We used to rely on the newspapers to give us news and opinions but now we are very skeptical of what we read in the newspapers or hear on the TV. It is ridiculous, even appalling, that in a world of the Internet we would mistrust the readily available information offered to us. Where is authenticity, integrity and credibility?
The Christian community is not spared from this question. Non-Christians often see us as hypocrites because they see that the profession of our faith does not commensurate with our behaviour, conduct and character. Our walk does not fit our talk. In the face of an increasingly insincere and hypocritical world, inclusive of the church, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount challenges us to a lifestyle that is completely and radically different. This sermon which is recorded for us by Matthew in his chapters 5 to 7 is a call for us to move from superficial, shallow and “plastic” religiosity to a sincere, authentic and practical faith. The sermon looks at us, the church, the people of God and instructs a paradigm change in our thinking and behavior. Time and again, Jesus stated the way things were and then offered a change in conduct and attitude. He used the phrase, “You have heard….but I say to you.”
So Jesus in Matthew 6:1-18 told us to cut out the play-acting, the hypocrisy and get down to genuine and authentic behaviour. There are 2 lessons for us:
a. The World is not a stage – Don’t Play Act. The root word for hypocrisy is 'play acting.' This is how Jesus described hypocrites, play actors. He said “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you do not make a performance out of it. It might be good theatre, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.” (Peterson – The Message). Churches turn away far more people from Christ than winning them for him by not ‘walking the talk.’ The non-Christians and the young Christians are quick to detect hypocrisy within the church. In contrast authentic Christianity when it is manifested never requires advertisement or publicity. Jesus taught “When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to your self, When you help someone out. Don’t think about how it looks. Just do it – quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.” The problem is that we divide our lives into two compartments – spiritual and secular. We keep our Sunday spiritual behaviour in one compartment and the rest of our lives in another. As a result we do not relate what we hear on Sunday to the way we run our businesses from Monday onwards. Very soon we will have the need to act up on Sunday, to don our Sunday best and play act.
b. Don’t demonstrate prayer – Just pray. ‘And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you,’ Matt 6:5-6.
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| Xian Vase |
The Latin word for sincerity is ‘Sine cere’, which when translated literally means ‘without wax”. The Greeks spoke of being sincere as being 'sun-tested.' Fine porcelain is greatly valued and therefore expensive. Often in the making of a vase when the porcelain is fired in the kiln tiny cracks would appear if the material is of a low quality. Dishonest merchants would smear pearly white wax over the cracks, and try to pass off the lower valued stuff as fine porcelain – unless held up to the light of the sun when the cracks will become prominent.
Similarly, our cracks will appear when held up to Jesus the light of the world. When we over-demonstrate spirituality in a put-on fashion, the non-Christians are quick to notice the fault lines. Can we withstand scrutiny when we are held up to the light? What will show when our books are open?
I have struggled with this problem for many years. In the office I am noted to be a very harsh person. I am quick and sharp in meetings and have been known to be ‘brutally frank and open’. At first I thought that this was a sincere way of doing things - ‘tell it like it is.’ But there were times when I overdid myself and the words I used could be said to be offensive. The staff saw me as a very strict man.
I am not so sure now if I was being sincere or I am just a hypocrite. A more caring and soft approach is more consistent with my ‘Sunday’ behaviour? How to be sincere without having to be brutally frank? Unless we question ourselves we cannot spot our hypocrisy. There is no better way to put up ourselves to the light that is to hold ourselves to the light of God.
King David knew when he prayed in Ps 139 “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD."
There was a king who was fashionable and pompous. He liked to wear beautiful clothes. On his birthday he commissioned for himself the most beautiful outfit, one that had to befit the grand occasion of his birthday parade. But being a pompous man, he was not satisfied with any of the fabrics and designs that were shown him by the many tailors of the land. As the day of the parade approached, he still had not made up his mind and he had no new outfit to wear. One day, two tailors came to the palace. They 'showed' him a beautiful cloth supposedly made of the finest material. It was said to be dazzling in colour and texture. They told the king that the cloth was so special that only a person of the appropriate stature and ability would appreciate its beauty and subtlety. Taking advantage of the king's pride, they described the illusion so splendidly that the king, not to be outdone, joined in the charade. So did all the people at court.
On his birthday everybody remarked how beautiful and resplendent the new outfit was. The king wore his splendid new clothes and went on a parade through town. All the town people cheered and clapped and hailed. They strained their necks to see the clothes that glittered until a young boy sitting on the shoulders of his father shouted, “Look mum the emperor has no clothes on.”
In 2 Cor 5:17, we are described as new creations. 'Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come.' The emperor’s new clothes were visible only to those who pretended that it was there. We may be guilty of putting on a new man that is scarcely discernable to the outside world. All of us in church clap and wave as we parade and strut about each Sunday. Perhaps it is time to cut the hypocrisy. Be authentic.
Lionel
First published June 2007
