Luke 12:1-2

Hypocrisy, what is it, and how do we live a life authentically without filtering it with the lies of the Pharisees. The biggest detriment to drawing others to the truth of the CHRIST is living a life that does not represent the life and teachings of JESUS. He lived on earth as a humble servant with deep compassion for all of His creation. The only commands that He gave us were to love GOD above any one or anything and to love others just like we love those closest to us. Between the religious right and the BODY OF CHRIST lies a deep chasm.

Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament giving us a new command to love our neighbors as ourself.

hypocrisy | həˈpäkrəsē |

noun (plural hypocrisies)

the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.

authentic | ôˈTHen(t)ik | (abbreviation auth.)

adjective

1 of undisputed origin; genuine•• based on facts; accurate or reliable: an authentic depiction of the situation.

The Greek leaven refers to fermented dough that was mixed in with new dough and used as a rising agent. The small amount used in baking would permeate the entire batch of new dough. Leaven serves as an apt metaphor to describe the widespread effects of the Pharisees’ hypocritical teachings and actions. Faithlife Bible.

The corruption in view here is hypocrisy. Practicing hypocrisy is senseless because eventually all deeds—both good and evil—will be exposed. NKJ Bible.

Luke 12:1–2 (NKJV) 12 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Matthew 16:12 (NKJV)

¹² Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Luke 11:52

By making people think that they are incapable of understanding the Bible and need an interpreter we hinder them from taking in the only knowledge that offers them salvation and transformation. We are all priests under the tutoring of the Holy Spirit. We must allow our spirit to convene with His in order to fully understand His Scriptures. 

We can hear without hearing and see without seeing without Him to guide us.

The letter of the law kills the desire to learn and produces guilt and foreboding leaving others to fill defeated before they even start. Knowledge on the other hand opens the eyes of the spirit and allows change to happen. He will take the tiniest seed planted and nurture it to maturity if we spend time in His word and make Him a priority in our life. 

Once we understand the meaning of the Scriptures, written to protect us from ourselves, we desire to please God, our Creator, who loved us first.

Christ preaches to his apostles to avoid hypocrisy, and fearfulness in publishing his doctrine.

Reflecting the light and darkness imagery of the previous passage, Jesus’ remarks here highlight the importance of sincere obedience over religious pretense. Faithlife Bible.

Jesus charged the lawyers with doing the opposite of what they claimed their calling to be. Rather than bringing people nearer to God, they had removed the possibility of their entering into that knowledge, and had prevented others from understanding as well. NKJ Bible.

Luke 11:52 (NKJV)⁵² “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”

Matthew 23:13 (NKJV)¹³ “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Luke 11:33-36

The light within us is meant to be shared with those we come into contact with. Together, we as Christ followers, are created to be God’s light to all of His creation. It is important that we are out and about doing our Father’s business. As we share the Gospel our light ignites the light of another through the power of the Holy Spirit until the whole world is filled with His glory. 

It is all about loving others as much as you do yourself.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all would have the chance of redemption and sanctification through Him.

Reflecting the light and darkness imagery,Jesus’ remarks here highlight the importance of sincere obedience over religious pretense. Faithlife Bible.

A person can become like light, a living picture of what God’s Word teaches, by concentrating on the light of the truth.NKJ Bible.

Luke 11:33–36 (NKJV)

³³ “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. ³⁴ The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. ³⁶ If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

Matthew 5:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵ Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Matthew 2:5-6

Matthew 2:5–6 (NKJV)

⁵ So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

⁶ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;

For out of you shall come a Ruler

Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

The things that we believe have the least value GOD can believe otherwise. just as all things spoken by the Prophets through the inspiration of the HOLY SPIRIT come to pass… GODS’ word was made flesh and came to earth. Although life on earth is not meant to be easy in JESUS CHRIST our King and Lord all thing will work out for our good and the good of His body, the Church.

God does all things through Him and to His glory so that no man can boast! All things will be placed under His rule.

Bethlehem’s importance comes from its connection to David and the Davidic Messiah.

Matthew clearly records how the Jewish religious authorities, who became Christ’s enemies later, unintentionally affirmed that Jesus had fulfilled a messianic prophecy in His birth. God sometimes uses the words of His opponents to speak the truth. NKJ Bible.

Israelite and Judean period:

Archaeological confirmation of Bethlehem as a city in the Kingdom of Judah was uncovered in 2012 at the archaeological dig at the City of David in the form of a bulla (seal impression in dried clay) in ancient Hebrew script that reads "From the town of Bethlehem to the King," indicating that it was used to seal the string closing a shipment of grain, wine, or other goods sent as a tax payment in the 8th or 7th century BCE.

