Hypocrisy

Psalm

(Trad)

(Sing Pslam)

(Trad)

(Sing Psalm) 1-4

Mat 6:9-

Scripture

Matthew 6:1–19 NIV

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

Mat 6:

Matthew 6:9–13 NIV

“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

Mat

Romans 2:28–29 NIV

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

Introduction

Oliver Burke-man Fri 10 Feb 2017 15.00 GMT

Nobody likes a hypocrite. And in our culture especially Religious hypococy.

A Story about Hypocrisy - I wonder have any of you read the book Chocola or perhaps seen the film by Jonny Depp.

Nobody likes a religious hypocrite. The priest is exposed for the phoney, vengeful spiteful, vindictively gluttonous man that he really is and chocolate wins the day!

Gardian Article (Why do people hate hypocrites?” - Oliver Burke-man Fri 10 Feb 2017

“No one likes a hypocrite – but when you stop to think about it, it’s strange how much we despise them.......

We Don’t like being deceived - Yale psychologist Jillian Jordan and her colleagues made a persuasive case for a better one: we hate hypocrites because they’re guilty of “false signalling”. Signals, in evolutionary theory, are how we communicate, to get what we want from others; they include everything from peacocks’ mating dances to a lizard’s camouflage.

Context

Context

The person who loudly condemns other people for condoning cruel farming implies that he or she refrains from such behaviour. It’s a signal. And it works: moral condemnation, the Yale psychologists show, boosts your reputation even more effectively than bragging about how moral you are. It’s a shortcut to high status. No wonder we’ve evolved, or been socialised, to respond so angrily when we discover it was unearned.

( “No one likes a hypocrite – but when you stop to think about it, it’s strange how much we despise them..........

Context

Jesus after examining the motivations of our hearts in retaliation continues to challenge our hearts when discussing religious observances and our ambitions which brings us to our text this evening on Mathew 6

This evening we are continuing our series going through Matthews Gospel and we come to chapter six. After examining the motivations of our hearts in chapter five in matters pertaining to murder, adultery, flippant oath taking, divorce and retaliation, Jesus continues to challenge our hearts over issues of public religious observances and religious hypocrisy.

Big Idea: Religious Hypocrisy, The cause, the Consequences and the Cure.

Why you need to Tune in

Why you need to Tune in

Why you need to Tune in

We are all affected and implicated in Hypocrisy wether yours or someone eases.

Religious Hypocrisy can cause great harm to ourselves and to others, and because of the decietfulness of the human heart We are all susceptible to religious hypocrisy,

no one likes a hypocrite and Jesus reserves some of his harshest criticism towards those who are religiously hypocritical,

One of the biggest accusations against Christianity is that its full of hypocrites, It important because hypocrisy undermines the percieved trustworthiness of the Gospel.

God hates Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is a major problem (Gods Reputation on the line)

If you are someone who struggles with hypocrisy, There is a cure, and God wants you to have that cure.

Hypocrisy is deadly

Big Idea: Religious Hypocrisy, The Cause, the Consequences and the Cure.

The Cause - What causes Hypocrisy and what does it look like.

The Cause

What does religious hypocrisy look like?

What Causes Religious Hypocrisy and What does hypocrisy look like

The cause of religious hypocrisy is an idolatrous heart. (Explain idol)

How

The Praises of Men - To be seen by others, a heart that desires to be highly esteemed in their eyes.

Religious Hypocrisy reveals an idolatrous heart in the following ways.

1) It takes observances that are intended for God’s Glory and says that there is someone and something who’s approval I must have or win with Gods observances more than God’s. Thats an idol.

What do religious Hypocrite Do

Drawing excessive attention to good deeds carried out, with bad or impure motives The honour of men over God. “anouncing with trumpets” A desire to be seen by everyone.

A constant desire to be honoured by men. ()

Matthew 6:2 NIV

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

A Love for titles and Honours based on falsity that elevates self before men.

Mark 12:39 NIV

and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.

