‘Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.’
Proverbs 6:6
If we can learn lessons from the ant, why not from also the Pharisees? A recent reading in the Gospel passage of Matthew 15:1-20 one morning threw light on just such a thought.
In the passage we read that some scribes and Pharisees had been harassing Lord Yeshua about His disciples not following the traditional hand washings instituted by the Jewish Elders. The Lord corrected them, pointing out that such traditions of theirs actually contravened the commandments of God and that it was not eating with unwashed hands which brought defilement but rather wrong heart attitudes. In the Lord’s rebuke to the religious leaders for their religious hypocrisy, I was struck by the words of Isaiah quoted by the Lord at Matthew 15:8:
“These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honour Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.’
As I pondered on this, I was struck with the thought: It is a dangerous thing to confuse “knowledge” with faith! How easy it is to fall into the trap of believing that just because we know the word of God very well, that we love it and love to hear the Scriptures taught, that all is well between our hearts and the Lord. It’s quite possible that it may not be so – isn’t it? Is it not possible to slip into the same trap of those of whom the LORD spoke to His prophet about, recorded at Ezekiel 33:30-32:
“As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.’
As I thought on, I was reminded of the Lord’s word to the church of Ephesus, recorded at Revelation 2:1-7:
“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write,
‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. “I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have laboured for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
It is not only possible but probable then that without a healthy and balanced watchfulness, as believers in Lord Yeshua our hearts can be deceived by our “Christian activity”/”works” – or lack thereof – concealing treacherous natural tendencies of our heart, still in the process of sanctification and ready to trip us up. Consider, for example Jeremiah 17:9-10: “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.”
The more I pondered on this, my thoughts were led on to the problem of drifting from the Lord, which leads to two main problems: “works” without love (as the church of Ephesus) and empty fleshly “love” without works (as those the LORD spoke about to Ezekiel). Horror gripped me at the thought of becoming so busy with “works” for the Lord that we drift away from the Lord Himself! How is it possible that while still engaged in regularly reading the word of God, assembling with believers in Lord Yeshua, corporate worship, sitting under the teaching of the Bible, being equipped and made busy in good works for the Lord – yet drift! Drift into that dangerous territory of knowing about the Lord, but not really knowing Him, worshipping the Lord with our lips and works, but our hearts actually being far from the Lord. This bears looking into – particularly in these days of abounding spiritual deceptions.
What were root issues with those unbelieving scribes and Pharisees and other religious leaders who opposed Yeshua, actively giving themselves to the work of having the Lord crucified – thinking that would get Him out of the way? Love for self, outworking itself out in love for their own ways, their own thoughts, their own rules, their own traditions dressed in religious garb – ostensibly all done in and for God! But true love for God, for Lord Yeshua should properly lead to different works, should it not? It could be said concerning true love for God that ‘by its fruit you shall know it’! Consider the words of Lord Yeshua Himself:
“If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15)
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21)
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” (John 14:23)
The words of the Apostle Paul also came to mind, ‘For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love’ (Galatians 5:6).
The Pharisees had lots of religious outward works and were held up in some ways as the standard bearers of righteousness by those outside their leadership group (the Sanhedrin) – see e.g. Matthew 5:20; Matthew 23:1-3). Many had long come to lose any true love for God or bear much good fruit from their love of studying the Torah. It’s a pity they did not listen to the prophets which God sent to warn them of their ways, but rather turned on them and killed many of them for speaking forth the work of God to them (Matthew 23:29-39). It is true, there were some among them during the time of the Lord’s earthly ministry, who knew things were not right and either turned to or clung to the true and living God such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. But many were so hardened in religious traditions, in religious pride, care for earthly position/titles and standing in the community that they refused the remedy in and of God in Lord Yeshua for the softening of hearts and healing of the soul.
So many lessons for us to learn that we may grow in the knowing and grace of our wonderful Lord, Saviour and Redeemer. If we can draw lessons from an ant, why not from the Pharisees? And should we find our prayers beginning with or including this line, ‘Lord, forgive the Pharisee in me…’ may we also look intently to the substitutionary sacrificial shed blood and death of Yeshua, Son of the living God, for forgiveness and cleansing, when we acknowledge the truth of our sin and turn from them to walk in the light. 1 John 1:5-2:7 concluded the above thoughts that morning, which teaches us this:
‘This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
2 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.
I was thankful for ‘my lessons’ through the accounts of the Pharisees recorded in Scriptures – and that our Teacher is the One through Whom grace and truth comes (John 1:17)! The key point was as it has been from the beginning: seeking (in the continuous active sense) from the heart to, and obeying the greatest of all commandments: whole love for God primarily and the second like it, love for others to (read Mark 12:28-24). How? By the grace of God, through faith in Lord Yeshua in the power of the Holy Spirit of God in us and with us – as always. Amen.
Until He comes or calls, shalom and God bless you.
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