Season 3, Episode - Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is such a repulsive trait. I know we are supposed to love our enemies, but surely Jesus would allow hypocrites to be the exception? The truth is, if I have ever had any person in my life that I could classify as an enemy it would be because the person is a hypocrite!
So in general, when we think of hypocrites in scripture, it is hard not to think of the Pharisees. After all, the Pharisees are the prime targets of Jesus’ comments about hypocrisy. The kind of matters Jesus pointed to when referring to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees was that they outwardly demonstrated their piety, but inwardly they demonstrated no real commitment to the law and God. Their piety was a display. They would give to the needy and announce it. They would pray to be seen. They would fast to show their obedience. But they weren’t just, or merciful. Their faith was only skin deep. They even modified aspects of the law for personal gain. Jesus was not at all shy in calling out these behaviours.
In Luke 12:1 Jesus makes this striking statement that ought to grab our attention. He says
“Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
There are plenty of other verses in which Jesus is warning the disciples, advising them to beware of the Pharisees. But it’s entirely possible to conclude that the warning is simply to alert them to Pharisees' deceptive ways. As in, don’t trust them.
In this verse, Jesus is describing the hypocrisy in the Pharisees as yeast. Yeast is the stuff in bread that makes it rise. It’s an unstoppable substance in the right conditions. When put in the mixture to make bread, the yeast feeds on the sugar in flour and releases carbon dioxide…this is what accounts for the rising nature of yeast. My husband makes homemade pizzas, and inevitably he puts yeast into the dough. And within 1 hour the dough has doubled in size.
Jesus was definitely warning the disciples…but he was warning them not to become LIKE the Pharisees. This is way more significant than simply not being deceived by their ways. He is warning them not to consume the yeast they have consumed. Because the yeast of hypocrisy grows. Now there’s a good chance that you like me, assumed that this ‘growing’ speaks of how hypocrisy can permeate our own lives. We typically interpret passages like this in an individualistic way because of the culture we have grown up in. And this may be true, but listen to what Galatians 2:13 says:
“The other jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.”
Paul here is talking about Peter who began to separate himself from the gentiles and others joined him in this act, including Barnabas. Paul calls this hypocrisy.
This spreading nature of hypocrisy, may not be about us as individuals as much as it is about the collective influence of one hypocrite in a community of authentic believers.
I’ve been a believer for many years now, and I have never observed this warning against hypocrisy as a temptation. When I’ve read those passages, I’ve thought of the kind of people, OTHER people, that might fit the bill of a hypocrite. But I’ve never wondered if I could in fact be a hypocrite…and just how devastatingly bad that could be for my entire life and future and those around me if even one iota of that yeast of hypocrisy were in me. Hypocrisy is OUR responsibility. We are warned to prevent hypocrisy.
1 Peter 2:1 now has some added weight to it. 1 Peter 2:1 says:
“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”
This is how hypocrisy is given such a prominent place in a verse like this. This is how Jesus can claim that he never knew those who healed in his name in Matthew 7:22. The broader context of that passage is that Jesus has been warning against false prophets, narrow gates and of course…hypocrisy.
So it is absolutely critical that we understand this concept…Because it would seem that even our salvation is at stake according to Matthew 7. Even Matthew 24:51 states:
“He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
This verse is within the context of a parable, but it is concerning that hypocrites are noted to be assigned to a place that sounds an awful lot like hell.
WHAT IS HYPOCRISY?
The word hypocrite is derived from the Greek term hypokrites which means ‘actor’ or ‘stage player’. In other words a hypocrite is one who pretends or fakes. Now I wonder why anyone would need to fake faith? We’ll answer that question a bit later, but let’s just try to understand the nature of hypocrisy a bit more.
For hypocrisy to occur there has got to be some kind of misalignment or inconsistency between the external appearance and the inner workings of the heart. It doesn’t necessarily mean it is on purpose, in fact I would argue that most hypocrites are painfully unaware of their hypocrisy. That might be obvious from how surprised they act when they are confronted about their hypocrisy…like the Pharisees often reacted.
But of course, Jesus demonstrates that hypocrisy is not really hidden to others at all, especially not God. The only person hypocrisy is hidden to, is the individual perpetrating the hypocrisy! Which is one of the most critical things to know about hypocrisy - it is a type of self-deception. When you’re a hypocrite you’re actually convinced that you are doing the right thing, and that your faith is genuine. Look in truth we all are unaware to a degree of things in our life. In some cases we have denied them. It’s not being unaware that makes us hypocrites. It’s when we are faking it. And the faking may be intentional or unintentional. Ordinarily, I would presume that Jesus would have grace for those unintentional things, but we don’t see a lot of grace from Jesus in the way he treats the Pharisees. So I guess, we probably shouldn’t presume that just because we may have unintentional hypocrisy that we’re off the hook and certainly this could be the reason for Jesus’ frequent reminders and cautions about hypocrisy - we aren’t supposed to excuse unintentional hypocrisy, NO we are supposed to be VIGILANT against it.
