St Matthew, Chapter 15, verses: 7- 8, The Transformation into Hypocrisy

Our paragraph topic is:   (Christ refutes the Scribes and Pharisees)
Part 5.  

Christ called them hypocrites.  The Pharisees were the keepers of the law.  The Pharisees were the educated of the people.  The Pharisees were the elite of the people.  They had money, they had power, they had influence, and they knew the Law, handed down by God to Moses.  But in their arrogance they opened the door to evil and allowed evil to come into their hearts.  And in the arrogance of evil they changed the Commandments of God and preached and practiced their own precepts.  Evil persuaded them.  Evil helped them.  Evil came to them little by little until they became evildoers, the agents of evil.  But justice prevailed.

Christ came with justice.  Christ came that the scales of justice would be balanced and all mankind would be justified before God.  He was the sacrifice.  He was the propitiation for the sins of man.  He was the lamb, the innocent one.  He was the gift to mankind that God gave that all would be saved.  But hypocrisy had come in.  Hypocrisy had taken over the minds and hearts of the Pharisees.  They were the givers of the Law.  They were the enforcers of the Law to the people.  But, they did not live by the Law nor did they believe in the Law, for their hearts were not in and of the Law.  And Christ came and told them who they were.  Christ said to them, Hypocrites, well did Isaias prophesy of you saying, 'This people honors me with their lips, but
their heart is far from me.'

They pretended to be religious.  They pretended to believe in the Law and the Commandments of God.  But inside, their hearts were of the world.  Inside, their hearts sought after the power, the influence, the wealth of the world.  Inside, their hearts did not belong to God but to the world.  The arrogance of evil had persuaded them to follow.  The arrogance of evil had moved them along the path of self deception and denial that made them believe in themselves.  And the Pharisees believed in their authority to rule the people according to their own precepts.  So they transformed themselves into hypocrites.  They became the face of religion for the people and the face of the world to themselves.

Where does your heart lie?  Are you of the world or of Christ?  Does the world draw you to watch football on Sunday or does Christ draw you to his supper on Sunday?  The world is subtle.  It entices you with all its charm and fun and activity that you may slip into darkness without knowing how difficult it becomes to return to the light.  For the battle is not in the mind.  The battle is not in the actions.  The battle is for the heart of men that they may follow good or follow evil.  For out of the mouth the heart speaks and the actions of men speak to where lies their hearts. 

Can you stop in the middle of a great football game, turn the TV off and pray?  Can you stop in the middle of a good mystery or romance, turn the TV off and pray?  The enticement of the world is subtle.  It captures the mind.  And through what we see and what we hear the door is opened so that control of the heart follows. 

We go to a movie and our hearts are moved by what we see and hear.  Yet the control is so subtle that we are not aware of the change that is taking place.  And we like the control that has taken place so we go back for more and more until now our hearts are addicted to the control.  We see violence.  We see murder.  We hear language that is accepted as normal.  And our hearts are controlled by the upbeat of the music that we hear.  The beat of the music is set to the beat of the heart and the control is subtle.  So we go in to the movies being mindful of the things of God and come out being mindful of the things of the world.  And the decent into hypocrisy is a slow decline that takes place and we become transformed, our hearts become addicted.  Sex and violence and murder become accepted in what we see and hear in our entertainment.  It's not real.  It's only make believe, we say to ourselves.  Is it?  It may be make believe but the battle for the control of the heart is real.  And we slide a little further along the path of hypocrisy.

Christ called the Pharisees hypocrites.  It was a wake up call for them, a slap in the face that they may look in the mirror and see who they had become.  What have we become today?  Can we look in the mirror and say with true confidence that we are for Christ?  If there is doubt then there is hope.  If there is denial then the heart is lost and the control of the world has taken over.  How can you know the difference?  It is a difficult task to continue to deceive and deny to oneself who or what we are day in and day out.  Evil will continue to persuade us that we are disciples of Christ when we live in the world.  Only those who know the Advocate will be able to withstand the tricks and traps of the devil.  Many want to know, many want to believe, many want to find, want to see, but are misled.  Seek the truth!  Ask Christ for guidance.  Believe that he will come!  Be delivered from hypocrisy and live the life that Christ gave us to live.  Christ said, "I am the light of the world.  I came that those who believe in me will no longer live in darkness."  Step out of the darkness and into the light and welcome the Holy Spirit into your life.  I did!!

