Raw Questions Relevant Answers

Handling Hypocricy

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: RQRA

Program Code: RQRA000012A


00:01 I don't understand.
00:04 Why did this have to happen to me?
00:08 I feel like
00:09 I just can't make sense of things.
00:12 I need answers.
00:15 Where is God?
00:20 You know, one of the biggest points,
00:22 the pillars of the Protestant Reformation
00:24 was the idea of Sola scriptura, the Bible alone.
00:29 Welcome to Raw Questions Relevant Answers.
00:31 This is a program in which myself
00:34 and my two friends,
00:35 co-hosts here Dee Casper, Michelle Doucoumes.
00:38 We are here to try and bring clarity
00:41 to some of the raw questions that we all go through
00:45 based on that principle of Sola scriptura,
00:48 the Bible and the Bible alone.
00:50 Today, we're going to be tackling
00:52 the subject of hypocrisy.
00:54 I think this is something
00:56 that we come across all the time
00:58 and it becomes one of the biggest reasons
01:00 why people end up leaving the church.
01:03 And I just want to reiterate that all these questions
01:05 that we are going to be dealing with today
01:07 have been sent in from people online
01:11 on to our Facebook.
01:12 And if you want to ask more questions to us
01:15 to get answered, follow us on RQRA3ABN,
01:21 that's on Facebook.
01:22 So let's dive into this. You all ready?
01:24 Yeah. All right.
01:25 Okay, our first question, "How do we deal with hypocrisy
01:30 within the church using a biblical perspective?"
01:34 This is a question from a male who is 24 years old in Florida.
01:41 Well, let's look at a biblical example of Jesus
01:46 having to deal with the situation of Him...
01:51 Kind of having people
01:52 who are trying to press Him for,
01:54 whether it be breaking the Sabbath or paying taxes,
01:57 like they were always trying to catch Jesus
01:59 in a certain way.
02:00 But what I find is interesting is that the very motives
02:02 that are driving them at this stage are murderous,
02:07 are covetous, are...
02:10 You know, there's hatred filled within these individuals
02:12 who are claiming to uphold the law on one side
02:15 but are violating the law in their attempt
02:17 and their pursuits,
02:19 I think it's a biblical example of hypocrisy.
02:22 One of the ways that Jesus dealt with that
02:24 was by getting to the core of the motives
02:26 of the situation, right?
02:28 He would address certain issues
02:30 of the true issues of the heart,
02:32 not just what you say with your mouth
02:34 right in the beatitude, you know.
02:35 If someone looks at a man with murderous thoughts,
02:38 he's guilty of murder, you know, or hatred.
02:40 Someone looks upon a woman with lust,
02:43 they've already committed adultery in their heart.
02:45 One of the ways that Jesus dealt with hypocrisy
02:48 was by dealing with the true core motives
02:50 of an individual and getting to the heart of the matter
02:52 as opposed to just bantering back and forth.
02:55 And one of the things Jesus had to do unfortunately
02:57 was to cleanse the temple for instance of these people
03:01 who are making the house of God a den of thieves,
03:03 they were merchandising and selling
03:05 and extorting people
03:07 while claiming to uplift biblical principles.
03:09 Jesus had to go through a process,
03:12 not necessarily to give us an example,
03:13 like I'm not necessarily recommending
03:15 that we're going with a whip and cords
03:16 and flip tables in our churches,
03:17 but the example is that He is making it clear
03:20 that He's not okay with hypocrisy,
03:23 as far as a biblical framework.
03:24 He had a problem with that He alone had the authority
03:26 to cleanse that church.
03:28 But in that situation, I think we can start to extrapolate
03:31 some principles that He's not okay with it
03:33 and He wants us to know that that's the case.
03:36 Yeah, you know,
03:38 we sometimes wonder is hypocrisy all that bad,
03:41 doesn't everyone kind of put up upfront.
03:45 Well, actually, in the very heart,
03:48 in the Ten Commandments, it also talks about this.
03:51 In Exodus 20:7, it says,
03:56 "You shall not take the name of the Lord
03:58 your God in vain."
04:00 And isn't that what we do in hypocrisy?
04:02 We're taking Christ's name
04:04 but we're not taking His character.
04:07 We're taking it in vain and God does not like that.
04:10 Yeah.
04:11 And so, you know, for those of you
04:13 who feel like you've been hurt by hypocrisy
04:14 or hypocrisy in the church,
04:16 know that that hurts the heart of God too.
04:19 But we've all probably been guilty of it.
04:21 We all have been guilty of it in some different time,
04:23 so how do we deal with that biblically?
04:26 You know, Matthew 18 has some interesting principles
04:28 when someone harms you,
04:29 whether that be through hypocrisy
04:31 or whatever kind of sin.
04:32 And it invites us starting in verse 15
04:34 that we go to the person, you know, one on one
04:37 and talk to them about what we see
04:39 that then we take someone else with us.
04:41 If not, then we go to the church with this.
04:44 And then it says,
04:46 verse 17, "If He refuses to hear them,
04:48 tell it to the church.
04:49 If he refuses even to hear the church,
04:50 let him to be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
04:55 So like we throw him out,
04:56 but how did Jesus treat heathens
04:58 and tax collectors?