Now we should be significantly concerned based on this description. Because I think if we are being honest, we all know we fake faith just a little bit. We aren’t completely honest about who we are and the degree of challenge we experience in our faith. And sometimes we absolutely fake our faith in front of others, to seem spiritual, to protect ourselves, to avoid being judged…they aren’t bad reasons and aren’t we simply using discernment when we are careful about sharing? Yes, again there is more to this. Let’s keep going.
There are two relationships we must observe when it comes to hypocrisy. There is an interplay between hypocrisy and judgement. And there is an interplay between hypocrisy and pride.
In Matthew 7:1-5 we can see a little bit of the relational nature between hypocrisy and judgement. Jesus in verse 1 says:
“Do not judge or you too will be judged.”
He then goes on in verse 4 and 5:
“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.”
Jesus considered it hypocritical to be preoccupied with the sin of others, when there was sin in one’s own life and especially asserted superiority over others. And certainly this is the problem with judgement right? Krino, the Greek word here translated as judgement, means to distinguish, to separate, or to discriminate. It implies a critical spirit. This passage is not suggesting that we remove discernment, or that we ought not make determinations upon a person's life…I mean we do have a legal system. It’s not saying that we aren’t to exercise good judgement, but he is talking about having a judgemental attitude. And here Jesus is calling the person with a judgemental attitude, a hypocrite. So at the very least we can see that he couples these two together in this instance.
Similarly with Pride, there is a relationship between hypocrisy and pride. Scriptures don’t tell us a bucket load about pride and hypocrisy, it just gives us these hints. In Matthew 6:2 Jesus says:
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others.”
The important statement here is “to be honoured by others”. We all want to be honoured, in the sense that we want respect. But this is talking about public honour, self-glory and reputation. Self-glory sounds a lot like pride. So it’s a hint, not necessarily proof.
So why is hypocrisy such a problem?
Why does it demand this kind of attention?
Hypocrisy is not really an unknown Pink Elephant in the church. We’ve all had non-believers remark on Christian hypocrisy, and for the most part we are too busy defending the church to really consider whether their description is true. But herein lies the problem with hypocrisy.
The gospel of Jesus Christ coming to earth is actually transformative. It doesn’t need additions, embellishment or exaggerations to accomplish the transformative power inherent in its nature. But hypocrisy misrepresents the value of the gospel, it is AT BEST a superficial adjustment. Which is not a transformation at all. We aren’t doing God any favours when we can only present a superficial change. And we aren’t doing ourselves any favours either, since we then fail to experience the fullness of this gospel. We miss the true power of the gospel when we accept the superficial over the inner transformation. So that’s the first point - hypocrisy nullifies the real power of the gospel.
The second reason hypocrisy is such a significant problem is because on the surface a person with hypocrisy looks religious. They actually look like someone who is really faithful, which is what makes it so deceptive. But there’s actually no truth in how they live. And you won’t know that for certain unless you get close enough to REALLY see the truth…and often hypocrites are really good at keeping you at a distance. Hypocrisy is really difficult to detect, not just in others but in ourselves. With just enough inconspicuous walls, a hypocrite can keep the truth hidden.
But I want to ask you one more question because we get really deep. If hypocrisy is so significant to Jesus, why aren’t we more preoccupied with it? Why is it not one of the most preached topics, and why haven’t more people taken the time to work out how we practically combat this very subtle enticer? Why are we so busy defending the church against the claims the world makes about our hypocrisy, instead of working out how we ensure that hypocrisy is so far from the church and Christianity, as Peter, Paul and Jesus implored?
Why does it happen?
Why would anyone need to fake faith? Why would hypocrisy be attractive especially when you consider how repulsed most of us are by it?
Well to answer this question, we must return to Luke 12 where Jesus warns the disciples against the yeast of hypocrisy. When you read this passage, it would seem that there are some obscure ideas that Jesus talks about. By that I mean they don’t immediately seem to naturally flow within the overarching theme of hypocrisy. Starting in verse 1:
“Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”
So when someone tells you “Don’t do this” or “Be careful”, usually thereafter is the explanation of why this advice is important and needs to be observed. For example, “don’t touch the stove…because you’ll get hurt”. In this passage, Jesus on the surface seems to lead into an obscure point: that nothing is ultimately hidden. That those things which one conceals will be made known. Now that we understand a bit about hypocrisy we have a bit better understanding as to how this relates. Jesus’ first ‘why’, is that if there is a disconnect between the inner and outer self, if there is pretence in our faith…it will be revealed. It will not stay hidden.
