TEXT: Luke 16:14-17

SUBJECT: Luke #60: The Pharisees’ Religion and the New Age

Eavesdropping is always fun, but it is never right and sometimes it often gets you in trouble.

Now, kids, you know what eavesdropping is, don’t you? It is listening to a conversation that is not meant for you. When your parents speak to you in a loud and clear voice, you might not hear them. But, if they slip off to another room and start whispering, then your ears go up like a dog’s because you’re dying to know what they’re talking about.

This is the background of today’s story. It’s about some Pharisees who listen in on a private conversation—and wish they hadn’t!

The Lord has been teaching His disciples about money. He has told them that they ought to spend their money on things that will last forever; that how they spend their money says a lot about their character, that their use of money is bringing them closer to heaven or hell; and that, they have to make up their minds: will they serve money or will they serve God? They think they can serve both, but they cannot. Many have tried, but no servant has ever

When the Pharisees hear this, they are deeply offended. What they don’t like about the teaching is that it applies to them! For, even though they claim to be godly men, in fact, the only god they serve is the Dollar Sign. Luke says they are "lovers of money".

But how does a religious man object to the Lord’s teaching? Would he come out and say that we ought to love money more than God? Of course not! His reputation for holiness keeps him from saying that. So, what does he say?

Not much of anything. The Pharisees loved to argue with the Lord, but on this point, they had nothing to say. So, instead of objecting to the Message, they grumbled at the Messenger. Luke says when

Another Bible says they "were sneering at Him". The Pharisees looked down on the Lord Jesus Christ. When they heard His teaching on money, they yawned and rolled their eyes; they smirked and they muttered.

Did the Lord read their minds? I don’t think He needed to. Contempt is easy to spot. When He sees their upturned noses and their crooked smiles, He knows what they are thinking. And He calls them on it.

He says their aim is wrong. Piety looks to please God; but the Pharisees wanted only the praise of men. If they had a good reputation, they didn’t care about a good conscience.

He says God knows the truth about them. Their public obedience has fooled other people; they’ve heard so much praise they’ve come to believe it themselves. Everyone is taken in by their act. Except the only One who matters! "God knows your hearts!" While others are listening to their long prayers, God is watching them cheat widows and rob orphans. God sees what they are and not what they’re pretending to be.

He says their lives are an abomination to God. The word, abomination, literally means something that stinks! Think of a skunk or a dead possum or a backed-up toilet. It offends you; it’s grosses you out; it makes you want to get away from it. That’s the basic meaning of the word: the Pharisees stink!

But it may well mean a lot more than that. Let me give you a short history lesson. The city of Jerusalem was sacked in 587 B.C. by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The Jews served him and his sons for about seventy years. Then his Empire fell to the Persians and the Medes. The Persian King, Cyrus, allowed the people to go home, rebuild their capital and its temple and regain some of their dignity. This Empire fell to Alexander the Great. When he died in 330 B.C., his great kingdom broke up into four parts ruled by four Greek generals and their families.

The Greeks were fairly good to Israel and showed some respect to its culture and religion. Until a king came to the throne named Antiochus IV. He hated the Jews with a passion and wanted, above all else, to knock the Jewishness out of them. He built pagan temples and promoted the Greek gods. The people didn’t like it, of course, but there’s was little they could do about it.

Until one day he went too far. Antiochus came into God’s Temple and there on the sacred altar, he offered a sacrifice to the Zeus. And what he offered was…a pig. This so enraged the people that they rose up against his government and overthrew it.

The Jews read their Bibles, of course, and in the king’s wicked sacrifice they saw something it foretold. Reading Daniel’s prophecy, chapters 11 and 12, they saw it as "The abomination of desolation"—the filthy, wicked sacrifice that made God’s House no longer God’s House.

And that’s the word our Lord chooses to describe the Pharisees’ religion: it is an abomination to God. It is far worse than imperfect or mistaken here and there. It is a religion so wicked, filthy, and disgusting that it makes God run away from it.

And one more thing: at the time of this revolt against the Greeks, a religious party was founded in Israel to resist paganism and to restore the Law of God. Maybe you’ve heard of the party: it was The Pharisees.

