Giving God A Bad Name

Clean Up Your Own Act Before Calling Out Another's Behavior

UNSHAKEABLE: It is easy to get caught up in the culture wars and the Christian political movement and every other cause that bashes the evil practices and mindset of this world. To be sure, there is nothing necessarily wrong with being outspoken about your spiritual values. However, we would do God and the Good News we represent a big favor if we would clean up our act first. How about we try this: Let’s first live what we say we believe, then we can talk! Let’s make sure our beliefs match our behavior. Let’s not just mindlessly parrot, “what would Jesus do” — do it! Let’s live it from the core of who we are.

Giving God A Bad Name

Unshakeable Living // Romans 2:23-24

You are so proud of knowing God’s laws, but you dishonor him by breaking them. No wonder the Scriptures say that the world speaks evil of God because of you.

While I certainly don’t think this is unique to our current context, year after year, we read the same scandalous reports of supposedly righteous people falling into the very sin they so publicly condemn: A family-values senator is found out to have kept the company of female “escorts.” A high-profile evangelical leader is exposed for abusing power, misappropriating church finances, or having an affair. The divorce rate among churchgoers is nearly the same rate as non-churchgoers. Believers are said to blend in ethically with just about everyone else in the workplace.

It is no wonder that non-Christians tag us as hypocrites and despise our God!

It is easy to get caught up in the culture wars and the Christian political movement and every other cause that bashes the evil practices and mindset of this world. To be sure, there is nothing necessarily wrong with being outspoken about your spiritual values. However, we would do God and the Good News we represent a big favor if we would clean up our act first.

Jesus had some pointed things to say about that:

Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor. (Matthew 7:1-5)

How about this: First, try living what you say you believe, then you can talk! Make sure your beliefs match your behavior. Don’t just mindlessly parrot, “what would Jesus do” — do it! Live it from the core of who you are.

We may not win the whole world for Christ, but we would be a lot more effective than we are now. And perhaps we would convince a few people along the way that this Good News is a pretty good deal.

Get Rooted: Charles F. Glassman writes, “Gratitude, forgiveness, perseverance, self-honesty, and self-control fosters optimism, kindness, and success. [But] self-righteousness yields bitterness, hostility, and self-destruction.” Self-righteousness and spiritual arrogance are exceedingly difficult to spot in ourselves. That is why we need a trusted brother or sister to shed the light on our true character. I would encourage you to take a risk and share the above quote with a loving but straight-shooting Christian friend, then ask them where you line up with those descriptives.

Selective Outrage – And What It Says About Us

Live By God's Unchanging Truth

Moral outrage that is not based in any kind of higher, propositional and immutable moral truth might be real, but it is wrong. It is selective, inconsistent and hypocritical—and ultimately dangerous. That is why God calls us to live by his unchanging truth.

The Journey// Focus: Judges 20:5-7

The Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, said, “My concubine and I came to spend the night in Gibeah, a town that belongs to the people of Benjamin. That night some of the leading citizens of Gibeah surrounded the house, planning to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she was dead. So I cut her body into twelve pieces and sent the pieces throughout the territory assigned to Israel, for these men have committed a terrible and shameful crime. Now then, all of you—the entire community of Israel—must decide here and now what should be done about this!”

If you have been following this story from Judges 19, you have to question the outrage of this Levite. It seems a bit manufactured. After all, he is the one who pushed his wife out the door and into the waiting arms of the sexual perverts of Gibeah, who brutalized her throughout the night until she died. He cowardly offered her up to save his own skin, showing no concern for her safety, much less her dignity as a precious human being. Then the next morning when he walked out the door and saw her lying there, he callously told her to get up and get moving. If you dare, read the story in Judges 19:25-29—but be warned, it will turn your stomach.

But wait, there’s more. The Levite then takes the dead body of his wife, a concubine, and cuts her into twelve pieces, sending a part to each of the twelve tribes of Israel in order to manufacture national outrage over what has been done to him. At this point, it is no surprise to us that he had considered her nothing more than property—if that. To him, she was nothing more than trash.

Why the selective outrage? Isn’t this the height of hypocrisy? Of course it is. And it is the predictable result of people following a philosophy of moral relativism. When people have no controlling moral authority to keep them between the rails of decency and civility, they will do what seems right in their own eyes—which will habitually be so wrong. Ultimately they will be anything but decent and civil. In one moment, they will do things and allow things that are beyond the pail without batting an eye. Then in the next moment, they will blow a gasket in anger at what someone has done to them. Even though they feign tolerance of what somebody else thinks is right, they become insanely intolerant when that person’s thinking becomes action that personally affects them.

