Pharisees And Sadducees
“I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded” (Rom 16:17,18).
Pharisees and Sadducees were a problem in Christ’s day,
And so today, are Christians, if they’re acting the same way.
Pharisees were legalists, and Sadducees were liberals,
Whose attitudes and practices were the cause of many ills.
Pharisees were perfectionists, who salvation by works taught,
Sadducees were compromisers, who relied on human thought.
Pharisees and Sadducees often argued with the Lord,
Didn’t like or trust each other, and were seldom in accord.
In the Christian church today, such opposing groups exist,
Which also act un-Christ like, and similar tactics enlist.
Sadly, both have strayed off track, hence those wrong things that we see,
That are plaguing many churches, and distorting Christianity.
Danger’s found in the extremes, hence balance God has called for,
However, balanced Christians, God’s requirements don’t ignore.
Just like the tightrope walker, the wise Christian treads with care,
Lest through moving left or right, they soon off track career.
God’s path is straight and narrow, with no side tracks on the way,
But there are tracks the devil ‘left’ and ‘right’ has tried to lay.
Thus, the legalist or liberal, will one way or another,
Both the Scriptures and God’s will, distort, destroy, or smother.
God wants us to be balanced, so we’ll rightly, think, say and do,
For Christians that are balanced are like scales that read true.
They display more accurately what God’s trying to convey,
Just as a builders level helps a straight foundation lay.
Perhaps within each Christian lies a little bit of each,
A Pharisee, a Sadducee, that the Spirit needs to reach.
Has legalism or liberalism been leading you off track?
If so, the Lord is pleading, “Stop, there’s danger, please turn back”.
By Lance Landall
“But
even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel
contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!” (Gal
1:8).
“ ...but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another” (Rom 14:13).