The Pharisee Says Fair I See

July 30, 2025

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

-Matthew 23:27-36 (NIV)

Holiness provokes hatred. The greater the holiness the greater the human hostility toward it. It seems insane. No man was ever more loving than Jesus Christ. Yet even His love made people angry. His love was a perfect love, a transcendent and holy love, but His very love brought trauma to people. This kind of love is so majestic we can’t stand it.

-RC Sproul from “The Holiness of God”.

This was one of many brilliant quotes from the late RC Sproul (1939-2017).  It describes the sad reality of the state of the world since the fall of humankind.  The whole world rejected the Son of God (Jesus Christ).  Godly Old Testament prophets and disciples were rejected.  Godly New Testament disciples and messengers were outcasted and chased out of towns.  And here we are today.  Now hearing this, would some of you dare to think that life would be any better or any easier while living on God’s earth today?  In my humble opinion, I don’t think so and not when the world continues to rebel and warrant God’s incoming wrath.

For any adult and genuine Christian reading this, I’d be surprised to hear any of you mention you haven’t experienced some form of ill will or persecution because of your Christian faith at some point in your life already.  Furthermore, if you’re a genuine Christian and at some point, you will face “types of Pharisees” in your life.  What do I mean by that?  The biblical Pharisees were seen as experts at “righteous living” and were quite influential with day-to-day living.  They enforced rules to “live well” and to “live right” in God’s eyes, but their teachings were merely human rules (Mk. 7:7).  What the Pharisees taught, preached and told was fair according to the gaze of the world, but as Christians we are not called to live that way.  The righteous live by faith and not by sight (Rom. 1:17).  What’s fair and even desirable to the world is often folly for Christians.

….So when I say “types of Pharisees” I mean people in our lives that try to sway you into living according to the “human rules” of the world and according to the pattern of the world (Rom. 12:2).  These people may mock you, may criticize your Christian lifestyle and really make your life miserable.  These people may say, “You’re just blowing money away by giving to the church.”  And overtime, these people may have the bigger house and nicer car, but what good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  (Matt. 16:26).  These people may have no problems with greed, lust, lies, hypocrisy or any other form of folly that leads to a comfortable life on earth but ultimate destruction in the life everlasting.  These people may press cultural norms over biblical truths – this last one is more common than you realize.  I implore you, please don’t play their game!  At the end of the day, their path is set in one direction (the world) while yours is set on another (God’s heavenly kingdom).

And it may be a surprise to you, but Jesus wasn’t nice to everyone!  He wasn’t nice to Pharisees.  He called them whitewashed tombs and a brood of vipers.  Pharisees constantly led people astray and made lives difficult for true believers.  With every encounter they were always in the face of Jesus and opposing him.  You may have heard me quote from Luke 6:28-30 last Sunday about blessing those who persecute you.  That is true, but we don’t have to associate and make friends with those who constantly persecute us.  We’re called to love our enemies, but we don’t have to like them or be friends with them.  Pray for them sure (Lk. 6:28) and pray goodness for them, but you don’t have to let them trample over you and stop your path to our triune God.  If Jesus allowed the constant entertaining of the satanic brainwashing of the Pharisees and Sadducees his mission would not be complete, he would not be obedient to God the Father and he would not be sacrificed for our sins.  Thank goodness Jesus was faithful!   And would it surprise you that your own so-called friends and family could also stand in your way of our triune God as well? (Matt. 10:34-36).

….So you got haters for the sake of Jesus Christ?  Good, you must be doing something right if you ask me!  All of God’s followers Old Testament and New Testament had haters too – it comes with the territory!  I’ll close with another great RC Sproul quote:

“When I think I’m unfairly hated, I try to remember that I’m unfairly loved.”

Being loved by Jesus Christ is all I need!

___________________________

He Cares

July 23, 2025

27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
-Luke 12:27-31 (NIV)

Sometimes I’m inspired by music…. actually I’m always inspired by music and the music is always my favourite part of worship services.  Go figure, eh?  The Pastor that preaches God’s message doesn’t even admit that the sermon is his favourite part of worship services.  Well, there you have it and, “You learn something new every day” as the famous saying goes.  Now off and on for the last few months I’ve been thinking about the song called “Flowers” by Samantha Ebert (a Christian musician from Ottawa), and I know a while ago now one of our many great church vocalists sang this song solo during the Offertory portion of one of our Sunday worship services.  Okay, and I’ll make another giant confession here – a number of times I have to fight to hold back tears when some of our church vocalists sing for God and when I heard this song at our church, that was one of these times.  They say, “Music soothes the savage beast” as another famous saying, and I was soothed that Sunday.  It’s a real touching and beautiful song if you ask me.  For anyone that hasn’t heard the song before, here’s a YouTube link for it (Click on it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DDeSUxcTIY

Apparently, Samantha Ebert wrote this song about navigating through life with Lyme Disease.  I don’t know much about Lyme Disease, but a quick Google search tells me having Lyme Disease can produce symptoms of rashes, fever, fatigue, headache, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes.  That doesn’t sound fun at all.  In fact, any disease or any other hardship is not fun.  And if you’re ever going through a difficult time in your life whether it’s from an illness or any other setback, I want you to know that God cares for you and God will even use these events for his glory’s sake.  Through all of life’s challenges and setbacks, they’re all reminders that tell us we’re not meant for life on earth to be our eternal domain.  If that were the case, then we wouldn’t have moments of pain, suffering and loss here.  We are then left with the conclusion that our eternal home is with Jesus in the heavens until the new earth and new heaven come (Rev. 21).

