Hypocrites! and how we learned to love them.

Hypocrite!

Everyone is a hypocrite. I am one for sure. But it’s a label that always seems to go together with Christian. “That church is full of hypocrites!” It’s easy to say that about Christians, especially since we not supposed to sin. And what’s worse, like adding salt to a wound, is that we tell other people not to sin. You can see this isn’t going to end well.

The first misconception is we’re not supposed to sin. Before you take up the pitchfork, flaming torches, Bibles, and any combination thereof, let me quickly explain. Yes, I know that the Bible says we aren’t supposed to sin. If you love God, you will follow his commands. However, it’s not as easy as it looks. Just by becoming a Christian and saying that you love God, won’t stop you from sinning. The only one who can do that is the Holy Spirit living inside you. But even then, you will never be able to stop sinning. It’s simply impossible. It’s like trying not to breathe air. Maybe when you are able to stop breathing, then perhaps you can stop sinning. Even then, there’s no guarantee. I mean, who knows, maybe when you keel over, you fall on top of somebody’s dog and kill it or something, I dunno. God doesn’t expect us to hold to his perfect standard. If he did, we wouldn’t have needed Jesus. The old way, the old convenant would still be in effect. But God knew that we will fall, he expects us to fail. But the beautiful thing is, that He created a safety net for us…. Jesus Christ.

Paul talks about this far better than I.
20The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 5:20-21)
This is just one part of the discourse on sin and grace. I’m not going to talk too in-depth because frankly, Paul writes it better than I. Pretty much the rest of Romans deals with grace and sin. And if Paul’s writings are a little too dense with information, there are lots of books dealing with just this one topic. Here are a few that I would recommend.

On to the second point! The easiest way I have found to avoid being called a hypocrite (or at least avoid being called one to my face) is to not criticize other people. One very famous verse which I take to heart personally is, when Jesus said, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." (Jn 8:7) Since it’s pretty well-established by now that I have lots of sins, I definitely am the last person to start throwing stones at anyone. However, sometimes it’s unavoidable. But those times are usually reserved for extreme cases, like if it involves harming a person or causing others to stumble. But for little nitpicks like, “Oh you should tithe”, “You should volunteer for ministries”, “You should wear pants”, those things are very minor. And there are better ways to criticize people than using the word “You should”. Remember, we are here to build each other up, not tear each other down. Before you start giving people rules and directions, think first. “Will this impact their salvation?” If the answer is no, or probably not, or any other derivative of the negative, then it’s probably not important enough to bring up. And if you are telling someone what to do, then definitely be sure you aren’t guilty of the same thing.

The third thing I want to say about hypocrisy is that it’s not something that Christians have exclusivity. Police, teachers, parents, basically any group that tells someone what to do are guilty of it. So what is the difference between when a Christian is found guilty of it and when another group is guilty? As Christians, we should be humble. We should get on our knees and plead for forgiveness, preferably with tears in our eyes. Well, maybe not to that extreme, but we should apologize. Don’t make up excuses, and definitely don’t say “Do what I say not as I do.” Believe me, that doesn’t work very well. That is the one thing that will separate us from others, and even if people’s respect for us has been lessened by our hypocrisy, hopefully our willingness to admit that we were wrong will reduce the loss. Perhaps by showing our human frailty to others, we can reveal the desperate need for someone, someone better than us, to save us.