From the Heart...

The Bible was written and compiled for believers. This should be an obvious fact. Non-believers don’t care about what it says except perhaps as a matter of literature. The history, the prophecies, the wisdom and the directives, (laws, statutes and judgments) were all written for those who believe God and seek to live by His will. He didn’t leave us in the dark. He gave us an instruction manual for life on earth.

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In the New Testament, or Greek scriptures, a great deal has been recorded about the practices of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Some see what the Bible says about them as merely a historical record. It is not. God has a purpose for everything recorded in scripture whether we know what that purpose is or not. The practices and hypocrisies of the Pharisees and Sadducees are pointed out for our edification. The lessons are for us…the warnings are for us.

This is vitally important for us to keep in mind because the mind-set of the Pharisees is still prevalent among believers today. There are many churchgoers who are more concerned over the minute dos and don’ts of the law than they are with the content of their own hearts. We’ve all known fellow believers that will debate the fine points of the law to no end. It’s even become common for some to refuse to fellowship with others over such slight differences in belief. What many believers are missing in their faith is grace. They ignore God’s admonitions for us to love mercy…and each other. (One wonders if the differences Christ had with the prostitutes and tax collectors He fellowshipped with gave Him pause…)

Debates about the law have become just as commonplace in our time as they were in Christ’s time. Controversies about the law raged then as they do now. Issues of which calendar to use, when and how to celebrate the Holy days, divorce and remarriage and other issues were as hotly debated in Christ time as they are now.

While we should study the scriptures to show ourselves approved to God, we shouldn’t let minor differences in understanding separate us. God is working with each of us. And we are all on different points along the path in understanding and obedience. The scriptures don’t exist for us to hit each other over the heads with them. They don’t exist for us to judge each other’s understanding. They were written to us…personally. When we read about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees we shouldn’t think: “I know someone just like that!” We should use them like a mirror to hold up to ourselves. We should use them to examine ourselves…. what are our hypocrisies?

We need to see the scriptures for not just what they say, but also what they don’t say. Christ could have easily spent His ministry on settling arguments about when the Holy days were to be observed and other points of the law but He didn’t do that. What Christ focused on in His ministry was our hearts. What He saw as important were the things inside of us. Christ looked for, and is looking for, is evidence of the conversion of our hearts. Just read His first recorded sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. Christ set the tone for His gospel by telling us what qualities God is looking for in His people. He wants His law written in our hearts.

Do you think the thief on the stake that Christ said would be with Him in paradise was a righteous man? He, himself, believed he deserved his punishment. Chances are he was not very observant in the faith but Christ saw something in this mans heart that He believed was worthy of paradise. Too many times believers get caught up in where a comma should be in Christ’s statement to that thief and completely miss the point.

Similar lessons were recorded in the stories about the Roman centurion in which Christ saw a greater faith than He has seen in all Israel. He saw something of that same faith in the Canaanite woman who pleaded for her daughter to be set free from a demon. None of these people were as observant as the Pharisees. None of them could argue the finer points of the law. Some modern believers might condemn them all…but Christ praised them for the content of their hearts. There is a lesson in that.

We should obey Gods law to the best of our understanding and ability. We shouldn’t judge people by our understanding however. None of us has the whole truth. And what understanding most of us have has changed over time. We should never forget the ‘weightier matters of the law’. And we should never, ever forget faith, hope and love, qualities that come from our hearts, are what God values the most.