Author Archives: Tree of Life Church

Another thing Jesus says about Pharisee Pastors is that they “love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues” (Matthew 23.6). There are two different things there that mark Pharisee Pastors, and both are two things we need to make sure we are not into.

In Matthew 23, Jesus talks about what kind of leaders the Pharisees are. Last post we looked at verses 2-4, but today I want to look at verse 5: But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, (Matthew 23.5,Continue reading “Pastors Don’t Do This 07: Become Pastor Pharisee (Part 6 – They Love to Be Seen)”

In Matthew 23, Jesus talks about what kind of leaders the Pharisees are. 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demandsContinue reading “Pastors Don’t Do This 06: Become Pastor Pharisee (Part 5 – Fail to Practise what You preach!)”

One of the things that happens when we lose our connection and closeness with Jesus and we become Pharisee pastors is that we become very judgmental, and start accusing people. We should not even be accusing people when they have done something wrong. In John 8.1-11, there is a woman caught in the act ofContinue reading “Pastors Don’t Do This 05: Become Pastor Pharisee (Part 4 – Become an Accuser)”

Jesus told us that the Pharisees “strain at gnats but swallow camels” (Matthew 23.24). It means they got upset by tiny things and didn’t get upset at great big things. I have met pastors like that – really upset that a baby cried in the service, but not upset about how mean they were. IContinue reading “Pastors Don’t Do This 04: Become Pastor Pharisee (Part 3 – Be Prickly Over Small Things)”

One of the things that happens to me disturbingly regularly is the amount of people who offer to be my pastor. I’ve had people who ran a church into the ground and it closed down offer to pastor me, I’ve had Bible College students who haven’t finished Bible College yet, I’ve had Bible College studentsContinue reading “Pastors Don’t Do This 03: Become Pastor Pharisee (Part 2 – Leading Where You Have Never Been)”

I have seen more than one pastor turn into a Pharisee. Normally, they have been pastoring for a while, and it has not gone so well visibly for them. And then the pastor transforms from being anointed to being a Pharisee. It’s an amazing transformation. How anyone with a Bible can end up like aContinue reading “Pastors Don’t Do This 02: Become Pastor Pharisee (Part 1 – Thinking You Are the Greatest)”

I think that the church as a whole is suffering because it has become earth-bound. It’s great to teach about how to prosper and have abundance. It’s great to help people get promoted, get out of debt, pay their mortgage off early, how to invest, start businesses and be in the market place. I amContinue reading “Pastor Don’t Do This 01: Become Earth Bound!”

Jesus said very clearly that whatever you want people to do to you, you should do also to them (Matthew 7.12). The Passion Translation reads: be careful to treat others in the same way you’d want them to treat you. That is a standard of character that we all should be keeping to as anContinue reading “Character Matters 05 The Golden Rule”