Jesus Hates Hypocrisy
Even More Than You Do!
Part 5 – Outward Appearance vs. Inward Reality
Matthew 23:25-28
January 25, 2009
Me/We:
I’m wondering something: in all our weeks of looking at the issue of hypocrisy as Jesus talks about it, has anyone gotten the idea that being a hypocrite is a good idea?
Probably not. Or at least I hope not.
But I also wonder if you’ve stopped to think a minute on just how ugly hypocrisy really is, especially to God.
Does hypocrisy disgust you? I hope so. And I really hope that if you discover it in your own life that it disgusts you all the more.
I’m finding it true in my own life as God continues to weed out the garbage of my life.
God: We continue to look at Jesus’ words about the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.
In these verses He uses some very graphic language to describe how ugly hypocrisy is.
My hope is that will sense the disgust in Jesus’ words, and that you’ll be asking the Holy Spirit to begin weeding this out of your own life as well.
Matthew 23:25-28 (p. –
25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
These are some tough words, wouldn’t you say? He’s ripping into these guys and He doesn’t care that it’s not politically correct.
He knows that in just two or three days He’ll be hanging on the cross and getting ready to prove the power of God by rising again.
And He’s taking these people to task for misleading the people they were charged with leading to love and devotion to God.
Can you imagine the rage that was in Jesus’ voice?
He wasn’t just visiting with this over a cup of tea, you know.
“Well, chaps. It would be very swell of you to try to not be hypocrites. It’s not very sporting of you…”
He was yelling at these guys! He was giving it with both barrels, and all they could do was stand there and take it.
The looks on their faces must have been something to behold.
Probably anywhere from, “Did He just really say that?” to, “Whoa – maybe He’s right,” to “That’s it – He’s dead meat.”
And the crowd must have had the same kinds of reactions. All these people there for the Passover heard Jesus taking these guys on and going the very heart of what was wrong with the system at the time: outward religion at the expense of honest love for God.
And Jesus likens the religious leaders to dirty cups and tombs filled with rotting corpses.
He’s telling them that the outside doesn’t count for much if the inside is bad. A cup that’s dirty on the outside might still have someone’s macaroni and cheese backwash swimming around in it.
In the same way a grave might look real pretty on the outside, but it’s filled with rotting flesh on the inside.
You have to remember that Jews don’t embalm the bodies of their dead, even to this day.
Embalming was around well before Jesus came to earth. The Egyptians practiced it during the time of Joseph, and in fact, Jacob the father of Joseph was embalmed.
But it’s not done for Jews normally. In fact, if a Jew is buried in a coffin, holes are drilled in the coffin to allow contact with the earth.
So you can guess the condition of a body that’s been simply lying inside a tomb for any amount of time.
This is why, in John 4, when Jesus commands the people to remove the stone at Lazarus’ tomb, they’re like, “Umm Jesus? Do you really want to do that? He’s been in there four days, and he’s gonna be mighty smelly.”
You getting the picture here? Jesus says that the outside isn’t nearly as important as the inside.
If our outward appearance doesn’t match our inward reality, we’re hypocrites.
Have any of you ever opened a milk carton and started to take a drink from it (yes, you have!) and found that it was sour?
The carton looked nice, didn’t it? Perfectly shaped, maybe how a picture of a real pretty cow standing in front of a pretty red barn on it.
But the prettiness of the carton didn’t take away from the fact that the milk was rotten and disgusting.
Can I tell you something?
Far too many Christians live just like that milk carton.
They look good on the outside.
They go to church. They carry a big Bible. They have Christian bumper stickers and fish emblems on their vehicle.
They only watch Christian TV and never watch questionable movies, and only listen to Christian music.
They might serve in church and on the church board, lead a Sunday School class, or even be the pastor.
On the outside they’ve got it made. But on the inside, they’re full of selfishness and greed.
They care only for themselves and their comfort instead of caring for others and for the Kingdom of God.
They wear the mask of living for Jesus, but that’s all it is – it’s a mask.
The English word “hypocrite” comes from the Greek word, “hypokrites” and means, “actor.” The literal meaning is “one who speaks from under a mask.”
In ancient Greek theater, the actors – the “hypokrites” would wear masks to display the character and the emotion of the character.
That old theater symbol of the tragedy/comedy masks comes from the ancient Greek theater.
Are you catching the connection here? A hypocrite is someone who wears a mask.
The hypokrites of the theater wore masks.
The hypocrites in Jesus’ day wore masks of religiosity.
And the hypocrites of today wear masks of Christianity.
They wear a mask to try and disguise who they really are on the inside.
They try to act like someone they’re not.
I think that there are two types of hypocrites: those who purposely put on the mask to try and deceive, and those who don’t even realize that they’re acting like a hypocrite.
