Don’t Wanna Be A Pharisee
TCF Sermon
October 15, 2006
Let me tell you about two groups of people. The first group of people is deeply concerned about holiness. They are students of the Word of God. They are very careful about obedience to God. They take very seriously God’s admonishment to be holy. If they had a theme verse, it might be:
Leviticus 11:44 (NIV) 44 I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.
Or
Leviticus 20:26 (NASB77) 26 ’Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.
In fact, they take this idea of being set apart so seriously that the group’s very name is derived from this idea – a loose translation might be “the set-apart ones,” or “the separate ones.” They are known for their piety. They are known for being doctrinally sound – they believe the right things – the things you and I could affirm as far as many key doctrines are concerned.
Now, just from what I’ve told you, I think most of you would be like me – you would say, yes – that’s what I want in my walk with God, too! I want to be holy. I want my life to reflect the holiness of God. If this group was a church, you’d probably say, I can invest in that church.
OK, now let me tell you now about another group. This group is respected, but they’re not too well-liked. You might call them nit-picky. They’re extremely judgmental about a lot of things. When you’re around them, you feel as if everything’s out of bounds, and nothing you do is right, or at least not good enough. You have the feeling when you’re around people in this group that they look down on you. It seems as if they really think they are better than you. What’s more, you’re not so sure they’re as good as they seem to think they are. You wonder if they’re real. You wonder if their good deeds are genuine, or are done mostly to show off and make them appear good. They appear, in their seemingly righteous behavior, almost too good to be true. You can’t talk to them about anything, because they give off the impression that they already know it all.
This may or may not surprise you, but the first group, remember that group that you feel you might like to be a part of, and the second group, the one you probably wouldn’t want to be a part of, because they look down on you, is one and the same group.
And we all know who they are, even if you haven’t figured it out just yet. They’re the group that received the strongest rebuke from Jesus, many times in His earthly ministry.
Of course, I’m talking about the Pharisees. Here we have a Jewish group of Jesus’ time known for its piety. They’re mentioned 98 times in the New Testament, all but ten of those mentions are in the gospels.
The noted Jewish historian of that era, Josephus, wrote that the Pharisees maintained a simple lifestyle, were affectionate and harmonious in their dealings with others, especially respectful to elders, and quite influential throughout Israel.
They believed in divine sovereignty, and the human will, and the immortality of both good and evil persons. They were considered among the most accurate interpreters of the law. Holman Bible Dictionary says the name means “the separated ones.” They were deeply concerned, as group one mentioned at the beginning, with keeping the law.
Baker Theological Dictionary says:
The Pharisees developed their own body of interpretations, expansions and applications of the law that they came to regard as of divine origin. This was to understand and assist in keeping the law - often added regulations (fences or hedges) were designed to prevent even coming close to breaking the Law. Their social and political views were based on the premise that all of life must be lived under the control of God’s Law.
Holman Bible Dictionary says about the Pharisees:
The Pharisees were strongly monotheistic. They accepted all the Old Testament as authoritative. They affirmed the reality of angels and demons. They had a firm belief in life beyond the grave and a resurrection of the body. They were missionary, seeking the conversion of Gentiles (Matt. 23:15). They saw God as concerned with the life of a person without denying that the individual was responsible for how he or she lived.
So much of this we can agree with. If all this is true, where did they go wrong? What did the Pharisees miss?
We generally think of the Pharisees as evil people. That’s why it’s true when we say:
Don’t wanna be a Pharisee
I think we’d all agree with that statement, which is also the title of this message.
I don’t wanna be a Pharisee, but I do want to be holy. I don’t wanna be a Pharisee, but I do want to be obedient to God. The reason I don’t want to be a Pharisee is because of what Jesus said about them.
There are so many passages of scriptures where the Pharisees are mentioned, but only a handful where that mention does not include a strong rebuke of them. Let’s look at Matthew 23:23-28. This passage is in the midst of seven woes Jesus pronounced on the Pharisees. The whole passage is a little long, but if you want to read it all, it runs from verse 12-36.
But for our purposes this morning, we’ll settle for this six verse sampling. I really believe it will be enough to help us get the picture.
23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 "Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Now, how else are we to take words like “woe to you” and “hypocrites?” They’re not compliments, are they? There’s no way we can see these as a positive affirmation of the Pharisees.
Six times in the larger passage, Jesus calls them hypocrites. No one likes being called a hypocrite. A hypocrite says one thing and does another, opposite thing. A hypocrite is a phony. A hypocrite is a fake – pretending to be something he is not.
That reality is at the center of the political firestorm of the past few weeks, which is why we’ve heard this word hypocrite bandied about a lot. If you’ve been on Mars and haven’t seen any news, at the center of this scandal is a congressman from Florida.
He was co-chair of the House of Representatives Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. That’s at least ironic, if not a perfect example of hypocrisy in action.
