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1 John 1:5-2:2
“A Call To All Hypocrites”
In this sermon series we will continually see how John is connecting his teaching to the main them found in 1 John 5:13
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
As believers, which most of us are, we sit in this space where we seek to live faithfully as believers. At the same time we face an accusation that is regularly stated.
Christians are hypocrites!
And there are times … too many times … when the accusation seems well deserved.
Years ago there was a publication called the Christian Business Directory.
It was famous … or should I say infamous.
Too often I would hear people say that they had been so burnt by businesses listed in the directory that they used the Directory as a guide for who NOT to call.
The accusation was clear. Some Christians who were listed in the Directory were hypocrites.
Hypocrites.
It is an accusation which reflects the reality that, as Christians, we do not live a consistent Christian witness.
We say we want to be one sort of person … a Christ follower …
… who is loving and compassionate.
… who has a reign over their tongue.
… who is patient and full of hope.
Yet, in reality, we are a different person …
We are quick to judge and lack empathy.
We gossip and speak behind the backs of others.
We have a short fuse and is full of doubts.
You hypocrite!
It isn’t just an accusation directed by others to yourself.
We are well aware of our own personal hypocrisy.
You know what you are like when you think no-one is looking … at least when no other Christians are looking. There are so many inconsistencies. You often lose the battle. Sometimes it is spiritually ugly.
And the thoughts that you think. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul says that “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Your thoughts are not captive and obedient … they are running wild completely off any sort of leash.
You don’t need others to tell you. It is self-evident.
I am a hypocrite.
In the struggle against sin … you know the truth.
But … well sometimes we don’t like to be confronted by the truth.
Or … we don’t really want to make the changes necessary to move away from the hypocrisy.
In fact, there are parts of the hypocrisy that we kind of like.
So we start to develop different versions of ourselves.
… The Sunday go-to-church version.
… The Monday I’m-at-work version.
… The Wednesday at-Connect Group version.
… The Friday with-my-secular-friends version.
When the Sunday version of you meets the Friday version of you, the Sunday version looks to the ground and shakes their head and says … “Hypocrite!”
And, if we are hypocrites, can we know that we have eternal life?
So, are you a hypocrite? Let’s find out because Scripture calls out to hypocrites.
The calling is found in 1 John 1:5-2:2
1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His Word is not in us.
2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
These verses are calling out to all hypocrites.
The word hypocrite, comes from the Greek word “hypokrites” … which literally translated means “an interpreter from underneath.” It was used to describe actors in ancient Greek and Roman theatre who wore large masks to show which character they were playing. Actors interpreted the story from underneath their masks.
The actor was one person. The mask was a totally different person which the actor wanted to portray to the audience.
By extension the word “hypokrites” also referred to any person who was wearing a figurative mask and pretending to be someone or something they were not.
The mask was an act … a portrayal for an audience.
The real person under the mask was someone totally different.
Hypocrites live their life from behind the mask.
Jesus used the word powerfully to expose the actions of the teachers of the law and Pharisees in Matthew 23:27-28
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 the bones of the dead 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.
Hypocrites wear a mask by putting on Scripture like a mask.
Hypocrites claim to be in fellowship Jesus, but they are actually lost in the darkness. (1 John 1:6)
Hypocrites claim they have conquered sin … but it is a lie. (1 John 1:8)
Hypocrites turn God into a liar. (1 John 1:10)
Hypocrites use the mask to put on a spiritual face.
But that is all it is … a mask.
So
… are you a mask-wearer?
… are you a hypocrite?
As we think about these questions remember that John doesn’t isolate the hypocrites and leave them in a place of hopelessness.
John doesn’t start by saying “this is the message we have heard … you’re all useless hypocrites.” Instead, John starts with a declaration.
5 This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5
When we are in God darkness is brought into the light.
His light exposes our lustful thoughts, our coveting hearts, the idols we worship, the jealousy we feel, our selfish ambitions and our lack of self-control.
When God shines the light … which he always does
And when we keep on going as if the light is not shining
When we keep walking in the darkness and keep ploughing on with our eyes shut to the sin because we want to keep walking in darkness.
When we keep standing in denial and soothing ourselves with mantras like
… it is not so bad.
… nobody is getting hurt.
… everyone else is doing it.
When we keep on claiming “No I don’t have an issue with sin”.
… I can stop whenever I want.
… I have it all under control.
… I’m not like other people.
When the light of God shines in our lives through Jesus
And yet we keep deceiving ourselves and walking in the darkness, yet while all the while saying, “I am in the light and I have fellowship with Jesus.”
When we live like that … then we are hypocrites.
But, it is not hypocrisy to say, “I have fallen into temptation.”
And it is not hypocrisy to say, “Sin is winning the battle for my heart.”
Our daily struggle with the flesh.
Our daily failures to live for the glory of God.
The fact that we know that we don’t live as Jesus wants us to live.
That does not automatically make us hypocrites.
