– Hypocrites –

I often hear from people that the biggest issues they have with the church is that it is full of hypocrites. I had this same conversation a couple of days ago. I was speaking to a young lady about church, she said how much she enjoys going but her husband wasn’t very keen on it. While speaking with her she said that she thinks it’s an issue with hypocrites. So why is the church full of hypocrites ? Is it really that they are hypocrites ?

Now I’ll start with I wish I could say there were no hypocrites at church, but I think that would be a hard point to prove. So, I’ll start with what I know. I know the church is full of a bunch of sinners. Sinners that aren’t perfect yet, and that’s a good thing. I believe that if we make perfection a requirement for church membership we would have completely empty churches or it would be full of liars. That’s a different problem all together.

It has been my experience with conviction that it is by God’s grace that all of our sins are not revealed to us at once. What I mean by this is that we simply could not bare the weight if we were confronted with all our sins at once. So it is my belief that we get convicted of things we should work on little by little. I believe this to be part of what is know as sanctification. Now, having said that I want to make it clear that some people have rather instant and radical transformations after an encounter with Jesus.

So if I’m under conviction about swearing and I’m used to swearing hundreds of times day. It’s probably not going to be an instant change. So what changes is now I struggle with it. If I happen to swear I feel remorse. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7:15-20 of the struggle. It’s no wonder people see hypocrites in the church. Remorse and guilt are not things we can’t easily see so it’s hard see who’s a hypocrite and who isn’t.

It’s my opinion the determining factor is the struggle. If I teach one thing and give myself over to it without a fight hypocrite would be a fitting title. Another thing I’d like to add is this. Jesus tells us in John 8:7 let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I don’t know about you but, I’m excluded right there from throwing any stones.

One final thought is this, my demons are not yours and yours are not mine. God views all sin the same. The very idea of one sin is less then the other is not biblical. It’s only through the blood of Christ we are made righteous. Don’t let someone else prevent you from being part of the body of Christ.

Lord I need you as much today as the very first day we met. Lord I pray you would help me not to judge. Lord I pray for your church, your church needs you. Lord  I pray you would forgive us where we fail you. Lord help others to see us as a bunch of imperfect people following after your perfect Son. Lord let neither our actions or words keep people from coming to know Jesus as their Lord and saviour.