Am I Guarding My Heart Against the Leaven of the Pharisees?

How often Jesus has warned about the leaven of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6-12, Mark 7:1-9, Luke 12:1). Here's the question that I want to ask right now, "Am I guarding my heart from the leaven of the Pharisees?" It's so easy for me to criticize the Roman Catholic clergy to be like the Pharisees or the Pope to be a modern day Caiaphas but the question is am I sharing certain bad traits that the Pharisees have? If so, then I would find myself in a situation no better or no different than any modern-day Pharisee I may be criticizing right now.

It's so easy to be self-righteous in a world gone wrong. The Pharisees were pretty much separatists in their own way. You can see how strict they were in following a strict moral code. But the problem of the Pharisees was how often they looked down at others. I decided to write a self-evaluation that I struggle with the leaven of the Pharisees. The struggle with sin has no exemption. If the Christian men struggle against sexual temptation then the temptation to be judgmental towards those who fell into it can also be very real as well.

I decided to re-examine one parable namely the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14). We can read of how two people who came to pray. One was the Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. Do I find myself praying like the Pharisee or the publican? I confess I have prayed several times like the Pharisee. Instead of praying for the wicked people around me, I find myself praying, "Lord Jesus I thank you I'm not like other people. I read my Bible. I go to church. I do my work as I'm expected to do. I don't pray to images. I don't pray to idols.." and the list can go on and it's boasting. Did I even forget that even my good works are not my own? Ephesians 2:8-10 and Titus 2:11-14 says that God's grace is what brings forth good works and not my own. How can I take credit for any good works I do for God when it's He that works in me (Philippians 2:13)? 

Am I going against sinful practices because I love God or do I do it to feed my own ego? Am I trying to glorify God or am I trying to promote myself instead? It's a problem of how often the Pharisees were too focused on the sins of others. Jesus went to the repentant prostitutes and tax collectors and they criticize him. Jesus went to Zaccheus and the Pharisees looked down at him (Luke 19:1-10). Am I really looking down at others trapped in sin and once again, praying the Pharisees' prayer instead of praying for people lost in sin? Am I going against sin because it offends God and that it will make Him send both the sin and the sinner to Hell or am I going against it because I want to appear so righteous and holy? Am I hating sin only because it offends me and not because it offends God?

I find myself talking more about what I'm against than what I'm for. How often do I find myself talking against this and that instead of the Gospel? This addresses one time in my life I got too focused on the lies of the Devil than the grace of God. I can't do without discussing the lies of the Devil but the grace of God isn't excluded either. Sin must be addressed but in a loving way towards the lost sinner. The sinner isn't always going to be warm and open. Am I mad that the sinner rejected the Gospel because God is sad or am I mad only because my ego was hurt and I think he owes me and not God an apology? At the same time, I even wonder how many times I haven't been practicing what I've been preaching like talking filth with the world while talking spirituality with believers?

Worse, how often have I thought of taking the law into my hands or have done so myself? I remembered the account of Jesus and the adulterous woman (John 8:1-11). The Pharisees thought they could handle the law into their hands. They weren't even following the proper due process. There are times I feel like I should just get a gun and shoot down the wicked on my own. I feel like I'm God's legislator of morality. If that's the case then I would be no better than the Roman Catholic Inquisition and Crusades in that way of thinking! They thought they were doing God a favor (John 16:2). When Jesus told them that let he who sinned not cast the first stone - it was a clear commandment that you shouldn't take the law into your own hands. They only had the right to cast the first stone without a proper due process to prove the woman indeed deserved it - if they themselves weren't sinners like her. 

All this becomes empty praise. Isaiah 29:11 warned about how people can sing praises but their hearts are far from God. How often have I sung in the Sunday services yet my heart is not right with God? How often have I sung the mercies of God yet I find myself still unwilling to forgive people who have offended me in the most petty of issues or in the biggest of sins? How often have I found myself stuck in lip service instead of heart service?

Right now, I pray continuously to the LORD to continuously deliver me from the leaven of the Pharisees. Without His help, the flesh is powerless against the wicked influence of the Pharisees. By God's grace can I stand against such evil!