Who is the Pharisee?

I've had this post rolling around in my head for a long time.  It is a delicate issue and has taken a lot of thought to be able to express in words.

There are a few "buzz-words" in Christianity that are ill-defined.  One of them is legalism.  When we think of legalism in the Bible, we almost immediately think of the Pharisees.  The Pharisees were a religious group that were extremely adamant about keeping all aspects of the given law.  Despite that point, Jesus pointed out that they were lacking, or lost.  I think that the idea of the Pharisees can not only cause us to stumble, but can also divide us greatly.   We know that Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but rather fulfill it but Salvation by grace alone through faith alone doesn't give us free-license to do whatever we want to do--I think we can all agree on that!  Jesus wasn't condoning adultery when the he stood up for the woman the Pharisees dragged before Him.  He confronted their hearts (aka motives) and then dealt with her by telling her to turn form her own sin.    Like the Pharisees, we can be very focused on God's Word and what it teaches--and that's a good thing.  But like the Pharisees, we can also do it for the wrong reasons and without love.  That's a bad thing.  But there is something else is far more successful at dividing the Church: judging the heart.

A few Sundays ago as I was sitting in church listening to a sermon about the attitudes of the Pharisees, our pastor made a statement and the first thing that flashed through my mind was:  I wish ________ (insert name here) could have heard that!  I have a feeling that I am not alone.  If you tell me that you have never sat in a sermon thinking: "I wish so-and-so could hear this!" then, well, I don't believe you.  We've all done it.  I recognized the irony in my thought almost immediately and felt ashamed.  And then my mind wandered to the many times that I felt anger or "judged" by someone else's convictions.  For instance,(and please excuse me for this illustration, it simply seems to be the most obvious) my mind will say that so-and-so always wears dresses so she must be judging me for wearing pants.  Logically, that is not true, yet my sinful mind wants to convict that person of judging me when chances are, they haven't.  It is possible that this person does it because it is what she believes God desires from her, yet she doesn't see pants as wrong.   I actually know many women who believe that way.   Paul addresses this issue in his letter to the Romans.  Evidently, the Roman church was struggling with judging the convictions of others.  Notice I say the convictions....not the sins!  Big difference!  The Bible instructs us to judge sin and deal with it.  It even gives us clear instruction on how to search our own hearts before confronting the sins of others.  (Matthew chapter 7)  But it never condones judging the heart.  That is for God and God alone!  No one but God can see into your heart and know the motives for what you do.  I believe that this is what Paul was addressing in Romans chapter 14.  How beautiful it is to be able to sit alongside another believer who had different convictions than you and be in perfect unity despite it!

That brings me back to the Pharisees.  The things they did were good.  Yet Jesus, who was qualified to judge their hearts, addressed the motive behind their obedience.  Why did He do that?  Was it so that we could recognize a Pharisee when we see one?  Um, well....no.  If you have followed my logic, you will see that the only ones qualified to address YOUR heart and YOUR motives are you and God.  More than that, when we think of others who hold different convictions as "Pharisees" we committed a great irony.  Since you are not qualified to judge the intentions of others, you have labeled them with a title that you yourself deserve.  Being a Pharisee is about judging the heart.  Ouch.

I started thinking about Nicodemus.,  He was a Pharisee, yet he had a desire to know what Jesus was teaching and to know whether or not it was truth.  When I read his story, I have a hard time believing that he was that terrible of a person-Pharisee or not.  Nicodemus was the one who eventually stood up to the Pharisees and asked the question:  Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?  John 7:52  Nicodemus got it.  After his encounter with Jesus, he understood what it meant to judge someone without knowing all of the facts!  Eventually, he reappears in chapter 19 providing spices with which to embalm his Savior.  He is a changed man.  Thank you Jesus for not dismissing him or giving up on him!


I have a feeling that a little bit of pride-lovin' Pharisee lives in each of us.  I wonder, however, how the Body of Christ would look if we could all do what we can to kill our inner Pharisee?  I wonder, if we could simply accept the convictions of others without feeling judged, or better yet, just sit and talk with them and attempt to understand them.  Get to know them.   I am sure it would take us moving far out of our comfort zone, but God never instructed you to even build a comfort zone!  It isn't horribly important that we all agree on everything, but the proper response to feeling conviction would be to search it out for ourselves and find what we believe to be true according to God's Word.  We also need to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in the matter.  If we are firm enough in our own convictions, then we really shouldn't feel judged by what others believe (unless they admit that they are judging us then in reality, it is more their problem than yours!)


How different would we be if we understood that the only one we are qualified to judge as a Pharisee is ourselves?  

Love, Correction, and Discipline: My Interview wtih Suzanna Kamphuis

 My wonderful friend Suzanna was another person that I sent my interview questions to.  She was very gracious to reply, despite being at the very end of her pregnancy!  Suzanna has the wonderful ability to draw people out in conversation and make them not only feel welcome, but also to think.  And I love her dearly!

1.  Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I’m a stay-at-home, sometime-homeschooling, sometime-not mom with hands in many pies, seldom

(much to my husband’s chagrin) a literal pie.

2. How would you define love?

I’ve been thinking a lot about love these days, reading I Corinthians 13 over silently to myself and aloud to my children.  I enjoy reading the King James Version, and in that version the term “charity” is used instead of “love.”   The Jacobeans, the society that produced the King James Version, were incredibly public minded, interested primarily in Biblical virtues as they affected society.  Thus, they used a term which brought to mind the social form of the Greek original, “agape.”  Conversely, today, many people tend to think of love as a private, heart-chosen, out-of-our-control emotion.  As Woody Allen infamously expressed, “The heart wants what it wants.” 

