Pastor's Blog

My feet ache. My eyelids are heavy. My soul is full. Tomorrow it will be a week since we left home, but it feels like forever. Each day brings a rich experience where we understand to a new dimension the greatness of our God and the grace and wisdom we know through His Word. Twice I have been struck by the reliability of the Bible. I saw evidence of fire both at Jericho and at Hazor – exactly as the Bible says. Then we saw where a tablet was found bearing the name “Pontius Pilate” and one bearing the phrase, “House of David.” Without those tablets, the only record of each of these men and their legacy would be in the Scriptures. The Bible is reliable.

 

My problem is that sometimes I don’t want to believe the Word. I’d rather water down its message. Surely I am not the one about whom it speaks. This afternoon as we soaked in the Temple Steps (while avoiding some drenching showers from above!) we contemplated the teaching of Jesus. We looked at a passage spoken by the Savior in the last week of His life. I was moved. Not by the site as I usually am, but by the Word. The reliable Word, right? Our guide asked me to read the portion in Matthew in which Jesus pronounces judgment on the Pharisees and Sadducees. Ouch!

 

What struck me as I read this afternoon was the sheer volume of the material. Just when I thought Jesus would be wrapping up and moving on to something else….wham! Without warning, He was off and running with new material building to a new crescendo. And then? Wham! He was back at His exposing of the heart of these leaders.   Again. And again. What concerned Him in this last week of life, was that their was outward religiosity masked an inward corruption. That was unacceptable. They dallied in some serious sin. Sin they could – and did – hide. And yet the laser beam of the righteousness of God penetrated under the outward pious layers to reveal a heart that struggled and failed to maintain purity. What a sad lot. What a self-righteous lot.

 

I wanted to not really listen to Jesus, but with a reliable text, I wondered as I read, how much like those Pharisees I so often am. What would Jesus say to me? Which of those lengthened and never-ending curses would be for me? Maybe all of them? Perhaps. Check out Matthew 23. As you do, ask that the holiness of God might penetrate the layers of our own deceptive hearts. May we be pure in our walk with Him. May we reflect the greatness of His grace and His love. May we be holy as He is holy. From the inside out! May we never been content to only look righteous, instead of actually being righteous. There is plenty of outward piety in this city of Jerusalem. Piety that masks a decayed heart.

 

Even in Matthew 23, the Word is reliable. I know because I have seen the evidence. In burned walls and a self-righteous heart.