Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: Matthew

  • The Mirror of Hypocrisy

    The Mirror of Hypocrisy

    As I left the busy area of the mall wearing my brand new ‘Jesus’ tie I had just purchased as witness to family members far from Christ, I hurried onto the main freeway. Morning traffic was still dense, but I had time to merge; BUT the car in the lane next to the ramp was not making room for me.

    It breezes by as I braked rather than merging. The woman driver had a cell phone up to her right ear. She never saw me.

    So (of course) I followed my gut reaction as I squeezed into traffic behind her. As she blew by the ramp, phone to her ear; I tried my best to get her attention back on traffic with a long blast on my horn.

    And you guessed it. What was the first thing I noticed?

    Her bumper sticker:

    PRAY

    Yes, this brother in the Lord (with the log in his eye) noticed clearly this sister in the Lord with the speck in hers.

    I had to laugh. (And pray that nobody would notice that the car honking his horn had a bumper sticker on the back from his daughter’s Christian college.)

     Matthew 7:3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

    Want to witness to an unbeliever? (For they are hypocrites, too.)

    Tell them you are a sinner. I am!

    When I look in the mirror I do not see Christ; I see a sinner.

    Even unbelievers see the sins of OTHERS, including ours.

    Look in the mirror and remove the log of hypocrisy from your eye. THEN, confess your sin and witness Christ Jesus.

    Even the unbeliever will see clearly: the truth of your witness or the lie of our hypocrisy.

     

     

  • but from the beginning it was not so

    but from the beginning it was not so

    Teaching About Divorce

    3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”

    4 He answered,“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

    The question of the Pharisees is justification that could easily come from the deceitful tongue of an unfaithful 21st c. christian.

    ‘How can I get out of my marriage vows?’ one might ask.

    A ‘vow’ may be permanent or vows may have a clause of completion by a given date or event. Here is announced INTENTION of the marriage vow I made with my wife and she with me:

    DECLARATION OF INTENTION
    Pastor [sister in the Lord and mayor, Judith Piper] to the persons who are to marry:

    I ask you now, in the presence of God and these people, to declare your intention to enter into union with
    each other through the grace of Jesus Christ, who calls you into union with himself [as acknowledged in
    your baptism.]

    Pastor to the woman: 2
    Lissette, will you have Roger, to be your husband, to live together in holy marriage? Will you love him,
    comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him as
    long as you both shall live?
    Woman: I will.

    Pastor to the man:
    Roger, will you have Lissette, to be your wife, to live together in holy marriage? Will you love her,
    comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her as
    long as you both shall live?

    I will.

    Although we have spent some time in the Old Testament and marriage problems from the beginning, let’s take a brief look at the Law and perspective of marriage before these last days.

    As a reminder, a woman (virgin) was given in marriage from her father to another family, typically by agreement to the father for his son. (How different this is from the boiling emotions of attraction of the flesh of those choosing marriage in these last days as a confirmation of what has already taken place.)

    The Bible speaks to men, because by their authority from God men are to speak to and for the woman in their care and responsibility.

    For a brief look at this, see Numbers 30.

    Not only is it NOT Biblical that in most instances a man may NOT divorce a woman, it is NOT Biblical that a woman would even have the legal right to divorce her husband! (However, in these last days, the world and the church have allowed and condoned this.)

    Divorce by christian women ‘putting away their Christian husbands for any reason’ is all too prevalent and unconfessed by the church.

    A few startling statistics which ought to convict christians and those married claiming Christ:

    • Percent of men 15-44 years of age who have had 15 or more female sexual partners, 2006-2010: 21.6%
    • Percent of women 15-44 years of age who have had 15 or more male sexual partners, 2006-2010: 9.0% source

    I have confessed that the number of sexual partners in my life may be counted on one hand, but trends show that now many teens have had more sexual partners by their early 20’s, and that without marriage (in most cases), than I have had in over 40 years since first having intercourse (in my 20’s).

    • By age 18, 9% of women aged 15–44 in 2006–2010 had ever cohabited.
    • By age 20, 26% of women in 2006–2010 had cohabited, compared with 23% in 2002 and 19% in 1995.
    WhyGetMarried2Our 18 year old son will graduate from high school this year. These stats mean that 9 of the 100 young women graduates in his class have already lived with their boyfriend (possibly in the home of her parent).
    —
    I can guarantee you that our ‘christian’ sons and daughters (who often resist church participation at that age) are included in the parental hypocrisy of these well-hidden facts. (See the difference in christian marriages, below.)
    —
    In just two years, one of every four young women in his 2014 graduation class will be “in a relationship” with their boyfriend. (No need of marriage here.)
    One of four women by age 20.
    • By age 25, over one-half of women (55%) in 2006–2010 had cohabited. source

    So what is our Christian witness for marriage?

    We do not make a very good case for it by our witness.

