{"id":2589,"date":"2014-03-31T08:51:15","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T12:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/?p=2589"},"modified":"2014-03-31T09:10:07","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T13:10:07","slug":"i-am-a-hypocrite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/i-am-a-hypocrite\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am a Hypocrite"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/HypocriteHeader.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2594\" alt=\"HypocriteHeader\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/HypocriteHeader.jpg?resize=368%2C121\" width=\"368\" height=\"121\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/HypocriteHeader.jpg?w=368 368w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/HypocriteHeader.jpg?resize=300%2C98 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F142331173&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=true&show_comments=false&color=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Listen to an audio version of this post.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, it&#8217;s true&#8230;I <em>am<\/em> a hypocrite.<\/p>\n<p>There.<\/p>\n<p>Said it.<\/p>\n<p>You want to try it? Really, you should give it a shot.\u00a0 Ok, say this with me, &#8220;I am a hyp&#8230;&#8221;. Wait, not yet.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s make sure you <em>should<\/em> say it.\u00a0 I suppose it&#8217;s possible (though not likely) that there may be someone to whom that label doesn&#8217;t apply.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s find out:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>1.\u00a0 Are you perfect?<br \/>\n2.\u00a0 Have you ever been perfect?<br \/>\n3.\u00a0 Do you ever plan to be perfect this side of the grave?<br \/>\n4.\u00a0 Have you ever acted like you are perfect?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Alright, let&#8217;s evaluate a little bit because, frankly, I think it would be pretty easy to come up with a big negatory on all four of those.\u00a0 That is, unless we explore question number 4 a little bit closer.<\/p>\n<p>So, you&#8217;ve never acted like you&#8217;re actually perfect&#8230;I mean literally perfect&#8230;but have you ever acted like you have it all together?\u00a0 What I mean by that is, you don&#8217;t have any really serious sins in your life; you&#8217;ve managed it all pretty well so that if anyone looked at you, they would say, &#8220;Hey, he&#8217;s got it all together&#8221; (or something like that).<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at it another way:\u00a0 Would people be shocked if they knew how you really were on the inside?\u00a0 Would they be disappointed if they saw the ugliness that you know is there, but can&#8217;t bear for anyone else to see it?\u00a0 Would you be embarrassed or downright humiliated if you let them know the real struggles you deal with regularly?\u00a0 You talk the talk, but the walk doesn&#8217;t look quite so polished and pretty.\u00a0 Do you feel the pressure to hold it together so that you don&#8217;t disappoint or discourage someone who may be looking at you as an example?<\/p>\n<p>Congratulations&#8230;you&#8217;re a hypocrite.<\/p>\n<p>Ok, so back to where we started.\u00a0 Altogether now:\u00a0 &#8220;I am a hypocrite.&#8221;\u00a0 No, really, because I know you did <em>not<\/em> say it out loud.\u00a0 Once again and for real this time&#8230;with feeling:\u00a0 &#8220;I&#8230;&#8221;\u00a0 You can do it&#8230; &#8220;I am a hypocrite.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There, now.\u00a0 Feels better, doesn&#8217;t it?\u00a0 Owning it is the first step in killing it, and kill it, we must.<\/p>\n<p>Hypocrisy is one of the greatest enemies of the Church.\u00a0 Think about it:\u00a0 What is the number one reason unchurched people give for being unchurched people?\u00a0 Right!\u00a0 &#8220;That place is full of hypocrites.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>You know what?\u00a0 They&#8217;re right.<\/p>\n<p>Before you go and jump to conclusions about what we hypocrites look like, let&#8217;s unpack it a bit, shall we?<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re like me, the first thing you think of is this:\u00a0 &#8220;I need to bring my actions in line with my words.&#8221;\u00a0 In other words, &#8220;I need to try harder to actually LIVE the life I SAY I live.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Uh, yeah, thanks for playing, but WRONG!<br \/>\nIf that&#8217;s your game you will simply solidify yourself as a life-long, devout, professional hypocrite.\u00a0 Look, did the Old Testament teach us nothing?\u00a0 The WHOLE THING was written to unveil God&#8217;s plan of redemption and I assure you, it had nothing to do with your goodness or Super Christian&#8230;..ness.\u00a0 Whatever.<\/p>\n<p>What it DID have to do with was God giving us His Law and saying, &#8220;Keep it.&#8221;\u00a0 The problem?\u00a0 Nobody could do it.\u00a0 Ah-hah!\u00a0 Now, we&#8217;re on to something!\u00a0 Nobody could&#8230;that&#8217;s the point.\u00a0 What happens when you are told that the ONLY way to have relationship with God is to keep the Law fully only to realize it can&#8217;t be done?\u00a0 (check out Galatians 3:10 &#8211; For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, \u201cCursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>What happened in the OT was that people finally began to realize their inability to please God through the Law.\u00a0 What does that lead to?\u00a0 Yep, hopelessness.\u00a0 What&#8217;s the point in even trying, right?