The Unfortunate Things Christians Do. (Things that drive away church growth.)
“The sermon you are about to hear is extremely unpleasant. In this story, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning, and very few happy things in the middle. This is because not very many happy things happen in the lives of the three characters you’re about to meet.
Harry, the oldest of three is a Hypocrite. He likes to pretend he’s someone holier than who he really is. Priscilla is the middle-aged character. She used to live a spirit filled life, but now she’s afraid to do much of anything. Sunny, the youngest, she likes to bite things… We call her the back-biter.
No one knows the precise reason their church doesn’t grow… It just doesn’t. And just like that, the children of God become orphans, fending for themselves in a dark and treacherous world.”
(You could have someone (even the pastor) dress up like count Olaf. Play the role…)
Today’s sermon is entitled, “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” It’s about the unfortunate things Christians do. (Movie Disclaimer) I know that preaching a sermon around the theme of a movie can be controversial, but if the theme interests someone who might not otherwise hear God’s word, then it’s reached a better end then it was purposed for.
In every church there are characters, and wherever there are characters, we know there are character flaws. Now, I know this doesn’t apply to our church, because we’re perfect… I’m talking about all the other churches out there… Anyhow, there are some character flaws in specific, which tear apart the very fibers that hold a church together: the things that cause a church to grow and be healthy.
These characteristics are the things people do that destroy other people’s faith: things that drive people away from the church where God can be experienced in a life-changing way: a series of unfortunate events that occur in congregations around the world: the unfortunate things Christians do. Today and in the weeks to come, I’m going to focus on three of the most unfortunate events occurring in church today.
And the first of these unfortunate events is HYPOCRISY. Illustration: The dead lizard in my office… Jesus said to the spiritual leaders of His time, "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. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matt 23:27-28
Jesus had a problem with hypocrites in His day and He has a problem with them today. Hypocrites have been around forever, and to some degree everyone’s a hypocrite at some time or another…
Unfortunately, hypocrisy is one of the most damaging events occurring in churches today.
A businessman was returning home from a business trip. The plane pulled in, the passengers were dismissed and his wife met him at the gate. They made their way to the baggage claim area when an extremely attractive stewardess walked by. Suddenly, the husband came to life. Beaming, he said to the stewardess, "I hope we can fly together again, Miss Jones." She grinned at him and walked away.
Just then, his wife asked, "How did you know the name of that stewardess?" Husband plays it off, “Well, her name was posted up front in the plane, right under the names of the pilot and co-pilot.” You know what the wife said? "Oh really? How nice of you to notice… Tell me, what were the names of the pilot and the co-pilot?" BUSTED! The man’s hypocrisy was uncovered. His true motives were revealed.
Jesus was fed up with hypocrisy in His day, because the Pharisees and Sadducees appeared righteous outwardly and inwardly their motives were evil. They did more to drive people away from God than lead them to Him.
They were experts at appearing good from the outside, when they were actually unfaithful on the inside. When they fasted, they would pretend to act like they didn’t want anyone to know, but they would disfigure their face or find some round about way for others to find out so they could be praised for their great spirituality. That’s hypocrisy.
In Matt 6:16-18, it seems so many people were keeping up apropos that Jesus had to confront the issue publicly. He said for instance, "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Jesus was fed up with disingenuous hypocrites in His day and He’s fed up with them today.
He said, “If the reward you want from fasting is admiration from others, then you’ll probably be successful at getting it, but in doing so you will forfeit the reward God has for you in fasting.”
If you’re praying and fasting for someone or something, don’t throw the blessing away by telling your peers you’re fasting. Make it a secret between you and God. Don’t exchange the gifts of God: the answers to your prayers and the reasons for your efforts for the praise of men or that’s all you’ll get. The danger of hypocrisy is that it is so successful. It aims for the praise of men, and it succeeds. But that’s all.
Hypocrites play the game for worldly gain: recognition and self-glorification, but deep down inside they are miserable, unsatisfied and unfaithful. In the movie, Count Olaf appears as many different characters; some very civil, but the true man is evil inside: Harry The Hypocrite.
Hypocrisy is among the top ten reasons people don’t come to church.
When asked the question, “Why don’t more people go to church,” people say, “Because church people are hypocrites!” They say, “Christians have a ‘holier than thou’ attitude.”
