Season: 10 Episode: 150
Listen to episode 146 in Spanish:
Summary:
One of the main reasons people say they won’t go to church is because it’s full of hypocrites. But does that mean only Christians can be hypocrites? We break down Jesus’ words to the religous leaders when He called them hypocrites, as well as why judging others according to an unfair standard is hypocritical. Yet, that doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t judge. This episode is packed with the Bible and will leave you encouraged that Christians aren’t the only ones with the potential to be hypocrites.
Recommended Resources:
Cross Examined Article: Is Teaching Your Kids About God Child Abuse?
Website: shandafulbright.com
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Thanks for joining the HFI podcast where we take cultural issues and tackle them with biblical truth. I have an episode today that might be shorter in length, but it’s something I haven’t tackled from the angle of hypocrisy before.
Before we get into the episode today, I want to announce that HFI is not just a podcast. I get a lot of emails asking about Bible study resources and I love those questions and do my bests to tell you what I do and what works for me. However, there are lots of great resources out there and I’m certainly not the expert when it comes to knowing all of the best resources. But I thought that since I get so many questions, why don’t I offer what I use and if you like it, you can use it too? That’s why I started a Bible study resource line on my website. I have Bible highlighters, sticky notes, journals, and my favorite – inductive Bible study notebooks.
What is a Bible study notebook, you ask?
It’s a study on an entire book of the Bible (or theme), and is spiral bound for easy opening and reading. It’s meant to be written in and it takes you through the book with additional scripture references and places to observe the text so you can properly interpret the text and then apply it to your life. The first study on the website this month is Titus. And some people reference the book of Titus as an “older women teaching the younger women” sort of book, but that doesn’t do Titus justice. Titus is written by Paul and emphasis sound doctrine in a terribly corrupt place – the island of Crete. Paul instructs Titus to preach sound doctrine and set up mentors/disciple makers within the church so that they know how to properly live.
So the them of Titus is right doctrine rightly applied leads to right living.
So if you go to my website, I made this available in two options: a downloadable option so you can purchase and print immediately, or a hard copy option which will be shipped to you. I love it and I love the colors – it’s so feminine and personal to the reader of the word. And it’s something you can keep and pass down to your kids. I mean, I say that because there’s something special about the notes of our moms and grandmas as they write in their bibles. So that might be something to think about.
I’m also extremely excited about the 25 day Advent study notebook coming out at the end of the month, just in time for Christmas. You will also have the option to get that in the downloadable format, but it won’t be available for a few weeks. If you want the hard copy, you can pre-order that one on the website as well. For anyone who purchases a journal, you will get a book mark that tells you how to turn any journal into a prayer journal. And lastly, I literally take my backpack with pens, hiighlighters, notebooks, and Bible to church every sunday. I love pencil pouches. I have the cutest puff pen purses on the site. Go to shandafulbright.com/shop to see all the things there.
And just so you know, the notebooks are all created and organized by me.
I do not hand that job over to anyone. I read through the books, organize the reading, pose the questions, and pray over it until it’s done. And I take it very seriously and hope the woman doing the study has her own time with the Lord, not interrupted by what I might think of the passage. Futhermore, I do not give my opinions in the study notebook. I leave it to you and the Holy Spirit. I think that’s so important when it comes to inductive Bible studies. Again, go to shandafulbright.com/shop to take a look. You can email me with any questions.
Alright, so today we are talking about hypocrisy. What is it and are Christians the only ones who are hypocritical?
Here are the questions we’re going to answer today:
- What is hypocrisy?
- Who did Jesus call hypocrites in the Bible?
- If people who judge are sometimes called hypocrites by Jesus, are we not supposed to judge others?
What is a hypocrite?
There are two definitions for hypocrite? The first one is someone who claims to believe something but acts in a different manner. The second one is someone who preens to be something he’s not. In the Greek, the word hypocrite means actor; literally one who wears a mask.
So then you have to ask if hypocrisy is a sin. Yes, it is. Jesus called out hypocrites all the time and he mostly called out the religious leaders. It’s not because religious leaders are all bad it’s that religious leaders during the first century were saying one thing and living another. They claimed to be righteous yet their hearts were not right before God.
There are two ways of showing hypocrisy:
- Profess a belief and live contrary to that belief.
- Talking down on others when we ourselves are flawed – which mens you’re self-righteous. And that’s exactly what the religious leaders were. They were self-righteous.
But according to the definition of hypocrite, you don’t have to be a Christian to be a hypocrite. Anyone who is self-righteous and looks down on others is a hypocrite. And that brings me to another point about this, not only can anyone be a hypocrite but hypocrisy is really about a contradictory lifestyle between what you say and how you live. It’s really about what you claim and then the evidence of a life lived in accordance with who you say you are.
However, in Christianity, it’s not only about how you live, right? Because you can do all the right things by way of looking the part. You can check the boxes of going to church, reading your Bible, and sticking to the “to-do” list, but it’s a matter of the heart. It’s about the reason you live your life in accordance with God’s word. So there’s a lot that goes into this and when people call Christians hypocrites, you can’t generalize that statement. Anyone can be a hypocrite. But what do they mean when they make that accusation?
Who did Jesus call hypocrites in the Bible?
He mostly called the Pharisees, or religious leaders, hypocrites. Why were they hypocrites? Because they claimed to be children of Abraham yet denied Christ. They claimed to fulfill the law yet lectured Jesus when He healed on the Sabbath. They did not see past their traditions and claimed to be righteous and looked down on everyone else. And they dressed the part. They wore their long robes with tassels and claimed to be righteous but Jesus said inside they were full of dead mens bones.
