HYPOCRISY

 

Mark 7:6

He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

Long before I came to the Lord as my Savior, I had been invited to a trip to Catalina Island by my father, this was a trip with the men from Church, now I did not come to Christ at that time, but something did happen that I have carried with me from that moment on.  You see my father was not one to offer too much by way of compliments, but on the way back he was talking to his good friend from church, and I walked up and sat behind him only to hear my fathers reply to his friend when asking how come David did not come to church.  My fathers reply not only floored me but had a huge impact on me, his reply was “David is not a hypocrite” and ever since that thought just would not leave me.

That was over 40 years ago, and yes, I did see hypocrisy just like sitting in a pew listening to a Pastors sermon on the sin we are committing when celebrating the birth of our Savior with a Christmas Tree all the while having 3 Christmas Trees right behind him right there for all to see on the altar, is there another name for that other than Hypocrisy.

Why Are Christians Hypocrites?

Not just Christians but everybody's a hypocrite. Christians would be the only ones that say we ... one of the only ones that say, "This is how we think we should live," when the truth is, we could never measure up. We don't ever measure up to God's standards. We don't even measure up to our own standards, which we lower so that we measure up, and we don't even meet them. It's kind of ironic. But everybody's a hypocrite.

The good news for Christians is that we are forgiven. That doesn't mean continuing hypocrisy, that means admit your hypocrisy. You're free to admit your hypocrisy. You don't have to hide it anymore. The thing about being a hypocrite is ... Like I said, we never measure up, then we try to hide it. That's where the hypocrisy comes in. Right?

Christianity should be the thing that says, "Yes. You don't measure up. We’re a hypocrite. Why else would there be a cross?" What's funny is, because of our pride, we try to hide that. "Oh, no, I'm not that bad." Just like Adam and Eve taking the fig leaves and trying to hide themselves. "I'm really not naked. I promise, God." And he says, "What are you doing?" What's beautiful in the garden, is what he does; kills an animal, and makes clothing for them.

It's a beautiful picture of Christ. What does he do with us? The Son dies so that we can be covered in his righteousness. Hypocrisy is trying to cover yourself with our own righteousness, and Jesus Christ says, "You don't have to. Let me clothe you in my righteousness alone."

Why are there so many hypocrites? Because we're all still trying to be something we're not. Here's who we are: a sinner who needs a Savior, who has a Savior, who wants to cover you in his righteousness alone. Throw off your robe of hypocrisy and throw on his robe of righteousness.

We become hypocrites when we pay more attention to our reputation than to our character, when we carefully follow certain religious practices while allowing our hearts to remain distant from God and we emphasize our virtues and others sins.

“We are the righteousness of God in Christ”

David Barberis
Rayed Radio