CHRISTIAN HYPOCRISY

"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees are very religious. You must obey them and do what they tell you. But do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they preach....Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." - Matthew 23:2-3, 13

Is there a difference between faith and religion? Jesus seemed to think so. His toughest and harshest words in all the Bible were repeatedly directed towards the religious leaders of his day. These men were educated, knew all the right answers and even had many parts of the Bible memorized but Jesus called them fake because it didn't penetrate their hearts.

Educated, successful, possessing plenty of knowledge about God. Sounds strangely similar to the typical American today. I'm afraid that our country is full of Christians who are the modern day version of the Jewish Pharisee. We have made God into a version of our own liking and believe God was created for us instead of us for Him. We view his commands to love him with all our heart, love our neighbor more than we love ourselves, and make disciples of all people as optional instead of our life's purpose and goal. Perhaps Jesus' message hasn't penetrated our hearts either.

If it had we'd be sharing the gospel, the greatest treasure of all, more than we do we those that we love. We'd be giving away our stuff more that acquiring it and our lives would look radically different than those of our unbelieving friends. The Pharisee's shut the door to heaven in men's faces by creating barriers to Christ instead of showing others the way. If we're not careful, we can easily do the same.

The worst part of all this is that claiming Christ's name only to follow him half-way prevents anybody else from following him for real. From the beginning of time, God has made clear through his word that he desired his people to be wholeheartedly devoted to him and him alone. "Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison." (Deuteronomy 29:18). Much of the bitterness Christians have caused in today's culture can be traced back to our worship of ourselves and other things instead of our God.

In Matthew 19:23-24, Jesus shares some challenging words that apply directly to our culture: "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." The "richness" Jesus speaks of refers to much more than just monetary value. Material possessions, time, life experiences and knowledge of God are all gifts we have been given by God to share with our neighbors and not keep to ourselves. The reality is that most of us are so consumed with our richenss that we give little thought to God or furthering his kingdom.