How do I take hypocrisy out of my life?
by Robert Krumrey
Hypocrisy is one of those things that most people absolutely abhor. Anytime a politician, preacher, police officer, anyone in authority, is exposed for doing something behind the scenes that is not consistent with what they are portraying on the scene, we all look on in disgust. The irony is that while we rant to our friends about how we “can’t believe” the latest scandal, we’re all struggling to get our inward life to be congruent with our outward life. I mentioned this last Sunday (watch/listen) that all of us are prone to hypocrisy and seem to soak it up as easily as a sourdough starter soaks up yeast from the air in our kitchen (See Luke 12:1). Knowing this, how can we take a swipe at this infectious spiritual disease? Here are four ways:
CONSUME (the word of God)
First and foremost we must regularly consume God’s word. If we don’t have the voice of God ringing in our ears, we will easily deceive ourselves about our own spiritual health. The book of James describes this particular way that God’s word works in facilitating our spiritual life:
“22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
James tells us that the word of God is like a mirror. It reveals the flaws and blemishes in our lives that need to be confessed to God. James warns us that it is certainly possible to look at the word and not see ourselves as we really are which is another reminder of how difficult it can be to root out hypocrisy. James also says that you can look into this perfect word and find freedom through confession and repentance that is facilitated by the Spirit’s work through the word of God.
CONTEMPLATE (truth and the contents of your heart)
One of the ways to insure that we won’t merely look into the mirror of the word and not see anything that needs to be confessed is to contemplate. By contemplate, I mean to enter into times of silence before the Lord. This is best done after you have read scripture so that the Holy Spirit has something to work with in addressing the issues in our lives. Many of us are not comfortable with silence, but it is a very necessary part of being a fruitful follower of Jesus. As you sit in prayerful silence, don’t try to remove distractive thoughts, but instead prayerfully bring those thoughts to God. Things you are fearful or anxious about. Things you are excited about. Things that are merely on your to do list. All of these things are the contents on the inside of your cup (see Luke 11:39). The things that rise up that are sinful thoughts and attitudes need to be confessed. The things that are godly and good need to be celebrated. The things that are merely your daily activities need to be brought before God in prayer.
CONFESS (your sin)
Confession is where your inward condition and your external behavior start to become fully integrated. This isn’t telling God something that he doesn’t already know but instead is agreeing with God about what is true. This was talked about in the sermon as part of the prescription for the problem of hypocrisy - understanding that God created both the inside and outside of us and knows our every thought and action (see Luke 11:40 and 12:1-3). This truth should coax us out of our posing and into a posture of absolute honesty before him. God has been attempting to get sinful humans to do this since the fall of humanity in the garden of Eden:
“8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.””
God knows exactly what Adam and Eve have done, yet he asks them to confess their sin. It’s not to shame them or Lord his power over them but instead to begin shepherding them in the way of reintegration of inward condition with outward behavior. Humans were not created to live in this state of incongruence, but to be holy as God is holy which includes complete consistency inside and out. The proper route for sinners like us who long for this integration is to NOT do what we see Adam and Eve doing here but instead come out into the light of God’s holiness (and love) and confess our sin. This is spoken about throughout the Bible but probably no more clearly than this verse from 1John:
“9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
COMMUNE (in a confessing community)
If you do the above three things, you will be well on your way to landing a solid punch in the face of hypocrisy, but it won’t be enough. It is part of God’s design that our pursuit of holiness and wholeness in him would not only be accomplished in solitude but also in community. As much as we love to take care of our sin in the privacy of our hearts, this very tendency reveals our hypocritical nature. We want to appear perfect to others while we work on our imperfections alone. The only way for a more wholistic transformation of our lives inside and out is to work it out in community. Again, James helps us here:
“16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
James tells us that some sins will need to be confessed to trusted brothers and sisters in Christ and prayed over by that community. That if we are going to actually be transformed, we will have to make relationships in the church that are so intimate that we can pour the contents of our cup out to them which will include both the good and the bad. Some of you reading this have been struggling with certain sins for years and wondering why you haven’t been able to overcome them. The reason is often our unwillingness to confess those sins to others. In the name of hypocrisy, we insist on going this alone and God waits patiently as he calls us out of hiding and into the light.
Not only does our community offer a place to confess sin; it also serves as a place for confessing the gospel to each other on a regular basis. The constant reminder through word and sacrament that Jesus died to both forgive and transform hypocrites like us provides the necessary environment for bringing our sins into the light. One of the most natural places for this at MERCYhouse has been our Discipleship Groups (a.k.a. DG’s). Small groups of 3-4 people who learn good gospel truth while at the same time being transparent about what’s really going on on the inside. But don’t feel like you need to wait for an official group to do this. Even now, seek to connect with your brothers and sisters in Christ to confess sin and remind one another of gospel grace. So what are you waiting for, let’s bring the contents of our cups to God and others and punch hypocrisy in the mouth!