The Real Thing

He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Mark 7:6-7 (KJV)


      One of the phenomena of today's culture is the parading of Hollywood actors before congressional meetings to discuss topics about which the actors only claim is that they played an expert on the subject in a movie. These people possess no real knowledge or expertise they simply pretended once that they did. The Greek word "hypokrites" comes from a root word meaning "an actor under an assumed character. This is where we get the word hypocrite.


     Today there are people sitting in pews, singing songs, and carrying around Bibles that have no intention of following the commands of Christ. They don't study to show themselves approved and what they hear they do not apply. Full of excuses and lies they devour those around them and draw them into the pseudo Christian life style of one that has no resemblance of Christ. Rebellious and proud they pick and choose the commandments they wish to follow and dismiss the commands that do not fit their desires.


 Scripture has a lot to say about hypocrites. Jesus had a lot to say about hypocrites.

But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them. Job 36:13 (KJV)

I do not sit with deceitful men, nor do I consort with hypocrites; I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked. Psalm 26:4-5 (NIV)


Read Matthew 23 for a taste of what Jesus thought about those pretenders.

God is looking for the real thing! You don't have to be smart, eloquent, talented, or rich but you do have to be real!


     God doesn't look on the white washed exteriors of our lives that we have carefully crafted to fool those around us. Pretending to be something that we are not might fool our neighbor, friends, or even our pastor but God looks past the carefully crafted exterior and sees the heart.  When Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees (very religious people) He told them that they were like whited sepulchers  on the outside but full of dead men’s bones on the inside.  What a fitting picture of the hypocrite who carefully portrays the Christian exterior but is still dead in their trespasses and sins. 
  
     But there is still hope!  Grace is given to the humble.  The one that is willing to open up and be real with Jesus.  You are not admitting anything that God doesn’t all ready know.  You are casting away the pretense and embracing reality.  Like the man who hit his chest and cried , “Lord be merciful to me a sinner” we must confess our sin and then God is merciful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.