Graceless religion and fearless rebellion are two fruits of the same Pharisaical root.
Let me back up for a minute.
I would completely understand if our introduction to our No Mere Mortals, Season 2 and this Twenty Easy Ways to Raise a Pharisee blog series seems irrelevant to your personal situation—in a couple of possible ways:
1. At a glance, it could appear to be primarily for parents. This is not so. We are using the topic of “raising” or nurturing young people because it is an ideal illustration of how all of us will best see and experience the grace, goodness, and hope of God. These podcast and blog series are visions of grace-for-all-of-life, not just for grace-based parenting.
2. I also imagine some of you, on first impression, concluding that these resources are not relevant to you, because you, your children, or others you know are in no danger of becoming Pharisees at all. High-performance self-righteousness, you may be saying, is nowhere in sight—but talk to me about indifference, rebellion, abandonment of faith!
I get it.
I am plainly on the record here that Pharisaism and self-sufficient (spiritual or secular) religion are lethal poisons to be feared with a life-or-death desperation and (if they are in our system already) immediately lanced and sucked out of our flesh, like a classic-movie rattlesnake bite.
This unmixed-grace proposition will continue—relentlessly and emphatically—to be our accent.
But…
I fully see how both my ironic 20 Ways title and individual points could lead folks to believe that this message of radical, unmixed grace is primarily useful for guarding against self-righteousness and Pharisaical over-confidence.
We highlight this application of the truth because there is a far greater need to offer true grace to Christianized young people than most seem to realize.
But (I don’t deny)…
Simple, self-centered unbelief and rebellion remains as great a threat (even if a more helpfully obvious threat) to lives and souls.
Here's the thing.
I am passionately accenting the danger of “religion” because it is both deadly and frequently not talked about; but the antidote to both lifeless religion and faithless rebellion is identical!
The warm opportunities of these Twenty Ways are what will help unmask a Pharisee.
But…
They are also exactly what will guard our children’s hearts (and our own) against rebellion. Only the free gift of grace and a magnified view of true treasure will prevent minds and hearts from rejecting permanent goodness for temporary trash.
Pharisaism, legalism, false expectations, hypocrisy, performance-based affection or acceptance—if they mark our lives (or parenting) will irresistibly (but for the Lord’s kind intervention) nurture either Pharisaical religion or fleshly rebellion.
The one child (or inquiring soul) under our care will respond to Pharisaical expectations with fearful compliance, while another responds to the same with frustrated abandonment.
When the pure, radical generosity and affection of the Gospel of grace is lost (or even mixed with fleshly duty and human expectations) it will actively populate two crowds:
1.) Honorably intended and/or nervous and fearful performers, and
2.) Bold and/or brow-beaten indulgers.
The exasperating (and unachievable) demands of performance, appearances, law-keeping, and sacrifice—as a way of salvation—leave no other rational options:
Try desperately to earn your way and impresss or “give up” and fall back on the temporary and far easier “enjoyment” of the world and its ways.
So here is my personal request.
Please track along with the grace-loving passion of the “Twenty Easy Ways to Raise a Pharisee” posts, no matter which natural danger appears to tempt your soul or the souls of those around you.
The breathtaking, scandalous, extravagantly-generous good news of Jesus Christ is the single, unstoppable cure to every type of spiritual sickness!
The principles and pleasures celebrated in this series can inject hope and happy expectation into your life and the lives of those around you—whether you are just setting out on the journey or are far down the path, walking with weary and wounded feet.
* * *
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. :)
We invite you to listen to Episode 1 of Season 2 of our No Mere Mortals podcast (available now). Lisa and I talk about the goodness of God and the comforts of His love and grace for our lives and our homes..
Our first, monthly 2021 Maker’s Hollow Conversation with Kristen Morris at “Good Things Run Wild” will land in your podcast app or Spotify early this coming week. We will be talking about Rest in Restless Times, when so many circumstances, expectations, and misunderstandings can rob us of our peace and make it hard to breathe.