The Spirit of Sheep's Clothing, pt 3

In this teaching, we continue to expose the most prevalent and dangerous spirit in the church with describing six more characteristics of the religious spirit.

In His second “Woe” to the religious leaders, Jesus said in Matthew 23:14:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

The Pharisees took advantage of helpless widows—using religion to justify their attempts to steal widows’ homes and livelihood. And to appear righteous and spiritual, they uttered great and long prayers while robbing those widows.

In the Old Testament, widows were considered to be under the special care of the Lord (Proverbs 15:25). And in the New Testament, widows were sustained at public expense (Acts 6:1–6). Widows are so important to God’s heart that He lists the care of them (and orphans) as His definition of religion that is pure and undefiled (James 1:27).

So, you can see why Jesus abhorred the Pharisees’ behavior towards widows and pronounced that they will “receive the greater condemnation and the heavier sentence.” (AMP)

The religious spirit tries manipulate anyone—especially the weak and vulnerable—while at the same time, give the impression that he is very spiritual and is doing God’s will. This is pure selfishness that is cloaked in false righteousness.

In the middle of his sermon, a pastor held his wrist up and showed his congregation a shiny gold watch and said, “The Lord blesses those that serve Him!”

The previous week, the pastor spent a couple hours answering questions from a man who had recently become a Christian. Knowing that the man was very wealthy, the pastor told him that Jesus told a rich man to give away his money. Then he said, “For example, the Lord might tell you to give your watch away for the work of the ministry.”

The man, being spiritually weak and vulnerable was seduced and manipulated by a religious spirit and gave his solid gold watch to that pastor.

A traveling preacher has a television show of his services. Most of the people who attend his meetings are poor and uneducated. Regardless of the title of his sermon, his preaching always focuses on how to obtain God’s material blessings. He gives testimony after testimony from people who supposedly gave to his ministry and were miraculously given a car or a large sum of money or some other material blessing. Then he proceeds to manipulate the people into giving their last dollar or their social security check, all the while, sounding very spiritual and promising a return on their giving in this life and in heaven. This witchcraft and selfishness is rooted in the diabolical religious spirit.

The religious spirit takes. The Holy Spirit gives.

Religious leaders prey on the weak. Godly leaders strengthen the weak.

In verse 15, Jesus pronounces His third woe:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

This “woe” reveals two aspects of the religious spirit.

First, the religious spirit will go great distances and use a lot of effort to find and surround himself only those that agree with him. These “yes-men” are subordinates who stand with and applaud their leader no matter what he says or does because he deceives them into believing that only he can hear God’s voice and that his understanding of God’s Word is the only and correct interpretation.

But this power isn’t enough for the religious spirit, which leads to the second aspect.

The religious leader trains his subordinates to be more evil than himself. The religious spirit is not only a stumbling block, but it actually develops more stumbling blocks.

Many years ago, a pastor promoted numerous young men to be his assistant pastors. They were impressionable and typical yes-men. (One of these men actually worshipped this pastor so much that he changed his own style of speech to imitate the inflections, pronunciations of certain words, and repeat the key phrases of this pastor.) After the pastor had these men securely under his rule, he changed from shepherd to sheriff—replacing the spirit of the Word with the letter of the law. He exercised unrestrained authority and trained his assistants to carry out and enforce his discipline on those in his congregation that he deemed were not submitting completely to his authority. The religious spirit successfully set up a very powerful stronghold in that church and leads it with stumbling blocks.

Within a short time, many people were hurt, reputations were slandered and destroyed, families were ripped apart, and some quit serving the Lord altogether. What began as a refreshing and powerful anointing on this man was replaced by a religious spirit that destroyed or injured many God-loving, good people. Additionally, it created many more stumbling blocks more evil than himself.

Every church should place grace and transparency above the letter of the law and the deception of hypocrisy. The purpose of Jesus’ death was to draw all men to Him, not to a man that has a religious spirit.