I think that many times, the hypocrite honestly believes, like the Pharisees did, that they were doing the right thing. Or at least I think it’s possible.
In any case, they look good on the outside, but inside they’re filled with the dead bones of hypocrisy, and if anyone sees past the mask, they see the death and decay that lies inside the person.
Can I tell you something else? Few people are fooled by another person’s hypocrisy. Usually people can see right through it.
A rather pompous-looking church board member was trying to impress upon a class of boys the importance of living the Christian life. "Why do people call me a Christian?" the man asked. After a moment’s pause, one youngster said, "Maybe it’s because they don’t know you." (SermonCentral.com. Contributed by David Yarbrough)
Do you know people like that? You probably do.
And you know what? I’m not the only one in here today who can say that they’ve been that person on an occasion or two.
There are a couple dangers that go along with this whole hypocrisy thing:
The first is that the hypocrite, especially those who just don’t realize it, endanger themselves by buying into the lie that outward religion is all that counts.
They may never know the truth that it’s not religious attitudes or activities that bring life and hope and a home in heaven.
Their hope and trust is in what they do, not in Christ alone. And they may come to the end of their life not ever really knowing Christ for themselves.
They’ll be with those Jesus talks about who say, “Hey wait a minute! Let me in! I did all sorts of neat stuff in Your name. What’s the deal here? Why can’t I get in?”
And Jesus will reply, “I never knew you. Depart from Me.”
The second danger is that others see the hypocrisy and they decide to reject Jesus based on what they see in people who call themselves Christians but act anything like Jesus.
I’ve mentioned that time and time again since starting this series and many times before.
And I think that this is the main reason Jesus spends so much energy here beating these guys up about their hypocrisy.
You: Jesus says that real cleansing takes place from the inside out, not the other way around.
Look back at verse 26 –
“First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”
Jesus says that as we are cleaned up from the inside, then our outside will be clean because it reflects what’s inside.
So there’s really only one application from this portion of Scripture, isn’t there?
And that is to let God cleanse you.
From the inside out.
There are two main types of cleansing that Jesus and the Scriptures talk about.
1. The cleansing of our sins when we trust in Christ.
Colossians 2:13 –
When you were dead in your sins… God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.
The moment you come to Christ for that wonderful gift we call salvation, you re cleansed from all your past sins, no matter how great or small.
You are wiped clean and made a new person.
It’s as if you never sinned at all, according to God’s ledger. And it’s because of Christ doing this, you are given the gift of heaven when you pass from this earth.
If that was all that Christ had to offer us, that would be enough, but He offers us this second kind of cleansing:
2. The cleansing of our hearts when we submit to Christ completely.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 –
23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 24 God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.
When we offer ourselves fully to Christ, God does a great work in us.
His Holy Spirit fills us completely and entirely. And He cleanses our hearts so that we’ll want Christ above all else, and we’ll want to live for Him above all else.
In other words, we give ourselves to Him. And He makes us holy.
That’s not to say you’ll live a completely sin-free life, but your desire to live a life of holiness will be paramount, because you want to honor Christ with your life.
The hunger and thirst for righteousness will be the dominate force in a Spirit-filled person’s life. (Keith Drury, Holiness for Ordinary People)
When you are cleansed like this, the tendency toward hypocrisy is lessened, and in the lives of many, completely erased.
You don’t need the mask anymore.
Going back to the milk illustration for a moment:
If the milk is good, then it doesn’t matter if it’s in a beautiful carton, does it? It can be in a Coke bottle or a plain jar. The milk tastes good, and it’s refreshing.
When a believer is walking with Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit to transform him through the Scriptures, then they become a person whose outer wrappings aren’t important compared to what’s inside.
And that person can be used by God to bring others into the Kingdom and impact society with the hope of the good news of Jesus.
Again, many people won’t base their decisions about Christ on the evidence that Christ is who He says He was, and that the Scriptures are trustworthy.
They’ll base their decision to accept or reject Christ based on what they see in those who call themselves Christians.
And so the cry of our heart should be, “Cleanse my heart, Lord! Make me a person who reflects Jesus. Take away my bent to sinning and help me to live for You, for my sake, for the sake of those who don’t yet know You, and for the sake of Your glory.”
We: Socrates said, "The shortest and sweetest way to live with honor in this world is to be in reality what we appear to be."
That is all the more true for Christians.
We need to be people who are authentic in our love for Christ. We need to be people accurately reflect the work that Christ is doing in our lives.
And we also need to be people who show love to those who still struggle.
My caution here folks is that while it’s good to be righteously indignant about hypocrisy, we also need to be careful that we don’t forget that we need the help of Christ in our own lives.
And when someone new walks through that door, they need to see people who realize they don’t have it all together. That we’re here for each other, bound by our love for Christ and those He came to save.
May Christ to honored to do this among us.
Let’s pray.