    • adults (78%) have been married at least once, the Barna study revealed that an even higher proportion of born again Christians (84%) tie the knot.
    • 25% have gone through a marital split
    • In fact, when evangelicals and non-evangelical born again Christians are combined into an aggregate class of born again adults, their divorce figure is statistically identical to that of non-born again adults: 32% versus 33%, respectively. source

    Christian witness: Number of divorces is the SAME as non-christians.

    Continuing in what Jesus had to say to the Pharisees about divorce:

    Jesus said:  6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

    7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?”

    8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

    Is this not so with christians who divorce? Is this not so with christian wives who call themselves, ‘single moms?”

    9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

    And ought we also say, in these last days where the hardness of a woman’s heart will no more submit to her husband, than she will to the Lord:

    “Whoever divorces her husband, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

    From the beginning, it was not so.

    Marriage: to be continued?  … Next: Why Biblical marriage matters

     

     

  • Covenant and Truth – 5

    Covenant and Truth – 5

    I prefer the company of a confessed sinner to that of an unconfessed christian hypocrite.

    No witness is more damaging to the church than the loud christian proclamation of a hypocrite. The world hates true followers of Christ and the church, but unbelievers use these self-appointed self-righteous spokesmen for the faith as excuse to continue their attacks against Christ.

    Consider that since God has humbled Himself to come to us as a Son of Man in Christ Jesus, man must worship God in all humility. A hypocrite lifts him self or her self up for the witness of others, rather than bowing down to God and bowing down to the will of Christ Jesus as their Lord.

    The word ‘Lord‘ is used 7,836 times in the KJV of the Bible. It must be key to our humility to bow down and submit to someone else: God our Father, Jesus Christ, Pastor of our church, a wife to her husband, a worker to his boss. A hypocrite fails in these, pridefully claiming to follow while following none but their own passions and ways.

    In fact, Jesus hated the damage hypocrites do to the honor and reputation of God. Jesus spoke the truth of judgment against the hypocrites. To the crowds and multitudes who followed Him to hear His preaching, but did not show the fruit of repentance Jesus exhorted:

    “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? – Luke 6:46

    It is Master to slave or servant relationship.

    Followers of Jesus are slaves committed to do what Christ commands.

    Do you realize that Jesus said: ” whoever would be first among you must be slave of all,” beloved Christian servant (doulos)?

    A hypocrite does not live to serve, but seeks to be served, even by God!

    This was the position of those Jesus called hypocrites. He challenged their authority and motives; not by His own authority, but by the uncovering of the nakedness of the many sins of their constant hypocrisy.

    Matthew 23

    New King James Version (NKJV)

    Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 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.

    The distinguishing mark of a hypocrite: “…for they say, and do not do.”

    In fact, the hypocrite will say it for you, but will not do what they tell you.

    13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

    For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

    14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

    For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

    15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

    For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

    16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

    18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’

    19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

     

    Jesus is asking about the truth of purpose of the sacrifice to God. The altar is nothing, says the Lord; but the sacrifice to God is everything. And note Jesus’ instruction that we MUST PERFORM it. We must bear the fruit of our sacrifice in humility before God.

    Just because we swear by the place of God (or call ourself ‘christian’) does not mean that God will accept our sacrifice.  (Remember the sacrifice of Cain?)

    20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

    23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

    For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

    25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

    For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

    27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

    For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

    29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

    Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

    31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers!

    How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 

    So you claim to be a christian, but will not do?

    Then you will not obey Jesus Christ, as your Lord.

    Are YOU a christian Pharisee?  It is not a new problem for the church.

     Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people… 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

     Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

    Paul writes to Timothy warnings to be aware of those who will come into the church with false messages – a gospel of hypocrisy.

    Look around you at 21st century ‘christians’ and see truth in these cautions:

    Godlessness in the Last Days

    But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

    5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

    raised handsDoes your ‘witness’ to the world ‘have the appearance of godliness?’

    Do you  ‘praise the lord’ in the holy place and kneel down only in church, while you bow only your head and fail to bow down your heart to the Lord?

    Hypocrite!

    And what are the instructions to the church for those who come among us CLAIMING worship, but false christians refusing to do what Jesus commands as our Lord? Paul’s letter to Timothy and the church continues:

    Avoid such people.

    6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

    8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

    Later in his letter to Timothy Paul warns of another hypocrite who has turned from the true following of Christ:

    Preach the Word

    I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 

    The faith of a humble servant of Christ Jesus is an active faith.

    3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry…

    14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. 16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!

    Are you aware of the hypocrites who claim to be christians who are part of Christ’s church? Are you, perhaps in some way, one of them?

    Examine your own heart (for Jesus cautions that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees).  Reprove, rebuke, and exhort your brother in Christ (or your sister in Christ, beloved sister in the Lord), with complete patience and teaching.

    Let us make certain: in our marriages, in our families, in our workplaces and in the marketplaces of the city that we are not among those who witness against our Lord.

    Matthew 7

    15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits…

    21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

     

    Truth! Required by the Lord of His servants, His church.  Beware, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, of hypocrites among us.

    A hypocrite fails to yield the fruit of truth.

     

    Next: A light of truth on the covenant of Christian marriage.