Hypocrisy’s Cure

Bulletin

Dan Peters
10/27/24 - Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy’s Cure

“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1). In what way does hypocrisy have a leavening effect? How does it start out small and grow bigger? Why are religious people so susceptible to it? Is it not true, that when a person does good and is praised for doing good, that praise feels good? Praise slowly becomes a factor which was not a factor before. We no longer do the good for God’s sake or for the sake of good itself , but for the praise (human praise).
Steve was a highly intelligent man who found himself being praised for such a wonderful prayer. Chester said to him, “I just love to hear your prayers”, and Steve’s heart sank.
Why? His heart sank so low that he quit being a deacon in the church. His heart continued to sink, and he quit church altogether. When Steve was asked how this happened, he simply said, “I had stopped praying years ago, except at church.” No longer reading his Bible regularly, no longer praying. So when Chester praised his prayers, all Steve saw was hypocrisy. Hypocrisy in himself. He was so ugly inside, he just had to quit. That has been about 30 years ago.
So did Jesus have a cure for hypocrisy? Yes he did. But few people want to hear about it.
“But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.” (Luke 12:2-3).
If this is true, and the cure for hypocrisy, what is the meaning and significance of practicing it? DO GOOD THINGS IN SECRET, and keep them unnoticed. Pray in secret, fast in secret, give to charity in secret (Matt. 6:1-18). Assume you are a hypocrite, and then take Jesus’ cure, i.e. do good for God by keeping it secret. Jesus, “He went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), and Jesus was no hypocrite.
What we are told about Jesus in the Bible, is likely the tip of the iceberg, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25). We are told enough about him to give us a good understanding, but Jesus practiced what he preached. “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” (Mark 1:35). Pray when no-one is around, he did. “It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples to Him.” (Luke 6:1-13). Dan Peters