#4- Leaven of the Pharisees Series-Hypocrisy
THE GOD IN THE NAVY BLUE ROBE
Having a pet peeve may not be a sin after all. Jesus apparently had one. Over 13 times the Gospel writers mentioned it in the New Testament. Every once in awhile Jesus would warn the disciples, "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees!" He was talking about a contagious infection the Pharisees released into the spiritual environment, which could eventually turn the Gospel He preached into an unrecognizable distortion. The sect of the Pharisees took pride in keeping the ancient laws and traditions of their faith. However, under their example, the truth in love and mercy went somewhere. They replaced the important matters of heart with outward form and ritual. They were experts at preaching one thing yet doing the opposite. It was easier.
If the enemy can't keep you from salvation, his next best ploy is to make a Pharisee out of you.
Are you preaching "grace" but live under fear of not pleasing God?
Do you preach rest in God's love, but live workaholism?
Are you preaching His Kingdom while building your own?
Are you living in bondage to secret sin while you are proclaiming the freedom of Christ's new creation?
Do the people around you know that you love them, or do you talk way beyond where you live?
When I was first filled with the Holy Spirit, I still had a lot more pollution in my heart than I do now. There were rivers of living water flowing out of me over a residual sediment of insecurity, fear and mistrust. My view of God was still undeveloped and distorted by everything from snatches of sermons I had heard to pictures in Bibles on the coffee table at home. One of these Bibles pictured God with a long, white beard, standing suspended in the clouds, surrounded by cherubs. He was wearing a dark navy blue robe and the scowl on His face told me that if I didn't go to Sunday school and church every week, I could forget going to heaven!
Your view of God is important, because that is the God you will serve. Your view of God will influence your decision making and either quench or stimulate your desire to know Him better. Because God is real, your view of Him must be based on how He has revealed Himself to you. Beyond everything else, the genuine revelation is the one the disciples talked about having in the New Testament. Jesus came to show us what God is really like. According to the writer of Hebrews, Jesus is "the exact representation" of the Father's nature. However, the modern day Pharisee is someone, usually a believer, who has not yet matured in God's overwhelming love. Because he doesn't know love, he doesn't know the real God. Instead his life reflects a distorted image of God, one who is legalistic, stern and difficult to please, like the angry one in the navy blue robe!
So what is the consequence of serving a distorted view of God? It is anger at being kept at a distance. Build up enough anger based on your failure to please such a "God," and you will live out hypocrisy, which is spiritual inconsistency. You will be preaching grace, but living works, preaching freedom in Christ, but living secretly in sin and a host of other wicked manifestations.
Unfortunately, a lot of folks in the BOC find themselves serving the god in the navy blue robe. It's time to open up to the Heavenly Father Jesus talked about and let go of every action, practice and belief that is inconsistent with Jesus' message of grace and truth. Begin by running everything through the filter of I Corinthians 13. Pay attention to the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit within; or you will be serving the god in a Halloween costume, the angry one in the navy blue robe.
