Quick Note – Matthew 26:63-66 – Who Is Jesus?

Matthew 26:63-66 – 63 But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. 66 What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.”

There is a saying that goes, “You cannot believe that Jesus is good and not believe that He is God.  He must either be 1) good and God, 2) a lunatic, or 3) an evil person.”  You may ask why it is so black and white, but if you think about it carefully, the answer is apparent.  A person who claims to be God and is not, cannot be good.  He must either be delusional and believe something that is not true, making Him crazy.  Or He must be evil, intentionally looking to deceive others and make them worship Him.  So if you believe He is good, you must believe He is God. 

The Pharisees and chief priests in our passage chose to believe that He was crazy and evil.  In these verses, they asked Jesus if He was the Son of God.  And when Jesus said, “From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven,” the Pharisees knew He was reaffirming that He was.  Because they refused to believe that He was who He claimed to be – God, they tore their robes and appropriately condemned Him to death for blasphemy, because according to the law, this sin was worthy of death.  However, these jealous religious leaders were wrong! – Jesus is God.  And because of their wrong decision, they are looked upon as wicked men. 

However, we should ask ourselves whether we are worse than them.  Are we wavering between two opinions.  Are we trying to make Jesus good but not God?  Are we trying to say that He is a wonderful teacher but refuse to give our lives to Him?  If we are vacillating, then we are worse than the Pharisees.  At least, they were willing to commit to their decision to refuse God.  At least, they did what they thought was right based on their beliefs – however wrong.  Yes, they condemned Christ to death because of their jealousy, but they did act according to the law based on their false belief that Jesus isn’t the Christ. 

We must choose who Jesus is.  Is He truly the Son of God and Savior of the world, rightfully deserving your humility and your life?  Or is He an evil man, falsely claiming to be God?  Choose this day who Christ is to you.  Jesus is the Son of God.  He is the Son of Man.  He is the Savior of the world and your heart.  He died for you and rose again.  He is God.  But will you choose to make Him yours? 

Quick Note – Matthew 22:1-7 – Constant Invitation

Matthew 22:1-7 – And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

Sometimes, I just don’t want to attend a gathering or function; I would rather stay home and do some other activity that I would enjoy more.  However, if I want to maintain friendships and relationships I really should go, especially if it is to an important function like a wedding or business meeting.  There are certain gatherings you just cannot miss, like an interview for a job or a close friend’s wedding.  That is why you make sure to plan those ahead of time and get ready for them beforehand.  You make sure nothing will interrupt that schedule.  You make sure to attend the event. 

In our passage today, Jesus shared a parable to the Pharisees.  He told them about a wedding feast being thrown by a king.  The king invited many of his servants with much prior notice to attend this feast.  However, rather than making the time for the feast, these servants ignored the request.  When the time came for them to attend, the king sent for them to come, but they chose not to come.  The king then gave them another chance and sent servants to request for their presence again.  And once again, they rejected the invitation and even beat and killed some of the messengers.  Because of their stubbornness and actions, the king then sent soldiers to punish and kill those who rejected the invitation. 

Jesus told this parable to help the Pharisees understand that that was what they were doing.  God had sent His Son to provide salvation to the world.  And rather than accepting that salvation and placing their faith in Him, they constantly ignored the invitation, rejected Christ, and even persecuted those who tried to get them to repent.  No matter how many times, God extended His arms, they rejected Him.  So Jesus was letting them know that if they continued in their stubbornness, their punishment would soon come. 

This parable can also be in reference to some of you today.  God has invited you, and every person on this earth, to join the kingdom of heaven, to become His children, to attend His wedding feast.  He has extended this personal invitation multiple times already through devotionals, through sermons, through studies in His Word.  Yet you like the servants in the parable have continued to reject Him.  But God in His love still continues to open His arms to you.  He still sends people your way to call you to Him.  He still pushed you to read this blog post to open your eyes to your need for Him.  He is still waiting for you to come.  He is still inviting you. 

However, one day that invitation will no longer be open.  One day it will be too late, and He will no longer call for you.  He will no longer touch your heart with His Spirit to get you to notice Him.  And that day will be a day of reckoning and judgment.  That day will be a day of destruction.  I hope that you will stop rejecting His invitation, that you will stop ignoring His calling.  I pray that you will receive Him as your Lord and Savior today.  Give your life to Christ now by asking Him to forgive you of your sins and to enter into your heart today. Now is the day of salvation.