They dont do what they say

They Play act. - put on a theatrical show, a pretense, Falsity and deception for the purpose of self glorification. Hypokritēs (the word originally meant a theatrical “actor”) is used by Matthew not only here in vv. 2, 5, 16 but also for a critic who does not criticize himself (7:5) and as a general term for those subject to ultimate judgment (24:51; inthe LXX hypocritēs is used for the godless)

They do not practice what they preach. ( a discordance, a disconnect)

Falsity and deception for the purpose of self glorification.

They Play acts. - Hypokritēs (the word originally meant a theatrical “actor”) is used by Matthew not only here in vv. 2, 5, 16 but also for a critic who does not criticize himself (7:5) and as a general term for those subject to ultimate judgment (24:51; in the LXX hypocritēs is used for the godless)

The Consequences

For their Acting they receive an immediate reward. (There is an immediate payoff) Check Reciept, Invice paid in full.

They become self deceived.Self deception is ultimately self destructive. (Satan loves a religious hypocrite because he does not need to deceive them, they deicieve themselves!

Self deception is ultimately self destructive.

The Praises of Men

Illustration 1 - Lance Armstrong. - In 2001, Lance Armstrong made an anti-doping commercial for Nike in which he strongly disavowed using illegal drugs. In the commercial, Armstrong boldly states, "This is my body, and I can do whatever I want to it. I can push it. Study it. Tweak it. Listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my [butt] six hours a day. What are you on?"

In 2006, during sworn testimony in a dispute over his $5 million bonus, Armstrong said he wouldn't take drugs because he had too much to lose. "(The) faith of all the cancer survivors around the world. Everything I do off the bike would go away, too …. It's not about money for me …. It's also about the faith that people have put in me over the years. So all of that would be erased."

In October 2012, Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tours de France victories and permanently banned from cycling and any World Anti-Doping Agency sanctioned events. Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, claimed that Armstrong's USPS team "ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."

This illustration is not intended to bash Lance Armstrong. Instead, it should cause all of us to reflect on our own integrity—the gap between what we say and how we actually live our lives.

Armstong was stripped of all his Titels

In an interview with Dan Patrick last year, Armstrong, who has been banned from professional cycling for life, said he still considered himself a seven-time Tour de France champion. In an interview with Dan Patrick last year, Armstrong, who has been banned from professional cycling for life, said he still considered himself a seven-time Tour de France champion. "A lot of people in this position have become inoculated to the consequences," said Maurice Schweitzer, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School whose research includes ethical decision-making and deceptio. (Self deception)

"A lot of people in this position have become inoculated to the consequences," said Maurice Schweitzer, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School whose research includes ethical decision-making and deception

Illustration 2 - (Expand) An illustration of the danger of rot would work well here.

The Consequences

God is blasphemed among the nations and the gospel brought into disrepute. We've all been there right (Christianity is full of hypocrites)

Augustine warned in his City of God: “The heretics themselves also, since they are thought to have the Christian name and sacraments, Scriptures, and profession, cause great grief in the hearts of the pious, both because many who wish to be Christians are compelled by their dissensions to hesitate, and many evil-speakers also find in them matter for blaspheming the Christian name, because they too are at any rate called Christians.”

Augustine warned in his City of God: “The heretics themselves also, since they are thought to have the Christian name and sacraments, Scriptures, and profession, cause great grief in the hearts of the pious, both because many who wish to be Christians are compelled by their dissensions to hesitate, and many evil-speakers also find in them matter for blaspheming the Christian name, because they too are at any rate called Christians.”

We know the damage that is caused when a christian Pastor or leader is put on a pedestal and then falls due to some secret scandal that then becomes revealed. It damages the church.

Application

So we have looked at the causes and consequences of Religious hypocrisy but before we look at the Cure for religious hypocrisy I would like to offer some thoughts and observations by way of application, both on how not to deal with hypocrisy in others and how to identify it in ourselves.

