Tag Archives: frauds

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – RELIGIOUS FRAUDS

Bible Study, ,

RELIGIOUS FRAUDS

“I’ve had it with you! You’re hopeless, you Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing every nickel and dime you get, but manage to find loopholes for getting around basic matters of justice and God’s love. Careful bookkeeping is commendable but basics are required.” Luke 11:42.

Jesus’ perspective on what is important to God is very different from ours. Every man-made religion considers what we do more important than what we are. The gods of human imagination always require rule-keeping and rituals as the way to gain the god’s favour and get what we want.

Does it really matter who or what we worship as long as we worship something? It is in the basic nature of humans to worship and to pray. We are incomplete without allegiance to a higher power. To many people, sincerity is the most important ingredient in our worship. “It doesn’t matter who you worship, as long as you are sincere.” they say.

This is flawed thinking because every action in life has consequences. It does matter who or what we worship because we become like the thing we worship. What we embrace as the source of our life, we embrace as what we value and where we end.

The tragedy about the gods of human imagination is that they inevitably reflect the worst of human nature; cruel, heartless, demanding, unpredictable and unstable. Worst of all is that they do not exist but are the deception of demons to entice us to worship Satan.

Whether people bow down to idols of wood or stone or some invisible ‘god’ some human being told them to worship, the outcome is the same – behaviour that says one thing but hearts that are still rotten to the core.

What is God’s remedy for this terrible dead end? A heart transplant. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you…” Ezekiel 36:26,27a (NIV). Can God make good on His word? Yes! The evidence of a changed heart is a changed disposition.

Jesus’ quarrel with the Pharisees was that their religion was a cover-up for greed and wickedness and the people thought they were ‘holy’! They lived double lives, hypocrites playing to the crowd, but underneath they were worse than the tax-collectors, prostitutes and ‘sinners’ whom they despised.

Jesus was more comfortable with the outcasts because they had no reason to pretend. God cannot do anything for ‘holy’ people, those whose religious cloak keeps Him out. He is near to those who know they cannot pretend with Him. He can change the hearts of those who know their need but He can do nothing for those who think they are okay.

No matter what the barrier is between us and the only true God, only one thing will give us access to Him – to admit that we were deceived and to believe what He says.

The God-Season

Christian Life, , ,

THE GOD-SEASON

“Then He turned to the crowd: ‘When you see clouds coming in from the west, you say, ‘Storm’s coming’ – and you’re right. And when the wind comes out of the south, you say, ‘This’ll be a hot one’ – and you’re right. Frauds! You know how to tell a change in the weather, so don’t tell me you can’t tell a change in the season, the God-season we’re in right now.'” Luke 12:54-56 (The Message).

What was the God-season of which Jesus spoke? For four hundred and thirty years, God had been silent and apparently inactive. But behind the scenes He had been preparing both His people and the world for the moment when He would break into the earthly scene with His personal and final revelation of Himself.

His appearance ushered in a new revelation of His nature: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 (NIV). Over the centuries, the people’s understanding of God had been eroded away until they perceived Him as one who was legalistic and only appeased by strict adherence to a rigid code of conduct, mostly rules that their own rabbis has superimposed on God’s prescribed way of living.

Jesus came to show His people that the Father is not like that at all. The essence of God’s nature is a loving Father who passionately longs for fellowship and oneness with them. Jesus brought grace and truth to light by showing God’s compassion and mercy in His healing and teaching ministry.

It was truly a new season for His people, oppressed and harassed both by Rome and the devil. He came to teach them how they could live in a new inner freedom, regardless of their circumstances, because their restored relationship to God the Father as His sons and daughters meant that they were no longer burdened by rules and ritual. His death would free them from the bondage and power of sin to live in fellowship with the Father.

Tragically, the religious leaders refused to understand what He had come to do. They resisted His teaching; they blasphemed His miracles, attributing to the devil what the Holy Spirit was doing through Him and, at the same time, they accused Him of blasphemy because He claimed to be the Son of God. They chose not to examine the evidence of His claim and condemned Him to death for being guilty of being the Son of God and the King of the Jews!

Yes, Jesus came to usher in a new God-season of grace and truth, and has given the world an extended opportunity to return to the Father and escape the judgment we deserve because of our rebellion against Him. For two thousand years the Holy Spirit has been actively wooing and nudging people back to the Father. Jesus paid the debt of our sin so that we can experience the unconditional love and forgiveness of the Father. “…God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” 2 Corinthians 5:19 (NIV).

How tragic that millions in the world have heard the message but have rejected it as did the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, choosing rather to continue in their false belief system, enjoying their sin and not caring that there is a day of reckoning coming. “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” Hebrews 9:17 (NIV).

God has made provision for us to live in the eternal glory of His presence and blessing, but the choice is ours.

Religious Frauds!

Christian Life, , , ,

RELIGIOUS FRAUDS

“‘I’ve had it with you! You’re hopeless, you Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing every nickel and dime you get, but manage to find loopholes for getting around basic matters of justice and God’s love. Careful bookkeeping is commendable but basics are required.'” Luke 11:42 (The Message).

Jesus’ perspective on what is important to God is very different from ours. Every man-made religion considers what we do more important than what we are. The gods of human imagination always require rule-keeping and rituals as the way to gain the god’s favour and get what we want.

Does it really matter who or what we worship as long as we worship something? It is in the basic nature of humans to worship and to pray. We are incomplete without allegiance to a higher power. To many people, sincerity is the most important ingredient in our worship. “It doesn’t matter who you worship, as long as you are sincere.” they say.

This is flawed thinking because every action in life has consequences. It does matter who or what we worship because we become like the thing we worship. What we embrace as the source of our life we embrace as what we value and where we end.

The tragedy about the gods of human imagination is that they inevitably reflect the worst of human nature; cruel, heartless, demanding, unpredictable and unstable. Worst of all is that they do not exist but are the deception of demons to entice us to worship Satan.

Whether people bow down to idols of wood or stone or some invisible ‘god’ some human being told them to worship, the outcome is the same – behaviour that says one thing but hearts that are still rotten to the core.

What is God’s remedy for this terrible dead end? A heart transplant. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you…” Ezekiel 36:26,27a (NIV). Can God make good on His word? Yes! The evidence of a changed heart is a changed disposition.

Jesus’ quarrel with the Pharisees was that their religion was a cover-up for greed and wickedness and the people thought they were ‘holy’! They lived double lives, hypocrites playing to the crowd, but underneath they were worse than the tax-collectors, prostitutes and ‘sinners’ whom they despised.

Jesus was more comfortable with the outcasts because they had no reason to pretend. God cannot do anything for ‘holy’ people, those whose religious cloak keeps Him out. He is near to those who know they cannot pretend with Him. He can change the hearts of those who know their need but He can do nothing for those who think they are okay. No matter what the barrier is between us and the only true God, only one thing will give us access to Him – to admit that we were deceived and to believe what He says.