An unwanted mirror

Posted on January 19, 2016 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

In Matthew 23:13-33, there are recorded eight woes that Jesus pronounced upon the “scribes and Pharisees.” Jesus is harsh in his criticism as he unloads on his antagonists.

The danger is that we can read these woes in a way that is not helpful or appropriate.

If we take an us/them approach to these woes, we are likely to see the woes aimed at “them” and see ourselves above such behavior.

The irony in this thinking is that it is exactly the attitude of the Pharisees.

A story from the Gospel of Luke illustrates this:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”(Luke 18:10–14, ESV)

Be honest with yourself – what is your first reaction when you read this story? If you are like me, your first reaction is to think, “thank God I am not like that Pharisee.” Thus proving that I am exactly like that Pharisee.

Praise God that he has worked in us to move us away from such hypocrisy, but we would be well advised to remember that we are constantly in danger of being pulled into the gravitational pull of Phariseeism.

Rather than reinforcing our feelings of superiority, the woes in Matthew 23 should be used as a mirror to show us our trajectory apart from the Holy Spirit working in us.

It may be an unwanted mirror, but it is an accurate one.

Defeating my inner Pharisee

Posted on January 23, 2013 Written by Mark McIntyre 7 Comments

Why do the Gospel writers use up so much ink in depicting the issues with the Pharisees?

I think the answer is that all of us have Pharisaic tendencies and there is a real danger of becoming like them. By exposing the Pharisees, the Gospel writers give us a chance to avoid their error.

The problem with Pharisees is that the motive for their behavior is inconsistent with what God desires. We are to be motivated by love (John 13:35). Pharisees are motivated by personal gain: gain in respect, notoriety or social standing. They operate by dressing up their sin nature is theological garb.

Love will get dirty and meet people where they are. Pharisaism will demand that a person clean himself up before the Pharisee will have anything to do with him. The Pharisee will not risk his reputation by associating with the wrong sort of people.

One of the big problems of Pharisaism is that it is so easy to spot in others and so difficult to spot in ourselves.That small speck of Pharisaic tendency in my neighbor is so obvious, but the beam of my own pride is often difficult to see.

After all, it seems to me that pride is the root of all Pharisaism. We Pharisees are too proud to get dirty, too proud to reach out and too proud to admit that we don’t have it all figured out.

Our danger is magnified if we find a group in which it is OK to be a Pharisee. For example, can get together with those who are proud of their understanding of prophecy and look down on those who don’t “get it.”. Another group can be proud of their understanding of God’s sovereignty and look down on those who don’t operate with such confidence. A group can be proud of its traditional or contemporary worship style and look down on those who do not worship in that style. The list of things over which we can be proud is endless.

To test to see if you have Pharisaic tendencies read Luke 18:10-14, the story of the tax gatherer and the Pharisee. In this story Jesus tells us that the Pharisee thanked God he was not like the tax gatherer. The Pharisee was proud of his own righteousness and looked down on the tax gatherer. If your inner response is, “thank God that I’m not like that Pharisee,” you test positive for Pharisaism.

That is the bad news, the good news is that there is a cure. The cure for Pharisaism is the Cross. Jesus tells us that we are to take up the cross daily (Luke 923). Our sin nature does not need to be dressed up, it needs to be killed. We have to reckon that Pharisee within us as dead and live as though he is dead.

Here are some practical questions to consider:

Do you come away from the sermon on Sunday with parts of you broken by conviction or do you critique the pastor for his delivery or theology?
Do you read Scripture to be theologically correct or to be changed by God?
Do you allow anyone to challenge you on your pride?
Are there any groups of people on which you look down?

You and I owe it to ourselves to be brutally honest in answering these questions. We cannot be what God wants us to be if we allow our inner Pharisee to determine our course.

Truth – the antidote to shame

Posted on May 28, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

In yet another attempt at trapping Jesus in something he said, the Scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. The story is recorded in John 8:1-11, where we are told that she was caught in the very act. I doubt that they gave her time to dress and make herself presentable before dragging her off to this impromptu court date. There she stands partially dressed and alone with the shame of her immorality on display.

Jesus, aware of the injustice of the situation, responds with grace by saying “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). All her accusers, perhaps including her partner in adultery, slink away to avoid further confrontation with Jesus.

The woman still stands alone, but Jesus offers her hope by saying, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”

Jesus used the truth as the antidote to shame.

