I Don't Want to Be a Hypocrite!
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Dearly loved people of God,
Many of us are reading through the gospel of Luke. The goal is to work up to the events of Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. Since Christmas, our eyes are on Good Friday and Easter.
This week, the count-down to Good Friday and Easter becomes more focussed. On Wed. many Christians will begin observing Lent. Beginning Ash Wed., Lent is a time of prayer, fasting and recommitment to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
We’ll also begin a series of sermons during Lent. Luke records conversations Jesus had over dinner because Jesus made a point of eating with a variety of people. On Sundays during Lent, we’ll study these dinners and talks.
Lent can be a season of renewal and recommitment. It’s a time of remembering our dependence on Jesus to rescue us from sin and death. It’s a time to reinvest in following Jesus. I hope you’re able to grow in your faith this Lent.
If you’ve been reading through the gospel of Luke, maybe you recall from how Luke described Jesus Ä
As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
(NIV)
It was part of our readings 1.5 weeks ago.
This is the beginning of Jesus’ push to the cross, to his resurrection and his ascension into the throne-room of heaven. Jesus squares his shoulders to tackle on the task ahead. There’s a similar sense in today’s passage, a call to be resolute that extends to Jesus’ disciples.
As the crowd surrounds Jesus and his closest disciples, there’s a temptation for the 12 to act as if they know it all, as if they’ve got it all together. But Jesus’ disciples are only near perfection is because they are standing beside Jesus. Truth is: the disciples are still learning and growing.
So Jesus calls his disciples to be different from the Pharisees. Whatever you say about them, you can’t underestimate the Pharisees’ efforts to please God. Like many high-achievers, the Pharisees are proud of their efforts.
It’s tempting for them to exaggerate their success at living up to God’s law. They’re tempted to gloss over their failures. They sometimes make it seem that they actually meet or exceed their standards. Jesus calls this behaviour “hypocrisy” and warns his disciples against it.
I should clarify what I wrote in the daily readings. In Greece in Jesus’ day, the actors, not the masks, were called “hypocritēs.” Everyone knew that actors were acting. Their true faces and true character were hidden by a mask.
Sometimes people are tempted to act like actors. They hide their brokenness and true character behind a mask of goodness and generosity. The English word for that kind of acting is called “hypocrisy.” We see hypocrisy in some religious folks, in some politicians, and in some leaders. It’s always tempting to pretend you’re better than you are. The current #metoo movement is pulling the curtain open on some hypocrites and frightening others.
Jesus is pretty clear about hypocrisy. He speaks of it as “yeast.” When you made an offering to God according to OT laws Ä, it wasn’t supposed to contain yeast. Any rising agent was considered an impurity. Yeast was good enough for daily food, but a contamination in your gift to God. In the same way, hypocrisy contaminated any service you offer to God.
Any insincerity, any exaggeration of goodness, contaminates our efforts to love God and love our neighbour.
What about exaggerating our efforts impress God and others with the way we avoid hypocrisy? Oi! Holiness is harder than it looks. Yet we try. Especially religious folks try:
My parents recall the days when the first TVs were available, but viewed with suspicion. Religious people might get one, but the antennae was installed inside the attic and the TV was covered up when certain people visited. I’m told that kind of hypocrisy still happens. It seems so foolish when we see others try it, but sometimes we still feel we can fool our neighbours
Sometimes it happens when you claim to be working on the computer or tablet, but are actually surfing or gaming online. Everyone is impressed by your hard work, yet when your boss or teacher, partner or parent come over to look at your progress you quickly switch windows or shut it down.
I had a friend tell me why he didn’t want to put a fish symbol – symbol of Christianity – on the bumper of his car. He figured if it was there, he’d need to change his driving habits.
We’re confronted again with the extent to which we fail to be perfectly holy. We’re so concerned with what other people think of us – we fear disapproval from our friends, neighbours, and parents – that we are willing to earn their respect by being dishonest. Sounds twisted, doesn’t it?
That’s exactly the big problem our world faces. Everything God created good has been twisted. Humanity was created with the goodness God desires, but in Adam & Eve’s sin, we lost it. All our values and efforts have been twisted.
The uncomfortable truth is that eventually the mask is going to be taken off and our true character will be revealed. That happens when people know you for long enough – they see who you truly are. But God already knows.
He sees what is done in secret. When I was in Sunday School, we sang:
Oh be careful little hands what you do (2X)
For the Father up above is looking down in love,
Oh be careful little hands what you do.
That kind of surveillance could be frightening. Thankfully our Father looks down with love. But nothing can stay secret Ä
There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed,
or hidden that will not be made known.
What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.
(NIV)
Can your behaviour survive that scrutiny?
Ever since humankind fell into sin, we – I – have fallen short of God’s call to goodness and love. Without help, we’re doomed to die for sin – far from God, far from grace. In his holiness and justice, God cannot ignore human sin.
Jesus gives that warning:
I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
(NIV)
It seems odd to be told to fear God, doesn’t it? We’re usually told to love God.
Yet God is holy and just, therefore he holds us accountable. There will be a day of reckoning: Judgement day. Proper awe of God’s judgement – his authority to damn us to hell – is appropriate. Yet if holy fear wasn’t balanced with our experience of God’s grace, fear would paralyze us.
But God is also merciful and loving. In grace he came down from heaven to rescue us. God the Father sent God the Son to become human – like all the rest of us except without sin. In his teaching and actions Jesus showed us what love and goodness look like. Yet he was more than just a great example and wonderworker.
Jesus suffered for sin throughout his life, but also in his death. At the cross, God the Father put all our guilt, all our punishment on Jesus. He suffered and died in our place.
In Jesus’ death and resurrection, we’re given confidence of God’s forgiveness. He conquered sin and death. In Jesus’ resurrection, we’re raised to life and a future. Our calling is to bear witness to our experience of God’s mercy and grace.
Here too, God lovingly watches us. We’re not supposed to put on masks of holiness or a façade of goodness. Being honest about our dependence on God is the best response. For Jesus has promised that he will honour even our imperfect efforts:
I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.
(NIV)
To be acknowledged as a child of God by Jesus before the angels of God is a high honour and an assurance of life in the coming Kingdom.
There’s a degree of sternness in Jesus’ teaching in . Jesus sounds like a coach calling his team to dig deep, to square their shoulders, to put in 100% effort. That’s the kind of encouragement we need in our walk of faith.
This isn’t a call to air all your dirty laundry
It’s a call to honesty about our success in pursuing holiness
If we pretend that we are better than we really are, we misrepresent the gospel of Jesus Christ AND might discourage someone who realizes they aren’t up to snuff, but doesn’t dare hope that God loves them enough to rescue them.