Lately I've been asking strangers if they are Christians, and if they are not, I've followed up with the question: “Why not?” Last week I sat down across from Zedekiah (not his real name) and, as we ate McDonald's together, I asked him some of these questions.
Zedekiah is a big man, a bit rough looking, dressed for the winter in the middle of summer, and had a look of disinterest on his face. He is in his mid-twenties and had just finished two-and-a half years in jail. The day before he was released he received divorce papers from his wife, and has no contact with his three children. Zedekiah said that he was a Christian, but has no church and hadn't been to church in six years. “Why not?” He answered: “The church is full of hypocrites.”
Understanding Hypocrisy
This is not a strange implication of the Church and the Lord's people, and I'm sure most of you have heard it from family or friends. In the eyes of the unbelieving world, hypocrisy is the cardinal sin of the Church.
The world sees the church as hypocritical when what we do doesn't match what we say. In other words, we act as hypocrites when we talk like we are holy and righteous, but live in sin. We talk about the love of Jesus, but we despise our neighbors, we talk about family values but cheat on our spouse or mistreat our children.
The Bible certainly speaks of hypocrisy. Jesus especially criticized the Pharisees as hypocrites. His six-fold accusations are found in Matthew 23 (see verses 13, 15, 23, 25-26, 27-28, 29-31). Especially important are Jesus' words in Matthew 23:27-28: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
In the Scriptures hypocrisy means play-acting, pretending, deceiving. “They preach, but do not practice.” [Matthew 23:3] This is true of the Pharisees and their outward shows of piety, their carnivals of external goodness. They Pharisees wanted people to see them and say, “My, look at how holy Jim-Pharisee is.” The Pharisees did everything, even their praying and fasting, so that they would be seen by men, and this is the mark of hypocrisy. The hypocrite works and strives to maintain the illusion of perfection.
The Christian Difference
There are two things at work behind the accusation of hypocrisy, one true, the other false. The first is the sad reality that the church is often marred with shameful sin. More on this later. But, the second thing behind the accusation of hypocrisy is a wrong assumption about what Christianity is. Those that accuse the church of hypocrisy often assume that the whole point of the Church is to make people good, moral. “You're a Christian: you're supposed to be good and holy and all that stuff.” The world sees the church as a place where people go to learn about God's rules, and to talk about how they are keeping them and the world is not.
Here we must be clear that the main point of Christianity is not our morality and goodness. This is, to be sure, the thing driving every other world religion from Judaism to Hinduism, Islam to Mormonism and even Atheism! All of these “ism's” are pointing mankind to achieve more and be better, to climb the ladder of moral success and be a good person. But Christianity is different, it begins not with man's goodness or potential goodness but rather with man's wickedness. From the first chapters of Genesis until the Revelation given to St John the Bible is a record of mankind's failure; it is a testimony of his sin.
Rather than trying to pull man out of sin, the Scriptures begin by pushing us deeper in. We are sunk in sin, dead in trespasses and sin [Ephesians 2:1], completely unable to free ourselves. The Law comes to reveal original sin and all its fruits; it comes to show us how bad we are. The law brings us to the end of ourselves; it ends all hope we have of being good through our own resources.
This is what St. Paul is talking about in Romans 7, that the law came along and made him “exceedingly sinful.”
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. [Romans 7:7-14]
Sin is like a sleeping dog, and the law comes along and kicks it. Was the sin there before the law came? Yes, but the law, in a way, made sin worse, exceedingly sinful. This is the purpose of the law: to kill us, or better, to show us how dead we are. Apart from the preaching of God's law we are free to live in the delusion of our own goodness, the haze of self-assured holiness. This is why, when you ask Joe-Unbeliever if he is a good person the answer is almost always “Yes.” But when the law comes we know better. “No, I'm not a good person, I am a poor, miserable sinner.”
In this way Christianity is different, it does not begins with man's goodness but with his sinfulness. We hear first not of our own abilities, but our inability to do anything good. “10 None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” [Romans 3:10-12, quoting Psalm 14:1-4; 53:1-3]
Rather than being another system of morality, another teaching about how to live, the Scriptures first put us to death, condemn us, and removes any possibility of attaining holiness by our own efforts.
It is then that the good news of Jesus comes to the rescue. He Himself says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” [Mark 2:17] To be a Christian is not first to be well, but to be sick, and then to be made well by Jesus. We are not first righteous, but sinners who are forgiven by Jesus. We despair of ourself and then trust in Christ, in Christ alone, for our salvation. We know the we are unholy in ourselves, and that Jesus has called us holy in Him.