<\/p>\n<p>Unless&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>See, what happened at that point was God stepped in with some really great news. Catch this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Jeremiah 31:31-34 \u201cBehold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, \u2018Know the Lord,\u2019 for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You got that, right?\u00a0 God steps in and says, &#8220;Hey, you know that covenant I established that you didn&#8217;t keep?\u00a0 I&#8217;m replacing it.\u00a0 See, the reality is that you couldn&#8217;t keep it because you are fallen humanity.\u00a0 You had to experience the hopelessness of trying in order to learn that you couldn&#8217;t do it.\u00a0 Now that you realize that you can&#8217;t earn your own salvation, I&#8217;m stepping in to do the job myself&#8230;because I&#8217;m the only One who can.&#8221; (That&#8217;s from the New Modern, Uninspired Davidic Paraphrased Edition).<\/p>\n<p>Then you get word through the prophets that a Messiah (or Deliverer) is coming and it just sweetens the pot!\u00a0 So, you get that kind of news, what do you do?\u00a0 Uh-huh\u2026you start looking for that Deliverer!<\/p>\n<p>Then He comes!\u00a0 That&#8217;s where the New Testament picks up.<\/p>\n<p>Alright, all of that and where does it leave us?\u00a0 Back to that passage in Galatians 3:10, but now we go a little bit further.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s run by verse 10 again and then go from there:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Galatians 3:10-14 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, \u201cCursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.\u201d Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for \u201cThe righteous shall live by faith.\u201d But the law is not of faith, rather \u201cThe one who does them shall live by them.\u201d Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us\u2014for it is written, \u201cCursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree\u201d\u2014 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So what Paul did there was establish that anyone who tried to be justified under the Law is cursed because they can&#8217;t do it though commanded to in order to earn eternal life.\u00a0 Then he points to Jesus who did fulfill the Law! Perfectly. Every proverbial jot and tittle.\u00a0 Then, having fulfilled the Law through His life, He satisfied the wrath of God towards sin in us through His death (taking our place) and then secured our eternal resurrection through His own from the dead.\u00a0 That, then, is the free gift of salvation given in Romans 6:23.\u00a0 That&#8217;s incredibly cool!\u00a0 Seriously&#8230;think about that&#8230;cool!<\/p>\n<p>Now, back to the hypocrite issue.<\/p>\n<p>Life under the Law declares you must be perfect, but get this:\u00a0 CHRISTIANITY DOESN&#8217;T!!!<\/p>\n<p>It is precisely THAT you are a filthy sinner that you NEED a Savior.\u00a0 If that is the case, why do we act as though we don&#8217;t!\u00a0 (The exclamation marks are evidence I&#8217;m getting fired up, huh?)<\/p>\n<p>So, seriously.\u00a0 When we ACT as though we have it all together, failing to be honest before the world about our sin and short-coming, we are actually communicating that, though we may have needed the Gospel INITIALLY to save us and deliver us from sin, we really don&#8217;t so much any more because we&#8217;ve got this sin-thing managed pretty well.<\/p>\n<p>That, my friend, is called deception.\u00a0 YOU are deceived into thinking that you must look good to be a good Christian and you are deceiving the WORLD into thinking the very same thing.\u00a0 Further, it puts you in a position of looking down on the other filthy sinners who haven&#8217;t done nearly as good of a job as you have to cover up their sin.\u00a0 At least when they flaunt it, they&#8217;re being honest (and don&#8217;t forget, lying is a sin).<\/p>\n<p>In fact, to be a good Christians assumes you&#8217;ve been a very bad person.\u00a0 Because you screwed up being a perfect human before God, you need the God-Man, Christ Himself, to do what you failed to do.<\/p>\n<p>Alright then.\u00a0 If this is true, what, do I just own my sin and flaunt it?\u00a0 Um, Paul says no.<\/p>\n<p>Warning: This is a little bit long, but very important.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Romans 6:1-14 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This means that sin no longer has me under its spell, but does not mean that I will be sin-free.\u00a0 It means that I am free to live honestly about my sin nature; that I can openly communicate to those around me that I am still wrestling with this sin, but that I am no longer destroyed by it; that I am no longer a slave to it.\u00a0 I can confess that I am no better than anybody else and that my sin bought me a ticket to hell just like the rest of humanity.\u00a0 The ONLY difference in my sin and someone who has not trusted in Christ is that mine has been paid for.\u00a0 See what Paul later said in Romans 8:1-4:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>No condemnation!\u00a0 None.\u00a0 Zilch. Nada!\u00a0 This means very simply that I don&#8217;t have to walk according to the flesh anymore, but I don&#8217;t have to act as though I&#8217;m perfect, either.\u00a0 I can admit the fact that I needed the Gospel initially to save me and I need the Gospel NOW to sustain me.\u00a0 It&#8217;s all about Jesus!Now, rather than trying harder to actually LIVE the life I SAY I live like I&#8217;m tempted to, I simply need to submit honestly and humbly before Christ so that HE can live His life through me, killing the sin in me, not trying to hide it (like we hypocrites are prone to do) but rather flaunting the work of Jesus so He gets glory in re-making a sin-soaked guy like me.