Fighting the Flesh #29: Hypocrisy

“In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, He began to say to His disciples first, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.’” 

—Luke 12:1-3

The single greatest difficulty for a Christian may very well be hypocrisy. Everyone knows of someone who has claimed one thing and done another. Just like Peter, we have said one thing and done another. He said that he would never deny the Lord, but no sooner had the words come from his mouth than the rooster crowed, and Jesus’ eyes met his; there welled up within him such sorrow, such terror, and such disgust at his sin that he ran out and “wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62).

If we are honest with ourselves, we all must admit we have been guilty of hypocrisy at one time or another. We have not only tolerated sin in our lives, but nourished it. We wear a mask at church—say the right words and pretend we have it all together, then proceed to go home and life a life that is more representative of the devil than of Christ. Hypocrisy is a weed that must be extinguished.

Jesus reserved the harshest and fiercest commendation for hypocrites. He taught His disciples to be on guard against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, the strict religious teachers of the day. They foolishly believed that they could get away with saying one thing and then doing another, but Jesus wanted His disciples to understand that hypocrisy, in all of its awful evil, will be seen for what it is, a slap in the face of God.

There is no act or sin that we will get away with. How can we hide our sin from God? Jesus said,

“Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.”

There is nothing we can hide or keep away from the sight of God. Any sin that we hide will be exposed at the judgment. The secrets we tried to keep, the terrible things we’ve done, will be revealed in all of their awful horror in the light of Christ.

Hypocrisy is so vile in the sight of God because it minimizes sin and tramples Christ’s death on the cross underfoot. Not to mention that hypocrisy sabotages the authenticity of other believers' lives, which can be one of the most effective means of evangelism and communication of the faith. Such hypocrisy undermines evangelism and turns unbelievers against Christ.

The best that we can do is ask God to root out any hypocrisy by allowing the light of the Holy Spirit’s all-penetrating gaze to bring to the surface any sin. And then, once He does, ask Him to bring godly sorrow as Peter experienced so that there might be genuine repentance and a restoration to the countenance of God. May God root out any hypocrisy in our lives, so that we might truly be effective vessels available for the Master’s use. Amen.