The anger is selective; the wrath is manufactured. Make no mistake: it is real, but it is wrong. It is wrong in the sense that the moral outrage is not rooted in any kind of higher propositional and immutable moral truth. If truth is relative, then to be consistent, nothing can be consistently wrong. It might be wrong at this moment, but not in the next. At the end of the day, moral relativism is absurd. That is why this man’s outrage—and that of the nation—was hypocritically and fundamentally flawed. It was selective, inconsistent, and disengaged from God’s unchanging law. In a very real sense, it was worthless. And most likely, the guilt of the perverts of Gibeah that he was proclaiming was really the guilt he felt about his own immoral behavior.

That is what happens when a society thinks they can do better than God. Isn’t that what we see in our society today? We don’t mind aborting babies in the name of choice but will riot in the streets over genetically modified wheat. Crazy, huh. Not that GMO’s are right, but taking life in the name of freedom to choose what happens to your own body is akin to what Jesus described as “straining at a gnat but swallowing a camel.” (Matthew 23:24)

Ok, enough of using our relativistic culture as a punching bag—although it deserves it. What about us? Do we do the same? Do we cluck our tongues in disgust at sex trafficking but consume porn in private? Do we gripe about the breakdown of society but tolerate divorce in the church? Do we decry world hunger yet ignore the needs of the poor in our own community?

I could go on and on, but the simple answer to all of the above examples is, “yes we do!” The point I want to make is this: whenever you begin to get upset at something, check yourself for personal consistency. Is your outrage selective? Is your disgust hypocritical?

Probably! That doesn’t make you an irredeemable human being. It just reveals that you are a sinner in desperate need of God’s grace. And it means that God is calling you by the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in a manner worthy of your calling as a redeemed child of God—consistently submitted to him.

The world is now famous for manufactured outrage. Don’t be of that tribe!

Going Deeper: Wherever you are feeling anger, take a look at what God is revealing in your own life. He is calling you to repent and to consistently surrender to himself.

Two-Faced People

Keep Me From Them—Keep Me From Being Them

Hypocrisy is not a crime, rarely is there any kind of sanction for duplicity and for certain, two-facedness carries no real social stigma. Yet here is One who doesn’t keep quiet about their nasty ways. God’s righteous gaze cuts through the syrupy surface of their lives with utter moral clarity and labels the wickedness of their hypocritical hearts, calling them what they truly are: Workers of iniquity. The Bible’s advice about two-faced people: avoid them…and don’t be them!

Enduring Truth // Psalm 28:3

Do not drag me away with the wicked—with those who do evil—those who speak friendly words to their neighbors while planning evil in their hearts.

There is a category of people whose behavior for some reason we seem to excuse—but God doesn’t. He doesn’t find them acceptable; they and the unseen attitudes of their hearts he finds deplorable. Who are they? They are the kind of people who will say one thing to your face, then another behind your back. Even worse to God than what they say about you is what they think about you in their hearts. The psalmist says they speak peace when they are in front of you, but even before you are gone, their minds are flooded with ill will toward you.

We call them two-faced; the Bible calls them hypocrites. And while two-faced people are unpleasant, our culture pretty much excuses their behavior and accepts their ways. Hypocrisy is not a crime, rarely is there any kind of sanction for duplicity and for certain, two-facedness carries no real social stigma. Yet here is One who doesn’t keep quiet about their nasty ways. God’s righteous gaze cuts through the syrupy surface of their lives with utter moral clarity and labels the wickedness of their hypocritical hearts, calling them what they truly are: Workers of iniquity.

Now I realize that at this point in your reading you might be thinking this is anything but an encouraging little devotional thought for the day. And truthfully, it is not. Rather, this is an exhortation. And the exhortation I have for you is twofold:

One, it is most likely that you will rub shoulders today with the kinds of people David describes in this psalm. Be cautious around them. Discern their hypocritical hearts and don’t be tainted by their iniquitous ways. If you allow them into your inner circle, watch out: they will ensnare you. So be careful, be very careful!

Being two-faced is not a crime in our culture; there’s not even any real sanction for relational duplicity or social stigma for being hypocritical. But in God’s eyes, people who say one thing to your face and another behind your back “talk a good line of peace then moonlight for the Devil.” (The Message)

Be careful around two-faced folk, and most importantly, don’t be one!

And two, don’t be one of them. It is so easy to fall into this kind of two-faced living. Ask God to keep you from hypocrisy. Don’t fall into the trap of saying one thing but thinking another in your heart. Ask God for integrity of word and thought.

That’s what David prayed: Keep me from them, and keep me from being one of them. I hope you will pray that too!

