You Tube Theology

What sort of God do you think the Pharisees saw in the law? Just think of the Pharisee and the tax collector. What sort of God do you think the Pharisee saw in the law? Just have that in your head. Fussy. Nip-picking, rule-keeping, not very lovely. Very, very, very precise. What sort of glory is actually revealed in the law? What are the greatest commandments? Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself. And if that's what being in the image of God looks like, that says something very profound about who God is. Love the Lord your God. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's being like God. Or in the law, think of Leviticus 19, "You shall be holy for I am holy." What does that mean? What do you think the Pharisee thought? Be holy. Keep a lot of those rules. Right? Holiness is probably to be like the holy God means being a bit sour towards other people. Certainly tax collectors and scum like that. But doing the correct things. What does be holy as I am holy look like if you look at Leviticus 19? First few verses, what does holiness look like? It means come with fellowship offerings to the Lord. It means have fellowship with the Lord. Love the Lord your God. Next few verses, it means show kindness and compassion to your neighbor. And the section ends with famous words, "Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." Holiness is loving, for God is love. And if it's not loving, kind, compassionate, it's not holiness. The Pharisees had just misunderstood God. The Pharisees with their emphasis on outward performance over inward reality had missed the loving heartbeat of the law and the Lord it revealed. They failed to see that they were called to love God with their hearts. They mistook the very nature of God. They failed to see what sort of God had been revealed in Scripture.