Verse of the day: Matthew 23:16 Woe unto you, you blind guides, which say, whosoever
shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold
of the temple, he is a debtor!
In this next portion of chapter 23:16-22, Jesus
deals with the hypocrisy of making oaths, or making promises to God, on the
basis of swearing on the gold of the temple or the gifts of the altar. This was
yet another reflection of the greed on the part of the Pharisees, and their desire
for worldly gain over seeking, and leading others to seek, God’s glory. Jesus
pointed out their foolishness on putting more importance on the gold that was in
the temple, when it was the temple that sanctified the gold (v. 17). In verse 19
He reminds them that the gifts on the altar, which they foolishly taught were
of more importance, were sanctified by the altar; both the temple and the altar
were sanctified by God and not the materials and gifts that they contained. The
reality of what they were doing is that they cared nothing for lifting up the
glory of God before men, but sought to have the people bring their gold and
offerings to the temple, to make promises to God, seeking to get something from
God, when in reality they wanted the gold and gifts for their own personal
gain. Sadly, I have seen far too many so-called men of God boldly proclaim that
if you sent them money or gave a certain amount of money God would deliver them
from whatever troubles they were experiencing. They even claim that by giving
more to their ministry, God would bless them by prospering them financially or
materially. What foolishness! God is not our lucky rabbit’s foot or our genie
in a bottle that we can just rub and demand whatever we want. Sadly, we have
used the confessing of an oath a thing so trivial that we are no longer careful
about the things we promise God or others. The fact of the matter is that our
word, as Christians, should be “yes” or “no”, and people around us would know,
and trust, that we will keep our word, without the necessity of having to swear
on anything or anyone (Mt 5:33-37). This is not to say that we cannot promise
the Lord that we will do something on His behalf, in being used for Him, for His
glory. So often, the Lord wants to use us to be blessing in someone’s life or
in service to our local church, and we make the promise or commit to perform a
duty or complete a task, then we fade into the woodwork and fail to keep our
word. When we do this, we are no better than these Pharisees. When we make a
promise in connection to God’s service, we have made the promise, not so much
to the person or people, but to our God. We take utmost care not to be careless
with our words and promises; especially as born again believers. We, who know
the Lord, are called to be the living example of what it means to be a child of
God. When we lead others astray by our careless living, we will have the
greater accountability before our God. Another lesson we see from this
interaction is that we foolishly put more importance, and give more glory, to
that which is created, and is sanctified by God, rather than God who is the One
who sanctifies all that He sets apart for His own use. For example, all that we
do that is good, regardless of how good and righteous it may be viewed by man,
is like filthy rags to God if it is done outside of Christ, and done for the
purpose of self exaltation or for the purpose of trying to earn what God is
freely offering, by faith, in Christ; our salvation (Is 64:6; Eph 2:8-9). Yet,
those same good works of righteousness become award worthy when they are done
as a result of being in Christ, and performing them out of faith, trusting God
to use them for His glory because it is being done sacrificially with the
intent to humbly serve God. When we give our gifts, whether to the local church
or to an individual; if we give it seeking a pat on the back, then that will be
the extent of the reward (Mt 6:1-2). What sanctifies the gift is when we give
it in obedience to God’s leading, again in Christ, by faith, seeking God’s
glory. There is something wrong when the upkeep of the church building is more
important than the upkeep of our lives, so that are living godly lives (Phil
2:12-13). The building is a meeting place that is sanctified when set apart for
worship. We, the Christian, are the church. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit,
and it is Jesus who makes us a priesthood of believers (1 Pt 2:1-9). It is
Jesus who sanctifies us, the building, and the gifts brought to Him in the
local church or to any individual, in His Name. Let us not make the same
mistake that the Pharisees made by putting more importance on anything or
anyone other than Jesus. For it is in Him that we exist and are set apart, and
sanctified in. Let us be careful of what we promise our God, knowing that we
will give account for every idle word spoken, and every promise made (Mt 12:36).
Let us be known as people who keep our word, for the glory of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
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