Thrive: Try praying another prayer of David found in Psalm 139:23-24 with the specific motive of cleansing your life of hypocrisy: Search me, O God, and know my heart; test my thoughts. Point out anything you find in me that makes you sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Two-Faced People

Making Life Work
Read: Psalm 28
Focus: Psalm 28:3

“Do not drag me away with the wicked—with those who do evil—those who speak friendly words to their neighbors while planning evil in their hearts.”

There is a category of people whose behavior for some reason we seem to excuse—but God doesn’t. He doesn’t find them acceptable; they and the unseen attitudes of their hearts he finds deplorable. Who are they? They are the kind of people who will say one thing to your face, then another behind your back. Even worse to God than what they say about you is what they think about you in their hearts. The psalmist says they speak peace when they are in front of you, but even before you are gone, their minds are flooded with ill will toward you.

We call them two-faced; the Bible calls them hypocrites. And while two-faced people are unpleasant, our culture pretty much excuses their behavior and accepts their ways. Hypocrisy is not a crime, rarely is there any kind of sanction for duplicity and for certain, two-facedness carries no real social stigma. Yet here is One who doesn’t keep quiet about their nasty ways. God’s righteous gaze cuts through the syrupy surface of their lives with utter moral clarity and labels the wickedness of their hypocritical hearts, calling them what they truly are: Workers of iniquity.

Now I realize that at this point in your reading you might be thinking this is anything but an encouraging little devotional thought for the day. And truthfully, it is not. Rather, this is an exhortation. And the exhortation I have for you is twofold:

One, it is most likely that you will rub shoulders today with the kinds of people David describes in this psalm. Be cautious around them. Discern their hypocritical hearts and don’t be tainted by their iniquitous ways. If you allow them into your inner circle, watch out: they will ensnare you. So be careful, be very careful!

Being two-faced is not a crime in our culture; there’s not even any real sanction for relational duplicity or social stigma for being hypocritical. But in God’s eyes, people who say one thing to your face and another behind your back “talk a good line of peace then moonlight for the Devil.” (The Message) Be careful around two-faced folk, and most importantly, don’t be one!

And two, don’t be one of them. It is so easy to fall into this kind of two-faced living. Ask God to keep you from hypocrisy. Don’t fall into the trap of saying one thing but thinking another in your heart. Ask God for integrity of word and thought.

That’s what David prayed: Keep me from them, and keep me from being one of them. I hope you will pray that too!

__________________

“Next to hypocrisy in religion, there is nothing worse than hypocrisy in friendship.” (Joseph Hall)

 

Making Life Work: Try praying another prayer of David found in Psalm 139:23-24 with the specific motive of cleansing your life of hypocrisy: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test my thoughts. Point out anything you find in me that makes you sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

Two-Faced People

It’s likely you’ll rub shoulders today with two-faced people. Be careful! Discern their hypocritical hearts; avoid their iniquitous ways. But mostly, don’t be one of them. It’s easy to slip into two-faced living by saying one thing while thinking another in your heart. Ask God for integrity of word and thought. That’s what David prayed: Keep me from them, and keep me from being one of them. Hope you’ll pray that too!

Read Psalm 28

Featured Verse: Psalm 28:3

“Do not take me away with the wicked,
And with workers of iniquity,
Who speak peace to their neighbors,
But evil is in their hearts.”

There is a whole category of people whose behavior, by and large we excuse. However, God doesn’t. He doesn’t find them acceptable; they and the unseen attitudes of their hearts he finds deplorable. They are the kind of people who will say one thing to your face, but say another thing behind your back. And even worse to God than what they say about you is what they think about you in their hearts. The psalmist says they speak peace when they are in front of you, but even before you turn away from them, their minds are flooded with ill will toward you.

We might say they are two-faced. The Bible calls them hypocrites. And though we pretty much excuse their behavior and accept their ways in our culture, there is one who doesn’t. God’s righteous gaze cuts right through the syrupy surface of their lives with utter moral clarity and labels the wickedness of their hypocritical hearts, calling them what they truly are: Workers of iniquity.

Now I realize that at this point in your reading you might be thinking this is anything but an encouraging little devotional thought for the day. And truthfully, it is not. Rather, this is an exhortation. And the exhortation I have for you is twofold:

One, it is most likely that you will rub shoulders today with the kinds of people David describes in this psalm. Be careful of them. Discern their hypocritical hearts and don’t be tainted by their iniquitous ways. If you allow them into your inner circle, they will ensnare you. So be careful.

