27-10-2019
Matthew 23 New International Version (NIV)
A Warning Against Hypocrisy
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
Jesus speaks very strongly against the Pharisees. The Pharisees were aggressively at war with Jesus. They were watching what Jesus said. They wanted to kill Him. They were religious people. They had 613 rules to follow. They followed the laws and they were evangelistic. They were the respected people in the times of Jesus.
Jesus came and had very strong words for the disciples.
The yeast was considered a silent working of evil in that time. Something came and changed the original message of Jesus. It turned the power of the gospel into something else. The yeast of the Pharisees turned the gospel into another religion.
There's something that we got to do to get God's favour. The Pharisees brought religion. Must look right, talk right, do this and cannot do this.
Jesus is saying to the disciples, "Don't do religion."
Doing religion comes out empty and it comes out destructive. It becomes a man-made religion; something that man invents to reach God.
John 8:1-11 New International Version (NIV)
8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus came to bring love and acceptance to His people.
The woman had every reason to be stoned according to the law. Jesus said to her, "Go now and leave the life of sin."
God had already taken the action and the plan to salvation. The bridge to reach God has to be built by God. This God is a God of love. He does not point the finger in condemnation and sees the sin beyond the sinner.
Romans 8:1 New International Version (NIV)
Life Through the Spirit
8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
The love of God is received by faith.
Romans 1:16 New International Version (NIV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
Luke 15 New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
They were too heavenly minded to be of earthly good.
It is comfortable to be with like minded people that we have no more interest for other people. The Pharisees look at people as lost. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin and the Parable of the Lost Son. (Luke 15) The person lost is very important. Lost, but precious. Lost, but important.
There is much rejoicing in the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
When we play religion, we can get lost. The gospel turns into something that paralyses our love for others.
The Pharisees said the sinners are lost. But lost is something very close to God's heart. He's willing to go all the way for you. He died on the cross at Calvary for you and me. Because of that, we must take time to love. Let's just learn to love.
As leaders, look at yourself as a shepherd to the sheep. See from Jesus' eyes. Step out and begin to understand God's love. Lost has great value.
Go beyond our regular culture. When we begin to understand the heart of Jesus, we begin to do and act differently. The love of Christ constrains us to love one another.
Facebook and Instagram are not one's real identity.
Matthew 9:9-13 New International Version (NIV)
The Calling of Matthew
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The tax collectors were despised. The Pharisees had given Matthew the identity of a tax collector and a sinner. They only saw the worst of him.
But Matthew became a follower of Jesus. Jesus saw a man. He did not see a sinner. He did not see a tax collector. He saw a man created by God and a man who was able to understand the love of God, not useless nor despised. Jesus saw a man named Matthew. He saw Matthew at the tax collector booth. When Matthew looked at Jesus' eyes, he saw the love of God and the hope of God. God judged him worthy of dying for. He is a child of God.
God is love. God looks at you with love. Learn to look at one another in the same way. Not with anger, accusation nor condemnation.
2 Corinthians 5:14-17 New International Version (NIV)
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!
Doing what Jesus did is not a religion; doing what Jesus did is a relationship. DWJD requires us to be His disciples.
I am no longer a slave to fear; I am a child of God.
I am no longer a slave to sin; I am a child of God.
RELATED:
DWJD: The Applause of Heaven
DWJD: Jesus + The Pharisees
DWJD (ACLC 2019)
DWJD: Jesus and the Tired Fishermen or Which Fire Warms Me? (John 21:1-14)
DWJD: Go Therefore & Make Disciples Of All Nations (Matthew 28:19)
DWJD: Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
