WHAT WOULD YOU SAY: The Church is Full of Hypocrites!
My response to the claim voiced in the headline to this post about the church being “full of hypocrites” would be “you’re right, but come on in and join us because we’ve got room for one more.” And if I’m feeling really snappy, I might well also ask “does your doctor’s lack of a funny bedside manner make him or her less competent as a physician?”
Sarah Stonestreet of the Colson Center, however, has a much more constructive and loving approach to answering that question, and in the latest edition of the center’s “What Would You Say” video series, she elaborate three key considerations. And if you would rather read the transcript than watch the video, just click here.
There’s Some Good News From Congress … For A Change!
DON’T STOP WITH THIS ONE POST, THERE’S A LOT MORE WHERE THAT ONE CAME FROM!
Well, I say that if the churches are full of hypocrites, let’s have more of them! I mean, “Let’s hear it for hypocrites!”
>>>
But I say, “Hooray for hypocrites!” If you’re a hypocrite, you’re just my guy or gal. To reverse what Marc Antony said about Caesar, I come to praise hypocrites, not bury them. I am unashamed to admit that I am a Christian hypocrite, and furthermore, I hope every one of you are also.
It is deceit that makes hypocrisy what it is. The true hypocrite wants others to think better of him/her than is actually justified. Absent this deceit, there is no hypocrisy, just error or human frailty. That’s what the hypocrisy-excuse people don’t understand – or pretend not to understand – about church people. What may appear to be church people’s hypocrisy is almost always just simple failure to meet the standards of our faith rather than deceit. Why? Because the standard is so high:
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28).
You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… (Matthew 5:43-44).
There are many such examples. So I say that if our churches are filled with such “hypocrites,” then let’s have many more. Vice is easy, virtue is hard. It’s no hypocrisy to fall short of a very high standard and such an excellent goal. And I would suggest that the hypocrisy-excuse people have largely chosen the easy way over the hard way, and choose to call that virtue. So who are the hypocrites? Well, we always have room for one more.
<<<