Is that the image we want our neighbors to have about us? No… I want my neighbor to have a genuine relationship with me. We don’t want to drive people away from the house of God, do we? We want them to come in and feel accepted, loved and appreciated. We want them to know this is one place where they can come to encounter God and His people, who should be a true reflection of who He is.
Even a church full of hypocrites can make a good first impression… But it’s the lasting impression of sincerity that leaves the deepest mark, and that’s where we need to focus our attention.
If we want to grow as a church body with God’s blessings, then we need to be a place where people feel genuinely accepted and loved and the only way they’re going to feel genuinely accepted and loved is if we genuinely accept them and love them. We need to get rid of even the appearance of anything that drives people away from this place of worship: especially hypocrisy!
HOW DO WE ALEVIATE THE UNFORTUNATE EVENT OF HYPOCRISY IN OUR LIVES?
I guess if we want to understand how to alleviate the problem, we should try to clarify what people mean when they call Christians hypocrites. What is the definition?
“Hypocrisy is the practice of professing beliefs, feelings or virtues that we don’t really have: falseness…” People who profess to have a higher standard of living, but don’t live by it; who pretend to care about others when they really don’t, and who put on a show of righteousness to keep up apropos for others are hypocrites: Fakers.
According to the opinions of many people, churches are experiencing a crisis of hypocrisy: they lack genuineness; they profess to believe the Word of God but they aren’t very good at applying it to their lives. Unfortunately, the result of Christians who live in a manner contrary to their professed beliefs is condemnation, not only to themselves, but also to the people around them. They’re like black holes, sucking in all the glory and light for themselves, trapping anything and everyone that comes nearby because they profess the truth but their lives say it doesn’t really work.
When we represent God and then we live contrary to His Word, we tell the world His Word doesn’t work. They scoff and they wonder, how can it work in my life if it doesn’t work in theirs?
What God’s children really need, and all the spiritual orphans in the world today is sincerity and genuineness: Christians who will express friendship & acceptance, even when it’s uncomfortable to do so (not acceptance of sin but of sinful people who need Jesus): people who will love unconditionally like Jesus: genuine people with pure motives, and people who will show as much about Jesus by our way of life as we do with our words, how to live a life pleasing to God.
I can remember going to a popular clothing outlet at a mall in Washington State. It was the 80’s, MC Hammer was in style… (Hammer impression: “You’ve got to pray just to make it today” I said, PRAY!) I wanted some of those baggy pants, where the crotch of the pant is way down between your knees… Thought that was cool.
There’s always a cute girl in those stores – that’s how they sell clothes… And she became my best friend when I walked in. I found these pants made out of some ridiculous material, like sackcloth, and tried them on… When I came out of the dressing room and saw myself in the mirror, I looked hideous: A skinny white boy lost in these massive Hammer pants.
But the sales clerk said they looked good, so she must be right. She was so friendly, and I walked out of the mall with a brand new pair of sackcloth baggy-pants.
What a sucker! She was probably laughing all the way to the bank on that one.
She didn’t have my best interests in mind. She didn’t care if I looked like an idiot in them.
She wanted to close a sale, and she succeeded.
The point is, I was motivated to buy a pair of pants because I felt acceptance and approval, but it wasn’t genuine, and later on I felt bad about the decision. I would have preferred genuineness to a sales technique. It would have saved me a lot of weird looks in those pants…
But every day people are bombarded by sales techniques. Every day, friendships are forged with the hope of personal gain to close a deal. Every day, we get solicitations: telephone calls from the nicest people who would like us to buy something. But the moment they know we’re not interested, they have no problem hanging up on us without so much as a goodbye. The world is full of insincerity, fake concern: a lack of genuineness. People are tired of it. People are ready for some genuineness. People are dying for genuine relationships. They’re selling their names and their services on E-bay.
One man offered to pay any family who would take him in and treat him like a family member of their own… Will he find happiness? Will he find genuineness from someone he has to pay to act like they love him? I don’t think so.
It’s easy to love for personal gain, but Jesus showed us the example of unselfish love for others.
Is there still unselfish love in the world? Fortunately for all of us, the answer is still yes!
It starts with Jesus and churches full of genuine Christians like you.
