Are We a Pharisee?

 N.T.#367 "Are We a Pharisee?"

August 14, 2024 

Mark 7

LET IT GLOW

Dare I say that Jesus did not fit in with the religious leaders, the Pharisees and Scribes? His preaching was repentance of sins in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. However, their teachings were works by keeping their traditional rules as spiritual truth. They required everyone to do the everything the same way and their way. Christians are free to worship in spirit and in truth, Jesus the Savior. 

What a contrast: 

• The Pharisees took pride in showing their piety-fasting twice a week (Luke 18:12) Jesus ate with tax collectors and other kinds of rabble/wrong kind of people and on the wrong days.
• The religious ones washed their hands and containers every time they turned around. They elevated men's statutes alongside the Laws of God.(verse 4)
• The rejected the commandment of God so they could keep their own tradition. (verse 9)

Jesus did not sin by not following those Jewish traditions of the Pharisees. Afterall, He was there when the Ten Commandments were given to Moses. 

Jesus came right out and said the truth about those hypocrites-This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. (verse 6)

Are we honoring God with our lips only or with both by what we say and our lifestyle actions? Is our heart following Him? 

LET IT GROW 

What illustration did Jesus use for the Pharisees ignoring God's law and substituting their own tradition for it?

Honor your father and mother, but anyone who speaks disrespectfully of parents must be put to death. (verses 9-10) The Pharisees said it was all right for people to tell their parents "Sorry, I can't help you. I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you. This way you let them disregard their needy parents. You cancel the Word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. (verse 13)

Ooo. Those guys did not consider Jesus to be the Son of God so they did not care what He had to say. Right or wrong. They were the ones breaking the Law, not Jesus. What hypocrites!

Do we examine our own heart?

LET IT GO

I want to teach Your Truth, not my thoughts.

Keep our hearts near You.