The Problem With Hypocrisy

Welcome

Special called business meeting next Sunday

We will be voting on moving into Salem Baptist’s building for worship

We will also vote on the purchase of new sound equipment and a TV to accommodate this move.

Questions?

Pastoral Prayer

Guidance into this building

Salvation of the Lost

Transformation of our lives

Main Idea: Our piety should be lived out in the world but never done to be seen by the world. Our motives must be pure and done with a heart to serve God not impress man.

INTRODUCTION

Our topic today is: HYPOCRISY. Matthew chapter 6:5 says, “Do not be like the hypocrites”. What is a hypocrite? The word means “actor”. It refers to someone who plays a part or puts on an act. The idea comes from an actor who gets ready to go on stage and puts on a mask to conceal the real person underneath.

An actor puts on his mask, he puts on the right voice, gets his script together, and goes enters the stage to put on a performance in front of an audience. At the end of the performance he bows and then receives an applause before leaving the stage. After the performance, he leaves the presence of the audience, takes off the mask, costume, character voice, and returns to his normal life.

And sadly our churches are filled with hypocrites who come past the threshold of the church doors and the act begins. They turn off the filthy language, they turn off the dirty jokes, they put on fake smiles and express love that is not really in their hearts, and they put on an act in front of an audience.

But God is not looking for actors! The world is full of actors but what Jesus wants is authenticity. He wants us to be real. Actors damage the ministry of the church because when the outside world sees Christians living one way in the church and another way outside the church they immediately conclude the church is a joke and they do not want anything to do with it.

Matthew 6:1 (NASB95)

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

Principle: Do not do your good deeds to be seen by others

WHY?

1) BECAUSE IT IS DECEPTIVE

It deceives the audience

Hypocrisy is putting on act to make others think we are something that we are not!

(v 5) “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men”

(v 16) “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting”

Hypocrites try to make themselves appear righteous in front of a crowd and appear to be something that they are not. In other words they deceive those whom they perform for! And deception is not something that comes from God, but from the devil! He is the king of deception and in the last days he will draw many away through the art of deception!

It deceives the actor

Look what Jesus says in Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”

The word “Beware” means “to pay attention” OR “to be on the lookout for”. In other words, be careful that you do not let this creep into your life unnoticed!

I am convinced many hypocrites do not even know that they are hypocrites. They have been playing the part so long that it has become a lifestyle for them. And the result is that they are no longer living in reality, but have become a double minded man unstable in all his ways. One person on Sunday, and another person on Monday.

2) BECAUSE IT DESIRES GLORY THAT ONLY BELONGS TO GOD

Matthew 6:2 (NASB95)

“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

Do you remember a few weeks ago we talked about letting out light shine before men? Let me read this verse to you, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

This sounds like a contradiction but I assure you it is not. The difference is in who gets the glory. Notice that we are to let our light shine before men so that God gets the glory. Jesus is not saying we should not practise good deeds in front of other people. He is saying we should not practise our good deeds to be seen by others.

A hypocrite is a glory hog! They want to be recognized! They want to be the one recognized for the good thing that they have done and will go out of their way to be sure that people know it was them. They do things to be seen by other people, not to be seen by God.

3) IT STEALS THE BLESSINGS THAT GOD HAS FOR US

(v 1) “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”

What kind of reward do you think Jesus is referring to here? In this book Jesus uses this term to refer to both earthly rewards and heavenly rewards and I believe He is referring to both here as well.

God does not reward us as some form of wage due for the good deeds that we have done. What I mean is that when we give someone $20 for gas as a good deed, he give us a return of $20 or $40 in return. God blesses us out of the abundance of His kindness and love. God is completely free to give to us and reward us how He sees fit.

But He also promises us the gift of eternal life and rewards in heaven. And the best rewards we will ever receive are those that are yet to come.

Jesus later used a parable to illustrate this: “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’” (Matthew 25:21).

When we do something just to get glory from men, God says that is our reward. In other words a pat on the back, a wow that was nice of you, a thank you is all that we will receive. And I can tell you that that reward is NOTHING compared to the rewards that God gives.

Jesus is going to give us three very practical areas where hypocrisy abounds and what we can do to avoid falling into it.

When we give, we should give in a way that only God Himself will know

Matthew 6:2–4 NASB95

“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Notice how the hypocrites give. They do not give to meet a need, but with the purpose of drawing attention to themselves so that other people will praise them. He gives the picture of one blowing a trumpet when money is given from their pocket to another hand.

Today the equivalent might be posting pictures on Facebook of our good deeds.

But he says when disciples give, we shouldn’t “let the left hand know what the right hand is doing.” In other words, our giving should be so secret, that other parts of our body do not even know what is going on. It is the complete opposite of blowing a trumpet. It does the call to do whatever is necessary to not draw attention to ourselves.

This is how we keep giving as an act of worship to God rather than something we do to make us look good. If no one knows about our giving then there is no chance of us seeking praise from people. If only God knows then we can be sure our giving is in the right place.

