Topic: No Way For Hypocrisy— Sunday October 29, 2017.
Text: Luke 11:37-54
Key Verse: “And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness” (Luke 11:39).
Adolf Hitler, who does not need any introduction in history, at assumption of office in Germany freely used Christian vocabulary, professed God’s blessing and Christian confessions, showed his pre-war tattered Bible and declared that he drew strength from it.
These claims made people to welcome him as a man sent from God. But was he really a believer in Christ? Our text is Jesus’ clear warning against hypocrisy which He spotted in the Pharisees’ lives. As one of them invited Him for a lunch, Jesus did not wash His hands as expected by the pharisees. That, of course, triggered their censorship. Jesus, immediately, cashed in on the opportunity and firmly upbraided them for their wrong way of worship.
They had many rules, which principally centred on outer things like washing cups and dishes. They emphasised these outward things, while failing to love God and exercise faith in Him. They paid their tithes but failed to take care of the needy. They always wanted to appear superior to others, desiring to be seen and respected. They were like graves with no marks, which people could walk upon without taking notice, and end-up wounded. Though they pretended to honour the prophets slain by their ancestors by building their graves, they did not obey what those prophets had taught them to do. Invariably, they behaved like their ancestors – approving their evil deeds.
Today, many so-called leaders still insist that people must follow unimportant rules while they themselves disregard God’s injunctions. At the end of time, God will tell them, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” God wants us to have right thoughts and attitudes and be classic models of genuine transformation and purity.
Thought for the day: No child of God is a hypocrite.
Bible Reading in one Year: Hosea 1-4
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.