He resigned after it became public that he had sent sexually-suggestive instant messages and emails to an underage teenage boy. Everybody recognizes hypocrisy when they see it in someone else. But that’s part of the problem - a lot of times, we only recognize it in others. This political battle over who knew what and when has brought many charges of hypocrisy from both sides of the political spectrum.
Unfortunately, it’s also revealed a lot of hypocrisy, on both sides. So, it’s incredibly easy to find many examples of hypocrisy, because it’s easy to see when others act or speak hypocritically.
But Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees was because they were hypocrites about a lot of things, and they couldn’t see it in themselves. When I say that it’s easy to see hypocrisy - when others act or speak hypocritically, the operative word here is “others.” The Pharisees could not see it in themselves.
That’s one of the things Jesus so strongly rebuked in this group. That’s easy to see – we don’t have to read between the lines at all. Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites, here and in other places. So that’s a relatively easy one for us to understand.
Of course, just because it’s easy to understand, doesn’t mean it’s easy not to do. If it was, hypocrisy wouldn’t be so rampant in our culture, and even in the church, among followers of Christ. Why else would Jesus have all these rebukes of hypocrisy if we were not, in our fleshly nature, prone to this sin?
Hypocrisy is a tough thing to overcome. That’s because it’s easy to see in others, but hard to see in ourselves. It’s also because it’s easier to see any sin in others, but more difficult to see any sin in ourselves.
We’re also prone to self-righteousness. The apostle Paul knew this. He wrote in 1 Timothy 1:15-16 of sinners, “I am the worst.” The worst of sinners. Present tense. I am the worst.
Now, wouldn’t most of us want to say, “I used to be the worst. I was the worst.” Author John Fischer writes:
"If we are to recover from this pharisaical phoniness, we are going to have to get a present-tense awareness of our sin. We need to be experts at finding and rooting out our sin – no one else’s."
This is why Jesus was so hard on the Pharisees. Turn for a minute to Matthew chapter 7, beginning with verse 1. This is the classic passage of scripture that’s often used by people who don’t fully understand the importance of context in scripture.
What’s more, this passage, while revealing much about the Pharisees, and much about what we are to learn from Jesus consistent rebuke of the Pharisees, also presents us with a clear dilemma.
That’s why we started this morning with the idea that the Pharisees, seen in one context, are an admirable group of followers of God. But seen in many other contexts, they are not a group we’d want to imitate. That’s why we Don’t Wanna Be a Pharisee.
But this passage from Matthew 7 illustrates a real difficulty we face, which scripture addresses in several contexts.
Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV) 1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ’Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Here we go again. Jesus calling someone a hypocrite. But this is in the middle of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. I’m sure some Pharisees were there listening, but isn’t it true that we generally take this sermon as a standard for believers – not a rebuke for Pharisees?
This verse, especially Matthew 7:5, shows God’s response to much of this “other” guy problem of blame. God’s response is to look at yourself first, examine your own heart first.
That was a problem of the Pharisees, when it came to one of Jesus’ chief rebukes of them. Without guarding our hearts, it can be a problem with us.
However, before we get into that, I want to take a short detour. I want to detour to be clear here, because this is a passage that is probably among the most abused in all of the Bible, especially verse 1: do not judge, or you will be judged.
What I’m afraid has happened is that this verse has been so abused, so misapplied, that sometimes even we believers have the tendency to miss what it’s really saying altogether, and consequently lose the emphasis in verse five, which after all, points out what we are to do “first,” which is the most important thing, but also implying there’s something to do next.
This passage is used by the world, people who are not followers of Christ, and even by some well-meaning believers, too, to imply, or outright state, that we are not to judge, period, end of sentence.
On the contrary, there are times that scripture makes it clear we must make judgments.
Jesus noted in John 7:24 that we are to “judge with righteous judgment.”
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 talks about how we are to “judge those who are inside” the local church. At the end of that passage it talks of how we are to “remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” That’s definitely judging.
1 Corinthians 6:1-3 tells us that the saints will judge the world. You might say, well, sure, but that’s talking about the end of the age. But it also says “are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?” It says “Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, matters of this life?”
1 Corinthians 10:15 says we are to judge ideas. 1 John 4:1 says we are to “test the spirits.” Galatians 6:1 says that if anyone is caught in sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently...” That’s something you cannot do without first making a judgment that something is sin.
1 Tim. 6:3 says that
“if anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing.”
Calling someone conceited, saying they understand nothing, sure sounds like a judgment to me! The very context of this passage in Matthew 7 indicates we are to judge when it’s appropriate. Verse 5: “then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
How can we know if there’s a speck in our brother’s eye if we don’t judge?
