“Those People: The Hypocrite”
In this world polarizing world full of offenses it’s not hard to point out where someone is wrong and you are right. How many of us can say we’ve ever encountered a hypocrite? Don’t point :D! It’s often the hardest thing in the world we can deal with right? Having someone who looks like they are all put together and then to find out that they aren’t…it can often be a stumbling block for us! And many times when we are confronted on our own hypocrisy we spend all of our effort trying to prove ourselves right instead of fighting to make others right with Christ! So how do we go about confronting hypocrisy on in our lives? Let’s see one of the ways Jesus did!
- Confront with TRUTH (Luke 10:25-28)
- Pay attention to this…an EXPERT in the Law asked a question about the Law! Even crazier he asked it to the One who wrote it! Proudly the expert answers Jesus’ question with poise & confidence…expecting Jesus to give him the gold star! And yet Jesus answers the answer with TRUTH! Live out what you attest to be!
- Here’s where we all can get stuck! We think because someone is a follower of Christ they don’t sin anymore…and that’s just not true! When we have a relationship with Christ we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and through that we go through sanctification (which means we become more like Christ)! In a nutshell that means that we still sin, but sanctification allows us the opportunity to act on the desire to sin. Truth is we don’t have it all together…we either trust in the One who does or we don’t! Having trust in Jesus to hold it all together is what gives us the freedom to speak in Truth!
- Confront with HUMILITY (Luke 10:29-36)
- Jesus didn’t blast the lawyer for asking the question! He didn’t scream “Are you Dumb? You just answered your question and I agreed…why ask again?” No, Jesus sees his heart and that he wasn’t getting it. Not saying “I’m Right and You’re wrong”…instead He comes to the lawyer with the heart of understanding. If the lawyer truly understood the law…then he would get who the real neighbor is. The Samaritan lived the Law instead of just knowing the Law! This is who Jesus is—the fulfillment of the Law.
- This is one of the hardest things to do! To approach someone with humility when you know you are right and they are wrong. It would be so easy to throw it in their face! Often in this social media world we do! The Samaritan didn’t worry about who was right and wrong…he walked through the eyes of what if this was me—wouldn’t I want someone to help me and not leave me! Sometimes it’s not the things we do that make us a hypocrite…it’s the things we don’t do (see the Priest and the Levite)
- Confront with RESTORATION (Luke 10:37)
- The story ends with the same way it started with Jesus saying live the Law and you will have eternal life! And here’s the thing…the lawyer probably believed that if he was good enough living the Law he would have eternal life. But he, nor you & me, could ever truly fulfill the law with a perfect life! That’s why we need Jesus! Jesus is telling the lawyer “you are the man on the road and I am the Samaritan coming to pay your heal you and pay your debt”. That’s what He’s telling all of us today! There will always be more to do, a status to live up to and knowledge to gain whether we are at the top or the absolute bottom; however, without a Savior we are all on the same road to the penalty of sin…death! And Jesus, lived the perfect life and died the death we deserved and left the tomb empty so that we can live the life we get to live today! We just have to receive Him! When we do He’ll bandage our wounds, pay our debt and set us free from the
Take Away
How have you been impacted by the hypocrisy of others?
Where are you being hypocritical in your own life? What’s your next step to addressing your hypocrisy?
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Tyler West 