“God hates fags!” rants an infamous Topeka-based church. But 1 John 4:8 tells us “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” A small church in Kentucky banned interracial couples from becoming members, even though Romans 15:7 instructs us to “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” In John 14:6, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” Yet at one time, the Church widely claimed that – for a price, of course – it could guarantee you eternal life and happiness. I’m not even going to get into atrocities such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, other wars, killing, persecution, and oppression done “in the name of God”. The list could go on endlessly. The ugly truth is that throughout history, man intentionally and accidentally has twisted the words, context, and meaning of Scripture for his own personal gain, be it monetary, fame, power, or influence.
Even as Christ followers, maybe especially as Christ followers, we sometimes allow ourselves to fall prey to hypocrisy. Even though we proclaim our faith and desire for others to see Christ in us, we all fall short of the glory of God at some point. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines hypocrisy as “a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not, especially the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion” and “an act or instance of hypocrisy.” Certainly, plenty of people – Christian or otherwise – fall into the first category and continually present themselves in one way publicly, while privately living an entirely different way, or they hide their true motives for leading a virtuous life. But I tend to think that the majority of people find themselves guilty of the second definition – individual acts, often unintentional or even unrecognized instances of hypocrisy, because when we let our guards down, our humanity overcomes our holiness.
One of my favorite passages in Scripture reads, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.“ – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV). I’m not suggesting that believers need to run around throwing this – or any other verse – in the faces of those who lead immoral, sinful lives, or otherwise turn away from God. Quite the contrary, primarily because even as believers we are often guilty of sin. The last part of that passage stuck out to me recently. Look at the last few words again: “…so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This is basically saying that the Bible is an ancient version of The Idiot’s Guide to a Righteous Life for Christ followers. That’s not to say that those who don’t believe can’t or don’t lead moral lives, nor am I implying that all would disagree with the lessons contained in Scripture. What I am saying is that it’s not other people, especially non believers, for whom Paul says Scripture is useful for rebuking. It’s us, those who claim to follow Jesus Christ! We are the ones who need to take these words and lessons and focus them directly at ourselves because if we claim to live according to a higher standard then we had best start acting like it. Even Jesus railed against the religious leaders of his day calling them a “brood of vipers”. He exclaimed to the crowds and his disciples that the keepers of the law “do not practice what they preach” – Matthew 23:2 (NIV). Jesus stared down the Pharisees and boldly told them that they “have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.” – Matthew 23:23 (NIV) These are men who had dedicated their entire lives to learning and living out the law to the very last letter, but completely missed the point. Following the rules became more important than why the rules existed in the first place. Our goal should be to live in such a way that Christ will not chastise for the same, let alone any, reason.
The most dangerous attitude that we could take towards hypocrisy within the Church and ourselves would be to ignore it, to try to sweep it under the rug, to make the excuses, or to outright deny it. As followers of Christ, it is our responsibility to own up to our shortcomings, to the heinous acts committed under the guise of serving God, and show people that hypocrisy is man’s failure, not God’s. Show them that, while man may say one thing and do another, God has always been, always is, and always will be true to His Word. One thing I need to take care not to do is to turn around and pass judgment on those who criticize people of faith for being hypocritical or ignorant sheep. I need to remember just to continue loving them and to help show them that while God is infallible, man is not. For when we make a conscious effort to help someone else come to know Jesus, or to at least see his love within us, we will inevitably grow closer to him ourselves.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” – Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV)
Reborn & Remade 