September 14, 2024

Luke 16.15 (NIV)

“What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”

Men may honor you because of your wealth and your public display of spirituality. But God sees who you really are.*

Who do you admire and look up to? What is it that makes them special in your eyes? Be honest with yourself – do you respect them for things they have accomplished? Is it because they are wealthy, powerful, famous?

The Pharisees were generally well-off financially, but they were influential and respected for their strict religious lives,* not so much for their wealth. It seems like that should be a good thing - being strictly religious - but this is what Jesus is referring to as detestable and nasty.

 

So what did they do that was so bad? They were meticulous in their obedience to the law, and that included acts of charity. They lived lives that conformed to men’s standards of holiness - but men could not look into their hearts and see their hidden meanness.* Jesus could; and he condemned them because they were hypocrites. While their actions might benefit society and earn them the esteem of the people, their good deeds were an abomination in the sight of God because they weren’t “accompanied by the true sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit.”*

Before Jesus came along, “looking good” was enough to fulfill the superficial requirements of the law.  Today, under grace, it is still possible to “look good” without “being good.” No one should think of himself as approved of God just because he approves of himself.* That kind of hypocrisy is just as detestable in a Christian as it was in a Pharisee.

It’s not just the rich who have difficulty. So do the educated, the strong, the good-looking, the popular, the religious. So do you if you think your piety or power qualifies you as a kingdom candidate.*