Biblical scholars believe Bethlehem, located in the "hill country" of Judah, may be the same as the Biblical Ephrath, which means "fertile", as there is a reference to it in the Book of Micah as Bethlehem Ephratah.The Bible also calls it Beth-Lehem Judah^, and the New Testament describes it as the "City of David".It is first mentioned in the Tanakh and the Bible as the place where the matriarch Rachel died and was buried "by the wayside" (Gen. 48:7). Rachel's Tomb, the traditional grave site, stands at the entrance to Bethlehem. According to the Book of Ruth, the valley to the east is where Ruth of Moab gleaned the fields and returned to town with Naomi. It was the home of Jesse, father of King David of Israel, and the site of David's anointment by the prophet Samuel. It was from the well of Bethlehem that three of his warriors brought him water when he was hiding in the cave of Adullam.

Micah 5:2 (NKJV)

² “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,

Yet out of you shall come forth to Me

The One to be Ruler in Israel,

Whose goings forth are from of old,

From everlasting.”

Revelation 2:27 (NKJV)

²⁷ ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron;

They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—

Phillipians 1: 9-11

We show the world our love for Christ by the time we spend in the Word. The very Word of God was made flesh and  dwelt among men. Through the teachings of the Holy Spirit we can filter worldly desires with the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus. Jesus is God…May His fruit be found in us.

Love fulfills the Law of the Old Testament in the grace and salvation of Jesus in the New. 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

As Paul explains later, love (agapē) involves putting others before oneself.

The first of two terms on which a directed love is built, knowledge suggests an intimate understanding based on a relationship with the person. Here the focus of this knowledge is God.

The term discernment found only here in the NT, the Greek word means moral or ethical understanding based on both the intellect and the senses. The word implies perception or insight into social situations. NKJ Bible.

Philippians 1:9–11 (NKJV)

⁹ And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, ¹¹ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

John 15:8 (NKJV)

⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)

¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Colossians 1:6 (NKJV)

⁶ which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;

Winter A.D. 29

God will take the smallest faith and through the power of the Holy Spirit fill the whole of you with His light. Seek and you will find the very meaning of eternal life in Christ Jesus. 

The whole world will be full of His glory!

The kingdom will start small, but will grow and eventually fill the earth. The emphasis is not so much on a process of growth as in the difference between the kingdom’s beginning and its end. Faithlife Bible.

Jesus reminded the Jewish leaders of His words and works. Jesus was the Messiah and said so. He told the woman at the well that He was the Messiah, as well as the man born blind. His works include all the miracles He performed as signs pointing to His messiahship.

Jesus described three characteristics of His sheep: (1) They hear His voice. He knows them. (2) They follow Him. The following of the sheep is a metaphor for faith. (3) They shall never perish; their eternal life can never be taken away. NKJ Bible.

The Father’s hand is more powerful than that of any enemy.

Luke 13:18–21 (NKJV)

¹⁸ Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.

²⁰ And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? ²¹ It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”

John 10:25–30 (NKJV)

²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. ²⁶ But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. ²⁷ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and My Father are one.”

John 13:34-35

We show our love, devotion and faith to GOD by loving others. Starting with our families…our parents, our children, our siblings and extending that love to everyone whom the triune GOD places in our lives. What a simple command that can make such a difference  in our world today. Those who love others love CHRIST. The simplicity of the Gospels saves lives. His covering over us is His love given to mankind in CHRIST JESUS who willingly gave up His sinless life in exchange for ours.

Love!

The new part of the commandment is that Jesus’ disciples are instructed to love other people the way Jesus loved them—serving them like a slave would, as He does in this scene, even to the point of laying down their lives for others. Faithlife Bible.

The indicator of a Christian is the way they treat others.

Unbelievers recognize Jesus’ disciples not by their doctrinal distinctives, nor by dramatic miracles, nor even by their love for the lost. They recognize His disciples by their deeds of love for one another. NKJ Bible.

John 13:34–35 (NKJV)

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Ephesians 5:2 (NKJV)

² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

James 2:8 (NKJV)

⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;

John 1:1

In order to receive from God we must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 

Our hope is to become His light in a world of darkness.

