God's Mighty Men Pastor Shaun’s sermon this week was in the part of Matthew where Jesus is talking about the Pharisees and how much they were misleading the people. While I was following his sermon in my Study Bible – the explanations about the verses at the bottom of my Bible really got my attention…
Here is the first one:
“The Pharisees’ converts were attracted to Pharisaism, not to God. By getting caught up in the details of their additional laws and regulations, they completely missed God, to whom the law pointed. A religion of deeds puts pressure on the people to surpass others in what they know and do. Thus, a hypocritical teacher was likely to have students who were even more hypocritical. We must make sure we are not creating Pharisees by emphasizing on the outward obedience at the expense of inner renewal.”
This was me in the past – I was focused on being involved/helping in everything that I could do at church. I believed that my obedience was being extremely busy in Church and I wanted people to see my actions…. I was a really great Christian. I missed it by doing that – I lost my relationship with Jesus by paying attention to the Law as I seen it. It was something I even preached about and it was how I made sure that I was saved…. WOW did I miss the target.
Ryan wrote a blog recently about being free from the bondage of the law – it is a must read: https://godsmightymen.com/2014/01/20/from-chains-to-freedom
Then this was the second part of the explanation in my study Bible:
“It’s possible to obey the details of the laws but still be disobedient in our general behavior. For example, we could be very precise and faithful about giving 10 percent of our money to God, but refuse to give one minute of our time in helping others. Tithing is important, but giving a tithe does not exempt us from fulfilling God’s other directives.”
It took me a very long time to realize that when Christ came – it changed everything. He did not want a 10% tither – He wanted all of me… That included all of my time – possessions – gifts – monies —- every part of me. When I gave it all to him – then my obedience came easy and it became something I desired (Obedience to Christ)..
This verse was part of my morning devotional and the last part of it really explains what are actions should be….
1 Timothy 4:12 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
Bobbyg