What is the truth that proved to be the antidote? That truth was that, with the exception of Jesus, everyone involved in this sordid event were sinners, not just the woman. Jesus acknowledged this truth and then gave the woman the opportunity to change and be different.

Jesus tells us that truth is the path to freedom (John 8:32). As with the woman caught in adultery, acknowledging sin is the first step to finding freedom from it. Ignoring the sin does a disservice to everyone involved.

While we love this story and the freedom it should bring, in some churches shame maintains a prominent role in the church culture. People trapped in such a church are afraid to speak the truth and hide in their shame. In this culture, shame is used as a weapon to force people into a superficial perfection. Everyone feels the pressure to give the appearance of having it all together. In such an environment, real growth is difficult.

A shame-based church culture can also pressure people into conformity to a false sense of unity. Unity is different than uniformity. We are not called to uniformity. We are not called to be all the same and see things the same way. God made us all different and we need each other to be different, including our opinions on how things should be. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12 that for the church to be healthy all the gifts of all the believers must be operating together.

If there are questions that cannot be asked or if there are people that are above questioning, then truth is not operational. When people who raise questions or make suggestions are labeled as trouble-makers, then truth is not operational. When people are asked to suppress their gifts for the sake of “unity” then the truth is not operational. When people, whether they stay or go, are shamed into silence, then truth is not operational.

No-one enjoys being confronted on sin or shortcomings. No-one likes to hear that the way he is behaving or leading is not perfect or is not having the desired result. Even though it may be uncomfortable, we must strive to maintain a culture where it is mandatory that truth wins out. It is incumbent upon church leaders to create this culture of openness and honesty. If you are a leader and you are not asking for this type of feedback, then you need to do some honest assessment.

Let the truth win out. Shame has no power when the truth of the Gospel is shined upon it.

Thoughts on Pharisaism inspired by Wendell Berry

Posted on May 15, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

In his essay entitled “Damage” Wendell Berry writes:

“In general, I have used my farm carefully. It could be said, I think, that I have improved it more than I have damaged it.”

This was said in response to a failed attempt to build a pond on a slope on his farm. He goes on to say:

“And yet there is damage – to my place, and to me. I have carried out, before my own eyes and against my intention, a part of the modern tragedy: I have made a lasting flaw in the face of the earth, for no lasting good.”

Perhaps that failed pond project is a good image to show the damage caused by misrepresenting God through the mishandling of His word. This is the error of Pharisaism.

Jesus condemned the Pharisees for two types of errors in their handling of Scripture. The first error is to add to what God says. The Pharisees were notorious for taking the plain meaning of the text and adding to it as a guard against the breaking of a Scriptural command. One example of this that comes to mind is the Kosher laws. The Pharisees take the command “you shall not boil a kid in its mothers milk” (Exodus 23:19) and derive rules prohibiting the mixing of meat and dairy products. I do not think that Moses (or God) had cheeseburgers in mind when he penned the command.

Yet the church is not free from this type of error. We can come up with rules about many aspects of life in our culture that cannot be found in Scripture. The command to “keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27) can be morphed into rules against movies, television, particular forms of music, etc. We need to be honest about our own tendency to add to Scripture.

The second error is the polar opposite, that is the error of making Scripture out to say less than it says. This is the error of finding reasons to make sin acceptable. Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:23:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”

We of the church can fall into similar error. We rail against some forms of sin while accepting others. We rightly condemn sexual sin while allowing pride to run rampant in the church. We rightly condemn substance abuse while allowing gluttony in the church. The point is that we sometimes selectively choose what Scriptural principles we want to emphasize based on our own tendencies.

As leaders and parents, we must be careful that the good that we think were are doing is not really a harm. As Wendell Berry says, we may without intention cause a lasting flaw in those we lead. James 3:1 tells us that teachers will be held to a higher standard. We need to be careful to avoid the error of the Pharisees.

To avoid the error of the Pharisees and avoid unintentional damage, we must first be willing to submit to Scripture. We need to allow it to say what God intends it to say and not explain away the parts that make us feel uncomfortable. We also need to allow Scripture to inform our opinions and not the other way round.

We should not add to, nor should we subtract from Scripture. May God guide us as we seek truth.

An unwanted mirror

Defeating my inner Pharisee

Truth – the antidote to shame

Thoughts on Pharisaism inspired by Wendell Berry

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