This past weekend, we had the opportunity to spend the weekend with my parents at the beach. It was extra fun, as the kind couple who allowed us to use their beach house had a street-legal golf cart that they said we could use. And so off we set on our adventure of exploring our favorite beach town from a golf cart!
Traveling down streets unknown to us before, we came across beautiful new houses, as well as small cottages that had been there for a long, long time. Most houses were beautifully cared for, while just a few sat a bit forlorn, needing a new coat of paint or some landscaping.
At one point, we went around a corner and we saw a brand new—rather large—building. It was cream-colored with black shutters and looked rather like a hotel…but not quite. As we traveled the block, the building became one story and stretched out the entire block. Curious to see what the building was, we turned the corner to find out as we came to the end of the block.
Lo and behold, what we saw surprised us all. For right behind the single story “building” (which ended up being only about two feet wide) sat the town’s electrical plant. None of us had even noticed the wires and towers behind the one story building.
We drove off and then I told my husband to turn around so I could take a photo (see below). I had been reading about the Pharisees and I knew that what we were seeing was a little like the Pharisees. They looked all nice and proper on the outside but they were downright ugly inside. Jesus called them whitened sepulchres (or whitewashed tombs)—
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. (Matthew 23:27)
We often hear stories of pastors or celebrities that “fall into sin” but these things do not happen in a vacuum. Many people put on an act and pretend to be something they are not. This is not unusual.
Oftentimes, the ugliest sins are hidden behind a “Christian” facade.
So many pretenders. So many liars. So many wolves in sheep’s clothing. They come as angels of light but they seek to starve your soul and take your eyes off the true God, the real Jesus, and the Bible.
But you know, these aren’t the only pretenders. I thought it was interesting to read this morning—
Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. (John 12:42-43)
Here we see chief rulers pretending not to believe on Jesus Christ because they loved the praise of men more than they loved God.
What an indictment! May this never be said of us.
Some people pretend to be something they aren’t because they lack courage and they love themselves and the praise of men more than they love God and the truth.
So how does this apply to us? Those of us who have been saved by faith in Christ alone are new creatures. And so what is inside of us should be consistent with what is outside of us.
There should be no hypocrisy in the life of a believer.
I remember years ago, someone using that verse about God looking on the heart, while man looks on the outside (I Samuel 16:7) as a reason to look and live like the world.
But that isn’t what that verse means at all. We can know this by reading this verse in the context of the rest of scripture.
God expects our outside to match our inside. We cannot be a new creature inside without looking like a new creature on the outside. All throughout the New Testament we are given the description of the true believer. We are told what God wants us to look like.
We will never be able to match that description perfectly, of course. But, through examining ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5), by proving all things and holding fast to what is good (I Thess. 5:21), and by being diligent to make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10-11) we will be sure to continue moving in the right direction.
Remember: It’s about direction, not perfection.
These things we are called to aren’t meant to be burdensome. We know that because Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).
If we are feeling burdened; if these things we are called to do not feel easy or light, well, then, perhaps we are a little like those chief priests—loving the praise of men more than we love the Lord. Having our souls entrenched in the things of this world, we struggle to turn from things that are not building us up in the faith. Loving the world and loving our sin keep us from growing as we should.
As we become less enamored with the things of this world and as our hatred for sin grows, the heavy burden we were feeling about holiness, turning from the world, and living for Jesus grows lighter and lighter.
And just to be honest, this only began to change for me when I began to read the Word—to really study it—for myself personally.
If we genuinely want to grow but the burden feels so heavy, then we must pray that God will give us that desire and open our eyes to what is keeping us fettered and imprisoned. What is keeping us from feeling the freedom we have in Christ to live a righteous life for God?
By the way—not to get too off topic—however, I feel like it is important to mention—
We are free to live righteously. We are not free to sin and we are not free to love the world and be like the world. This is so clear all throughout scripture but Romans 6 is a great place to start if you want to know more.
Life is full of challenges and one of those challenges is to be real and authentic. To be a godly person on the inside and the outside. Wherever this is not taking place, there is hypocrisy. God hates hypocrisy.
May we be those who shine the genuine light of Christ and may those who see that light find in us an example of consistency. May we be the same person both inside and out.
Thank you