Two Fridays ago, I was sitting alongside Lake Taneycomo, fishing with some other men from my church, enjoying God’s creation. Last Friday, I felt it far more important to post about the Pesina family and the dream that was developing to give them a home than to continue with my daily posting schedule.
Tonight, I find myself two weeks behind on my Friday Bible in a Year readings, and I’m playing catch-up, reading Matthew 23-28 and Mark 1-2.
Thoughts follow.
Matthew 23:1-4 (NIV)
1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Matthew 23:23-24 (NIV)
23“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Matthew 23:27-28 (NIV)
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 dead men’s bones 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.
Of all the people Jesus ministered to, Jesus was most harsh on the Pharisees. They were the religious leaders of their day… they were the ones who were supposedly holy and right before God… and they were the ones who were most deceived.
I wonder if Jesus were to come today if He would point to the church and admonish us as He did the Pharisees in this passage? “They do not practice what they preach.” “They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” “You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” “You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.”
I wonder sometimes if we have totally missed the boat with our particular brand of Christianity here in America. So often we build beautiful churches for us to sit in and worship God… and ignore everyone outside our stained-glass walls. If we do go outside, we search out people who look just like us, blind to the needs of those who need the Lord most because we’re uncomfortable that they don’t look and act just like us. And we wonder why God doesn’t bring revival to our land? How pleasing can our worship and offerings really be to Him?
I don’t mean to rant about the all churches and all believers… there is good there without a doubt. If anything, perhaps I’m ranting about tendencies I see in myself. It’s just that reading a passage like Matthew 23, I can’t help but wonder how Jesus would react if He came to America today and observed us for a while.
What about you? What do we need to do differently as the church to truly worship and serve God as we should? What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong?
Anyone?
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