We’re going to look at Matthew 23 for more context and how Jesus called out the Pharisees for being hypocrites. I’m going to break this up into sections instead of read the entire passage in one shot. I think that will help us better understand the context.
Matthew 23:1-4 says, “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”
They sit in Moses’ seat. What does that mean?
Moses gave the people the law. He was a teacher and leader of Israel. The pharisees teach the law with the authority of Moses. Can you get a higher position of teaching and authority? And Jesus pointed out the inconsistency of their speech and their lives. “Do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.” Their teachings did not match their lives. Notice that Jesus didn’t condemn the law or the teachings. He condemned the pharisees for not living what they taught from the law.
Verses 5-7 say, “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.”
The motivation behind the inconsistency is the appearance of righteousness.
It’s in the length of the phylacteries and the tassels. It’s in the place of honor at banquets by those who want to rub elbows with those who love the authority and position of status. They love to be called Rabbi but they don’t do it for the love of God or His people. A hypocrite is all about pretense. Keeping up appearances only to seem better than others.
And starting in verse 13, Jesus begins the series of woes for the pharisees. It was judgment on them for their hypocrisy. And this gives us insight into why He called them hypocrites. Of course we know Jesus judges the heart and we cannot do that. He’s God and we are not. In the next segment of this episode we’ll talk about how we are supposed to judge without hypocrisy.
First woe in verse 13: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”
They were teachers of the law and shut the door on people trying to enter the kingdom. How did they do that?
They rejected Christ.
15: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”
They’re converting little Pharisees but they become twice the sons of hell.
16: “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?”
They are blind guides because they aren’t teaching correctly. Jesus goes on to say up to verse 22 how they twist the law to fit their agenda.
23-24: 23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”
Jesus is saying they do the law but they do not do it for the right reasons. They are filling traditions without justice, mercy, and faithfulness. They neglect the most important thing – the heart of the matter.
25-26:“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”
Again, Jesus is drawing the attention to outer appearance versus the heart. They were inconsistent. He does the same in verses 27-28 with the white whashed tombs full of dead mens bones metaphor.
These are harsh yet true words. They are a call to repentance and they’re an example for us in the church that appearance is not the same as the heart.
Then how do we judge if we appearances can be tricky?
When thinking on hypocrisy and studying it, I found that hypocrisy is linked to judging incorrectly. Let’s go to Matthew 7 to read the passage on judging and what Jesus says about it.
Matthew 7:1-6 says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 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? 5 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.
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
I’ve talked about judging others before and the Bible never tells us not to judge. It does tell us how to judge with righteous judgment. But notice Jesus calls the person who judges others by a standard they do not judge themselves by a hypocrite. It’s self-righteousness on the part of the person who judged incorrectly. So here He starts by saying, “Do not judge or you too will be judged.” I think this also means you’re going to be judged by your own standard. If you want to judge harshly, you’ll be judged harshly. If you want to judge someone by a standard you set, then you’re going to have to live by that standard. And if you don’t show mercy, you won’t be shown mercy.
So this brings me to my first point – which standard do you use to judge someone by?
It has to be an objective standard and Jesus makes it clear that you cannot judge someone’s heart. The only thing we can do is ask for wisdom to discern right and wrong, even in those who call themselves leaders and teachers. But the standard is God’s standard. And that standard is God’s word. By His word, we know how we ought to live. But just because someone falls short of that standard, like we all do, doesn’t mean they’re not a Christian. If we want to hold someone to that, which is legalism, then we’ll be held to that as well. And when we can’t do it we are being a hypocrite.
Second, Jesus said that wrong judgment is attributed to not first judging ourselves. When we look at others and say, “What a pity. They cannot possibly be right before God because they cuss, drink, and smoke” and our own hears are filled with hatred self-rightousness, then we are using imbalanced scales and we aren’t using the right standard. We aren’t even using that standard to first examine our own hearts. Jesus says this is hypocritical. And He tells us how to judge rightly – first, take the plank out of your own eye. Judge yourself first. Then you will see clearly to judge your brother.
I think there is an attitude of humility when we judge others or we’re not doing it right.
We should do it out of love for our brother or sister in Christ so they do not allow sin to separate them from God and muddy their witness before the world. So judging is not a sin; judging with imbalanced scales is because it’s hypocritical. And again, I think it’s worth noting that christians aren’t the only ones that are hypocrites. Lots of people are, but there is an expectation that if you call yourself a Christian you should strive to live in a manner worthy of the Lord, as Paul instructs us in the NT.
Christians don’t actually claim to be perfect. We don’t claim to meet the standard of righteousness. We know we can’t and that is why we choose Christ. Christ is our righteousness. But we also don’t sin so that grace may about. Again, as Paul says, God forbid.
Close:
I wanted to come at the judging and hypocrisy topic from a bit of a different angle. Everyone always says they won’t go to church because it’s full of hypocrites. Ok. Maybe. But as Frank Turek always says, come on down. There’s room for one more. We’re all hypocritical at times. And Jesus doesn’t condone hypocrisy. He called it out and He told us how to live. May we strive to do that.
If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a 5 star rating and review as it helps get the podcast into the earbuds of others. If you have any questions for me and want me to answer them on my weekly YT channel where the show drops every Thursday, email me at hello@shandafulbright.com. I hope you’ll go to the website and check out some of the Bible study resources we have. I’ll catch you on the next one.
e next one!
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