Hypocrisy: 021313

I.                    How many of you are Christians?  By that I mean you have chosen Jesus as your God, asked Him for forgiveness of your sins, and are following Him and His commands.

II.                 Background

a.       During Jesus’ lifetime there was a few different Jewish religious groups that made up their religion.  One of the main groups was one called the Pharisees.  They were a group that wanted to serve God the best they could.  They believed in what we call The Old Testament, they did their best to follow the laws God established in it, but they also added more laws to make it so they were “more” holy.

b.      One of the problem was, they didn’t often live up to the standards they were trying to make others live up to. 

III.               Read Matthew 23:27-28 – ““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

a.       Tombs were where the dead bodies/bones were kept.  They would pain them white to make sure people wouldn’t go near them and become unclean.  Because of this they would look beautiful from the outside, but on the inside it was a different story.  They were full of the rot and stench of the dead on the inside

b.      Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are just like those tombs, they look nice outwardly with all the laws they were following but when you look closer they were messed up, disgusting and wicked.  He tells them they are hypocrites.

IV.              Hypocrites

a.       Hypocrite was a Greek word that came from acting.  They would have someone hold a fake face in front of their own in order to show what emotion was supposed to match their words, but behind their fake face was the real one that didn’t match what was being said.

b.      We use the words “Two-faced.”  Someone who says one thing and does another.

c.       Illus: My beard

V.                 You Hypocrites

a.       Many of you raised your hand that you are a Christian.  So let me ask you this question:  What should a Christian be like?  Or if you want a different one to answer, what are some things a Christian wouldn’t do?

b.      Illus: Girl recruiting girls to give oral sex

c.       Many of you are thinking, “How dare she!  She is not a Christian!”  But what about you.  You might not be doing the same thing, but I am certain that many of you are hypocrites.  Many of you say you are Christian but don’t act that way.  You gossip, you fight, you lie, you steal, you lust, you disrespect, you disobey parents, you look at things you shouldn’t, you swear, you have sex, you drink, you do drugs, you overeat, you are lazy, you listen to music with horrible lyrics, you watch tv shows or movies with awful things in them, you bully, etc…

d.      You act one way at home, one way at church, one way at school, one way around your friends, one way around your family, one way around people you don’t like, one way around your boyfriend or girlfriend, and one way when you are alone

e.       You are a whitewashed tomb, saying you are a Christian but then full of evil in your life.

VI.              Conclusion

a.       I am not saying this to condemn you or to say I am better than you.  I am a hypocrite too.  But I am saying this to challenge you. 

b.      If you are saying you are a Christian it is time to start actually living like a Christ-follower.  Stop living a double life!

c.       Are there any of you that this is resonating with tonight?  That would say, yep I am living a double life and I want to stop being a hypocrite. Raise your hand.  Let us pray together and ask God for forgiveness and promise to start living better starting tonight.

d.      Pray

e.       Tonight is Ash Wednesday, the start of a special 40 day period leading up to Easter, the day we celebrate Jesus raising from the dead.  During this period, called Lent, Christians often fast, or give up something.  We use this time to give up something but then replace it with something good, so that we can grow closer to God.

f.        During our application time, you have a sheet in your tub to fill out that is a promise of what you want to give up during lent and what virtue you want to replace it with.  So maybe tonight while we were talking about hypocrisy you thought of an area in your life that needs to change.  So you could say, for the next 40 days I am replacing what I have been listening to and instead going to listen to music that has lyrics that honor God.