Traits of a Pharisee (woe is me)
True confession time: Jesus blasts the Pharisees in Matthew 23. There, he lays out the characteristics of a Pharisee. Let's look at three of them.Trait 1 (verses 1-4)- We do not practice what we preach. If we are honest, we admit that it is so much easier to walk the walk than to talk the talk. I have done this my entire life with a "grace to me, law to you mentality. More recently I've done this to my children countless times; I've demanded things from them that I am incapable of doing. I chastised my daughters for being interested in boys stating, "God's love should be enough for you. You should be willing to wait to date and don't look to others to meet your needs for love acceptance and forgiveness--look only to God. Meanwhile, for most of my life I've looked to everything on the planet besides God to meet my needs, and as a 55 year old man, I still fall into the trap of looking to other things to meet my needs.
Trait 2 of a Pharisee - Wanting to look good/approval addiction (verses 5-7).
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others." A Pharisee can do all the right things for the wrong reasons. Motivation is key. Pharisees love to look good in front of others and are all about outward appearance. I do this quite often. I may even be doing it now. It never stops. The false motivation of looking good is a snare and a trap because the folks that praise you can turn on you in a minute. I noticed that those who praised my preaching and teaching the most stabbed the hardest! If I am honest with God, I will admit to Him that when I stand up to teach His Gospel, looking good and sounding good is quite important. In fact, I wanted to quit when I noticed all of the bull and pretense, but God spoke to me about it. The good news is He can use me in spite of me, not because of me...that is the way it had always been-I just did not know it. God is able to give us the peace to be transparent and to rest from the need for the approval of others.
Characteristic 3 - A Closed Heaven
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matt. 23)
This is perhaps the most lethal of all Pharisee traits. An exclusive, just us, we have the real truth mentality. A closed heaven means that since we are the only truly obedient or chosen ones, the rest of the people are under God's wrath, and there is really no reason why we don't reflect the same attitude towards the infidels. This is easy to see in the extreme. The men who flew the planes into the twin towers were convinced that all who died deserved it since they were outside the club. However, it is most difficult for believers in Christ to shed this mentality since Jesus Christ drew such a line. He declared that He alone was "the Way, the Truth and the Life," and that "no man comes to the Father, but through Him." That sounds exclusive, does it not. Well, it does and it doesn't. I would encourage anyone to read cases for evangelical, universal salvation. I do not believe this is true, but reading and understanding their case has challenged my shut heaven mentality. Believers in our Lord Jesus Christ love to define exactly how one comes to Jesus and exactly what it means to "come to the Father" through Him. God becomes small. Adam had the ability to destroy and reek havoc on the entire human race, but Jesus was only able to save a few. This is a closed heaven mentality. I have it, and it's fruits are not good. Even those that think they are in the club always doubt whether or not they are really in; thus, self loathing, lack of trust for God and hatred become the norm.Acts 7 records a long seron by Stephen. The Pharisees listened patiently until he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Jesus opened up heaven to "whosoever will," but the Pharisee mentality does not like an opened heaven. In a fit of blind rage, they killed Stephan. The closed heaven mentality causes us to be meaner than snakes. How do we shed the closed heaven skin? Well, for a start, we just admit we know nothing, see through a glass darkly, and see God as much bigger than what our puny minds allow. And ask questions! Such as, "How about post mortem repentance?" NO WAY, says the Pharisee, "it is appointed unto men once to die, and then the judgment!" Comes the answer. So, we take one verse, and close up heaven based on one verse--the true mark of a Pharisee, and a true mark of a closed heaven believer.
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matt. 23)
This is perhaps the most lethal of all Pharisee traits. An exclusive, just us, we have the real truth mentality. A closed heaven means that since we are the only truly obedient or chosen ones, the rest of the people are under God's wrath, and there is really no reason why we don't reflect the same attitude towards the infidels. This is easy to see in the extreme. The men who flew the planes into the twin towers were convinced that all who died deserved it since they were outside the club. However, it is most difficult for believers in Christ to shed this mentality since Jesus Christ drew such a line. He declared that He alone was "the Way, the Truth and the Life," and that "no man comes to the Father, but through Him." That sounds exclusive, does it not. Well, it does and it doesn't. I would encourage anyone to read cases for evangelical, universal salvation. I do not believe this is true, but reading and understanding their case has challenged my shut heaven mentality. Believers in our Lord Jesus Christ love to define exactly how one comes to Jesus and exactly what it means to "come to the Father" through Him. God becomes small. Adam had the ability to destroy and reek havoc on the entire human race, but Jesus was only able to save a few. This is a closed heaven mentality. I have it, and it's fruits are not good. Even those that think they are in the club always doubt whether or not they are really in; thus, self loathing, lack of trust for God and hatred become the norm.Acts 7 records a long seron by Stephen. The Pharisees listened patiently until he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Jesus opened up heaven to "whosoever will," but the Pharisee mentality does not like an opened heaven. In a fit of blind rage, they killed Stephan. The closed heaven mentality causes us to be meaner than snakes. How do we shed the closed heaven skin? Well, for a start, we just admit we know nothing, see through a glass darkly, and see God as much bigger than what our puny minds allow. And ask questions! Such as, "How about post mortem repentance?" NO WAY, says the Pharisee, "it is appointed unto men once to die, and then the judgment!" Comes the answer. So, we take one verse, and close up heaven based on one verse--the true mark of a Pharisee, and a true mark of a closed heaven believer.
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