{"id":25177,"date":"2024-04-15T15:51:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T20:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=25177"},"modified":"2024-04-15T15:52:35","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T20:52:35","slug":"my-candidate-for-hypocrite-of-the-year-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/my-candidate-for-hypocrite-of-the-year-2\/","title":{"rendered":"My candidate for hypocrite of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEvil people and imposters will become worse (in the last days), deceiving and being deceived\u201d (2 Timothy 3:13).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can we talk about imposters?<\/p>\n

Specifically church-dropouts who say they love the Lord.<\/p>\n

Nothing of what follows is intended to be mean-spirited. I will labor to make certain it doesn\u2019t come across that way.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not angry, just perturbed. I don\u2019t want to banish anyone from heaven, from church, from \u201cthe island,\u201d or even from this room.<\/p>\n

I just want to say to certain ones, \u201cC\u2019mon, people. Get real.\u00a0 You don\u2019t mean that, so why do you keep saying it?\u201d<\/p>\n

I was in a group which was having a lively discussion about church leadership and whether divorced people\u2013specifically someone with a whole cluster of divorces!\u2013should be considered as deacon.<\/p>\n

Most in the room were sweet-spirited, godly, well-informed scripturally and solid doctrinally.\u00a0 But some were angry for reasons I doubt if even they know.\u00a0 They want to banish all divorced people from anything.\u00a0 But they are not the hypocrites I had in mind. It\u2019s another group.<\/p>\n

People like you are the reason I no longer go to church.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what they say.<\/p>\n

And they are my candidate for \u201chypocrites of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I submit that anyone who points the finger at another Christian\u2013even someone who is mean-spirited and wrong-headed about everything\u2013and says, \u2018You are the reason I no longer go to church\u2019 is being dishonest.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Unwilling to deal with the reality of his\/her own situation\u2013their frailties, their hangups, and their humanity\u2013they go on the attack.<\/p>\n

They blame others for what they are not doing.<\/p>\n

A liberal professor is the reason I don\u2019t read my Bible. My parents are the reason I don\u2019t go to Sunday School (\u201cI was made to go as a child!\u201d).\u00a0 A bad preacher is the reason I don\u2019t like long sermons.<\/p>\n

A church was practicing racism or elitism or liberalism or was unfriendly, and so you decided to write off all churches?\u00a0 A pastor ran off with the organist and you abandoned the kingdom of God?<\/p>\n

Or, your father was the pastor and because of the mistreatment this good man endured at the hands of some evil people, you no longer believe in the church?<\/p>\n

C\u2019mon, man.\u00a0 Get real.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeceiving and being deceived\u201d is how the Apostle Paul put it in our text.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s an interesting expression.\u00a0 As certain people spread their falsehood, Paul says, they get caught up in their own snare and start believing it.<\/p>\n

In his commentary on Timothy, Professor William Hendriksen has an interesting observation on this phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Having erected an instrument of death for Mordecai, Haman discovers too late that it is going to be the instrument for his own execution.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Perillos of Athens, desiring to bake others to death by means of his \u2018metal bull\u2019 is himself baked to death in it.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Hugues Aubrint, having built the Bastille for the imprisonment of others, is himself the first one to be confined in it.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

The bishop of Verdun, having invented the Iron Cage for the punishment of others is himself the first man to be shut up in it.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

And Rebent Morton is the first to lose his head to The Maiden (a kind of guillotine) which he himself devised for the decapitation of others.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first thing a religious cult does with a new convert is to get him teaching others.\u00a0 As he deceives them with the false doctrine, he ingrains the wickedness further into his own soul. Deceiving others, yes, but mostly himself.<\/p>\n

Let me ask a question of anyone who no longer goes to church and blames the misbehavior of certain church people:<\/p>\n

Would you stop going to visit your elderly parents because of a falling out with your siblings?<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what you are saying when you come in here with this lame blame game.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Mom and Dad: You know I love you. But because Ronnie was mean to me when we were children, because Glenn once took my lunch money, because Patricia ran off and left me when we were walking home from school, because Carolyn didn\u2019t help me with my homework, and because Charlie told a lie about me one day, that\u2019s why I no longer come home. Sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where is the logic in that? And the love?<\/p>\n

That, my friend, is why I suggest you might be a faker. If you cite the misbehavior of God\u2019s children as your reasons for not going to church, you are my candidate for someone \u201cdeceived and being deceived.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

You are the hypocrite of the year.<\/p>\n

To be sure, many in the church are racist. Certainly, some preachers run off with the organists.\u00a0 Some crooks occupy the pulpits, eager to prey on the unsuspecting or to rob the church bank account. And some church members are unfriendly and unloving and do not know their Bibles and have no business representing the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s no excuse to write off the church.<\/p>\n

The great, overwhelming majority of the Lord\u2019s people try to get this right.\u00a0 They have the same struggles with the burdens of everyday life as you and I.\u00a0 Sometimes they are kind and gracious, and sometimes they are anything but.<\/p>\n

Cut them a little slack.\u00a0 After all, you want people to be kind to you.\u00a0 You want them to understand you\u2019re not always at your best. Be merciful and you might receive mercy.<\/p>\n

Someone protests, \u201cJust because I no longer go to church does not mean I do not love the Lord.\u00a0 I do love Him, but not His people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorry, Charlie. It doesn\u2019t work that way.<\/p>\n

The Church is the Body of Christ.\u00a0 The household of faith. The Bride of Christ. The temple of God.\u00a0 Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.<\/p>\n

Do you dismiss so easily what Christ values so highly?<\/p>\n

Please. Let\u2019s not have more of the lame blame game that insists you are part of the invisible church even though you no longer have any use for the congregations in your town.\u00a0 Show me that in the Bible.\u00a0 Nowhere can you find a justification for this self-deception.<\/p>\n

I do have a suggestion.<\/p>\n

Humble yourself as a little child.<\/p>\n

And then grow up.\u00a0 Put this kind of foolish childishness behind you.<\/p>\n

Confess to the Lord what you are doing and ask for His forgiveness.\u00a0 Ask Him to forgive you for turning away from Him and blaming others.\u00a0 Ask Him to show you the real cause for your attitude and your withdrawal from church.<\/p>\n

Then, when you finish, ask Him to lead you to a church where you can heal and grow.<\/p>\n

And when you get to that church, do not look around checking them out.\u00a0 Do not judge them for anything.\u00a0 You were not sent as the Lord’s chief inspector, but as a child in need of a family.<\/p>\n

Ask the Father to help you to keep the focus on the Lord Jesus and not on the people in the pews or in leadership.\u00a0 Expect those people to be human and to make mistakes sometimes.\u00a0 Ask God to help you to show them the same grace you wish to receive.<\/p>\n

Finally, may I suggest a brief scripture?\u00a0 In Luke 18:9-14, our Lord speaks of two men praying in the temple. One is justifying himself and putting down others. (Sound like anyone you know?) The other is humble, childlike, and honest.<\/p>\n

Guess which of the two is accepted by the Lord and blessed.<\/p>\n

Have a wonderful day. Oh, and please come back to church. We miss you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEvil people and imposters will become worse (in the last days), deceiving and being deceived\u201d (2 Timothy 3:13). Can we talk about imposters? Specifically church-dropouts who say they love the Lord. Nothing of what follows is intended to be mean-spirited. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,27,51,116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conflict","category-church-leadership","category-healthy-church","category-humility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25177"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25179,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25177\/revisions\/25179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}