Sadducees, The unbelief.

Sadducees, The Unbelief
by Heather Collver

Can you actually believe in God and not Jesus? Can only part of the Bible be true? Have you ever read something that contradicts itself in the Bible? Which is more important to you: a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ or a religion? Is believing in a resurrection really all that important?

Sadducees: Jewish religious leaders. One of the two major parties of the Jewish High Council.

The Sadducees believed only the Pentateuch alone (Genesis - Deuteronomy) to be God's Word. This party of religious leaders descended mostly from priestly nobility. John the Baptist criticized this group of leaders for using religion to advance their political position.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize,[a] he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

The Sadducees were a lot like I was before I accepted the Word of God. They thought that they could pick and choose what was God's Word and that if they were good, then that was all that mattered. How can we know God's word and be fruitless? It happens all the time. Something gets in the way. Either an alternative motive or we truly don't believe. God changes us by his word, he transforms our lifeless limbs to fruitfulness. When the Sadducees came to be baptized it was more for show. They did not really believe in the coming wrath of God, nor did they care. Their outward appearance was more important.

Has there ever been a time when you have used your religious standing to gain more power, advance your political position, or to seem like someone you are not?

Check out this video clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl40wVuCJUA

Dear Lord, I praise you for your Word today. I find the peace that I need when reading it, but feel called to action at the same time. You are the King of all Kings and deserve our praise today. I am reminded of what you went through, the persecution, to save us from our own selves. You have to know each of us by name to do that. To willingly give up your life as our ultimate sacrifice. What an amazing gift. I only pray that I will be fruitful, a sweet aroma to you. Praise God. Amen.

Please pray with me today for those who have not yet heard the Word of God. Who have no idea that we are loved beyond our circumstances, that we can serve a mighty and powerful God who will part the seas for us, who sacrificed his own son on our behalf so that he could spend eternity with us.