I want VCC to be the lighthouse of Santee. I want this place to be a hospital for hurting people. Let’s be the most genuine, loving place people can come to and meet God. Let’s be neighbors who care; really care and let’s see what God can do through a group of people who really care…
Not just care till decide they don’t want to come to our church… But really care!
HARRY THE HYPOCRITE IS A FAITH KILLER! LET’S GET RID OF HARRY!
HOW DO WE GET RID OF THE “HYPOCRITE FACTOR” IN OUR LIVES?
I: START WITH TRANSPARENCY – Tear down the facades and be real!
Why do people put up façades to appear to be something we’re not? We do it because we’ve got something to hide… Hypocrites have a lot to hide, so the façade goes up.
If you’ve ever gone on the tour at Universal Studios, you’ll realize that most of the stuff you see on TV is fake: a facade. There’s nothing behind the lath and plaster: no substance, just the appearance of what seems so. Behind the Hollywood sets is a mess of cables and cameras, extension cords, lights and filters. Half the time, the news anchors all dressed up in their jacket and tie have nothing but jogging shorts on under the desk, and you’d never know it because you can’t see it. They have you fooled to imagine that if half of it’s there, then it must all be there…
They count on the fact that you’ll imagine they’ve got it all together…
Too many Christians are counting on the fact that you’ll imagine they’ve got it all together if they put up a good enough façade. They’re not all there, so they put up the façade, and in doing so, they drive good people away from the church. We can’t afford hypocrisy. God needs His people to be transparent.
When the blood of Jesus Christ washes your dirt and filth away, you should have nothing to hide.
BE TRANSPARENT AND GENUINE! God will put you to work building His church.
PUT THE HORSE BEFORE THE CART:
II: CONSIDER THE HUMAN SOUL MORE VALUABLE THAN PERSONAL GAIN.
The best disciples put Christ’s interests before their own.
Phil 2:19-21, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.”
Even in the early church, disciples were rare, who actually looked out for interests other than their own. TIME TO WIDEN YOUR SCOPE and look out for others!
More and more, people today observe their faith in Jesus until it becomes inconvenient.
Then the church, the ministry and the church family are out the door.
Have you noticed, there are a lot of social walls built up today? People are generally happy with their little world. It’s hard to get any stranger to say hello back or even smile at you. People are reluctant to let anyone new into their world, so we need to look for new ways to get them in. God has given us resources, we just need to be wise in how we use them.
LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO WITNESS, EVEN WHEN IT HURTS.
You’ve heard people say it: “Use what your momma gave you.”
How about we use what our daddy gives us?
III: GENUINENESS NEVER GIVES UP!
Christians, some of your neighbors and family members are giving you an ulcer. You have a love hate relationship with them because they won’t get their life straight and they’re not getting the big picture of what life is all about. You’re frustrated because they’re rejecting the one thing that can save their soul…
Maybe they’ve even run in the other direction and joined some kind of cult or secret order.
Don’t give up on loving them because they haven’t come along in the time frame you set for them. Lord forbid our attitude about life, family and friends be, “If they don’t want the product I’m offering: Christianity, then I’m hanging up on them.”
If you give up, you’re casting doubt on God’s love for their life…
My grandfather was in his late 60’s before he accepted Christ, and he died a year later. He had a neighbor in Oregon who was a pastor. That pastor genuinely cared for him and that’s exactly what lead my grandfather back to the feet of God. I’m glad that neighbor didn’t give up on my grandfather, even though he was a tough, stubborn old buzzard. God can get through. He can turn the heart of stone into a heart of flesh, but He needs us to be genuine in our love for our neighbor.
People need Christians to be consistent and caring, especially to that neighbor who thinks all Christians are hypocrites, because people are tired of ARTIFICIAL ACCEPTANCE: acceptance insomuch as they convert and become like us. They need acceptance for a long time, regardless of the sinfulness and the Holy Spirit will begin to work through that situation and bring them to their knees… “For unless the Lord builds the house, the workers labor in vain.”
Jesus never gave up on you. Don’t you give up on them!
CONCLUSION:
PEOPLE ALL OVER NEED YOU: to BE REAL, BE GENUINE, to LAY DOWN YOUR LIFE for a friend… Not always the friend of your choosing, but still a friend of God’s.
LEARN TO LOVE PEOPLE.
LET’S KILL THE HYPOCRISY and get on with The Lord’s business of growing the church!
