Title Matthew 23:13-15 Hypocrisy and Lawlessness
Contents
Matthew 23:13-15 / Hypocrisy and Lawlessness
“In the same way you also appear righteous to others on the outside, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (28).
In 1453, Muslim armies besieged Constantinople. Constantinople could be said to be the holy city of medieval Christianity along with Rome. Even when the Balkans face a crisis of whether they will be ruled by Christianity or Islam for the next several centuries, the priests of the church will gather to see what color the eyes of the Virgin Mary will be, and are the angels male or female? , The flies drowned in the holy water, and we fought over the issues of whether the holy water was contaminated or whether the flies were sanctified. It's typical of eating out.
The hypocrites are like whitewashed tombs, on the outside they look beautiful and clean, but inside they are dirty and full of iniquity.
“He who has a form of godliness, but denies the power of godliness, turn away from such people” (2 Timothy 3:5).
“It is no wonder that even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Satan's favorite thing is eating out. Because eating out is the last tactic that blocks the way to heaven. Satan hates us to pray, read the Bible, go to church, and serve. But when you can't stop them, your last weapon is to indulge in eating out.
They make us hypocrisy in prayer and hypothetically read the Bible. They make church attendance eat out and service eat out. Here comes a believer like a Pharisee and a hypocrite.
The Pharisees helped a little bit and advertised it in a big way, giving their own condolences and liking to be praised, but Jesus hated these hypocritical Pharisees very much and rebuked them (Matthew 23:13-15). I am not looking for too much. We should serve a little and do not blow the trumpet for hard work, but look to God who sees and rewards in secret.
The most problematic thing about religion is eating out. Jesus did not rebuke the Pharisees because they were worse or worse than ordinary people. The problem is that while you are a leader, you rebuke because you cannot get close to the truth when you are obsessed with hypocrisy.
“And when you pray, do not be like hypocrites, for they love to stand in the synagogues and at the entrance to the streets to pray, to be seen by men. :5)
“You hypocrite, first remove the log from your own eye, and then you will see clearly and remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5).
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and debauchery” (Matthew 23:25).
The reason hypocrisy becomes a problem is because you are wearing the clothes of Christ and doing the work of Satan. This is Satan's way. It is because of eating out that it is difficult for us to distinguish and prevent heresy. Their signs are always orthodox, biblical and pious.
One of the biggest problems we have right now is that we want to be seen more than we want to be. You want to appear happy more than to be happy, and you want to be seen good rather than be good. Because it is in line with our Confucian tradition. However, due to this, the number of eat-out church members is increasing.
Eating out is like leaven, and it is the most dreadful toxin for believers because it does not just stay and it swells and spreads. In Peter's letter, one of the phenomena of the last days is hypocrisy (1 Peter 2:1). Therefore, we must not fall for Satan's hypocrisy.
It happened in a Catholic country. A taxi driver was picking up a female customer in the middle of the night and stopped in a shady place with no traffic. He got the woman out of the car and then took her to the side of the road and killed her. He then took the precious jewels he was carrying and threw his body into the river. However, he was arrested the next day. Police presented a bag containing the murdered woman's hamburger as evidence. When someone asked him why he hadn't eaten it, he replied: “Isn’t it Lent now? How could I, as a Catholic, eat that bread that might have meat in it? He was a glutton for precious stones and even took one’s life for it, and he was a staunch eater of religion.
There are people who have such a religion that pursues love and peace, yet they take other people's lives and destroy happiness. If we, too, speak of love with our mouths and hate our brother or refuse to show mercy, then again, we are essentially the same as murderers. No matter what level of faith we reach, our actions prove us.
“Those who lie with hypocrisy, whose conscience has been smothered” (1 Timothy 4:2).
Here are the lyrics of a song that older adults sang.
First, it is a disease of the world to think about the world even though it is a Sunday.
The second is that he is still lazy even though he is a chapel teacher.
The third is the jealousy of the brothers who believe, with a glance at each other,
Fourth, even sitting in the chapel, they are worried about their livelihood.
Fifth, when I went to the chapel and looked at the attendance sheet, the circle was full.
Sixth, he came to the chapel late and prayed without hesitation, which is why he was an eating out.
The seventh is a disease of drowsiness that comes to the chapel and sits nodding,
Eighth, the bible is the starvation because even hearing cancer did not receive grace.
The ninth is stinginess because it is a waste of money when giving offerings,
The tenth is that even after worshiping and returning home, thinking only of the world is a disease of the world. What bothers you the most when looking at yourself? Do you not believe in the living Lord and live in all kinds of worldly worries? Did you not get sick with these excuses and other excuses, often skipping worship services, being late even when coming to worship, and falling asleep during sermon sessions? Do we not hate and envy our brothers who should love each other? Even if you seem to attend worship services and pray well, you should also check if you are like hypocrites. We need to look at whether or not we are the ones who are not able to pay even the tithe that we ought to give to God.
I pray that all the saints will put off the mask of hypocrisy and hypocrisy that God hates and become honest and sincere saints.
* Prayer: O Lord, who delights in honesty, make my outward man and my inner man unite, keep away from hypocrisy and hypocrisy, and become a true lover of love. Let my lips be free from deceit and hypocrisy. Destroy the wicked who oppose your people with lies and hypocrisy, and show that you live. Lies are everywhere in the world. Do not let your people be stained by lies, and let them live honestly before God who sees the heart. In this society where other sects other than the gospel of Christ abound, we want to look to the Lord only. Grant God's discernment to follow only the teachings of Jesus Christ, who is the truth. We pray in the name of our Savior Jesus. Amen