Title: The Snare (Matthew 22:15-22)
Contents Lent Special (6) - The Snare (Matthew 22:15-22) - Rev. Il-guk Eom
[Matthew 22:15-22]
[15] ♠Then the Pharisees went and discussed how they could entangle Jesus with his words. [16] ♠ They sent their disciples and the Herodians to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and truly of God. [18] He teaches the Way and does not care about anyone, for he does not look at people by appearance. [17] Then tell us what you think. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar, or is it impossible? [18] ♠Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said to them, “You hypocrites, why are you testing me? [19] ♠ He said, ‘Show me the rent, and he brought me a denarius. [20] ♠ Jesus said to him, ‘Who is this image and this writing? ] ♠ He said, "It is Caesar's." Then he said, "Therefore, give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." [22] ♠ When they heard this, they were amazed and left Jesus.
While meditating on these words, I wrote the entire sermon and then meditated again on verse 15. I want to focus on the words of verse 15 and share the grace. In particular, I came to meditate on the word [snares] in the midst of meditation.
Matthew 22:15 [discussing how to cause Jesus to be caught in the snare of the horse] The Pharisees seized Jesus' horse and put him in a snare... . - none -
The fact is, we don't see our inner motives. It is our characteristic to judge a person's appearance, the person's actions, and the appearance of that person. There are many times in our lives where we don't treat people with the heart that the Holy Spirit gives us, and we usually react to the things that come to mind. The Pharisees seem to be masters of a responsive life. The Pharisees were people who valued actions and rituals rather than beliefs and beliefs. Performance takes precedence over inner motives, and being conscious and obeying the law saves them, but with what kind of heart and spirit they serve God is the second issue.
We must guard against this formalism. We worship and approach God every day, but when we look at ourselves how formally this has fallen, there are many times when we confess that we are close to lamenting. When you see this, you come to think that the spirit of the Pharisees is not far away, but is within you.
Also, the Pharisees have a realistic tendency. They created, preserved, and kept the traditions and traditions of the elders to keep the law well. In the name of protecting the law, he made several provisions regardless of the law and taught that the law would be protected and completed as long as it was kept. These are the people who taught the comfortable life of faith that they could be saved by keeping the people within the provisions of the law under the pretext of being a staff for the ignorant people.
You don't know how sweet this is to us. Discipleship training is difficult. Why do we need to do hard discipleship training? I can't help but ask the question. However, it is the basics of discipleship that I have to go through this difficult process. But it keeps getting stuck on the basics. This is because our bodies seek comfort.
How realistic do we live? If you believe in Jesus, you must become a realist. However, I believe in becoming a realist who embraces God's dream. In that sense, the excessive realism of the Pharisees and the pursuit of comfort at the same time is a part that needs to be removed from within us.
The spirit of the Pharisees is to utterly prevent the spirit of revelation and the wisdom and power from above. They were people who liked to be grounded in experience and tradition. I hated trying new things. In particular, they were those who denied the power of God. While watching the work of God's power through Jesus, they accused Jesus of being possessed by a demon. If Jesus spoke of God as Abba Father and saw me, he had seen God. When I said, “Father and I are one,” I was offended. These people were the Pharisees. For them, the Trinity is not only impossible, it is incomprehensible.
Why did Jesus use so many sermons as parables? He was faithful to the principle that only God's revelation, God's wisdom, and God's power can save people. The Lord stopped the Pharisees. If you have this kind of spirit, it is difficult to enter heaven. He thoroughly opened the parable to those who are like children.
The Pharisees also liked to criticize. Judging by the eyes is impossible unless you are above that person. The Pharisees were people who loved to stand up and judge others by looking down. Through this judgment, all kinds of evil spiritual spirits of Satan were contagious.
The really interesting thing is that when judging others, the judging person can be happy with the feeling that something has risen. But after judging, the heart is troubled. Judging people is something to be really careful about. When we are in the position of judgment, we are put under the influence of Satan. Through this, evil spirits are contagious, and individual spirits become collective spirits.
The judging Pharisees liked to judge Jesus. It was the Pharisees who decided to kill him. Because of these people, the church cannot go forward, and it cannot be purified, but rather becomes more dirty and ugliness.
The purpose of the Pharisee Spirit is to ensnare the church rather than entangle it. Perhaps we need to consider whether we are not part of the discussion of the Pharisee spirit Jesus as a snare. We often make the mistake of thinking that we have control over our actions and words. We have the confidence that we can do it on our own will. However, if we do not pray to lay down our own passions and desires without nailing them to the cross, we will immediately fall into Satan's snare. This is the fallen nature of man.
While looking at ourselves, we need to pray that we can give our hearts and minds completely to God, keep us from being contagious with this spirit every day, and pray that if we have this spirit in us, wash us with the clean blood of the cross. The prayer we should always pray is the prayer of repentance.
We judge a lot of Jesus. [What you did to the least of these things you did to me] I pray in the name of the Lord that you have a day to reflect on whether you lived like a Pharisee who judges Jesus who said.