PHARISEES

Back in days when I was much younger in age and in the faith, a teacher in church once described the people in the above header as “Far-to-see”. Well, that was funny. The other set of people quite like them but with different views from them called - the SADDUCEES, he described, “Sad-to-see”. He expounded on their lives as hypocrites who claimed to see everything but yet couldn’t see themselves as they were and who they were. They saw but never saw far or deep into the scriptures that they claimed to be torch-bearers of. They were sad to see because they were self-righteous; before God they were sad to behold and before men they wore long faces and were always serious and yet they could not deliver a soul or worship God to God’s standard even when they knew the scriptures. The teacher said a lot which I may not remember all ‘cos like I said, I was very young then.

In the bible, they were a torn in the flesh of Jesus Christ of whom it was prophesied in the same words that they so much held in high esteem. For this, Jesus called them many names and at some point asked the Disciples to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees”, Matt. 16:6, 12. Historical records on the origin of these people by a Jewish-Roman by name, Josephus (37-100 CE), says that “the Pharisees were considered the most expert and accurate expositors of Jewish law”. The Sadducees were more elite than them as they were of the ruling classes. Whereas the Sadducees were aristocratic monarchists, the Pharisees were eclectic, popular, and more democratic. It is recorded both in the bible and from historical evidences that they were close rivals though part of the Jewish nation. While the Pharisees believed in the oral Torah, (the spoken words, instructions of the Mosaic laws), the Sadducees wanted to apply Roman ideology to it. The Pharisees were “separatist”, meaning, they set themselves aside from Gentiles, who were the sources of ritual impurity or from irreligious Jews.

Reading up the role they played in ensuring that the word of God handed over from one generation to the other was upheld and adhered to, I for one can say they - the Pharisees - did an awesome job. One would suppose that these people who knew every nitty-gritty of the laws would be able to direct men to the Messiah and point them to God, but they failed in the most woeful ways possible. This goes to show to a large extent that though we know all the laws and all the rules and regulations of religion, the best manifestation of this act is in the “living”, that is, practice. This, they were never able to do, though they were righteous, (Matt. 5:20)

Then came “the Carpenter’s Son” who began to talk plenty. He talked about the words of Moses as though he had better knowledge than them that were trained and tutored by the best historians of their time. For every time they brought up the law, Jesus always had a word for them out of their own laws which they were never able to deny. For example when the Disciples were hungry and plucked the corn from the field, they were quick to bring up the tradition of the elders. Jesus shot back at them their own fault of changing the commandments of God to suit themselves citing example with the obedience to parents, Matt. 15:1-9. They were guilty of forcing their own laws in the place of God’s. They were always quick to find faults here and there, fast at judgment. In fact, Matthew 23 gives us a full description of who these people really were. I will outline them here one by one:

They:

1. Create heavy laws they don’t attempt to keep and place it on men. (vs 4)
2. Want to be seen by people, dress to be noticed. (vs 5)
3. Love to seat above at occasions. (vs 6)
4. Love being called big names with pride. (vs 7-11)
5. Block the gates of heaven; they won’t enter and you won’t enter. (vs 13)
6. Devour (gobble, gorge, consume, devastate, overwhelm, wolf) widows’ houses, and cover up with long prayers. (vs 14)
7. Go the extra mile to convert foreigners to Jews but end up making them children of hell more than they themselves. (vs 15)
8. Blind guides, valuing material things than spiritual things. (vs 16-22)
9. Would rather attend to things of little importance than attend to justice, mercy and faith. Scrutinize a gnat (negligible things) and swallow a camel (obvious things). (vs 23-24)
10. Clean the outside and neglect the inside. (vs 25-26)
11. Appear righteous before people but inside are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. (27-28)
12. Are children of murderers of prophets yet excuse themselves of their fathers’ sins by building tombs for prophets and garnishing them, making themselves appear innocent. Yet they will do more. (vs 29-35)

How interesting! These twelve things describe a Pharisee.

