Gospel Prism

Found this great post on hypocrisy by Mark Lauterbach’s blog. Here’s a taste. You can go to his site for a much more in depth view of hypocrisy:

Jesus spoke severely against hypocrisy. I think there is one reason — we cannot be committed to creating a false impression of our goodness with others and simultaneously admit we are sinners before God. The Gospel destroys hypocrisy and frees us from the burden of being phony.Jesus said we cannot have it both ways — if we live to win the respect and good opinion of others, then we have our reward — but God will pay us no heed. We cannot serve two masters. Whose approval do I seek? Whom do I wish to impress?

It is not uncommon for a pastor to hear confessions from people. The usual pattern is that people fight against sin privately for a long time until they become desperate for help — then they come to a pastor. I have often asked people, Why didn’t you come earlier? and the answer is always something about we thought we could handle this on our own and we did not want to bother you.

That never rings too true for me. One day someone shot straight, I did not want to tell you because I have to look at you every Sunday and when I do I will know that you know my ugly sin. That made sense. I knew people who went to a counselor outside the church for just that reason!

That, my friends, is hypocrisy. It shows a greater fear of man than of God. It is more concerned with image than with true godliness. As long as I love the praise of men more than the praise of God, I will not believe the Gospel.