Tonight's Scripture Reading: Matthew 23:13-33
“Hypocrite”, “hypocritical Christian”, unfortunately, some people feel justified in their view that all Christians are hypocrites. The term “hypocrite” comes from the English language from the Latin word, hypocrisies, meaning “play-acting, pretend.” The word is in both classical and New Testament Greek and has the same meaning. To play a part, or pretend.
What Does Scripture Say?:
When Christ taught about prayer and fasting, He discouraged us from following the examples of those who are hypocrites:
(Matthew 6:2) “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 men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”
Do not be like the Pharisees with long public prayers, don't go to extreme measures to ensure others notice your fasts, don't parade your gifts to the Temple and by the poor. They were revealing only an outward attachment to the Lord. The Pharisees were examples of religious virtue, they failed miserably in their heart’s where true virtue resides …
Mark 7:20-23 “He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'
Jesus never called His disciples hypocrites. That name was given only to misguided religious zealots. He called His own “followers”, “babes”, “sheep”, and His “church”
There is a warning in the New Testament about the sin of hypocrisy. 1 Peter 2:1 “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind." Hypocrisy is a sin.
Hypocrisy is recorded in the church.
In Acts 5:1-10 two disciples are exposed for pretending to be more generous than they were. They were being hypercritical. The consequence was severe.
From this we can draw two conclusions from the New Testament.
1.) Hypocrites do exist among professing Christians. They were present in the beginning, and, according to Jesus, they will exist until the end. (Read Matthew 13:18-30) Even Peter was charged with hypocrisy in Galatians 2:13 “The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.”
2.) If even an apostle can be guilty of hypocrisy, there is no reason to believe “ordinary” Christians will be free from it. We must always be on our guard that we do not fall into the very same temptations (Read 1 Corinthians 10:12)
How Do We Know Who The Hypocrites Are?:
Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is truly a Christian. Perhaps most of the hypocrites among Christians were in fact pretenders and deceivers. Christian leaders have fallen into terrible sins, financial and sexual scandals sometimes plague the Christian church. People use these leaders sins to “label” the whole Christian community.
We need to ask whether all those who claim to be Christians really are. A true Christian should exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Jesus’ parable of the seed and the soils in Matthew 13 makes it clear that not all professions of faith in Him are genuine. Many who profess to belong to Christ will be shocked when they hear Him say, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:23)
The church is not made up of entirely hypocrites, all of us who name the name of Jesus Christ remain sinners even after our sin is forgiven. Even though we are saved from our sins eternal penalty.
Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We have yet to be saved and delivered from the presence of sin in our lives.
1 John 1:8-9 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
This includes the sin of hypocrisy. Living our faith in Jesus, we continually overcome sin’s power until we are finally delivered.
1 John 5:4-5 “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
All Christians fail to perfectly live up to the standard the Bible teaches. No Christian has ever been perfectly Christ-like. There are many Christians who are genuinely seeking to live the Christian life, relying more on the Holy Spirit to convict them. Change, and empowerment. There have been millions of Christians who have lived their lives free from scandal. No Christian is perfect. Are you playing Christian or are you living as a Christian should? Making a mistake and failing to reach perfection is not the same thing as being a hypocrite.
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