Understanding the Pharisee spirit.
Even a cursory read of the gospels leaves us in little doubt that the most continual opposition to the work of the Holy Spirit came, not from the Roman Empire the Jewish commoner or the heathen gentile, but from a group of zealously religious people called the Pharisees.
It seems that almost everywhere Jesus went doing God’s work in the power of the Holy Spirit they were there to protest.
Jesus loved the Pharisees enough to die for them, but He hated the Pharisee spirit. He knew better than anyone that He did not wrestle with flesh and blood and He would neither fear them nor come under their spiritual intimidation.
John the Baptist didn't like the Pharisee spirit either.
Even - in the book of Acts - where we read of Pharisees being believers we still see that spirit manifesting..
In five years time I will probably be able to look back and see that right now I have Pharisee blind spots. But oh how I want to work with the Spirit of God to rid every bit of the leaven of the Pharisees from my life!
Since this spirit is in terrible opposition to the work of the Holy Spirit and yet appears to be on God's side, it is vitally important that we can recognise the fingerprints it leaves on the Body of Christ.
Even a cursory read of the gospels leaves us in little doubt that the most continual opposition to the work of the Holy Spirit came, not from the Roman Empire the Jewish commoner or the heathen gentile, but from a group of zealously religious people called the Pharisees.
It seems that almost everywhere Jesus went doing God’s work in the power of the Holy Spirit they were there to protest.
Jesus loved the Pharisees enough to die for them, but He hated the Pharisee spirit. He knew better than anyone that He did not wrestle with flesh and blood and He would neither fear them nor come under their spiritual intimidation.
John the Baptist didn't like the Pharisee spirit either.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matthew 3:7)
It would be a great mistake to think that the Pharisee spirit was peculiar to those amazing years in Galilee when Christ and His disciples walked amongst men. A great mistake to think that the Pharisee spirit was somehow locked into those special days when the gospels and epistles were written and then they were no more.
Even - in the book of Acts - where we read of Pharisees being believers we still see that spirit manifesting..
But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." (Acts 15:5)
So we can safely say that the Pharisee spirit - often called the religious spirit - is alive and well in the church today, and it would be a brave man or woman who could say that there was not a trace of it in their own Christian walk. As I look back over my Christian life I can clearly see times when I was that Pharisee.
In five years time I will probably be able to look back and see that right now I have Pharisee blind spots. But oh how I want to work with the Spirit of God to rid every bit of the leaven of the Pharisees from my life!
Since this spirit is in terrible opposition to the work of the Holy Spirit and yet appears to be on God's side, it is vitally important that we can recognise the fingerprints it leaves on the Body of Christ.