Emphasis Preaching Journal

"If you're a good little boy and eat your greens, you'll get dessert." We've all heard such promises before. We've probably even said them to our own child. We foster, through bribery, good eating habits. Reward and punishment, it's the all-American way.

The scribes and Pharisees loved to strut their stuff in front of people. They could say all the right words, interpret the law in just the right way, and therefore, they assumed they would be able to walk into God's presence, based upon the actions they fulfilled in life.