Sincere Faith: Unmasking hypocrisy.
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
How can you tell if someone is being insincere?
1) Inconsistent body language. ...3) They're rarely the first to reach out. ...4) Lack of empathy. ...5) They're quick to break promises. ...6) They seem perfect. ...7) They avoid serious conversations. ...
Fake nice people may appear polite and friendly, but their tone of voice, body language, or facial expressions may show different.
The same shows through with our faith.
If our faith is not sincere, it shows through our lives, our actions, our relationships.
This morning, we are going to begin to explore what it means to live out our faith with courageous sincerity.
Once commentator introduces this section of Jesus teaching as an Exhortation to Courageous Sincerity. (Alfred Plummer)
Jesus teaching here will help us uncover how we can guard our hearts against hypocrisy.
In order to do that, we need to live with courageous sincerity when it comes to our faith.
We need to build deep, authentic relationships that reflect the love and truth of Christ.
As we delve into this passage, let’s ask God to help us live rightly and truly, both in our private and public lives.
1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. 8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
As we pick up this morning we need to briefly look back to chapter 11.
The previous chapter concluded with Jesus being quite hard on the religious elite.
They had head knowledge about God, but it had not permeated their hearts.
God doesn’t want us to simply know about him though, to have a head knowledge of God.
God wants our hearts.
To have our hearts is to be in relationship with him.
I asked a couple of questions for us to consider as we went through that section of scripture -
How is your heart?
What is going on with your soul?
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Heart of Hypocrisy
J. C. Ryle said:
Let me counsel every true servant of Christ to examine his own heart frequently and carefully before God. This is a practice, which is useful at all times; it is especially desirable at this present day. When the great plague of London was at its height, people took note of the smallest symptoms that appeared on their bodies in a way that they never noticed them before. A spot here, a spot there, which in time of health, men thought nothing of, received close attention when the plague was decimating families and striking down one after another! We ought to watch our hearts with double watchfulness. We ought to give more time to meditation, self-examination and reflection. It is a hurrying, bustling age; if we would keep from falling, we must take time for being frequently alone with God.
At the end of chapter 11, by the time Jesus was through, he had offended everyone at the table, exposing each person’s hypocrisy, pride, hatred, and legalism.
He exposed their hearts!
He had accused them all of keeping people away from God
and contaminating others with the deadly corruption of their ungodly hearts.
It is no wonder they wanted to kill him.
Which is where the chapter ends.
53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
Here in chapter 12 we pick up and see many thousands of people gathering around Jesus once again.
The text gives the impression that the crowd is even becoming somewhat unruly.
They were trampling one another.
People were getting injured as others were clamoring to get to Jesus.
The backdrop for Jesus teaching hear almost appears to be chaos.
Jesus was doing some miraculous things, and people were desperate just to be near him.
This is the backdrop of Jesus teaching.
He is coming out of a confrontational dinner with a group of religious leaders, and the crowds are pressing in.
So he begins with a call to sincerity.
Beware for the leaven of the Pharisees.
Perhaps you have made bread or guys your wife has made bread.
You know the effect of leaven.
Leaven is yeast.
In order to make bread rise, you must ferment the dough.
If you look at a basic bread recipe for a loaf of bread.
How much yeast does it take?
3 Cups Flour 1 tbsp Yeast 2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp of salt 1 Cup of water 2 tbsp butter
It doesn’t take very much.
Jesus says here - beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is a big word.
We hear it thrown around as - that person is a hypocrite.
The word is describing a person that is creating a public impression that is at odds with their real purposes or motivations.
The origin of the word goes back to the Greek word hypokrites
he Greek word hypokrites, which means “an actor” or “a stage player.” The Greek word itself is a compound noun: it’s made up of two Greek words that literally translate as “an interpreter from underneath.”
This makes more sense when you know that the actors in ancient Greek theater wore large masks to mark which character they were playing, and so they interpreted the story from underneath their masks.
Jesus is warning of the hypocrisy of what the Pharisees were saying an doing.
