A friend wrote me Friday and made a point that has stuck in mind all weekend. He asked a simple question that cuts to the heart of the matter of many avowed Christians today who also refer to themselves as “true conservatives”.
He asked me to consider how many people today would vote for the Apostle Paul (Saul of Tarsus).
Paul had participated in murders of Christians far and wide. He hunted them down with vicious hate and joyous fervor. He was truly despised and feared by the early church. So Jesus who was crucified due to Pharisees like Paul and suffered the Passion as no one has ever suffered decided to teach Paul a lesson by – Saving him???? Making him the greatest evangelist of all time???? Giving him the honor of writing a huge portion of the New Testament????
Huh?
Yeah
Christ’s way is different than conventional thinking. He is all about love, forgiveness – grace. He does not look at someone the way they currently are, rather what they can be through His saving grace. Jesus said He did not come to condemn or judge the world, but to save it.
I was delivered from drugs, alcohol addiction, crime, and a totally evil existence in 1970, and yet even though all of that occurred decades ago, there are those in some churches that will get up and leave when I give my personal testimony of those years of living through and enduring evil demonic oppression and later being delivered by Jesus. Indeed even today many well-known, nationally acclaimed, pastors will not even allow me anywhere near their pulpit as though I might defile it due to my sinful start in life.
To me this is reminiscent of the Pharisees.
So who were the Pharisees? According to Bible.com the Pharisees were the most numerous and influential of the religious sects of Jesus’ day. They were strict legalists and stood for the rigid observance of the letter and forms of the Law, and also for the Traditions. There were some good men among them, as recorded in the Bible, but for the most part they were known for their covetousness, self-righteousness and hypocrisy.
Hmmm . . . The most numerous and influential leaders in all of religiondom . . . Does that sound familiar? Pharisees were the religious leaders of the nation.
The incredible influence of the Pharisees among the masses cannot be mistaken. They were the most honored in Judaism at the time of Christ when He won the favor of the people.
“But the great crowd of people went on hearing Him gladly.”
But Christ was not like them. He would say things such as: He did not come to judge or condemn, rather He came to save the world. He denounced the religious leaders for putting “Impossible religious demands” on the people. In fact the Words spoken by Jesus in Matt 23 constitute the bitterest denunciation that ever fell from His lips.
It didn’t matter to the Pharisees, they were unrepentant, hypocritical, and more determined than ever to seek His destruction. In His final public discourse in the Temple, it was fitting that He should warn His disciples against the hypocrisy of these corrupt and wicked men. It is however to note that even while He denounced their spiritual blindness, ritualism, and wickedness, He stayed true to His love for ALL sinners and He wept over Jerusalem, and ended His discourse with a lamentation, addressed to the beloved but doomed city which had sinned away its day of opportunity.
So many are following the blind lead of modern day religious leaders today or simply have those same views themselves. Jesus warned of this Matt. 15:14 “They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”
He went even further in Mark 7:5-7 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
He even accused them of being whitewashed tombs, disguising their inner corruption: Matt 23:27-29 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. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Outward self-righteousness is the inevitable product of Pharisaic legalism. Jesus revealed their true motives: Matt 23:5 “But all their works they do to be seen by men.”
They were so filled with pride that they could not see that they would not practice what they had preached. In fact this was exactly what Jesus meant when He said “for they say, and do not do” Matt 23:3.
As I listen to the rants of good people who are truly disturbed by the evil permeating our once blessed and lovely land I urge everyone to consider that we are all under all-out assault by someone named Lucifer. We attack those individuals running for office that we consider to be less morally pure than us on both sides of the aisle with fervor and he laughs all of the way to the bank.
What is needed today is humility and a biblical worldview that reflects that we are all in need of God for we all have sinned and fallen short. This was the mistake for most of the olden day Pharisees; they could not see their own sin. We don’t need to continue their tradition. We need Christ and we need to pray for those pre-believers to come to know Him and refrain from the hate.
As an experiment ask yourself if you can in all good conscience right now stop what you are doing and earnestly pray for a political candidate who disgusts you and is the antithesis of everything you hold dear. Could you do this for Saul of Tarsus? If you cannot, then you do not understand the true meaning of grace.
As for me if it were not for Paul I would be the chief sinner. I know I’m a sinner and without Jesus would be doomed to hell forever. So would you, but don’t take my word for it. Listen to the Spirit:
Romans 3:23
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
May 2, 2016 – Click here to listen