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”
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