Matthew 23:25-28 – The Sixth and Seventh Woe to the Pharisees

Matthew 23:25-28 – “25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

I have never worked at a restaurant, but I have been told one of the hardest things to do as a waiter/waitress is to put a smile on your face and pretend you are happy when everything in your life is literally crumbling.  I can imagine the difficulty of putting on that mask as your heart is tearing at you from the inside out, for I had a similar ordeal when my parents left me in Maryland for my internship.  That day I had to go into this new workplace with people I did not know, pretending that everything was okay, when my heart was longing to go home with them.  I tried as hard as I could to hold back my tears, but when they called to tell me they were boarding the plane and would see me in a few months, my heart broke and those tears flowed.  Fortunately, I was able to muster a little decorum and get back to work, but I wouldn’t doubt if all my colleagues knew that I had just been crying.  It was hard to put on that mask of happiness when my whole world was changing.  I am definitely not good at putting on a mask, because I am a person who wears his heart on his sleeve.

The thing is though most people are actually pretty good at putting on masks in front of other people.  Just look at all the celebrities who appear to have their lives all together but are struggling with depression and other mental issues.  No one would suspect any of that just by looking at how they are in public.  Take an example from reality shows like “The Bachelor” where some girls put on a mask of kindness, care, and love in front of the guy but then when he isn’t looking lash out at all the girls.  Look at all the politicians who say they are for defending your rights and helping people but are just in there to make the biggest buck.  It’s just a mask.  They look one way in front of one group of people and another in front of another group.  It is all a lie.  If only we could see what a person was really feeling on the inside, what they were really thinking, what they were really dealing with, then maybe we could actually know the person.  For what we see outside means nothing; what matters is the heart.

Jesus’ sixth and seventh woe to the Pharisees focused on this exact issue – the Pharisees appeared righteous, clean, and pure on the outside, but they were actually devils in their hearts.  They looked good but were full of “hypocrisy and lawlessness.”  We must remember that the Pharisees were the religious leaders of their day; people looked up to them to understand and teach the law.  They were held with great esteem and were likely treated the same way society treats actors and actresses today.  Nobody would have thought of them as filled with wicked thoughts and motives, when they seemed to uphold all the laws and traditions.  Christ rebuked them for this hypocrisy twice in these two woes, using different metaphors to help them get the picture.  In the sixth woe, He compared them to what appeared to be a clean cup and plate on the outside but were filled with unwashed filth on the inside.  He rightly accused them of being filled with greed and self-indulgence, for all they were concerned about was their wealth and power.  They cared nothing for the people.  They faked like they cared by creating additional laws to prevent people from breaking God’s laws, but they were really just placing burdens on them that they did not intend to keep either.  They acted like they wanted to find the Messiah, but they would rather reject Him if it meant power for them.  They acted like they loved the law but did not follow its foundation.  Just look at all the times in the Gospels that they would compromise the law to fulfill their evil deeds.  They would look for false prophets to accuse Jesus when it is clear that they should not bear false witness against their neighbors.  They would try to trick the Lord into entrapping Himself (which they never could do), which they knew was wrong.  They even took a part in putting the Lord on the cross, making them an accessory to murder if not the actual perpetrators, since they planned it.  They were appearing clean, when they were actually filled with filth.  They cleaned the outside appearance, but the heart was wicked.  The seventh woe compared them to white washed tombs, which appear clean and beautiful when looking outside but are filled with dead men’s bones inside.  According to Jewish law, being around the dead, would make you unclean; therefore, when Christ said this woe, He was basically letting them know that just like a tomb, they looked beautiful on the outside (We can all agree that some cemeteries look beautiful.) but were only filled with the dead and unclean inside.  To help you better picture this, think about the Taj Mahal; it is a beautiful piece of architecture, but it actually is a mausoleum for a king’s dead queen.  These Pharisees did a great job of appearing righteous, but their hearts were filled with wickedness, which Christ called them on by calling them hypocrites.

Although living righteously through our actions and examples are very important, what is more important is our heart behind it.  It matters nothing if all we are trying to do is use righteousness as a ruse to gain power or fame.  If all we want is to gain the attention and praise of people, then it is nothing but wickedness, deception, and hypocrisy.  Christ came not to teach us to live holy lives but to make us holy.  He did not come just to set an example but to change our hearts so we cannot help but be that example.  He did not come to give us new laws but to make us new creatures.  Unlike the Pharisees, who had to constantly try to upkeep their mask of righteousness in order to hide their truly wicked hearts, we as disciples of Christ have been given new hearts that are overflowing with Christ’s love and Spirit.  Yes, we must live for Him.  Yes, we must be wary of the example we put out in front of people.  Yes, we must do all these things.  But, first and foremost, we must make sure our hearts are right with God, for we can do all these actions, but if we have no relationship with Him, it means nothing.  But if we do have a thriving, growing relationship with Him, those fruits cannot help but come out.  Christ did not rebuke the Pharisees for being clean outside but for not being clean inside.  He wanted them to not only live righteously but be righteous.  As Christians, we must always examine our hearts and make sure that it is in the right place with our Lord.  That all begins with the acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior (for only He can make a heart clean) and moves into discipleship, growth, and Bible reading and prayer.  There is nothing worse than being a white-washed tomb or a semi-clean cup, for those are still dirty; so let us not only live righteously to be seen by men, but because we cannot help but do so due to what Christ has done in us.

