Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers

In Luke 16.14 Luke tells us that the Pharisees loved money, and because they loved money they scoffed at Jesus talking! That’s staggering! Imagine listening to Jesus and scoffing. I know some people think they would never scoff at Jesus, but they scoff when His emissaries speak His words today for the same reason – they love money.

Let’s start at the foundational level here – a lot of ministers – FAR TOO MANY – spend very little time listening to others. I know pastors who for decades have never been to any conference or meeting they are not given a voice at. I just do not understand that approach at all. We need to be in the place where we listen to others talk. I listen to a minimum of one sermon from someone who is not me every day (I also listen to myself for quality control and read a lot of books but that’s by the by). We need to do that.

But when we listen to others, especially if they are more fruitful than us, we should not scoff. The Greek word for scoff is ekmykterizo and it literally means to lift your nose in the air, it means to sneer and deride. Jesus had healed the sick, they hadn’t. Jesus had raised the dead, they hadn’t. Jesus had crowds, they didn’t. But rather than have the humility to listen, they mocked. That’s one of the clear signs of a Pharisee – they mock fruitfulness and dismiss it. Rather than change and become more fruitful, they pull down the fruitful.

We regularly have people come to Tree of Life who want to be in leadership, but they mock what we have achieved. They haven’t started a church, we have – over and over, so an ounce of humility would mean you stop and listen. I’ve had people in my healing line tell me how to pray – no, you get to do that when I join your prayer line!

Sheesh! I have had a lot of pastors who have not done what we have done mock us and try and control us. Don’t be a Pharisee pastor – firstly, be in places where you hear the Word, and when you do – and the person is fruitful – don’t scoff, even if they do things difficult, but listen, learn and grow. Pharisee Pastors presume they have arrived and nothing could be further from the truth!

At the core of being Pastor Pharisee is a lack of mercy. Mercy is one of the most essential qualities a pastor needs. Every other one of the fivefold ministries travels from place to place, but a pastor has to get up week after week in front of the same people, and because people are people, they need mercy and lots of it.

But a Pastor Pharisee does not have the capacity to show mercy. Jesus pointd that out to the Pharisees saying to them: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law: judgment, mercy and faith; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone (Matthew 23.23).

The Pharisees were counting their mint leaves out to make sure their tithe was exactly ten percent (notice Jesus explicitly says they should tithe – and so should you, it’s just that mercy means more).

The Pharisees were big on rules, but they never ever walked with God so never ever understood mercy. There are principles that govern the way we should all act, but the giver of these principles is God, and God is full of mercy.

I love praying, but there times to rest and not pray. There was a time Jesus told His disciples not to sleep but to pray, but other times that he told them to sleep. Both are Biblical.

But good pastors show mercy to people. Good pastors don’t fall apart when other fall apart. they stand strong and show mercy. They are like the Lord, the Good Shepherd, the example shepherd – they ensure that when they are around people that they are showing goodness and mercy to them all their days.

If you fail to show mercy to people, you are not going to be an effective pastor. I was called by someone the other day who I have known for many years, he isn’t in the Tree of Life Church, but in another church, and his pastor had said some nasty things to him. I am all for speaking strong (as I am sure most of you know) and speaking truth, but this was degrading, it was stating that this person was not significant and important and that they should not have any aspirations for the future. I have never met someone who is not significant and who shouldn’t dream bigger. That made me sad because although I am sure my friend could be a nightmare in a local church, I know he did not deserve that said about him. A lack of mercy is the problem.

When the people in your church fall, help them get up. If they are unruly, warn them, if they are stupid, teach them. But all these things must be done in love. That’s more important than counting the mint leaves, or counting anything. It’s what truly counts.

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. (Luke 16.14)

One of the biggest problems when Pastors become pharisees, focussed on the outward, caring about their lives more than the people they are called to serve and love, is that they eventually and inevitably become lovers of money.

They choose which church to preach at based on offerings rather than the leading of the Spirit, they will happily lie to get money, their church money is not tithed and their church is not generous to others.

There are three big problems when someone loves money, and as leaders, these problems get amplified.

1. WRONG PRIORITIES. If you are working on getting rich, you are not working on taking care of your congregation.
2. CORRUPTION. The number one reason pastors fail is sexual immorality, but close behind is financial immorality. Why are leaders capable of doing immoral things to get money? Because they love the money. Break that love of money by tithing, giving and investing in the kingdom!
3. FOOLISHNESS. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom – the fear of money is the beginning of foolishness. Often when someone does something foolish, money is at the root of it.

Jesus used a very powerful illustration to show you what a religious Pharisee looks like. He said “you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and excess” (Matthew 23.25). Imagine I served you a cup of coffee, and the outside of the cup had been very carefully cleaned, but inside the cup, as you drank the coffee, you start to realize is very dirty indeed. The cup looked good from the outside, and to the casual observer it looks like a clean cup, a mature cup, a godly cup, a pure cup. But as you get closer, you find out that the outside has been cleaned but the inside is still filthy.

