Tag: hypocrisy

14Sep

The Scariest Words in the New Testament

Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
(Matthew 7:21-22)

“Lord, lord” is a phrasing that doesn’t correlate well with an English equivalent. The use of repetition gives emphasis to the word “lord” (Greek Kyrie, “lord/master”).

…the reduplication of the title “Lord” denoting zeal in according it to Christ.
(Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary)

Elsewhere in the Bible, this kind of repetition in addressing someone demonstrates a high degree of familiarity, even of intimacy. Jesus is no mere acquaintance here. He isn’t just the guy down the street. Those approaching him on that great and terrible Day of Judgement see themselves as insiders. They claim to have done great and mighty things for Jesus. They are prophets of the Lord!

Yet Jesus sees through them, their deeds are found lacking, and they are rejected. And they are rejected quite harshly. Jesus answers these “insiders” by saying, in essence, “Really? You say we’re best buds? Um, no, I don’t believe we’ve met. Get lost.” The late theologian R. C. Sproul called this passage “the most terrifying passage in the New Testament”: “In the final analysis it isn’t do you know Jesus? The question is, does Jesus know you?” (podcast “Build on the Rock”, available at iTunes).

Many questions are raised here. Are these false disciples actually “ex”-disciples, or apostates? Can lapsed believers lose their salvation? Some controversy within Christianity exists as to whether a person can truly experience “saving faith” and then fall away later. I won’t attempt to settle that debate here. Furthermore, that doesn’t seem to be the real issue in this passage.

The immediate context of this passage is the “Sermon on the Mount”, in which Jesus has much to say about hypocrites, those who do good works for show and self-aggrandizement. They are actors with two faces. They pray loudly. They give large sums to the Lord’s work, making sure that their coins rattle and clink loudly as they are poured into the collection. They make themselves look miserable during fasts, so that others don’t miss the fact that they are fasting. They are narcissists within the community of faithful. This taints their good deeds. They may lay claim to being prophets, but false prophets they are–“wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

It would be tempting then to say that works are unnecessary: “Empty works are bad, so merely believe in God in your heart, and all will be well.” But Jesus doesn’t let people off that way. He is not contrasting deeds with non-deeds. The passage which immediately follows the frightening disowning of many seemingly zealous followers, also clearly stresses good works. Two kinds of doers of good works are contrasted, not merely those who do works vs those who don’t.

The question is, on what kind of foundation are those works built? Are they built on love for God? Are they built upon love of self?

Jesus praises those who hear, and then do the will of their lord. For them the word of the master sinks in, and is taken to heart. It produces a response of love that results in good works. Neither the empty works of the faithless, done for show, nor empty words of a profession of faith, devoid of works, are sufficient evidence of a heart that has been really touched by God.

Jesus here connects the hearing with doing, much as James did later in his discourse on the relationship between saving faith and works:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
(James 2:14-26)

Where the heart is–where our faith is–there good deeds will follow. “By their fruit ye shall know them” says Jesus elsewhere. As the great preacher Charles Spurgeon once stated:

ONE of the best tests by which we may try many things is to ask, “How will they appear at the day of judgment?” Our Lord here says, “Many will say to Me in that day.” He used no other word to describe that memorable period because that terse, brief expression suggests so much—“in that day”—that terrible day—that last great day—that day for which all other days were made—that day by which all other days must be measured and judged. I pray, dear friends, that we may, each one of us, begin to set in the light of “that day” the things that we most prize. The riches upon which you have set your heart, how will their value be reckoned “in that day,” and how much of comfort will they afford you then? As for the way in which you have been spending your wealth, will that be such as you will remember “in that day” with satisfaction and comfort? Value your broad acres and your noble mansions, or your more moderate possessions, according to this gauge of their real worth—how will they be valued “in that day”? And as to the pursuits which you so eagerly follow, and which now appear so important to you that they engross the whole of your thoughts, and arouse all your faculties and energies, are they worthy of all this effort? Will they seem to be so “in that day”?