Now on to weightier matters.

In our churches today these set of people exist in full. As I outlined these things, I reflected on many occasions where I have seen these acts come to play. As a leader, I have witnessed so many of these acts and sincerely this led to this message. By the grace of God we will analyse these outlined descriptions and try to identify them in the present church as the Spirit directs.

CREATING LAWS:

            In the church now we see so many doctrines sprouting here and there. Some like the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, some teach not to wear shoes on certain days, some believe in anointing oil, others idolize saints and pray to them while the others are no different from unbelievers yet they are called church or Christians. These things may and most times have biblical references but in its entirety are far from what they mean or are simply misinterpreted.

For this the Apostle Paul cried out to the Galatian church and called them foolish with capital letters! We are set at liberty of the law why then do we entangle ourselves again with laws (bondage). Now there is a difference between rules and regulations governing the body of Christ and the law; these rules should be adhered to (Matt. 23:3), but before our very eyes these rules are turned to laws that are rather carnal and after the flesh than after the Spirit of Grace. The entire book of Galatians expounds on these laws that we now have in churches and like Apostle Paul, I ask, “WHO HAS BEWITCHED US”?

The law in itself is heavy and we cannot perform it and that’s why Jesus came, “to redeem us from the curse of the law” (Gal. 3:13). Where there is no law, there is no sin (Rom. 4:15). These laws set fresh traps for those whom it is given and even the giver. How can those who are new in the faith, having left the world were laws did weigh them down having found grace in Christ now begin to see laws where Grace should thrive? By these laws we have set at naught the power of grace, making it non effective! Do you find laws in your church, check very well, there are Pharisees behind it. Ironically, they won’t lift a finger to obey the same law! Isn’t that amazing? (Col. 2:16-23)

BUSY BODIES, ‘NOTICE ME’ & SHOW-OFFS:

Do you by chance notice those people who are always running around when the pastor is around? Dress so flamboyantly and walk so sanctimoniously? Yes? No? Truth is whether you like it or not you just have to notice them, it’s their ministry. They extend it from both the church to the outside world, (2 Thess. 3:11, 1 Tim. 5:13). They carry the biggest size of bibles and dress so much in a seemingly righteous way. The Bible used here in place of the phylacteries because it’s the equivalent in our time. By design the phylacteries (containing biblical scrolls) were small but because they are Pharisees, theirs had to be bigger, so Jesus says, they make it broader than usual. How can you not notice them? With such excesses? You must notice them, except maybe you’re one of them.

PROUD PEOPLE & PRAISE LOVERS:

They love to seat in places where people will get to notice them and revere them especially in public! These are those who will feel offended when you don’t recognize them in your event. They just love the attention that causes distraction. They’re stained with pride!

Just call them, Man-of-God and they’ll answer you thus, “oh, bless you, bless you…” that’s all that matters to them. If you don’t end your conversations with “sir”, you’re a proud person to them or just one of those people who will not just bend to their personality. Their love for being above you is more than the love they have for leading you!

True religion is service (James 1:27). They would rather be served than serve. Yet Jesus in all his righteousness and glory thought it not robbery to equal himself with God here on earth and in heaven despite whom He was! (Phil. 2:6-8). The same people with the Torah still skipped the portion that says, “surely he scorns the scornful: but he gives grace to the humble”, Pro. 3:34 (NKJV). If you are after self, you can’t be a child of God and if you want to really be a son of God, then you need to go to God in humility and consider yourself as nothing so that you may obtain a better prize.

Paul in Phil. 3:1-11, counts himself as yet to attain when as at that time he had done many great things in Christ! The higher you think you go in Christ, the more humble you should turn out to be; for in Christ, the greatest is the least! Mark 9:35

STUMBLING BLOCKS:

In church these days, there are some people who won’t make heaven. They don’t even care if it exists or not and yet they won’t allow those who wish to go there to make it. They may even believe in a heaven and may even know the route to heaven but standing at the gate or as the bible puts it, shutting the gates of heaven against men, they won’t enter, or get out of the gate for others to enter! How do they do this? By instituting laws upon laws, depriving people of Godly principles of living, and leading lives that don’t depict an iota of godly living!