The Lord's people, then, do not speak of themselves as if they had no sin. Every Sunday we make the public declaration of our wretchedness, “I have sinned against Thee in thought, word and deed.” We know that we are sinners, and we know that Jesus died for sinners. Jesus forgives sinners.
Putting Away Hypocrisy
This is how, in the Lord's way, we avoid hypocrisy: we continue to confess our sins. We acknowledge that we are sinners always in need of the Lord's forgiveness. Rather than speaking like we're holy and acting like we are not, Christians confess their own sinfulness, and then rejoicing the Lord's forgiveness we begin to act and do good works of love for our neighbor. Rather than living in a puffed-up piety, we live humbly before our God and our neighbors, we consider others better than ourselves [Philippians 2:3]. And when we fail to love and act as we ought, then we again confess our sins, rejoice in the Lord's forgiveness, and pray that the Lord would grant us opportunities to love and care for our neighbors. We live as we are: forgiven sinners, undeserving children of our gracious heavenly Father.
And how do we react when the Lord's Church is accused of hypocrisy? This accusation is an opportunity to speak of our need for and the Lord's provision of His goodness. Perhaps the conversation would should like this:
"Are you a Christian?”
“No, the church is full of hypocrites.”
“What do you mean? What do you think a hypocrite looks like?”
“You know, these Christians who talk like their so holy and righteous, like they're better than everyone else, and then, you know, they end up getting drunk at night and yelling at his wife. That's a shame.”
“Yes, you're right. That's a terrible sin. No man should do these things, no matter if they call themselves a Christian or a pagan.”
“Yeah, but Christians are always talking about how they have family values and all this.”
“That's true, the Lord has given us commands about how to live, ten of them. But do you think Christians are holy because of how they live?”
“Well, yeah. How else could you be holy?”
“Either by doing or by believing, and we say that no one can be holy by doing and keeping the law. Do you know what the first thing I say about myself when I go to church? I don't thank God that I'm holier than everyone else, that I've kept His commandments. I say, with everyone else in the Church, 'I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto Thee all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended Thee and Justly deserved Thy temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them.' Being a Christian is not being free from sin, its about being forgiven of sin. We are holy no by what we do, but by believing and trusting what Christ has done.”
“Hmmm...”
“But look, it really doesn't matter if the Church is full of hypocrites. What it the Church is full of ducks? What if the church is full of broken toilets? So what. What matters is what is being said, what's being preached, and what we hear in the Church is that we are all sinners, and that Jesus died for sinners. Do you think that you are a sinner?”
“Well, I'm not that bad...” [or whatever the unbeliever would say, and the conversation might continue down the law or the Gospel depending on the persons awareness of their own sin or need for the Lord's saving work.]
When the Lord's Church is accused of hypocrisy we respond not defensively, but with humility we put before the accuser the Lord's law and Gospel. We fix our eyes not on our own failures, but on Christ the Author and Perfecter of our faith, and in Him we find our life and salvation.
St Peter instructs the Lord's church: “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation.” [1 Peter 2:1-2]
May the Lord grant us sincere and humble hearts and trust in Him alone, and may He continue to send His kingdom into our midst so that those who do not know His love would rejoice together with us.
Chris, Last weekend a group of us were sitting out back talking. And the conversation turned to how we cause most of our own problems . A young man in his twenties had just been fired from his job the day before.The boss and this young man had words over the boss' descion on how to complete a job. The young man (the story was told by him) came down off the roof and chewed his boss out, to top it off, in front of 2 other employees. "The boss" owns 1/2 of the company. Bossman is ill tempered, inexperienced in roofing and will publicly embarrass an employee. Without mentioning the situation, I asked "Bob" if he was a screwup. A tight lipped "no". I said "sure you are". Then got " I have screwed up situations that happen to me". I said "I'm a screwup and so is everyone here, it's not our mistakes so much, it's how we handle them and learn from them." Everyone else at the table "confessed" too, except "Bob". My thought after that was how I was so much the same in my past. Refusing fault, while pointing out other's faults. And the gnawing hole it felt like inside to refuse to admit imperfection even to myself. The important thing was to keep up the act. I hurt many people that believed in me that didn't know I was so arrogant within myself. It shows eventually though. And after you lose everyone, you have no one to blame, except yourself.That is how God reached into my heart. And it took years for me to realize that it was God taking care of me, even while I was so lacking in character. I pray for "Bob", because I know how awful unconfessed sin is. I felt as if I was rotting inside and for all the knowledge and answers I had, I couldn't fix myself. Still, I fail on my own and God reels me in, convicting my heart. There is no words for my gratitude that can convey, how deep it is. There also is no words that convey how sad I am when someone is so fixed against being accountable and repentant. Inside of each of us, no matter how good a liar we are, we still know the truth. I hope you pray for "Bob", not his real name.
