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| “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees!” |
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“Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees!”
Jesus as Prophet did not spare the Scribes and the Pharisees of His time. He exposed their deeds and unmasked them before the very people who were the victims of these religious leaders. He did not give any message palatable to their taste.
Jesus could not tolerate “Phariseeism”, while forgiving sinners. In the 23rd chapter of Mathew, He rebuked them on their face, saying seven times, “Woe unto you!” He even called them, “Blind guides”, “Blind Pharisee”, “Whitewashed tombs” Hypocrites”, “Serpents, brood of vipers”.
The Scribes and the Pharisees had the misconception that they were upholding the Law of Moses. They in fact followed the Law of Moses in letter but not in spirit. They preached something, which they could not practice.
These days, there are modern Scribes and Pharisees in our churches. They preach what they do not practice.
They bind heavy burden, hard to bear and lay on men’s shoulders but they themselves would not move them with one of their fingers.
They quote the Bible verses and ask the parishioners to follow these commandments. They go on adding a list of dos’ and don’ts to the existing list of Old Testament commandments. But they will not help their parishioners in obeying the so-called commandments because they or their own children do not follow such commandments (Vs.4-5).
On Sundays, they long to make long sermons and love to preach, and not to intercede in their closets before God for their sheep. They do not allow others or the budding ministers to give sermons on Sundays. They make their debut only in the pulpits on Sundays and are missing either in their churches or in their houses the other days. They are thus not available to the parishioners who are in need of their prayers or counsels. They do not visit the houses of the poor parishioners nor do they visit the sick. They want their works to be seen by others.
They wear special dresses on the dais or in the pulpit but in their secret life they do not practice righteousness and holiness. (Vs.5)
They love the best places on the dais or in the churches (Vs.6). They love greetings in public places and in churches and to be called with suffixes or affixes to their names (Vs.6-10).
They do not want to serve their congregations but want to be served by their congregations by tithes and offerings. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant (Vs.11).
They shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. They neither go nor do they allow others to enter to go in. By falsifying the truth of the Bible, they present another gospel to the people. They preach that there is neither hell nor the Devil. They justify divorce and adultery. They do not condemn sin. They question the authenticity of the Bible and its translation (Vs.13).
For pretence, they make long prayers in prayer meetings and in churches. But they oppress the weak people and covet their money. If a single soul is converted, they make his new life in Christ miserable by binding a heavy burden on his shoulder (Vs.14-15).
They are hypocrites, as their inner life does not reveal their so-called righteousness and holiness, which they pretend to possess. They demand and prefer outward sanctification to inward sanctification (Vs.26-27).
They condemn and persecute the true and humble servants of God who do not dance to their tune (Vs.34-35).
We should raise our voice against the modern Scribes and Pharisees in our churches, and to unmask them. If we allow them to practice Phariseeism, we would be partakers of their sin. |
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Pastor, Thank you sooo Much for this post. I was just about to write a blog in regard to those who subvert hole houses, Comming from 1:10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 1:11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
It is a sad thing today to see people being guided by these types of people. I could say more but I shall hold my thoughts for now! |
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Jen |
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November 19, 2007 at 9:42am |
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| Another good word, Job. Our pastor just talked about this yesterday. |
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| Since the pastors in our midst are practising the old testament's levitical priesthood, we are facing this problem. In every church, you find this levitical priesthood system entrenched. One may praise his/her church pastor for his good qualities. But the fact of the matter is the entrenchment of the same old testament system. |
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DeboraJ |
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November 19, 2007 at 12:02pm |
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| Would you explain what you mean by "practising the old testament's levitical priesthood..." |
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| Yeah Job, I think much of the problem today is that the unruly, vain talkers and deceivers today by far outnumber those who will truly lead people to continually seek the narrow path, that is, Jesus Christ. So then, the problem is so large today that many who pastor wrongly do not even have "bad" intentions, but rather are doing as they think is right and as they were taught, at least I think this is how it is, maybe I am just really naive to the situation. Anyone who takes these people on by any way other than prayer, sure better prepare themselves for a fight. One should never underestimate mans visciousness when his livelyhood is brought into debate. Whole fields of science exist to justify college degrees, in the same way, one who questions a scientists "facts" effectively attacks his justification of his job, and better prepare themselves for much fighting. Righteous people rarely realize that it doesn't matter if they are right to the person whom they wish to correct, what matters to the person who they might present an argument is that their "justification" has been brought into question --- and they will continually try to prove you wrong, whether they know you are right or not. |
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| I love the way Job humbly and calmly "rightly divides the word of truth" when challenged in some of his statements on divorce and remarriage. He never gets flustered or defensive when a pastor tries to (unsuccessfully) make him look foolish and mistaken...because he is SO CAREFUL to know the truth before he speaks it...in love. (Tough love!) |
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Dear Deborah and Twinsfan,
Thank you for your comments. I now explain the concept of levitical priesthood below:
These days, we can see the image of a “popular” servant of God or a pastor through his ministry. Paul had a team of co-workers with him in his ministry. Even Jesus Christ did have the company of His twelve disciples. He did equip and send them for ministry. The Pentecost ushered in a body ministry of the Holy Ghost. The individual Levitical ministry came to an end when Christ died on the Cross and the veil of the Temple in Jerusalem was rent in twain from the top to the bottom (Mark 15:38). Those who have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb have been made unto God kings and priests to reign on the earth (Rev.5:9-10). “No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved (Mathew 9:16-17). We find today is the same old Levitical ministry but in new bottles. New cloth and new bottles mean the new dispensation under the new covenant through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Let us put on the new cloth by discarding the old cloth. Similarly, let us put the new wine of the gifts of the Holy Spirit into the new ministry of the New Covenant. The new wine should be put in the new bottles only.
Dear twinsfan, I thank God for your wonderful ministry of ministering to the people. As an individual minister of God, you may be doing some work of ministry by humbling yourself before God and man. Unless the pastor concerned developes and equips the other people of God who are in his church, his ministry of wonderful works may be short-lived. He or she has to build a body ministry of God's army or God's servants. A single pastor may not find time to visit the hundreds of the houses of his congregation. But a team of elders can visit the people who are sick, and who are at distant places. |
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Amen to your blog.
I can tell you that being divorced and remarried...I have struggled. I also realize that it was sin and confessed it as such. The Lord has done many miraculous things in my life, though undeserving by me. In 1995, He forgave me anew and changed the whole course of my life. I asked Him then, some very critical questions about forgiveness. He directed me to the book of Job, chapter 33. Another miracle. I would not be here today if it were not for His Saving Grace.
Thank you again for your request for friendship. I will enjoy reading and learning from what the Lord ministers to you to write.
Forgiven. |
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Dear Forgiven, I thank my God for saving you from the sin of adultery through remarriage after divorce. In fact I have been counselling many such remarried persons. Some of them have forsaken their unscriptural mates after coming to the knowledge of the truth. I have been contributing posts to the marriage forum in Crosswalk.com |
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Dear Brian, I thank God for your wonderful ministry which you are doing in a humble way. Just take care of the sheep under your care and build them for God's work. Job Anbalagan |
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