I want you to notice that Jesus says, “when you give to the poor”. In other words, He fully expects his followers to give to the poor or when people have needs. There are three kinds of giving that we see in Scripture. There is the tithe which is 10%. Then there is an offering which is anything over 10%. Then there is “alms giving” which is giving to the poor or charitable giving. Jesus expects us to do all three.

Application:

Examples: When you give to gofundme accounts, or other kinds of charities, List your name as anonymous.

When you help someone out, do not take picture of it and put it on Facebook to draw attention to your good deeds. I think this is one of the biggest way we blow trumpets today when we do good deeds. And those 50 likes we get is all the reward that we receive.

Develop a prayer life as an act of worship directed to God NOT for man

Matthew 6:5-8

Matthew 6:5–8 NASB95

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

PRIVATE PRAYER LIFE

Jesus is not saying that we should not pray in public places or in a church service where other people are gathered. Corporate prayer is important for the health and body of the church. Jesus prayed both publicly and privately. What He is referring to here is our private prayer life. Our private prayer life should be about the Lord and Him alone.

Hypocrites have a desire to be seen by others when they pray. They would go and conduct their personal prayer life in places where they knew people would be so that they would be seen by others and people would think they are holy people.

The same is true for these people, that the praise from men is all that they will receive. You can forget an answered prayer when it is prayed in this manner because a pat on the back is all that will be gained from this kind of prayer life.

The personal prayer life of Jesus’ disciples is to be in total privacy so that they may commune with the Father. Any other kind of prayer is not really focused on communication with God, but on what other people think. And when the disciple pray in secret, they will be rewarded by God who sees them in secret. Again, our prayer life is all about our relationship with God.

CORPORATE PRAYER

Notice how hypocrites pray when they are around others. They use “meaningless repetitions”. They are full of words and go on and on but have little content. Their error is that they believe “they will be heard for their many words”. This is not a prohibition against lengthy prayers, but empty prayers. Its the picture of someone who goes on and on and really says nothing at all.

In contrast the disciples are to pray with meaningful prayers. We do not have to tell God everything that we need because “He knows what we need before we ask Him”.

Why pray then?

Because prayer is vital to relationship with God.

Because God answers our prayers and builds faith in our lives.

Because it is impossible to have relationship with someone whom we never communicate with.

Application

Do not use prayer to draw attention to yourself

Personal Prayer is best done in secret

If you cannot have private prayer time, then get up early before the world wakes up.

God never sleeps and is always read to hear from us

Pray for quality not quantity

Words do not impress God

What God wants is content. heart felt real genuine prayers that express yourself and your heart to God.

Fast secretly so that only God knows you are fasting

Matthew 6:16–18 NASB95

“Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Jesus implies the same expectations here, “whenever you fast”. In other words Jesus expects us to fast. And I cannot stand before you and say that I do this regularly and I was convicted of that when preparing this message.

What is the purpose of fasting?

It is to remind us that God is the most important aspect of our lives, far more important than basic human needs such as food. Fasting brings God back into the forefront of our lives and reminds us that we need Him more than we need a meal.

Jesus warns against fasting like the hypocrites who “put on a gloomy face” so that they will be noticed by men. The hypocrites would go out of their way to make sure that all the people knew they were fasting and suffering for God. Ironically they made themselves unrecognizable so that people would recognize them.

To turn fasting into a way of getting attention is not only false worship but it is blasphemous.

Again, this is all the reward that the hypocrite will receive is to be noticed by men.

The disciples of Jesus are not to be like them. The anointing with oil was a regular part of the grooming process that was done for joy and happiness. This is the spirit of a disciple when they fast. It is one of joy and devotion to God that it is a privilege to be able to fast and engage in this kind of worship. It is a blessing to have food to fast from and it reminds us that God is far superior to the next meal. Mean cannot live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.

CONCLUSION

1) Of all the spiritual dangers that Jesus warned the disciples about, this one is at the top of the list. It was so prevalent in Jesus’ day as it is prevalent for us today. Why is it so dangerous?

Matthew 23:13 NASB95

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

It not only repels people from the Kingdom of God, but it keeps oneself from entering as well.

2) How can we know if we are hypocrites?

I have some questions I want to ask you:

Would I still do this if no one would ever know that I did it? Would I still give, would I pray differently, would I fast if I knew no one would ever see me but God?

When you do good deeds, do you always have to go and find someone to tell them about it?

Have you ever failed to obey the Lord because you were afraid others would find out? In other words do you care more about the praise from men or praise from God?

3) Jesus is not lookin for actors. Jesus wants the real followers. He wants people who are in it for Him and nothing else. And Jesus would rather have 12 real followers than He would have 5,000 fans who are in it for themselves and their own glory.

4) What is the cure for hypocrisy?

It is sincerity.

It is authenticity.

It is to willingness to admit our faults, failures, and turn to Jesus Christ and express our dire need of Him in our lives.

It is being fully devoted to Him and His Word. It is having a heart ruled by Christ and Christ alone.

It is to give ones whole self to Christ and lay yourself open before Him admit your faults and cry out to Him for help! Jesus needs every area of our lives before He can do anything in our lives.

~PRAYER~