Book Review: Accidental Pharisees

BIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY Osborne, Larry, Accidental Pharisees, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012, pp. 196 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF AUTHOR “Larry Osborne is a teaching pastor at North Coast Church in northern San Diego County. North Coast is widely recognized as one of the most influential and innovative churches in America. Osborne speaks extensively on the subjects of leadership and spiritual formation. His books include Sticky Teams, Sticky Church, 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe, and Spirituality for the Rest of Us. He and his wife Nancy live in Oceanside, California.” SUMMARY OF CONTENTS Larry Osborne divides his book Accidental Pharisees into seven parts and with a total of twenty-one chapters. Part 1, “Accidental Pharisees”: People do not set out to be a Pharisee. It is an accident caused by overzealous faith that can have a dark and dangerous side. The problem is having a zeal for the Lord that fails to line up with the totality of Scripture. We all have blind spots that keep us focused on a limited knowledge and use of Scripture. Thus, we fail to see ourselves clearly in the mirror. As a consequence we put ourselves in danger of creating a self righteousness that puts us above a relationship with Jesus. We never establish a relationship with Jesus and we never allow Him to be our savior and Lord, and we will be cast from his presence in the judgment. Part 2, “Pride”: Pride can lead to comparing ourselves to others which enables us to feel that we are better than others. There are two particular dangers in comparing ourselves to others. First, there is the danger of arriving at what the author calls “A Danger Zone.” It is arriving at a place where one feels spiritually superior to others. A more critical danger is depending on our own righteousness instead of the mercy of God. Pride sneaks into our lives through three paths that the author calls “Pride’s Unholy Trinity.” The first is “Log-Eye” disease. It enables us to keep a list of the sins and shortcomings of others while conveniently ignoring our own. The second path of pride is “Self-Deception.” It is having an inflated view of ourselves in which we judge ourselves to be better than others. The third path is “Comparison.” Part 3 “Exclusivity”: People have a natural bent to be better than others. Accidental Pharisees set the bar higher than that set by Jesus. Accidental Pharisees want elitists fully committed, and spiritually mature Christians in their churches. They seek to thin the herd instead of following Jesus’ example of expanding the kingdom. Jesus did not exclude people. He invited people in so that He could tell them about the kingdom. Part 4 “Legalism”: Legalism is when people make sacrifice more important than mercy. They adopt a litmus test to determine who are included among the elite Christians. Osborne describes a contrast between “Old School Legalism” and “New School Legalism.” In the old school, Pharisees add to what the Scripture say and are determined that their personal application of Scripture is the right one for everyone. This results in loss of freedom in Christ in which the person allows the Holy Spirit to apply the same Scripture differently in different people. Legalism is mercy limited to our own standards instead of being lavished out unlimited to person, time, and circumstances. Part 5 “Idolizing the Past”: We tend to idolize the past making us blind to the reality of present time. Idealism can be a blessing and a curse. Idealism leads to cynicism and finding faults, but the world has had its faults since Genesis 3. We tend to idolize the past, having rose-colored memories of the early New Testament church. We see the early church and its leaders as the ideals while overlooking their shortcomings and failures. We should speak the truth in love. This means speaking to the person directly, finding something worthy of praise first, and address only the issues involved at the present time. Do not ventilate personal hurts and frustrations at the expense of praise and love for others. Part 6 “The Quest for Uniformity”: The writers of the New Testament call for the people of God to have unity in Christ alone, but accidental Pharisees want uniformity. Uniformity is setting standards and demanding that all follow. Uniformity causes discord and keeps us from experiencing unity. Pharisees demand that everyone agree on everything from a theological perspective. The bible does set standards and limitations on salvation, but the demand for uniformity can lead to putting a theological perspective above the bible. Christians should make their commitment to Christ their first priority, and bear with one another. Christians are called to agree to disagree when the debates lead to disunity. Part 7 “Gift Projection”: The author defines “Gift Projection” as believing that everyone should have the same gift and calling that I have. We think that our gifts make us more important than others. The opposite of “gift projection is “gift envy.” We tend to envy those whose gifts are considered to be more important. Another gift projector is the “money police.” Money polices believe that a good Christian lives modestly and makes every effort to give to the poor. CRITICAL EVALUATION In Accidental Pharisees Larry Osborne informs us of how Christians with good intentions can become a Pharisee. People do not set out to become a Pharisee. In their own mind, the accidental Pharisee is doing the right things that a Christian ought to do. Osborne helps us to see how doing the right things to the extreme with the wrong motivation and purpose can cause us to become an accidental Pharisee. Osborne is careful to distinguish between obedience to Christ and taking upon ourselves to set our own standards and demanding that others follow us instead of what is written in scripture. All Christians and especially those who are in positions of leadership can benefit from this book. It gives us some guidelines and principles by which we can judge ourselves to see if we are seeking to carry out the mission that Christ gives to the church or if we are establishing our own agendas and expecting everyone else to follow us. At the end of each part Osborne includes discussion questions that challenge us to take a closer assessment of ourselves in terms of our attitudes and motives for the things that we do and the purpose for which we do them.