I have sadly met few ministers like that. As you draw close to them, you find out that on the pulpit they look amazing, flowing in the gifts, teaching deep revelations, making the crowds happy – but they cannot be kind to people, they are rude to the waiter at lunch, they make coarse jokes, they are bitter at other ministers, they are inappropriate around women, they get offended easily, they are touchy over finances. In short they are ridiculously immature and not like Jesus.

It makes me sad every time I see it. Thankfully it does not happen often but it is the same feeling you would have drinking the coffee out of the “clean” cup and then finding out it is dirty after all.

The reason it happens is that the Pharisee Pastor is not living for Christ, but living for ego. Their whole life is about show. Cleaning yourself is hard work, so they only do half a job – but they only clean the bits on show. They only work on how people perceive them. They do not work on every part of their character.

Jesus thankfully gave us the solution. He said “clean the inside of the cup first so the outside might be clean”. Go and sort your attitudes, go and sort out how you treat people who cannot go any favours for you, go and sort out what you are doing when no one is looking. Stop being a hypocrite or you will be a rubbish pastor. You might have an average career as a travelling speaker, but it will always be hollow inside.

Selah.

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.

1. The Best Place at the Social Gathering. Feasts are social gatherings, get togethers. Pastors who need to be involved in every single social gathering do not lead well. Pastors who need to be the centre of attention in every scenario do not lead well. Pastors who love to be honoured in public never succeed. It’s the hallmark of a Pharisee to want to be honoured, even in arenas that are not their own. One of the biggest problems in the church is pastors who are trying to be honoured in areas they are not called to. As a pastor, you will be invited to a lot of social gatherings and events. At weddings, funerals and baby dedications – you have to be there. DO NOT THEN TRY AND BE THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION. My son at Bible College was asked to prepare a whole bunch of funeral messages, which is just foolish. When I go to a funeral, I preach one message. No one is going to listen to my message and go “isn’t that the same message he preached last year at Auntie Jean’s funeral?”. No one is there to see you! They are there to pay their respect, honour the person who died, find solace with each other. Your job is to take a few minutes to remind people that their loved one is in Heaven and to bring some comfort. You are not there to be the centre of attention or a spectacle. Leave the wake early, stay long enough to be respectful then get home. Same with weddings – no one is there to see you. Say a few words to remind the happy couple to put God first – all the hard work should have been done well before the actual day. Then go home! Some pastors are social butterflies – they need to be at each social event. Some are nervous the people are getting together without them, let them – it’s good! Some pastors are at party after party, they are only invited to because people feel they should. Maybe stay in and spend some time with Jesus, maybe visit someone in hospital. And when you do go, don’t ever demand the best place, the best seat, the best this or that. Do not USE THE ANOINTING THAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU AS A GRACE GIFT as a tool to manipulate people to give you honour in social gatherings.
2. The Chief Seats at the Synagogues. I go to a lot of meetings because I love learning. Every weekend I am ministering at normally three-five services, meetings where I am the lead pastor, and I am preaching the Word. So when I go elsewhere, I like to sit down and learn and take notes and be fed and grow. As I travel so much, I have seen something that disturbs me so much and I think that is one of the clearest signs that a pastor is a Pharisee, and is little or no use to the kingdom of God and is going to be judgmental and dismissive of others. And it is this – I have seen this happen, and it is more common now than it hasn’t been – people who will only go to a meeting or conference if they are platformed. They are never in the congregation sitting down and learning. You never see them notebook in hand learning. That is clearest sign of being a Pharisee I think there is. If you have a conference and someone flies in and flies out and never listens to another preacher, that’s a sign. Now obviously we are all busy and there are times it has to be that way, but if it is ALWAYS that way, that is a huge red flag. Every pastor needs to ask themselves what was the last meeting where you sat down and heard someone preach, and I do not include in your local church with a guest speaker. It’s a great question I am happy to ask any guest preacher. Though because I love talking about the Word of God, I hear soon enough without asking most of the time. If I am around, let’s say Greg Mohr, for example, it won’t be long before he tells me “I was sitting there listening to (insert some preacher’s name here), and, Ben, he said (this revelation), isn’t that powerful…” and then I will share something similar. But when you are around someone who is never in a meeting they are not platformed in – be careful. Worship leaders and musicians who only turn up the week they are on the rota, be careful. Preachers who only turn up for their slot on the conference, be careful. Preachers who only attend a minister’s gathering when it’s their turn to speak, be extra careful. SELAH.

