Prayer
Before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 119:174.
Speak to me, Lord. I long for your salvation,
and your law brings me true delight.
Amen.
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your awareness to the voice of God, coming to you through His Word.
Reading
This was the second time the religious leaders had demanded a sign from Jesus. They certainly proved themselves to be “ever hearing but never understanding … ever seeing but never perceiving.” Despite all of Jesus authoritative teaching and all of His wondrous miracles, they still would not believe in Him and submit to Him. So they demanded a further sign! For the second time, Jesus saw that their hearts were filled with rebellious unbelief and He denied them such a sign.
When He and His disciples set off across the lake, Jesus gave them a warning that is just as important for us today. It is the command to ‘Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees’ (v.6). Jesus wanted them (and us) to guard ourseves against the deceptive influence of the “teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (v.12).
These two religious groups actually had very little in common, but somehow Jesus’ teaching had rubbed both of them up the wrong way. To understand what teaching to guard against, we have to look for the common denominator between the two. In a nutshell,
Both of these groups each had an understanding of the key component of life in God’s Kingdom that was fundamentally different to Jesus’ teaching. The Pharisees saw life in the Kingdom as being about legalistic outward religious purity and religious observance. It was doing all the right religious things in the right religious ways. On the other hand, the Sadducees saw the Kingdom of God as a matter of God’s blessing bringing one wealth and political influence.
By contrast to both of these groups, Jesus made it clear throughout His teaching that life in the Kingdom of God is fundamentally about a heart that is so surrendered to His Lordship and so transformed by His love and truth that one begins to live outwardly in ways that are consistent with His nature and character.
The Kingdom of God starts to find expression in the heart and soul of a person surrendered to King Jesus, and then it finds outward expression through that person’s life of loving obedience fron the heart.
Jesus calls us to guard our hearts against the influence of any teaching that leads us to thnk that His Kingdom is a about anything other than this. As the apostle Paul would later say in Romans 14:17,
“For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.“
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn these declarations over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with our King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ,
- I will guard against false teachig that draws my focus off Jesus and onto outward observances or accomplishments.
- I will focus on living in a loving, surrendered relationship to Jesus as my King!
Holy Spirit, keep my heart in sweet surrender to King Jesus. Amen.
Dave's Diary 
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