Hypocrisy: the excuse of the unchurched

Hypocrisy, our ability to live 2 different life styles in one lifetime, is definitely not a new phenomenon. Jesus talked a lot about hypocrisy and was very harsh toward those he felt were hypocrites. Matthew 23 is full of his thoughts about hypocrisy if you want to read just a little bit of what he has to say about hypocrisy.
l
One of the major thoughts I have had about hypocrisy, in my own life, as well as in the church at large, is the fact that hypocrisy in the church has lead to an overwhelming generalized excuse of the unchurched. You have probably heard it as much as I have...I refuse to come to church or to give God/Christianity even a moments notice...but why...Christians are the biggest hypocrites in the world and I want nothing to do with them. Don't get me wrong, this isn't the sentiment of every unchurched person that you meet by any means. Nor do I buy into the "over-played media driven" negativity towards the church and Christianity as a whole. At the same time, I have come to realize that there is a significant amount of truth to the claim of hypocrisy in the church.
l
Jesus says in Matthew 23:13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." Jesus is talking to the elite leaders and teachers of his day. These guys had the corner on the market "religiously" speaking. I hope and pray that our religious leaders are not guilty of the same deception as those Jesus is addressing here. Media has exposed many great leaders to be living 2 life styles, even their sin won't change the fact that they are leaders. As the examples mount, I won't mention any names, the unchurched world grasps at any excuse it can to deny Christ. It is incredibly sad that most often the greatest excuse of a dying and lost world is the people in the church.
l
I say it is high time for leaders in the church to rise up and call hypocrisy to account within the church so that the world will no longer have an excuse that will never hold water when our time is up.
l

Here are some practical thoughts you can use to help fight hypocrisy in your own life:
l
Realize that its what's in your heart that counts: T-shirts, Christian music, and church attendance have many times been confused with a true relationship with Christ. We, me included, have helped to raise up a generation of "Christ followers" who easily confuse the "stuff" of church and the appearance of faith with really living it out 7 days a week 24 hours every day. There is no alternate lifestyle option when it comes to living for Christ.
l

Put God in his rightful place in your life: Israel is a prime example of our ability to see what God has done in our lives and then to go right back to worshipping other gods. When Israel was brought up out of Egypt they saw God do insane things, plagues, parting the sea, they followed a cloud at day and a pillar of fire at night...but they soon forgot and fell into hypocrisy. They wanted God's blessing and the freedom that he brought them but they also wanted to worship the idols they could see and touch every day. I'm guessing you probably aren't worshipping any wood carved idols, or golden calfs but if you are like me you struggle with your own idols. Whether it be excuses like "God I just don't have time to worship you," or "God if really surrender that part of my life my career will suffer," or some other god like success, money, relationships, or worldly possessions...if God isn't in his rightful place in your life you don't have a fighting chance against hypocrisy. Jesus says of the spiritual snobs and the self righteous leaders in Matthew 23:5a "Everything they do is done for men to see..." The obvious problem was that they no longer cared what God thought and it was all about what other men could see and how they were perceived by others.
l
Be honest with God about your hypocrisy: Without a doubt hypocrisy is a struggle that, on some level, every single one of us will carry with us for the rest of our lives. I don't think its something that we outgrow, or move past, we will most likely have to be in the fight against hypocrisy forever. One of the hardest things in fighting hypocrisy is being willing to admit that it is a struggle for you. In Revelation 3:20 it says "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent." I'm always dumbfounded by my thoughts about hiding from God what I know he can obviously already see. Nothing is hidden from God, yet so many times I will go to great lengths in my attempts at fooling him. If we are going to effectively fight hypocrisy in our lives we will have to start being honest and repenting.
l
The unchurched are depending on us to take his love and truth of the Gospel and put it on display as Christ lives and moves through us each day. God will not accept the hypocrisy in the church as an excuse by any unbeliever...nor can we accept hypocrisy as a standard for living in Christ. It is time for Christian leaders and earnest followers of Christ to rise up and deal squarely with hypocrisy...a dying world is counting on us to show them the love and mercy of Christ, even if they don't know it!