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“We
have the mind of Christ.” If we are going to “let this mind be
in you that was in Christ Jesus,” we need to know how He thinks regarding
important issues of the Christian life. Many today are held in a yoke of
religious bondage. How did Jesus think regarding those who promoted such
hurtful teachings? Let’s take a look at the most prominent religionists of
that day, the Pharisees.
If we took the Pharisees out of the
four Gospels, we wouldn’t have nearly the content that we do. A great deal
of what Jesus taught was taught over against the Pharisees. Much of what
Jesus did was in some form a confrontation with the Pharisees. Either they
were confronting Him or He was confronting them. There are many times Jesus
actually baited them. He went out of His way to upset them and annoy them.
Jesus was born “in
the fullness of time.” He could not just be born at any random
time. It was the perfect time that Jesus was born nationally and
universally. Language (Greek), government (Roman), religion (Jewish), etc.
all had to come together at the right time. World religion had to be
developed. By that I mean a religion that is born of this world; born of
Satan. It is the religion of SELF. Yet it has the inspired Word of God as
its foundation. Not Islam or the like. No, I am talking about something
that has the Word of God as its foundation, yet the whole thing is under the
power of Satan.
When Jesus was born this religion
had come to its fullness. It had begun some five or six hundred years
before Jesus was born, but when He was born it was very strong. Jesus comes
and confronts that religion. He has to show us what His Gospel is NOT.
It is not enough to say what it is; He must show us what it is NOT.
He stepped into the arena and tore the mask off of this religion. So Jesus
couldn’t be born until the Pharisees had come to their highest development.
He declared that He did not come to give us that religion, but showed the
contrast of that religion with the TRUTH.
Who were the Pharisees? The
original meaning of the word was “a man of high sincerity and great faith.”
Six hundred or so years before Jesus was born, the nation of Israel had gone
into captivity because they had turned to idols and forsaken their God. In
captivity they began reading the Law again; the Torah, the first five books
of the Bible. It had been a long time since they read it and as they did
they began to understand why God allowed them to be taken into captivity.
So among these men there began
thorough study of the law, which was a good thing. The word “Scribe”
came into existence. These were the men who studied the Scriptures and
wrote it out for others. One of the leaders of that movement was Ezra. He
was to write much of the Scripture and many of the Psalms. Ezra, the Scribe,
was one of the first ones to pull people together and study the Scripture.
They had not done that before. This was good. This was a worthy beginning.
Then came the time of the return
under Cyrus the Persian. They came back into the land of Israel and with
them they carried the precious scrolls of the law. Never again must they
turn to idolatry. So they came, led first of all by Zerubbabel and then by
Ezra. This group was particularly recognized as a separated group of
people. They were separated from the heathen nations around them. They
were God’s “separated people.” This, too, was a good thing.
But after awhile, the enthusiasm
began to cool and die off except for the more committed of the group. So
there arose a group from within Israel and they called them selves the “Hasidem.”
The Hasidem means “the pious ones.” Loosely translated it would be “the
saints.” It was a Holy Club, you might say. It was a group of people
that separated themselves and said, “We will return to God. We will
return to obey Him.” This is who is referred to in Malachi: “Then
they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD
hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him
for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.”
That is the Hasidem, the group within Israel that feared God and studied and
memorized His Word. They “spake often one to
another.” So this was a good beginning.
A member of the Hasidem wrote Psalm
119 (It may have been Ezra, but we are not sure.) Law, testimony, statute
are mentioned over and over. It is talking about the Torah, the first five
books of the Bible. For example: “Thy word
have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” “I
have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.”
“Thy testimonies also are my delight and my
counselors.” “Give me
understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my
whole heart.” “My hands also will
I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in
thy statutes.” He describes himself: “I
am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep
thy precepts.” This was the Hasidem. They loved the Word of
God.
A little bit later, Greek thought
tried to invade Judaism. They tried to make the teachings of the Bible old
fashioned and out of date. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? “Think like the
Greeks,” they would say. But the Hasidem said, “No, we stand firm in the
Word of God.” They endured much mental persecution: people laughed at them
and they were despised and called “old fashioned.” People made jokes about
them. They took a good position regarding the Word.
Later came a “Hitler” type named
Antiochus, a Greek. He tried to exterminate Judaism. At that time many of
the Hasidem were murdered. Many died for their faith. They had a beautiful
devotion to the Word of God and that was good.
Finally, in 135 BC, there was a
split within the Hasidem. Some went off into politics and the others
rededicated themselves with a pledge they would never depart from the Word
of God and they would be God’s people in obedience to Him. They were
nicknamed “The Separatist.” That is the word “Pharisee.” It
means “the separated one.” They never called themselves Pharisees.
That was a nickname people gave them. They had indeed separated themselves
to God and separated themselves to keep His law, but they became fanatical.
They would keep every law of God in their great zeal.
They called themselves “The
Association.” They said they were associated with God’s Word and with
those who love God’s Word. They did not associate with those who did not
have their dedication to the Word of God. This is where it gets dangerous.
Now comes the change for the worse. Here they are becoming narrow, because
now they not only separate from the world, they separate themselves from
their brothers and sisters who are Jews. They say, “You are not good
enough for us. We are the Association.”