St Matthew, Chapter 15, verses: 5 - 6, Man voids Commandments of God

Our paragraph topic is: ( Christ refutes the Scribes and Pharisees)
Part 4.   

Evil stands with the Pharisees as they challenge Christ about the law.  The Pharisees had witnessed the disciples of Christ breaking the Law by not respecting the traditions the Pharisees had implemented.  For the Pharisees were the keepers of the law.  They were the enforcers of the Law.  They were the learned in the law and no one knew more of the law, handed down to Moses, than they.   They held their office in high esteem and believed that they had the authority of God to command that the people follow the Law as they interpreted it.  So they challenged Christ, the author of the Law.  They did not know.  They did not understand.  They could not see because evil had taken them.

They had made void the commandment of God through their arrogance.  They had cancelled the judgement of the father of Justice according to their own designs, that they may maintain their enforcement upon the people and set aside judgement for themselves.  For they had no honor for their fathers and mothers.  They had no desire to obey the commandments.  They had set themselves apart from the people that they may set themselves above the law.  For this was the design of evil and the arrogance of man, to rule the people as they saw fit, without following the commandments of God.   For Christ said to them,  But you say ‘Whoever shall say to his father or mother, "Any support thou mightest have had from me is dedicated to God," does not have to honor father or his mother. ' So you have made void the commandment of  God by your tradition.

Man was with evil and evil was with man and together they were one.  The evil doer became evil, even though they were not made the same.  For evil resided with man but man was made from God and still had the spirit of God within him.  Yet evil came and took over man and he knows not what he does.  For evil persuades with convincing arguments and compelling evidence to the minds of men and man has no defense save to call upon the love of Christ.  Evil has no defense against the love of Christ and his Holy Spirit.  For Christ was the sacrifice that paid for all mankind to be free of sin.  Christ gave his life and his spirit so that man could be restored to salvation.  Christ came and died for our sins that man may be justified before God.  Yet evil still prevails and man knows not.

The Pharisees voided the commandment of God and replaced it with their own tradition.  Today man voids the commandments of God and replaces them with his own interpretation of how we should live.  We live in a world surrounded by the presences of evil.  Yet we know not that it exists and desire not to know that we are in a battle.  For evil tells us that we may set aside the commandments of God.  Evil tells us that we may live the life that we desire on this earth and not suffer the consequences of God's justice.  God is the ultimate judge and there is no other higher authority.  His justice is complete.  His justice is true.  His justice is honest and fair.  For he who transgresses the commandments subjects himself to God's justice, and this is what evil desires of man, that he suffers the justice of God and loose eternal life that is store for him in heaven.

So evil distorts, evil deceives, evil disguises truth, evil lies, and evil does everything that it can to turn man away from his true self.  For man was created in the image and likeness of God and his true place is in heaven.  But, changed by the designs of the world, man has lost sight of who he is.  Man does not know that he is the light of the world.  Man does not know that within him the Holy Spirit is to dwell.  Man has forgotten that Christ came, suffered and died for our sins that we may no longer live in sin.  Yet sin prevails and man continues to live, asleep in a world of sin, as evil grows in the minds and hearts of man.  

For the evildoer does the deeds of the evil one and man is not aware.  And the evildoer makes void the commandments of God that evil may prevail.  Guard your hearts!  Guard your minds!  Be vigilant of what you see and what you hear.  For evil is subtle in its attack upon the children of God.  Pray daily that the other advocate will come and live within you that you may be protected against the attacks of evil.  For you can know him.  You can see him.  You can carry him with you every minute, every second of the day that you will be protected and shielded from evil.  Seek him.  Ask for him to come.  Know that he will be with you for Christ has promised that he will send him.  And when he comes, Christ has said that you will be filled with his light that you will see and know the truth of who you are.  For the eye is the lamp of the body and if the eye is sound then the body will be full of light as though it shines from a lamp within.  Seek it!  Find it!  Know it, and you will see the spirit of Christ within.     

