Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 0-201 (General)

SO YOU THINK THE CHURCH IS FULL OF HYPOCRITES by Norman Bales

“I’m not going to have anything to do with the church because it’s full of hypocrites.” I suppose most of the people who use that line think they invented it. It’s a handy phrase that gets a person off one’s back, when others attempt to influence them in the direction of regular church attendance. The simple statement that one abhors hypocrisy is supposed to absolve an individual from moral responsibility. The rationale seems to be this. Open sin is OK. It’s only wrong when you try to cover it up. I will certainly concede the fact that hypocrites occupy pews. You could also say that hospitals have dying people among their patients. Hospitals don’t exist to promote dying. Because they promote wellness, they naturally attract the sick and the dying. The church promotes spiritual wellness. It naturally attracts those who are spiritually sick and even some who are spiritually dead. In the number of those who are spiritually sick, you will inevitably find some hypocrites – those who pretend to be righteous, but actually have no intent of being righteous. But let’s stop right there for just a moment. There may not be quite as many hypocrites as you think. The word hypocrite was originally a theatrical term. It was used in the Greek and Roman theaters to describe an actor who performed behind a mask. It gradually came to describe people who knowingly and willingly pretend to be something that they are not. Jesus used the term in this way when he spoke of the Pharisees’ attention to ritual. They observed ritual in precise detail, but lived inwardly corrupt lives (See Matthew 23). Paul described a hypocrite as someone whose conscience had been “seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:2). Most church attenders don’t fit that description. They are sinful. Some will rationalize their behavior. We all have blind spots in our thinking. Sometimes we get trapped by peer pressure and we end up doing things that are wrong. That doesn’t make all of us hypocrites. Why would I say that? Because our INTENT is to walk in the light. The Bible says that those who walk in the light are continually cleansed by Christ’s blood (1 John 1:7). They aren’t hypocrites if they are confessing their sins (confessing means agreeing with God about your sins) according to 1 John 1:9. Sinful behavior in a Christian is never desirable. It needs to be reckoned with, but you hang the wrong tag on the struggling Christian when you call that person a hypocrite.

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Perceptions #200007 From ALL ABOUT FAMILIES Website – http://www.allaboutfamilies.org/