Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Fight Hypocrisy | Mark | Mark 7.9

Episode Date: February 3, 2021

One of the biggest criticisms against Christianity is hypocrisy. Jesus condemned it, so how do we fight it? Learn from https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/keith-simon/ (Pastor Keith Simon) as he delves into https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+7.9&version=NIV (Mark 7.9) to continue our series on https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcast-series/mark/ (Mark). Interested in more content like this? Check out https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/are-we-hypocrites-learning-to-follow-jesus-luke-12-1/ (Are We Hypocrites?) Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. To learn more, visit our https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ (website) and follow us on https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks (Facebook), https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/ (Instagram), and https://twitter.com/thecrossingcomo (Twitter) @TheCrossingCOMO and @TenMinuteBibleTalks.  Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. My name is Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. I have a friend who's really open to conversations about faith, but who will be the first to tell you that he isn't a Christian. Let's just call him Hank. So several years ago, Hank and I were waiting to pick up our kids from one of the many practices they were involved in, when out of nowhere, he just blurts that he hates how hypocritical Christians are. And this sent Hank on a brief rant about all the ways Christians turn him off to Jesus. I get it. Sometimes the behavior of those who call themselves Christians can be an obstacle keeping some people from Jesus. I said to Hank, the more you talk about how much you dislike hypocrisy, the more you sound

like Jesus. Hank was surprised to say the least. He thought his disdain for hypocrisy was a reason to reject Jesus. And here I was telling him that his. disdain for hypocrisy was making him sound more and more like Jesus. I'm not sure anyone has taken a more public and forceful stand against hypocrisy than Jesus. And one place we see that play out is in a discussion that Jesus has with the Pharisees about the law. We find all this happening in Mark Chapter 7. For a few centuries before the time of Jesus, some Jewish groups, including Pharisees,

had created laws that governed people's behavior. And while they, these laws were not found in the scriptures, they were wrongly given scriptural authority. So Jesus called these man-made laws tradition of the elders or human traditions. These human traditions became a big issue when the Pharisees started prioritizing their tradition above God's clear commands. So in Mark chapter 7 verse 9, Jesus says to the Pharisees, you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions. Ouch.

I wonder if we ever do that. What's Jesus talking about? Well, one of the Ten Commandments says to honor your father and mother, and that includes helping them take care of their needs when they're no longer able to care for themselves. The religious leaders had created new commands that allowed people to keep their money instead of taking care of their parents. This allowed them to feel good about themselves,

to make themselves feel like they were obeying God's commands when really they were going against his will. They were prioritizing their human traditions, the tradition of the elders, man-made laws, over God's clear commands. And for this, Jesus calls them hypocrites. Why hypocrites? Well, because they were pretending to be something they weren't. They were pretending to follow God's instructions while they did what they wanted.

wanted. The word hypocrite originated in the world of theater. Actors wore masks to play different characters or to take on different roles. A hypocrite is someone who is wearing a mask, who's playing a part, who's pretending to be something they aren't. A hypocrite lacks sincerity. So let's take a hypothetical contemporary example to see if we can understand what it means to be hypocritical. So let's just say, again, all this is hypothetical. Let's just say, consultant comes to the church to help the staff develop some ministry skills, and the consultant hands out some notes so that people can follow along and notes that go along with his talk. And let's just say, hypothetically, of course, that Patrick thought the consultant's talk was a little

boring, a little predictable, but he didn't want to appear like he wasn't paying attention. That would be rude, and no one wants to be thought of being rude to anyone, especially in church. So let's pretend that Patrick held up his notes so that it appeared like he was looking at them, but really he was doing email on his phone, which was hidden behind the notes. Now, if that hypothetical example were true, then Patrick would have been acting hypocritical because he would have been pretending to be something he's not. He would have been pretending to be the kind of person who politely listens and learns from the speaker. Now, hypocrisy can take other, forms in our life too, but the core ingredient is being fake. We like the Pharisees fall into hypocrisy

when we focus on the outward performance rather than the inner heart. Imagine if a church said to students in its ministry, if you memorize a certain number of Bible verses, then you can go on a trip. Well, where's the emphasis? The emphasis is on the outward performance. Did I memorize the verses correctly? memorize enough Bible verses. But the emphasis is not on the heart. In other words, are those Bible verses really sinking into my heart to make me the kind of person that God wants me to be? I think churches and Christian families are always in danger of creating little Pharisees, little hypocrites, people who focus on the outside instead of on the inside. Or when we have a higher standard for others than we do it for ourselves, that Jesus says, is also hypocritical.

I mean, just think how often you get frustrated with someone for doing something that you yourself do. Jesus says hypocrisy can also be doing the right things for the wrong reasons. The wrong reason is usually for our own glory instead of God's. Jesus says that hypocrisy is like yeast. Yeast spreads in a batch of dough and his Hypocrisy spreads in families, workplaces, teams, schools, and churches. And because hypocrisy turns our heart away from God, it is far more dangerous than COVID. So how do we fight against hypocrisy? Well, in one sense, it's super easy.

All we need to do is be transparent and honest. Stop pretending to be something we aren't. But of course, that simple step is incredibly difficult. In order to do it, in order to be transparent and honest, we have to remember that Jesus came for sinners. When we stop pretending and start being transparent about our struggles, we actually draw closer to Jesus. Jesus said he came for the sick, not the healthy, for sinners, not the righteous. When we pretend to be something we aren't, when we pretend to be healthy, we pretend to be righteous, we actually distance ourselves from Jesus. But when we admit

that I am sick, I am a sinner, I am messed up, I am. I am. I am, and then you can fill in the blank. Impatient or angry or worried or fearful, whatever it might be. We are actually drawing closer to the one who is the friend of sinners. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast with.

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