Message
I like words. Especially words which are full of emotion. Politics. Freedom. Romance. Equality. Destiny. They are all words which create emotion. So does this one … hypocrite.
The word hypocrite comes from the Greek word for actors. It literally means to put on a mask – which is what actors in the early days would do when they went on stage. The main goal of acting is to pretend.
If you ever have a chance to meet an actor they are very different people from what they are like on the stage or screen.
Their whole life is all about taking off their true identity and putting on a false identity.
Which is OK really – because that is acting – actors are literally allowed to be hypocrites.
But that is not the case when it comes to Christianity. If we are to be followers of Jesus we can’t be actors. Jesus Himself makes that very clear in the Sermon on the Mount.
Read Matthew 6:1-18
Jesus is very much against hypocrites isn’t He.
Jesus doesn’t want people to turn on their righteousness when they step into the limelight. Jesus doesn’t want holiness to start just because the music has begun.
Jesus wants people who are real. To help us see what that means Jesus gives three practical examples.
Giving to the Needy
Play Acting Righteousness.
In the days of Jesus if there was a crisis or a great monetary need, the leaders of the temple would blow a trumpet to let people know so they could come to temple and help with funds.
You can imagine Simeon Bartholomew working away in his bakery. The trumpet sounds.
Quickly he packs up and closes the shop.
Then he takes his money bag and walks with a determined look on his face to the temple.
Everyone knows where he is going and what he is going to do.
As he walks along other people are thinking, “Isn’t Simeon such a holy person!” Tomorrow they will come to his shop and buy his products because he is such a generous person. Quietly everyone gives Simeon a clap and cheer. Simeon has his reward – the praise of men.
That is play-acting righteousness and it creates real problems. Our society esteems people who show generosity don’t they. The corporation that supports the Royal Children’s Hospital with one of those big cheques. We look at that and we say, “They are such great people because they give so much?” Really?
Or is it more true to say that they have the opportunity because of the size of their income? In the Christian family we do not want people to think it is the size of the donation that makes you righteous. It is the heart behind it. Later in Jesus life He will be at the temple and He will be watching what happens there.
As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “I tell you the truth,” He said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Luke 21:1-4
When it comes to giving to the needy this is Jesus Righteousness.
He says, “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”.
Jesus is not giving us a literal command.
You get your wallet out of your pocket while at the same time hiding your other hand away. It is obvious isn’t it that Jesus is using an extreme example to emphasise the importance of this teaching.
What Jesus wants is people who forget how generous they really are.
You kind of know because you set money ask for His work.
In these days when you can claim some of your giving on tax – well there are records.
But really you don’t really know and, honestly, you don’t really care.
You don’t care because, for God, the amount you give is not the issue. God doesn’t need our money because it is His in the first place. Besides, if he wants something to happen the money will come, with or without you. It isn’t the amount, but the attitude.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
The word for cheerful here is “hilarious” – I’m laughing my head off as I give because it is just material stuff anyway. It’s not about me anyway, it is about others. I don’t want others to know, I just want the satisfaction of being able to help.
Such people get a reward as well. Their reward is that they are becoming more like God. God is generous. When we give in secret with generosity according to our means, then we become more like God.
Giving to the needy – hypocrites need not apply. That is the first practical example.
Prayer – Play Acting Righteousness
In the days of Jesus the whole town was encouraged to pray regularly. At certain times people would stop on the street and face a certain direction and pray. Now many of these people would pray with right motives … but some would not.
They might pray the longest.
Or use the most eloquent words.
It looks like they are talking to God, but really they are just talking to the people around them. And again they get the congratulations of men, “They are such Holy people” … but God’s not listening to them, because they are not talking to God anyway.
You wonder if we can sometimes fall into the same trap – especially when it comes to, what I call, the prayer voice. You know. We are out somewhere with other believers. And you are having a conversation.
How you going mate? She’ll be right. Aussies using the Aussie slang and our Aussie accent. Then we are going to pray. All the sudden our accent and our vocabulary ability changes. “Our gracious heavenly Father. We thank thee that thou are sovereign and eternal”. It’s just not how we talk is it.
Or you have the other side of the coin.
Jesus I just … mmm … we just Jesus … Oh Jesus mmm.
What is that saying really?
Prayers for show. Prayers for length. Praying as if this is the only way to pray. Here again we have to be so careful. Because what happens is that people hear these prayers and then think, “I can’t pray like that, I must not be as righteous, so I won’t pray at all”. I’m convinced that there are many people who don’t pray, either in their home or in public, because they think that the way they are praying is not up to scratch.
Again, later in His ministry, Jesus will tell a parable about two men who pray. One, a Pharisee, prays for a very long time.
