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Killing Hypocrisy To Bring Honor To God

I see a lot of people growing in a lot of ways – financially, successfully in the business world, in their status and power, but the question is – are you growing in the Lord?

After writing a few things about hypocrisy, I came across this passage during my morning prayer and Bible reading time – Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things (Romans 2:1). Jesus is telling us to avoid the “do as I say, not as I do” lifestyle and words.

Just like the people of Jesus’ day, many of us might say – I would never be hypocritical. And yet:
We condemn murderers; while we still hold onto hate & anger.
We condemn adulterers; while we allow our eyes to wander and provide us with lustful thoughts.
We condemn liars; though we are not fully truthful with many others, including our spouses/kids.
We condemn the greedy; but we are not giving a minimum of 10% of our income to the Lord.
We condemn those who talk about us behind our backs by gossiping about them to others.
We condemn law breakers and criminals; while we ourselves pick and choose which laws we will follow (such as disobeying traffic laws and speed limits; violating copyright laws for illegal music and movies; finding ways to get around tax laws; etc.)
We complain about those who aren’t as “good” as us morally or who are not as religious as us; yet we are not spending any significant time with God in prayer or reading His Word.
We complain about how church leaders & other members are serving; though we are not willing to roll up our sleeves and serve.
We hear what church leaders are saying to us; but we still aren’t telling others about God and His gospel.

And because of all this, we stand in judgmental condemnation (which Jesus condemns), rather than loving reconciliation (which Jesus desires). And though you probably don’t do all of these things, maybe you see one or two in that list above that describes some habit you need to remove from your life.

Paul tells us the problem is this – “you, therefore…who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? … You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written (Romans 2:21-24).

So the problem with hypocrisy in Christians is that those who don’t know the Lord will see such inconsistency in our lives, that they will not hold God in high esteem. This is why it is important that we change these patterns. Instead of His Name being blasphemed, we need His name to be honored because of us. So Jesus tells us to . . . let your light shine before others in such a way that they see your good deeds and glorify your Heavenly Father because of your consistent, honest, moral lifestyle.

Let’s be willing to look inward, to be honest with ourselves, and to root out any inconsistency and hypocrisy that might be in our lives. We need to work on killing hypocrisy – making sure our lives bring honor and praise to the name of God in all that we say and do.

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Repentance & Forgiveness – Two Great Needs

We have a desperate need for repentance & forgiveness. We have a great need for repentance of our own failures and a great need to forgive others of their mistakes against us.
the words "I am sorry and I forgive you" to express the ideas of repentance and forgiveness
We have a forgiving God — A God who knew of our great failures and great sins and yet loved us in spite of our unrighteousness because of who He is. Our great need for forgiveness required Jesus to serve as the atoning sacrifice for our failures. However, Jesus stated that He didn’t come for those who trusted in their own righteousness, but for those who were able to acknowledge their failures before a Holy & Righteous God. For us to receive forgiveness we must be people of repentance.

King David was called a man after God’s own heart. Was that because he was always a righteous man? No. David became involved in some pretty unsavory stuff – adultery, deceit, premeditated murder. But I like this statement about David’s heart from Jonathan & Lisa Moore:
“David was a man after God’s own heart not because he never failed, but because he never failed to repent.”

Repentance is not the only reason David was called a man after God’s heart, but I do believe it is a significant part of it. We need to be willing to do the same before our Holy God – never failing to repent. Our society disagrees and tells us that no one has a right to tell us that something we are doing is wrong. But God takes a different point of view. His character and His word provide us with a clear definition of right and wrong. And when we find ourselves on the wrong side of God-honoring behavior, we must never fail to repent if we want to remain in fellowship with God. And thankfully, graciously, God is always always ready to forgive and restore us back to a right relationship with Him.