I grew up in a conservative church that sided with the Jacobeans in this debate.  Love was not about how you felt, but rather about what you did—the public effect was primary.  If and when you didn’t feel it—you were advised to “fake it ‘til you make it,” because “feelings follow actions.”  But in real life, sometimes feelings don’t follow actions.  Sometimes my heart strays while my hand holds to the plow.  Does God care whether I feel love or whether I just find a way to express something loving in spite of my feelings? 

Just to prove to you what an idea nerd I am, for my wedding,  I chose the song “Something That We Do,” by Clint Black to express this idea.  I know; so romantic!  The lyrics have a lot to say about what love isn’t, “Love’s not just something that we’re in…Love isn’t something that you find.”  But what if love is something that found you.  The greatest love I have ever know has quietly but consistently searched me out not for public effect but to minister to my private need.  In my depravity, when the hopelessness of my case is right before me, the miracle of Christ love is poured out on my parched earth. 

I John 4  tells me that it is not the Christian’s job to manufacture love, not even for the Saviour himself, “We love him because He first loved us.”  Just as He is the author of our Faith, He is the author of our love.  And yet He does have some requirements.  He literally commands us to share.  We are not to be cisterns—taking and storing; we are to be aqueducts—passing the love along.  I try to think of the words of Christ as they would have sounded to Old Testament ears.  “If ye love me keep my commandments.”  Think of how that must have sounded to people under the law—how freeing!  “I don’t have to earn God’s favour, God’s favour and the love that it has inspired in my heart is there to propel me forward.”  And where is forward?  Several verses later Christ tells us, “And this is my commandment that ye love one another.”  This is truly a New Covenant.  Receive the love of Christ, feel it, and give it to someone else. 

3.  Biblically, we are called to correct, instruct, and encourage one another to righteousness.  In what circumstances should we do this?  How do we balance this with our call to love?

I Corinthians 13 speaks explicitly about the superiority of love.  The gifts God has given us “to correct, instruct, or encourage one another to righteousness” in this life lack clarity.  “We know in part…We prophecy in part.”  In contrast, charity (or love) “never faileth.”  It is the one tool in our arsenal as Christians that literally is guaranteed to work every single time. 

I’m sad to say that I have been on both the giving and receiving end of correction, instruction, and encouragement in righteousness that was not grounded in love.  It’s not a pleasant experience to get beaten up by another person’s “gift.”  In fact the word “gift” seems a bit of a misnomer when your eyes are getting poked, your hair is getting pulled, your ears are being boxed by your beloved brother or sister in Christ, who then proceeds to pray that you will receive their words in a spirit of love.  A gift to who?  Not to me.  Even when the words are true, it is hard to learn when you feel attacked.  As Paul says in I Corinthians 12, “There is a more excellent way.”

Following I Corinthians 13 is…drum roll please…I Corinthians 14.  In I Corinthians 14 we are instructed to desire spirituals gifts, such as prophecy…as they flow from love…and as we can understand their limited usefulness because of our limited selves.  At this time, we are working in pretty murky water; we do not yet see “face to face.”  Ah, the blessed humility of knowing that my “insights” are often misguided, my feelings frequently interfere with my spiritual sight.  And yet, just as God does not despise my frailty, He does not despise my pursuit of spiritual gifts.  I am not called to be a limp fish or a door mat, but to be fully me, led by His Spirit in a unique way to serve His kingdom.  BUT…my gifts need a regular bath, or they will start to stink maybe not to my nose but to the noses of those around me.  Humility and love scour my gifts and make them acceptable to company. 

4. The big phrase you hear today is "don't judge me!"  The Bible instructs us to judge not, lest we be judged.  What does this passage mean to you?  Is there ever a circumstance where we are called to judge?

 I once heard a Biblical scholar explain that this phrase from the Gospels simply means that one shouldn’t get into the business of judging unless you yourself are prepared to be judged.  Not being a Biblical scholar myself, I jumped on the explanation in my usual enthusiastic way. 

I think there certainly is a time and a place within the parameters set by I Corinthians 13 to speak an honest question into someone’s life.  “Love seeketh not her own.”  The love of Christ does not flatter or seek ego fulfilment in the eyes of the beloved.  But for me, judgment involves a sentence, a statement of determination.  I find that to be antithetical to the definition of love in I Corinthians 13.  “

Before the Throne in Humility

One of the things that I have to remind myself of day in and day out is that God desires us to seek Him in humility.  If anyone struggles with pride, they probably realize this.  Music can minister to the heart, and this song really speaks to me!

Clumsy
Chris Rice

You'd think I'd have it down by now,
Been practicing for 30 years.
Should have walked a thousand miles,
So what am I still doing here?
Reaching out for that same old piece of forbidden fruit.
I slip and fall and I knock my halo loose.
Somebody tell me what a boy supposed to do?

I get so clumsy
I get so foolish
I can get so stupid sometimes,
And then I feel so useless.
But Your saying you love me.
And You still want to hold me.
And that You want to be near me,
Because Your making me holy....
Keep making me holy.

Gonna get it right this time.
I'll be strong and I'll make you proud.
Prayed that prayer a thousand times,
The rooster crows and my tears roll down, again..
You remind me You made me from the dust,
And I can never, no,  never be good enough..
And that Your not going to let that come between us!

From where I stand Your holiness is up so high I can never reach it.
My only hope is to follow Jesus..

Oh Gaze of Love, so Melt my Pride

What use does God have with a heart that is not broken before Him?  Lord, I fall on my face today and ask you to forgive me for my pride.  Pride that stands in the way of deep relationship with you.  Words cannot express......



Oh gaze of love
So melt my pride,
That I may in your house but kneel.
And in my brokenness to cry,
Spring worship unto thee...