Tag: Pharisees

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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 as 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 publically proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. This cleared away the beam from the eyes of any Pharisees 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 was 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 which 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), “And 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 else 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.”

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. 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 – causing them 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!

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It Is Astounding!

JULY 19

MATTHEW 6:22_The light of the body is the eye…

Once the eyes lose sight, light no longer enters the body. Light does not enter through your nose, your mouth, or your ears. Light enters through your eyes. If you want to be fascinated, take some time to study the process by which this works. It is astounding! Only a highly intelligent being – aka the Lord God Almighty – could have designed it!

You are called to be the Jesus’ light in the world. If you think of the human body as representing the world, salty-lit-up disciples of Jesus are the eyes.

One of my favorite miracles of Jesus is found in John chapter 9 (KJV). Jesus heals a man who was born blind. But, oh my goodness – He does it on the Sabbath! Jesus leaves the scene. Tattle-tales bring the healed man to the Pharisees. The Pharisees have a fit because the man was healed on the Sabbath. The Pharisees kick the healed man out of church (excommunicated). Jesus comes across him, “39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. 40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, ‘Are we blind also?’ 41 Jesus said unto them, ‘If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, we see; therefore your sin remaineth.'”

Jesus says you can have eyes which see, yet still be blind. How? Stay with us …

PRAYER

All Powerful Jesus, Praise You that You give Your light to all who seek You. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ gives sight to the spiritually blind—I can see!