Thus, the so-called guardians of Israel’s purity, were in fact, the leading polluters of it. In exposing their sins, the Lord is also calling them to repentance. And not only them, but all hypocrites in every age. Including ours. How awful it is to be a saint on Sunday morning and a sinner the rest of the week. The Lord is not taken in by our church-going and our polish of religion. He knows what’s inside of us. And He wants that to be clean and consistent and devoted to Him!

The point here is not a sinless life, but a sincere one. Not that your actions will match your beliefs perfectly, but that you’ll try to live up to the truth you know, and when you don’t, you’ll confess your sins to God, pray for His mercy, and try again.

Hypocrisy is a lot worse than you think it is. Not only in others, but in yourself. We’re all quick to point out the phoniness we see in others. We’d be better off if we were as eager to find the phoniness in ourselves. The Psalm says God

Not just what we do in public, but what we are in private—when there’s no one to see us but God. How different discipleship is from the Pharisees’ religion! The Pharisees did many fine things—prayed, fasted, gave to the poor. Disciples do these things too, but we do them for "Our Father who sees in secret"—and we’re satisfied that He has seen.

If the Lord stopped here, His words would add nothing new to our understanding. He has often rebuked the Pharisees (and others) for their fake religion and their pretended holiness. In fact, the prophets did the same thing. Godly men who lived long before stressed the importance of heart religion—and not just going through the motions of piety.

Isaiah says the kind of fasting God wants is freeing the slaves and giving your workers a fair wage. Samuel says the sacrifice God loves best is simple obedience. Amos adds that the feast days God approves of are those in which the innocent are set free and the guilty are punished—instead of letting money decide everything.

Of course the Old Testament calls for sincerity. Its first command is to

The Lord echoes the teaching of Moses and the prophets. But that’s not all He does. He goes on to give a new motive and urgency to heart religion. What He says must have shocked everyone who first heard Him—especially the Pharisees. He says,

Scholars are very much divided on the details of this passage. Frankly, I don’t know enough to tell you who’s right on the details. But the big idea of the passage, I understand very well. And it is a thunderbolt, an earthquake, and a volcano all at the same time.

The Law and the Prophets were given by God to form Israel into a nation and to keep it intact until it fulfilled its high destiny. The words are as inspired, true, and profitable today as they ever were, but the system they made—the Old Covenant way of life—has failed. Not because God messed up, but because it was never meant to last forever.

It had an expiration date built into it. The Old Covenant would fail when it was no longer needed. And, with John’s introduction of Messiah to His people, it was no longer needed! Not because it was bad, but because God had something better for us!

How does all this fit into the Pharisee’s phony religion? It’s very simple: though the Old Covenant had a heart religion in it, it was mostly about things on the outside—things like circumcision, Sabbaths, diets, feast days, fast days, washings, and so on.

The outwardness of the Old Covenant was necessary because most of the people under it were unsaved. But with the Death of Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit fifty days later, a New Covenant would replace the Old. And it would be all about what’s on the inside.

If the Pharisees were condemned by the Law—and they were. The Lord said so: "There is one who accuses you—Moses whom your trust", how much more condemned are they in the Age of the Messiah?

God has always said, "Son, give Me your heart". But now, with the coming of Christ the call is renewed and elevated. We have to repent of our play acting and become the real thing. Not Sunday morning Christians, but saints in the home, at school, at work, everywhere.

The time is short and the stakes are high. The Lord left no doubt when He said

The writer of Hebrews makes the same point with even more vigor:

If this was mailed to unbelievers, we’d say, Of course, don’t neglect the offer of the Gospel. But it wasn’t sent to unbelievers, but to Christians. The writer tells us that Messiah has come and outward obedience just won’t do. We need hearts renewed by God’s Spirit every day.

Is this what you want? Or, are you happy with the shell of religion—a few good works now and then and a couple of true doctrines stored away in your memory?

Surely the warning our Lord gave the Pharisees that day wasn’t limited to them, was it? He wants us to hear it too. And not just to hear it, but to act upon it.

Let us pray with the Psalmist,