05:00 With kindness. With kindness, right?
05:02 He ate with them, He hung out with them,
05:05 and so while hypocrisy is not a good thing
05:08 and it's a hurtful thing, even to God.
05:11 God still wants us to have biblically
05:14 a sense of compassion and help to those
05:17 who are dealing with that.
05:19 You know, basically then to summarize
05:22 what we've just said here is that, first of all,
05:24 God ain't cool with hypocrisy.
05:26 He doesn't like it.
05:27 It's not something that He is fond of
05:30 and that when we deal with it,
05:31 one way of dealing with it is Matthew 18.
05:34 You know, addressing it in the principles there,
05:37 from a Bible perspective,
05:38 which means we shouldn't go around
05:40 telling everybody else about so and so brother
05:43 who is hypocritical, right?
05:45 You know, the other thing too that we can deal with it
05:48 is who is the church?
05:50 It's you, right? It's me.
05:52 If we want to take hypocrisy out of the church,
05:56 let it start with me.
05:57 Rather than saying, "Oh, the church is bad,
06:00 they're all hypocrites, they're this, they're that,"
06:02 are we not being hypocritical in saying that ourselves?
06:04 Right.
06:06 Let's, first, take a look at ourselves and say,
06:08 "Do I love God supremely?
06:09 Am I honest about my faith, and experience,
06:13 and harmonizing the two?
06:14 Or am I professing to love God while really loving the world?"
06:19 You know, before we charge everybody else with hypocrisy,
06:23 we need to take a look
06:24 at it in our own lives, you know.
06:26 You know, we're dealing with Him in the same way
06:27 that we ourselves would like to be dealt with.
06:28 You think it's the Golden Rule,
06:30 am I treating them in the way that I would want to be treated
06:32 if I were out of harmony with the will of God,
06:34 but that if is...
06:36 You know, we do find ourselves.
06:38 That it's not if I do sometime, like we do wrestle with that,
06:41 how would I want to be treated in that same situation.
06:43 Yeah, 'cause it's like you're saying in Matthew 7:4,
06:47 it tells us, "How can you say to your brother,
06:49 let me remove the plank from your eye,
06:52 the speck from your eye when there's a plank
06:53 in your own eye."
06:54 Yeah.
06:56 And then verse 5, Jesus says, "Hypocrite!
06:58 First remove from your own eye,"
07:01 and so that is when Jesus calls people hypocrite,
07:03 it's often when we are trying to look
07:05 at other people's issues and not our own.
07:07 Right.
07:09 Okay, so let's move on to the next question.
07:11 This is from a female, 26 years of age.
07:15 Is it hypocrisy to try to help a friend
07:19 out of a certain sin when I myself struggle
07:22 with the same thing?
07:24 I first of all just want to affirm the sincerity
07:26 of the question and I'm proud of this individual.
07:31 To recognize and to have the self-awareness of the fact,
07:35 that my life is not where I'd like for it to be
07:37 and to wrestle with that, for that to bother you
07:39 is evidence already that the Spirit of God
07:41 is working in your life and praise God for that.
07:44 We should praise God for that.
07:46 But I think one of the things we can realize is that
07:48 we of all people
07:50 are acquainted with the struggle
07:52 and with the battle in that area, right?
07:54 And it says actually in 1 Corinthians 10.
07:58 I want to turn there.
07:59 1 Corinthians 10,
08:01 and verse we'll say 12.
08:06 "Therefore let him who thinks he stands
08:08 take heed lest he fall."
08:09 But then it says in verse 13 that
08:10 "No temptation has overtaken you
08:12 except such as is common to man.
08:15 But God is faithful, who will not allow
08:16 you to be tempted beyond what you are able,
08:18 but with the temptation will also make a way of escape,
08:20 that you may be able to bear it."
08:23 One of the points made here is that
08:25 other people go through this too.
08:27 And I remember when I first encountered that
08:28 with some of my battles, immediately, I felt human.
08:32 To know that someone else had wrestle with that,
08:34 like, I wasn't just some animal, right?
08:36 I was someone, I was a human being
08:38 that was wrestling with a particular topic
08:40 that someone else can relate to
08:42 and I found in discussing with someone else
08:44 who's having the same battle
08:45 and not succeeding all the time in it.
08:47 We were able to pray with each other
08:49 to study together, to hold each other accountable,
08:52 he not being a great blessing to me
08:54 at a great time of need in my life
08:56 to have a safe place to talk through these things.
08:58 It can actually be quite valuable
09:00 in those situations.
09:02 One doesn't necessary have to be an expert
09:03 in overcoming to able to be an accountability partner
09:06 and to be as the Bible says, iron sharpening iron
09:09 and it's one of those battles.
09:10 Let me kind of play devil's advocate
09:12 and to use answer though.
09:14 That's super true.
09:15 And the other thing though is in Matthew 15.
09:19 It cautions us about the blind leading the blind,
09:22 lest they both fall into a ditch.
09:25 And so I do see that there is something here
09:28 where we are to help each other in our weakness
09:31 and that's not a bad thing, but there may be times.
09:33 If you're really struggling with something,
09:35 especially a problem or an addiction,
09:37 don't only go to someone else who has that same problem,
