Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch and in today's episode, we're asking the question, can I end hypocrisy? And this is prompted by a really interesting article I read in the Wall Street Journal called how to spot when you're a hypocrite. And I'll just be honest, I read it for you because, of course, I could never be hypocritical. And that's kind of the joke, isn't it? Research shows that most of us are very good at spotting hypocrisy, saying one thing and doing another in other people, but we're really bad at seeing it in ourselves. In fact, research has shown that hypocrisy is a label we often attach to people as a way to kind of shut them down. It's a rhetorical device. There is no person who lives out everything they say. They believe every minute of the day. To be human is in some ways to be hypocritical. But we show ourselves grace, offering excuses or reasons why we couldn't live consistent with our beliefs. And. And we hold others accountable, arguing they should have done better, they could have done better, and they knew to do better. Experts are calling us out of this kind of behavior because, as you might imagine, pointing out, the hypocrisy in others while simultaneously defending your own doesn't lead to healthy relationships and it doesn't lead to personal growth. And the reason I'm aiming at this because I think this is a huge problem for many of us spiritually that will really stunt our growth as we seek to follow Jesus. So let me offer you five steps out of hypocrisy and into a better way of living and interacting with those around you. Let's just start with this. The first step out of hypocrisy is to start with self examination. Jesus says in Matthew 7:5, first, take out the plank in your own eye before you deal with the speck in your brothers. The sin that bothers you most has to be the sin in your own heart and in your own mind and in your own life. And certainly you and I have to understand that when we get preoccupied with the sin of the lives around us, it is overwhelmingly a sleight of hand, a way of shifting even our own attention away from what's wrong in our own lives so that we can focus on. On someone else. Jesus always calls us back, what did I Say, what did I do that I actually need to deal with? And when he does that, here's step two. Repent. Repent. Don't make excuses, take ownership. Uh, first, John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. That's a big if though, isn't it? Because we spend most of our time obfuscating, we spend most of our time taking, defending and excusing and pointing the finger in the other direction. Calling someone a hypocrite is often cover for not having to confess my own sin. But the way of Jesus is to see my sin first and then to deal with it, to own it, to say, I did this, I said this, I shouldn't have, I was wrong. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me? In this step three, we begin to live with integrity. Listen, there's this really cool proverb, and in Proverbs 11:1 which says, Honest scales are his delight. What it's saying is when you go to a merchant back then, uh, sometimes they'd put their thumb on the scale so that what you were buying would appear heavier and actually be more expensive. But what God is calling us to is honest scales, which means the same metric I use to evaluate myself I use to evaluate others. Or the same measurement I use to evaluate others is the one I use to measure myself. Because the root of hypocrisy is grace for me, judgment for thee. I have a harder scale for you than I do for me. And what the Bible is saying is to live with integrity is to allow the word of God to be our scale. When I fail to meet it, I say so. Then and only then, when you fail to meet it, can I actually say so. Here's the fourth step. Uh, invite honest accountability. When people around you expose your hypocrisy, you can help us as a culture move out of hypocrisy by owning it. Listen, James 5, 6, 16 says to confess your sins to one another. In other words, when someone comes to me and says, hey, Pastor Zach, you're saying one thing, but you're doing another, the immediate reaction of, of a healthy Jesus seeking heart is to actually consider whether or not they're right and if in fact they are to say so. I think most of us spend time looking through the accusations we receive, looking for what's not true, to swallow up what is true. If we can make it about what you said, that isn't fair. We don't have to actually deal with what you said, that is fair. But we need to reverse that, um, I'm looking for what you said that is true, that I do need to own. And I'm letting that do away with what you said. That isn't true. And of course, the fifth step is this. To grow in holiness. Paul says in Philippians 2 to work out your own salvation. What he's saying is God has said some pretty crazy things about us. I'm a son of God. I'm an inheritor. The spirit of God lives in me. I need to grow so that that becomes my daily, actual existence. Because after all, if I'm actually doing the things I'm saying I believe in, well, then I'm holy, not hypocritical. I know aiming at the hypocrisy in your life and mine isn't going to change our world Capital W. But it will change your world and mine. And that is the call of God upon our lives. God wants to lead us out of hypocrisy, and he wants to lead us out of blaming everyone else instead of dealing with our own sin. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. 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Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!