Today's Passage - Matthew 23:23-28

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Matthew 23:23-28    "How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You give God a tenth of your spices, like mint, dill and cummin. But you have not practiced the more important things of the law, like fairness, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the last things without failing to do the first. You blind guides! You remove the smallest insect from your food. But you swallow a whole camel! "How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You clean the outside of the cup and dish. But on the inside you are full of greed. You only want to satisfy yourselves. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish. Then the outside will also be clean. "How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You are like tombs that are painted white. They look beautiful on the outside. But on the inside they are full of the bones of the dead. They are also full of other things that are not pure and clean. It is the same with you. On the outside you seem to be doing what is right. But on the inside you are full of what is wrong. You pretend to be what you are not.       Jesus again pointed out Pharisees' mistake: only paying attention to formalities on the outside, but neglecting the lives in the inside. Isn't that the same when we teach others? When I first started my ministry, I often taught brothers and sister, to do this, to do that, to tithe, to not stop attending meetings, to not stop serving, etc. But I forgot one important thing - Teach brothers and sisters to love God. In fact, love of God is the foundation of everything. The life of Jesus is the foundation of everything. If we only emphasize formalities on the outside, but neglect the live within, our service will bear no fruit.   There is a parable about a country folk. He had never seen faucet and plumbing before. One day, he came to town and saw the faucet on the wall where water came out once faucet was opened. He thought, this really solved my problem. I usually got water from wells. I spent much effort but only got a little of water. Now if I put this faucet on the wall, water would just flow out. He was very happy, and bought a faucet from the hardware store. After returning home, he put the faucet on the wall. But when he opened the faucet, no a single drop came out. He was very disappointed. Truly, he forgot the fact that there was a pipe inside the wall that was providing water. Similarly, we often are like this country folk, paying attention only to the outside, but neglecting the pipe behind the faucet which is the true conduit of water.   Brothers and sisters, we need the life of Jesus inside of us. Without His life, all things on the outside are empty. They are formalities that will not help us at all. May God help us to pay attention the life within. When we teach, do not just teach formalities, but teach about the life of Jesus, because only the life of Jesus can meet our needs!   Pray with Pastor Tong     Lord, we thank you. By your teaching of Pharisees, you remind us to not only pay attention to what's on the outside, but to the life within in our daily lives. May the life of Jesus completely fill our hearts so that we can live out the life of Jesus.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!