You Might Be A Pharisee If....

By John Stallings

 
This blog is for recovering Pharisees [like me.] Yes I’ll admit it. But that was several decades ago. I didn’t know I was a Pharisee. I’m still in recovery.

In those days, I’d be preaching & say things like, “Now I’m going to say this but you good people who’ve experienced divorce, please don’t be upset, I’m not preaching at you.”

All the while I was saying in my mind, [I didn’t realize this then] “I’m a bit superior here because I’ve never experienced a divorce, & to be frank, my marriage is so special it could never happen to me. So I’ll just keep on trying to help these battered victims of divorce.”

But after over 25 years of marriage, a marriage that produced three children, I was blindsided by a marital break-up I would have crawled on shredded glass to have avoided. In the blink of an eye I saw my marriage & a quarter of a century of work vanish before my eyes. I didn’t even lay material claim to the proverbial “Styrofoam minnow bucket.”

Over the next few years I was forced to look closely at myself. For one thing, I was a Pharisee. What was this preacher going to do now, who’d been taught that his ministry, if not his life was over if he ever divorced? Here’s what I did; not willing to remain single for life, after  years of trying to save the marriage, I was forced to move on. God gave me another chance. I remarried,- to my childhood sweetheart  & recently my wife Juda & I celebrated 28 years of marriage.

 Yes God hates divorce.  He also hates;

……a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running into mischief, a false witness & he that soweth discord among the brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19

  God hates it anytime His children miss the mark because people get hurt.

Are you a Pharisee, recovering or otherwise? Are you, like I was, a Pharisee & not even aware of it?

First let’s define a Pharisee.

The Pharisee’s were the legalists of Jesus’ day. They excelled at nit-picking. They would rather slap a coat of paint on something than get the rotten boards out.

The Pharisees are best remembered for their conflicts with Jesus. His harshest words & fiercest battles involved them. Jesus debunked them, calling them play-actors & hypocrites. There was no connection between their heart & mouth.

 Matthew 23 for more background information on these people. This chapter is the quintessential reader on Pharisees.  They got Jesus stirred up because they pretended they were something they weren’t & no real fruit was swinging from their vines.

These old boys weren’t collaborators with the Romans or revolutionaries. They saw themselves as the protectors & propagators of the law. They were in “mission mode” to protect the law & they added 611 new fence-laws to Moses’ Ten. In Luke 18:9-14 Jesus told the story of a Pharisee & a tax collector who went into the temple to pray. The tax collector had the right attitude of humility but the Pharisee lifted his head & said in essence, "Thank God I'm special."

Jesus’ cousin John the baptizer was the first to spot & condemn these folk. He pinned their ears back telling them they’d sooner or later be axed.

The Pharisees took it on themselves to apply Jewish law to everyday life. They were big on keeping the Sabbath & used it as a frail-pole on Jesus. But Jesus had compassion for hurting people & while the Pharisees saw the details, He was seeing the bigger picture. They claimed to be holy but all the proof needed that they weren’t was the fact that they plotted to kill Jesus on the Sabbath day.


THE PHARISEES AREN'T AN EXTINCT SPECIES

We find them in churches & if we’re honest we can catch a glimpse of one in our bathroom mirror from time to time.

Here’s the bottom line. Anytime someone proceeds, in an attitude of superiority, to judge another person or act smug or superior to them, they can rightly be called Pharisees. That doesn’t mean that sin doesn’t need to be seen for what it is & corrected. It just means that we, imperfect as were are, are unable to see the hearts of our fellowman & cannot judge anyone’s righteousness but our own.

Paul also described the Pharisees when he said,

For I testify to them that they have a zeal to God but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God & seeking to establish their own righteousness they did not submit to the righteousness of God. Romans 10:2-3

The Pharisees held to a poisonous doctrine. They were the ones who brought the woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus. They wanted to trip Him up & see if He’d contradict the law. They were trying to get her killed as an evil lawbreaker when they themselves were evil lawbreakers, & despised all others who weren’t up to their “standards.” They were always ready to proselyte but Jesus told them the ones they enlisted became worse for the experience.