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, KJV)

One of the signs that you are becoming Pastor Pharisee is actually one of the best ways of checking your heart. You only do things when it is seen by people. You only pray when people are watching, you only read the Bible to write your sermons, you only go to conferences that platform you. You develop a dual personality – your out-and-about seen-by-people personality which is godly, kind, full of the Word, impressive, prayerful, prophetic. Then as soon as the spotlight is off, you go back to being selfish, bitter, grumpy, prayerless. You are like the Incredible Hulk – big and impressive in public, puny in private.

In Matthew 6, Jesus says the Pharisees have to make public their giving. It’s never secret or quiet or with some discretion and dignity. They cannot fast one meal without letting everyone know. They cannot pray without it being told to everyone! That’s a dangerous place to be in, because you cannot serve people if you seek validation from people.

The reason this marker of a Pharisee Pastor is so helpful to checking yourself it is quanifiable – it is measureable. This weekend I am preaching 3 times. That’s about three hours of public serving of Jesus Christ. So, I will make sure I am in the prayer closet as an absolute minimum twice that, because I never want to become a hypocrite and just serve Him publicly. I can quantify if I am less Christ-like when people are not watching. I can tell. And I can change. And I can grow. And so can you. If you are catching yourself here, do something about it – the world does not need more spotlight hungry false prophets elbowing their way in where they do not belong, helping no one.

That is one of the best ways to spot yourself if you are Pharisee. And the first person you should deal with is always yourself. But as a pastor, when you are thinking of inviting someone as a guest speaker, find out the last meeting they went to they were not platformed at. It’s a question I love asking as it helps me so much know if that guest speaker is the real deal or not. If we can only go to places where we have the spotlight, we love the spotlight not Jesus. If we are different around people, people mean more to us than Jesus.

Selah!

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 demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.

(Matthew 23.2 to 4, NLT)

They say the right things but don’t do the right things. One of the biggest traps ministers fall into is talking a good game, but not living it.

There are two problems with that.

Firstly, people instinctively copy what you do not what you say. You might preach the most amazing sermon on prayer, three points all beginning with the same letter, beautiful illustrations, powerfully taught with Greek and Hebrew. But your people will not pray unless you pray.

Hypocritical leaders produce hypocritical followers.

The second problem is unless you do it, you have no idea how hard it is. If you preach on fasting seven days and don’t do it, then you have no idea how hard it is, so you then over burden your people. You have no empathy to them, you don’t get their battles because they are not your battles.

When I hear an overly harsh preacher I know he is not living it. If he was working out his salvation with fear and trembling, he would be gentle and kind with people, because their battles would be his too.

When a preacher is making impossible demands it’s because he is doing nothing. When a preacher never gives you genuine advice to make your burden lighter it’s because he is not living what he preaches.

We must not be these leaders who burden people and crush them, we must feed them, so we must be authentic and live what we preach and be the same in and out the pulpit.

Selah.

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 of adultery. According to Paul, adultery is the most carnal act you can commit, the most obvious sign of being in the flesh. It breaks one of the big ten commandments. Surely if there is a time to accuse and bring the full weight of truth and holiness on someone, it is an adulterer – someone who is ruining at least one marriage, destroying lives, acting purely selfishly and ignoring the Lord.

But while the Pharisees accused the woman, they picked up stones to hurt her and kill her, they wanted to expose her and ruin her life and reputation. But Jesus never did that. Jesus was not lax on sin, He was very clear “go and sin no more”, but at the same time He never condemned or accused this person.

How much more should we not accuse people who haven’t even done anything wrong? Pharisee Pastors will sit down in a service and look for something to accuse, they will look for a flaw. If you disagree with them on one point, they go crazy over the one point, rather than celebrate the ninety-nine points that bring life and wisdom to them!

Pastor Pharisee does not walk in love. Love expects the best (1 Cor. 13.7 – “ever ready to believe the best of every person”), but Pastor Pharisee expects the worst and is ever ready to believe the worst of every person. When they heard Jesus was casting out devils they presumed it was by the power of the prince of devils. That’s a staggering presumption.

One of the worst things about pastor’s conferences is gossip. People will say things that are utterly not true, but the Pharisee Pastors, so keen to believe the worst, will lap it up, then get offended over it! Jesus managed once to offend every Pharisee that heard him with one sentence once (Matthew 15.12). Some Pharisee pastors will even couch their gossip as prophetic. I once had a prophetic word from a Pharisee pastor that my church was in trouble, but it was not the Spirit of God, it was an accusation against me to ruin my name dressed up in religious clothes. Pharisee Pastors accuse to gain advantage or promotion, for revenge, for power. I don’t really need to let you know that this is not the way of Jesus Christ! If a Pharisee does not know he is righteous, one way to feel righteous is to assault the morality of someone else. It’s an easy thing to do, but it never brings about fruit.

We know in the New Testament that satan is the accuser of the church, Christ is not an accuser, satan is. Choose to be like Christ – speak against sin, but do not condemn. It’s a fine line, but you have the grace to do it. Choose to walk in the spirit not the flesh.

Selah!