Hypocrisy in the church
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2011 · 3 July 2011
Let us learn more from the Word of God about hypocrisy. How many of you know a hypocrite in the church and are seated next to one? Be careful now…Now I said last week that there are many professing Christians that use that as an excuse for not coming to church because they say there are too many hypocrites in the church.
They use that as an excuse not to become involved in the physical, local, established church organization. And last week I said we need to admit that there are many hypocrites in the church, but we cannot use that as an excuse not to come and be what God has called us to be.
This is a very hard text to really follow, so let me elaborate on what we started last week. Anytime we are compared to a first century audience, it is uncomfortable. But Jesus was also talking to an audience that was learning about the truth of their sin nature. Often we like to think that what Jesus asks us to do is really for somebody else.
We should learn to accept the bible as a personal letter from God for each one of us who believes. And this is true with the book of Matthew. We started last week in defining what a hypocrite is and we read in Matthew 6:1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”
And last week we found out that this is the key verse that sets up the following 17 verses. And then Jesus uses three examples to explain what our daily behavior should be. Do not be like the hypocrites in for instance giving, praying and fasting where they are looking for the praise of men.
And so the definition of a hypocrite is a person without God who acts as a person with God. A hypocrite will have the reward of men right there and then, but that will be all, because he will not receive any reward from God ever.
Now some of us usually think a hypocrite is a person with God who does not act as a person with God. A person who goes to church and confesses Christ but in the world that person’s behavior is not any different from other people. But the biblical definition of a hypocrite makes this far more dangerous and this now can becomes a personal issue.
Why? Where do you find the hypocrites as defined by Jesus? Where do you find most of the people who act like they believe in God? In the church, right? So where is the most danger for a person to do all these things and then at the end of their life find out that they are still without God because they never actually knew Him? Right here in the church, right?
What if a person does all the religious things in his life, like going to church and participating in bible class, and praying for sick people and giving money but he never had a changed heart? That is the condition that Jesus wants us to consider! Are we an unsaved hypocrite?
The word hypocrite really means being an actor who plays a part. We have all seen actors on stage, in plays, on TV programs and we know that they are not really the same in character as the part they played. Their stage name is not their real name and their behavior is not their DNA. And this is what hypocrisy is.
I want to add one more item to further define and clarify what a hypocrite is. A hypocrite is a person who does the right things for the wrong reasons! This is often the one thing that is most misunderstood in the church about hypocrisy.
Let us look at Matthew 6:1 again and focus on the first part of verse 1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” Some people have misinterpreted this portion of the verse and it has caused at times some confusion in service or worship.
Some people at times only remember portions of a verse and it is easy only to remember the first part of Matthew 6:1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness.” So some people say that Christianity should not be something you do but something that you should be and they quote this portion only of what Jesus says.
Actually the words “practicing your righteousness” are not used very often, but let me give you some. Let us look at 1 John 2:29, “If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.” John says that being righteous means that we need to practice righteousness.
Look at 1 John 3:7, “Little children, let no one deceive you (another way of saying beware!). Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He (Jesus) is righteous.” Here John says it again, we are righteous when we live and do righteous things!
Do you see how easily we are deceived? Some people say, my actions in my daily life do not matter, Jesus has saved me and He is in my heart now and I know I’m going to heaven. What I do daily does not matter!”
But read what God says to us in 1 John 3:10, “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”
Now some other people remember a little more of Matthew 6:1 and what they remember is “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people.” That is all they can recall. And this often leads to another perversion. They want to do good but they do not want anybody to see it or to know about it.
Let’s look at what Jesus says about that in Matthew 5: 14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
God says that Christians are people that are supposed to be viewed by others for who we are. And in case we still do not understand the meaning of verses 14 and 15, Jesus explains this clearly in verse 16; we do good works so other can see it and give glory to God.
And we will go deeper when we talk about the three examples that the Jewish people did about piety. Jesus used these specific things as examples to tell us what not to do and what we should do as children of God.