The reason is I don’t want anyone going away from this sermon and saying God hates hypocrisy therefore I hate hypocrisy and now I am going to public-ally go and call out the hypocrisy of other people whenever I see it. The question is not always what would Jesus do but what would Jesus have me do?

You see when Jesus calls out hypocrisy, he is much more able to lovingly do so because he was without falsehood, sinless and that so before we judge others we must first take the log out of our own eye ( a way of saying we must deal with our own sin first) before very carefully pointing out the sin of others. The eye is a very sensitive and delicate organ, you better know what you are doing or you may cause significant harm

Virtue Signaling Our Culture at the moment loves nothing more than virtue signalling by calling out hypocrisy especially where political or religious hypocrisy is concerned. Virtue signalling is basically the modern expression of what used to be called, of self Righteousnessness or sitting on your moral high horse except our righteousness is not established on what we do but on what others do that we dont. And the reason we like to virtue signal against hypocrites is not because we care about God’s glory or his anger at injustice, but because it pushes us up on the social moral ladder as we pull people down, in some ways virtue signalling, is just as bad as hypocrisy because at its roots is a desire to be esteemed by men using judgmental critique as cover for our own failings. (Well I may not have my house in order but at least Im not as bad as that guy!) There is an inhibiter in our brain that is effected by our social status. And as our perception of our own social moral status increases it releases seretonin in our brains which makes us feel good about ourselves as we criticise others. That is why facebook is an angry angry place, receiving likes is a quick way to release dopamine, (the happy chemical) virtue signalling against hypocrisy of others releases serotonin and is a short cut to unearned higher social status.

So in calling out hypocrisy in others , you must not virtue signal because it is just as bad as the hypocrisy, one must first deal with the hypocrisy in yourself. Thats why when someone virtue signals and says the church is full of hypocrites say, “and I am one of them come and join us you'll fit right in!”

I am one of them come and join us youll fit right in

Here is how to Identify religious Hypocrisy in yourself when it comes to religious observances

What is done in public is rarely practiced in secret.

To be seen or to be not be seen by men in order to gain their praise and adulation.

To be seen by men or to be seen not to be doing something.

Elitism - (Pastors and worship leaders are most guilty of this (Still clarifying thoughts on this) Deborah like d to make a point that she got up at 5am everyday to pray. Spiritual pride.

THE CURE

Secret Practice

Realise, understand and believe that God sees all. You have no secrets. There are no secrets - God is not deceived nor is he mocked ()

Luke 8:17 NIV

For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, Vol. V Hypocrisy (No. 237)

The all-seeing God, apprehended in the conscience, must be the death of hypocrisy. I cannot try to deceive when I know that God is looking at me. It is impossible for me to play double and false when I believe that I am in the presence of the Most High, and that he is reading my thoughts and the secret purposes of my heart.

The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, Vol. V Hypocrisy (No. 237)

The only way in which the hypocrite can play the hypocrite at all is by forgetting the existence of God. Let us, therefore, recollect it—wherever I am, upon my bed or in my secret chamber, God is there. There is not a secret word I speak in the ear of a friend but God hears it. Do I seek out the most private part of the city for the commission of sin—God is there. Do I choose the shadow of night to cover my iniquity?—He is there looking upon me. The thought of a present Deity, if it were fully realized, would preserve us from sin; always looking on me, ever regarding me. We think we are doing many things in secret, but there is nothing concealed from him with whom we have to do

The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, Vol. V Hypocrisy (No. 237)

The only way in which the hypocrite can play the hypocrite at all is by forgetting the existence of God. Let us, therefore, recollect it—wherever I am, upon my bed or in my secret chamber, God is there. There is not a secret word I speak in the ear of a friend but God hears it. Do I seek out the most private part of the city for the commission of sin—God is there. Do I choose the shadow of night to cover my iniquity?—He is there looking upon me. The thought of a present Deity, if it were fully realized, would preserve us from sin; always looking on me, ever regarding me. We think we are doing many things in secret, but there is nothing concealed from him with whom we have to do