That brings us to our second need. If we have a loving God who is so willing to forgive us, then why do we so often hold back forgiveness from others. We get angry and upset with others for so many different reasons, sometimes rightfully so. But it doesn’t change the fact that we are still called to offer forgiveness. God calls us to be people of love, but what is unforgiveness?

“When boiled down to its essence, unforgiveness is hatred” (John R. Rice).

‘But they hurt me so badly…’ ‘They angered me so much…’ ‘They talked behind my back…’ ‘They slapped me in the face…’ But whatever they did, it is in the past. And forgiveness isn’t so much about the past as it is the future. “When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future” (Bernard Meltzer). By holding out forgiveness to those who have mistreated us, we open up the possibility of reconciliation and unity for the future. And the reconciling God of heaven has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

Never fail to repent. And always be willing to offer forgiveness.

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Judging the Wrong Thing

Yesterday I made the crazy argument that we actually should be judging the behavior of a sign that says 'don't even think of parking here' symbolizing our judging of othersChristians (which we often don’t do) and that we shouldn’t be attacking the behavior of unbelievers (which we often find ourselves doing). How can that be right? Well, let’s take a quick look at a few verses at the end of 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul tells us:

When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people. It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside….

What? That’s in the Bible? Yep, God tells us in several places that we are to hold each other accountable as believers. We often don’t do this. One important point about this – it is to be done in love. And so often, when we actually do decide to hold someone accountable it is not done so in love, rather it is done in condemnation and arrogant pride. How is this possible when we are to be known as people who love each other as family and who should be quick to invite others into the love of our family?

So what we find is that instead of following the words of God, instead of holding each other accountable in love, we are becoming known as those who attack unbelievers. When Christian researchers at the Barna Group asked young adults in America what words best describe Christianity, the #1 response was “anti-homosexual.” And this was true of both non-Christians and church attenders. That blows me away – that if you ask a young adult in America to define Christianity, the definition you will likely get is a negative statement of what we are against, instead of what we are for. We seem to have strayed a long way from our model, Jesus. He wasn’t known as a hater of immoral people. In fact, He was attacked by the religious groups for being a friend of sinners! What happened that we are no longer called that?

Dr. Russell Moore indicates (regarding this one societal issue) – “I think it’s not so much that churches haven’t wanted to talk about it,” he said, “but they haven’t recognized how much the culture has changed around them.” The first step, said Moore, is learning to defend traditional marriage without demonizing homosexuals. “If we can’t empathize with what’s going on in their hearts and minds, we’re not going to be able to love and respect them.”

Dr. Moore’s statement just sheds light on the fact that many Christians do not hold out love to those who do not hold to Christian morality. By taking this stance, we are keeping people from ever coming to Christ and from the possibility of being transformed to have Christian morality.

So yes, we find non-Christians doing whatever they think is right in their own eyes. But instead of us loving them toward Christ. We find that we are doing the same – we have decided to do what is right in our own eyes – judging non-Christians and not reaching out to those without Him in love. At some point, we desperately need to return to letting God be the One that guides us, rather than our culture and our own desires. When we do that, maybe we will find that the words that best describe us are words that tell what we are for – love, unity, compassion – rather than words that tell what we are against.

Why do you think Jesus is known for the love He had (and the things He was for), while we Christians in America today are known for the things we are against? How do we fix this?

— brian rushing

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Is Anybody Doing the Right Thing?

We find that we all want to do the right thing. But who gets to define what is right? If my freedom infringes on yours, can I still say that I am “in the right”?

In the OT book of Judges we find this statement:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Bible page
There was no king in Israel – the people didn’t have a human king to give them direction and purpose, but even worse than that… the people had rejected God as the King of their lives, their hearts, & their minds. Today we find we are in a similar situation in America. In these days, though we have a President in the Oval Office as the leader of the nation, we have (as a nation) rejected God as our spiritual King and therefore everyone does what is right in his or her own eyes.