Posted by: lc | September 07, 2007 at 11:48 PM
My husband and I lead Youth at the Church we serve at...We hear this often..."I dont wanna come cause there are so many hypocrites." Yeah that may be the case, but I would rather sit next to a few in Church, than die and go to hell with all of them.. Great blog by the way... I came across this while searching for something else...
Posted by: Sheila | September 10, 2007 at 09:19 PM
Strictly speaking every Christian is a hypocrite. The standard is perfection. Non-Christians have self-determined and self-imposed standards. Being a Christian hypocrite is inevitable. Being a non-Christian hypocrite is inexcusable.
Posted by: Laughing Boy | September 11, 2007 at 11:31 AM
The best example of Laughing Boy's point is Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the publican. While both were hypocrites, only one was willing to admit that he was one and prayed for mercy, which he received.
Posted by: Steve Newell | September 11, 2007 at 12:37 PM
Steve, I don't usually disagree with you, but you and laughing boy seem to be saying, to be christian is to be perfect and since we can't be perfect we are hypocrites. God saw the pharisee and the publican as He sees us, sinners. We are all sinners. The publican received forgiveness because he repented knowing he was a hopeless sinner. The pharisee did not repent of his own sin,though he wasn't ignorant of it. He was a pharisee, of the most knowlegable people, in Godly matters. Knowledge without wisdom is dust. He just thanked God he didn't sin as, "the other guy" sinned. The pharisee was too proud, and busy exalting himself over what he didn't do, to admit he was as wretched as any other sinner. The purpose of the parable as I understand it, is Jesus revealed to us what a hypocrite is v.s. what a repentant sinner seeking forgiveness is. If the wages of sin is death, and the only way to to escape that penalty is through our Lord Jesus, then to deny or ignore sin, is the heart of a hypocrite. The repentant heart of a sinner, seeks to be like David, a man (male and female) after God's heart. To walk spiritually and not as flesh. Jesus never called us to be failing hypocrites, He told us in many verses, not to be hypocrites. God bless you and me in our understanding of what God has given us in His word.
Posted by: lc | September 11, 2007 at 05:42 PM
LC,
No where did I say the Christians are perfect. It's the opposite. A Christian is one admits that he is hypocrite and cries out "Lord have mercy".
I don't know where you go this from.
Posted by: Steve Newell | September 11, 2007 at 09:55 PM
Steve, Either I miss, you, laughing boy and Scripture in hypocrisy or I am in agreement with Scripture. The quote you and laughing boy agree to is "The standard is perfection". And since we cannot be perfect we are hypocrites. Jesus told us not to be hypocrites in Luke 11:39 thru 12:1 especially. My understanding of a sinner is, one who breaks God's Law. A christian is a sinner who repents in their heart and then asks God for forgiveness that we can only receive through Jesus' sacrifice. We then commit to God our lives, that we will direct our lives in all that Scripture teaches us. Without God's strength and Spirit, we couldn't on our own, no matter how hard we try. But to be a hypocrite is to " Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. " Then after addressing the offended lawyers as the pharisees provoked Him to speak, as a mob gathered, Jesus said to His disciples first of all "Beware ye of the leaven of the pharisees, which is hypocrisy.For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed : neither hid that shall not be known." The ruler of the synagogue was another hypocrite in accusing Jesus for healing on the sabbath. Loosing ox or healing is not a sin on the sabbath. The ruler did not apply the same standard to himself. Jesus defined hypocrisy as the ruler's double standard. I understand from that, a christian is the opposite of hypocrisy. We all are sinners, God forgives a humble, repentant sinner. And He tells us throughout Scripture, to not be hypocrites. If hypocrite defines christian, then the doctrines of Scripture are lost in my understanding.
Posted by: lc | September 12, 2007 at 07:02 AM
Steve, I truly didn't try to convey that you think to be christian, means to be perfect. My concern is that you and laughing boy seem to say, to be christian means to admit you are a hypocrite. A hypocrite is a despising, proud person who refuses to admit he has sin, will exalt himself , excuse himself, while pointing an accusing finger at those around him. Who will blind himself to not give up the high places, and perks in this world he gains, by the illusion of perfection he portrays for the world to see. I find hypocrite, as the antithesis, to being christian. I'm sorry you misunderstood what I was trying to convey. And unless I can get a different understanding of what you both meant, I still disagree with, being christian is to admit hypocrisy. I still am firm in thinking that we stop being hypocrites when we become christians. When I was first convicted in my heart, it became impossible for me to be a hypocrite anymore. And I was the biggest hypocrite I've ever met then or since. I am still a sinner, but not a hypocrite. I think and pray hard, to be sure I don't have a double standard against my brethren in my heart, in any matter.
