An URGENT Warning for Religious People

The only people Jesus ever accused of being hypocrites, were the religious leaders of His own nation. – Clint Decker

A Florida teenager once made national news after he was arrested for an impersonation stunt. Matthew, an 18-year-old, wormed his way into being a Physician’s Assistant at a local hospital. He had an I.D. badge, the right clothes and was even trusted by a doctor to do CPR on a patient. (Image by freepik)

Matthew was a fake, a pretender or an actor. In a word he was a hypocrite. It is a term often used in religious settings. Perhaps you have heard someone say, “Hey, that church downtown, they preach one thing and do another,” or maybe “I visited the church on main street once. I know many of them, and they’re a bunch of hypocrites,” or perhaps “Religious people are just fakes living by a double standard, that’s why I don’t go to church anywhere.”

Sometimes we can unknowingly associate hypocrites with God when we see sinful things in the lives of professing Christians. Know that it is with great force that God condemns them. Jesus once said, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” (Matthew 7:5) Another time Jesus directly stated, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” (Matt. 23:25) Jesus also forcefully commented, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me…’” (Mark 7:6)

In ancient times, actors and actresses in Greek plays wore masks to portray their characters. They were affectionately known as hypocrites. It was not a demeaning word like it is today but was just a simple term that described their professional craft. According to one source, “Hypocrite refers to a performer acting under a mask,” a “two-faced person,” or “someone who says one thing, but does another.”

The only people Jesus ever accused of being hypocrites, were the religious leaders of His own nation. They studied, were highly trained, considered experts in the Scriptures and bore the responsibility of teaching them to the people. Yet, as a group, they were considered hypocrites in the eyes of Jesus. How? Because they knew better, by teaching at times what they knew was a lie and what they did not practice.

This angered Jesus because of the harmful influence that had. He scolded them saying, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.” (Matt. 23:13) Through the influence of their words and life, it was like they were slamming heaven’s door right in front of people’s noses. Jesus did not mince words. He was furious with religious hypocrites. He once told a story about a master that clarified where two-faced religious actors will spend eternity, “[The master] will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 24:51)

Outside of Jesus’, not too many of us can point fingers on this issue. There is a Bible verse I have prayed for myself many times, “O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me…” (Psalm 69:6) It is only by the grace of God that I am, who I am. The greatest fear of my life is that I will somehow misrepresent God in my teaching or fail Him in my choices, and cause others to reject Him. May God have mercy on me and you, if that shall ever be said of us. Today, by the grace of God, stop being a pretender and start being real.

A prayer for you – Lord God, may the work of your Holy Spirit convict men and women of any hypocrisy in their life. And if there is any, enable them by your power to repent and find mercy at the cross. In Jesus’ name. Amen.