So whilst this might explain the reason to heed Jesus’ warning about hypocrisy, it doesn’t necessarily tell us why we would even be tempted by hypocrisy in the first place. Let's continue. Verse 4
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
The focal point of this verse is fear. Jesus is saying Fear God.
When Jesus is saying to Fear God, the passage implies that this is in opposition to some other fear. It is as though fearing God, is the antonym to fearing something else. So what is this ‘something else’? Verse 4 says “do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more”.
See Galatians 2 tells us the reason why Peter withdrew from the gentiles. He did so because he was afraid of those in the circumcision group, it says so in verse 12 (“he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group”)
So many of the occasions in which Jesus is chastising hypocrites, he points out that their preoccupied with appearances at the expense of genuine faithfulness and obedience.
Hopefully this is all coming together for you now. Hypocrisy stems from a fear of man, over a fear of God.
It is our concern for others and their opinion of us that breeds hypocrisy. Scripture tells us this so often:
Proverbs 29:25 - Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
Isaiah 51:12 - So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear?
Galatians 1:10 - Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.
Deut 1:7 - Never fear men, because judgement belongs to God
When I’ve heard these kinds of verses they are often preached in reference to evangelising and sharing the gospel with non-believers. But most, if not all of the contexts we’ve read so far pertain to the people of God. The hypocrisy began out of concern for what other believers thought. In the case of Peter in the book of Galatians, his fear was caused by the uncircumcised group. The uncircumcised group were Christians! It’s more often the fear of other Christians that drives the behaviour to fake our Christianity. Because we know how harshly Christians can judge, even our own Christian friends. Here, let me prove it to you.
Assuming that you swear, I know many of you don’t, but if you were to swear, who would you most likely do it in front of? Your Christian friends or your non-Christian friends? And you can’t say neither or I don’t swear! This is a hypothetical. Who would it be in front of, if you were to swear?
My guess is most of you said your non-Christian friends. So here’s the truth: A LOT of Christians swear. And I’ve heard just as many Pastors and Leaders swear as congregants. Now to be honest swearing doesn’t really bother me, I’ve listened to swearing all my life…I haven’t had a choice! The point I’m trying to make is, that we are more often than not faking faith for the benefit of other believers, more than our non-Christian friends. That’s how so many Christians will often say they feel safer with their non-Christian friends than their Christian friends.
Now I can’t help but feel like this is such a sad state of affairs. We are more concerned about being judged by one another in Christian community than even by the world. How does this happen? I’ll tell you how…some yeast got in the dough a long time ago. And we are all paying for it. And worse yet, we are all continuing the vicious cycle. This is why I have a soft spot for people deconstructing, because I can see that they are just reacting to the hypocrisy they have seen in the Christian community and decided they don’t want a part of it anymore. Can we really blame them for that? The main difference between them and myself, is that somewhere deep down inside I still have faith that things could change.
This is why I can handle swearing. It’s why one of my values as a leader is to be approachable enough that any Christian could tell me their worst and most shameful thoughts, actions and choices and know that I won’t judge them. I don’t want any Christian to have to fake their faith for me.
The proof that hypocrisy stems from a fear of man is this: when a person genuinely fears God, they care deeply about not being a hypocrite. They care about the truth being the truth. They don’t care about how things look, they care about how things actually are. We see this in the life of David when he says “Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit in me” in Psalm 51:10. The most devastating idea to David in this part of his life, was that his heart may not be genuine. Whatever it took, he was willing for God to make his heart sincere.
Something weird that I do, which I know isn’t for everyone, is I deliberately follow people who hate Christians. Because people who hate Christians are really good at pointing out our inconsistencies. And when I see those inconsistencies pointed out oh so poignantly and so so critically…I don’t excuse the Christian world. I don’t defend us. I reflect on its truth. I reflect on its truth in me first. I have been hateful, when I was supposed to show Jesus’ love that came for the sick, not the well. Who loved the world so much that He gave his whole being to torture and degradation, that all MIGHT…just MIGHT be saved. Just for the sheer opportunity that a solution existed. I confront that hypocrisy in me, I don’t let myself run from it. Because I want to be a follower who cares about how things are, not simply how they look.
So now we understand that hypocrisy stems from a fear of man, and not God. What is the pink elephant, where have we lacked depth in our understanding on this subject?
We are in real trouble - we care all too much about what other believers think. We care too much about what EVERYONE thinks. The fear of man is our pandemic! How often are we making choices about our lives completely based on the opinion of others? Everything from attire to whether we should stay at a church, whether we serve in this area or that area, whether we buy the expensive car or the cheap car…most if not all of it stems from the fear of man. There are Christians working in business who are called to work in a church, but the fear of man stops them. There are Christians working in pastoral ministry who have not been called to it and instead have been called to the business world, that stay in ministry because of the fear of man. There are Christian kids that are faking their faith because of the fear of their parents. There are believers struggling everyday, quite on the edge in life…and you’ll never know till it’s too late, because of the fear of man.
