Overcoming Hypocrisy, Developing Integrity Series

Overcoming Hypocrisy, Developing Integrity

Series: Encountering Jesus (through the Gospel of Luke)

Brad Bailey - March 24, 2019

TEXT: Luke 6:41-49

Intro

About 18 months ago… a new book was released by a group of authors and photographers called: The Potemkin Village. In this book they share pictures of buildings and towns like “Peace Village” …. It lies in North Korea…just across from the border with South Korea…and by all accounts….the town is an uninhabited village …more of a facade…as a means of propaganda…to lure South Koreans to defect to North Korea.

This is just one example of what they call “Potemkin Villages”… or Buildings.

The original term "Potemkin Village" derives from a story dating back to 18th-century Russia. In 1787 in Czarist Russia, Prince Grigori Potemkin organized a lavish trip down the Dneiper (Neeper) River for Catherine the Great to show off the results of his much-heralded building projects. As they floated by, Potemkin pointed out village after village which he had built. All looked prosperous and were thronged with happy, well-dressed peasants.

But the entire scene was a hoax. The "villages" consisted only of painted facades erected by Potemkin for the occasion. The peasants had been dressed up and transported from miles away to give the appearance of real towns. Behind the facade of prosperity, the peasants continued to live their lives in poverty and misery.

And today, Jesus calls us to consider how we may be building facades instead of true lives.

Today… we are continuing our journey of Encountering Jesus through the Gospel of Luke.

I want to back up to final portion of text we ended with last weekend...as it overlaps with what Jesus is saying in the verses that follow.

Luke 6:41-42 (NIV) ?"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42  How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Here in the middle of Jesus words…we see the target of what he is calling us out of. “You HYPOCRITE”

He is speaking to the nature of hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is something we commonly react to today.

We do well to understand that Jesus confronts this on a deeper level as a central part of his calling to all lives.

The English word is completely brought over from the Greek word.

Hypocrite is the Greek word itself, just brought right into English. Almost letter for letter. However, the Greek word hypocrite is the same word as the Greek word for an actor.

Hypocrisy reflects the nature of acting… of performance.

Back in those days, actors used a literal mask. If you were playing a joyful role, a role in which you were a joyful person, you put on a joyous mask, or you put on a grieving mask … those masks sometimes you’ve seen on those old insignias for theaters. That’s really how they were done.

Here’s the point. The mask hid what you were really like. All good acting is that way.

Hypocrisy reflects the nature of hiding…of wearing a mask that hides my true condition…that hides who I really am.

No matter what’s in your heart, you can still play a great part. What you present on the outside is not at all necessarily what’s on the inside.

Acting is a gift. Not realizing you are acting…is not.

Jesus is confronting the very nature of human life that is hiding from it’s true condition.

This becomes obvious in what he describes as the person who doesn’t realize the log in their eye.

One of the ways in which we hide… is by diverting attention from who we really are is by finding fault with other people.

It’s turning the interrogators light upon others… the brighter it is…the less likely we are seen… by others…but even by ourselves.

Problem with hiding from God…is that He is the One we so desperately need.

Illustration: Hide N Seek…hide so well…left there alone…only way to end is to come out…

> Dilemma for us all…. Love is what we are hiding from.

The Scriptures tells us that there is a shame that hides from love… a darkness hides from light.

When Jesus is saying, “You fail to see the plank in your own eye.”…he is telling us two things: There is a big problem…and we really are avoiding it.

The word he uses that is usually translated log or plank is the word that is used for a load-bearing beam in a house… he’s talking about something enormous like a tree…or a telephone pole.