Sermon Video: Woe to the phony believers - Luke 11:37-54

What is it about some Church going people that causes people who don't go to Church to stay away?  Two of the most common complaints are that Church people are judgmental and that they are hypocrites.  That this attitude exists should be no surprise to us, after all, Jesus confronted the same issues when interacting with the outwardly religious members of the Pharisees.  During a dinner to which Jesus had been invited by a Pharisee, Jesus offers a scathing rebuke to the outward piety and inward immorality of people like his host.  He goes on to offer six "woes" aimed at those who have zeal without love, are full of pride, have a facade of piety which hides wickedness, are beholden to legalism, ignore the spokesmen of God, and finally stand in the way of others coming to God for forgiveness.  The common theme in the list is that in each case those committing the transgression are guilty of shallow belief/obedience that only impacts the surface, it does not continue on to transform the heart.  Such surface belief naturally leads toward judgmentalism, for those who have not truly been forgiven often fail to forgive others, and hypocrisy, for how can anyone practice what they preach if not by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit?

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