Excuses - "They are a bunch of hypocrites."

Should you find yourself on Family Feud, and you are asked to name the excuses people give for not attending church (engaging faith with other believers), the No. 1 answer will be this one: “They (Christians / church attenders) are a bunch of hypocrites.” I found LifeWay research information, from 2008, that indicates 72 percent of those who are unchurched believe church-attenders are hypocrites. In more direct terms, many people believe you and I are liars when it comes to living out our faith. Many of the unchurched believe you and I don’t practice what we preach, and that we are less than authentic when it comes to our public and private personalities.

Hypocrisy is such a complicated topic because each and every person struggles with it. The sickly world we occupy calls us to be this way, and the Holy Spirit within us calls us to be another way. It doesn’t take long for us to get twisted up and turned around. Fighting hypocrisy – and it comes in lots of different forms and fashions – can only be conquered when we completely focus on Jesus, and trust Him to make our paths straight, our decisions right, and our focus on God’s plan for us.

Without diving deeply into the etymology of the word, hypocrite comes from the ancient Greek playhouses, when actors would perform a role on stage and the role was contradictory to who they were in life. That has fed our culture today – “publicly play acting” a different person from who we are privately.

When I was ordained, in October 2011, pastor Mike’s charge to me was very simple, “Protect the calling.” That really resonated with me. If I’m going to be “set apart” for gospel ministry by the church, my life must conform to that calling. I have a responsibility to live up to the Lord’s calling on my life. But, it goes much deeper than that for me. Shouldn’t Mike’s charge apply to every single one of us? When we are “converted” by the Holy Spirit, we are changed. Each of us is called out to follow the Lord, and that means we must protect our individual calling. If the Lord called you to lay down your life’s ambition and desire, and follow Him, and you genuinely received that call, it stands to reason the Holy Spirit changed you from that person to a new person. I’m not suggesting that you and I go about forced changing, but that we let the Lord convict and massage and change what He needs to change within each of us. Some of our personality quirks need to stick around, some of the good and fun things we enjoy may need to stay in place because they become valuable in building relationship with others and helping us introduce people to Jesus.

It comes down to this really: As believers, we can’t act or claim to be one way in public, but let selfish attitudes rule our private thinking. Ultimately, those private weaknesses will become public ones, and in that conflict – we express our hypocrisy. And, people see it. And, as we trumpet faith publicly, but live as unbelievers privately, we pollute the entire pond for the entire faith community. Consider:

1. The believer who says church participation is important for my family . . . as long as it makes my family happy and is convenient to our schedule.
2. The believer who advises prayer by those who are hurting, but then comes unglued when their own life turns into a deep valley. Or worse, uses prayer as an indictment, as in, “You need to fall on your knees and pray about your attitude toward me!”
3. The believer who whispers about the shortcomings and personality flaws of others, but fails to see the sinfulness in that shadowy form of gossip and character assassination.
4. The believer who carries a Bible, but never uses it. Or worse, uses the Bible as a weapon to beat people up, and then put it back on the dusty bookshelf.
5.  The believer who gives generously, but then circles back around to ensure most everyone knows it.
6. The believer who claims to follow Jesus, but then denies Jesus by their actions and words under just the right amount of peer pressure. (I believe we may need to wade into the murkier areas of life, at times, in order to shine for Jesus. If I’m never around unbelievers and within their environment, how can stand as a testimony for Jesus? I just have to be careful not to compromise my faith, and create questions of hypocrisy in the minds of others).

It’s these inconsistencies by the team’s players that cause the spectators – the unchurched – to say, “That team is in complete disarray. They don’t believe what they say they believe. Why in the world would I want to be involved in that mess.”

It’s true, we Christians are a confused, muddled, and hypocritical bunch. The road of spiritual growth is not easy because of the sickly world that we live in. It’s true that sometimes even the best of us look and act more like unbelievers than we do believers. None of us are immune to it because of the internal struggle between human nature and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus, in Matthew 23:1-39, confronts spiritual leaders who were indeed hypocrites. In some Bibles, this extended passage is titled “Seven Woes” because Jesus essentially comes out heavy with a warning and a threat. For all of us – as believers - , I feel, Jesus is warning us to avoid:

•  Creating man-made rules forced into Scripture and presented as God’s laws.
• Telling people to obey Scripture, but not obeying Scripture ourselves.
•  Obeying Scripture, not to honor God, but to make ourselves look good. Caring about looking holy, rather than being holy.
• Using the church for personal gain – love of positions outweighing love of the Lord.
• Allowing love of the church to get in front of our love of Jesus.
• Focusing our giving on the money, but never giving time or never giving abilities in service.
•  Washing the outside of the cup, but never washing the inside of it. Taking care of your heart and mind will lead to a beautiful person on the outside.

But, I also have a word to the unchurched, who wag their fingers and use hypocrisy as an excuse to avoid church and faith.

Faith and by extension – church – is not for the perfect, or the pretty, or the ducks-in-a-row, or the healthy – church is for the sick, the hurting, the lonely, the tired, the hungry, the thirsty, the poor in spirit, the angry, the frustrated, the worried, and the weary. Church is sanctuary from the world – sanctuary for broken and busted people, who know the only way to put things back together is through Jesus. You will never find a perfect person in church. You will find spiritually sick, relationally sick, physically sick and emotionally sick people – just like you and just like me! – but who know Jesus as Savior and are walking in a “love and serve” relationship with others. I would rather be forgiven of my contradictions and in faith, than lost in my contradictions – separated from fellowship with God and the love of other believers.

And, we believers must understand that we are each ailing – we must be here with arms wide open – working out our own hypocrisies and inconsistencies – laying down our attitudes so we love and serve anyone and everyone the Lord chooses to send our way. It’s not what we say that matters, it’s how we live out what we say that matters, and how we live it out for everyone around us – not just those that make us comfortable.