Highlights from my reading of Accidental Pharisee

Accidental Pharisees: Avoiding Pride, Exclusivity, and the Other Dangers of Overzealous Faith by Larry Osborne

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JERKS FOR JESUS
You’ve probably known a jerk for Jesus, someone who thought they were advancing the cause of the kingdom when in reality they were simply embarrassing the King.
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It makes me wonder if any of us can lay claim to fully and completely taking up our cross, denying self, and loving him above life itself. I suspect that if truth be told, none of us has a devotion that is as absolute, undivided, or exclusive as we may think it is, even people who trumpet such devotion as the only acceptable mark of genuine discipleship. Second, it makes me hesitant to call out, write off, or tear apart those who struggle with full devotion and reckless abandonment. Who am I to blast a “secret disciple” as unworthy if Jesus didn’t? Who am I to write off the not-yet-fully-committed if Jesus didn’t? Who am I to say that God can’t use the kind of people he actually used?
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Sometimes I wonder if in our quest to purify the church, we’ve become more like Pharisees than like Jesus. Accidental Pharisees perhaps. But Pharisees nonetheless. When it comes to bruised reeds, smoldering wicks, and the weary saints, Pharisees have no patience. They pile on heavy burdens and lots of guilt. But they don’t lift a finger to make anything easier. They thin the herd at every opportunity. Not so with Jesus.
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I remember once meeting with a group of guys who were passionate about their walk with God. Somehow the conversation turned toward people in the church who were not so passionate. Next thing I knew, they were ripping on the way everyone else raised their kids, spent their money, read their Bible, and set their priorities. It was one of those “aren’t you glad we’re not like those guys?” conversations. Now, these were quality men. They were indeed doing a far better job than most in raising their kids, spending their money, reading their Bible, and setting their priorities. The problem wasn’t that they noticed it. The problem was what they did with the information. They used it to justify looking down on everyone else. They became arrogant.
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Years ago I was part of an amazing movement of God. I was lucky enough to be at ground zero. I saw everything. God’s Spirit was at work. Lots of people came to Christ. Lots of lives were radically changed. But then something happened. We began to compare ourselves with others, and we liked what we saw. We were on fire for God. Most people weren’t. So we began to look down on everyone else. We still loved the lost and the hard-core sinner. But we disdained the less than fully sold-out Christian. We were sure God was pleased with us and ticked off with them.

I have to admit, the view was breathtaking. That’s why some of my friends decided to set up camp there. Decades later they still haven’t moved. They’re living in the past, still certain that God likes them best. They have no idea how much he hates the place where they’ve chosen to live.
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the Pharisee who had lived such an exemplary life that he’d begun to look down on everyone else had no such luck. His prayers were ignored. Again, don’t miss that.
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Star it. Underline it. According to Jesus, it didn’t matter how moral or zealous he was. His arrogant trust in his own righteousness, and his pattern of looking down on everyone else, nullified all the good he had done. It left him worse off than a low-life tax collector.


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