Saturday Scripture Gold with Bibi: Beware Ye of the Leaven of the Pharisees!

"Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." -Luke 12:1

This week, I'd like to explore/discuss hypocrisy, and ponder it's importance in the lives of Christian believers. Of course, I won't be able to do much more than just scratch the surface here today, but if it gets us to at least think about it, then I will have done what I set out to do. Now, before we begin, I'd like share snippet of a sermon by Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon regarding hyprocrisy. It is as follows..."This age is full of shams. Pretence never stood in so eminent a position as it does at the present hour. There be few, I fear, who love the naked truth; we can scarce endure it in our houses; you would scarcely trade with a man who absolutely stated it. 

If you walked through the streets of London, you might imagine that all the shops were built of marble, and that all the doors were made of mahogany and woods of the rarest kinds; and yet you soon discover that there is scarce a piece of any of these precious fabrics to be found anywhere, but that everything is grained, and painted, and varnished. I find no fault with this, except as it is an outward type of an inward evil that exists. 

As it is in our streets, so is it everywhere; graining, painting, and gilding, are at an enormous premium. Counterfeit has at length attained to such an eminence that it is with the utmost difficulty that you can detect it. The counterfeit so near approacheth to the genuine, that the eye of wisdom itself needs to be enlightened before she can discern the difference. 

Specially is this the case in religious matters. There was once an age of intolerant bigotry, when every man was weighed in the balance, and if he was not precisely up to the orthodox standard of the day, the fire devoured him; but in this age of charity, and of most proper charity, we are very apt to allow the counterfeit to pass current, and to imagine that outward show is really as beneficial as inward reality. If ever there was a time when it was needful to say, "Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy," it is now."

Before we are saved through Jesus, we are sinners of the world, and we still tend to act like sinners of the world, too. Oh, we can be very nice, but only when things are going well for us.  As soon as something, or somebody, creates conflict with what we want, we stop being so nice, don’t we?

When we get angry with somebody, or say something negative about somebody, we are being ungodly and we actually choose to sin. As much as we try not to, we all do this from time to time. And yes, I admit, that includes me!

We are told to be compassionate, because all too often, Christians deal harshly with one another, and show no compassion at all. We are extremely critical of each other, and God despises that! We are told to be kind towards one another, letting our hearts be humbled by love. We are told to be gentle and show patience.

It has been said that one reason people do not become Christians, is because they see how Christians act toward each other. As children of God, we are supposed to have space in our hearts to care about others. We are supposed to give them more grace than we have given them in the past.

When we truly love Him enough to surrender our very lives to Him, we shall then find that peace that surpasses all understanding. Let Christ dwell richly within you; include Him in every conversation you have. Focus loving Him and in return, He will give you that peace. And that peace will enable you to show the love of Christ to everyone around you.

The whole point here today is to remind us that we are children of God; and as such, we must look and act like children of God. And, to be able to do this, there are certain things we need...

We need to be able to wrap ourselves in those characteristics that will show others who we are. We need to open our hearts so that we feel the love of God in our hearts; so that we can extend more loving grace to others. But the one thing we need before we can do any of that is - peace in our hearts. We need to be able to feel real peace. I think that is something very few of God’s children really feel.

It's easy for Christians to be seen as ‘Un-Christian’ in their actions towards one another because we still live in this world, and therefore, we still have some of those traits within us. The difference, though, is that while we are still capable of feeling and acting this way, we are able to receive full forgiveness for doing so.

And in that forgiveness, we must see the love God has for us, and the need for us to spread that love around to our brothers and sisters.

Scripture: 1 John 4:20; James 1:26; Matthew 7:5; Matthew 15:7-9; Romans 2:3; 1 John 2:9; Luke 12:2   

Now, let's pray...

O Father, give us the humility which realizes its ignorance, admits its mistakes, recognizes its need, welcomes advice, accepts rebuke. Help us always to praise rather than to criticize, to sympathize rather than to discourage, to build rather than to destroy, and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst. This we ask for in thy name's sake. Amen

Until next time...

Have a blessed week!

Bibi