Modern Evangelical Pharisees
In my previous article, “When Repentance Becomes Costly,” I described a great problem in the American Evangelical Church. There is a need for pastoral repentance, but it has been absent in large measure. While the Lord has raised up many good shepherds, there is indeed an entire class that has disqualified themselves, because broadly they have participated in pastoral corruption. One aspect of that corruption I did not mention previously is the cancer of pastoral pietism. But in this article, I will explain how many modern shepherds, especially in the US, eerily resemble the Pharisaic leadership of first-century Israel that opposed Christ.
A Great Neglect of People
The Pharisees were those who did not care about the everyday problems around them. In Matthew 23, where Jesus went scorched earth on the Pharisees, he told them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel” (Matthew 23:23-24).
What Jesus describes are a people who were concerned about less important things, but neglected to show concern about what the Lord values most. The Lord cares about the difference we are to make in the lives of others. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). If we are to love the Lord with everything we have, how is this going to look in our lives? It will be shown by having a great love for people, especially Christ’s Church (Galatians 6:10).
But this was not the focus of ancient Pharisees nor the modern-day pastor-pietists among us. Their focus is on smaller matters. As they pursue the Lord in private devotion, they are not taking to heart that the study of Scripture is intended to produce a deep love for others. As the apostle John wrote, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18).
I heard one pastor friend explain that modern pastor-pietists treat theology as a hobby. They know Scripture well, they are capable preachers and teachers, they spend time in prayer, but when it comes to actually making a difference in the lives of others, something is missing. There is a coldness to them, showing a lack of love for the Lord. They are hearers of the Word, but not doers (James 1:22-25). Yes, of course, we should be those who “meditate on the word day and night” (Psalm 1:2) and “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) as we have sweet communion with the Lord (Mark 1:35), but all of this should lead to action. If the action is missing, then love for the Lord is greatly lacking. As Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). It is a spiritual emphasis without action where the pharisaic pietists focus, but the people around them feel and experience little to no love.
Neglecting Earthly Affairs
Another mark of Christian pietists is that they see earthly things and affairs as inferior or second-class. But Scripture warns of the ungodliness of this path. As the apostle Paul wrote, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:1-5).
There is an ascetic nature to pietists, which Scripture condemns (Colossians 2:18-23). They see enjoying earthly things as second-class and sometimes even sinful, while Scripture states that the things of earth are to be enjoyed as long as it is done with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:5). To enjoy God’s gifts and then to thank him is to turn away from idolatry. God’s people can truly enjoy God as they take pleasure in his gifts. But to the pietist, spiritual practices such as reading a book, prayer, missions, and living with less are seen as far superior to enjoying God’s works in creation. This was seen in David Platt’s bestselling book Radical, where he essentially preached a sort of “poverty gospel.”
Furthermore, one well-known pastor has flashed his pietism in a multitude of ways. He has been on record saying that Christians should only own budget vehicles rather than nice ones, and it is better for Christians in urban churches to live in the city rather than the suburbs. There is also a story where he took his children to a baseball game, but took a book with him to read. There is nothing wrong with driving a higher-quality vehicle and living in a nicer area that will bless one and his/her family. Certainly, it is better to leave the book at home and enjoy the ballgame with your children, but pietists see attention toward people, the enjoyment of a baseball game, or going fishing as inferior to reading the Bible or a Puritan work.
I was once at a conference where I ate lunch next to a pastor influenced by the pietistic culture that had never heard of the beautiful area where I live, only forty miles to his northeast. It occurred to me that this pastor spent most of his time studying and not enjoying God’s beautiful creation. Pietists miss that one of the ways we learn about God is through enjoying Him, especially in nature. David praised the Lord for both his works in creation and his written Word (Psalm 19). We worship God through both without neglecting the other. To miss him in nature is to have a deficiency in one’s worship. Like the Pharisees, their religious practice has caused them to miss the enjoyment of life, and they’ve taught others to do the same. In so doing, they have placed burdens (Matthew 23:4) on people that Christ has not placed (Matthew 11:28-30).
Another way that pietists neglect the things of earth is by giving little to no care to matters in the public square. Their focus is almost solely on the spiritual. We have seen this in recent years with the neo-Reformed movement, which constantly reminded us to “just preach the gospel.” While they proclaimed this, they did not educate their churches on how to honor God in voting and public service, nor to stand against unrighteousness in their own communities. It is the responsibility of the pastor to address “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) and to call their people to be salt and light in a world where there is a tremendous amount of darkness (Matthew 5:13-16). The Lord desires for the church to be a prophetic voice in society, not hiding in their homes and within the four walls of their churches. Sadly, we have an entire culture of pastors who have left their churches largely in the dark on public-square matters, believing that addressing them is somehow inferior to “Just preach the gospel.”