The inward transforming work of the Holy Spirit

The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, Vol. V Hypocrisy (No. 237)

we cannot do anything in secret even if we try. The all-seeing God, apprehended in the conscience, must be the death of hypocrisy. I cannot try to deceive when I know that God is looking at me. It is impossible for me to play double and false when I believe that I am in the presence of the Most High, and that he is reading my thoughts and the secret purposes of my heart. The only way in which the hypocrite can play the hypocrite at all is by forgetting the existence of God. Let us, therefore, recollect it—wherever I am, upon my bed or in my secret chamber, God is there. There is not a secret word I speak in the ear of a friend but God hears it. Do I seek out the most private part of the city for the commission of sin—God is there. Do I choose the shadow of night to cover my iniquity?—He is there looking upon me. The thought of a present Deity, if it were fully realized, would preserve us from sin; always looking on me, ever regarding me. We think we are doing many things in secret, but there is nothing concealed from him with whom we have to do.

THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION - “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” - The way to rid yourself of religious hypocrisy is to have a greater love. Grow in love for God. THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION. And this is where the Gospel comes in.

Love for the praises of men (the things of the world) must be displaced and replaced for a A superior affection. “The heart cannot be prevailed upon to part with the world, by a simple act of resignation.” (Chalmers) This is true for all addictions, increasing love for God.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” - The way to rid yourself of religious hypocrisy is to have a greater love. Grow in love for God. THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION. And this is where the Gospel comes in.

Love for the praises of men must be displaced and replaced for a A superior affection. “The heart cannot be prevailed upon to part with the world, by a simple act of resignation.” (Chalmers) This is true for all addictions, increasing love for God.

THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION

The inward transforming work of the Holy Spirit - The promise of the Holy Spirit is given to those who humbly ask. He is a gift given to the children of God to increase their affections and appetites for the things of God. (Go on being filled with the spirit) God will graco=iosly give his spirit to those who ask him. When was the last time you did that?

The heart cannot be prevailed upon to part with the world, by a simple act of resignation. The inward transforming work of the Holy Spirit

THE GOOD NEWS

Jesus loves you and died for Hyporictes, taking their hypocrisy and nailing it to the cross. The reason that is good news is you dont have to pretend, he did that at your worst., thats freedom, pretence is exhausting.

Jesus wants you to be free from self deception and is working for your good. Its not that he hates the pharisees he loves them, and its because he loves them that he hates what will destroy them, hypocrisy leading to self deception, leading to destruction

Landing (Face The Music)

Have you ever heard the expression “face the music”? Here’s how that phrase came about.



Many years ago, a man wanted to play in the Imperial Orchestra, but he couldn’t play a note. Since he was a person of great wealth and influence, however, he demanded to be allowed to join the orchestra so that he could perform in front of the king. The conductor agreed to let him sit in the second row of the orchestra. Even though he couldn't read music, he was given a flute, and when a concert would begin, he would raise his instrument, pucker his lips, and move his fingers. He went through all the motions of playing, but he never made a sound. 

This deception went on for two years. Then one day a new conductor took over the Imperial Orchestra. He told the orchestra that he wanted to personally audition all the players to see how well they could play. The audition would weed out all those who did not meet his standards, and he would dismiss them from the orchestra. 

One by one the players performed in his presence. Frantic with worry when it was his turn, the phony flutist pretended to be sick. The doctor who was ordered to examine him, however, declared that he was perfectly well. The conductor insisted that the man appear and demonstrate his skill. 

Shamefacedly, the man had to confess that he was a fake. That was the day he had to “face the music.”



Many people through the motions of the Christian life. They attend church or youth group, recite Bible verses, and say all the right things. In reality, though, they are fakes. A time is coming when everyone will be called to stand before the Judge of Heaven and earth and “face the music.” No one will be able to hide in the crowd. The phonies will be separated from the true players. (See and 25:31-46.)

Matthew 12:36–37 NIV

But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

And start practising