NIV study Bible says:
To obey Christ’s commands in Matt 7, we must judge. We must judge a person’s character (is he a “dog” as in vs 6), a false prophet (vs 15), does his life show fruit (vs 16), and what kind of fruit does it show. Scripture repeatedly exhorts believers to evaluate (judge) carefully between good and bad people and things:
sexually immoral (1 Cor 5:9)
those who masquerade as angels of light (2 Cor 11:14)
In fact, the Word tells us that the Christian is to “test everything” (1 Thess 5:21).
So, when Matthew 7:1 is used to forbid any condemnation of evil or sin, any judgment at all, it’s a clear abuse of scripture. Proper, biblical judgment is not only appropriate for believers, it’s required by scripture in specific circumstances.
However, moving forward, with that understanding as a background, we find this passage, and many others we’ll look at, telling us not to judge, telling us to look at our own hearts first. Why? Because when we look at our own hearts, we recognize our sin, too. When we recognize our sin, and grasp God’s mercy, we may still be called on to judge, but we’ll judge with a different attitude, with mercy, God’s mercy, in mind. We’ll be more able to judge with righteous judgment. And that’s one of the areas where the Pharisees went wrong.
Let’s be clear. Most of the areas of judgment you find in scripture have to do with God’s judgment, or are a rebuke against people judging unrighteously or hypocritically. The Pharisees understood the Scriptures only superficially. They judged hypocritically. They judged unrighteously. They judged on outward appearances. That may seem like a judgmental statement, but it’s true. It’s true because Jesus noted their hypocrisy, and He rebuked their unrighteous judgment, and cast woe upon them, calling them a brood of vipers (Matt 3:7).
That’s a judgment, and it’s definitely not a compliment. The Pharisees majored on minors, and missed the intent, or spirit, of many passages of scripture.
There are areas in which we should judge, others where we should not...
William McDonald gives what I think is a helpful list.
We should not judge:
1. people’s motives - cannot know why they do what they do, we can’t see what’s in their minds and hearts
2. service of another believer - to His own Master he stands or falls
3. conscientious scruples about things that are morally neutral
4. outward appearances - what’s in the heart is what counts
5. harshly, critically - “a habitual fault-finder is a poor advertisement for the Christian faith”
Think about this: the Holy Spirit is the only One in the true position to criticize. - He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding – God brings conviction, not condemnation, of sin – at least in this age, which is, after all, the “day of salvation.”
Oswald Chambers noted in My Utmost for His Highest that Jesus would say to us as disciples: “cultivate the uncritical temper. It is not done once and for all. Beware of anything that puts you in the superior person’s place..... Stop having a measuring rod for other people. There is always one fact more in every man’s case about which we know nothing.”
In other words, we don’t see everything - we don’t know all the facts. Chambers also notes:
“Who of us would dare to stand before God and say “My God - judge me as I have judged my fellow men?” We have judged our fellow men as sinners; if God should judge us like that we would be in hell. God judges us through the marvelous atonement of Jesus Christ.”
Criticism, or judgment, is probably the most widespread sin among Christians. It is a passion we can indulge without feeling much guilt because we have devised ways to disguise it. Our criticism can even take the form of an expression of concern or care for others.
We can elicit prayer for them and criticize them all in the same breath. Many verses judge the Pharisees for their priorities, too. They’re not judged for their piety (the things they do), as much as for their hearts’ attitude, which is revealed in their priorities.
The Pharisees were judged by Jesus for:
1. Hypocrisy – as we’ve already seen clearly.
There’s the story of the deacon was endeavoring to impress upon a class of boys the importance of living the Christian life. "Why do people call me a Christian?" he asked. After a moment’s pause, one youngster said, "Maybe it’s because they don’t know you."
The Pharisees were also judged by Jesus for:
2. Pride (I think this includes the show-off syndrome – the performance of righteousness to look good in others eyes) – it’s the opposite of humility (read Luke18:10-14 for an example)
Francois Fenelon was the court preacher for King Louis XIV of France in the 17th century. One Sunday when the king and his attendants arrived at the chapel for the regular service, no one else was there but the preacher. King Louis demanded, "What does this mean?" Fenelon replied, "I had published that you would not come to church today, in order that your Majesty might see who serves God in truth and who flatters the king."
The Pharisees also were rebuked by Jesus for
3. Poor Priorities – they didn’t put the important things first, and made big, divisive issues about minor things.
4. Finally they were chastised by Jesus for having hard hearts. They didn’t think they had anything to learn – and they were unwilling to extend mercy.
Now, we may be able to find other things in the many rebukes of the Pharisees, but these things cover the primary bases Jesus was referring to.
I read a very challenging book in preparation for this message. It’s called 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee (Like Me), by John Fischer. He writes it like an AA or 12 step book, with 12 things we must recognize to recover from our Phariseeism. The idea is that, just as alcoholics must recognize their tendencies, and be honest about them, before they can overcome these things, we, even as followers of Christ, must recognize we have the same tendencies to act like Pharisees. It’s only when we recognize these things that God can change them. I won’t go through the whole list, but cite a few examples pertinent to what we’ve already looked at this morning.