So, the Pharisees were loveless, judgmental, prideful, couldn’t differentiate between traditions & God’s clear commands, & they were hypocritical, not living what they taught.

There’s a little formula that we can quickly apply to our lives to see if we have a bent toward the Pharisaical. Here are some questions & I’ll take the test with you;

What do you say you believe?—Stated belief
What do you actually do?—Actual practice
Now we have our--Actual Belief.

If we find that our stated belief & our Actual belief are different, we have some problems in the Pharisee department. Let’s try it this way. John says he believes that speeding is breaking the law & it dishonors God but he has three speeding tickets recently & blames it on his “lead foot.” Here’s John’s equation;

“Speeding is breaking the law & dishonors God”---Speeding—“Speeding really isn’t that bad.”

We can apply this formula to many things. Honoring parents, prayer time, TV habits, music choices, our clothes, the way we talk about others & the list goes on. Just do the math & you can instantly see if you lean toward Pharisee-ism.

I’d like to point out 8 more practices that if we follow will mark us as modern day Pharisees. Are you ready? You might be a Pharisee if you;

1. NEVER HAVE ANY FUN

Jesus gave us a new concept of happiness. He used another word for it. He said;

……I am come that they might have life & that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

Do you ever let your hair down & just have fun? I’m not speaking about worldly & questionable things; I’m talking about not taking life so seriously & enjoying the journey.

I learned early in life that God will forgive us if we slip up & smile once in a while, or laugh out loud for that matter. Do you love having fun now & then? I do. Of course with folk my age a lot depends on how much fun you can stand.

Really, we need to reel in our lowers lips & let the joy come back into our lives, don’t you think? Some people are so negative if they walked out in the Sun they’d develop.

In Psalm 45:7, the Psalmist says of the pre-incarnate Christ,

God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

That is telling us, in spite of the morose pictures we often see of Jesus, in actuality he was the happiest man in town. Have you really been enjoying the abundant life? If not, why not?

Jesus told His disciples,--These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you & that your joy might be full.-John 15:11.

Think about that; the very joy that Jesus has is available to us. His joy! Are you too spiritual to enjoy life? You might just be a Pharisee.

2. YOU MIGHT BE A PHARISEE IF YOU EXERCISE EXCESSIVE CONTROL

This spirit will manifest itself in too many rules & restrictions, rules that are pointless or too harsh. Psychologists say the two leading mental problems of our day are narcissism & paranoia, two off-shoots of needing power & control.

I’ve seen small children so controlling that their whole life is wrapped up in being the center of attention. If it doesn’t work for them they’ll pitch a conniption fit until it does work.

Many adults also have control issues, wanting to micro-manage the lives of those around them.

THE JEZEBEL SPIRIT--A CONTROLLING SPIRIT

Revelation 2:20 reminds us again of Jezebel whom we met in 1 Kings 21. She controlled the mind & actions of her wimpy husband Ahab, resulting in the murder of Naboth & theft of his vineyard.

Pharisees have controlling spirits. A person with a controlling spirit will connive & manipulate in unbelievable ways to have it their way & control everyone around them. They will lie, cheat, beg, borrow & steal to ram their agendas through. Many people are under the power of such a controller.

Here's a good rule of thumb to tell if you're dealing with a controller and a manipulator ; If when they need you to do something special for them, they present it to you with teary eyes and every drop of earnestness they can conjure up. You just know it's, for all practical purposes, a life or death situation. However when you go to them and present your special problem asking for their help, it's like they're a different person. There's no seriousness or deep concern about your need.

A controlling spirit will take what would ordinarily be good & right & use it to put others in bondage. For example, a husband can use the scripture saying women should be in submission to their husbands to make a wife little more than a puppet on a string. He forgets that he must earn the right to have his wife’s submission by loving her as Christ loved the church. Christ laid down His life for the church.

The Jezebel spirit can inhabit both sexes. There are mothers-in-law & fathers-in-law who exercise control over the minds of their married children. The Jezebel spirit can be a minister who wants to control his church or a boss who exercises control over the minds of those who work for him. This of course is to bring people under their power, position & influence for selfish gain. There are some pastors who don’t want revival to break loose in their church for fear of losing control.

