Becoming A Pharisee

⁹And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:  ¹⁰Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  ¹¹The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. ¹²I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. ¹³And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.  Luke 18:9-14

If there is anything in this word that I do not want to be, it’s a hypocrite or Pharisee.  There is nothing good enough about me that would entitle me to turning my nose up to people.  Yes, I am saved; yes, I have tried to omit all things that are displeasing to God from my life (even though I’ve not been completely successful yet); yes I am striving to be more like Christ every day; but still I am nothing without the grace of God.  As I become more burdened for my lost family, friends, and acquaintenances, I notice more how that some saved people have no concern at all for the lost.  I notice how that some saved people not only esteem themselves higher than the sinners, but also higher than those lower income or lower class Christians that are giving their all to do what is pleasing unto the Lord.  God, help me to never become “too good” to show someone kindness and let them know that Christ died for them. 

Pharisees all have some of the same characteristics. 

1. They are BULLHEADED.  Pharisees are very strong willed.  It is pretty much their way or no way in all matters of life.
2. They are BURDONSOME.  Matt 23:1-4 “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying the scribesand the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works:  for they say, and do not.  For they bind heavy burden sand grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”  So they will tell everyone else what they ought to do, but never make a move at it themselves.  They let everyone else carry the entire load, and then they want the recognition for it.
3. They are BARRACADED.  Pharisees surround themselves with other Pharisees.  They have their on cliques and wont dare let anyone that they deem as unworthy in.  They have a barricading wall around them that makes them untouchable…. So they think.

Today I want to look at some signs that we are becoming Pharisaical.  I want all of us to be a stepping stone to Christ for the lost, not a stumbling block. 

PRIDE ~ a major indication that we are becoming a Pharisee is when the world begins to revolve around the word I.  In Luke 18:11-12, this Pharisee “prays.”  Notice first of all that his prayer or conversation was with himself.  It wasn’t even a conversation with God.  That says a lot in itself.  Next notice that 5 out of his 34 words were “I.”   The truth to life is that it’s not all about us.  It is all about HIM.  About Christ.  This Pharisees pride also kept him from dealing with his own faults.  He was so busy pointing out everyone else’s flaws that he didn’t have the time to clean off his own back porch, as my pastor used to say.

PROMOTIONS ~ The Pharisee in our scripture promotes all of his works.  Look what I’ve done.  Look what I gave.  Look how often I fasted.  We never need to get to the point that we promote ourselves over GOD.  When we start promoting how good we are, we are setting ourselves up for failure.  Jesus said in Mark 10:18 “there is none good but one, that is God.”  The only thing worth bragging about in our life is what God has done for us.  None of our good works would even be possible, if it were not for HIM. 

PROBLEMS ~ one of the Pharisees problems was his methods.  Yes, what he did for God was right, but his motives were all wrong.  We are not to do good works so that we will be recognized.  Also, doing what God commands is not what gets us our blessings.  Giving our 10% is required.  What we give and do extra is what God blesses us off of.  And I am sure that had this Pharisee done any more than he did, he would have mentioned it in his solo conversation with himself.  All that he mentioned in his prayer were things that were required of him.  He didn’t do anything extra for the Lord.  That is a problem.  Not only were his methods and motives wrong, but so was his measuring stick.  He was measuring himself by other Pharisees and this other man.  It doesn’t matter how we measure up to the world.  It matters how we measure up to the WORD.  God’s word.  It matters how our life measures to that of Jesus’. 

Turning a blind eye to our lost community is a shame and disgrace to God.  As a matter of fact, if we are doing this, we are not right with God.  We are out of Gods will if we are not reaching out to the lost.  This doesn’t mean that we sacrifice our standards or beliefs to reach them, but we absolutely should never feel that we are too good to tell them about God sending His son so that they could have eternal life.  We should never worry about what our peers are going to think of us when they see us talking to those who are lost.  We, too, could be living the lifestyle that sinners live and be on a road to hell.  But God saw fit to put someone in our life that was not ashamed of HIM and that was not “above” speaking to a sinner.  Think about the difference that a true Christian has made in your life, and strive to be that for some lost person.