TOPIC: THE PRESENCE OF HYPOCRISY IN THE CHURCH
Speaker: Enwenemati Kinika Kingsley
Text: Mathew 13:24-30
Introduction: 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.
Definition: Hypocrite means when we are trying to deceive, pretending to be, or presenting ourself as something that we know we are not.
This is commonly found in our churches today.
Turn with me to Mathew 13:24-30. In this passage Jesus is talking about the presence of good & evil in this world. Please listen as I read it to you.
“Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came & sowed weeds among the wheat, & went away.
‘When the wheat sprouted & formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him & said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
‘The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go & pull them up?’ ’No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.
‘Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds & tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat & bring it into my barn.’”
In this parable Jesus says that as wheat & weeds grow side by side they look a lot alike. And if we try to pull up the weeds we would likely uproot the wheat as well. So we’re 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 pertinent today. So let’s consider some of them.
THE PRESENCE OF HYPOCRISY:
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 I know a lot of people who have been faithful & true & authentic in their Christian lives, & they’re wonderful Christian Leopold.
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.
Let's go back to our definition.
1. Deceivers:
Now there is a difference between a Christian struggling with sin & a hypocrite.
A Christian struggling with a sin comes 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’ll act differently & behave exactly the way those around me behave.”
You see, 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 some of 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 different than he or she really is.
2. Pretending to be:
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 many social events are so exhausting. You go to a party & you try to pretend that you’re having a good time. When, in reality, you would rather be home watching TV. But there you are - pretending. And you go home exhausted.
That’s why coming to church can sometimes be an exhausting experience. If you’re play-acting 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. It’s not only exhausting, it’s also damaging.
Exaample: One of the questions that arose in recent years as the lives of some politicians came under scrutiny was, “Can someone be one thing in his private life, & another in his public life?” Now that’s a legitimate question. And Nathaniel Hawthorne answered it a long time ago.
He said, “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself & another to the multitudes without finally getting bewildered as to which is the true one.” You can get so confused that you’re not sure who you are anymore.
Jesus condemned hypocrisy. Listen to His words in Mathew 23:27-28
“Woe to you, teachers of the law & Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones & everything unclean.
“In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy & wickedness.”
summary: It’s terrible to have to remember to change your behavior depending upon the people you’re with. And that’s hypocrisy.
3. Presenting ourselves as something we are not:
Turn with me to Romans 2:17-29, Paul shows how being a Jew by birth nor having the Law cannot save those who do not keep it (2:17-24); and, how being circumcised in the flesh is of no avail if the circumcised man does not keep the entire Law (2:25-27);
Paul mainly focuses on the Law (2:17, 18, 20, 23). He is applying the point of 2:13, “it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.”
The Jews will not escape God’s righteous judgment because they were Jews and possessed the Law, unless they obeyed the Law, which they did not do. So he exposes their hypocrisy and shows the spiritual devastation of hypocrisy:
II. OUR RESPONSIBILITY
A. Now there’s another lesson Jesus gives that we must learn and it has to do with judging. As Christians it is not our responsibility to judge and uproot hypocrites.
In His parable, when the servants saw the weeds they came & asked, “‘Do you want us to go & pull them up?’ ’No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.
“Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds & tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.” (Matthew 13:29-30)
In other words, Jesus is saying, “Your job is not to judge hypocrites. I’ve never commissioned you to do that. So don’t go into the church & start uprooting hypocrites.”
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. My responsibility is to do my best to present the truth that’s in God’s Word, & to leave the rest in God’s hands.
Secondly, we’re not to judge another person’s motives. We don’t know the
circumstances & why they do what they do. We don’t know their background, their emotions, & what’s going on inside of them. God knows, so leave that in God’s hands!
B. There are things, however, that we should judge.
1. First of all, the Bible clearly teaches that we are to recognize & judge false teachings. Jesus says in Matthew 7:15-16, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them."
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, “By their fruit you will recognize them.” 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 is common knowledge among the brethren, then the church needs to act.
Paul uses an example in 1Corinthians 5, of a man who was sleeping with his father’s wife, & the church knew about it. So Paul condemned the church because it didn’t take any action. Now what should the church have done?
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 your past has been, if you are here genuinely seeking a relationship with the Lord, you are welcome here.
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 preached that they should repent & turn to God & prove their repentance by their deeds.” (Acts 26:20)
III. REASONS FOR INTEGRITY
Now finally, “Why should we be genuine & faithful & true?” Why should we want to be an authentic person & not a hypocrite?
Because that kind of life is a witness for God & will be respected. Of course there will always be those who mock & demean a Christian life, but Matthew 13:43 says, “The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father.”
Thank you for your time, please drop your comments below.
God Bless you. Shalom!
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