Even those harsh preachers who are super self-righteous that seem like the type that don’t care what others think, are absolutely driven by the opinions and honour of others. Here's the thing about the fear of man and hypocrisy: if you are successful at looking outwardly righteous and get enough affirmation and reward for it, you start to believe your own press. You start to believe that you are more righteous and better than everyone, and you deserve your prominence. You revel in self-glory. You get proud.
Is this not what happened to the Pharisees? The Pharisees were a group of people deeply committed to the law. They developed almost in opposition to the Sadducees who were the rightful levite priests, but were completely dishonouring the laws of God. There is historical literature that mentions the Sadducees not observing the Sabbath and living it up with their elite friends. The Pharisees rebelled against the Sadduccess observance of the law. They offered some hope to the people of God because they spoke of true biblical values. The Pharisees were popular amongst the people. They were praised, they were honoured. But at some point, they started to believe themselves to be greater than they were. The glory became more important than the laws and the truth. When you become successful in a righteousness that is motivated by the fear of man, eventually you believe your own press. And arrogance and pride are bred out of that combination. You start to care less about the people, because you think you're better than them.
We are in a great deal of mess when it comes to this fear of man. We are willing to compromise a lot for it as believers.
2. The fear of man often comes disguised in our own voice. I’ve literally heard so many believers tell me that they stayed in a situation: a church, a job, a relationship (although often way more complex) for way longer than they ought to…because they wanted to be the kind of person who doesn’t give up, or who is faithful. In general, we do have high-ish standards of ourselves as believers. We expect ourselves to be something, at times, that we are not. It’s not wrong for us to persist and stretch, but sometimes it's these self-identifying statements that are motivating our actions and not at all the will of God. We stick with something because we want to believe something about ourselves. It's about our identity, not God's will.
Now here’s the thing…where do you think those self-identifying statements come from? They are often an accumulation of what we’ve heard other people say over the course of our life, and their judgements of what it means to be faithful, servant hearted or ultimately to be a Christian. So if those self-identifying statements ultimately came from someone else's judgement of what it means to be a Christian…doesn’t that mean that we are still motivated by a fear of man? That we have simply appropriated the opinions of others as though it were our own?
When it comes to doing God’s will, why would I think myself unfaithful if I am following Him? Does what I think about myself even matter? No, of course not. But see the truth is, when we are doing God’s will it's not really our own voice that questions our faithfulness. It’s the voice of others disguised as our own. We are making a judgement on how faithful or unfaithful we LOOK according to what we’ve heard others say it is. We’re projecting that criterion onto ourselves. Not necessarily God’s criterion.
I was working at a church for about 6 months, but for some reason God made it really clear that he wanted me to quit. Now I knew that I needed to obey God, but I also knew exactly what those church pastors were gonna think of me because the judgements came disguised as my own voice: ‘Unreliable’, ‘flaky’, ‘inconsistent’, ‘not leaning in’. But I absolutely 100% knew that this was what God wanted me to do. So I had to just wear it. Because even though it was difficult, I wanted to obey God regardless of what kind of reputation it gave me. And that God would only ask me time and again to lay down my reputation if it meant I feared Him. Just like Hosea, or Mary. Or any other person in scripture that obeyed God in spite of what their peers would say about them.
3. If hypocrisy stems from a fear of man over a fear of God, it indicates a few other things about the person who is tempted to hypocrisy. Why would we fear man? We fear man because we need their praise and approval. Because we are unsure of ourselves. Because we don’t want to be rejected by them. Because we don’t want to be abandoned by them. So really hypocrisy is effective at tempting, because of insecurity. Which means again, we are all in trouble. It means the person you know and can’t stand because of how much of a hypocrite they are…are actually a deeply insecure person who has needed the acceptance of man to survive, because they don’t feel very good about themselves. And that big prominent preacher who was cruel and arrogant to you, started out just like the rest of us: insecure, unsure, lacking in identity, self-doubting and in need of the acceptance of man to feel good about themselves.
The fear of God is the only answer to this fear of man. Imagine a scale that measures weights. On one side is the fear of God and the other the fear of man. This scale is not meant to be balanced. And the fear of man is definitely not meant to weigh more than the fear of God. The only way this scale ends up right is if the fear of God is so heavy that the fear of man has been elevated so high that you can’t even see if it's still there. That’s the only way we counteract this problem. We become vigilant about our own hypocrisy - We stop hiding. We stop pretending. We stop saying things to control what people think of us. We stop being cautious because someone’s going to judge us. Let them judge, they’ll answer to God for that anyway. Be honest about where you are with Christ and don’t apologise for that. Let Christ be the one who takes the lead on your sanctification. But even more than that, be apart of the solution to this vicious cycle the Christian world is on - be to others what Christ is to you. Gracious, loving…and safe.