“A MERE FACADE”

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”

Matthew 23:25

The Lord Jesus exposed people who seemed spiritual but were actually living a double life. These individuals took pride in their religious standing, so they looked down upon ordinary people and laid impossible burdens on them. Their spiritual corruption blinded these religious extremists from the truth.

In our previous blog, we mentioned that we can be well-intentioned, but still find ourselves opposing God’s will—especially when we ignore God’s word. Here’s another thought you might want to think about.

Living in the flesh is a facade of spirituality.

In Romans 8:5-7, Paul uses a metaphor to explain that being carnally minded leads to death. It means you’re physically alive, but you’re dead spiritually. Therefore, you are unable to respond to spiritual things. You are separated from God, not only because of the sins you inherited from Adam, but also from your own sinfulness. This spiritual death makes you unable to trust God or find confidence in His word. Your natural mind cannot submit to God nor please Him.

You may seem religious on the outside but actually be spiritually empty on the inside. The Pharisees are a perfect example of religious but unspiritual people.

Today’s verse is the fifth of Jesus’ seven woes to the Pharisees. He calls them “hypocrites,” which literally means “stage actors.” The imagery of the cup and dish reveals the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. They were too busy with external religion that they had no time to look after their inner selves.

The inconsistencies between their religious assertions and their actual lifestyles were so repugnant to the Lord that He gave them a stern rebuke. Their religion was no more than an excuse to satisfy their own desires for personal prestige and reputation. For them, man’s recognition was all that mattered.

But if we’re not careful, we can be like the Pharisees, especially if we act religiously only to be noticed by others. Such a heart is filled with selfishness and conceit. We may seem very active in church, but our hearts cannot recognize God.

When we fake our spirituality, not only do we deceive ourselves, but we also put God’s name to disrepute. We do things contrary to His will and claim that we do so in His name. That’s unfair, to say the least. 

But God cannot be deceived. He sees right through our hearts and knows our motives. And if we are His, He will convict us of sin and call us to repentance. The only question is, will we heed His warning?

Pursue the Savior today!

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash