October 5th

Job 33:1-34:37; Matthew 23:1-39; Psalm 18:25-36

Throughout his ministry Jesus warns the religious leaders about their actions and it is so easy to read the words of Jesus when he was talking to the Pharisees and think “Yeah, shame on you, you hypocrites”. When sometimes we may need to look a bit closer to home.

Yesterday I was having a chat with someone who came to our house to do some work. He was a non-church goer who had been to a service and enjoyed it. As he was stood at the back he overheard a member of the church moaning away about how certain people (a particular ethnic group) had come in and taken over the church, changing it for the worse, etc etc etc.

^“27"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. ²⁸In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

The church might preach love, but do we always model it?

The most effective way that we can let people know how awesome Jesus is is to follow his teaching and live like him the best we can. I struggle to write this because I know all the things that I do wrong, but we also live in the grace and love of Christ’s forgiveness. The Pharisees weren’t bothered about all the stuff they did wrong, they thought it was ok. All Jesus asks is that we acknowledge it and just try to change, He deals with the rest.

If there is something that you want to lay down before God right now, we can trust that he will help us battle it. Jesus Christ, by His death and resurrection takes our sins away and makes us one with him. When we try to live like Christ then people will see Christ in what we do. He just asks that we try.