However, our role as believers is not to determine whatever we think is right and follow it. Rather, we are to know God’s Word and accept what He says is right. And then we are to hold each other accountable to solid, faithful obedience. But as soon as we try to do so, we hear from those who call themselves believers and yet who are not following God’s Word that “you can’t judge me…. God says ‘Do not judge so that you will not be judged,’ and ‘don’t try to get the speck out of my eye when you have a log in your eye.’ So you don’t have a right to judge my behavior.”

But that is so very far from the truth. We’ve heard it so often that many of us have also started to believe it to be true. Don’t buy it! The Bible tells us that believers ARE to hold each other accountable. We are to keep each other growing and on the right path. We are to do so with love. Interestingly enough, the Bible also tells us that we aren’t to focus on attacking the ungodly behavior of non-Christians, but just to love them to the Lord.

What? We should judge each other as believers, but not judge the immorality of non-believers? That can’t be right! But that is straight from the Bible.

Here’s the deal – People shouldn’t have to clean up their lives to come to Christ, but too often that is what we want to require. We want a non-Christian to hold to Christian beliefs. But why should they? Why would they? Why are we holding to these unreasonable expectations? Instead of us judging them, we should love them and show them Christ, remembering that once upon a time, we were in the same place they were – without Christ. Once their eyes are opened to see the beauty of Christ and His love, and they begin a relationship with Him, He will begin to convict them and help them to clean up their lives.

Let’s let that soak in and tomorrow we’ll explore it just a bit more…

Why do you think that we are so unwilling to hold each other accountable as believers, yet so quick to condemn people who are not believers?

— brian rushing

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The Tragedy and Hell of Racism

red sign reading "No Admittance" symbolizing the prejudice and racism we often hold
Today I want to give you an extended quote from Ravi Zacharias. In case you are wondering where I stand on the issue, I am in full agreement with Ravi. I believe that not only is the issue of racism tragic in general, but the fact that Christians are still wrestling with the issue of loving others across cultural or ethnic or financial or skin-color lines is absolutely atrocious.

Ravi says it well:
“As we look across this globe today; there are few things that are as deeply troubling and volatile as this issue—the tragedy and the hell of racism. The pain of personal rejection by reason of birth alone is one of the deepest pains a human being can ever experience.

“I do not know how many of you heard the tennis great Arthur Ashe interviewed [after] he had contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion…. This greatly admired and mild-mannered gentleman looked into the eyes of the small army of reporters interviewing him & said, ‘As painful as it is to know that I have this dread disease, nothing could be as painful as the rejection I have endured all my life by virtue of my color.”

“Think of the agony encased in those words…. That a man so respected, so talented, so gentlemanly could express that the pain of the disintegration of his body was secondary to the deep, emotional suffering he had endured over a lifetime of personal rejection because of his color—is very sobering (Ravi Z.)”

As a Christian, I am to love my neighbor as myself. The story of the Good Samaritan was a story that attacked prejudice. And yet, too many of us Christians have refused to be obedient to Christ who loved not only those like Him, but also the Samaritan and the Gentile. He reconciled them by the cross. (you can read more about His reconciliation in Ephesians 2:11-22)

I continue to hear people say that prejudice will always exist and that we can’t really do anything about it.
I continue to hear that the issue is too big.
And if that is my belief, then my God is too small.
And if that is your belief, then your God is too small.

And if we are still holding prejudicial attitudes toward others based on skin color and yet call ourselves Christians, we are in sin. Read 1 John for a good discussion of how we who are called Christians are to love all other people (and especially our Christian brothers and sisters).

I know that prejudice does exist and will continue to exist in society, but tragically it still exists in the church – the one group that Jesus prayed would be perfected in unity. It is time for me to be obedient in stamping out any prejudice within me and helping others (especially within my church family) to do the same. To refuse to do so is to refuse to allow Jesus to have complete Lordship in my life.

God, Help Us To Change Our Conversations, Our Hearts, & Our Minds!

— brian rushing