Matthew 23:16-24 – The Fourth and Fifth Woe to the Pharisees

Matthew 23:16-24 – “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. 23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!”

I have been working at my current job as a lab assistant in a biological research lab for almost a year and a half.  At the start, I was quite hesitant to speak out and give my opinion on anything from lab safety to how a specific experiment should be run.  But as I spent more time there, developed my skills, and gained confidence in my abilities, I began to assert myself a little bit more and more, until finally, I acted almost like a pseudo-lab manager, handling the safety of the lab while taking a more involved role in planning and executing my experiments.  The only problem with that is that I had a tendency to “sweat the small stuff” or in other words, blow small things out of proportion.  This tendency to focus on the nuances rather than important issues gave me problems not only in my experiments but my relationships with my colleagues.  It messed up my experiments because it slowed down my work efficiency, for I was “too careful” with things that I often did not accomplish all that I set out to do, just because I was being “too careful” and in reality slow.  It also messed up my relationships with my colleagues because it turned me into an irritant who constantly gave them trouble over things that literally didn’t matter much but were “rules” for the lab.  I lost sight of the big picture of general lab safety and achieving the lab goals and got caught up in little insignificant details.

The fourth and fifth woe that Christ mentioned to the Pharisees in Matthew 23 focused on this exact issue – the Pharisees got caught up in the little details and forgot the overall goal of drawing people closer to God.  The fourth woe is found in vs. 16-22 and focused on the specific action of making oaths; people in that day did the same things we do now they swear by various things to indicate the seriousness of their oaths.  At that time, the Pharisees gave value to certain oaths and not to others; if the oath was by the gold in the temple or by a sacrifice given in the temple, then it was a serious oath, but if the person swore by the temple or by the altar by which the sacrifice would be given then it could be ignored.  They gave value to the gold and the sacrifice because it was holy but did not even consider that the things that made them holy were the altar and the temple.  Jesus rebuked them for this wrong placement of importance and corrected their viewpoint on oaths, reminding them that if they swore to anything in the temple then they were swearing by the One who dwells in it, and if they were swearing by heaven, they were doing the same as swearing by God, for heaven was His throne.  He was trying to help them realize that an oath is serious no matter what it was sworn by and should never be taken lightly.  Just look at how Christ’s words on oaths in Matthew 5:33-37, “33 ‘Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.” 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply “Yes” or “No”; anything more than this comes from evil.’”  Oaths if it could be avoided were not supposed to be taken.  The religious leaders lost sight of this and instead gave different weights to different oaths, a big mistake.  They got caught up in the details of oath keeping and lost sight that all oaths should never been taken lightly.  They looked to the sacrifices and money instead of to God and ended up placing glory and honor on the wrong things.  They missed the big picture.

The second woe the Lord directed at them dealt with the weight that they had given to tithes and offerings while ignoring the parts of the law that involved justice, mercy, and faithfulness (vs. 23).  Because they were so enamored with money and offerings and tithes, they forgot to focus on more important matters like showing God’s love and care for people and teaching God’s laws.  All they cared about was what they could use to line their pockets.  They forgot what Samuel said in 1 Samuel 15:22, “…To obey is better than sacrifice…”  Instead of teaching God’s laws to the people so that they could have a closer relationship with Him, they used it to gain power and money for themselves.  They basically turned the laws of God into burdens for the people instead of instructions and guidance for life.  Christ once again rebuked the religious leaders for missing the more important points; it was not that tithes and offerings were not important but that they had ignored the more important parts of the law about loving God and loving people.  They sweat the small stuff and lost sight of what was more important.  Christ summed both these woes up in vs. 24, “You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!”  He was basically letting them know that they were trying to fish out something so small while allowing big things to get away from them.  It is like trying to remove a fly from a pool when an elephant is sitting in it.  They were sweating something so small when they needed to concentrate on the big problem right in front of them, the attitude of their hearts.