<\/p>\n<p>What happens if we can finally get this?\u00a0 We can at last live in the freedom of Christ, having been liberated from the pressure to appear perfect, while demonstrating to the world around us that they can find the same solution for their own sin problem, AND the Church will become a much nicer place when the Christian elite stop thumbing their noses at fellow sinners who haven&#8217;t learned to wear the masks yet.<\/p>\n<p>Then the Church can move from being a museum full of spiritual relics (I believe Jesus called them &#8220;white-washed tombs&#8221;), setting examples of what it looks like to fake it well, to what it is intended to be: a hospital full of people being healed and made whole by a Great Physician.\u00a0 A place where He gets the full glory and man gets a very&#8230;yes, <em>cool<\/em>&#8230;blessing!<\/p>\n<div class=\"twttr_buttons\"><div class=\"twttr_twitter\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=I+Am+a+Hypocrite\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-via=\"\" data-hashtags=\"\"  data-size=\"default\" data-url=\"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/i-am-a-hypocrite\/\"  data-related=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to an audio version of this post. &nbsp; Yeah, it&#8217;s true&#8230;I am a hypocrite. There. Said it. You want to try it? Really, you should give it a shot.\u00a0 Ok, say this with me, &#8220;I am a hyp&#8230;&#8221;. Wait, not yet.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s make sure you should say it.\u00a0 I suppose it&#8217;s possible (though not&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"Living it up as a a life-long, devout, professional hypocrite: http:\/\/wp.me\/p3jKZO-FL","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[42,685,556,220,227,450],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3jKZO-FL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":981,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/when-judging-isnt-judging-thoughts-on-matthew-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":0},"title":"When &#8220;Judging&#8221; Isn&#8217;t Judging: Thoughts on Matthew 7","date":"July 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"1 Judge not, that you be not judged.2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Devotions\/Biblical Insights&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":898,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/hypocrisy\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":1},"title":"Hypocrisy","date":"March 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The charge of hypocrisy is the one I most often hear levied against the Church and used as an excuse by those who want no part of it.\u00a0 \"I don't want to hang out with a bunch of hypocrites\"\u00a0 This is often the claim made by those who fail to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christian Living&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3284,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/a-hunger-for-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":2},"title":"A Hunger for More","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"For the past few weeks, I've been experiencing some strange things going on with my heart--literally, not metaphorically. \u00a0I've experienced elevated blood pressure, tightness in my chest, slightly labored breathing, and feelings of anxiety. \u00a0It got so bad that I landed in the hospital for a couple of days while\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 10 comments","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1487,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/fear-factor\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":3},"title":"Fear Factor","date":"July 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ve been thinking alot about fear lately. \u00a0As a matter of fact, it\u2019s what I talked about this past Sunday at The Gathering. \u00a0I\u2019m not talking about just any fear, but the fear of living honestly before people. \u00a0Being authentic without feeling the need to alter who you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Authenticity\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4139,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/the-mind-blowing-nature-of-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":4},"title":"The Mind-blowing Nature of Grace","date":"November 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the most challenging aspects of the Gospel is the amazing grace of God that declares Believers as perfect in Christ. It is hard to grasp because we know we're still sinners. How can we be both sinners and sinless at the same time and, if true, how can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christian Living&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/img_0212-1-e1541844712209.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1429,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/to-stand\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":5},"title":"To Stand","date":"May 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"For anyone who has been at The Gathering for any length of time, you know that I am regularly on the proverbial soap box regarding the absolute nature of Truth regardless of how normative the current culture speaks to the contrary. There is right and there is wrong. Right doesn\u2019t\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Apologetics\/Worldviews&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2589"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2610,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions\/2610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}