Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
May 16, 2001
Introduction
A few weeks ago we began a section where Jesus has been invited over to the
house of a Pharisee for dinner. When
Jesus didn’t follow the long Pharisaical practice of a ceremonial washing
before dinner, the host was curious about Jesus. Then Jesus began to talk directly to the Pharisees about the
problems He saw in them. He talked about
how they were concerned about external appearances but weren’t concerned about
their own hearts. He talked about how
they like to have lots of recognition.
He bruised their pride as He spoke.
He warned them that they were just like those who killed the prophets of
old. He warned them that instead of
lifting burdens from people, they were adding burdens.
As Jesus said all these things, the Pharisees entered into “combat”
mode. They began to start looking for
things wrong in Jesus, listening for mistakes in His teaching, looking for ways
to get Him.
Over the last few weeks I’ve tried to remind you that of all the groups of
Jews in Jesus’ day, the Pharisee is the group closest to what we are like. The Pharisee believed in the inspiration of
the Scriptures. The Pharisee believed in obeying the Scriptures, wanting to
please God. The Pharisee believed in
miracles. The Pharisee believed in a
resurrection from the dead. The
Pharisee believed in angels. Hey,
that’s us too! So when we look at the
warnings about the bad side of being a Pharisee, we better be careful.
The sect of the Pharisees had begun about the time of the Macabee’s and was
in the beginning a very good and powerful spiritual movement among the people
of God. They had their birth in the midst of a spiritual awakening among God’s
people. Their purpose was a return to purity of religion and worship. Their
desire was to keep the law of God in every detail.
:1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable
multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say
unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy.
an innumerable multitude – murias
(“myriad”) – ten thousand; an innumerable multitude, an unlimited number;
innumerable hosts
trode – katapateo – to
tread down, trample under foot, to trample on; metaph. to treat with rudeness
and insult; to spurn, treat with insulting neglect
As Jesus has been confronting the Pharisees, a huge crowd gathers. The people are stepping on top of each
other.
unto his disciples – Jesus is aiming this next teaching at those who
are following Him. He is not aiming it
at the Pharisees.
leaven – zume – leaven;
metaph. of inveterate mental and moral corruption, viewed in its tendency to
infect others; Leaven is applied to that which, though small in quantity, yet
by its influence thoroughly pervades a thing; either in a good sense as in the
parable #Mt 13:33; or in a bad sense, of a
pernicious influence, "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump"
hypocrisy – hupokrisis –
the acting of a stage player; hypocrisy
In the Greek stage plays, the actors would hold up masks over their faces
to describe the mood they were trying to convey. If they were in a “happy” mood, they would hold up their “happy”
mask while they talked. If they were in
a “sad” mood, they would hold up their “sad” mask. You’ve probably seen pictures of these masks on old theaters or
in credits of old movies.
The essence of acting (and hypocrisy) is trying to be something that you’re
not. It’s hiding behind a mask.
Lesson
Being fake is contagious
When you bake bread, you only need to use a little bit of leaven in the
dough. As you let the bread sit and
“rise”, the leaven begins to permeate the entire loaf until the whole loaf of
bread has the effect of leaven working in it.
Jesus says that hypocrisy is like leaven.
All it takes in a large group is for a little hypocrisy to go unchecked,
and it will spread.
When one person begins to pretend about his relationship with the Lord, I
think that deep down inside most of us know that it’s an act. There’s something that lacks the “ring of
truth” to what they say. All you hear
from them is “exterior” kinds of things, things that describe the mask they’re
wearing.
I’m not talking about a person who is having a difficult
time in life and doesn’t want to open up quite yet and so they simply say, “I’m
okay” when you ask them how they’re doing.
Jesus is talking about people who are pretending to be Superman when
they’re not. He’s talking about people
who are pretending to be close to God when they’re not.
When we allow this kind of “mask-wearing” that others will do to be
acceptable to us, it spreads like leaven.
I believe this is one of the reasons why God was so harsh on Ananias and
Sapphira in the opening months of the early church, because God didn’t want to
allow too much hypocrisy to be present at the beginning.
(Acts
5:1-5 KJV) But a certain man named
Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, {2} And kept back part of
the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and
laid it, at the apostles' feet. {3} But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan
filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price
of the land? {4} Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was
sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in
thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. {5} And Ananias hearing
these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them
that heard these things.
