Hey Pharisees!

HEY PHARISEES!

And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.
Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”MATTHEW 14:34 - 15:2 ESV

DO YOU SEE IT?! Jesus the Son of God heals the sick. The long awaited Messiah brings deliverance to the captives and release to the oppressed. Glory and honor to God! The time of fulfillment is at hand. Israel's prayers are finally being answered. The long night of suffering is finally coming to an end. Jesus the Savior is here! The Lord is visiting His people.

The scene is almost indescribable. A man who was lame leaps for joy, dancing and skipping with laughter. A father holds his children in his arms and sobs uncontrollably: His blind eyes have been opened! For the first time in years, he can see the faces of his precious little ones. Another man shouts, "I'm clean! I'm clean!" His leprosy has vanished in an instant. A young mother falls to her knees in worship. Her daughter is whole again. The promised deliverer has come.

But that's not what these Pharisees saw. Jesus was breaking their religious traditions! "Your disciples don't wash their hands before they eat!" Who cares about miracles? Who cares about the mighty moving of the Spirit? Who cares about the tangible demonstration of the power of God? Who cares about all the desperate people being touched? He's violating our customs; He can't be from God. Our traditions go back for generations! Who does He think He is?

That, my friends, is a hypocritical religious spirit.

adapted from Dr. Michael L Brown's writings on the subject

How will you do in the same circumstance? When God shows up in mighty Holy Spirit delivering power but does so through people and in ways you were not expecting how will you respond?

Father in Heaven, may we have so much of your heart and love for people that we always rejoice to see them delivered and brought into your presence. May that be so whether we particularly like the way it happens or not, whether we "like" the person deliverance comes through or not, if it comes through a child, senior citizen, parent or teen, in a place that is not "churchy" looking, whether the person has a new suit or torn jeans and a ripped leather coat, whether they are clear skinned or covered in tattoos, whether they are black, white, brown, red, or yellow, whether they are male or female, whether they have gauge holes in their ears or no holes at all, whether they are using older hymns or whether it is rock n roll and "screamo" that I can hardly understand the words of, let me be mature enough to not be a pharisee letting my traditions become so engrained that I mistake them for your will....Dear Father may we recognize days of visitation and Holy Spirit anointing that are genuinely from you no matter who and what methods you choose to use!

Destroy the Pharisee spirit so that people may be free to serve and receive from You!

Wow.... with only one post in response my point seems proved and exemplified.

You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! Matt 23:24 ESV

mrkelly you have made quiet clear that you would not receive deliverance from the very hand of God if he chose to send it through a vessel that had any of the outer marks you consider blemishes. That IS a pharisee spirit. That is why in all probability you are now going to face an issue that you will not find deliverance over. God will eventually send deliverance... but through someone that you reject simply based on outer looks and your own prejudice. They are the hand extended to help you... but you have cut that part of Christ's body off. It is the ancient Jew rejecting deliverance simply because it came through a Samaritan. Same issue in our day. Therefore your answers will not come until you can change your heart to see people deeper than you currently do. I fear you do not recognize your day of visitation because it does not come through one you deem worthy. However, Christ's blood has made them worthy regardless of your dismissal of them. Jerusalem made the same mistake. I am sure you recall the scripture.

“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. Matt 23:25 ESV

You are obviously very concerned about cleaning the outside of the cup. You have posted many, many times about it on SI. Interestingly Jesus appears to have little to no concern over it as he never actually mentioned it once in the Gospels.

From your posts it is clear that you look a great deal on the outward man... but God looks on the heart. Therein you are damaging yourself by being so narrowly focused on the outward.

It is the most common of spiritual errors. Letting whatever traditions I have become comfortable with get so engrained that I mistake them for God's will.

The only defense a person then has, if they are pharisaically bent, is to say, "Well, if you were as spiritual as me then you would agree with me". Same ole same ole.

The Pharisees exemplified this when the man who was born blind would not answer according to their preconceived ideas. You may recall when they questioned him in John 9-

Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. John 9:32-34 ESV

Yeah....you don't meet our criteria. You have nothing to share or reveal to us. We have the answers and if yours don't agree then you are wrong. If you were as spiritual as us you would agree with us.

HOGWASH!

Jesus then rejected the spiritual know it alls and revealed Himself to the one no one else believed was good enough. He was the one who actually knew God far better. Same is often true today.

there is a lot of pharisaism and judgementalism going on here 2day. very timely post, solomon.

I am reminded of several years ago while driving to church, My old junky looking pickup threw a U joint, I was stranded on the side of a rual road between two towns both about 20 miles away.
All I needed was a wrench (probably about a half inch or so) I thought to myself, well this is fine, there are good churches in both towns and good church people driving by, some good christian will surely stop. NO, NO they did not.

You could tell by what they where driving by what they where wearing, were they were heading, many many confessing christians drove by, but they where into big of a hurry and probably to fearful to stop and ask if there was anything they could do to help.

What would bro so and so think if they made it to church a few minutes late or what about the reality that you just can not trust anyone these days, they could have been robbed of their precious Valuables.
Oh the many pharasical excuses that must have ran through their heads has they passed.

Well as the church crowd made it to church and I began to ponder how I would fix my truck.

An old junky pickup pulled up, a rough looking character (probably had tatoos!) got out and helped me, He was heading to work but his work was not so important that he could not stop to help someone stranded on side of the road.
This man was working on Sunday, not only that but he was working on the Heating and air of a new liquor store that was being built.

What a sinner, but what more of a neighbor this sinner was than all of those self rightous pharissees that passed.

by amrkelly

In nearly three decades the balance has always been knowing the love of God and knowing the righteous demands of God. It is not one or the other it is both.I have witnessed numbers of believers openly boasting in their former devices and thereby have they caused many to stumble because their boast was not in the end in Christ who saves His people from their sins, but in the flesh which made it necessary. Such an attitude is foolishness and demonstrates a lack of knowledge of the holiness and righteousness of God.

______________

Greetings

There is much in what you have shared here to pray over. I have felt conviction of late as I was retelling a story to another about some past sin. I stopped half way through feeling convicted and at once realized that the attitude of my heart was not brokenness for the offense I had caused to my beloved Savior but rather of boasting and even almost glamorizing what I had done. I had to stop in that moment and just repent to HIM and to the person for any kind of stumbling block my words might have become. You are right GOD does love us but HE also expects us to be HOLY as HE is HOLY...and by HIS strength one is able!

God bless
mj

proudpapa, we really should be careful not to set ourselves up as judge and jury over other men's hearts. perhaps ur assessment of these church folk was correct, but perhaps not. i'll be honest, if i am in my car w/my wife and daughter i do not stop of people stranded on the road. u just cant do that these days. perhaps these people that passed u were not headed 2 church, but perhaps a funeral instead. how do u know? if a funeral then i would not expect them to stop. ur sarcasm of these people reveals ur heart. instead of being scornful to those people (who's hearts u do not know), why not just be thankful 4 the one man who god sent ur way to help u, and just shut up about the rest? why after all this time do u even bring it up? it reveals a struggle within ur own heart with unforgiveness.

It is odd how clear that we can see the smote in our brothers eye but how difficult it is to see the beam in our own eye.

It is odd how clear that we can see the smote in our brothers eye but how difficult it is to see the beam in our own eye.

yes, exactly. thank you. thats exactly my point about what you wrote about those church folk. perhaps one day you will see my point.