We as Christians can easily get caught up in the little things and lose sight of the more important things, especially when we have been invested in the faith for a long time.  Just look at how so many of us are invested in our traditions instead of the Word of God; sometimes, we have even lost sight of why we do certain things and just do it because it is the way things have always been done.  We need to remember that the Christian walk is not about a bunch of Do’s and Don’t’s but having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  This is what we must emphasize when we disciple another person.  It is not to say that these things are not important but that they are less important than the weightier matters that the Lord places before us.  The Lord is not looking for more tithes and offerings from us.  He is not looking for us to sacrifice a bunch of our things.  He is not looking for the little additional rules we add to help prevent people from even coming close to sinning.  No!  God simply wants His disciples “to do justice, and to love kindness [mercy], and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).  We should never lose sight of this lest we become consumed with things of little importance.  To avoid that fourth woe, remember who God is and place Him first, nothing else; nothing else should ever be raised to His level and glory.  To avoid that fifth woe, remember Micah 6:8.  Let’s stop sweating the small things and start focusing on God.

Matthew 23:15 – The Third Woe to the Pharisees

Matthew 23:15 – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.”

When I was in junior high, I took debate as a class during my elective hour.  In this class, I was taught to eloquently defend my viewpoints by providing well-thought out arguments that proved the statements I was making.  Although I managed to get an A in the class, I wasn’t very good at it, for I did not understand how to logically defend my points while rebutting my opponent’s.  I thought that all I needed to do was find some ideas off of the Internet that would defend my case and put it together in a three to five minute speech.  But of course, with that attitude, I certainly didn’t win much of my debates, because I did not make the arguments my own; instead, I would just borrow and rehash some unfounded research.  I would not listen to the counter arguments very carefully, and I certainly had no way of responding back well, for I had not thought about what I was saying, I was just playing a record of someone else’s ideas.  If I had identified with whatever the issue was, turning a removed idea into a personal belief, then I would have certainly defended it with more rigor and care.

We can all attest to how passionately we will defend our beliefs/opinions no matter how trivial they may be.  There are times when we have almost thrown friendships away just because we don’t agree on a favorite movie or song or political candidate.  We will fight and fight until our “opponent” submits and admits that we are right and he is wrong.  This is even true in the church, for there are many denominational and “non-denominational” churches that will not even recognize another church that does not agree with every one of its “rules.”  Be careful to notice that I did not write the word doctrines, which should not be compromised but “rules” like how to handle church government or how communion is taken.  Occasionally, we even take our opinions and assumptions and turn them into doctrines like with the idea of the Rapture.  Some people believe that it happens after the Tribulation, others believe it happens before, and some believe it happens during.  Although we still don’t know which it will be for sure, some people will not move on the issue, holding to their own beliefs and treating anyone who disagrees with them as heretics.  There are issues with which version of the Bible to use to the point where some people say that if you don’t use a specific version then you aren’t a Christian.  These are all interesting things to discuss and talk about but should never be a point of contention in which we cause division in the church.  For the focus for all of us should simply be Jesus Christ and salvation coming from Him and Him alone.  Everything else is just toppings on the cake.  Sadly, too many Christians are too busy trying to make people converts of their opinions instead of disciples of Jesus Christ.

This third woe that the Lord spoke to the Pharisees was to address this hypocritical attitude that the Pharisees carried.  They were supposed to be the religious leaders of the day, teaching and encouraging the people to follow the Lord; but instead of doing that, they tried to convince people to follow them.  They wanted to create disciples of their beliefs not the Lord’s.  They were more concerned about creating proselytes of their opinion not the Lord’s laws.  Jesus reprimanded these religious leaders for losing sight of what they were supposed to do and getting caught up in their own pride, for it was pride that got them more interested in creating followers of them.  At that time, young students would flock to great religious leaders to learn from them.  They would sit under their teaching, follow them around, and serve in hopes that one day they would be able to take that same position.  This system led to many religious leaders becoming more concerned about getting more of their own students than teaching God’s laws.  Then those students who climbed up would follow that tradition and keep on escalating this new sect instead of lifting up the name of God.  Eventually, they formed groups like Pharisees and Sadducees and Herodians.  They became followers of tradition than God.  Christ at one point even said, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3).  They were more concerned about washing hands and following their additional laws and keeping their traditions than teaching people how to have a relationship with God.  It became about them not God.

We as disciples of Jesus Christ must take a note from this passage and watch our own hearts when we make disciples, for we can easily get caught up trying to create converts of our own opinion instead of followers of God.  We must always remember to point people to Jesus Christ not ourselves, especially when we are involved with more public roles of ministry.  Paul made it a point to preach nothing else but Christ crucified.  He kept his speech from beautiful oratory, so that people will look to Christ not to himself.  That is not to say that we should not speak well, but that we must keep in mind that our goal is to glorify God not ourselves.  If people are starting to follow you instead of Christ, then you need to step back and let God have the limelight.  Let us seek to lift up the name of Christ not our own, lest we be found creating proselytes instead of disciples.