There is a group of believers that think the Church they attend is doing everything the most Biblical way.

I can appreciate their mindset; as a Church leader myself, I am also trying to follow the Bible in all that our Church does.

The problem comes when people develop a certain mindset about their community of faith. This is the belief that their group is “more spiritual” than everyone else. They might not say it out loud, but down deep, they feel the only authentic, true Christians they know go to their Church.

After all, their Church preaches through the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse. They have a discipleship program that gives people deep faith. Everyone who attends knows their Bible well, probably better than most Churches. They homeschool, have small groups, recovery programs, mission trips, and they never play games at youth group. They only use specific curricula for teaching and avoid certain modern translations of the Bible. They have a long list of things that set their community apart from all other believers.

One problem with this type of thinking is that it reflects the attitude of the Pharisees more than Jesus’s. The Pharisees claimed to be more spiritual than everyone else. They honored the Old Testament law and the traditions that supported it.

Jesus, on the other hand, had a group of followers who appeared to care more about position, made numerous stupid statements, denied their faith, and even betrayed their leader. They are a rag-tag group of fishermen, tax collectors, and zealots with questionable knowledge of the Old Testament.

And yet, that is the group of people Jesus uses to launch his Church and lead it into the future. They are the ones who will form the foundation for the Church, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone.

It is possible that in our efforts to please God and follow Jesus, we develop a Pharisaic spirit instead of the spirit of Jesus.