Ananias’ sin wasn’t in keeping some of his money from the
sale of his property. His sin was in
pretending that he was giving everything he owned to the church when he
wasn’t. His sin was hypocrisy.
Lesson
A disciple shouldn’t be a fake
Jesus is aiming this lesson at His disciples.
At the moment He’s speaking, there is a huge multitude of people swarming
the place. And Jesus wants to make sure
that His disciples are different from the Pharisees. Jesus wants to be sure that His disciples will stand out in the
crowd because they are real.
I think the world needs to see “real” Christians. Sometimes Christians aren’t perfect. Sometimes Christians hurt.
Sometimes Christians have problems.
Though we’re not proud of these times, they’re real. The world needs to see that Christians go
through tough times, but they have a God who helps them.
When the world sees “joy” in a Christian, it needs to be God’s joy, not a
plastic, fake mask. When they see
“love”, they need to see the real thing, not a pretend kind of love, but God’s agape
love.
George MacDonald wrote, “Half of the misery in the world comes
from trying to look, instead of trying to be, what one is not.”
:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid,
that shall not be known.
covered – sugkalupto – to
cover on all sides, to conceal entirely, to cover up completely
Sometimes there are things in our lives that we have tried desperately to
cover up.
hid – kruptos – hidden,
concealed, secret
This is in view of the Pharisees looking carefully at all that Jesus was
now speaking (11:53-54).
(Luke 11:53-54 KJV) And as he said these things unto them, the
scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to
speak of many things: {54} Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something
out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.
Jesus wasn’t afraid of what the Pharisees were going to find in His life or
words, but they had better be careful about their own lives.
Lesson
Light reveals hidden things
If the light is strong enough and the right kind, you can see through
almost anything.
Illustration
If I hold up an envelope, can you tell what is in it? If I put a strong light behind the envelope,
you can see what’s inside.
With an x-ray machine, you can see inside your body. With some of these new kinds of cat-scan
machines, they can now even tell if you have heart disease or a tumor.
If you want to get rid of hypocrisy, you need to be willing to hold things
up to the light, you need to be honest about what is going on in your
life. I think there are a couple of
ways this can be done:
1. The light of the Word
(Psa
119:105 KJV) NUN. Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
God will use His Word in our lives to bring out the secret
things in our hearts, if we let Him.
(Heb 4:12
KJV) For the word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart.
God’s Word is a “discerner”
discerner – kritikos
– relating to judging, fit for judging, skilled in judging
I think that we can read God’s Word with our “eyes closed”
sometimes. I think that sometimes we
can spend time in the Word and not let it sink in very far. But if we’re willing to really pay
attention, we will find God showing us all kinds of things about ourselves.
2. The light of His presence
(Psa 89:15
NLT) Happy are those who hear the
joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, LORD.
I think that when we are truly giving God honor and praise
in our hearts, we will find ourselves in His light. God will begin to shine His light on all sorts of things.
Isaiah found this out:
(Isa 6:1-7
KJV) In the year that king Uzziah died
I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple. {2} Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings;
with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with
twain he did fly. {3} And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy,
is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. {4} And the posts
of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. {5} Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine
eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. {6} Then flew one of the seraphims
unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from
off the altar: {7} And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath
touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
As Isaiah had his eyes opened to God’s presence, his first
reaction was to realize how sinful he was.
But it didn’t end there. As
Isaiah acknowledged his sin, God saw to it that Isaiah was cleansed.
The point of bringing things into the light is not just to
show us how unworthy we are. It’s to
cleanse us. It’s to heal us. It’s to change us.
David has a good prayer regarding this:
(Psa
139:23-24 KJV) Search me, O God, and
know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: {24} And see if there be any
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
:3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the
light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed
upon the housetops.
Sometimes this happens in this life.
Sometimes something we’ve said comes back to “haunt” us.
Ultimately, this will happen when we stand before God.
Lesson
Speak into the microphone
Sometimes it helps me to think that I’m probably being videotaped at the
moment, and I’ve got in my mind that the person I’m talking about is watching
from heaven at some later date.
Illustration
Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal
colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message “He’s lying” was placed in the
copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect
wasn’t telling the truth. Believing the
“lie detector” was working, the suspect confessed.
Sometimes I wish we all had that feeling that everything we were saying was
being recorded and tested to see if it was true.