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Give Cheerfully, Not Out Of Fear
Matthew 23:23 '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.'
MATTHEW 23:23
Some have taught that Jesus did away with the tithe since it is not a specific part of the New Testament teaching. But in this instance, Jesus made reference to the scribes and Pharisees tithing and implied that they were right in doing so. The New Covenant did not do away with the tithe but it clarified what the motives for tithing should be.
Abram tithed over 430 years before the law was given. Jacob also tithed approximately 300...
Hypocrisy Is An Attitude
Matthew 23:12 'And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.'
MATTHEW 23:12
He who thinks that he will be exalted by acting as a servant, pretending to be humble so that he will receive the promise of God's Word, is sadly mistaken. Hypocrisy is an attitude or motive.
There are two main types of hypocrisy: 1) People don't practice what they preach. 2) People's motives are wrong even though their actions are right.
The second type of hypocrisy is why Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees.
It is more subtle than the first type and is very prevalent today in religion. They were seeking self-glory instead of seeking to glorify God.
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Give Agape Love
Matthew 23:12 'And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.'
MATTHEW 23:10-12
In Romans 12:10 we are admonished to desire the welfare of others more than our own; to like others better than ourselves. That is an awesome command that is only obtainable through God's supernatural love. If this very simple, yet very profound truth could be understood and applied, then strife would cease (Prov. 13:10). The world would see Christianity as never before, and we would discover the true joy that comes from serving someone besides ourselves.
There is much confusion today on the subject of love because we have only one English word (love) to describe a broad aspect of...
Seek God's Wisdom
Matthew 23:1 'Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,'
MATTHEW 23:1-9
This rebuke by Jesus to the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy was the harshest treatment that He ever gave to any group. He did this publicly before the multitude, the people the hypocrites most wanted to impress.
Jesus had faced many prior battles with the scribes and Pharisees. On this particular day, the encounter started with the chief priests and elders challenging Jesus' authority. Jesus stunned them by replying with a question that challenged their authority. He then used three parables to illustrate that the leaders of the Jews had rejected the rule of God in their lives, despite their pious religious acts....
Jesus The Servant
Mark 12:29 'And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord':
MARK 12:28-30
Jesus repeatedly made reference to His deity for which the Jews had sought to kill Him, and yet He quotes from Deuteronomy 6:4, that 'The Lord our God is one Lord.' There are not two or three Gods and yet Jesus claimed to be God just like God the Father. This union is a great mystery that defies human understanding but can be accepted and believed.
Jesus in His pre-existent state was in the form of God. 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' Jesus is God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). However, Jesus did not demand or cling to His...
The Two Greatest Commands
Matthew 22:36 'Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.'
MATTHEW 22:34-46
Jesus revealed that all of the Old Testament laws were designed to instruct us how to love God and love others. Therefore, the two commands that dealt directly with loving God and others (Lev. 19:18 and Dt. 6:5) were the most important.
The religious leaders had become so obsessed with keeping every minor detail of the law that they had lost sight of its ultimate purpose. They neither loved...