Having a Form of Godliness

     "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 5:20
      They were some of the most highly educated and well respected men of their day. Trained in the law both to copy and perform, the scribes and Pharisees were certainly on the upper ring of the religious hierarchy. Their prayers were grander, their fasts were longer, their charitable deeds were more visible, even their phylacteries were bigger! How could anyone exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
      "The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do."        Matthew 23:2-3
     And Jesus goes on to expose their hypocrisy and self-righteousness. That what happens when we begin to see "least-of-these" commandments in Scripture. We begin to  mentally hi-lite the verses we deem as important and relative and white-off, so to speak, those that we consider obsolete or inconvenient. As did the scribes and Pharisees, we can claim to esteem the Scriptures, all the while denying the wholeness and power thereof.
      In Matthew 15, Jesus asks the religious leaders,
 "Why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your traditions? For God commanded saying, 'Honor your father and mother and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God - then he need not honor his father or mother. Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your traditions. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, 'These people draw near to Me with their mouths, and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men."
      And therein lies the ultimate issue, that of the heart. They said with their mouths that they esteemed the law but really it was to them the writings of dead men, in desperate need of their help and expertise. They outwardly appeared to be honoring the commandments, but they were using it for their own benefit. They went so far even as to literally bind the Scriptures to their foreheads and hands, but they were manipulating it for their own selfish purposes. That's not respect; that's hypocrisy.
      As believers now, how often do we act the same way? Do we behave as thought the Scriptures were nothing more than the writings of dead men? Probably more often then we care to admit. At least, that's true for me. May the Lord stir in His people an awe and reverence for His word.
      "For the Lord of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and the spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."      Hebrews 4:12

Application: Memorize Colossians 2:18-3:4