Notice those people who will always misinterpret the scriptures and hide the truth from being expounded upon? They are the ones being talked about here. Having a form of godliness but denying the power in it! (2 Tim 3:5).

WOLVES:

These set of people, hmmm… they are the very dangerous type of Pharisees. They do worse than criminals and pretend by praying long prayers that don’t cross their lips. In the scriptures when widows are mentioned it is a very serious issue not to be taken lightly because God stands for them (Ps. 68:5), yet these people ignore them and treat them as scum and use long prayers to cover up their evil deeds. They withhold justice from them, (Isa. 10:2) and deny them help (Job 22:9), and many more.

In the church, they are the once that always take out time to talk of how to help the widows and yet create policies that make it difficult for those widows to get what is truly theirs. (Acts 6:1)

SOUL-WINNERS:

I love the way bible describes them here and I so see it in the church today. They are wonderful evangelists, going places far and near to plant churches and pride themselves as church-planters. A great job they do but there is a ‘but’. They do all these to bring up another set of themselves who though are not of them but strangers, teach these people the church doctrine and confer on them heavy titles, inoculating into them their myopic and sadist way of life! Jesus says, they make them worse than they themselves to the point of making them “children of hell” two times more than themselves!

Just imagine! Winning souls into the faith only to properly qualify them for hell or to represent hell. That’s what Jesus means. They become offspring of hell; that is to say that these people never represented God’s kingdom but hell and make others disciples of hell! How many soul-winners do you know living like this? Avoid them like a plague because the cost of a soul is not labelled.

BLIND & CONTEMPTUOUS GUIDES:

These categories of people know how to attach price to everything and value these things more than God for whom it was made. They disrespect God by honouring gifts & material things offered or things used to design God’s place, counting as valid any pledge made by these vanities and ignoring the Sanctifier of these gifts/things.

In church, they are after physical things rather than spiritual things. They are purely materialistic in their deals with the validity of sincerity. You are not taken serious when you make a vow except by one or two things that they place value on. In their blindness they misguide the people in the way not knowing the way themselves. Their doctrines are inspired by their myopia (short-sightedness) and lust of the flesh.

MISPLACED PRIORITIES:

Oh Father! Have you been in a situation when a top official in church has offended and right before your eyes, justice is averted and turns in the favour of the leader? Or worse still, a little offense is punished or scrutinized and fact finding missions are engaged upon just to uncover a little error and right there, a very grievous offense is overlooked? Yeah? That’s what Jesus is talking about.

These people won’t ignore the smallest of things but on their own part will not give justice, mercy and faith which is of greater importance! They ignore doing what they are supposed to do to do what they aren’t supposed to or change the order of doing it. In another vein, Jesus was pointing at their bribery. Oh yes, in the church there is bribery! I’m not going to cite examples, Jesus has said it all in that scripture. Anytime you see something of this sort happening around you, just know that some Pharisees are around.

HYPOCRITES:

Probably the generalized word for Pharisees, in this regard it’s very obvious that they are never up to any good. How can you watch a cup’s outside and then leave out the inside? This analogy describes the foolishness of being a hypocrite. Here Jesus was referring to a deeper meaning and that meaning boils around one being observant of the outside more than the inside. The inside is dirt and then the outside is clean. It’s just like buying a prototype car that has no engine or a showcase phone that is a model of the original thing.

In the church today we have them lurking everywhere and in different forms, but our beam light is on those at the helm of affairs yet we ought to look into our lives too as we may be called to lead someday. These hypocrites are more mindful of the outside appearance of things, indeed they are far-to-see; they are ok so long as you look like them, talk like them and act like them. In the deep sense of the meaning of Pharisee, which is, ‘separated people’ or ‘separatists’, their separation is that of the outward and not the inside. They could as well have lots of dirt inside them than even those who are not separated as they are. They observe rituals in the church and will oppose anyone who tries to upset things or claim to know more than them.