St Matthew, Chapter 15, verse: 4, The Transgression.

Our Paragraph topic is:  ( Christ refutes the Scribes and Pharisees)
Part 3.

The Pharisees questioned Christ.  Within themselves they believed that they had the authority to question him.  They believed that they were the enforcers of the law and that it was their duty to demand correction where they saw wrong.  For the disciples of Christ had taken food without washing.  The disciples had made an error and did not follow the laws and tradition laid down by the Pharisees.  So in their arrogance they questioned Christ about the behavior of his disciples.

Christ saw into their hearts.  Christ saw into their minds.  Christ saw the evil within them that they did not know.  Christ knew who they were and he knew the evil that was in them.  He knew the evil that persuaded them to come and speak about the behavior of the disciples.  For this evil had transgressed the commandments of God before. The evil within them decided that they were to rule mankind.  This evil decided that they were to control man and decide his destiny.  The evil inside decided that mankind would worship them and not the one true God.  The evil within the Pharisees decided that they would turn mankind away from God.  So they persuaded the Pharisees to question Christ.  But Christ saw their evil and he knew who they were.  His question to them was:   "And why do you transgress the commandment of God?"

The Pharisees were only vehicles through which the evil worked.  The Pharisees were only instruments through which the goals of evil were accomplished.  For evil was suggested to them.  Evil worked within them.  Evil made their plans with the Pharisees and the goals of evil were completed through the workings of men.  The Pharisees did not know why they transgressed the commandment of God, but evil knew.  The Pharisees did not know why they believed that they had authority to change the laws of God but evil knew.  For evil wanted to turn man away from God.  Evil hated the commandments of God and evil wanted to deceive mankind so that they could control his behavior and not God.   For God said, 'Honor thy father and thy mother '; and, 'Let him who curses father or mother be put to death.'

And so it is today.  Loving and godly parents lay down the law to their children.  Parents provide for their children.  Parents protect their children, care for them, educate them, give the love and nurturing that the body and soul needs to come forth and be a witness to the will of God.  But then the world takes over.  The world gets into the children.  The world draws the children into the darkness and without hesitation they become lost in the world.  For as the children grow and become older they rebel from the ways of the parents.  The children want the desires and the passions that the world has to offer and regard parents and being old and outdated not in tune with modern times.  And the world calls them to their death.

What makes us transgress the commandments of God?  How do we decide to go against his will?  Do we instantly make the decision to do so?  Do we see a lie and decide to lie?  Do we know dishonor and decide to dishonor?  Do we feel adultery and decide to be adulterous?  Or are we the pawns of the evil that is within us?  Are we whispered to, talked to, have visions from the evil that comes to turn us away?  Are we drawn into the transgression through the simple daily prodding of the world around us?  For evil is in the world.  Evil is through the world.  Evil is the heart of the world and it will not let us go until death comes. 

Do not be taken by evil!  Do not live in the evil of the world believing that it is the reality of life.  For the world is inclined towards death and has no life.  The world is darkness and leads to destruction.  Christ came into the world to bring life.  Christ came into the world that there may be light and not darkness.  But we must choose.  We must be aware of the darkness.  We must awaken from the deceit of the world and open our hearts to the light of Christ.  We are not of this world but of the kingdom of heaven.  For our treasure is in heaven and not in the world.  There lies our home.  There, in heaven, will we find eternal peace and the eternal joy that the world cannot give.  There in heaven will we see ourselves as we are in Christ.

COME!  Find your peace.  Find your truth.  Find your eternal joy and know the truth of the commandments.  For they were given to us to keep us on the path of life, the path that leads us to our eternal home.  Be not persuaded by the urgings of the world to transgress the commandments of God.  For God is our father, our creator, our protector, our provider.  He has prepared great and wondrous things for those who love him.  But for those who transgress, the wrath of the justice of God awaits.  Turn away from the suggestions of the evil that is in the world and live by the commandments of God.  Come!  Have eternal life in Christ!