My morning time with God this
morning found me in Matthew, chapter 23. This is the section in which we find
Jesus confronting the Scribes and the Pharisees with their hypocrisy. That the
very leaders of the Jewish people would be such hypocrites, was very important to
Jesus, so much so that He spoke out against them and pronounced seven woes
against them.
It is tempting to see this section in
only its immediate context and to shake our heads at these horrible men. But do
we really think that the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to record this narrative simply,
so we could applaud Jesus for putting these bad men in their places?
1
Corinthians 10:6 reminds us why we have these stories. It says that
“these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as
they did.”
The Word of God is not just a story
about the history of the Jews; it is God’s Word written so that those who are
Born Again will know what God expects us to be like as we grow in our faith. There
is a spiritual lesson for us here as well. Actually, there are many. This
morning I want to share a story from the Holman New Testament Commentary,
written by Stu Weber.
I pray this speaks to your heart as
it did mine. As Christians, we are to be watching over each other. We are to be
encouraging each other as we seek to run the race Paul reminds us to be running.
That race is the race to holiness. Sometimes we need to encourage each other by
speaking the truth in love. Love without truth and truth without love is not pleasing
to God. Sometimes it means that we must simply say what needs to be said.
Please read this story. Please read
Matthew 23 and search your own heart. The world needs to see Christ. But Jesus
is no longer walking this earth in His physical body. He left us His Holy
Spirit so that in us, the world could see Jesus. The religious leaders though
they were leading the people down the path to God. They were not. They were
hypocrites. Our witness to the world is not received by the words we speak; it
is received by the life we live. This is why James said that faith without
works is dead. This why he told us to be DOERS of the Word not just hearers.
This why sometimes we Christians need to gently, in love, confront each other
with the truth of God’s Word.
Now, as Paul Harvey would say, The
rest of the story…
Hypocrisy
Confronted
It happened during my high school
days at a state leadership camp. It was unforgettable. For the first time in my
memory, I had stood up—in public—to confront hypocrisy.
Several hundred high school
student-body officers were being trained for their senior tenure. About a dozen
of us were housed in one cabin just about right for a couple of guys to doze
off, a couple to read, and the rest of us to engage in developing a healthy
"group dynamic." In other words, we told stories and hooted at their
craziness into the wee hours.
One stretch involved an hour or
more of "can-you-top-this" jokes and stories. I found myself unable
to participate so I lay quiet in the darkness, hoping the others would think I
had fallen asleep. One voice in particular, from the top bunk on the west wall,
seemed to dominate the off-color conversation.
When the conversation shifted to
things that mattered, the guys began to discuss "religion," real
spiritual issues, and eventually their own hearts. It was amazing. Christ and
the Christian faith became the center of discussion.
But the majesty of that healthy
dialogue was broken when the same voice from the top bunk on the west wall
chimed in. Unable to remain silent and wanting to be included with the
"in" crowd, he declared: "Oh, yeah, I am a Christian too!"
His loud "about face"
disturbed me. To go from off-color jokes to spiritual bliss in one easy breath
was more than I could handle. Suddenly I heard my own voice breaking the
silence: "Well, if I claimed to be a Christian and had just finished
spouting off a bunch of off-color stories, I sure would not be advertising my
faith."
My heart was pounding! I had done
it! What was going to happen now? As it turned out, not much. The cabin went
dead silent. I was sure the other guys could hear my heart pounding. But I do
not recall anyone saying another word that night. Nor the next day. My
impetuous, angry comment had just ended it all. Camp broke up. We returned to
our homes. And that was the end of that; or so I thought.
Years went by—through college, then the military and Vietnam, followed by
seminary. I never thought another thing about the incident.
Fifteen years later I was walking
on the sidewalk of a seminary campus when a voice from across the lawn called a
loud hello. The guy asked if I had been at a particular high school leadership
camp and involved in a certain conversation. I realized that was the person
from that top bunk on the west wall. He proceeded to rehearse the exchange that
night and described the discomfort of the silence that followed. "Yes,
that was me," I admitted.
Then, in a wonderful moment of
confession and a genuine statement of gratitude, he thanked me for my comments
in that cabin on that night long ago. He told me that the shock of having his
hypocrisy pointed out had begun his turnaround. Those uncomfortable moments in
that cabin fifteen years ago had played a significant role in his commitment to
Christ. He was now on a seminary campus, studying for vocational Christian
ministry. It was a wonderful conclusion to a long-forgotten story.
There comes a time when we need to
confront hypocrisy. In the flow of Matthew's Gospel, that time had arrived.
Jesus was going to confront the hypocrisy of Israel's religious leaders. In a
loud voice, blunt and truthful, the Lord of heaven confronted the hypocritical
religious leaders.
Confronting hypocrisy may turn the
hypocrite around. But even when it does not, it serves to protect others who
might become victims of the hypocrisy.
Story taken from the Holman New
Testament Commentary - Matthew. Written by Stuart K. Weber
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