The Jails Of Hypocrisy
Introduction
The word hypocrite comes from the first-century Greek word hupocrites, which means “given to the actor on a stage,” actors who would wear a mask, use a script, and act out something totally different from whom they really are. There was a whole gang of hypocrites in Jesus’ day, people who lived out lives completely different from whom they were in their hearts, and Jesus had strong words for them. They acted the part of pious people who loved God when the true picture of their hearts was absolutely dark. One gang member was that lawyer who tried to trick Jesus with his questions, and Jesus responded in wisdom and told the story of the good SDamaritan.
This gang of hypocrites – or any hypocrites whom you happen to meet any day and age – in your neighborhood or your church or your mirror – was the exact opposite of Jesus. If He is anything at all, Jesus is 100 percent real. He is bottom-line honest. It is a quality the Bible describes as light. If we are becoming more like Him, it means we are growing more real, more authentic, and more honest. We, too, gain that quality of light.
More Than One Brand Of Hypocrisy
Jesus taught that if you experienced the incredible light of God through the Holy Spirit that you don’t go and hide it – that would by hypocritical.
Luk 11:33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
Luk 11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
Luk 11:35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
Luk 11:36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
We are all hypocrites to a certain extent. How many times have you straightened up your house to receive guests by gathering all of your clutter into a closet of shoving it under a bed to give the impression your whole house is neat and orderly?
Jesus is telling us that just as we wouldn’t stick our finest objects down in the cellar in a dark place, we should not take the wonderful things He gives us – love, joy, peace, and all the fruit of the Spirit – and hide them where no one can see and appreciate them. That’s inauthentic. That’s dishonest. That’s a kind of hypocrisy.
Even Hypocrites Are Given A Chance
We might tend to be harsh with hypocrites; surely this false front is one of the worst kinds of sins. But Jesus offered even hypocrites a chance to change. After calling a spade a spade and holding back nothing in condemning hypocrisy, Jesus was invited to dinner by a certain Pharisee. And He went! This shows that no matter what kind of sin we are involved in, no matter how black our hearts are, He doesn’t refuse to associate with us. We may by scarred by patterns of the basest sort of sin, but Jesus still holds out hope to us.
It is like the call of Matthew the tax collector, told in Matthew 9.
Jesus Calls Matthew
Mat 9:9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
Mat 9:10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
Mat 9:11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
Mat 9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
Mat 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Hypocrisy Brings On Worst Kinds Of Woe
Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers
Luk 11:37 And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.
Luk 11:38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.
Luk 11:39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
Luk 11:40 Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?
Luk 11:41 But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
Luk 11:42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Luk 11:43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
Luk 11:44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
Luk 11:45 Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.
Luk 11:46 And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
Luk 11:47 Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
Luk 11:48 Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
Luk 11:49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
Luk 11:52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Luk 11:53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
Luk 11:54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.
1. Hypocrites Value Rules over Righteousness – The way to salvation is faith instead of works. It is all about service instead of tithes. Pharisees made a bid deal about their giving.
2. Hypocrites Put Reputation over Humility – If you are a hypocrite, it is all about what others are allowed to see, about making sure people like you.
3. Hypocrites Place Popularity over Truth – Hypocrites want to be somebody. They want to be popular and be recognized for how great they are. They may even want to by recognized for what great service they do for God, but they want above all to be recognized.
4. Hypocrites Think It’s All About Me – They want everyone else to obey all of the laws as long as it does not infringe on their freedoms.
5. Hypocrites Hinder Others from Receiving The Truth – The Pharisees did not want everyone to know the truth about Jesus. It threatened their power and authority.