Often times I think the Pharisees get a bad rap. Now, granted, they did force the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But we Christians always talk about perspective, that we need to have a heavenly perspective, which I couldn't agree more with, but, what about the perspective of the Pharisees...how do you think things went for them?
They were the religious leaders of the day and they sought holiness more than anyone on the planet. Not only followed the Law that God commanded them to do, but put in additives just to make sure they didn't break it. It is the axiom "make boundaries and stand 10 feet behind it." In this light, the Pharisees seem like people who just made mistakes. We have to remember, that Jesus even stated that the Pharisees were righteous people in Matt 5:20 by stating that we must be more righteous than the Pharisees. The Pharisees matched their lives up with what God had revealed to them, which is a very honorable thing and we should not take light of this, nor take for granted what the Pharisees did.
Please, do not think I'm standing up for them but rather I think there are a few lessons to learn out from them. 1) Even the most righteous people, even those who go the extra-step, in doing so, can be committing the most heinous acts in all of history. The most righteous people need saving too. 2) That we too were vessels of God's wrath and though they did an awful thing, we should not look at them in a bad light because the only thing that separates us from the Pharisees, from all the wicked people of the world in the past, present, and in the future even, is God's hand of grace. We are grace cases. So, we do not have any right to lay any judgment on anyone...including the Pharisees. 3) That we should strive to be like the Pharisees in a certain sense, to follow God's law (not that we are bound by the law but it is the Law that lets us know what sin is, and we are to be holy) and we are to take extra-measures to be holy. Though, the difference between us and the Pharisees is the mindset behind their strivings is that the Pharisees obeyed thinking they would inherit eternal life based upon their good works, whereas we do works because we know that we have inherited eternal life, because we love the Lord and do these because we love Him, and also we do them because our heart and mind has been changed from worldly ways into God's ways, ours is a response of love and thankfulness.
Do not be like the Pharisees and have a wrong focus, but do be like the Pharisees in striving for holiness and do so with an extra-measure. But most of all, stop picking on the Pharisees because the only difference between them and you is not you...but God's grace. If you think/thought the difference was you...then you are mistaken on any difference at all between you and the Pharisees.
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