SLIDER

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Hypocrisy.


 It's interesting that when Jesus spoke of hypocrisy, he spoke of the Pharisees, the ones who in the outward appearance had it all together, who never showed the public their 'sin.' He never called the adulterer, the cheater, the murderer a hypocrite when they ran to God. Instead he ate with them, hung out with them and accepted them.   
Some today would call Jesus a hypocrite.

But it was the Pharisees that Jesus called the hypocrites -the ones whose righteousness was in their own actions.

 A hypocrite is one who professes certain ideals, but fails to live up to them. 
If we are a christian and we profess Jesus, then we ideally are professing his standards and his way of doing things, yes? His way was grace. His way was forgiveness. His way was running TO the prodigal son the moment the prodigal even took one step in his direction. The father ran to the son. He didn't say "Wait a minute. Stop right there. You screwed up big time. How dare you run back to me, you hypocrite." 
Nope, instead he ran to HIM and clothed him with fine robes and had a party for him.

A hypocrite isn't someone who runs back to God when they realized they messed up. 
A hypocrite isn't someone who stumbles and gets back up and keeps walking ahead. 
Part of the job of the Holy Spirit is to convict of us our error, so we do just that. So we get back up and start walking towards Jesus.
If a person says they believe in Jesus, and they believe in forgiveness and his grace...and then they screw up, get back up out of their mess, and keep walking towards Jesus...they are not being hypocrites, they are walking in the righteousness that JESUS provided despite what they did. Because THAT is what a follower of Jesus professes to believe.

Let's remember, Jesus wasn't joking when he said 'even if you look at another man's wife its the same thing as adultery, even if you hate someone its the same as murder. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. 
Let's not pretend that our sin is any holier than someone elses sin just because its not in public for everyone to see.
It's not by our righteousness that we go to God. Thank God, because according to what he said, we've all committed "the big sins" in our heart. We aren't doing ourselves any favors by lying to ourselves and pretending that's not true. We are all on an equal playing field here. It's by Jesus righteousness that we've been made righteous, not ours.


Sometimes, we need to watch ourselves before we reject the message that Jesus came for. He came for redemption. If we don't acknowledge his ability to pick someone else up out of their sin,  and we spout out the word hypocrite because we see them striving to walk out their redemption through Jesus after a major screw up we heard about...then we reject Jesus ability to redeem anyone...including us in our secret sins. To me that is scary, telling Jesus who he can and who he cannot redeem....or who he is able to redeem.  And then WE   become the hypocrite, professing Jesus, but forgetting and completely ignoring the pain he endured in order to walk out the redemptive work in our lives and in the lives of others. 

It's a great thing to know you are redeemed, and you are made righteous and even though you messed up you can continue walking in the plan of God for your life as his grace continues to strengthen you.

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It's funny when you think these things through, it's obviously because somehow in someway it pertains to us or someone we know or someone we hear of... Otherwise why else would you be thinking about it?
But I actually wrote this as a "facebook status' this morning...and I wanted to share it here as well. 
Because it's something we can all gain truth from.

3 comments:

Annie said...

Preach, Julie. When we criticize others for their mistakes or public failures, we draw a line deciding what God can or can't redeem. And that disbelief that the Lord can redeem anything is itself practical atheism. We don't know hearts; we can't say one way or the other whether someone is a hypocrite or not. Just walking toward His face, acting out the salvation He's provided, is the only way we will ever move forward in faith.

Allison Rebecca said...

ah! very bold post Julie! This is an issue I see in my heart more than I admit. So, so happy to see you back on here-your posts are such a blessing to me!

Anonymous said...

There is Truth in your words. But there is also false information.

We are not saved by "grace" in Jesus. That's nonsense. What do you think it means when Jesus stated that the path to Heaven is a narrow one that one enters through the small gate? He also spoke about the braod path that most people will follow to find salvation.

Your simplistic talk about finding salvation through grace is the broad path that comes from most churches. And as it has been foretold, churches have all but fallen away.

We cannot conform to the world and not walk in hypocrisy. Society constantly throws us into situations that keep us off our guard and failing. We are also led to promote the evils that lead others to Sin. So we are to stop conforming.

Why do you think Jesus lived in poverty and led people to give up their life to follow Him? Remember what he told the rich man? No rich person can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

We were also told to follow the FULL doctrine of GOD's written words. But people who use simple salvation do not follow the whole Bible. Only parts. The whole TRUTH of the Holy Bible appears ugly to the world. Because the world hates the TRUTH. Society leads us to prefer lies over TRUTH. And it shows every day. Simply watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon makes us hypocrites. Listening to an 80s pop song that sings "Heaven is a place on Earth" is the same as walking in hypocrisy. Eating food that we know is bad for our bodies is the same as hypocrisy. Choosing to work a 9 to 5 job that we know promotes someone's financial wealth is a hypocrisy.

And worst of all. To love our life is a crime. Because we were told to hate this life. Because this life provides all things that are contrary to what GOD has expected from us. Pride. Vanity. Etc etc. We were also told to hate our loved ones. Meaning that nothing should come between us and GOD. But loved ones tend to live in our hearts. But they should not be in there at all. Because the heart is deceitful.

Three words we often see at the forefront of false Carnal Christianity are FAITH, GRACE, and LOVE. They get tossed around like free tickets to Graceland. But clearly, Jesus showed us that the walk we are to walk is nearly impossible for most people. The reason why they had trouble getting followers. Because most people aren't willing to give up this life. THERE IS A PRICE!! And Jesus was NOT it. He opened the path. But we have to walk it. It's narrow. And He said the gate is small. Meaning that we MUST leave behind all baggage to enter it. ANd its one way. We must be willing to commit ourselves to it. This life isn't meant for us to be smug, living for our own purpose. The world is in desperate need for action. Sell your home. Go on a mission to lead others out of society. Jesus didn't sit at home on the Internet, waiting for people to find His website. He went looking for them. Spreading TRUTH. Even when people were ready to kill Him for it. And He expects us to do the same. If this world is what you love, it will likely be the last life you have.

 
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