here's an excellent post from Pressed on hypocrisy.
two quick notes:
1. I almost wrote, an excellent post from Craig (his name), but I thought that'd confuse those readers who know my city of origin is Craig, Colorado. If you want news from that Craig, go here. It appears the Moffat County Commissioners are amidst quite a fiasco regard fiscal responsibility. But, I digress; so on to #2.
2. and actually germaine to the issue -- YES, Christians ARE a bunch of hypocrites! We are sinners! We are liars, cheats, and thieves (which causes me to flash back to my childhood and my dad saying numerous times, "I can tolerate a lot, but I can't tolerate a liar, a cheat, or a thief."). And, according to Christ's standard, we are also murderers and adulterers. We earn that 'hypocrite' label when we try to pretend that we are none of these things. And to exacerbate the problem, we present ourselves as HOLY before others.
butwaitaminute
Doesn't God's word say we ARE holy?
(it does)
Doesn't It also say His righteousness has been imputed unto us?
(it does)
Doesn't it also say all the old things have passed away, that we are new creations, that we have been raised to walk in the newness of life, and that we are now children of the Spirit instead of children of flesh?
(it does, does,does, and does)
So what I basically see here are two problems (ALERT: IDEALISTIC STATEMENTS AHEAD! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK).
1. We don't know who we are! Perhaps the worst form of hypocrisy of all is that we are children of the King and we are living like paupers. We are reborn and we're living in dead men's clothes. We have been forgiven and we live like we are under perpetual condemnation. We are hypocrites because we are refusing to live in the eternal reality! We claim Christ, but we live in bondage to our flesh! Shame on us for this self-deception. Ironically, we then pridefully boast in self-righteousness because we take credit for being Christian, like it was a merit badge earned for Scripture memorization, but refuse to live by anything imputed upon us by the atoning death of Christ. And we wonder why the unbelieving world is so disgusted with us!
Simple Equation: Christ's Indwelling + Unregenerate Man = Changed Life
If there be no change, it is fair to assume there be no Christ in the life of that individual (note to the outraged reader: I am not anyone's judge -- this determination of a lack of change is the responsibility of each believer upon him/herself -- See Galatians 6:4 -- I don't judge you, only myself. And my kids. And televangelists. And liberals. I'm kidding, of course. I don't judge my kids. Oh, yes I really do. Anyway, again, I digress). Christianity will only mean something to someone else if they see the manifestation of a changed life IN YOU. There is no room for any attitude other than humility when we talk about the nature of our identity in Christ (take heed to Paul's accurate words, I am chief among sinners, and strive to emulate the attitude). If you boast, boast in Christ. Otherwise, keep your piehole shut.
2. The other side of this two-faced hypocritical coin is that the world is guilty of imposing an unfair (hypocritical) standard upon the church (and this is the issue that Pressed addresses, so I hope not to tread on ground he covered so well). If the church had a nickel for every strawman 'church-is-full-of-hypocrites' argument used to justify not coming to Christ, the church universal would be able to have a fully-funded, fully staffed Hypocrite Recovery Center replete with jogging path, full size gym, olympic swimming pool, and luxury accomodations for the population of conventions the size of Tanzania. To imply that the church is the home of hypocrites is to imply the world is free from hypocrites, which aside from being hypocritical, is really just a big, fat, lazy lie. The problem is, hypocrisy is expected in the world. In the ideal sanctuary (word used as a function, not a locale) of the church, hypocrisy is supposed to not exist. So, when it does not, the ideal is not met in the mind of the unbeliever, and the ideal looks no different from the rest of the world, so the ideal holds nothing compelling to draw the unbeliever. And because of this -- I say shame. Shame on the....church. Shame on the bride of Christ. Shame on the body for allowing the filth of hypocrisy to become so indentified with our nature and character that the unbelieving world (justified or not) can see no difference in us. The first church stood for purity, for holiness, for conformity to the image of Christ. But in approximately 20 centuries, we have accepted all forms of ungodliness and made excuses for it, we have compromised our doctrines, and we have failed to exercise godly discipline in the ungodly name of fleshly 'love.' We should exist in such a manner that when someone throws out an accusation of 'hypocrite' to the church, they should look silly. Instead, the response is 'yeah, I can see that.' We must cease excusing the church's hypocrisy, and instead overcome it by conforming to the image of Christ.
And, as is right and just, God gets the final word: