And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation (Luke 20:45-47).

What a sobering critique! I would be ashamed to be spoken of by You that way by my Lord. Religious people, listen up (…and I’m speaking to myself, too): fake “Christian” busybodies will receive the greater condemnation.

Long Robes

The scribes liked being admired and honored by others. They enjoyed a high position in society. Their long robes were a mark of that position. They were greeted in the marketplace and sat in the best seats in the synagogues.

What are some outward symbols of religious status today? Perhaps some of these:

• sitting in the front row at church
• sitting on the stage
• being on a soloist at church
• having people call you “Pastor” or “Dr.”
• having the title “elder” or “deacon”
• wearing WWJD pins (who does that anymore?)

Do you rush to grab seats in the front row? Maybe this isn’t wrong. Perhaps you just want to be up close because you think you can worship God better right at the front of the church. Perhaps it is to show enthusiastic participation in the “body life” of the church. Or is it because you want to be seen by others in the best seats in the church? Only God knows our own heart motivations.

When I sang on the worship team at a megachurch, I was easily recognized in the hallways and greeted by people I didn’t know. It always made me feel uncomfortable. I shied away from such honor. But that’s not the right approach either. It smacks of false humility. I should rather graciously love each person who greets me and endeavor to have a true heart-to-heart connection, with joy and warmth.

Long Prayers

It’s not wrong to pray long prayers as long as its Spirit-led and sincere. The Lord taught us to pray and not give up, even if you have to ask again and again (Luke 18:1). We aren’t, however, supposed to drone on and on meaninglessly with canned mantras. But there isn’t anything wrong with praying for a long time. Jesus would pray all night long! He did encourage us however to pray in secret rather than in public to be seen by others. The problem with the scribes is that they made long prayers in public only so people would think they are holy. These kinds of prayers will offer no reward whatsoever.

If the long robes were outward symbols of “fake faith”, then the scribe’s long prayers were behaviors of false religion. Long prayers can represent anything we do in the name of God that really isn’t backed by true faith acting out in response to a command of God.

Long Noses

The scribes practiced their religion before others so they could be seen. Their long robes and long prayers made them “look” holy, but it was all a lie! So they had proverbial “long noses” like Pinnochio. Religion-for-show is not pure faith. Jesus elsewhere says that we’ll get no reward for that kind of religion. Pure religion rather is keeping yourself from evil and helping orphans and widows. In contrast the scribes devoured widows’ houses. What did that mean? Did they demand some exorbitant temple tax from poor widows who couldn’t afford it? Maybe that was the poor widow who gave her last two pennies. Perhaps they scribes over preached the religious importance of giving to the temple.

All this makes me want to be a “secret Christian”. Is there something undesirable about that term. “If you are a real believer, shouldn’t you stand up for your faith?” Yes, but most of the time I think we can keep our faith to ourselves. Jesus taught that we should give, pray and fast in secret (Matthew 6). The heavenly Father will see our spiritual acts of obedience done in secret for an audience of One. There are definitely times for public unashamed ministry where we preach or lead worship, exhort or rebuke. But we should do public ministry in response to God’s leading. We should speak what we hear God speaking; and do what we see Him doing … whether in public or in private.

Lord God, make me a true servant that serves You alone. Help me not to usurp Your rightful place as Lord and Master over my life. Let me steward this life for Your glory, not mine. Lord, may this blog bring glory to You, not to me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time (Luke 4:13).

This verse makes me think of those nature TV shows where a lion is prowling around in the high grass, stalking a herd of gazelle. The devil is like a prowling lion.

In Luke 4, the devil had gone to tempt Jesus right at the end of a forty day fast when he thought Jesus would be weak from 40 days without food. That’s so like the devil. He waits for an opportune time to tempt God’s people. He is a predatory beast stalking prey, waiting in the shadows, watching for a moment of weakness, a lapse in attentiveness, a breach in defenses … then he strikes when we least expect it. The devil likes to kick us when we are down.

