Tell me, what do you think of hypocrites? Ever hear someone say, “Oh, how I hate those self-righteous hypocrites” usually in reference to Christians? Are you one of them? If so, it might tell a lot about you.
Here is the problem. Right then and there you just witnessed a self-righteous act of hypocrisy. Because if they can’t stand hypocrites, how do they stand in front of a mirror each morning and shave or put on their makeup? How do you stand yourself? There is not one of us that either is or has been a hypocrite.
“What?” you say. “How dare you put me in that category? I am not a hypocrite!”
Really? Well, let’s examine a few things. Let’s start with the definition. A hypocrite is “a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion or a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.”
So, without a doubt, we just trapped a lot of “religious” people. Good for you. But Jesus beat you to it. He already condemned the religious leaders of the day as hypocrites:
Matthew 23: 27 “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.
Okay. We have that group covered. You may actually know a religious hypocrite or two. Whether they practice what they say or not, that doesn’t make the gospel any less true. Let’s move on. There is more. We don’t want to leave anyone out.
“What does that have to do with me?” you ask. “I don’t even believe in all that religious, hypocritical mumbo jumbo let alone practice it.”
Now you are digging a deeper hole. Because as soon as you say these people are hypocrites, that their beliefs are fairy tales, you just replaced theirs with your own. Once you do that, then you too will be held accountable for what you preach and whether you adhere to your own made up principles. You might just want to examine your own beliefs because if they are not based on truth then they are just a figment of your imagination. You made them up. That is a scary thing, but it doesn’t stop people from preaching made up gospels particularly with the ease of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
“Preach? What gospel?” you ask. “I’m not preaching any gospel!”
Oh yes you are. Just look at Facebook, Twitter, and the not so hidden agendas of the conventional media and political platforms. There is no shortage of self-righteous sermons that all have the same basis: “if only everyone would think like me, this world would be so much better off. If they would only be as loving as me, if they would only be as unselfish as me, what a wonderful world this would be.” They preach their personal ideologies under the pretense of love and guess what? If you don’t agree, just watch the tentacles of hate come out and attack the non-believers.
What did Jesus say? “Hypocrites!” Welcome to the party fellow hypocrites!
Matthew 7: 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
So let me tell you how to get out of this quagmire that is your personal hypocrisy of self-righteousness. You see, our gospel is true and it is fact based. If you want to compare yourself to failings of the faithful, or the unfaithful as the case may be, then you have just indicted yourself. Your measuring stick is way out of calibration.
Ever hear someone say, “I’m as good as he/she is?” Of course you have. And therein lays the problem. Because they are right. He or she is as good as me or anyone else. But I’m a sinner. I admit it. The only difference is I am a sinner saved by grace. Everyone that denies they are a sinner is a true hypocrite. All of us have been there, all of us have been hypocrites, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Until you come to that conclusion about yourself, you might want to be less concerned and judgmental about the “other” hypocrites and consider the truth about yourself. At the end of the age, you won’t have anyone to point at and say, “What about them?” They won’t be there.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
I don’t know about you, but I like that-a lot. Freeing oneself from the hypocrisy of self-righteousness is so easy and available to all. Just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness, not your own:
Romans 10: 9 . . ., if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Amen!
The Lost Coin by Samuel Hayes Sherwood is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and all other outlets. See how the mystery of Christ in us is unraveled and condemnation is annulled.
