Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees

                         

Happy Sunshine Ladies,

Have you ever had a thought come into your mind that seems to stay there? I have not been unable to get the thoughts about the yeast of the Pharisees out of my mind.

“Be careful, Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” Mark 8:15 niv

Let’s ask God to open our eyes to this truth.

Heavenly Father,

We want to glorify you in everything we do. We ask You to open up the eyes of our hearts so we can see with clarity the truth Your Son was giving the religious leaders of His day. We ask for a keen sense of understanding and discernment to recognize a good tree from a bad tree and see the good fruit vs the bad fruit. We ask that You would remove any self-righteous thinking inside of us and that Your Spirit would purify us during this time of learning. Help us meditate upon your word and truth. Thank You Father for sending Your Holy Spirit to teach us the wisdom of Your Son’s Words.

And it is in His name we ask this, Amen. 

Yeast in greek means teachings. We could say, “Beware of the teachings of the Pharisees.” 

In Matthew 15:1-20 niv,  The Pharisees and teachers of the law approached Jesus, asking him why his disciples did not wash their hands before they ate?  

Jesus knew their hearts and was many steps ahead of these religious people and answered them with a question, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? [vs 3]”

Their tradition was their will. Not God’s will.

Jesus quoted the Old Testament as He held these religious leaders accountable. He related [my wording and paraphrases]: “God said that when you do not honor your mother or father, and anyone who curses them must be put to death. But, you say, you cannot help them because whatever they would receive from you is a gift that is devoted or saved for God!” 

Jesus’s response to their corrupt hearts was, “Thus, you nullify [invalidate] the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 

They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” 

Is.29:13 

These people were supposed to be living by the laws, but broke the 5th Commandment: “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”Ex.20:12

I once met a lady in church who began telling me of her unhappy story about her present marriage. Her problems were not unique. As I listened, I was reminded there are two sides to every story and I did not get to hear his side. Here was the kicker: She was convinced that God had “His” man out there for her somewhere. In other words, she knew she had to get out of her present marriage because God had “His” man, the right man” for her to marry. Her thought life had built herself a “godly” case that included breaking her past vows and leaving a troubling situation [that with God could have been remedied] and into another marriage by nullifying the Word of God. She made God’s Word of: Ex. 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery” of no effect.   She was justifying her wants by saying “this is the will of God” like the Pharisees.

Another example is when a person works in a well stocked ware house and begins to help themselves out with the overflow by taking products home. Ex. 20:15 “thou shalt not steal” does not enter their minds because they are justifying their actions by saying: “God is supplying our every need. this is the overflow, they do not need it, nor will they ever miss it.” They nullify  God’s word and replace it with their own will.

I am sure you can think of examples of the yeast of the Pharisees for yourselves. 

Because the Pharisees teachings were corrupt, they were blind to the truth. 

The truth is, that all three cases were the result of not loving God. I believe  the teachings of the Pharisees goes against Luke 10:27, 28 amp: 

“And he replied, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor, as yourself.”

“Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; Do This habitually and you will live.” [ Le.18:5; Ez.20:11; Mt.19:17]

Quick factcheck: 

Do we go to church, just to make an appearance at times? 

And, aren’t there times when we pretend to love one another, yet the caring isn’t in our hearts?

How much do we really believe in God?

Do we realize our belief reflects our lifestyle? Especially when we are home.

God help us.

No one would do the things they do, if their love for God took first place in their lives. And, don’t we all have some of that blind self-righteous sawdust in our hearts that sometimes justifies our will over God’s will, that needs to be removed? 

Let’s Pray:

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for revealing our serious shortcomings. Thank you for showing us our needs. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would do a deep house-cleaning in our hearts, our souls, our thinking processes and anything we try to do in our own strength instead of yours. We choose to look to you for everything and see your will in our lives. Catch us from making any excuses or reasonings not to live in your will. We ask that you would remove any blinders necessary for us to understand your will.  We ask for help. Give us your discernment and will to follow through in the faith that you have given to us, making a new habit of honoring your  commandments of love. Help us to be a more loving and sensitive people who will glorify you. Sift our hearts of any wrongs and even unknowing sins that we are not aware of and expel them completely. We ask that our spirits would be a gentle and kind spirit, always reflecting your love. We repent today from any self-righteous false teaching and choose today to grow good fruit. Thank you Lord. In your son we pray. Amen. 

[I’ve been having computer problems. Thank you for your patience.]