Divine Seed

Hypocrisy the Bane of the Church
As we look back at our Christian experience, we see that many believers are not really the way they come across. I was telling my wife sometime last week about the experience I had as a young convert with someone whom I looked up to as a senior believer. As a believer in the Lord, years before me, I had so much respect for him, hence trusted him that he will take care of my interest in a business deal we had together. Unfortunately I almost learnt the hard way, because when payment was made by the client, this senior believer collected his cheque without telling me that he had been paid (even after I had asked him if he had been paid). It was somebody that we ‘believers’ would call an ‘unbeliever’ who went looking for me to ensure that I get paid. This incidence would ordinarily have discouraged me from continuing with my new found faith, but God kept me and taught me never to fix my eyes on men, but unto Jesus, Who is the Author and Finisher of my faith (Hebrews 11:2). Many who would have surrendered their lives to the Lord to serve Him have been hindered from doing so because of this type of people, most of who are in church leadership positions. Like the Lord Jesus says of them in Matthew 23:13 (NIV) ‘You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.’ There are oodles of hypocrites in the church of Jesus Christ. We have them in the clergy as well as the laity. We have believers whose lifestyles are at variance with what they teach or preach. There are those who portray a humble and lowly lifestyle, but whose wealth and opulence is everything but moderate. We have pastors who are against the treatment of persons in a particularly grand or exalted manner, yet do not see anything wrong in lifting themselves in grandeur in their churches while their members swarm on them like bees. Many professing Christians can no longer be trusted with positions of trust (both in the church and their work places). A lot of todays born again people abuse their spouses physically and verbally. They inflict mental and psychological tortures on them and yet see nothing wrong with such gross indecency and wickedness. Most appear very pious on the outside due to their roles as ministers or church workers, but inwardly they are vultures and ravenous wolves (Matthew 7:15).

Brethren, hypocrisy goes beyond someone saying one thing, but doing another. A hypocritical person is always two faced. He is inconsistent and can never be trusted. He claims to be what he is not really is. Biblically it is the sad state of a person who reduces himself into being an actor on stage, because he does not know God. He is in a desperate search for human approval or applause (1 Samuel 15:30; 2 Samuel 12:4-7a; Acts 5:1-2). These people derive their worth and dignity from what other persons think of them, and not from God Who has become a Stranger to them. When the love for the praise of men takes possession of a person, his or her spirit becomes open to all kinds of evils. We see this in the life of David, who in his quest to cover up his adultery with Bathsheba and look good before Israel arranged for the gruesome and cold blooded murder of Uriah (2 Samuel 11:2-5, 14-17). We can see the depth of David’s hypocrisy when Nathan told him about a rich man in a certain town who had a visitor that he wanted to entertain. But instead of killing one of his own many cattle, the rich man went for the poor man’s only ewe lamb that the poor man loved so much. The Bible in 2 Samuel 12:5-6 says this of David who did not know that Nathan was talking about him ‘And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. David must have been shell-shocked when the prophet Nathan responded thus in the next verse ‘And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.’ Do we see the deceitfulness in the hearts of men? No wonder the Word of God in Jeremiah 17:9 ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ As church leaders how many times have we participated in condemning people for things we as leaders do on a daily basis? We speak of the corruption in our countries, yet our churches are filled with unparalleled corruption. When last did we invite auditors to appraise our church accounts? Haven’t we turned our churches and ministries into our personal estates? Don’t we have pastors and church leaders who sleep with their female members, impregnate them and encourage them to abort? Sometime ago, the story of one lady who had been sleeping with her pastor went viral online. The accused pastor said he was coming up with a robust response to the lady’s accusation. It’s close to a year now; we are yet to get the robust response from this minister. What a shame! Let me say this to church leaders that any professed believer who enters into an adulterous relationship disqualifies himself from the office of the overseer (1 Timothy 3:2). Let me remind all of us that God sees us wherever we are. He knows whatever we are doing. We cannot hide anything from God. A life of hypocrisy is a life full of deceit and lies. It is a terrible sin in the sight of God. It was this sin that cost Ananias and Sapphira of the early church their lives (Acts 5:3-10). The God of the early church is still the same God, even today (Hebrews 13:. The LORD says in Jeremiah 17:10 (NIV) ‘I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.’ Also 2 Corinthians 5:10 says ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.’
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Some Pentecostal denominations that previously experienced great revivals and were once cynosures of sound Christian practices in the 20th century have become a shadow of their old selves and are barely surviving spiritually because most of their present day leaders are full of deceit and hypocrisy. They have abandoned the faith and have followed deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. They are hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:1-2; NIV). Such denominations can only experience the revival of their spiritual lives and restoration of God’s holy will and blessing when there is a true repentance which entails: humbling themselves by recognising their failures and spiritual poverty; praying continually to God for mercy; diligently turning to God with their whole hearts, while turning away from all sins and removing all forms of idolatry and worldliness (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Conclusion
Brethren, hypocrisy is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabric of the church. We must purge ourselves of it and speak up against this sin whenever we notice it in our churches. Let us follow the example of Paul who withstood Peter to his face when he discovered hypocrisy in the life of Peter (Galatians 2:11-13). This must be applied without respect of persons. Let us note that a prominent person like the apostle Peter, who was mightily used of God needed in this instance a corrective rebuke. Like David in 2 Samuel 12:13 and Psalm 51 who repented of his sins, Peter accepted this rebuke by Paul in a humble and repentant manner. He did not resort into giving excuses for his action; neither did he launch a campaign of calumny against Paul like most ‘big’ ministers in this generation would prefer to do. Peter never allowed his reprimand by Paul to affect their relationship as he later referred to him in 2 Peter 3:15 ‘as also our beloved brother Paul’.
We have by the grace of God, proclaimed to you the Word of Truth. This truth endures forever and is same from generation to generation (Psalm 117:2; Psalm 100:5). He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches (Revelation 2:29).