22 April 10
Dear special people.
The day is underway...moving faster than I want...but that's nothing new.
Have a great day. Love and prayers. Dad/Ray
22 April 2010
Passage: Mark 12:18-44
Focus: “You do not know the scriptures or the power of God.” Mark 12:24.
If you have carefully read the Gospels that contain the teaching of
Christ, and if your resulting perspective is basically compatible with
mine, you will agree with my conclusion that there is nothing more
repulsive, putrid, perverse, and ugly to Jesus than EMPTY DEAD
RELIGION. By that I mean the appearance of godliness without spiritual
wisdom, understanding, true worship, or life-changing power (2 Tim.
3:1-5; Col. 1:9-14). I think we are faced with the same conclusion
again with Jesus’ response to the challenge from the Sadducees who
present their hypothetical question about marriage in the resurrection
(resurrection being something they deny). Here they are, posing as
people who know God and His Word, people who appear to be highly
committed and disciplined in their faith. But their whole package of
belief and behavior is just a bunch of #^@&%$!!!…or whatever you
want to call it. Jesus clearly rebukes them by saying, “Are you not in
error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?”
They are not just a little bit off course—“You are badly mistaken”
(12:27). Can you imagine a more scalding judgment against people who
claim to represent the Truth of God?!
I love the
line Jesus uses in the first part of verse 27: “He (God) is not the God
of the dead, but of the living.” And I think it applies to this matter
of RELIGION as well. He does not wish to claim any authorship to DEAD
RELIGION. But living faith and relationship with Him that engages a
person in life-changing power, that’s a completely different matter—as
different as darkness is from light, or death is from life.
Jesus ends up this section with a strong warning to avoid DEAD RELIGION
and those who push and represent it. “Watch out for the teachers of
the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in
the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues
and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and
for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most
severely” (12:38-40).
Please pay attention. Do everything you can to avoid the trap and
trappings of DEAD RELIGION.
“You cannot lift others to a level higher than the one on which you live.”
(Additional
comment: Please notice that Jesus discloses a fact to the Sadducees
regarding the hereafter that cause many to choke: THERE IS NO SEX IN
HEAVEN! Some may complain, “How can the most heavenly thing known to
humans be absent in heaven?” It is more appropriate to say, “If the
most heavenly thing known to humans will not even be present in heaven,
how incredibly wonderful that realm must be?!”)