11Sep

Ashley Madison, Hipocrisy, and Ministry

According to Christianity Today writer Ed Stetzer, the fallout from the Ashley Madison leak may affect many Christian leaders. He has estimated that as many as 400 pastors may be resigning soon. We have already seen a tragic suicide of a Christian leader (see our earlier posting). More stories will be coming to light, possibly even in a church near you. You may read Mr. Stetzer’s article at Christianity Today.

Just a day or two ago, a friend alerted me to this letter, relayed by Glenn Greenwald, which is from a distraught female who pours out her reasons for using the service, and how she now faces loss of a job, a job ironically that involves promoting marriage: “I expect to be ridiculed by colleagues, to lose my job, and to be publicly shamed, especially as a hypocrite.”

This exposes what is a clear Achilles heel for Christians, and really also for anyone else who tries to live up to a higher standard. We are imperfect and fallen. If we set our standards high, we will fail, and thereby open ourselves up to condemnation as hypocrites. This seems to be a poison that differentially destroys the lives, reputations, and witness of the “good guys”. Those who have no high moral profile can shrug and say, “so what? At least I am not a hypocrite.”

There are few delights as intensely and loudly expressed as the orgasmic glee that the world shows when a Christian leader or other paragon of morality is exposed as a hypocrite, and is silenced. Mr Greenwald opines: As I acknowledged, there is an arguably valid case for such outing: namely, where someone with public influence is hypocritically crusading for legally enforced morality, holding themselves out as beacons of virtues they in fact violate, and harming others through that advocacy. It’s possible this emailer falls within that category: She says her past work involved “encouraging traditional marriage for the good of children.”.

Public shame and guilt are, of course, only possible when there is a high standard in place. In a situation where there is no such standard, wrongdoers may be–and are–shameless.

The flip side of the Christians’ hypocrisy issue is the basic problem of moral darkness for everyone. We are all sinners, and this includes Christians and non-Christians alike. We are impure, smudged by sins big and small. Injustice, suffering, addiction, lechery, and malicious deeds engulf our lives or the lives of those we love. Evil seems to reign everywhere. Ours is often a bleak and dark world. Even the torch bearers can succumb to the lure of darkness. Does that mean there is no light? The question for the fallen (and the falling) is this: Should we all just wallow in sin, shrug when lives are ruined, and turn a blind eye to injustice and evil? (In a similar vein, should you ignore the advice of a doctor who is fat or smokes, even if that advice is good?)

Or should we strive for something better and nobler? We Christians may not perfectly live up to our ideals, but at least we have have them. We recognize a a higher good toward which we are striving. Our own darkness has been pierced by a flickering light–the light of God’s love–and we wish to share that light with others, in order to make this dark world brighter.

Though I agree with the overall gist of his essay, that we should not judge too harshly the private lives of others, I take issue with that statement by Mr Greenwald which I quoted above. Perhaps it was not fully thought out, but at best it is just plain silly, at worst, beastly. I have met thousands of people and I am waiting still to meet someone who has been harmed by “advocacy for morality”. On the other hand, every day I meet people who have been deeply harmed by the rotten and despicable immorality of others. In fact, just this week I have spoken with a woman who had a terrible childhood, because her single mother was engaged in the “worlds oldest profession”, and decided to “sell” her own daughter to abusive men starting at the age of 13. She is still emotionally scarred many decades later, and is requiring ongoing psychotherapy. It was not moral advocacy that ripped into her young life, tortured her mind, and sexually invaded her body.

Anecdotally, and statistically, great harm has been done in the past half century to the children of divorce, and to those conceived in illegitimacy (or, as we used to say, “in sin”). Immorality, not morality, is what has created rape victims. Immorality is what causes young girls to be kidnapped for the sex trade–They aren’t being harmed by moral crusaders. I wonder how many lives would be more whole and happy if not for the immorality of our age, the immorality that is reflected in the very existence of such a service as Ashley Madison.

Sadly, as I observed a moment ago, even the bearers of the light of Christ cannot avoid being touched by the darkness that surrounds them. But we are all called, by Jesus himself no less, to do our part to spread the light. When we fall, there will be consequences; repentance is called for. That doesn’t mean, however, that we all just embrace darkness. Though we may stumble and fail, we should hold aloft that torch anyway.