Hypocrisy

CALL TO PRAYER

Date: 13.09.2021

By: Nana Adjoa Brasor-Kuffour

Title:  Hypocrisy

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. 

(Mathew 23:13-14 NKJV)

There is a story about a Pastor who had been preaching on the importance of reading the word of God at all times. He and his wife were invited for a Dinner at one of his member’s place. While waiting for their host at the dinning table, the wife saw the following inscription on a calendar which was hanging in the room: “Pastor/Mrs. are coming for Dinner-dust all Bibles“.

Hypocrisy is presenting ourselves as something that we know we’re not or a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.

Our Lord Jesus thundered against the religious leaders of His day seven times, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites“ and He warned the disciples  in Luke 12:1 to be careful of the hypocrites (Pharisees), because their ways are infectious.

Many Christians nowadays believe that just knowing the word of God or going to church makes him/her eligible to enter the kingdom of God. Most of them aren’t willing to be taught the truth or be corrected because they believe their ways are far better. They pretend to be perfect in the eyes of many but have hidden filthy secrets. They rather go about pointing fingers at others who are new in the Kingdom of God, because they see themselves better and knowledgeable in the things of Christianity. Apostle Paul says in Romans 2:21 that, “Well then, if you teach others, why don’t  you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?“.

Apostle Paul again shows us that we will all one day stand before the Lord and be judged (2 Cor. 5.10). We will all face the judgement of God and none will be left out! In order to be on the right path, we all need the directions of Christ because we can’t know everything. My Beloved in the Lord, as true followers of God, it is important we stay true in what we do so that we will not face condemnation on the Judgement Day.

Hypocrites don’t get into hypocrisy deliberately by thinking, “I’d like to bring God’s judgment down on myself by being a hypocrite“. Rather, due to pride, they think, “I want people to respect me. If they knew what I was really like, they wouldn’t respect me. So, I need to keep up a good front. Besides, everyone does that to some extent.” So, he tries to impress others, forgetting that God examines the heart. He ends up deceiving himself in the worst way.

A hypocrite loves to boast in himself and not in God, He doesn’t like to be corrected in any way because he feels he will be seen unworthy of his position. He loves to teach others but hates to be taught by others. He loves to criticize other people’s actions not knowing we are all working unto perfection to become like Jesus Christ. A hypocrite loves to watch others do their work rather than helping another.

James 1:22 shows us the right way: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers, who delude themselves (emphasis added)“. Apostle Paul confronted the Jews who felt secure before God because of their religious heritage as Jews (Rom. 2:17). They had God’s Law; they could confidently teach it to others. But they were deluded because they were hearers of the Law, but not doers of it. We need to be an example of what the word of God preaches. The word of God wasn’t just written for us read but to act on.

We all easily fall into the trap of trying to impress others with how spiritual we are, while our hearts are far from God. So we need to apply the word of God carefully to our own hearts!

It is sad but true that many of us have encountered a hypocrite or a deceiver, especially a thief. The truth is we can’t know someone is a con artist until we find out. The reason a thief got your money is that you didn’t know at that time that you were being deceived. If you had known, you wouldn’t have let him get your money. Once you find out, you become embarrassed that it happened, and so you tend to cover it up. Let’s not be ashamed of the bad experiences we may have had with a hypocrite but rather let us warn those who are yet to know. There are still fake prophets, fake teachers, fake apostles, fake evangelists, and fake pastors still roaming about in the church of God. In Luke 12: 2, our Lord Jesus said, “The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all.“

Beloved in the Lord, Jesus said in Mathew 23:12, “… Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.“  Let us do God’s will in humility and truth by looking unto Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith.

Prayer Point:

Let’s thank God for His word. Let’s take authority over any spirit of hypocrisy in the body of Christ. Let’s ask God to give all believers the Grace to be doers of the word.

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