Have you ever acted like a completely different person just to impress a pretty girl or handsome boy? Have you ever tried to convince someone that everything was perfect, but in reality everything was falling apart?
Maybe you were able to keep up this act for two or three dates, but you began to realize she wasn’t worth the effort. Or you made it several years without your coworkers finding out that you were in serious debt. But rest assured that the truth did come out.
“Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” (Luke 12:2) In this verse, Jesus is telling His disciples that the hypocrisy of the Pharisees would one day be evident to all.
Jesus began making their hypocrisy evident right from the start. The Pharisees hypocrisy is at the heart of His teaching on the sermon on the mount. In that sermon Jesus said, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)
Imagine yourself as a Jew hearing that sermon. My jaw would have hit the ground in disbelief. “How in the world can my righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees?!” Those who were considered to be the most religious pious people of the day. Now this carpenter from Nazareth is telling me that I have to be more righteous than them–what an overwhelming emotion!
But exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was not as difficult as the common Jew might have assumed. Jesus made it clear not only in the sermon on the mount, but also in His other teachings that the Pharisees often did the right things, but with the wrong motivation.
Jesus describes the Pharisees as a people that do “all of their deeds to be seen by others.” (Matthew 23:5) They let everyone know that they were giving to the poor (Matthew 6:2). They prayed aloud on the street corner to be heard by men (Matthew 6:5). They made themselves out to be pitiable when they fasted to be seen by men (Matthew 6:16).
Their intention was not to worship or please God, but to be seen by men. And Jesus knowing their hearts, made their intentions evident to all. But God allowed the Pharisees to receive their reward–to be seen by men (Matthew 6:2,5,16).
But Jesus trying to teach His disciples to do the right thing with the right motivation tells them:
“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4)
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And you Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)
“That your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:17-18)
The teaching that Jesus gives is simple: Do your righteous acts for God who is in secret and He will reward you.
God knows our hearts and knows if we have the right motivation for the things that we do. I think it’s possible that we have deceived ourselves into thinking we are doing things for God, but are really doing them to be seen by men.
We must constantly examine our motives. And a possible way to evaluate our motives is to think about the statements below. If you find them to be true about you, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are a Pharisee. But it should make you answer the question am I doing this for God or for me?
I’m taking from Jeff Foxworthy’s phrase “you might be a redneck if…”
·You might be a Pharisee if you have to tell someone what good thing you did today
·You might be a Pharisee if you expect more out of others than yourself.
·You might be a Pharisee if you enjoy receiving compliments.
·You might be a Pharisee if you would rather go visit others with someone else than by yourself.
·You ARE a Pharisee if you think others will never find out about your sins.
~by Wes Gossett