Why Are There So Many Hypocrites In The Church?

Why are there so Many Hypocrites in the Church?

Galatians 2: 11-16

11 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? 15 "We who are Jews by birth and not ’Gentile sinners’ 16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

This week the news has brought us another example of Christians not living like Jesus. Another example the world can hold up as evidence that all Christians are no better than them. Another sad story of a Pastor and his wife not living as Christians should live. It is the story of Richard and Linsey Roberts.

Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts asked for and was granted a leave of absence Wednesday amid accusations of lavish spending at donors’ expense and illegal involvement in a political campaign.

An Oct. 2 lawsuit filed by three former ORU professors says they were wrongfully dismissed and accuses Roberts of misspending at donors’ expense, including numerous home remodels and a senior trip to the Bahamas for one daughter on the ministry’s dime.

It also accuses Roberts of illegal involvement in a local political campaign, which would jeopardize the university’s nonprofit status.

The amended complaint also included an internal ministry report, titled "Scandal Vulnerability Assessment," documenting allegations of misconduct by the university and the Roberts family. Only a partial report was included in the Oct. 2 lawsuit.

The more detailed account alleges Richard Roberts’ wife, Lindsay, spent the night in the ORU guest house with an underage male "on nine separate occasions," and was photographed 29 times with an underage male in her sports car, among other allegations.

Ted Haggard said “I am a liar and a deceiver” after being found out meeting with a homosexual prostitute and buying cocaine.

The pastors wife (Mary Winkler) in Virginia who shot her husband Matthew Winkler, and on the witness stand told stories of Porn and abuse.

Zig Ziglar said that he invited a friend to go to church with him. The man answered, “Well, I’d like to go. But the church is so full of hypocrites.” Ziglar replied, “That’s okay. There’s always room for one more.”

My favorite response to “I don’t go to church because there are too many hypocrites in the church”, is you can go to church with a few hypocrites or go to hell with all of them.

Definition:

Greek Play acting, pretense, wearing a mask, One who wears a false face. A pretender, A Phony.

“A hypocrite is a person who attempts to live two lives simultaneously: the public persona is an act or pretense. The real persona is lived out in private. In many cases, though, such people are often ‘caught out’ when they are seen in private behaving contrary to their public persona or when their true persona ‘peeks out’ in public.” (Quotes & Things, D. Collins).

Robert Redford

Robert Redford was walking one day through a hotel lobby. A woman saw him and followed him to the elevator. “Are you the real Robert Redford?” she asked him with great excitement. As the doors of the elevator closed, he replied, “Only when I am alone!”

Jesus reserved his harshest words, not for thieves, or prostitutes but to a segment among the religious folks who he identified as hypocrites. Jesus is committed to exposing these people who claim to represent God and his ways, while not living out what they claim to be.

I The Question comes out of a misunderstanding of the Church

The Media (TV and Movies) made by godless Hollywood for the most part almost always portrays people of faith in their story lines as being hypocritical. The World sees that plus the few Christians they know who don’t live right, and conclude all Christians are hypocrites.

A. It is not a closed Club for members only. Open Door anyone can walk in.