Snapchat. I don’t know much about Snapchat except what I read about it on the web. I don’t have it on my phone because, frankly, I don’t see the need for an app on my phone that supposedly lets me take a photo or video, send it to someone, and as soon as it’s been viewed, is automatically deleted. I just don’t need that app.
Snapchat is a video messaging app created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown, when they were students at Stanford University. With the app, users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. These sent photos and videos are called "Snaps". Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their Snaps (the range is from 1 to 10 seconds), after which Snapchat claims they will be deleted from the company's servers. According to Snapchat, in May 2014 the app's users were sending 700 million photos and videos per day.
So, here’s the concept: Take a picture or video of anything you want, and within ten seconds of viewing it, it’s gone forever. It’s guilt free photography, which plays well in our guilt-free culture. Of the 700 million “snaps” sent every day, many of them are compromising, embarrassing, or explicit in nature. The only problem is what’s gone in the digital world is not really gone. Both Elle magazine and ABC News had a story in May of 2014 that reported that the app still has the data to all of the images you swore would never see the light of day again. According to the forensic researcher who discovered this little nugget of information, he also discovered that, with the right software, a savvy hacker could gain access to photos, contacts, and other cellular data, as well. What we think we can hide isn’t really hidden at all. Just ask Hilary Clinton about deleted emails, and Prince Henry and Congressman Anthony Weiner about “deleted” photos. What a way to be connected, right?
We’ve wanted this message series to be about discipleship. We can’t be disciples unless we’re connected, but we’re not always connected to the correct things, or in the correct ways. Jesus pulled his disciples aside to give them some advice on discipleship. As the crowds were literally crushing each other, he pulled his disciples aside and warned them, “Don’t be like the Pharisees. They’re hypocrites.” We hear that word and immediately our minds imagine that being called a hypocrite is the worst thing anyone can be called. It wasn’t quite that bad a word in the first century. What is hypocrisy? Hypocrisy at its simplest is wearing a mask. This word originated out of the Greek theater. The actors in Greek theater wore masks to depict the different characters they took on. They would speak in hypocrisis, where they pretended to be someone else. The Pharisees, Jesus was saying, have on masks. They are pretending to be something they are not. They’re play-acting.
When Jesus calls his disciples aside, he’s just left a blistering encounter with the Pharisees and lawyers where He blasted the theology of creating and placing an unbearable legalistic system on people, then not doing any of it themselves. But the Pharisees were the power brokers. They were the ones everybody paid attention to, including these Jewish disciples of his. These disciples had been taught to look up to the Pharisees. After all, they were the ones who held all the cards, and if you wanted to get ahead you needed to heed what they said. Jesus is saying, “They might appear to be righteous on the outside but you don’t realize that everything they do or say will be revealed. All the "masks" will come off.”
Jesus compares their hypocrisy to yeast. When Jesus says hypocrisy is like yeast, he simply means a little bit of hypocrisy goes a long way. Yeast is a very positive thing in baking. Its influence changes the dough for the better, and it doesn’t take much. Jesus is talking about influence, and he warns his disciples to beware of the influence of the Pharisees—they’re influence is hypocritical…it’s a negative influence. It’s a warning for the disciples witness to be positive. Jesus has just compared the Pharisees to unmarked tombs. It was his way of saying their influence leads to death, so let your influence give life.
What were some of the things the Pharisees did that Jesus was referencing:
• They majored on the minors
• They sought fame and public applause
• They were more of a hindrance to people finding God than a help
• They placed unrealistic demands on people
Jesus was saying to his disciples, “Don’t just play the part. Live the part.” It was a call to live a life of authenticity. It was a call to live a life of transparency. His warning was to live with authenticity and transparency because the lives of those disciples (and every subsequent disciple) will ultimately give testimony to the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, the warning Jesus gave his first disciples was not necessarily heeded by subsequent ones, including us. One of the great charges against the church and against Christians is, “They’re all a bunch of hypocrites.”
The self-righteous part of me wants to say, “Now, wait just one dog-gone minute. I’m no hypocrite!” But, then I think, “Wait! The fact that I just got self-righteous means I am a hypocrite.” That’s because the very core of our faith is centered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I must admit there are times I put on a mask and play a part that’s not really me. There are times when I do, in fact, major on the minors and seek the fame and applause of the crowd. There are times when I’m more of a hindrance than a help to people finding God, and I, too often, place unrealistic demands on people. And yes, there are times when I’ve compromised and done embarrassing things that I’ve wanted no one to discover. The long and short of it is that I’m a hypocrite.
