The "Woe's"

Luke 11:42-44

Are the “Woe’s” listed in Luke 11:42-52, viable for the church of 2015?   As a follower of Christ are you applying Psalms 119:11, “I have stored your word in my heart, so that I might not sin against you.”  If so, you have this treasure stored in your heart and mind; “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”  (Matthew 24:35)   And it is clear in Matthew 24:35, we find the answer to the “Woe” question, but it is not finding the answer that is key, but our obedience to the answer.

Ask yourself, am I a Pharisee in regard to this “Woe”? “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”  (Luke 11:42 ESV)  I’ve found it easy to give both tithes and gifts and yet often, I have a close relationship with the Pharisee when it comes to the neglect of love to the under resourced of the world.  What about this “Woe”? “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”  (Luke 11:43-44 ESV)

I wish there was a sign that all Christians wore that was invisible until our flesh took over and we looked like the pagan world, and then it began to flash for all to see.  It might state; “walking by feelings and not by faith” or “I’m on the throne of my life at this moment.”  This would be the problem for many, it would be on most of the time, for some even at church, and that life brings sadness to the heart of our Father in heaven.  But like the Pharisee, many of us have flesh that wants the best seat, we want to be noticed for all that we have done, and yet Jesus tells us we are like unmarked graves, our lives are not bringing anyone to Christ.

Most of us can identify with the lawyer in verse 45; “One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” This is Jesus reply, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.” (Luke 11:46-51 ESV)

I, like this lawyer, often want the rules to apply to others but when confronted by the Lord it is always a choice, do I bow my knee and agree with the Lord, or do I feel insulted and my pride keeps me in sin?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice