Accidental Pharisees: Avoiding Pride, Exclusivity, and the Other Dangers of Overzealous Faith -- Book Review

Do you love Jesus and want to be all He called you to be?  Do you look down on people who don’t share the same passion? Do wimpy Christians annoy you? Do you get upset with people who call themselves a Christian but don’t act like one?  If so, you might be a ‘Pharisee’.

Spiritual passion is truly a gift, but it also puts us at risk of pride and exclusivity.  In Larry Osborne’s book Accidental Pharisees, he shows that the problem isn’t spiritual zeal, because we are called to be zealous. The problem comes when we mix out spiritual passion with a hyper-individualized spirituality, which yields toxic results.

We immediately think of being a Pharisee as being a bad thing.  It means being self-righteous and hypocritical, doesn’t it?  True, but Osborne reminds us that Pharisees were highly committed to God. They meticulously obeyed Scripture – and they weren’t searching for loopholes. Their rules came from rigorous study of Scripture and hours of debate.  They didn’t take reverence for God or Scripture lightly.  However, their passion made it easy to fall into a harsh trap of legalism.

Osborne shows us how this can happen to us.  In the desire for a pure church, we may still welcome the worst of sinners into our midst, but we snub the weak believers.  We don’t have room for people who are secret disciples, weak in faith, or are ladder climbers.  Jesus didn’t do that.  Osborne explains how and why.

There will never be a shortage of unhealthy Christians. So don’t get disgusted.  Don’t help Jesus yank out the weeds in the wheat.  It’s not our job. Besides, if we try, we might be pulling out wheat instead of weeds.

We scoffed at previous generations who were trapped in legalistic rules that ‘real’ Christians don’t drink, smoke, dance, go to movies, or play cards. But today, we are considered hip if we do those things, being in tune with the culture so that we can be ‘relevant’.  We might think that an authentic Christian works out and takes care of his body, doesn’t live in luxury and indulgence, lives in a modest home so he can be generous with his money, goes on mission trips instead of vacations to the beach, and uses buzz words like ‘radical’, ‘missional’, ‘gospel-centered’, and ‘organic’.  These are just a few examples.  Welcome to the new legalism.

I found much freedom throughout Osborne’s ideas in this book! We don’t have to feel guilty if our gifts and calling don’t fit with the flavor of the day.  God made us to be or do what he gifted us to do. If He wanted me to be an overseas missionary or world-wide evangelist, he would have given me an outgoing people-personality with the drive to take risks.  We so easily by-pass the verses that tell us to live a quiet life or work with our hands because it doesn’t fit with what is popular Christianity right now. 

This book is phenomenal!  It opened my eyes to blind spots that I never guessed even existed in my life.  It helped me recognize that I have been carrying a load of free-floating guilt of never doing enough.  God used this book to release me from feeling like I have to keep being better and keep doing more to be all He created me to be, and instead, just follow His leading and live a life of love.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Zondervan publishing in exchange for my honest review.