The Church Is Full of Hypocrites!

The Church Is Full of Hypocrites!

When was the last time you overheard a conversation like this? “Shirley, how come you never shop at Publix anymore? And Shirley answers, “Well, I used to. But the last time I was there the place was just full of hypocrites. So I’ll never go back there again.”

You’ve never heard such a conversation about Publix have you? We normally don’t hear that kind of excuse in regard to grocery stores, schools, or the country club? But sometimes we hear it used about the church.

Zig Ziglar said that he invited a friend to go to church with him. The man answered, “Well, I’d like to go. But the church is so full of hypocrites.” Ziglar replied, “That’s okay. There’s always room for one more.”

In Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus is talking about the presence of good & evil in this world.
24 Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25 But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. 26 When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. 27 “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ 28 “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. 29 “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”
In this parable Jesus says that as wheat & weeds grow side by side they look a lot alike. And if we were to try to pull up the weeds we would likely uproot the wheat as well. So we are told to let them grow until the harvest. Then it will be easy to see which is which, & to treat them accordingly.

Jesus told this parable nearly 2,000 years ago. But the lessons He was teaching are just as applicable today. So let’s consider some of them this morning.

The first one is that hypocrisy is real. Jesus says that there will be both good & evil people in this world, & they’ll be living side by side. Even the church will not be immune to this mixture.

On the one hand, it seems unfair to say that the church is full of hypocrites, because there are a lot of people who have been faithful & true & authentic in their Christian lives, & they’re wonderful Christian people.

But even those of us who have been Christians for many years have experienced times when our guard was down & Satan shot his fiery darts, & sin was the result.

Now there is a difference between a Christian struggling with sin & a hypocrite. If you’re struggling with a sin, you come to God saying, “God, this is a weakness in my life & I really need the help of the Holy Spirit to deal with it.” God welcomes that prayer & He promises to help.

But the hypocrite doesn’t really struggle to overcome his sin. He just tries to hide it. He thinks, “When I’m in church I’ll behave like a Christian. I’ll say the prayers. I’ll sing the songs. I’ll obey the rules. But when I’m out in the world I become a different person who behaves exactly the way the world behaves.”

The word “hypocrite” originally came from a word used in Greek drama that meant “one who is play-acting, wearing a mask.” The symbol of Greek drama, as you may know, is a two-faced mask. That’s why a hypocrite is often called “two-faced,” someone who is trying to deceive, pretending to be better than he or she really is.

There is a story about a young couple in his church who boasted to all their friends & neighbors that they were flying to New York City. They were only going to be able to spend one day there, but the highlight of their trip would be to go & see the Broadway play, “My Fair Lady.” They were so proud of this, & everyone was really impressed because no one else in that small town had ever been to a play on Broadway.

When they got to New York, they found that the play was sold out for the night.

They thought, “What do we do now? Everybody knows that we came to see ‘My Fair Lady.’ We don’t dare tell them that we didn’t.” So they found a couple of ticket stubs on the sidewalk & picked them up. They bought a program that described the various acts of the play. They went home talking about the play and acting as if they had really seen the play.

They had the ticket stubs. They had the program. They had been to the theatre. They knew the music. But the trouble is, they didn’t see the performance.”

A lot of Christians are like that. We come to church. We have the bulletin. We know the songs. We know what to say & what to do. The problem is that many of us have never really made Jesus the Lord of our lives.

It’s exhausting to live a two-faced life, pretending to be what you aren’t, acting one way around Christians & just the opposite around others. To have to pretend constantly that you are someone you aren’t just drains you of your energy.

That’s why coming to church can sometimes be an exhausting experience. If you’re play-acting, pretending to be someone that you’re not, you’ll leave here wrung out, because you have spent more than an hour of your life pretending to be something that you aren’t.

Jesus condemned hypocrisy. Listen to His words in Matthew 23:17-28. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Now there’s another lesson we must learn – & it has to do with judging.

In His parable, when the servants came & asked, “Do you want us to go out & pull them up?” The answer was “No, because while you’re pulling up the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them. So let both grow together until harvest, & at that time I’ll tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds & tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat to bring into my barn.”

In other words, Jesus is saying, “Your job is not to judge the hypocrites. I’ve never commissioned you to do that. So don’t go into the church & start uprooting the hypocrites.”

And that means, first of all, that we’re not to judge a person’s salvation. That’s not our job. God never put us on the judgment throne to say this person is lost & this one is saved. Our responsibility is to do our best to present the truth that’s in God’s Word, & to leave the rest in God’s hands.

There are things, however, that we should judge.

1. First of all, the Bible very clearly teaches that we are to recognize & judge false teachings.

Jesus says in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.”

Do you see the parallels between these words & the parable we’ve been reading? Jesus says that false teachers may look like sheep, & sound like sheep, & act like sheep.

So how will we recognize them? Jesus says, “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act”. If they’re sowing seeds of discord & bitterness; if they’re causing people to become disobedient, then they’re false teachers. So we are to judge false teaching.

2. Secondly, we’re to judge sinful actions. If someone in the church is doing a sinful thing & it’s common knowledge, then something needs to be done.

Paul uses an example in 1 Corinthians 5 of a man who was sleeping with his father’s wife (probably his step-mother), & the church knew about it. So Paul condemned the church because it didn’t take any action. Now what kind of action should it have taken? Paul said, “You should have gone to him to seek a reconciliation that would cause him to repent of his sin & change his ways.” And if the man refused to repent, then they should expel him from among them, in the hope that he would come to his senses & repent.

But if someone who isn’t a Christian comes to the church seeking Christ, they can come regardless of their sin. That’s what the church is for. No matter what a person’s past has been, if come to church genuinely seeking a relationship with the Lord, they should be welcome.

But once you become a Christian. Once you have been forgiven, that changes the standards. Then if you slip back into sin, reconciliation & repentance need to take place.

Paul said, “I prayed that they should repent & turn to God & prove their repentance by their deeds.”

Now finally, “Why should we be genuine & true?” Why should we want to be an authentic person & not a hypocrite? Because we will be respected. The Bible says, Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom.”
“I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day,
I’d rather one would walk with me than merely tell the way;
The eye’s a better pupil & more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing, but example’s always clear. …
I may not understand the high advice you give,
But there’s no misunderstanding how you act & how you live. (Edgar Guest)