AUG 21

Luke 20:45-47
Memorise Proverbs 27:6
“…he said unto his disciples, beware…”

After Jesus was extensively questioned by the Jews, He then warned His disciples against the hypocrisy of these teachers. Luke recounts Jesus’ words: “Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation” (Luke 20:46-47). While these teachers took pains to appear holy, they used their status to swindle widows into giving them their possessions. These widows could ill afford to give up their worldly goods because they no longer had husbands they could rely on to provide for them, and yet they cruelly took advantage of them. Jesus here showed that not only did He teach others about the truth, but He also warned them against error. To only teach the truth and not to warn of error is to suggest to others that Christianity is only a theory, and thus in practice societal values such as peace and love must prevail over the truth of God’s Word. The disciples of Jesus must not have such a reputation of hypocrisy that will cause the world to shun the gospel.

Jesus thus gives us an important example to follow: while it might be safe to teach what is right, we must also point out what is wrong even if it may cause others to be unhappy. Is it not hypocritical if we tell others we believe the Bible has no mistakes, but keep quiet when a fellow teen says he does not share this belief? Worse still, if the fellow teen is your best friend, do you then cease from telling others you have this belief, so that you will not offend this best friend? One of the greatest dangers to our service to the Lord is when we allow friendship and kinship to bias our judgment. Yet, just as Jesus did so to the disciples He cared about, we too must warn those we care about, even at the risk of spoiling the relationship. As Proverbs 27:6 tells us, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Now some of you might try to avoid giving such warnings by claiming that one cannot possibly warn against every single error that one encounters, but the simple answer is that we should start by warning those we care about, those we call friends. Will we have the spiritual strength and spiritual courage to do so? Pray that God will help us!

Thought: Do I have any instances of not warning my friends against error?
Prayer: May I show how much I care by both exhorting and warning.