I was listening to podcasts today as I did some household chores, and I was really, really moved by this episode of the Internet Monk podcast entitled “Garbage and Baggage We Put With The Gospel.” Working from Matthew 23, “post-evangelical” pundit Michael Spencer talks about the things we (yes, you and me) often require along with the Gospel for people to be considered “good Christians.”

Spencer’s subject is a familiar one for those of us immersed in evangelicalism, but he turns it around a bit. To him, the story in Matthew 23 isn’t Jesus vs. bad guys, it’s Jesus speaking to misguided peers, working within the same religious assumptions that he was. Spencer takes a hard look at what it means for us to be Pharisees in today’s world, and you might be offended at what he suggests…but I think he makes good points, the main one being: It’s not about whether or not you have tattoos, listen to rap music, or love Harry Potter–it’s about your relationship with Jesus and the spirit with which you go about your making your decisions.

What really got me thinking were Spencer’s concluding thoughts about how we might be driving people away from Christ with all of the extra “requirements” for being truly accepted into the Christian family. He said he could think of several people who would love to follow Jesus, they just don’t want all the extra drama and expectations that aren’t really biblical. What stopped me in my tracks was that I could think of several people as well.

Spencer doesn’t say we don’t have an obligation to be obedient (quite the opposite), just that we sure tend bring a lot of our own rules to table when we start telling people how to be a “good” Christian and forget the most important things: loving God, loving people, and sharing the good news about Jesus.

I think it’s high time we stop pointing at our Christian brothers and sisters and at other Christian traditions, and start a little self evaluation here. Too often we imagine Jesus as the poster boy for our brand of Christianity, and the Pharisees as everyone else. But you know what? I bet you have a little Pharisee in you…I know I do. We need to take a look at how we approach discipleship and how we we engage our culture, and take stock of ways we might be Pharisaical in our approach…remember, in large part it’s likely that the Pharisees’ traditions were well intentioned, but in the process they lost the essence of God’s teaching.

I can’t articulate this nearly as well as the Internet Monk. Take a moment to go and listen to his “Garbage and Baggage We Put With The Gospel” and let me know what you think.

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