Friday, April 13, 2007
Raising Pharisees
Justin Taylor recently summarized a speech given at the Shepherd's Conference on "How To Raise A Pharisee." Excellent points, excellent speech, what struck me was it's necessity.
Being PC(USA) and all, I come from pretty much the opposite end of the spectrum, if we have Pharisees in my tradition they are pharisetical about liberalism, not legalism, which is, I think, very instructive. This fact points out first that we are sinners, but secondly that we are limited.
God is, in some sense, the God of the middle. One way to consider phariseeism is as a form of self-centered extremeism. We latch on to some aspect of faith, make it THE aspect of faith, and ride that aspect into a place of authority, influence, and self-righteousness.
And yet, we worship a God of balance, wholeness, and completeness. There are no extremes, no aspects. Three simple ramifications of this fact:
First, read widely. We all tend to stay "close to home" with what we read. Don't. Discover, learn, EXPLORE. You don't have to agree with everything you read, but if you don't read beyond your comfort zone, you will become pharisetical about that zone.
Secondly, remember your limitations. We simply cannot see all and know all as God can. By the necessity of our created, and therefore lesser, state we will never be able to hold all things present in our minds and thoughts as God can. Whenever we focus on any aspect of faith, our limitations will prevent us from considering others that may apply. Be humble in your focus, know that there is always more to know. When you form an opinion, qualify it. "Based on all I know...." Understand the difference between certain knowledge and truth.
Finally, always remember, it's not about what we know, but who we know. Because we are limited, because we can never fully understand, it must be about more than knowledge. In the end, phariseeism arises because we think its about us -- it's not, it's about God. We don't have to know it all because He does. He will reveal to us what we need at any given time, provided we we rely upon Him and not ourselves.
Related Tags: Pharisee, Justin Taylor, humble, knowledge, truth
Being PC(USA) and all, I come from pretty much the opposite end of the spectrum, if we have Pharisees in my tradition they are pharisetical about liberalism, not legalism, which is, I think, very instructive. This fact points out first that we are sinners, but secondly that we are limited.
God is, in some sense, the God of the middle. One way to consider phariseeism is as a form of self-centered extremeism. We latch on to some aspect of faith, make it THE aspect of faith, and ride that aspect into a place of authority, influence, and self-righteousness.
And yet, we worship a God of balance, wholeness, and completeness. There are no extremes, no aspects. Three simple ramifications of this fact:
First, read widely. We all tend to stay "close to home" with what we read. Don't. Discover, learn, EXPLORE. You don't have to agree with everything you read, but if you don't read beyond your comfort zone, you will become pharisetical about that zone.
Secondly, remember your limitations. We simply cannot see all and know all as God can. By the necessity of our created, and therefore lesser, state we will never be able to hold all things present in our minds and thoughts as God can. Whenever we focus on any aspect of faith, our limitations will prevent us from considering others that may apply. Be humble in your focus, know that there is always more to know. When you form an opinion, qualify it. "Based on all I know...." Understand the difference between certain knowledge and truth.
Finally, always remember, it's not about what we know, but who we know. Because we are limited, because we can never fully understand, it must be about more than knowledge. In the end, phariseeism arises because we think its about us -- it's not, it's about God. We don't have to know it all because He does. He will reveal to us what we need at any given time, provided we we rely upon Him and not ourselves.
Related Tags: Pharisee, Justin Taylor, humble, knowledge, truth
