Are You The Pharisee?

For one of my classes I've been reading "The Jesus I Never Knew" by Phillip Yancey. It's been a really really interesting book, and has made me think about Jesus in a whole new light. This week we had to read a chapter titled "mission: a revolution of grace". I was intrigued simply because of the title, so I read with interest!

The first illustration spoke a lot to me (and also convicted a lot of my fellow class mates). Here's the story. Yancey says:

When discussing what has happened to the church, and why we aren't focused on the down and outs anymore , like Jesus was, someone in the class suggested that legalism in the church had created a barrier of strict rules that made non Christians feel uncomfortable. The class discussion abruptly lurched in a new direction, as survivors of Christian colleges and fundamentalist churches began swapping war stories. I told of my own bemusement in the early seventies when the redoubtable Moody Bible Institute, located just four blocks down the street from our own church, was banning all beards, mustaches, and hair below the ears of male students- though each day students filed past a large oil painting of Dwight L Moody, covered with hair, therefore breaking all three rules.

Everyone laughed, everyone except Greg, that is who fidgeted in his seat and smoldered. I could see his face flush red, then blanch with anger. Finally Greg raised his hand, and rage and indignation spilled out. He was almost stammering. "I feel like walking out of this place" he said, and all of the sudden the room hushed "You criticise others for being Pharisees. I'll tell you who the real Pharisees are- They're YOU (as he pointed at Yancey) and the rest of you people in this class. You think you're so high and mighty and mature. I became a Christian because of Moody Church. You find a group to look down on, to feel more spiritual than, and you talk about them behind their backs, That's what a Pharisee does. You're all Pharisees.

WHOA!! does that convict you? Because it sure convicted me, and everyone who was in class with me this afternoon. How much do we bag out other denominations?. I was thinking in particular of Mike Gugilemucci (forgive my spelling) and Planetshakers. How quick were we all to point fingers? Being The Salvation Army, how much do we look at other churches and say "oh you're not as socially orientated as we are". We are NO better than them. God desires UNITY in the church, not factions and bickering between them. Really, we're a bunch of pharisees. Despite the issues that a particular denomination has (and no denomination is excluded from that!) God uses us, sinners, to bring glory to His name and draw people into relationship with Him. We cannot, and must not discount the work that each denomination does, despite their particular methods.

I know I can be a bit of a skeptic sometimes when it comes to the Pentecostals, and in particular the whole mega church movement, but can I say that God hasn't used them to spread the message of the saving power of Jesus? NO! I cannot and must not. I'm sure people look at The Salvation Army and say "What a bunch of cooks with their uniforms and their militaristic ways".

We are all sinners in equally desperate need of our God.

That's the bottom line.

For Him Alone
Ness :-)