So they say for instance, don’t give your money where anyone can see it. Some people prefer the collection pouches instead of open plates, because they do not want anybody to know how much they gave and maybe they think of this verse. Some people do not want to pray in public places or speak too loud when you pray for this very reason.
But that is not what Jesus is teaching! In fact Jesus did specific things so that people could hear and see Him. Take Mark 12: 41 - 44 for instance, “And He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.” Just imagine here is Jesus and He intentionally is sitting close by the offering basket while watching people put their money in it.
Let‘s continue, “Many rich people put in large sums. 42And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43And he called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on." Here Jesus not only watches people give but He teaches his disciples and us now a valuable lesson about sacrificial giving.
Do you remember the story of Lazarus who died for 4 days? Listen to John 11:39-42, “Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." 40Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me."
Jesus prayed with people watching and He did this for the benefit of others. And as we look at the New Testament, the church also practiced their righteousness in front of people by praying and preaching to them. In fact our worship service with preaching, singing and giving all are part of practicing righteousness.
Actually what a person really means by not wanting to practice their righteousness before other people is that his relationship with God is private. This is what lost people say when you are witness to them; their religion is a private issue.
Inside the church what people mean by saying that their relationship to God is a private and personal matter, is that they want to observe what is happening in the church, they want to receive but they do not want to participate, nor serve nor pray nor give. This is a form of hypocrisy.
We are saved for community, we are saved for good works, we are saved for service, we are saved for comforting others, we are saved for practicing righteousness so others can see what God has done for us and they will glorify Him. There is no such thing as a private Christian.
So what did Jesus say? Matthew 6:1 says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”
What Jesus said was to not practice your righteousness before other people with the intent of impressing them or showing off so that they admire you and want to follow you instead of telling them that this is all God’s grace and God’s work and only He should get all the glory!
Do you know what this means? This is a heart condition. Jesus spends the first part of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 talking about the intention of your heart. Look, all the things that were done by these Pharisees were things that were prescribed by God. They were practicing righteousness, but the problem was that their heart condition did not match up.
We as people cannot know the motives of someone’s heart, only God can. The evidence that people can see is the fruit from your life. Part of that fruit is calling people’s attention by your works that glorify God.
Hypocrites do the same things that saved Christians do, they go to church, they give money, they sing and they are pray, they preach and they volunteer in the ministry and they do all the same things but it is all just playing a part, it is a mask on the outside, wanting people to believe they are Christian which they are not.
And that is the reason Jesus says beware! He is not talking to people outside the church, He is talking to people in the church, He says make sure that you are worshipping not because you want others to have a good opinion of you, not because you want to feel good about yourself, so you can please your parents, so you can appear a good person.
Amos 5:21–24 says, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
All these burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, songs and sound of harps were all exactly what God prescribed for them to do! And then God turns around and says: I hate it, I despise your feasts, I do not like your solemn assemblies, I cannot hear it. Because there is a heart condition that does not go along with all that!
Mark 7:6–7 says, “6And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
Have you ever thought that the Bible talks a lot more about hypocrisy than abortion or homosexuality or stealing? Sometimes we as evangelical Christians are really good at diverting attention from what is really important.
Sometimes we just go through the motions of worship, we seldom understand the true meaning of songs that we sing, we pray but our minds wander, we do not realize that we are in front of the throne of the Almighty God Himself who knows our thoughts and the intention of our hearts! Let’s repent of that!
Let us all examine our hearts to determine something. Could it be possible that through all these years we have practiced righteousness and done all these things but when we put our head on our pillow at night we know in our heart that we have never been born again? We have never been converted; it is all just a show!
The Holy Spirit says to you now, throw all your pride away, throw your reputation away, throw all your resistance away, throw people’s impressions away, the stakes are very high, it is the difference between eternal life and eternal death! Give your life to Jesus! Let Him clean you from the inside out, so that you not just give the impression that you are clean.
It does not matter how long you have been going to church, it does not matter what you are hiding from others, it does not matter how long you have struggled with this, if you are an actor, let Jesus change you to become the real you that God intended you to be. Repent from your sins and trust Christ alone to make you whole, Amen?