"THEY PREACH, BUT DO NOT PRACTICE!"

Matthew 23:1-7; 12;                                     (ESV)
"1 Then JESUS said to the crowds and to his disciples,
2 The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat,
3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For "THEY PREACH, BUT DO NOT PRACTICE".
4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,
6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues
7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.......

12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted........"



JESUS came as GOD IN THE FLESH to demonstrate humility for ALL to observe.  The Creator of the Universes wrapped HIMSELF in flesh to pay for my salvation.  HE didn't come as a Hollywood movie star with a handsome appearance and wealth to accommodate HIS earthly desires.  Isaiah 53:2b says "HE had no form or majesty that we should look at HIM, and no beauty that we should desire HIM".  The household HE was born into was owned by a carpenter, not a royal family.  HE presented no earthly characteristics that would have given indication HE was THE SON OF GOD!

One would think that the main people JESUS "preached at" would have been the cheats and swindlers of their time.  But the ones we mostly read about in scripture are the ones in the hierarchy of the temple, the scribes and the Pharisees!  They wanted to give the facade of being better than others because of their ancestry, rather than their actions.  Their human position meant more to them than their Spiritual condition.  The way JESUS worded it was "THEY PREACH, BUT DO NOT PRACTICE"!!

When I hear these words, I must evaluate my own Spiritual condition.  It becomes rather easy to sit back and criticize others for their sinful behavior.  But self- observation, with GOD doing the comparison, shows me the wretch that I am.  I can't get past the GRACE that JESUS provides for ALL WHO BELIEVE on HIS NAME (John 1:12-13)!

My desire is NOT to be recognized by man as someone who is part of a hierarchy, or "goody-two-shoes", in the church house!  Those would have been the "scribes and Pharisees" that JESUS spoke of so often.  To serve as CHRIST served should be our ambition and goal.  Don't let me become one of the "THEY PREACH, BUT DO NOT PRACTICE" crowd!