Book Review: 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee (Like Me)

BIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY Fischer, John, 12 steps for the Recovering Pharisee (like me), Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2000, 171, pp. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF AUTHOR John Fisher, pioneering musician, songwriter, and popular speaker, is also the award-winning author of many books. For years his insightful columns have been a favorite monthly feature in Contemporary Christian Magazine. A graduate of Wheaton College, John and his family now live in California SUMMARY OF CONTENTS In his book, 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee (like me), John Fischer uses the recovery model to help us who are self-righteous, arrogant, judgmental, and filled with false-humility to overcome our self-righteousness that keeps us from experiencing the grace of God. This is the Pharisee that is built into human nature in its sinful state. The book is divided into twelve steps that the Pharisee must overcome so that the Pharisee can extend God’s grace to others. The Pharisees were the religious leaders in Jesus’ day who had adapted the Old Covenant in ways that made it possible for them to be keepers of the covenant. Actually, the Old Covenant teaches us that it is impossible for anyone to meet the requirements in it. This shows the need for the New Covenant which is mediated by Jesus Christ so that we might live by God’s grace instead of dying because of the old law. The recovering Pharisee identifies with sinners who recognize their need for a Savior. In the New Testament these include prostitutes and tax collectors considered to be chiefs among sinners and undeserving of God’s goodness. The twelve steps will lead the recovering Pharisee out of self-righteousness causing him or her to seek the grace, mercy, and forgiveness of God in his or her own life. This will lead to their extending the same grace, mercy, and forgiveness to other people. Step 1: “We admit that our single most unmitigated pleasure is to judge other people.” Judging others gives us a feeling of self-worth, and it gives us a sense of control. Step 2: “We have come to believe that our means of obtaining greatness is to make everyone lower than ourselves in our own minds.” The Pharisees saw themselves as the best people, and others thought so too until Jesus came and raised the standards. Having others around us that will tell us the truth about ourselves and learning empathy with others are antidotes for the tendency to judge others. Step 3: “We realize that we detest mercy being given to those who, unlike us, haven’t worked for it and don’t deserve it.” Working for something and deserving it are near and dear to a Pharisee’s heart. Everyone is less than someone else in some way, but grace and mercy does not consider these differences. Step 4: “We have decided that we don’t get what we deserve after all, and we don’t want anyone else to either.” God’s justice is tempered by His mercy. Like Jonah, we Pharisees want to see God’s wrath, but this is the day of salvation. Step 5: “We will cease all attempts to apply teaching and rebuke to anyone but ourselves.” Pharisees can stop their condemnation of others by coming to realize that whatever we are angry about in someone else is most likely something we need to deal with in our own lives (p. 65). Step 6: “We are ready to have God remove all these defects of attitude and character.” The Pharisees operated on a system based on the Law that made them righteous by works instead of an inner reality. Like Saul of Tarsus (Paul), Pharisees need someone to take them by the hand and lead them out of their personal darkness into the light of Jesus Christ. Step 7: “We embrace the belief that we are, and will always be, experts at sinning.” Many Christians believe that the more God they have means less sins in their lives. The Law was given, not to make us sin less, but to make us aware of our sins. The recovering Pharisee comes to realize that there he or she is no less of a sinner than anyone else in the world, but he or she by the power of the Holy Spirit seek not to sin. Step 8: “We are looking closely at the lives of famous men and women of the Bible who turned out to be ordinary sinners like us.” Bible story books and Sunday school lessons historically have taught us that people like Samson, David, and Gideon performed great feats for the Lord causing us to conclude that God uses good people only. These human figures did great thing not because of their human attributes, but they did so because of their faith in God. Step 9: “We are seeking through prayer and meditation to make a conscious effort to consider others better than ourselves;” Sometimes you are the expert and at other times you are the least. We have the ability to discern and we have to be honest about what we see in others or we become tolerant of everything and lose our salt and light. The Pharisee who wishes to recover should look at how Jesus related to the tax collectors and other sinners. Step 10: We embrace the state of astonishment as a permanent and glorious reality.” The requirements of the Law are moral and ethical. We are unable to keep the law, and we accept that we are failures. We are astonished that God offers us grace in spite of our failures. Step 11: We choose to rid ourselves of any attitude that is not bathed in gratitude.” Grace is a gift from God. Pharisees don’t accept gifts because it nullifies their works and their deserving of righteousness and good things from God. Giving thanks is the natural result of grace, and a thankful heart is the antidote for pride. Step 12: “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we will try to carry this message to others who think that Christians are better than everyone else.” The message of Christians to the world is that they too have sins, much the same as anyone else. Having received God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness in their own lives, they become effective witnesses to the message. CRITICAL EVALUATION John Fisher successfully uses the twelve steps of the recovering Pharisee to help all Christians to gain a sense of their own Pharisaical tendency. He uses parables, stories from the Bible and biblical personalities to help the readers to see their own tendencies to look down on others as they elevate themselves with an attitude of self-righteousness. This book will be beneficial to every Christian who has never thought of themselves as being self-righteous. It helps us to see the truth about ourselves; a truth that we have been blind to and in denial of. Fischer helps Christians to understand themselves better. They will become more willing to accept sinners who like themselves are in need of God’s grace mercy and forgiveness. This is the central message of the Gospel that gives hope to all people.