{"id":358,"date":"2019-03-25T12:44:18","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T12:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/?p=358"},"modified":"2019-03-25T12:44:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T12:44:20","slug":"pharisees-pt-3-10-signs-you-might-be-a-pharisee-the-bun-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/2019\/03\/25\/pharisees-pt-3-10-signs-you-might-be-a-pharisee-the-bun-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Pharisees Pt 3: 10 Signs You Might Be a Pharisee: The BUN RULE!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pharisees Pt 3: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pharisees Pt 1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pharisees Pt 2<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

12 Signs You Might Be a Pharisee: The BUN RULE!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a good friend who won\u2019t mind me sharing this story. She used to attend a church with a great list of extra rules and regulations.  And she was the queen of the Pharisees!  She was CODE baby!  She dressed correctly, acted correctly, talked (or didn\u2019t talk) correctly, ate the right stuff, everything!  She was a model citizen.  But one day she noticed a group of ladies shopping at the same (group approved) grocery store where she was shopping. These ladies were dressed very similarly to her. They seemed to be in code too. So she approached ham and introduced herself. After offering up some condescending looks, laced with perhaps a little pity, these women physically turned their backs to her and shunned her.  She was shocked. She was \u201cperfect, righteous and holy\u201d in her own circles.  What was it that caused these women to feel that my friend was not worthy of their \u201cacknowledgement\u201d?  She labored over that question for a night or two. Why?  What about me was not good enough?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it dawned on her!  It was the buns! They had a \u201cBUN RULE!\u201d<\/strong>  My friend had (unwittingly) wandered into a pack or Pharisees who deemed her shameless and lewd for having her hair down and not in a bun.  Other than that her appearance was almost exactly the same.  She had no idea about the \u201cbun rule\u201d and they failed to explain that one \u201cmajor\u201d detail. (Gnat! -*cough*)  I know for a fact they missed out because this woman is very gifted and has a very edifying testimony, but they just couldn\u2019t stand her bunlessness!  She had met Pharisees that could \u201cout Pharisee\u201d her!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was troubled because it hurt her feelings to be shunned, and perhaps to be thought of as less than \u201choly\u201d. So after agonizing about it and it dawned on her!  \u201cThat is exactly how I make anyone feel who doesn’t keep my code,\u201d is what she concluded! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

7)     You might be a Pharisee if: You are not submitted to, accountable to, or interested in interacting with in a meaningful way, any of Christ\u2019s followers who don\u2019t conform to the group code.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used to define myself as \u201cindependent\u201d. What a clumsy brand. I do believe that individual churches should be autonomous.  But there is a certain elitist arrogance I struggled with for years. (Still struggle some, I suppose.) The most edifying fellowship I had the whole time I was pastoring an Independent Baptist Church was with a man outside the \u201ccircle\u201d.  He was CHURCH OF CHRIST!!!  We had a whole list of condescending nicknames for those folks. But I noticed him smiling across the Barnes and Nobles.  His hair was \u201ctoo long\u201d (so I hoped no one would see me talking to him) but I was drawn by his smile like a moth to the flame. He ministered the love and grace of God and radiated sheer child like joy.  I was dumbfounded. He was not \u201ccode\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never saw him again. Maybe he was an angel.  We talked, prayed, and cried for two hours right there standing in the bookstore. I never forgot him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This \u201cCambellite\u201d had the incarnational Christianity my heart was longing for. I realized then that God\u2019s children are His business! All His children are gifted, and their gifts are not just a nice luxury that I might at my convenience take advantage of.  THEY ARE ESSENTIAL FOR MY EDIFICATION AND ORGANIC GROWTH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not \u201cindependent\u201d anymore.  I am hopelessly INTERDEPENDENT!  I can\u2019t love my Lord and not love His people.  How do I dare judge another Man\u2019s servant?  How do I assume that God is not at work in his life at every stage of the journey?  I\u2019ve belittled men with long hair, only months after I cut my own hair, as if God is patient with me but no one else.  I have sarcastically railed on folks who used a different version of the Bible without ever taking the time to patiently explain my position,  It’s all about attitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your attitude toward folks without buns?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Part 4 coming!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pharisees Pt 3: Pharisees Pt 1 Pharisees Pt 2 12 Signs You Might Be a Pharisee: The BUN RULE! I have a good friend who won\u2019t mind me sharing this story. She used to attend a church with a great list of extra rules and regulations.  And she was the queen of the Pharisees!  She … Continue reading “Pharisees Pt 3: 10 Signs You Might Be a Pharisee: The BUN RULE!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[29,28,30,25],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kingdom-doctrine","tag-hair","tag-hypocrite","tag-kingdom","tag-pharisee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":359,"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions\/359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}