30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 11 37-54 Repenting from hypocrisy Woe 4
📖 Luke 11:37-54
*Wholesome before God* _Luke 11:37-54_
God is against all forms of hypocrisy. He sees our hearts and our lives. He sees through all our pretensions and show of spirituality and God hates this wickedness _Luke 11:39/16:15
We saw yesterday that this was Paul’s problem. He was zealous for the traditions of the fathers and he advanced in Judaism more than all his contemporaries. Obviously, Paul was so driven to build a name for him, as a religiously fervent Pharisee _Galatians 1:14._
_Friends, isn’t this our problem too that we are often caught up with the way people perceive us. We are driven to prove our honesty and truthfulness before people. We wish to make a name for ourselves._
We see how much Paul was transformed as he walked with the Lord. Paul and his team saw themselves as those, who were stewards of the gospel, which God had entrusted to them. They always saw themselves accountable to God, for the ministry that God had assigned them with. They did not do the ministry to win the favour of people, amongst whom they did their ministry. They never used flattering words, nor did they put on a mask and at the same time have selfish motives within. They did not seek glory from men _I Thessalonians 2:4-6. Where would we stand if we were to honestly assess our hearts against these standards by which Paul and his team did their ministry?_
Paul affirms that the ministry done by him and his team with him, was with power and with the Holy Spirit _I Thessalonians 1:5. Friends, this is how we need to engage in ministry._
The incident of Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, stands as a solemn and commanding warning before us. That we cannot continue in ministry, with duplicity and hypocrisy. The Holy Spirit saw through the duplicity of the heart, of this couple. They were looking for praise from people and from the apostles _Acts 5:1-4._ If we look around us, isn’t this what seems to be going on? We are looking for praise from people and so we praise and flatter each other and that becomes the goal that people want, which is praise from men._ I fear the severe judgment of God upon us all.
So, let us draw near to God and He will draw near to us. Let us be cleansed from all our duplicity and hypocrisy _James 4:8._
*Thought to ponder*
```The word Integrity comes from the root word, Integer, which is whole and not a fraction or divided.```