The Six Woes
Luke 11:37-54 talks about the 6 woes that Jesus shared with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Jesus was so strong talking about these woes, thus, when Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose Him fiercely (Luke 11:53).
These 6 woes represents 6 areas/things in our life that we really have to pay attention to in order for us to work on our salvation and live holy for Him. Because a lot of so-called God's children nowadays (including us) live in the edge of becoming the Pharisees and the teachers of the law without them knowing it.
1. (Luke 11:42) "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practices the latter without leaving the former undone."
Be obedience 100%. When we decide to love Christ and become the imitator of God, we can't just choose the "convenient" laws and ways of life, and neglect those which are not "convenient" for us to do. When we say "yes" to Him, it means we are saying "yes" to all of his commandments without anything less.
2. (Luke 11:43) "Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace"
Be careful of self-respect, self-pride and recognition-addiction. The deepest need of human's heart is to be appreciated and respected. However, as God's truly son, we have to know and believe that the greatest respect, appreciation, and recognition does not come from human beings, but by Him and Him alone.
3. (Luke 11:44) "Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves which men walk over without knowing it"
Be fully transparent without any pretends.Unmarked graves talks about looking beautiful from the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones (Mat 23:27). God hates hypocrites. We have to make sure that what we think align with what we say and what we do.
4. (Luke 11: 46) ..."woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them."
Be consistent. Walk the Talk. We have to ensure that we do what we preach. Spiritual authority comes from direct obedience and true experiences with God.
5. (Luke 11: 47) "Woe to you , because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them."
Beware the impact of sins for generations to come. What we choose to do and not to do will impact generations to come.Do not play games with sins and temptations. God can forgive you , but the consequences of sins will continue to do what have become their portions.
6. (Luke 11: 52) "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."
Be responsible with our life and the words of God that are entrusted to us. As God's children that have committed to work on our salvation, we have to keep on learning and studying the words of God. The more we know and the more we experience the power of the Words, the more we can share to people and the more influential we become, and the more effective God can use us for His divine purposes.
The worst things that could happen is for church leaders to become complacency and stop growing in the words of God. Their focus will no longer expanding God's kingdom on earth, but their own kingdom.
-JH-