At a recent conference, Larry Osborne gave a talk about becoming an “Accidental Pharisee.” He promised a book would be coming soon. When the book comes out, I would recommend reading it.
The subtitle of his talk was: “The hidden dangers of high-commitment Christianity.” In other words, what starts out as a very good thing can become toxic and harmful. As Osborne pointed out, the Pharisees excelled in the qualities of what a disciple of the true God should be. But they went from passionate, to becoming self-appointed defenders of God, to morphing into the enemies of God.
This can happen to us, too.
In his talk, Dr. Osborne highlighted six danger signs that indicate you might be in “Pharisee-land.” The first is:
A tendency to look down on everyone else.
This is the sin of arrogance. Dr. Osborne pointed out Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18. He emphasized that it is a small step from being discerning to becoming critical. What are some symptoms that you might have stumbled into “Pharisee-land”?
1. No one matches up with you except those in your tribe--and, sometimes, just a subset of your tribe. If your overall attitude toward fellow believers is to test their doctrine as a first step, you may be in serious danger. If you feel like you can’t even trust your own tribe, arrogance may be a serious issue in your life.
2. You begin to lose grace for blind spots people might have. Even God forgave people’s blind spots and weaknesses. Some of His most effective servants had blind spots. If everyone else is unworthy and flawed in your view, you may be falling to the sin of arrogance.
3. You lose your mercy for the struggling. Pride is really a big deal. Osborne made a dramatic point by saying: "Jesus would rather have you struggle with porn than pride. Why? Because he says he hates pride. This is what caused Lucifer to be cast out from the presence of God.” Neither sin is acceptable, but pride is more destructive than we realize.
Dear friends, be on guard against becoming and accidental Pharisee! Take refuge humbly and repentantly in living Word of God. Let the Good Shepherd restore your heart and soul.
Next Installment: Danger Sign #2: You Trust in Your Own Righteousness.
2 comments:
Wow Pastor Mike, that was really good. Pride can really creep in quietly. There is a very fine line of being passionate for God to becoming "self appointed defenders of God..." Defending the faith and not wanting anyone to perish, asking them the tough questions and being told "you are questioning my integrity" or "my gay friends believe and I know they were born this way", no matter how loving or non-confronational the conversation is, it seems to come across as "pharisee-ish" (I made that word up).
If you feel like you are humbly talking to somebody, how do you know when the line has been crossed over to pride? Is it when you start to get defensive?
I tend to get defensive after my feelings get hurt.
This is very timely, for both of those statements were said to me--one from a friend who was going to start running with a male co-worker to train for the marathon-- you know our story--and I lovingly told her it was not a good idea and offered to run with her myself. She said it would never happen to them and was very upset with me for even thinking that. The other was w/ Mike and my sister. She has lots of friends who are gay/lesbian and her and Mike had a great discussion about that. I was not part of that conversation, but when Mike sent her information (and I read the e-mail) from Christian Research and another site to clearly say what the Bible says about homosexuality, she told me that she didn't appreciate Mike sending her the information. Both of these people go to church with us....it is so confusing. Sorry this is so long and I don't even know what I am clearly asking--except that I don't want to be an enemy of God or fall into arrogance, but to still defend the faith in the manner God has called us.
Hi Sandy, sorry for the delay in responding, but I think you're right on target. Defensiveness is a clue that the discussion is turning unproductive. Asking questions helps this, but there is a time to be silent and let the seeds you planted grow. However, sometimes people won't listen to kind and caring input. It hurts when you're pushed away, but it's not because you were arrogant; it's just because not everyone received the truth well. Keep up your faithful dialog!
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