church of Christ at 26th and Connecticut
Joplin, Missouri

Phone
417-781-2326
Fax
417-781-2326

   Worship Schedule

Sunday
    Bible Class              9 am
    Morning Worship    10 am
    Evening Worship      6 pm

Wednesday
     Devotional & Class   7 pm

Upcoming Activities

"JOSHUA" AND THE PHARISEES

In 2002 a movie came out called Joshua. It stars Tony Goldwyn and F. Murray Abraham. It was based on a best-selling novel by Joseph Girzone. What the movie is about is Christ coming to earth in our time. It isn't the Judgment Day, the second coming that we read about in the Bible. No, the story is fictitious and doesn't claim to be factual. It basically just shows Christ living among men once again and interacting with them. He goes by the name Joshua, which, as you might know, is the Hebrew equivalent of the name Jesus. In the movie nobody knows that he is Christ. But some of them come to believe that he is, similar to what you read about in the Gospels. It's an entertaining movie. It's clean. However, I don't think it gives a completely accurate representation of Christ.

What would he say about religion today?

However, something that is interesting about the movie is that it gives one view to the question, "If Christ came today and dwelt among men once more, what would he say and do?" And even more specifically, it gives one view to the question, "If Christ came today and dwelt among men once more, what would he say and do about religion?" The best clue to knowing what Jesus might say about religion today, is by looking at what he said about it in the first century.

The Pharisees

One religious group of which Christ had much to say was the Pharisees. The word "Pharisees" means "separated ones." The Pharisees were: "One of the parties or movements within Judaism...(ca. 150 B.C.-A.D. 70). The Pharisees were noted most for their exact observance of the Jewish religion, their accurate exposition of the law, their handing down of extrabiblical customs and traditions " (Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, page 823).

The Scribes and Pharisees

Actually, Jesus often spoke of the "scribes and Pharisees." However, as our brother Jack Lewis writes, "Scribes and Pharisees are not mutually exclusive terms, for most scribes were also Pharisees... The function of the scribe (called by Josephus the 'interpreter of the ancestral law') was to expound the law" (page 108 in his commentary on Matthew, vol. 2). It's said that "scribes and Pharisees" means "scribes who were also Pharisees along with other Pharisees" (Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, page. 917).

Sound doctrine

In some ways, the Pharisees were better than the Sadducees. "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all" (Acts 23:8 ESV). And Jesus rebuked the Sadducees for their disbelief in such things (Luke 20:27-40). Not surprisingly, some of the scribes (who were probably Pharisees), commended Jesus for rebuking the Sadducees. Perhaps, Jesus would commend many religious people today for their belief in such things as resurrection and angels.

Unsound lives

Though the Pharisees preached some good things, there was a problem. They didn't practice what they preached. Jesus told the crowds: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you - but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice" (Matthew 23:2-3 ESV). And what about us? Are we preaching sound doctrine but failing to practice what we preach?

False doctrine

Not every doctrine of the Pharisees was sound, however. Jesus told his disciples to beware of the teaching of the Pharisee (Matthew 16:12). Jesus also rebuked the scribes and Pharisees, saying: "So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'" (Matthew 15:6-9 ESV). Surely Jesus would rebuke many religious groups today for their false doctrine.

False lives