Hitler & Stalin were controllers but there are controlling spirits all around us in businesses, homes & churches constantly working to bring people into bondage to them & their whims.

Are you a Pharisaical controller or are you under the bondage of one? If you are, God wants you free from that.

IF THE SON THEREFORE SHALL MAKE YOU FREE, YOU SHALL BE FREE INDEED.---John 8:36

3. PHARISEES OVERREACT TO FAILURE.

I feel, as I’m sure you do that I had the best parents a kid could have. Both my parents were preachers. This might sound a little strange to you, but I can’t remember ever hearing my parents say, “Son, everybody makes mistakes.” They were pretty smart people & they had that information, but I just never heard them say it.

That’s ironic because they had a son who made plenty of mistakes. I think the reason I never heard my parents say this was because they feared it would sound like a compromising statement. Maybe they thought it was a license to go ahead & make a lot of mistakes.

I also can’t remember ever hearing my folks preach or teach much on Grace. They knew about it, but again, I think they felt if you were always falling back on the Grace of God that meant you weren’t serious about towing the line of personal holiness.

I loved my folks & am grateful for the knowledge & training they imparted to me. But when it came to understanding God’s full & free Grace, & not being too hard on yourself, I had to get my own revelation on that.

Friend, we should not look at failure as the end of the world. Failure can be a wonderful opportunity for instruction. That doesn’t mean we should wallow in our failures, it just means we should never live in fear of failure.

The pursuit of excellent is completely different from perfectionism. God’s love for us isn’t performance-based & He isn’t expecting perfection, at least in the common usage of the word.

The more things we try, the more mistakes we’ll make but let’s not be so hobbled with “paralysis by analysis” that we fear to explore new avenues. That’s like committing suicide because you’re afraid to die. To be well adjusted in this life we’ll have to come to grips with the fact that mistakes & failures are basic to life.

You just might be a Pharisee if you’re;

4. IMPATIENT AND UNFORGIVING

Ephesians 4:32 says, And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted forgiving one another…..

Are you grouchy & irritable over everything that goes wrong? If so, your home, instead of being filled with joy, probably has an oppressive & negative atmosphere. If you & I are impatient & unforgiving we’ll drive ourselves & others to live in hopelessness & despair.

The word “long suffering” doesn’t mean, --I’ve been suffering a long time, -- it means being kind, loving & patient with others. Moses wasn’t allowed to set foot in the Promised Land because he lost his temper & was fractious with God’s people. We might minimize it but we pay a terrible price for being too hard on people.

I’ve known people that were so self-righteous about divorce they were insufferable. I’ve known preachers who got on radio & TV condemning folk who’d gotten divorced. But then someone close to them went through divorce & that shut them up quick. Often, all it takes is a little trouble in life to change some of our deeply held “convictions.”

You might be a Pharisee if you;

5. ELEVATE PERSONAL PREFERENCES OVER PRINCIPLE

It’s fine to have our own set of rules, rituals & standards but we run into trouble when we try to inflict them on others.

In the area of the essentials of the faith [we know what they are] we must all tow the line or risk drifting into spiritual apostasy. But in the area of non-essentials, we are given awesome freedom. We just can’t take our personal preference & place them on the level of Biblical commands.

Often we make the mistake of trying to spiritualize everything. If we start trying to enforce our preferential rules, we fall into the Pharisaical trap, for this is exactly what the Pharisees of Jesus' day did. Jesus’ radar quickly picked it up. Let’s be open & honest about what is Scripture, & what is not. 

You might be a Pharisee if you;

6. PROMOTE UNNECESSARY SEPARATISM & ISOLATION

We sometimes joke about people who are in-bred & in-grown, like the guy who prayed, “Lord, bless me & my wife & Joe & his wife-- us four & no more.”

I heard about a man who visited a little town & saw a Church of Christ on one side of the street & a Church of God on the other. He said, “Huh, I didn’t know Christ & God had a falling out.”