But Jesus was more than ready for the devil. He had just spent forty days in fasting and prayer. He was fully charged with power of the Holy Spirit. He intimately knew the Father and the heart of God. This was not just the knowledge of information about God, but Jesus was full of the living, active rhema knowledge of God. His spiritual armor was so strong that the devil was not able to deceive Jesus even with scripture.

Ephesians 6 says that we should put on the full armor of God so that we can be strong in the Lord’s mighty power and take our stand against the devil’s schemes. Jesus defeated the enemy because He had been spending some serious time with God and was full of the Holy Spirit. I also need to spend serious time with God and become fully charged with the strength of the Holy Spirit. I must always have my armor of God on so that the devil will not have a chance to strike me unaware.

This means I need to go into my room, shut the door, and pray. Fasting, prayer, worship, devotions … I want to press into God to really know Him and be strong in Him.

Dear Lord Jesus, please help me to be alert at all times. Help me to be strong in Christ because the devil is like a prowling lion. Help me to encourage myself and others to spend serious time with You so that we can be strong in the You and take our stand against the devil’s schemes. God, I want to see You victorious in my life and in the lives of Your people. O Lord, we need You desperately in this life and for all eternity. You are so wonderful and true. I put my hope in You. Let me abide in You so that I may go out in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs (Mark 11:13).

A green leaf is a sign of health … a sign of life. It means that a plant is drawing water and nutrients from the earth and light from the sun. Yet when Jesus was hungry, He wanted more from the fig tree than just green leaves. He expected fruit. It did not matter that figs were not in season. In holy anger, he condemned that fruitless tree with a withering curse saying, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” Within a few hours, the tree had withered and died.

I believe this story is God’s way of saying that He wants more from us than fruit in season. He desires fruit both in season and out season. To satisfy the hunger of the Lord, it is not enough to just be normal. It is not enough just to love someone when they love you. We must love enemies, too. It is not sufficient to believe only in the presence of compelling evidence; we must also believe on faith. His people must operate not just in the natural, but in the supernatural. We are not only to be mere survivors, but triumphant overcomers. And when we do, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit which pleases the Lord.

Revelation 22 and Ezekiel 47 describe a river of life which pours out from the throne of God. Along the banks of the river are trees of life which yield fruit every month of the year and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. I think that believers in Jesus Christ are to be these trees, planted in the Holy Spirit along the river of God, to bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When we do, even our spare moments and everyday actions and words will be healing for the nations.

O Lord God, help me to be always planted next to Your river of living water that flows from Your throne. That way I will bear satisfying fruit in season and out of season. Lord, help me to have love for enemies, peace in tragedy, joy in routine and even patience in traffic. You are able to make me abound in every good deed. Lord, I put my trust in You!

Jesus compares the king in this story to the heavenly Father. God is incredibly merciful just as the king in the parable forgave the huge debt his servant owed him. Yet if we abuse that mercy by not in turn showing mercy to others, then will withdraw his mercy and let us get what we deserve.

The truth is that we are all sinners and all deserve death and damnation. But God in His amazing love and compassion sent His Son to earth to suffer and die on our behalf. Because we have freely received such mercy we should also freely give such mercy to others. To not do so would be to trample the precious blood Christ underfoot. It is like a slap on the face of God. If we do this, then God is perfectly just in now withdrawing His wonderful mercy and allowing us to face the punishment that we deserve.

God is both merciful and just. Praise be to the God of heaven!

Lord, thank You from the depths of my heart for Your mercy and forgiveness. I am like the man who owed his master millions of dollars and could not pay back. You paid my debt for me. Help me never to forget Your kindness to me. Transform my heart toward others that I may have the same kindness toward them that You have toward me. Let me, through Christ, be an extension of Your kindness here on earth.

For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts (1 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done” (2 Samuel 24:10).

Looking for praise from people is impure. The desire to be respected or admired by men is ungodly. The problem with lusting after worldly symbols of success (i.e., wealth, power, fame, and beauty) is idolatry. Seeking worldly success causes us to stop worshiping God and instead we worship and obey whatever will cause other people to envy our worldly success. This is the worship of idols.