One example I have shared before is how on the Sabbath, some of the Pharisees would expand the range of their home.
On the Sabbath they had a rule where they were only supposed to travel a set distance.
What some of them would do is to place the food at the edges that distance, and then claim that this now extended the range of their home and thereby they could travel that distance again.
Jesus in the previous chapter called them out saying
42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
You tithe to the nth degree, but fail to help your fellow man!
46 And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
Hypocrisy is one of the reasons that we often hear of a person not wanting to go to church or not wanting anything to do with Jesus really.
I don’t want to go to that place, it is full of a bunch of hypocrites living all high and mighty on Sunday but then being completely different the rest of the week.
This is precisely what Jesus is warning against.
Here in Luke chapter 12, Jesus is concerned about religious hypocrisy.
He says, “I want you to make sure that you don’t get caught in the idea that so long as everything looks okay on the outside, the inside doesn’t matter.”
That’s what he’s really warning against: a kind of sham religious existence which seeks somehow or another to paint a picture on the outside disguising the reality of what is going on.
The picture of bread would have been familiar to everyone there listening that day.
Even more so than today.
They didn’t have a store to run to and grab a loaf of bread.
Those people knew exactly how a small amount of yeast had a significant impact.
It takes some time, but that small amount of yeast, eventually penetrates the whole dough, causing it to rise.
Jesus uses this picture as a warning.
Hypocrisy in our lives does the same thing.
This small thing penetrates our entire lives, slowly, insidiously, and constantly.
Jesus warns to be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees because their example, the hypocritical lifestyle was wrong.
The practice of saying one thing and doing another spreads through a life and eats at our moral fiber like a cancer.
The art of Pharisaical phoniness is not only wrong, but it’s actually futile.
In verses 2 and 3 he shows that you can’t hide behind a religious mask for very long.
“Sooner or later, the mask will slip, and then your true face will be seen by everyone.”
A day of reckoning is coming.
If we live in deception, then the deceit will inevitably be unearthed.
If we do things, in religious terms, simply for the rewards of men, as the Pharisees were prone to do, then our motives will one day be disclosed.
The Life Application Study Bible has an article
What are the signs of hypocrisy?
(1) Hypocrisy is knowing the truth but not obeying it. People can say they follow Jesus, but not be obedient to his Word.
(2) Hypocrisy is living a self serving life. People may desire leadership only because they love position and control, not because they want to serve others.
(3) Hypocrisy reduces faith to rigid rules. People can end up worshiping their own rules and regulations about what they think God wants instead of worshiping God himself.
(4) Hypocrisy is outward conformity without inner reality. People can obey the details but still be disobedient in general behavior.
For example, a person may carefully tithe his income, but be rude and obnoxious to his coworkers.
Many non-Christians use the supposed (or real) hypocrisy of Christians as an excuse to stay away from God and the church.
Look carefully at your life.
You are not perfect; therefore, at times an action or behavior might provide the ammunition for someone to label you a hypocrite.
However, you must discern your own heart.
Consider the signs of hypocrisy noted above and make sure you are not guilty.
Then ask God to help you live rightly.
This is something that I do for myself.
I know I don’t always live rightly.
I make mistakes.
I know there are times in my life when I don’t fully reflect the work Christ is doing in me.
We all have our share of hypocrisy.
There is something else going on here though.
Even though we believe in biblical values, and hold to a biblical worldview.
We freely admit that we don’t live up to them in any sort of a perfect way.
Without the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we couldn’t even make an effort!
I know for myself, I understand that I fall short.
I admit that I fall short.
I hope you can as well.
Because when you do, that’s not hypocrisy, that’s reality.
Hypocrisy is when you aren’t dealing with your sin.
When you aren’t trying to live what you believe.
Saying one thing, doing another.
I know for myself, I am addressing and dealing with sin in my life, with God’s help.
Are you?
I don’t want to be labeled a hypocrite.
Fight hypocrisy by building authentic relationships.
Fight hypocrisy by building authentic relationships.