We home-schooled our children for a while & I’m all for it but problems can crop up if kids become so used to separatism that they don’t develop socially. Some people can be so “religious” that they only feel comfortable with those of their own stripe. Denominations are fine but the problem comes when we lose the desire & ability to reach out to unbelievers.

Ask yourself these questions, as I have;

Would the “worst of sinners’ feel loved by you or would they sense that you’re more likely to condemn & ostracize them? When you sing the words, “He saved a wretch like me” do you feel those words refer to someone else? Do you feel a twinge of jealousy when someone else is blessed or “more noticed” than you? Has your goodness become a habit or does it thrive as a response of love & gratitude to God?

Do you feel the need to let others know how spiritual & highly favored you are? Do you enjoy titles like...

 DOCTOR, REVEREND, THE RIGHT REVEREND, THE MOST RIGHT REVEREND, THE MOST HIGHLY FAVORED REVEREND, EXALTED REVEREND, & REVEREND-PROFESSOR? 

Here’s an idea; increase your “rank” by demoting yourself.

Do you consider your church-roll to be the Lamb’s book of Life? Are you disgusted by the moral filth that is playing on your own VCR/DVD player? Do you secretly feel the churches experiencing growth are probably watering down the Gospel? Do you carry the KJV because it’s what Paul & Silas carried?

You might be a Pharisee if you;

7. JUDGE OTHERS

A Pharisee will watch people carefully to make sure they’re doing things according to the book but they never see themselves. How convenient for them. Jesus’ most scathing words about them was, --Be on guard against the “leaven” or “Yeast” of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.-Luke 12:1

Since God is going to wait until the end of a life to judge it, we can & should refrain from judging others.

8. A PHARISEE HAS A PETTY, LOVELESS, SMALL MINDED, SQUABBLING SPIRIT

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day loved nothing more than they loved sitting around discussing petty things like;--If a Taylor or seamstress absentmindedly stuck a needle in their robe & walked out into the street on The Sabbath, was it a sin. ? Or, is it a sin to lift a child on the Sabbath. Or, if they saw a piece of an herbal leaf floating in their tea, they’d tear off a piece of it & run down to the temple to pay tithes on that little leaf before they drank it

In the book of Philippians Paul was coming against the pettiness he saw infecting that church. In chapter four he addresses two women, Euodias & Syntyche, who had faithfully worked for him in the past but are now using their talents & energies in disagreement rather than a common calling.

The problems that plague the church today are not so much the earth-shattering things we call “biggies.” Most problems, corporate & personal stem from pettiness.

Legalism is an ugly, ugly thing. It’s one of the most lethal cancers ever to strike a church or an individual. It will make you as mean as a snake.

Some were disappointed in Jesus when they learned He didn’t come to overthrow the Roman government, but rather He came to overthrow the legalism & mean-spiritedness he saw infesting the hearts & minds of His chosen Race. He saw it & He died to set us free from it.

THE ANTI-THESIS FOR LEGALISM IS LOVE

There’s a true story I heard, & I really don’t know where it happened or who it happened to but a Christian nurse was a witness to it.

A little girl named Liz had a rare & deadly blood disease. Her only chance of recovery was a blood transfusion from her five-year old brother who’d miraculously survived the same disease & had developed the anti-bodies to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother & asked if he’d be willing to give his blood to his sister.

The nurse said, “I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath & saying, “Yes” I’ll do it if it will save her life.” “As he lay in the bed next to his sister, I saw him smile, as we all did, as we saw the color returning to her face” she said. Then his face grew pale & his smile faded. He looked at the doctor & asked with a trembling voice, “Doctor, will I start to die right away?”

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all his blood in order to save her; and even knowing that he did it. He did it because he truly loved his sister.

If you & I search our hearts & find even the smallest vestige of the Pharisee lurking around, let us get down on our knees & ask God to forgive us & take it away. We can go forth into this sin-cursed world, vibrant saints of God, singing of Jesus’ faith, bathed in Jesus’ hope & radiating Jesus’ love.

The world is waiting, not for another loveless, stinging critique, but to see & feel that staggering, holy love that comes to it from God.



 Blessings,



John