Matthew 23:13

 Matthew 23:13 says, But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.  Speaking to the scribes and Pharisees, some of the most religious of God's chosen people, Jesus said woe unto them.  They not only shut themselves out of the kingdom of heaven, but they worked to prevent others from entering as well.  Following rituals in self pride will never be enough to get anyone into heaven.  Verse fourteen states, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.  Jesus continues to pronounce woe on the scribes and Pharisees, calling them hypocrites.  Jesus said the took the houses of widows and for a pretense they made long prayers.  We can pray all day long, but unless we have a personal relationship with Jesus, it will do us no good.  Verse fifteen says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.  Jesus next pronounced woe on the scribes and Pharisees for working so hard to make a proselyte, then making him a twofold child of hell.  If we convert someone into a false Christianity, one that is based on anything more than faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, then we leave them worse off than they were before.  Verse sixteen states, Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!  Jesus next pronounced woe on those who said swearing by the temple was nothing but swearing by the gold in the temple made one a debtor.  Jesus called them blind guides.  The temple was God's house of prayer, but the gold inside the temple the religious leaders had come to view as their own.  Verse seventeen adds, Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?  Jesus continued by calling them fools and blind, asking them which was greater, the gold or the temple that sanctified it.  When we begin to look at a house of worship as being of less value than than the riches inside it, something is wrong.  Verse eighteen continues, And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.  Jesus then made the same statement about the altar versus the gift on the altar.  We should never value the gifts, the material things, brought to the altar of God more than we value the altar as a place to worship God.  Verse nineteen adds, Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?  Jesus then asked which was greater, the gift or the altar that sanctified it.  Whatever we bring to the altar of God should always be of less value to us than God that the altar represents is.  Verse twenty declares, Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.  Jesus said that if we swear by the altar that we also swear by all that is on the altar.  Verse twenty-one adds, And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.  Jesus said that if we swear by the temple that we also swear by God, Who dwells therein.  Verse twenty-two concludes, And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.  Jesus then said that anyone who swore by heaven was swearing by the throne of God and by God Himself Who sits on the throne.  As followers of Christ, we must acknowledge that there is nothing greater than our relationship with Christ, and we can never separate the world into the physical and the spiritual feeling that what we do physically will never be important to our spiritual relationship with God.  Everything that we have should be devoted to God and the advancement of His kingdom.