The church, too, makes it easy for the world to look at us and say, “Hypocrite!” One can call to mind the sexual abuse scandals of the Catholic Church in recent years as continuing evidence of the church’s struggle to live authentically and transparently. Sins hidden, many for decades, continue to come to light. Other examples abound. As recently as this week, the “church” in New Hartford, New York came into the news because church elders and members beat two young men, one of them to death. The jury is, literally, still out on the circumstances surrounding the events of that “church,” but suffice it to say, it doesn’t reflect positively on the Kingdom of God, nor on the disciples who follow Christ. I would offer the disclaimer that what is often called the church is not really the church at all. We can call ourselves a car and live in a garage, but that doesn’t make us a car.
The church today lives under a more intense scrutiny because technology can show the “hypocrisy” within one church to the entire world. And, we know negative stories sell, so the church looks worse than it is. I am reminded, though, that Jesus said, “What you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear” (Luke 12:3).
So, let me confess: I’m a hypocrite, and the church is filled with hypocrites. But, may I also take it one step further. The world is full of hypocrites. We’re all hypocrites! What do I mean? Snapchat is the perfect example. Let’s say I’m a person who doesn’t believe in Christ, yet I am quick to accuse a Christian of being a hypocrite because of the moral failures of some who have called themselves disciples. Yet, I love Snapchat because I can take an embarrassing, compromising or explicit photo and do so without fear of consequences. I want the photo to disappear because there is a standard that I don’t desire too many people to know I’ve fallen below. If I rather see it as harmless fun, then why the need to have the photo instantly deleted? Isn’t that hypocritical?
Likewise, suppose I set a standard of always being kind. Am I always kind? Well, I try to be. But, if I’m not, I’m a hypocrite—disciple or not. Is my standard to always be generous? Am I always generous? If there is ever a time I’m not generous, then I’m a hypocrite. It could extend to eating well, sleeping well, or exercising well. If we don’t do them perfectly, then we have become, by definition, a hypocrite.
Some think that the only way to avoid being a hypocrite is to never aspire to a higher standard. But this is dangerous both for ourselves and for society. We should aspire to a higher standard, yet be honest about our difficulty in fulfilling that standard. The wonderful thing about being Christian is the ability to confess our failures, to confess we’re not perfect. Yes, we strive for perfection, we strive to be like Christ, but we fail…we sin…we miss the mark. The wonderful thing about Christianity is we have freedom to acknowledge our need for a savior. My actions are an ever-present acknowledgement of how much I need Christ. It’s an acknowledgement that Christ is still working on me…that he’s not done with me yet.
Somehow, it makes sense to me that realizing my failure means maybe I’m not a hypocrite, after all. When we come to Christ, confessing our failures, seeking forgiveness and discovering his grace, we’ve moved beyond the realm of hypocrisy, and entered the realm of living in authenticity and transparency. We are NOT self-righteous. We are like the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Philippi:
8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith (Phil. 3:8-9 NLT).
Failure to live up to a standard doesn’t make me a hypocrite. Holding others to a higher standard than I hold myself—now, that makes me a hypocrite. As disciples, we hold each other to a higher standard, knowing that it’s only by grace and faith in Jesus Christ that we’ll ever attain that standard. The truth is, we all sin, we all live in brokenness, and if we don’t believe that we are deceiving ourselves. But the answer has been provided, the answer has been given, and that is confession so that we might receive forgiveness, and the almighty grace of God. John Wesley said that repentance and faith are tied together, and that repentance leads to faith. He said that in repentance we say that “without him I can do nothing,” but in faith we say, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.”
The word “transparent” in Webster’s dictionary means to allow light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen. If we live with transparency, the light of Christ will shine through us. Everything will be revealed, and it will be a story of grace and forgiveness and compassion and mercy.
How do I live a transparent life?
• Acknowledge—Acknowledge our own sinfulness and need for a savior.
• Aim—Aim for the perfect standard. We Wesleyans would call it moving on to perfection. Strive for the perfect while at the same time knowing none of us is perfect.
• Accountability—Establish accountability in our lives so that when the mis-“snaps” occur, we can deal with them immediately.
• Acceptability—accept the failures of others with as much forgiveness and grace as the Lord accepts ours.
Years ago, the chaplain of the football team at Notre Dame was a beloved old Irish priest. At confession one day, a football player told the priest that he had acted in an unsportsmanlike manner at a recent football game. “I lost my temper and said some bad words to one of my opponents.”
“Ahhh, that's a terrible thing for a Notre Dame lad to be doin’,” the priest said. He took a piece of chalk and drew a mark across the sleeve of his coat.
“That's not all, Father. I got mad and punched one of my opponents.”
“Saints preserve us!” the priest said, making another chalk mark.
“There's more. As I got out of a pileup, I kicked two of the other team's players in an inappropriate way.”
“Oh, goodness me!” the priest wailed, making two more chalk marks on his sleeve. “Who in the world were we playin' when you did these awful things?”
“Southern Methodist.”
“Ah, well,” said the priest, wiping his sleeve, “boys will be boys.”
Humans will be humans, but by the grace of God, perhaps we’ll not be hypocrites, too.
