Why am I listing all of the woes that Jesus levied at the Pharisees as "spiritual warfare"? We tend to think of spiritual warfare happening out there--Satan prowling around, and we are minding our own business and then WHAM! Satan is upon us.
Wrong.
Notice how Peter precedes his warning with an injunction. I am using two translations to show this:
"Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8 NLT)"Be clearheaded. Keep alert. Your accuser, the devil, is on the prowl like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8, CEB)
Other translations use the word "sober" and "clear judgment." In other words, you need to be more active in this spiritual warfare thing--not viewing yourself as a hapless victim if something comes your way, but being alert and aware of the dangers out there.
Several years ago, I wrote a book called, Stronghold Starters: How Satan Gets Into Our Lives. (It's on Amazon, if you are interested!) It was my response to many good Christians I knew who viewed Satan as an all-powerful entity that could punch you in the face out of nowhere and slam you down on the mat.
Yet, as a pastor once taught our church, don't get into the arena of sin in the first place. Mike Tyson can't just walk up to you on the street and punch you in the face and get away with it. But if you are in the boxing ring, the arena where punching is part of the scene, then you can expect to get walloped. Same thing with sin's arena: If you are sober and alert and not placing yourself at risk by going and doing those things which will cause you to sin, then Satan is far less likely to overtake you.
Stay out of the arena by being honest with yourself and examining those areas of your vulnerability. Jesus didn't mince words on how seriously we should take sin and its eternal consequences for a momentary pleasure:
So, I listed these ways Satan gets into our lives, not because we are simply unsuspecting victims, but because we open ourselves up to his influence with these attitudes (with my quick definitions):
- Being apathetic and judgmental: Why should I care?
- Knowledge: I am a real know-it-all
- Unforgiveness: No mercy, just justice
- Greed & envy: I deserve more
- Insecurity, fear and trust: I take care of me
- Lust: My needs met, no matter the cost
- Doubt and confusion: Did God really say?
- Deeply injured: It's who I am
- Ticked off: Bring it on!
- Holier than thou: Only my truth
These attitudes drop-kick you right into sin's arena. These attitudes make you vulnerable to suggestions on how to proceed and Satan is never short of ideas on how to make these attitudes lead to a "fun" and "fulfilling" (not!) reality.
To make another analogy: If you are malnourished, you are much more vulnerable to becoming ill. What foods you eat provide the raw materials for the body to use to build up the immunological system's defenses, so when a bacteria or virous shows up, the body can respond more vigorously.
Healthy people do get sick. Even strong Christians get tempted, but it is our response that shows our state of spiritual health.
This is where the Pharisees got it terribly wrong in their view of sin. They probably thought to themselves that because they didn't do anything overtly wrong/bad/immoral/ungodly, they were good people. But that very attitude put them in the arena of sin. Their response was to condemn others and look away from others' suffering.
They looked good on the outside, but those attitudes they carried with them made them vulnerable to even more evil thinking, and Satan laughed at their ignorant participation in furthering his kingdom.
But Jesus points out where we are standing: Not to condemn us, but make us examine ourselves and ask, "Am I harboring any attitudes that are not in concert with the Kingdom of God?"
So, here is what Jesus says to the Pharisees in this woe:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." (Matt. 23:25-26)
There's that "hypocrite" word again: It means "actor"--a person who put on a mask to be someone that they were not. Jesus detested "actors" in the Kingdom of God, because they misrepresent what it really means to be a follower here. Jesus had patience and encouragement for those who were sincere, even if they were fallible, because they weren't acting, but trying.
Look at the attitudes that Jesus is calling out: Greed and self-indulgence. These people are in sin's arena for sure with those attitudes. They cultivate a religious and godly exterior, but Jesus can see past the acting and sees what is really inside. He also sees how such attitudes misrepresent His Father and how these leaders are neglecting the ones who need His Father the most: the poor, the weak, the widow, the orphan, the fallen woman, the lonely and the hurt.
Greed and self-indulgence in their hearts have made them vulnerable to the whisperings of Satan:
Would you just look at those people over there? How can they even think of themselves as good Jews? You are the standard. You provide the model, and look how lacking they are compared to you! Hey, special people deserve special treatment, now don't they? If you use the tithes and offering for your personal benefit, why not? You are providing the very image that these unwashed masses should aspire to, and that takes money. It's money well spent. And if you allow yourself a little pleasure, why not? It takes hard work to keep the Temple running, and so what if you indulge occasionally--you've earned it! The people out there, if truth be told, should be glad that you take what you deserve! Without you, they'd be lost! Keep doing what you are doing. And especially, keep an eye on that hayseed from Nazareth. He doesn't have a clue about how hard you work, and his interference may have to be dealt with some day--who does he think he is, with all of this Kingdom of God talk? You represent that Kingdom and anyone who says otherwise needs to be silenced.
Jesus saw two dire consequences of the Pharisees' thinking. First, it led them to believe in their own perfection, with little or no humility present to temper such an assessment, and this kept them in sin's arena.
Secondly, by staying in this arena, they continued to listen to the endless parade of whispering throughout Jesus' ministry. This whispering would turn murderous one day, and these men would seek to kill Jesus.
They would cozy up to the hated Romans, and partner with them to put this man to death, in the most degrading way possible.
Jesus, as He called them out in these woes, was deeply concerned for their souls. These woes were warnings and a call to repentance to avoid an eternity, devoid of His Father.
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