The Cure for Hypocrisy

The dictionary defines hypocrisy as "pretending to be something you aren’t, or pretending to have virtues you don’t have." Like the preacher who says "I want you to get up at 6 in the morning to have prayer time with God. I’ve been getting up at 6am to meet with God ever since I was a college student. It’s made a big difference in my life."

Two days later, you call the preacher at 630am to make a prayer request. His wife says "He’s still sleeping. He’s usually up by 730am. He’ll call you back."

You say to yourself "What a hypocrite! He’s preaching that we should all be up by 6am, and that sluggard is still sleeping!"

But hypocrisy is not just a condition of the clergy. We’ve all had times in our lives when we acted like hypocrites. Your dad says "Stop swearing! I will not tolerate abusive language in my house!"

Three hours later, the Brewers are losing, and your dad swears three times in five minutes. You say "He’s a hypocrite! He says "I won’t tolerate swearing in my house," and he cusses more than I do!"

Jesus saves His strongest words of criticism for hypocrites. Particularly religious hypocrites. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but we need to find out what Jesus says and talk about the cure for the disease of hypocrisy.

In Matthew 23:1-12, Jesus rebukes the leaders for their lack of humility, and now he rebukes them for their hypocrisy. There’s a long Jewish tradition of God sending prophets to warn His people. Isaiah 5:20 says "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil."who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put sweet for bitter and bitter for sweet."

And Amos 6:1 says "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria."

And here in Matthew 23, Jesus issues seven warnings to the religious leaders. Verse 13 says "Woe to you Pharisees and teachers of the law, you hypocrites." In Bible days, a hypocrite was an actor in a play. If the hypocrite was happy, he would put a happy mask on his face. If he was sad, he would put a sad mask on his face.

Jesus is saying "I can see behind your mask! You guys pretend to be religious, but I know you’re play acting. You’re pretending to be something you’re not."

He says "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." You preach about the wonders of God’s kingdom. But you won’t let yourself and others enter the kingdom by believing in Me."

Then verse 15 says "Woe to you Pharisees and teachers of the law, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are! You visit synagogues all across the Mediterranean Crescent. You teach people the rules of the rabbis. But you don’t teach them that God put us on this earth to love others. You don’t teach them that they can have a relationship with God through faith in Me. By the time you’re finished with them, they’re just as stubborn and sinful and antichrist as you are!"

Many churches today are raising sons of hell rather than sons of God. They teach kids that as long as they get baptized and confirmed in the church, they are OK with God even if they drink and swear and blow God off for the rest of their lives. I know this is a popular teaching, but it’s a teaching that comes straight from the pit. The only