1. We admit that our single most unmitigated pleasure is to judge other people
2. We have come to believe that our means of obtaining greatness is to make everyone lower than ourselves in our own mind
In this book, the author focuses on some key things that cause us to have Pharisaical tendencies. One is that we want control of our spiritual destiny, so we try in our own minds to create ways we can actually live up to God’s standard of holiness. Again, nothing wrong with the desire for holiness – would that more of us had that desire.
However, to do that, we create rules and regulations, even well-meaning rules. There’s not anything necessarily wrong with guidelines or boundaries, either – except when we think that it’s obeying these rules that earns us something with God, that makes us righteous. We also begin to impose those rules God intended for us on others. What may have started out as God’s direction for us, to set boundaries to help keep us holy, becomes a bludgeon with which we beat others. That leads to unrighteous judgment, and that leads to looking down on others, who don’t live up to the standards we set.
That leads to self-righteousness – we think we’re better than others, and we think we’ve done something to earn His favor. John Fischer relates this to the idea of spiritual control - that is, as long as reaching the Kingdom of God is something we can control – that is, just work hard, follow certain rules, and you’re in – we don’t have to depend on God’s mercy, we don’t have to access His grace.
John Fischer writes:
"The law of the Pharisees…once again brings up the issue of control…God’s mercy, given freely to those who haven’t worked for it and don’t deserve it, is a threat to that control. It undermines everything. For instance, the Pharisees in Jesus’ time had a long list of things they could and could not do on the Sabbath. Many of these things were not in the law of Moses. Christians have similar lists built more on tradition than on the intent of the law. Many Christians believe they are Christians by doing and/or not doing certain things. But if the law can be reduced to cultural…practices, which some engage in and some do not, then we once again have “control” of our spirituality."
Now, this can be a subtle trap. I believe it’s one of the traps the Pharisees fell into. Because clearly there are things it is good to do as a Christian…read the Word, pray, go to church, fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And clearly there are things we should abstain from, sexual immorality, drunkenness, greed, obscenity. We could go back to the lists that Bruce posted for us in his sermon a few weeks ago.
The problem is when we take the principles and actions that move us toward these good things, or might serve a purpose in helping keep us away from the bad things, and make them a law in and of themselves.
When we do that, we are relying on our human effort. And if we’re relying on human effort, we’re more prone to pride, to that idea that we can control, we’re more prone to self-righteousness, we’re more prone to hypocrisy, and we’re less able to prioritize what Jesus called the more important matters.
We’re less able to attain to the spirit of the law, even if we’re living up to, at least outwardly, the letter of the law. But the Spirit of the law is a higher standard, anyway, and it’s a standard we are unable to live up to in our human effort.
The Apostle Paul addressed the Galatians about this very issue In chapter 3, beginning with verse 1:
Galatians 3:1-3 (NIV) 1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
So, if you want to be a Pharisee, you can choose to try to attain holiness by your own human effort, or you can give up control of your spirituality, and instead rely on God’s grace and mercy. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take mercy every time.
Control means I get to work for and deserve what I get from God, for the very reason that I am controlling it. Fischer writes about this idea:
There is really only one cure for this
1. to realize who God is and how beyond our control are His ways.
2. to see that the end of what we work for apart from him is all without worth
3. to accept that there is nothing for us to measure except the immeasurable grace of God – and no one to compare ourselves to but Christ
And that brings us to mercy. Again quoting John Fischer:
"God’s mercy pulls the rug out from under everything a Pharisee has worked for and prided himself in. Enter the wild and wacky and unpredictable, even unfair, mercy of God. A mercy that puts everyone on the same level. There are no spiritual stages in mercy. There are no mediators. There are no big sins or little sins. The mercy of God is God’s business, and I have nothing to say about who gets it and who doesn’t except to be overjoyed that I, for reasons unknown to me, am one who does."
I’m thankful - no, I’m with John Fischer - I’m overjoyed, that God has chosen to bestow His grace and mercy on me. I’m reminded of the Andrae Crouch song:
I don’t know why Jesus loves me…I don’t know why He cares,I don’t know why He sacrificed His life, but I’m glad, so glad He did.
Because of that, I want mercy to lead the way when I judge. I want mercy to be the standard by which I’m judged, and by which I judge others. I think about another song, by Rich Mullins, where the chorus says:
Let mercy lead, Let love be the strength in your legs
And in every footprint that you leave,
There’ll be a drop of grace
If we can reach, Beyond the wisdom of this age
Into the foolishness of God,
That foolishness will save those who believe
Although their foolish hearts may break,
they will find peace
And I’ll meet you in that place where mercy leads
Pray
