It seems to me that one of the great needs of our day is that we call the true children to God to lives of righteousness. As we follow the ministry of Jesus Christ through the gospels it is apparent that He had a major conflict with that group of “religious” people that claimed to be followers of God while they were completely and fully estranged from Him.
In confronting this group Jesus exposed their obvious hypocrisy. It was this behavior of Christ that led to His ultimate crucifixion. Upon one of these occasions we find this reaction of Jesus’ followers:
Matthew 15:12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
One of the things that I wrestle with as a pastor is my duty to expose unrighteousness and how to accomplish it. It seems to me that Jesus focused on the activity, habits and even dress of these religious hypocrites to expose this reality and it seems He did it for two reasons. I will assume first that He did it to threaten and challenge them in the hope of generating a spirit of repentance in them. That, while being uncomfortable is most certainly a loving thing to do. Secondly, He did it to prevent His followers from becoming like them:
Matthew 23:1-3 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
It seems to me that we live and practice our faith is a world that is very much like the world that Jesus ministered in and that if we fail to confront this culture we will be doomed to continue it if not be overcome by it.
I guess that this is just one old man’s opinion.