09:40 maybe both of you need to go to someone
09:42 that can help.
09:44 And so there is a place to find godly mentors,
09:46 godly counselors,
09:48 those who can see outside of that issue and help to lead
09:52 and give some counsel.
09:53 It's a super good point
09:55 when it comes to accountability,
09:56 like there's one side where it's helpful
09:57 but there can be the temptation to just appease each other
10:01 in that particular situation
10:02 and we need greater accountability.
10:04 And sometimes someone who's struggling
10:06 may give you that, but at the same time
10:08 it is helpful to seek together potentially experts
10:11 who can help in that direction.
10:12 Yeah, I agree with that.
10:14 Good stuff.
10:15 Okay, let's move on to our next question.
10:18 This is from a female in a Washington state.
10:22 "When I see people being hypocritical
10:24 in their lifestyle and/or treatment of others,
10:26 how do I avoid falling into the trap
10:28 of being judgmental myself?"
10:34 That kind of reminds me
10:35 of what we talked about earlier,
10:36 about being careful to not just
10:39 forget the own plank in our own eye,
10:42 hold judge not, lest ye be judged."
10:44 Yeah.
10:45 And I think that one of the things
10:46 that is helpful for me when I see people
10:49 wrestling with certain situations
10:51 is trying to look past
10:52 what they're doing and better understand
10:54 what they're going through, for instance.
10:56 One of the ways in which people hurt folks
10:58 in religious settings
10:59 and just in the life in relationships in general
11:01 is because they themselves are hurt
11:03 and what it's helped for me, what it's helped to do for me
11:07 is to contextualize what they're doing to recognize
11:09 that this is the result of them feeling pain in their life
11:13 and weakness in their experience.
11:15 And this is why they're acting out in this way.
11:17 This is why they're trying to find self-esteem
11:19 by criticizing everybody else for doing something
11:21 they don't struggle with,
11:23 even though they clearly struggle
11:24 in other areas if that makes sense.
11:26 It's helped me to contextualize is,
11:27 that make a right no but it's helped me
11:29 to have compassion for these individuals
11:31 as opposed to just frustration or anger
11:33 if that makes sense.
11:35 Here's another quote from somebody
11:38 that I really appreciate, it's in the book,
11:41 Testimonies for the Church, volume 5.
11:43 And it says, you see that your brothers
11:45 do not come up to the Bible standard
11:47 that there are defects in them,
11:49 and you dwell upon these defects,
11:52 you feed upon them instead of feeding them upon Christ.
11:57 And by beholding, you become changed
11:59 into the same image.
12:01 But criticize no one,
12:03 do not contrast your own exact course
12:05 with the deficiencies of another,
12:07 you may be in danger of wanting to correct others
12:10 and make them feel their wrongs,
12:12 do not do this.
12:14 This is not the work God has given you to do,
12:16 He has not made you a church tinker.
12:19 There are many things
12:20 would you view in the light of the Bible,
12:22 but though you may be in the right on some points,
12:24 do not get the impression that your positions
12:26 are always correct.
12:28 For on many points your ideas are distorted
12:31 and will not bear criticism.
12:33 So basically, don't try to go around correcting everybody.
12:36 Right.
12:38 Don't think that your opinions are always right
12:40 that you always have it all together
12:42 because you probably don't.
12:44 Yeah. And I love that part in there.
12:46 It said about, by beholding, we become changed,
12:49 and that's such a huge thing.
12:51 What we focus on, we tend to go towards,
12:53 we tend to become more like, and that's the big danger
12:57 is that am I going to my brother or sister
13:00 because I really care about them.
13:03 Or am I gossiping, am I talking about it,
13:05 am I thinking about it, I will become like that
13:08 if I'm not careful.
13:09 And at minimum if I don't become like that,
13:11 I'm going to be discouraged.
13:12 Yes.
13:13 And many people leave the church
13:15 because they're discouraged over these things.
13:16 We see so much of the bad, we forget to see
13:19 what God's doing as well.
13:20 Amen.
13:22 And to have the faith in Jesus in them
13:23 for what they could be, not just what you currently see
13:25 and loving them as if that were the case.
13:27 Fault-finding is a malignancy,
13:29 it's a cancer and it's contagious.
13:31 And we have to be super, super careful
13:33 with this that we don't develop
13:35 that type of lifestyle of fault-finding.
13:37 Now I do want to just say one thing
13:38 before our time runs out.
13:41 We also need to be careful about if we're feeling judged,
13:45 not necessarily just putting all the blame on them.
13:50 Sometimes that feeling of judgment
13:52 is actually our own conscience burning into us
13:55 for things that we do that we know
13:57 we shouldn't be doing.
13:59 Unfortunately, we're going to have to end for now.
14:01 But I thank you so much for joining us.
14:02 Again, remember, you can join this discussion,
14:06 put your answers online on our Facebook
14:08 Raw Questions Relevant Answers at 3ABN.
14:11 Thank you. God bless. Have a great day.


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Revised 2018-08-29