Too many times, we struggle to sense God’s presence when things don’t go well or when we’re going through a difficult time.  It’s usually during these times when we question, “God, are you really out there?” or “God, do you really care for me?”  Surely God does care for you!  He cares enough for you to send his one and only Son in Jesus Christ to die for you and that changes everything!  Some of you may be wondering if God cares about even the little things in life – when we go through a job change, or when we go through a relationship change or even just waking up in the morning and having breakfast.  Believe me, God knows, and he cares.

I hope and pray you find comfort in our Luke passage.  I’m not sure if Samantha Ebert wrote her Flowers song with inspiration from the same passage, but when I hear that song, this passage comes to mind.  Look!  God decorates his wide earth with beautiful wild flowers and isn’t it interesting that he mentions Solomon here, because in Song of Solomon 2:1 it mentions “lily of the valleys” in reference to their beauty and the maiden speaking.  Did you know that God also describes his children of believers as “jewels in a crown” (Zech. 9:6)?  What I’m trying to say is that God not only cares for you and loves you, but that he SUPREMELY cares for you and loves you.  He does not leave you alone to go through life’s trials by yourself, but he desires for you to turn to him in prayer and always hope through life’s good and bad.  And above all else, we are constantly encouraged to seek his kingdom (and his righteousness, Matt. 6:33) – by doing so, God will take care of the rest.  Please never doubt that he cares and like the above mentioned song says, “I’m a good God and I have a good plan.”
___________________________

God’s Will

July 16, 2025

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
-Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV)

Last week and while on my Study Leave, I received a very sad message from my cousin (Philip) in Toronto.  He shared his wife (Stephanie) just passed away from cancer at the age of 51 and leaving behind two young children in their teens.  Apart from my own wife, Stephanie was the most caring and loving person I ever met.  This is now the fourth close family member I lost in the last four years.  Much like when my brother-in-law (Toronto Police Constable, Andrew Hong) got murdered in 2022 (died at the age of 48 and leaving behind two teen children), I quickly flew back to Toronto for Stephanie’s funeral.  When planning the funeral, Philip told the pastor he’s expecting under 100 people to attend.  At the actual funeral, it turns out people were lined up standing around the perimeter walls and even into the hallway with over 300 people in attendance.  At the funeral I talked to my cousin’s son (Bryce) and I found out he wasn’t there to say his last goodbyes to his mom because he was in the Dominican Republic winning the silver medal for Canada in the men’s pairs beach volleyball tournament at the NORCECA - U18 qualifier.  He wrote a touching message to his mom after his win.  It turns out his next steps will be to play for Canada at the U18 Volleyball World Championships in October at Qatar – I can’t wait to cheer him on while watching him on TV!

And as great as that moment was to hear Bryce’s accomplishment, it couldn’t take away the sadness of losing another close loved one.  At the funeral however and during the pastor’s sermon, I thought his message of the hope of the resurrection and peace was remarkable.  It’s sad losing another loved one, but through it all I was reminded of the fact that GOD IS GOOD and it’s his will over mine!  During the sermon the pastor said a quote, “God thank you for giving me my wife.  God thank you for the time spent with my wife.  And God thank you for bringing her home.”  You see while others grumble and curse God for all of life’s losses, tragedies, sadness and especially when we lose a loved one, we are reminded our eternal home is with Jesus in the heavens (until the new heaven and new earth) and that everything we experience here is temporary.  We can only be thankful for…. EVERYTHING!  And even for the painful people and circumstances God allows to come into our lives, it all should refocus our position towards heaven.  Sure, hardships and losses are difficult, but I’m convinced that when we get to heaven, all those losses will be shown to have great worth and meaning revealing the infinite and magnificent joy of Jesus Christ in his fullness in comparison to all the suffering and loss this world brought.  Imagine receiving Jesus’ immeasurable grace, his infinite love, his amazingly warm embrace no longer tainted by sin, pain and suffering for eternity – I can’t wait for that, even more than cheering on my nephew!

And you know what?  We’re supposed to embrace God’s goodness even today and not just wait for when God takes us home with him in eternity!  This is why Paul tells us first to rejoice in the Lord and to repeat that statement because it’s so important.  We tend to get so weighed down by life’s hardships that we forget to rejoice in the Lord!  If you’re doing that, your gentleness will surely be revealed (though flawed at times).  We will not find true joy apart from the Lord Jesus Christ and we are greatly encouraged and instructed to present and lay down all kinds of hardships and burdens to God in prayer, and at all times.  This also relates back to rejoicing in the Lord.  Haven’t you noticed how many times you feel better after laying your concerns to God?  Haven’t you noticed the more time you spent with God, the more at peace you are?  Haven’t you noticed that even when losses and hardships come, the supernatural peace of the Lord settles all your pains and losses?  I will take God’s will over mine any day of the week and I will rejoice in the Lord, focusing on him and delighting in him daily.  And this is where the rest of the world got it twisted.  Most people upon hearing about Jesus want all the benefits he brings – joy, peace, patience, all the fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:19-21), but they don’t want Jesus himself.  They want all the benefits of Jesus without having Jesus!  But the true joy and peace is obtained through a right relationship with Jesus and only found within Jesus himself!  Submit to God’s will – it’s the best decision you can ever make!
_________________________