The best way we can deal with hypocrisy in our lives is through building real, true healthy relationships with a couple of individuals.
Imagine a day in your future, perhaps you are here now.
You get up in the morning and head to your favorite chair with a cup of coffee or whatever your favorite morning drink is.
The house is still and silent.
No one is there but you and God and your thoughts.
Rather than thinking of the days tasks, your mind wanders to the past.
Like a video running in your mind.
You see family vacations.
Time with your spouse.
The memories that come are both rewarding and painful.
It hasn’t always been easy, not everything has turned out like you hoped.
You have had a good life, but one thought especially encourages you.
You are grateful to God that you have taken the time to develop a handful of deep friendships.
You realize that on life’s balance sheet, possessing cars, houses, and toys doesn’t add up to much.
But a real friendship is of real value.
It’s the stuff life is made of .
The truth is, most of us do not do the friendship thing very well.
Myself included, I know I don’t.
Many of us have a lot of acquaintances, our relational circles are wide but not very deep.
There are a few factors that affect this, especially within the church, that make deep friendship illusive.
Things that allow hypocrisy to grow.
Do we as a church value community and relationship.
We talk about salvation, we talk about knowing the bible, we talk about pure living.
But do we admit here in this place that we have messy lives?
Or are we placing pressure on one another to appear like we have it all to gether?
This really ought to be the safest space for us to admit, I have a messy life!
If we are placing pressure or feel pressure to appear like we have it all together, we won’t let others get close.
Friendships are not more than surface level.
I can speak for myself, I don’t have it all together.
I at times lose my patience with my kids, with my wife, with others.
I at times am drawn by impure thoughts and desires.
But Christ is at work.
For some of us this is easier than others.
But our personalities play a role in how we view community and relationships.
Myself, by nature I am calculated and cautious when it comes to relationships.
I don’t let my guard down easily. (Granted this is much easier now that it has been for me in the past.)
Connection is really a learned skill.
But also, if you have been hurt in the past, this makes it difficult to connect.
To battle hypocrisy in the church and in our own lives, we need to go deeper in a few relationships.
God has made us to live in community.
One author shares about different classifications of relationships.
Public
Social
Personal
Intimate
It is important to have people in each category of our lives.
Most of us find public and social relationships easy.
Perhaps even the personal level.
But how many friends do you have that you would say fall into the intimate level.
Hopefully your spouse if you have one is in that level.
But we need another person as well of our same gender that knows us.
You never drift into deep friendship though.
One of the most famous friendships in scripture is that of David and Jonathan.
Their friendship is described in 1 Samuel 18.
1 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
Jonathan made a special vow to be David’s friend and gave him some items to signify this relationship.
3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.
Jonathan declared his commitment to pursue the friendship.
We don’t do this today.
This seems way to touchy feelly.
But if we are going to be healthy spiritually.
We need an intimate friend or two who fully know us.
Who aren’t impressed with us.
Who will tell us the truth when we are living hypocritically.
People who know the junk about us.
Where we struggle.
Who know the skeletons in our closet.
But love and accept us anyway.
Who are mutually pushing us, as we push them towards godliness.
This doesn’t happen by accident.
If you don’t have this, pray that the Lord would reveal to you who you might be able to do this with.
When you find that person declare it.
One analogy I have heard is that friendship is like a watermelon.
The outside is hard, tough, and difficult to penetrate.
Great for protecting, but terrible for digesting.
But the inside is softer, vulnerable, and sweet.
That is where the fruit is.
You have to get through the hard outer shell to get to the fruit of friendship.
The ultimate motivation for all of this is what Jesus continues his teaching with in verses 4-12 which we will pick up with next week.
The motivation is a reverent fear of the Lord that stems from His great care for each of us.
As we close and go into this next week, evaluate your friendships.
Do you have a few Godly friends in your lives that can call you out when you are living hypocritically.
If so, continue to grow and deepen those relationships.
If not, pray for the Lord to reveal to you who that person might be to begin this sort of relationship.