. Without light there is darkness.

In darkness you reach out, constantly trying to touch, to feel, to hold to something secure. You cry out, call out, hoping to hear a familiar voice.  

Perhaps someone will come and help you find your way back to the path—to Jesus!

PRAYER

Incomparable Jesus, When I am in darkness, I stumble.  Bring me back to You. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ is the path to freedom—I want to stay with Him!