This is the testimony of Paul in Romans 7:15, 18-19
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do … 18 I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.
Paul adds to the testimony in 1 Timothy 1:15
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.
Notice he doesn’t say, “Of whom I WAS the worst.” Where he was talking about his pre-conversion life.
Paul is saying, I am the worst, even now.
What a testimony!
Imagine having a baptism where the testimony of the baptism candidate was, “I continue to be the worst of sinners, who doesn’t do the good I want to do.”
This is the testimony of Paul who has written all those letters telling the church how to live for Jesus.
He tells all these Christians what to do but he can’t even do it himself.
People looking at Paul and hearing this testimony may well make the accusation that Paul is a hypocrite.
But remember … hypocrites stay behind the mask and portray a different person to the audience.
Paul is not behind the mask.
Paul has taken off the mask and shown himself to the world.
That is not hypocrisy.
That is what a biblical approach to the confession of sin looks like.
Confession brings sin into the light and brings us into fellowship.
It is possible because of the purifying blood of Jesus. (1 John 1:7)
Confession …seeing the sin and saying, “Yes that is sin!” … it leads us away from unrighteousness to forgiveness. (1 John 1:9)
Confession gives Jesus the ability to stands with us and says “Father this is your child. I will vouch for them. I will be their advocate. (1 John 2:1)
The difference between hypocrisy and biblical confession is the location of the mask.
Are we standing behind the mask?
Or have we put the mask aside?
Those who take off the mask stand in the light and accept the authority of God’s Word.
Scripture … the Word … tells the story of God at work bring sinners into God’s kingdom and God’s family.
Within that salvation story God defines the characteristics, and attributes, and actions of all kingdom family members. God tells us how we can live in kingdom obedience.
Things like the 10 commandment actions.
Having no other gods before God. Not blaspheming. Not committing adultery. Not giving false testimony. Not coveting.
The light of God’s Word shines here and we don’t stay in the deception.
The Word talks about the acts of the flesh.
Avoiding sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like.
We allow the light of God’s Word to reveal the darkness.
The authority of God’s Word speaks to the sins we so easily excuse.
Not letting the sun go down on our anger.
Not letting unwholesome words come from our lips.
Not being greedy.
Not gossiping.
God’s Word lights up and reveals the truth of our lives.
All this and so much more is defined by God … … a truth … a standard … the authority.
Those in the light get out from behind the mask and recognise the authority of God’s Word … and come in confession.
Hypocrites can’t do that … they can’t accept they have sinned … so they stay behind the mask.
Hypocrites have to fake the fellowship.
When they come into fellowship spaces
… church.
… connect groups.
… being with Christian brothers and sisters.
When they come into fellowship spaces they keep the mask on and keep pretending. They show the Christian community a very different face.
Hypocrites continue the deception by renaming sin.
I made a mistake. I took a wrong turn. It is a flaw in my character. It was a short-coming.
I didn’t know – there is a deficiency in my education so I am not at fault.
The times have changed we are more enlightened.
Hypocrites make God into a liar.
They are not willing to be transformed by the Word that reveals the darkness. In doing so they are effectively pointing to God and saying, “God you are wrong … I am not that person!”
If this is how we are living and this is our attitude then we can shout till we are blue in the face “I have fellowship with God” …
But we don’t … we don’t have true fellowship. Indeed, you can’t have true fellowship, because you haven’t accepted a key ingredient of having a relationship with Jesus.
The key ingredient of accepting, as you stand in the light, “Yes God I am a sinner”.
“I am a sinner.”
That sounds so terrible – acknowledging that you have followed evil and disobeyed God.
And it is … terrible. It’s terrible that we can be so disobedient.
But making this admission is also eternally necessary.
2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:1-2
Admitting our sin is a key component in our relationship with God.
If we don’t admit our sin, then we don’t have an Advocate.
Jesus won’t atone for the darkness that we keep pretending is not there.
Jesus will just leave us to suffer the consequences of our sin.
Hypocrisy is not just an issue of pretend – there are eternal issues at stake here.
That is what happens when we stay behind the mask.
But, when we come out from behind the mask.
When we stand in the light with all our sins fully exposed.
When we are in the place where we know our sin and Jesus knows it even more.
As we do that Jesus doesn’t turn away in disgust and repulsion.
Instead, he turns to the Father and states our case … He advocates for us.
Jesus, the Righteous One points to those who are following him and says
Father …
They may look like hypocrites, but they have come out from behind the mask.
They walk in the light, and I have purified them.
They have confessed their sin, and they have been forgiven.
I have paid for their sin.
It is finished.
They have eternal life.
Father, they look wretched, but they are redeemed.
John has written this letter so that we who are believers can know we have eternal life.
How can you, as a believer who is so aware of your sin, know that you have eternal life?
Step out from behind the mask.
Confess your sin.
Call out to Jesus who is your Advocate.
And keep standing in the light … sin and all.
Prayer
