Yesterday in our Community Group, we were talking about our past church experiences. And we all agreed that we have encountered many “pharisees.” At the risk of becoming ones ourselves, we want to guard our hearts against it. Consider what Jesus said about them in Matthew 23:1-36.

You are a pharisee if…

– You do good deeds to be recognized by others (v. 5)

– You expect people to treat you well because of your position (v. 6)

– You win others over to join you to become as judgmental as you (v. 15)

– You make up extra-biblical rules to judge others by (v. 16)

– You get preoccupied at doing churchy things but show no grace (v. 23)

– You have squeaky clean image but inside you are greedy and lusty (v. 25)

– You lament how the previous generation has failed, but you think you are different (v. 29)

One way you know you are one (pharisee) is how you react when you are ignored, snuffed, or unrecognized. The Pharisees drew their value from being recognized by the people rather than from God. Therefore, they made sure that people around them knew the they were favored by God because they did everything according to the law and then some. And since they did everything to make themselves look good in front of people, they couldn’t stand being crossed, ignored, or truth being spoken about them. They plotted and killed Jesus because Jesus told the truth about them and crossed them big time!

How do you react when you are crossed? Ignored? Unrecognized? Are you satisfied with God’s approval alone?

Have you realized that it’s those who work the hardest in churches that have the greatest possibility of being pharisees? (Such as me!) The trick is to continue to work hard for the Lord without becoming bitter that others won’t do what you do. After all, isn’t working hard for the Lord a privilege and joy rather than duty and drudgery?

Don’t be a pharisee. Don’t do things to be seen by men. Don’t go to hell…

PH