To get into the Association,
initiation would take from 30 days to a year. You would have to study
before you make your final vow to be a member of The Association. They saw
themselves as the godly among the ungodly. They saw themselves as the true
people of God because of their obedience. To them everyone else was phony.
When they met each other on the street they would say, “Shalom, neighbor.”
This was because the Scripture said to love your “neighbor” as yourself.
They said what that really means is that you would love all members of the
Association as yourself. I can hate everyone else because they are not like
us. We are the neighbors. We are The Association.
So they were really getting
serious. They asked themselves, “How do we go about keeping the law?” They
brought in a thing called “the fences.” The fences were to stop you
from even getting close to breaking the law. They had a lot of fences,
rules and regulations. It grew to be over 2,000 fences. They forgot what
the command was because they were so taken up with the fences. They forgot
these fences that kept you from breaking the law were manmade and they
called them the Word of God, too. Manmade traditions became as important as
the Law itself. “But in vain they do worship
me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold
the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such
like things ye do.” Mark 7:7-8
After their formation they were
bitterly persecuted. But when there was a break in the persecution they
became the most honored and beloved people in Israel. They were held in
awe. People said if ever there was a saint, it was one of them. People
would greet them in the streets with absolute marvel and call them men of
God. They would say, “If ever I walk with God I will be like him, the
Pharisee.” The more complex the Pharisees rules became, the more they were
held in awe that such men would keep so many rules to walk with God. So
much was their influence. They even influenced the synagogues in Israel.
The order of worship was changed because of their influence. They also
influenced the Rabbis. They were mostly businessmen, but they had great
power. Every family in Israel knew of their presence. There were only six
thousand Pharisees in Israel at the time of Jesus, yet they seemed to be
everywhere.
You couldn’t miss seeing a Pharisee
because of the way he dressed. That was part of it. He had a blue robe.
They thought, “The sky is blue, so if I wear blue I am closer to God.” They
had a little box on their forehead. Inside the little box there was a verse
of Scripture. It was called a phylactery. That was to show the Scripture
was “in” their mind. They wore a little box on their wrist tied in the
prescribed fashion: seven times around their arm and three times around
their hand. They held it inward to be close to their heart. It was all a
show.
They had a prayer shawl, which was
prescribed in Scripture (Numbers 15:38). The shawl had tassels. God said
when you see the tassels move, and then you remember that I am your covenant
God. They made their tassels exceedingly long. That was to show that they
remembered God more than anybody. Even the way they walked was
distinctive. They would shuffle in a pious manner. You couldn’t miss
them. They were so obvious. When they gave money they would have trumpets
blown prior to their giving and make a big show of their giving.
At the prescribed time of prayer, if
they were crossing the road, they would stop and have their hour of prayer
while all the traffic backed up. This was a Pharisee. It was an outward,
external show-off kind of thing.
They were national heroes. In their
past they suffered for their faith. These people believed the Word of God
was God breathed. They were fanatical students of Scripture. There were
none like them. They observed every law of the Old Testament. They loved to
be seen as those who obey the law. They even took commands that were only
for the priest and they said they would do those, too. They demanded
everyone should be educated in the Scripture. They tithed on everything
right down to the produce from their garden. Every tenth piece was given to
God. Every tenth sheep, every tenth calf, etc. was given to God. They
tithed. They eagerly awaited the coming of the Messiah.
Yet Jesus said they were a bunch of
snakes and vipers, like graves full of dead men’s bones. This was strange
to everyone when they would hear such things coming from Jesus. Why would
He talk like that? Why? The best way the love of Jesus Christ can fully
be understood is when observed over against this brittle, rigid formalism of
religion. Only when I see what man has done under the guise of
obeying God can I realize what Jesus came to do. It is a shocking sight.
Incarnate love is dropped down into
the midst of incarnate religion and they smash each other. The two cannot
live together. It is impossible. You see, when Jesus said, “I
have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly,”
without this religion of the Pharisees to show the exceedingly great
contrast, we would not know what we do know by that contrast. The black
backdrop of the Pharisees allows the bright beauty of the truth of Jesus
Christ to shine through. Jesus had the perfect example of what He was not
talking about. He could just point to the Pharisees and say, “For
I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter
into the kingdom of heaven.” You can imagine what a shock this
was to everyone when Jesus said this. No one on earth was more “holy” than
the Pharisees.
Jesus warned His disciples, “Beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees.” The Scripture clearly tells us
that the disciples finally understood, “Then
understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but
of the doctrine of the Pharisees.” He told them, “But
do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.”
He described the Pharisees as follows: “They
bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's
shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their
fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they
make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the
synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi,
Rabbi.”
Jesus told the Pharisees, “But
woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom
of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye
them that are entering to go in.
Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour widows' houses,
and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the
greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made,
ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”
Jesus also told them: “Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and
anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to
leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and
swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For
ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are
full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first
that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be
clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are
like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye
also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity.” “Ye
serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”
As far as the world is concerned,
the Pharisee is the perfect man, but Jesus showed that no matter how clean
you might try to be, without the cleansing of His blood, you will not be
clean. Without the righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to you, you will
not see the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus was telling us we can try, try, try as
the Pharisee does or we can turn to Jesus and know that “the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord..” “For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Unless you have Jesus, “Who
was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification”
you don’t have this abundant life. “Thanks
be unto God for his unspeakable gift.”
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