I want to believe but I'm tired of the Hypocrisy

I’m tired of the Hypocrisy

I enjoy listening to, reading about, and learning about what people who think very differently from me believe. I especially try to listen to and understand non-christians - what they think about christianity, why they don’t believe in God, Why they believe what they do believe, etc

There is an issue in the church that is brought up a lot. Anyone here who isn’t sure about jesus or christianity or any of that stuff - I bet you have this perception of us. Those of you who did grow up in the church - or maybe you didn’t but you are committed to being like Jesus now - You probably have this perception about a lot of church people too!

The word that gets thrown around a lot is this: Hypocrisy

So I read this book a while back - “Unchristian” - Explain background to the book It had a list of the top 6 negative things that people think of when they think of Christianity. Guess what was on there? Hypocrisy

Here’s an important question - what do we mean by Hypocrisy?

Origin in the idea of wearing a mask

When people level the charge today they are focusing on either or both of these:

the difference between our display of concern for righteous living in other people’s lives while not showing the same concern for righteous living in our own lives

the appearance of maintaining a facade of goodness, happiness, joy, peace, etc - but refusing to share any of the equally real experiences of hardship, doubt, confusion, or disappointment

Most people who level this charge AREN’T complaining that our lives and words aren’t perfectly aligned - they are upset at how loudly some people proclaim their message while living in contradiction to it

ex. article, “The only moral abortion is my abortion”

A common response to this challenge is, “Well there are lots of hypocrites outside the church” - We are hypocritical at times, so naturally christians will be hypocrites sometimes. This is true, but misses the complaint that is being leveled - it isn’t just that christians are hypocritical sometimes - it is the specific intensity of professed belief paired with actions that don’t match. It is one thing to say something and do something else, but it is something else entirely to claim that God himself has changed you from the inside out and made you a new person - that he has transformed, healed, and saved you from all the evil that characterized your life… and then go on living exactly the same as you did before. Fundamentally the perception that people outside the church have is that Christians often behave identically to their non-christians peers, but condemn their peers for the actions that they are both commiting.

Framed this way we have two separate issues to tackle: 1) how do we, who profess to follow Christ, live in light of this reality (that this is the perception, justified or not, of church people and 2) For those of you here who aren’t so sure about Jesus or the church or any of that - why should you follow Jesus even knowing what his followers can be like?

Well you might be surprised to know that Jesus actually had a lot to say about Hypocrisy - this isn’t a new, 21st century problem.

Introduce 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. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Like in our day, Jesus was charging the devout religious leaders of living in a way that didn’t match the language that they were using. His charge might not make a lot of sense to us today, but in Jesus’ day to be able to go to worship in the temple, you had to be “clean” - and I don’t mean that you had to take a bath before going to church. You had to fulfill certain requirements in order to be considered “clean”. So there are a bunch of things that might make you “unclean” and therefore unable to go to the temple - eating the wrong food, having a skin disease, being on your period… and touching a dead body.

So when Jesus calls them tombs - he is saying that their insides aren’t fit to go before God. They might look good on the outside, but the reality is totally different (sound familiar?)

Notice what Jesus problem is: it isn’t like he wasn’t ok hanging out with unclean, messed up people. He would eat with people who had all kinds of problems. He touched people with skin diseases to heal them. Jesus’ problem is that the leaders are pretending to be good with God to other people. They are more concerned with what people think of them and that is what is driving their behavior. Those messed up people that Jesus hung out with? They knew they weren’t worthy. They didn’t think they had it all together. They didn’t think they deserved to meet with God. These guys, on the other hand, were so sure that God loved them best of all - and they wanted to make sure everyone around them knew how much God loved them. Here’s another example of this (I told you Jesus talked about this a lot):

Luke 18:10–14 ““Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.””

So this is all very well - but what do we do with this?

Well I said at the beginning that there are two different issues to tackle, so here we go:

If you are here today and you would call yourself a Jesus follower, a christian, a believer, or whatever other label - if you are here today and you believe that God exists, that Jesus came and died for you, that sin is a thing that you need saving from, and you are trying to be like Jesus - then it this is your call to be real. No, you aren’t going to be able to always match your words and actions - no life won’t be easy, peaceful, happy, and good all the time, no you won’t always be do the right thing -BUT - your honesty, authenticity, and humility are the most important part here. God is calling us to a “holy” life and he wants us to do better than we did before - but we aren’t there yet. I’m not there, Tony isn’t there, Andy isn’t there, Aaron’s pretty close, but he isn’t there yet either. We are moving forward together. We will make mistakes on the way. We will mess up. We will have to apologize and try to do better. The spirit is going to help you - but you have to get your pride out of the way.

If you are here and you feel like you can’t buy into all of this because of how these people act - you are in good company. We aren’t asking you to follow God because of what we have done or will do - we are asking you to follow God because of what Jesus did - and Jesus felt the same way you do. Jesus was mad that people were wearing God’s name like get-out-of-jail free card that let them act any way they wanted. He was sad when Religious people tried to keep people away from God. That’s the guy we think you should follow. That’s the guy who can change your life.