In His fourth woe, Jesus said:

Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. (:16–22)

Okay, all this swearing stuff can seem confusing. Here’s what Jesus was referring to:

In this woe, Jesus reveals the double wickedness of the religious spirit. First, it’s okay to make an oath to one thing and not be bound by it, but if the oath is made to something else, that oath must be honored. Second, the religious spirit prefers the gold over the temple and the gift over the altar.

In other words, the religious spirit determines what is sin and what is not sin. It bases these determinations on what serves its purpose: gaining power over the people and obtaining wealth. The focus is not on doing things for God’s glory and for the good of the people, but rather on what best serves the religious leaders.

Creating rules and laws that are not supported by the scriptures is a tool that has been used by the religious spirit since the early church and can still be seen today. Paul was concerned that the church in Corinth was being influenced by this particular tool of the religious spirit and wrote:

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it! (2 Corinthians 11:3–4).

The gospel is simple. The way to live is simple. We should not be bogged down by rules and guidelines created by a religious spirit.

Jesus continues to rebuke the religious leaders:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! (:23–24)

In this, the fifth woe, Jesus again calls the Pharisees “blind guides”. The Holy Spirit guides us into all Truth. But the religious spirit guides people into all lies.

The religious spirit causes people to major in the minors and minor in the majors. The big picture of bringing others into a greater relationship with the Savior is not important because the details of how to appear godly before man is the priority.

The godly aspects of justice, mercy, and faith are pushed aside while the people discuss and argue over the color of the new carpet. Or whether or not to allow an electric guitar to be played during worship. Or if a new worship song has too much of a “rock” beat.

The people in the church that have genuine needs are overlooked while everyone else is proud of their own giving and of their own service to the church institution.

Jesus died so that we could have fellowship with God. We are to take on His nature and have the ability to discern good from evil, to show kindness towards and give help to the afflicted, and to remain steadfast in our conviction that Jesus is the Messiah.

In His sixth woe, Jesus said:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. (:25–26)

This is the third time Jesus says that the religious spirit blinds people.

In these verses, He reveals another evil teaching from the religious spirit: the appearance of godliness is more important than godliness. The Pharisees appeared godly and righteous to almost everyone, while at the same time using extortion and undue power to obtain wealth from others so that they could indulge in their own appetites and desires.

An extreme, but excellent example of this characteristic of the religious spirit was a recent national news item: the BTK murderer. Outside, he was a family man, a church member, and a church president—everything good and upstanding to everyone around him. But inside, he was a heinous and sadistic killer with a heart that was flooded with the most vile thoughts and desires. He used the religious spirit to cloak the evil he held in his heart. And unfortunately, was able to deceive everyone that knew him.

Among normal people, the most common expression of this characteristic of the religious spirit is seen in those that regularly attending church, put money in the offering plate, and participate in church activities but are no different than sinners at home or in secret. They gossip, argue, hate, and commit other sins when they feel that they won’t be caught.

Another expression of this is seen in those that sing during the worship service but are checking their watch, yawning from boredom, or stand there with a glazed look while they think about anything other than the Savior? Speaking of those with a religious spirit, Jesus said in Mark 7:6–7, “This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. Obeying this commandment is the greatest prevention to being controlled by the religious spirit. This will keep us clean on the inside and on the outside.

Nearing the end of chapter 23, Jesus gives His second-to-last woe:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (:27–28)

This “woe” is similar to the previous one except that it reveals the depravity of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy.

Jesus says that outwardly, they appear beautiful, but inside, they are full of the dead remains of those that they have killed—physically and spiritually. Inwardly, their hearts are full of a stench and filthiness like that of decaying flesh.

There is nothing in anyone’s heart that can be hidden from God. The Lord uses the spirit of the person as a lamp to search everywhere, including the most inner and deepest areas of that person’s heart (Proverbs 20:27).

We can keep ourselves from being influenced by the religious spirit when we have only openness before God and holiness in our hearts, like David:

Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. (Psalm 51:6)

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23, 24)

Part 4 completes this study on Matthew 23 and continues to reveal more characteristics of the religious spirit.

It is my prayer for you that Father will continue to help you to hear His voice, and more and more frequently.

With God’s grace and in His peace,

Gary

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