Throughout the Gospel of John, there are these guys that just keep showing up and pretty much spoil all the fun. You may have heard of them: the Pharisees.
The Pharisees are the Jewish religious leaders that are in charge of maintaining the customs and traditions of the Jewish people.
When Jesus went about preaching the good news, the Pharisees saw him as a dangerous prophet that was going against God's will. Much like how there are certain popular Christian leaders today that others are skeptical of, the Pharisees were skeptical of Jesus.
Think about it, Jesus was this young charismatic preacher, with followers that were multiplying day by day. They were concerned about the doctrine that this man was instilling in their people.
So they were always criticizing Jesus, calling him a false prophet, and claiming that his miracles were from the power of demons.
Jesus was very untraditional in his approach to theology. He questioned much of the legalism that was instilled in the culture of the Jewish people.
In fact, most of the arguments that Jesus had were with the Pharisees. Most of the people that Jesus offended were the Pharisees.
I think the Pharisees get a very bad rap from Christians when we read the book of John.
However, I going to say something that you may not have thought of before or considered.
Many of us as Christians are the Pharisees. If you are a person that was raised in a Christian family, have gone to church all your life, and you feel very proud of being "separated from the world," there is a good chance that you are a pharisee."
Don't get me wrong, I'm not pointing a finger, I myself am very guilty of this. I have definitely been a pharisee. Unfortunately, I feel that this is a natural trend in someone who tries so hard to be radical in their walk with Christ.
Think about it. We are critical now of the pharisees simply, because Jesus was. But, let's pretend the Pharisees were living in our time.
The Pharisees would probably be Christians that we as Christians would actually have high respect for. They would do all the right things, have all the right doctrine, and would appear to be "sinless."
Do those people sound familiar to you?
Yeah. I have been one of those people.
On a much smaller level.
When I was younger, I had been very outspoken on so many topics.
I was very critical of anyone who made a mistake in their walk with Christ in the slightest. I pretty much had a zero-tolerance level for imperfect people. (Kinda hypocritical right.)
Basically I could put on a good show, being a pastor's kid and all.
But then, overtime God shook me. He showed me things that stopped me dead in my tracks.
I started to see unbelievers for who they really were: people.
They were no less than me.
I'm not saying that I am not still a pharisee. I am at many times throughout the week when my pride sneaks back in. But, I am trying to work at throwing out that "holier than thou" attitude.
I am in no way saying that we shouldn't try to do good things. I'm not saying that. I am saying that we shouldn't try to fool ourselves into thinking that we are any better than anyone else.
Are we so perfect that we should not associate ourselves with the lost?
Quite the opposite!
A lot of Christians, try to justify going around spreading judgement by saying that "Jesus offended people." They are right. Jesus did offend people. But do you know who he offended?
The religious people.
The very people that we would consider to be "the best Christians."
They appear holy and righteous, but are actually hypocrites. They stand there and pass judgment when really there is sin in their hearts.
Jesus taught against this.
Jesus ate with the sinners. He gave forgiveness to those who asked. He turned lives around, not ridiculed them. He never treated anyone as an outcast because of their pasts.
Shouldn't we do the same?
Shouldn't we be going out and caring for the lost and and showing them Christ's love rather than excommunicating them and boasting how we are not of the world?
Honestly, if God were to treat us how we treat unbelievers, things would not be so good for us.
Jonathan Graham
No comments:
Post a Comment