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Genesis 1:1 starts with the moment of creation and moves forward to the creation of humanity. John 1:1 starts with creation and contemplates eternity past. The fact that the Word was with God suggests a face-to-face relationship. In the ancient world, it was important that persons of equal station be on the same level, or face-to-face, when sitting across from one another. Thus the word with indicates a personal relationship, but also implies equal status. The Word, Jesus Christ Himself, is an active Person in communication with the Father.Moreover, the Word was God. The word order in Greek shows that the Word was “God,” not “a god.” This is a straightforward declaration of Christ’s deity, since John uses Word to refer to Jesus. The Word was of the very quality of God, while still retaining His personal distinction from the Father. Faithlife Bible.

In the beginning John begins by quoting the opening words of Genesis in Greek. He uses Genesis 1:1–5 to establish the “Word” as a preexistent agent of creation present with Yahweh from the beginning.

John’s interpretation centers on the Word as Creator and bearer of divine light.

In making this connection, John states that Jesus existed prior to the first acts of creation. God’s Son isn’t an act of creation, but the means of it. It is all the more dramatic, therefore, that the one through whom all of creation came to be has become part of the creation.

The “word of Yahweh” evokes associations with creation, divine revelation, personified wisdom, and the law of Moses. The “word of Yahweh” and the law had already been closely related in prophetic poetry. The “word” is the agent of creation in Psalm  33:6, but divine wisdom is personified and depicted in that role in Proverbs  8:22–31. In the deuterocanonical book Sirach 24:23, this personified divine wisdom is connected to the law of Moses, similarly given preexistent eternal status in Jewish tradition in the rabbinic text Genesis Rabbah 1.1). Jesus is connected with divine wisdom also in 1 Corinthians 1:30. By choosing this language, John makes Jesus the very power and essence of God.

The Word was with God This phrasing testifies to the distinction between God the Father and Jesus while emphasizing the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son.The Word shares the same character, quality, and essence of God. John’s phrasing preserves the distinction between God the Father and God the Son while emphasizing their unity in all other regards. NKJ Bible.

Acts 23:6

There is a difference between faith and religion. Faith is believing in the person of Jesus and in the salvation that only He can provide. Religion is the ability to follow the rules and regulations that govern your belief in God. This belief system most likely was passed down from your family. 

Faith alone pleases God…we need to know personally, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and those who place their trust in Him alone… He rewards. 

The Holy Spirit takes the teachings of Christ and makes them live in our spirit. The more that we believe in Him the more we can receive from Him with understanding.

The Sadducees were the ruling religious class in Judaea in the first-century ad. The Pharisees were devoted to the practice and teaching of the law. Faithlife Bible.

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, miracles, life after death, or the existence of angels. On the other hand, the Pharisees believed in the supernatural and affirmed the very things the Sadducees denied. NKJ Bible.

Following a religion was not as important to God as the people being committed to him (Isaiah 1:13-14). That not is to say that religion is not important to God. But if a persons heart is not in it, then being religious will not impress God. For as God says, a Christian is saved by grace (a free gift given by God because of Jesus) and not by works so no-one can boast (Ephesians 2:8). Christianity.net

Acts 23:6 (NKJV)

⁶ But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”

Acts 26:5 (NKJV)

⁵ They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.

Acts 28:20 (NKJV)

²⁰ For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”

Nahum 2:8-10

Unless we change our ways and place JESUS first, until we actually care about our neighbors (not just Americans but all Gods’ creation), there is not a lot of hope for us as a Christian nation. We are one of the wealthiest and most entitled countries in the world and we live like hypocrites. With our mouths we speak great, caring, beatitudes but with our actions we show our true feelings. our constant quest for possessions, control  and power…this has become the face of what we value. 

We cannot save ourselves…but Jesus can.

The Babylonian Chronicles—which are tablets that record the history of Babylon—state that the amount of treasure in Nineveh was “a quantity beyond counting.” The Assyrians had collected a massive amount of wealth from looting cities like Susa, Babylon, Damascus, Samaria, Memphis, and Thebes. Faithlife Bible.

Assyria had despoiled many nations, including Samaria and the cities of Israel. There seemed to be no end to the loot that could be found within its walls. Nonetheless, even Nineveh was exhausted of its treasures. At long last, it was empty. NKJ Bible.

Nahum 2:8–10 (NKJV)

⁸ Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water,

Now they flee away.

“Halt! Halt!” they cry;

But no one turns back.

⁹ Take spoil of silver!

Take spoil of gold!

There is no end of treasure,

Or wealth of every desirable prize.

¹⁰ She is empty, desolate, and waste!

The heart melts, and the knees shake;

Much pain is in every side,

And all their faces are drained of color.

Ezekiel 7:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹ ‘They will throw their silver into the streets,

And their gold will be like refuse;

Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them

In the day of the wrath of the Lord;

They will not satisfy their souls,

Nor fill their stomachs,

Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.