<\/a><\/p>\nThe 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 realize that that statement is incredibly…well…hypocritical.\u00a0 It is the equivalent of saying, “I don’t want to be a hypocrite by hanging out with a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites who judge people.”\u00a0 That is, of course, in their judgment<\/em>.\u00a0 Hellooooo.\u00a0 But I digress.<\/p>\nThe truth is, they’re right.\u00a0 There are a bunch of hypocrites inside the church just like outside.\u00a0 The goal, though, is for us to strive for obeying Scripture consistently so at least if we’re accused of something, it’s not that we’re wishy-washy.<\/p>\n
Case in point:\u00a0 I had a great conversation this week with a person who told me they know of someone who won’t come back to The Gathering because I made an unmarried couple mad when I told them that until they were married, they would have to stop living together (yeah, literally<\/em> move out) and repent of that sin before I would consider performing their wedding and before they could consider joining our church.\u00a0 That was, in their judgment, too much to ask.\u00a0 We were accused of being hypocritical for “judging them” and making them feel uncomfortable.\u00a0 They were essentially upset because we insist on labeling what the Bible calls sin…well, sin.<\/p>\nOK, so this person was right.\u00a0 Guilty as charged: we do call sin, sin (though it is Scripture that is doing the judging…they’re not my<\/em> rules).\u00a0 They are also right that we call people to repentance (just like Scripture does).\u00a0 We do not, however, do it to be<\/em> hypocritical but to prevent<\/em> us and them from being so and we strive to be consistent.<\/p>\nIt is<\/em> OK not to be OK, but it’s not OK to stay that way<\/em> and for us to say we believe Scripture yet dismiss what it says as unimportant to live by would be fatally flawed.\u00a0 The unpopular fact is that God cannot and will not<\/em> bless a life that is characterized by willful<\/em> sin and we really want to see lives blessed.\u00a0 It’s that simple.\u00a0 What would be hypocritical on any church’s part is to say, “they<\/em> are sinners but we<\/em> are not.”\u00a0 But we all<\/em> have to repent and turn from our sin.\u00a0 Every single one of us!<\/p>\n<\/a>We work really hard to communicate this in a compassionate way, but at the end of the day, we don’t want any<\/em> of us to be comfortable<\/em> in our sins and so we address it.\u00a0 To do otherwise would be like the crew of a cruise ship refusing to point out to passengers that it’s sinking because they don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable.\u00a0 After all, they came on a cruise to escape<\/em> stress and discomfort.\u00a0 Sheesh<\/em>, everybody knows that<\/em>!<\/p>\nUnfortunately, (and this is a bit of a side note) too many churches have allowed the “abandon ship (read: sin)” to be silenced because (to adapt my metaphor) they’re afraid someone might decide to get off of their boat!\u00a0 So the ships are full to overflowing with sinking people who don’t even realize it.\u00a0 The popular (though, thankfully, not universal) solution?\u00a0 Just build bigger ships.<\/p>\n
So, we must call for and expect more, from ourselves and each other.\u00a0 See, what is hypocritical is when we use<\/em> the label “Christian” to characterize ourselves (see 95% of FB profiles) yet neglect or refuse to structure our lives according to what that label dictates.<\/p>\n