Posted by: lc | September 12, 2007 at 09:07 AM
If I state that a Christian should act in a certain manor and I fail to meet that standard, am I an hypocrite? Yes. However, I am a honest hypocrite if I am willing to knowledge that I am not meeting the standard to which I subscribe to.
I believe that LC and I have a different definition of hypocrite. This is a cause of the difference.
Posted by: Steve Newell | September 12, 2007 at 10:39 AM
Steve, yes now I understand what you mean, and my understanding is different than yours. I can only stand firm because Jesus told us not to be as the hypocrites in the many examples He gave us. He defined hypocrisy as an unwillingness to see the truth, hiding our sin ,while accusing our brethren. Since you glean a much different definition and I really respect much of your opinions, please find in Scripture where Jesus says a hypocrite and repentant sinner are the same. I'm asking in truth, because Jesus was very adamant for us to remove all guile,hypocrisy from our mouths. I honestly understand to be a repentant sinner, IS the end of our hypocrisy and the beginning of our new character, as a christian.
Posted by: lc | September 12, 2007 at 12:14 PM
This is all very interesting. When I made my comment about all Christians being hypocrites I had in mind from the external point of view. Christians are vulnerable to the claim of being a hypocrite because another judgmental person can always find some action or motive in the Christian that he can classify as hypocritical. The opportunities for failing, even momentarily, are very high. And how can a Christian who’s read Romans 7 defend himself from this charge? As soon as we think that we are not hypocrites, like the Pharisee, we have fallen into the same trap. Shall we define hypocrite to mean a person who believes he is free of sin so we can say, “that’s not me”? Shall we define hypocrite as a person who holds other people to standards he himself does not consistently live up to? Shall we define hypocrite as a person who seeks to conform to exceedingly high standards and knows he fails in certain areas in certain times, but is unaware of other areas in their life where he is failing?
None of it matters. We must admit how reliant we are on God for any good work. We must admit our sanctification will not be completed in this life. So, how can a Christian who’s read Romans 7 defend himself from this charge? With Roman 8:1.
Posted by: Laughing Boy | September 12, 2007 at 12:40 PM
LC,
In Gal 2, Paul confronted Peter on his hypocrisy. Peter was both a hypocrite and a saint at the same time (Saint and Sinner)
I don't believe that Peter was saved, then unsaved, then saved again. He was saved despite his hypocrisy.
Posted by: Steve Newell | September 12, 2007 at 01:06 PM
Steve and Laughing boy, thank you both for the comments. My concern is that to attribute hypocrite to being christian in any form, lends to the notion that we can say we are sorry,but do what we please, the condition separating us from wickedness is that we confess. Which I know neither of you subscribe to, based in the content of your past and present comments. When Paul withstood Peter, he did not accuse him of being a hypocrite. A hypocrite, uses deciet to follow what's in his heart. Paul corrected Peter by accusing his action of hypocrisy, not of having the dark heart of a hypocrite. And Peter, not being a hypocrite was convicted in his heart, found the courage in his heart to do what he did at the Jerusalem Council. Words express ideas. And Scripture is the most powerful ideas, because they are absolute truth. And to give loose definitions of any words I think corrupts the context, especially words that can be interchangable with what a christian means. I am guilty of hypocrisy every time I sin. But because I'm not a hypocrite in my heart I ask God to correct me, and if God corrects me first, I do not try to justify it, I'm grateful. God bless you both, and I hope my comments are taken in the spirit that I received yours. P.S. Steve, whether you agree or disagree, I am looking forward to your next post on anything to do with Law and Gospel, I found them so helpful when reading the Scriptures.
Posted by: lc | September 15, 2007 at 05:45 PM
Reading all these comments from you and other Christian hypocrites really makes me sick. Your excuses for your hypocrisy are a stench in the nostrils of the Lord! Excuses replace repentance. The one lady states, "I wopuld rather sit next to a cople of hypocrites in church than go to Hell with the rest of them. She insinuates that she and other church goers are on autoheaven because they go to church, for one. The other false assumption is that she probably said "The Sinner's Prayer", and now thinks she and others like her are going to heaven. The problem with you all is you really don't read the word of God and study Him through it or you would realize that the leaders of your cult religion Christianity are Hellbound and bringing a great many of their followers with them. Why, by the way, do you hold to the title Reverand, which means revered one?
