February 14, 2021
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Matthew? Here’s today’s reading:
Matthew 23 (NIV)
A Warning Against Hypocrisy
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach...........Continue Reading
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
God sees our hearts. He knows our thoughts and our motivations. Jesus really shows His frustration with the legalistic Christian who does what appears to be right but the motivation is self, pride and hypocrisy.
“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Matthew 23:12 NIV
https://www.bible.com/111/mat.23.12.niv
Jesus instructs the disciples to observe what the scribes and pharisees say to observe, but not to do what they do. “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.”
Jesus goes on to point out the varying hypocrisies of the religious leaders. Their hypocrisies seem to flow from self-service, greed, power and pride.
Matthew 23
Matthew 23
Hypocrisy, looking better on the outside around people than we are on the inside and in private, is something we all struggle with. Here Jesus blasts the Pharisees for theirs and the legalism that accompanied it and he certainly doesn’t mince His words. Jesus was always most harsh with the legalists. They were the one who felt justified by their actions, thinking their religious behavior made them right with God and then sat in judgement on all those who didn’t do what they did. We need to be careful to not pursue the praise of people and to not live differently before different people. Legalism is a harsh task master in what it makes us on the inside and then how we treat people on the outside. We must embrace the grace of God and let it permeate our whole lives and let it be the reason that we pursue righteousness. Titus 2:11-12
11The greatest among you will be your servant.12For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.