“Be careful, Jesus said to them. Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 16:6
Jesus had just fed 4,000 people with just a little bread and fish. The people had been sent home and Jesus and the disciples left the area. Suddenly Jesus tells the disciples something that is a little different. He talks about yeast.
In the following verses, the first thought of the disciples had been about not having enough bread to feed the people. It was their first thought to focus on a mistake they feel they made.
They felt they should have had enough foresight to bring bread for food while Jesus was teaching. Jesus had never said anything like that. He was talking about the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The teachings of these leaders were ones of extreme legalism with no love or mercy. Their teachings were not fully in line with God’s word and plans.
Pharisees and Sadducees looked at doing all the rituals for God perfectly. Even in the Old Testament, God had stated that He desired mercy and not sacrifice. God had not changed.
Although, today most leaders in a church do not talk about sacrificing animals on the altar, there is much legalism being taught. Very often, in many churches, you have to live, act, and dress a certain way or you are not Christian.
There is also another extreme in the churches. This extreme is that God has not rules and is all about love and anything goes. There are churches that teach a person can be a Christian while living in a direct, purposeful, sinful lifestyle.
Acceptance of pornography, homosexuality, violence and false religions in the church is on a rise. Often it is masked behind the false premise of loving people.
You have to be on your guard against such teachings. These teachings are like yeast in bread, a little bit goes a long ways. Very little yeast can produce a large loaf of bread.
Small amounts of false teaching, spread quickly. It spreads because people like to hear it. It is not the truth of God and costs nothing (at the time).
Keep yourself in God’s Word. Keep praying for direction and wisdom. Stay filled with God’s guiding Holy Spirit. Do not allow yourself to fall for false teachings that look and sound good.
I pray today that God will guide you by His Holy Spirit; that God will reveal false teachings around you; that you will stay focused on the teachings of Jesus; that God will help you to be on guard against false teachings; and that God will use you to spread the true gospel message.
PHARISEEISM—IS IT LEGALISM? BY STEVE FINNELL
A favorite defense for those who do not want to obey God’s terms for pardon, is to label strict obedience to God as Phariseeism. Is Phariseeism keeping God’s law to the letter?
LEGALISM DEFINED: Strict and literal adherence to law.
Were the Pharisees guilty of legalism? No they were not. The Pharisees practiced illegalism. They were not legal.
Matthew 26:59 Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so they might put Him to death.
Is obtaining false testimony an example of strict adherence to God’s law?
Matthew 28:11-13…the chief priests…12 And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers. 13 and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and sole Him away while we were asleep.’
Is conspiring to bribe men to lie, strict adherence to God’s law?
Matthew 23:14[ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]
Was devouring widow’s houses an example of legalism or illegalism? Were the Pharisees literally following God’s law by devouring widows’ houses?
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law; justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
Jesus did not reprimand the Pharisees for their strict compliance to God’s law? No, it was the exact opposite. The Pharisees were neglecting strict obedience to the law.
THE LEGALISM OF THE PHARISEES?
The legalism of the Pharisees was because they followed man-made traditions, not because they followed God’s law to the letter.
Mark 7:1-7 …..5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the traditions of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” 6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips. But their heart is far from Me, 7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the precepts of men.’
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for teaching the traditions of Men. Jesus did not scold them for literal obedience to God’s laws.
Mark 7:8 Neglecting the commandments of God, you hold to the traditions of men.”
The Pharisees were not practicing legalism by strict obedience to God’s law. They were illegal for neglecting God’s commandments and keeping man-made traditions.
Is teaching what Jesus said in, Mark 16:16, being Pharisaical.
(Mark 16: He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved….)
Would it be a tradition of men to say that “has been baptized shall be saved?” No it would not; it would the words of Jesus Christ.
To claim that Christians are practicing the legalism of the Pharisees because they say you have to be obedient to God’s terms for pardon in order to be saved, is factually incorrect.
GOD WANTS US TO BE HIS LEGAL CHILDREN
ILLEGAL CHILDREN WILL BE LEFT WITHOUT AN INHERITANCE.
WHAT MUST MEN DO TO BECOME LEGAL?
A. FAITH: John 3:16
B. REPENTANCE: Acts 2:38
C. CONFESSION: Romans 10:9-10
D. WATER BAPTISM: 1 Peter 3:20-21
YOU ARE INVITED TO FOLLOW MY BLOG. http://steve-finnell.blogspot.com
Steve, I appreciate your input here. I am not trying to say that following the Laws of God completely is wrong in and of itself. Where it becomes a wrong is when following God’s Law is done in order to be saved or to look good to others or to look good to God.
Salvation is found only in belief in Jesus Christ, not in doing things. Our belief in Jesus is proven by what we do. This proves to others that we are saved and are a new creation.
Nothing we do will make us look better or worse to God. God loves us the same no matter what we say or do. Obeying all the laws of God will not make us better or worse in God’s eyes. Isaiah stated that our righteousness is just like filthy rags. The Pharisees did not see it that way. They wanted to look good.
Often the Pharisees would do things in order to look good. In this process love, mercy and grace were often ignored. This is the point that Jesus also rebuked them on.
Yes, very often their following man’s rituals were done and were rebuked, but it also was following the Law without the heart being behind it.
Jesus was all about the heart following God, not just the external rituals. A person can go through all the motions without having the heart in it. This is where the Pharisees were. We are to follow the Laws of God legalistically, but not for salvation or to look good. We need to follow them out of love for God and for others.
I hope you understand what I am getting at here. May God bless you and continue to guide and use you daily Steve.