David made the mistake of idolatry when he insisted that a census be taken to count the number of fighting men in Israel. The problem with this is that the census meant that David was putting his trust in human strength. He had forgotten what he shouted that day when he killed Goliath: “The battle is the Lord’s.” In the story of Gideon, God used just 300 men to rout a huge enemy army. Jesus chose 12 uneducated men to be His disciples. He praised the Father that He chose to reveal Himself to the little ones. The problem with people who have it all together is that they trust in their human strength rather than on God’s. When I look at myself in the mirror to admire how I look, I put my trust in my appearance. Either I despair that I don’t look good enough to be admired by others or I smugly delight in my good looks because people will admire me. Either way, I sin by not putting my hopes in God. When I look at my bank account or possessions, if I despair because I have so little or take pride in the wealth I have, then I sin because I place my value in money rather than in God. What I need to do is repent of my idolatry and ask God to help me not to trust in worldly things.

Lord Jesus, I repent of my idolatry. Please forgive me! I’m sorry for lusting so much after wealth, power, fame and beauty. I repent! I don’t want to sin any longer by going after such things. I often feel though that I don’t know how to get rid of such longings. Please use Your power in my life to free me from the hooks of these fleshly strongholds. By the power of Your blood and Your love, set me free! May You truly be all that I need. May I only seek to please You, not men, nor myself. May I truly become a worshipful servant with my eyes always fixed upon You! Should You choose to bless me, let the blessing never distract me from worshiping You with all my might. Let me worship before You and not care whether I appear dignified or not. May You be my vision. Let there be no idols before You. Help me, Lord God, to worship You with ALL my heart. 

It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death (2 Samuel 21:1).

God had directed the Israelites to destroy many peoples, but He did not tell them to kill the Gibeonites. The scripture says that Saul tried to annihilate the Gibeonites in his zeal for Israel and Judah, even though the Israelites had sworn to spare them. Saul did not kill them in obedience to God, but in his own zeal. So God called his family a blood-stained house. God cursed the land as a result and so there was a famine in Israel. After the price of retribution was paid, the death of seven of Saul’s sons, the curse lifted and God answered prayer in behalf of the land.

Saul’s problem was that he was consumed with his own power and glory. He desperately wanted to be honored by people and to maintain his power. As a result, he did not wholeheartedly obey the Lord’s commands. He mostly acted of his own accord. Zeal for his own house caused him to break Israel’s treaty with the Gibeonites, resulting in the death of his sons. By not fully devoting himself to simply obeying the Lord and seeking His kingdom, he lost the kingdom given him and destroyed his own household.

Lord, I am in desperate need of true humility. Help me to no longer be envious of other people. Help me not to desire fame and fortune and power. Let me simply love You and love people. Let me be zealous to obey Your commands and so bring honor to Your name. Let me no longer think about how to bring myself honor. 

The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant (Matthew 21:14-15).

Jesus healed many blind and lame people, performing undeniable miracles in the temple. He wasn’t out in the wilderness or on some mountainside in Galilee. He did this publicly in the capital city of Jerusalem and in the temple, no less. There could be no doubt that God was doing something amazing. The children innately realized this and shouted praises to Jesus as the Messiah. The people even recognized that honored Jesus as a prophet (v. 46). But the chief priests and the teachers of the law were blinded to the significance of the miracles being performed before their very eyes. They were threatened by Jesus because He had real power and authority from heaven. They only had empty intellectual knowledge and lacked true authority from heaven because they were probably not priests in the line of Aaron. They were shams. They were hypocrites. And the powerful authenticity of Jesus threatened to expose them.

This causes me to pause and examine myself. Am I a sham? Am I a hypocrite? Will my pride cause me to resist a move of God, blinding me even to an obvious minister sent by the Heavenly Father?

Lord, humble me before You. Let me never have pride. I know I do have a lot of pride. Please remove pride from me so that I will be unaware of my own needs and my own fame or reputation. Instead, let me receive Your love always and delight in your presence and favor. Let me do Your work on earth, never for my glory, but always for Yours. Let me be like the little children who shouted Your praise because they recognized You. Help me to recognize You always and similarly shout praises to You. Open the eyes my heart, Lord, that I may see You and worship You. Hallelujah!