And two, don’t be one of them. It is so easy to fall into this kind of two-faced living. Ask God to keep you from hypocrisy. Don’t fall into the trap of saying one thing but thinking another in your heart. Ask God for integrity of word and thought.

That’s what David prayed: Keep me from them, and keep me from being one of them. Hope you will pray that too!

The Stench of Hypocrisy

Read: Matthew 23

“The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. (Matthew 23:2-3)

Let’s be perfectly clear about this: Sin is sin, and no matter what level of sin it is, it is always offensive to a holy God.  Sin corrupts; it corrodes the soul; it prevents the blessings of God and if not dealt with, will cause the gift of eternal life to be forfeited.

Having said that, have you noticed how Jesus seems to rail against one particular sin more than others?  Jesus doesn’t beat up on prostitutes and thieves and good old run of the mill garden variety sinners like he does religious hypocrites.  Just read through this chapter and you will see what I mean.

Hypocrisy is intolerable to God; religious hypocrisy is especially repugnant.  It is the worst indictment the Divine could lay against you.  To say one thing and to do another; to believe one way and live a different way; to teach people one thing and to personally practice another in the name of Christ will arouse God’s disdain like no other.

Why?  Hypocrisy is the height of deceitfulness.  It layers the heart act by act with calluses that will eventually prevent the Holy Spirit from doing his work: Convicting us of sin.  It lures gullible followers into the same destructive patterns of incongruent beliefs.  And perhaps worst of all, it hardens those who are turned off by the religious hypocrisy they witness among God’s so-called people from ever wanting to have anything to do with Jesus Christ.

How many times have you heard an angry, hardened unbeliever say, “If that’s what Christianity is all about, I want nothing to do with it!”?  How sad!  It may be that the hypocrisy they’re reacting to will close the door of their heart for all eternity to God’s offer of salvation.

The challenge with hypocrisy is that it is so hard to spot in your own life.  Again, it is so effectively evil because of its power of deception and the hardening of the heart that it wreaks.  However, if you are willing to lie very still on the Great Surgeon’s table and allow the Holy Spirit to apply the scalpel to your heart, I am confident that he will expose and excise any hypocrisy that has taken up residence.

Are you courageous enough to allow him to do some spiritual surgery on you today?

“Hypocrisy desires to seem good rather than to be so; honesty desires to be good rather than seem so.” ~Arthur Warwick

 

What If God Took Over?

 

Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart to you, expose any hidden and unknown sin and remove anything that could hinder or destroy you relationship with God.

Stinking To High Heaven

Read Mark 7:1-8:38

Stinking To High Heaven

Jesus said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines commandments
of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God,
you hold the tradition of men…”
Mark 7:6-8

Go Deep: As Jesus began to preach and minister the Kingdom of God, conflict with the Pharisees, religious leaders and other “stakeholders” in traditional Judaism increased dramatically. They didn’t like the fact that Jesus wasn’t holding to their traditions at all—and Jesus wasn’t intimidated by their pressure to conform.

Though there were many “violations” that disturbed them, in this particular conflict, they were upset that his disciples didn’t go through ritual washing before eating. When they questioned Jesus about it, he let loose a holy tirade against their ridiculous traditions, giving us an open window through which we can see what is truly irksome to God: Shallow, hypocritical, spiritually incongruent religiosity.

Jeremy Taylor writes, “The Pharisees minded what God spoke, but not what He intended…They were busy in the outward work of the hand, but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart. So God was served in the letter, they did not much inquire into His purpose; and therefore they were curious to wash their hands, but cared not to purify their hearts.”

God wasn’t impressed with the Pharisees, nor is he impressed with your rituals; he wants to be in relationship with you. Holding on to tradition for the sake of tradition is meaningless to God; he wants your acts of worship to be authentic. Lips that affirm one thing but a heart that holds to something else is completely odious to God—it stinks to high heaven, literally!

God desires integrity in our behavior, intimacy in our walk with him, and authenticity in our worship practices. Spirituality devoid of integrity, intimacy, and authenticity is even more repulsive to God than people who know they are sinners and don’t try to hide the fact.

Now there is an obvious application to this particular reading: God wants your heart. And he wants the heart you offer him to be pure. But let me suggest a riskier application of this text, as well as all the other accounts of Jesus’ confrontations with the Pharisees: Rather than reading them and feeling a sense of spiritual justification, why not read yourself into the story as one of the Pharisees. You see, the longer you are in the faith, the greater the likelihood that you will slip into some of the very practices God found so odious in the religious establishment of Jesus’ day.

Whatever it takes, keep your relationship with God fresh and vital!

Just Saying… John McClintock was right: “The Pharisees are not all dead yet, and are not all Jews.”