But obedience to Christ demands a much fuller picture, in which the believer is faithful to him in the home, in the church, and as a mighty weapon for him in the public square. Scripture speaks of every issue concerning the life of faith (2 Peter 1:3), including every moral issue that Christians are presented with at the local, state, and national levels. The false spirituality of pietism has crippled the church from being the prophetic voice the Lord calls it to be in society. Like the Pharisees, they have neglected to instruct well-rounded faithful living that the masses desperately need to hear (Matthew 23:23).
Strong Commitment to Extra-Biblical Teaching
In addition to neglecting what they are supposed to be doing, pietists love to create their own morality by making their priorities more important than what the Lord really cares about. It is curious that when pietists have addressed public matters in recent years, they have mostly joined secular causes. When George Floyd died or when ICE was in the news, Evangelical pietists came out in full force, either on social media or marching with the protestors. One professor friend of mine astutely explained to me that this is so because virtue signaling appeals to the pietist. In their pride, they love to flaunt their own self- righteousness before others (Matthew 6:1) when it is fashionable to do so.
When they address pressing moral issues, they consistently miss the mark biblically. The Pharisees, in their pride, were well known for creating their own righteousness. In the Gospels, Jesus said concerning them, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8-9). During the height of the Woke movement, pietistic pastors created their own morality by embracing the world’s own false righteousness. They indeed taught as doctrines, “the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). But when it came to actually proclaiming God’s law in the public square as the Lord calls his shepherds to do (Matthew 14:4), they were nowhere to be found.
Public “Holy” Acts
As I alluded to above, all of these works have been done to be seen by others. Jesus warned concerning people such as this, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward” (Matthew 6:1-2).
Jesus also said in another place, “They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long” (Matthew 23:5). At the Southern Baptist Convention, only a few years ago, there was a mantra that continued to be uttered when Leftist values were on the table. That mantra was, “The world is watching.” They wanted their advocacy for Social Justice to be seen and applauded by the world, so they wouldn’t be known as “Bible-thumping fundamentalists.” These attitudes revealed the hearts of false shepherds, as it is the fear of the Lord that qualifies one to be the Lord’s shepherd. To care what man thinks is a clear disqualification (Galatians 1:10). But pietistic leaders, like the Pharisees, love the praise of man.
Another area where pietism has sometimes been seen is in the practice of long, eloquent prayers. A professor friend of mine shared with me that at one church, it became apparent that the Sunday prayers had turned into a competition. They were under the leadership of a pastor who loved to pray long, impressive prayers before his congregation. There is an entire culture of prayer such as this across the Evangelical landscape. Pastors who have pushed Leftist values or acted cowardly, yet pray long, eloquent prayers, may wow their hearers, but they are not wowing the Lord.
The apostle Peter warned concerning a husband whose prayers will not be heard because of mistreatment toward his wife (1 Peter 3:7). Phony prayers can be spotted based on one’s works. These prayers appear much more like a show than a humble and heartfelt prayer offered to the Lord. Whether they are doing truly righteous works or apparent righteous works (as we have seen done abundantly in recent years), their works have been done to receive the praise of man. In this way, they very much reflect the Pharisees of old.
Valuing Acceptability in the Pietist Club
Pietists also love the honor that comes with being in a prestigious club. As Jesus said, “They love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others” (Matthew 23:6-7). In recent years, many have been exposed as institutionalists and company men. Their commitment to the truth has great limitations. Their primary commitment is to protecting their respective institution’s image and remaining in good standing within. On numerous occasions where compromise has been pointed out, instead of listening to the correction, the institutional leaders have treated those exposing the problem as the problem.
In this pietistic club, it is rare to see leaders go against the club at great risk of being shunned and losing the benefits that institutional credibility provides. There are two biblical examples of such men who went against the establishment to which they belonged: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (Mark 15:43; John 19:39). After Jesus’ death, when it was unpopular to be associated with Jesus, they associated with him, showing their fear of God over man. One such recent positive example is Willy Rice, who was just elected the SBC President in Orlando, Florida. The church needs many more Willy Rices who repent of past involvement in the club and truly bless the church by leading righteously.
The Way Forward
The Lord calls all believers to pursue true piety (1 Peter 1:16), but there is a false piety that the modern American evangelical church is swimming in. I write this as someone who has lived in this toxic climate, but over the years, my eyes have been opened, and I desire to see many more pastors and Christians freed from the snare of faux-pietism.
Many Christians have blindly followed this poor leadership, not realizing they’re doing so. Pietism is indeed a tool of the Devil to distract and paralyze Christians from doing what they ought to do. How can the church be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14) if they have been presented with a deeply faulty understanding of Christian faithfulness?
Followers of Christ are to be soldiers, not distracted by a false spirituality that makes Christians ineffective in a world that greatly needs the church to be triumphant. The Pharisaic system of the first century was a dark cloud over first-century Israel. With many similar features, modern-day Christian Pietism is a dark cloud over the American church in our day.
May more Christians wake to turn from false piety to true godly living.