For them, ‘the old way is the only way’, as true as it is or may be, they know little or nothing of how deep that way really is. And that’s why when THE WAY (John 14:6) came to redirect them to the way, they buffeted him and wondered how this CAPRPENTER’S SON (Matt. 13:55) could say such things or do those things. The same happens in church today. They are never open to ideas or truths that they may have omitted or forgotten and when you remind them, they remind you that they wrote those laws. They care more about appearance than repentance.

CHRONIC HYPOCRITES:

At this point if I were a Pharisee I’d just tear my garments but hey, once a Pharisee, always a Pharisee except saved by grace. Why will I tear my garments? Because I was likened to a sepulchre! That’s why! A tomb for God’s sake! “Am I that bad”?! I’d ask if I were but thank God I ain’t, won’t and can’t! Jesus said they were like white washed tombs, very clean outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. Now I’m filled with pity for them.

Do we have this disgusting people in the church? Oh yes we do! From members to church leaders to pastors on the pulpit! Though similar in acts as the other hypocrites, theirs is a matter of content. They are clean and can be easily spotted as righteous people but trust me, you don’t check out the inside! Smelly attitude. Dead consciences. No goods. Evil brooders and rotten characters! What do you expect to see inside a tomb? Beautiful things? No! But to them, they are fine just the way they are. They yet again maintain their righteous appearance before men but are full of iniquity and hypocrisy. The next one will shock you!

DEADLY HYPOCRITES/MURDERERS:

Does it get any better at all? At this point, Jesus speaks with an even greater displeasure. I can feel by the Spirit the pain within the heart of Jesus right now. These men who know the laws of Moses and seat on his seat (Matt. 23:1), do much more than mislead the people, they kill those sent by God to lead the people back to God.

Jesus says,

“You build tombs for the prophets your fathers killed and refurbish it order to make yourselves free of their guilt. You make it worse by even saying, ‘if we were in our fathers’ shoes we wouldn’t have done so’. Fact is, you at least agree that your fathers are murderers and you are their children; continue, you are yet to complete the cycle”. Matt. 23:30-34 (rephrased)

Note the highlighted phrase, here Jesus spoke in the shadows, of his death and the upcoming persecution of the church. And it happened just as he said it, Matt. 27:32-44 and the book of Acts shows it all.

Deadly is used to describe how murderous they really were in the end. Jesus called them “serpents and a generation of vipers”, and true to his words they did to Him and to the apostles after Him as He had prophesied. As proof of this, when Jesus was before Pilate, to show the evil state of their heart and how dead it was, they said to Pilate, after he had washed his hands off the case, “His blood be upon us and our children”! (Matt. 27:25). Imagine the level they were ready to take the curse; for all generation!

And the Host of Heaven was watching!

Unfortunately, the same people exist in our churches today. They are ready to take your life for standing up to the truth! They are ready to do you harm by any means possible if you tamper with their religion. Some have gone diabolical about it! I remember watching ‘fighting temptations’, Aunt Sally was just as mean as the by-laws of the church. She’s a typical example of a Pharisee. They dwell among us in church, lift up hands in worship, pray the same prayers, and go about church activities but by their fruit you shall know them (Matt. 7:20).

NOW TO THE CHURCH (YOU & I)

We’ve spoken extensively on this and now we need to check ourselves in general to be sure that we do not fall into any one of the above descriptions. Do a rethink and remove the log from your eyes so that you don’t remove your brother’s eyes with the aim of removing a spec from his. Are you blind, ask the Lord to open your eyes to see clearly! Pride will destroy you like Lucifer and that’s really not God’s plan for us.

What more can I say than that has been said by the Spirit of God?

“Take heed to yourselves and beware of the leaven (doctrines) of the Pharisees and Sadducees!”

KTF!