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
Matthew 18:13
A short prayer. No fancy words. Just honest.
When it comes to prayer this is Jesus Righteousness.
Go into your room and pray in secret.
One version of the Bible translates this verse as:-
Go into your wardrobe and shut the door.
Some people have taken this literally and sit in their wardrobe and pray. No-one does that unless you are C S Lewis.
What Jesus is doing is giving an extreme example to make a spiritual point.
He is not against public prayers – there are many public prayers in the Bible. But Jesus is raising a question.
Do I pray more fervently and frequently when I am alone with God than I do in public?
Is my public prayer life an overflow of my private prayer life?
Or really, is what I pray in public just about it?
Then, just to show how simple it really is, Jesus gives us a model prayer. Jesus is teaching us how to pray. It’s how we stand or side. It’s not even about opening or closing your eyes. The when … the where … the actions around them. Not an issue. When Jesus shows us how to pray His main focus is on what to pray.
How to pray is what to pray.
God I know you are with me – but I am having a rough time.
May your Name be honoured – use me to do that.
May your kingdom come – change me in the process.
Forgiveness my sins and the sins of others.
Help us all to deal with temptation.
Help us to be sincere.
Simple. Everyday language. Effective. A prayer which comes because you have the same heartbeat as the Father.
Not looking sideways at the human spectators of our prayers.
Not thinking that the probability of getting an answer to prayer is directly proportional to the number of words we use.
Then you will get your reward – which will be answered prayer.
Prayer – hypocrites need not apply. That is the second practical example.
Fasting – Play Acting Righteousness.
Now, for many modern Christians, fasting is not something that is done or done often. That is a whole other sermon but the short version would have two main points:-
1) There is no need to say that fasting is only an Old Testament concept.
2) The bigger issue here is not just fasting, but being those who are self-disciplined.
You see fasting is an act of sacrifice on a personal level. Here you agree to give up something that you really enjoyed because you know it is controlling you ... as opposed to allowing yourself to be controlled by God. You also fast as a sign of deep reverence and brokenness before God. It is a spiritual discipline. And there are many spiritual disciplines.
In Jesus day people specifically fasted. You could tell immediately because they would walk around with glum faces, unkempt hair, unwashed clothes all as a sign that they were fasting. People would point and say:
Look how holy they are. Giving up soap. Not washing their clothes. Not eating. All sad and sorry. But the reality is there are heaps of uni students that look that and they are certainly not thinking about a spiritual discipline.
Outward show just doesn’t cut it in the eyes of Jesus – because outward show can mean anything. In the past it used to be the clothes you wore.
At one stage a suit and tie were the only thing. The more dressed you were the more holier. I can tell you that I know what happened in the heart of the person under the suit – it wasn’t holy. The came the counter-swing. Casual. Jeans. No shoes. Hip. Cool. Then that became the standard of holiness and a sign of self-righteous self-display. Still hearts were not changed.
It’s easy to see the danger here isn’t it. If Christianity is just reduced to outward appearance and so-called holy practices – then all it becomes is a set of rules to follow.
Obey the rules and you are in.
Disobey the rules and you are out.
Cults work like that. So does the local basketball team.
It doesn’t make you a Christian. Jesus once condemned the Pharisees for this very attitude.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
Matthew 23:25-26
This is Jesus Righteousness.
You start on the inside and make sure your heart is right. The stuff on the outside – the way that we live for God – then sorts itself out. At the same time you make sure that your appearance to the world is normal.
Use deodorant. Wash your face. Be the same as everyone else.
Certainly you don’t want to attract attention to yourself by being a religious nutjob.
You don’t want to create this false sense of what being close to God is all about – and then putting people off because of the extremes.
Fasting – hypocrites need not apply.
Three examples with the same basic message.
Are you a real Christian? Or a great Oscar winner.
Is it heart? Or is it just all an outward appearance.
It is an important question because, eventually, everyone gets sick of play acting.
Do you know why actors get so much money?
Because acting is hard work.
Pretending to be someone you aren’t.
Doing actions that don’t come naturally.
Convincing audiences that your character is real.
It’s hard work trying to be someone you are not – Jesus came so that our spiritual life would not be a burden, but a joy.
Ultimately there is something even more foundational going on. You see Christian hypocrites say that they believe in God, but really they don’t.
They are more interested in what other people think then what God thinks.
They are more interested in the Oscar than they are in following the Bible.
Essentially they are atheists. Atheist who pretend that all is ok between them and God.
God doesn’t want an actor … a hypocrite … He wants you to be real. Real people fail. Pretenders pretend that they don’t fail.
Who are you?
Prayer
