Matthew 23

Eight times in the Gospels, The Messiah called the Pharisees hypocrites.....to their faces.

 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." {Matthew 23:13}

That word hypocrite comes from the ancient Greek classical theater, and those Greek actors were called hypocrites. One actor would often play many different characters, and for each character, that actor would use a different mask. It would be pretty easy to switch masks and become a "different" person to everyone watching....and that audience could get caught up on what people see on the outside, but it's just a mask.

"Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach."

"Everything they do is for show." {matthew 23:1-3,5}

The problem that Jesus saw with these teachers was that what they were teaching wasn't a reflection of who they really were. And that is what true followers of Yeshua don't do.

.adoption

Long before He laid down the earth's foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. Long long ago He decided to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ (what pleasure He took in planning this!). He wanted us to enter into the celebration of His lavish gift-giving by the hand of His beloved Son.              {Ephesians 1:4-6 The Message}

"When the [Roman] adoption was complete it was complete indeed. The person who had been adopted had all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family and completely lost all his rights in his old family. In the eyes of the law, he was a new person. So new was he that even all debts and obligations connected with his previous family were abolished as if they had never existed."          {William Barclay}

2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come.

.words

This week, I read a statistic that I thought I would quickly share. "The average person speaks between 25,000 and 50,000 words every.single.day." Every day! At the end of the week, that would easily add up to be a book's worth of words. What if someone typed every word you said today? What if you read them back to yourself? Would you read words that you are proud of, words spoken out of anger, or words you would take back if you could?

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. (James 1:18-20)”

This week, lets think before we speak, and ask God to help us choose our 25,000 words wisely!