 |
 |
|||||
 highly respected Roman Catholic priest, who lived in Washington D.C., was the guest of honor at a banquet. A prominent politician who was to serve as chairman of the banquet was late. So the toastmaster proceeded without him. Honor after honor was paid to the churchman, and then he finally arose to speak. “The seal of the confessional,” he said, “can never be broken, and therefore I can only hint of my impressions when I came to Washington some twenty-five years ago. Oh, I thought I had wandered into a terrible place. The first man who entered the confessional told me a hair-raising tale of his graft and corruption; but as the days went on I knew I’d entered a fine community of lovely people. It has indeed been an honor to have been among you for all these years.” As he was finishing, the tardy chairman arrived and hurried to the front. The politician reached the podium and said, “I’ll never forget the first day our honored guest arrived in the parish. In fact, I have the honor of being the first to go to his confessional.” We can laugh or cry at this event. The politician did not know what the priest had said. Since he was the chairman of the banquet, many must have thought that he was a wonderful man. The chairman of the banquet had fooled many people. They did not know about his “other life.” Today, we are no longer surprised to discover that a politician, a neighbor, a priest, or some religious leader is not the person we had thought. Was he or she pretending? Was he or she a hypocrite? When you see someone, what do you think about him or her? When others see you, what do they think?
Beware. Jesus has been warning His listeners since Matt. 5:20 that their spiritual conduct, their behavior, their deeds, or their righteousness, must be greater than that of their religious leaders. When we come to this study, Matt. 6:1-6, 16-18, Jesus continues with His warning.
Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. (NASB) Matt. 6:1 The Greek word that Jesus uses for the English word “before” actually means “in front of,” and the Greek word for the phrase “to be noticed” has the idea of “gazing upon.” These words reveal that the religious leaders behaved in certain ways in front of the people to gain their approval. They wanted the people to consider them spiritual men.
Some years ago, a pastor revealed that when he came to “work” he
acted “pastoral” around the people. He chose to act loving
and gracious when he came to church and was around the church members.
Also, some church people act very friendly around the elders and pastors
of the church but not necessarily with the rest of the people. They appear
to be godly, humble, and loving to the church leadership, but not always
with others. Are they practicing their righteousness before “those
who are important”? Was the pastor pretending to love because he
wanted approval? Jesus says that if anyone is seeking a reward from the
leadership or the people attending the church, he or she is not going
to get one from God the Father who is in heaven. |
||||||
|
||||||
| Life & Heart of Jesus | ||||||
