Matthew 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

Jesus was warning the multitudes about the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus warned how the religious rulers were quick to lay heavy burdens upon the people but were unwilling to lift a finger to the same burden. The religious rulers made appearances to their righteousness by the wearing of phylacteries and the display of fringes upon their garments. These men were willing to appear like they were doing the which was right in the eyes of God, but in reality, everything they were doing was simply to receive the praises of men.

Phylacteries were like a small scroll that the religious rulers would wear so as to keep portions of the law of God near to them. However, what most likely started out as one individuals attempt to keep the law of God had become a status symbol for the religious leaders, the larger the scroll the more prestigious the individual. Rather than actually allow the law to change their hearts, Jesus warns that the religious leaders were simply attempting to earn the praises of man and not live their lives for the glory of God.

Before you say that you would never do something as weird as wear portions of the bible around your body to show your righteousness to others, think about how people follow this same principal today. There are those who hang scripture verses up in their office and in their home, yet they are simply giving lip service to God. There are those who wear clothing that sites scripture verses yet they do not understand the true meaning of the verse. There are those who appear to give glory to God on the television after they have accomplished some goal yet for some it is simply a way to portray a good guy image.

The religious leaders wanted the people to recognize them for their spirituality but they did not want to commit their lives to having a personal relationship with God. The same problem that Jesus was seeing in the religious leaders during HIS time on earth can be seen in Christians around the world today. Many Christians are more concerned about their image than they are about having their heart and mind right before God. They are willing to talk the talk but they are unwilling to walk the walk. The world sees that Christians are really nothing but a bunch of show and they want no part of Christianity.

You are commanded to be the light to the world. This does not mean that you go out and purchase every Christian symbol and plaster it around your life so that those around you know that you are a Christian. In order to be the light you must transform your life. You should be more concerned about your inward relationship with God than the outward appearance. When God has your life, the world will see that you are different and you will be more affective for spreading the light of God than a thousand John 3:16 signs.

You can pretend to be religious all you want but what does Christ say about you? If Christ were to speak with those around you today, would HE tell them to beware of your self-righteous proclamations because you only do those things to give the appearance that you are righteous? If you desire to do great things for God, then you must take the time to concentrate on filling your heart and mind with the things of God. Add virtue to your life so that your relationship with God is more important to you than the praises of man.

Matthew 12:38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

The scribes and Pharisees had seen Jesus’ miracles, they had heard HIS’ teaching and they had seen HIS’ sinless life. The scribes and Pharisees understood the scriptures and of all people, they should have been the ones to recognize that Jesus was their Messiah. When the wise men came to Herod and asked him where the king of the Jews was to be born, the scribes and the priests told him in Bethlehem. Yet regardless of all their knowledge and observations, they still were not convinced that Jesus was the One.

The scribes and the Pharisees were so caught up in themselves that they refused to acknowledge the truth that was before them. What sign could Jesus have given them that would have satisfied their doubt’ Jesus had already been performing great miracles all over the country. Jesus already had a star proclaim his birth. Jesus was in the process of fulfilling all the prophecies that foretold of HIS coming.

The scribes and the Pharisees were seeking for a sign because they had hardened their hearts to the truth. They were not seeking a sign to reveal the truth to them but were seeking a sign so as to justify their unbelief. If Jesus gave them a sign, he would be justifying their unbelief in all the other signs that they had seen. The scribes and Pharisees did not need a new sign, they needed to change their life based upon the information that they had already received.

How often are you like the scribes and the Pharisees? You know what God desires you to do next but you refuse to follow HIS instruction because you are asking God to show you another sign. What you are doing is trying to follow God on your own conditions. When you are asking for signs, you are conditioning your obedience upon God removing certain obstacles in your life before you obey.

Asking God for a sign is not always wrong. Gideon asked for signs before he obeyed God and he still made it into God’s hall of faith. The difference between Gideon and the scribes and Pharisees was that Gideon did not base his signs upon the thing that God asked him to do. Gideon’s signs were all unrelated things. The fleeces had nothing to do with him going to battle. The scribes and Pharisees sign on the other hand was a request that Jesus once again do something to show that he was Lord when the whole purpose of their faith is to believe those things that God had already revealed to them.

You do not have room in your life to start questioning God’s direction. Rather than justifying your unbelief, you need to start living your life in such a way that God can demonstrate HIS power and glory through you. As long as you are constantly seeking signs in order to obey God, then you will never be in a position to obey.

If you desire to have great faith, then you must take the time to fill your heart and mind with the things of God. By adding virtue to your life, you will enable yourself to remove many of the distractions of the world and thus clear your mind to more clearly hear the still small voice of God. Virtue leaves no room for doubt because it is doubt that is often asking for conditions to be removed so that you can obey.

Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Jesus is condemning the scribes and the Pharisees because they obsessed over ensuring that everything that came into their possession was tithed upon that they failed to fulfill other portions of the law including judgment, mercy and faith. Jesus taught that if one breaks the law in one point, he is guilty of breaking the whole law. You cannot be pardon from one sin just because you have mastered one area of the law. God expects and demands from you that you keep the whole law. This means you cannot pick and choose which laws you will obey and which laws are not applicable to you.

Could you imagine if a web page designer decided that one particular code was the most important code and that he was going to incorporate that code in everything he did at the expense of following the program code for everything else. The odds are, if someone visited his web site it would not be very pleasant to the eye and it would not be practical regardless of the content. If a trained web site designer were to look at the source code behind the web site, he would immediately recognize that this individual understood that one particular rule, but it would be obvious that this person was not qualified to design web pages or even teach others how to design web pages because the person not only failed to obey all of the code, but failed to implement the code in his own life.

Judgment, mercy and faith are to be a part of our everyday Christian life. This means that we must incorporate them into our life and live them so God can use us to work with others. If we do not have them apart of our life, how can we expect to be used by God to teach others any aspect of the goodness of God? This does not mean that you are perfect. God knows that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Just because a web designer makes one mistake on code, does not preclude him from ever teaching others how to design a web page. However, hopefully the web designer learned from his mistake and will use that humbling experience to enable him to be a better teacher. However, if the web designer has not learned from his mistake, and continues to make the same mistake, why would you want to learn from such an individual?

Jesus tells us that faith is a weightier matter of the law. It is an important part of our daily walk with the Lord. One cannot focus solely on faith at the expense of everything else in the law, but one should definitely not be like the scribes and Pharisees who ignored it all together. We know that faith is simple obedience to God. Faith is believing what God has promised will come true regardless of the storms that seem to surround us. Faith is keeping your focus fixed upon God and not allowing your trials to worry you.

God desires obedience to HIS entire law, not just parts. This means, faith is to be an active part of your life. God expects you to exercise faith in your life so that HE might be glorified and so that HE might use you to spread HIS light to the world that needs a Savior. The scribes and Pharisees desired to be teachers of the law of God, but because they failed to incorporate the entire law into their life, they were condemned. So too will you be condemned by the Lord if you try to teach others the law and you have failed to obey the law by incorporating into your life the basic commandment of faith.