Posted by: Ben | October 30, 2007 at 09:04 AM
CHRISTIANS HAVE NO CREDIBILITY
Back in the days of the early church, the disciples had a great deal of credibility. God would perform miracles and utter prophetic words that would come to pass, using the disciples. Today’s Christian church leaders have no such giftings so they seek and attain financial wealth for that is the way they attempt to garner respect from the world in general. Christian leaders, pastors, televangelists,radio stations, and book writers are building their own little kingdoms, measuring their spirituality by the size of their perspective audiences. They fly (usually first class) around the world attending, “conferences” , dine at finer restaurants, and live in very comfortable, oft times very expensive homes, and in the case of one mega Christian church leader in Texas, a mansion with servants!
In spite of all this and more, the Christian leaders of today have zero credibility in the Kingdom of God, and with true seekers of eternal life and the gospel of truth. If you examine with me the life and attitude of the early disciples of Christ, you will find vast differences between them and the Christian pastors and evangelists today.
Today, becoming a “pastor” is a joke. The only requirement is that you go to an accredited, licensed school and get a piece of paper from man that states you are now a minister. Quite different from the true calling written about in the bible. Men of God prayed and sought divine guidance over the choosing of a pastor or any other office of the church. The Holy Spirit would confirm the appointment to those led by the same spirit. Also, a true biblical pastor has the responsibilities of teaching a small group of disciples the Truth of God’s word, thereby equipping them to spread that same good news to a lost world. Vastly different is today’s pastor and Christian leader, using their titles to lift themselves up in some fashion or another. Having that silly document signed by yet another false teacher in no way gives a person credibility in the Kingdom of God, and is only a facade in the world.
The old adage: you are only as good as your teacher stands strong here. Thus, you encounter multitudes of professed “Christians” who have no credibility in your sight. The reason, is that their leaders have none in the sight of our Maker. Once they stepped outside of God’s design for His church, they lost their God given anointing and confidence which comes from above. What a shame to see so many seekers turned away from the Truth as modern day pastors and evangelists strive to garner a following. So often they are very gifted orators, often actually rehearsing their sermons as if in a play. Because of the talent displayed when speaking behind a pulpit, people often mistake that for an anointing from God. Then, when the same minister is caught in adultery, or stealing or whatever, the same people are devastated, many times leaving the organized gathering in disgust. That is because they followed man and not God. Today’s Christian leaders are not accountable to anyone but the regular tithers. They base their spirituality on the visual things and not the matters of the heart God speaks of. They write books, seek after lofty positions in church, go to school to attain higher “Christian” degrees and titles, start a television show, “Christian radio ministry” is one of the worst fallacies, Christian broadcasting does absolutely nothing to further the Kingdom of God, but they love your donations! It all amounts to nothing in the lives of those seeking real truth. Also, without fail somewhere along the way in every one of these so called “ministries” there will be a mention of giving money, however cleverly masked.
The only place you will find the answers is in the word of God. The only way you will find it is to study it yourselves. The only way you will understand it is to have the Holy Spirit to teach you. The only way to have Him is if the one true Christ sent from the Father sends Him to live in you. The only way to experience that is to ask Him. The way to do that is totally up to you, and between you and God. You have no need of a pastor or church group to show you the way. Do not let anyone deceive you with their twisted teachings. Topical studies, those that clip various scriptures from around the bible and paste them together are not of God. They are designed by Christian leaders whose background is in psychology and sales & marketing. If you want to know God by no means should you ask a modern day Christian. Get a version of the bible that isn’t twisted by bible scholars interpretations, and pray and ask God yourself
(to be continued)
Excerpt from the book “Spiritual Reality” by B. E. Elias
Posted by: Ben | October 30, 2007 at 10:31 AM
I've been to many different churches growing up and as an adult. In every single one of them, there are the Pharisees. They are usually the ones who have been there a while. They run things, and they let you know who's in control. New people are not really accepted, just tolerated. They stay in their 'holy huddles.' I think this is what bothers people. They see this stuck-up, holier-than-thou attitude and it's a real turn off, especially when you see how they live their lives outside the church. I think it's the arrogance that turns people off. I don't care if my fellow Christian drinks, or smokes or swears or falls off the wagon. It's the arrogance I just can't stand. I'm a sinner too. We've struggled with this for years as a family. If we didn't want our kids in church, we'd probably stay home. We don't like being snubbed by your own Sunday School teacher. We try to concentrate on the decent folks in our church, keep our eyes on the Lord, and pray our way through the rest. But, it's no wonder people don't like Christians.
Posted by: Pat | June 10, 2008 at 10:36 AM