Jesus was, without a doubt, one of the most influential people in human history and his life, teaching and ministry have significantly changed the world. You don’t have to be a Christian to recognise that. Even the most ardent atheists will acknowledge that the person of Jesus has revolutionised the values and priorities of the Western world in particular.
When you open up your Bible and turn to the Gospels to read about the life and ministry of Jesus, you find that what he had to say was profoundly inspiring but equally troubling. In fact, if you haven’t been challenged to the very core of who you are and how you live by the things Jesus said, I would argue that you probably haven’t met the real Jesus.
A large part of the reason why Jesus impacted the world so profoundly is that he often challenged the status quo. He would treat the “outsiders” like they were insiders and treat insiders like they were outsiders. He would say things like “You have heard it said…” (xyz) “…but I say to you…” and then offer a reinterpretation of the conventional wisdom of the day that turned the tables on Jewish institutional religion and left a lot of people scratching their heads, unsure about what to make of this problematic Rabbi from Nazareth.
In short, Jesus was a troublemaker.
I remember walking through the flea market in Green Market Square in Cape Town several years ago and passing a young man selling T-shirts. He was wearing one of his own creations, and it said, “Jesus, save me from your followers.” I had to smile because it was funny, but the reality is that the young man probably had some negative experiences of church and was most likely carrying pain or resentment in his heart towards the church as a result. It made me wonder how many others feel the same way. How many broken, hurting, desperate people in the world need God but don’t reckon they’ll find Him by coming to church? Probably more than we care to admit.
The point is simply that our ability as followers of Jesus to influence the world around us swings both ways.
As much as we have the power and potential to persuade people to follow Christ, we also have the power and potential to dissuade them from doing so.
During His time here on earth, Jesus would often go head-to-head with the Jewish religious leaders of His day precisely because they were the ones responsible for representing God to the people but were failing to do so faithfully.
Although the Pharisees had started as a sincere and devout group committed to the preservation of Judaism, which was under threat because of the Roman occupation, they gradually became a closely-knit group of elite, self-righteous egotists who prided themselves on their strict outward observance of the Law and their superior spiritual status before God. Their hearts and minds were filled with hypocrisy and duplicity, so Jesus strongly condemned them.
On at least 3 separate occasions, Jesus warned His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
In other words, Jesus was saying, “Watch out! Get just a little of that religious hypocritical spirit into your heart, and it can spread like, well, like leaven. Before you know it, your whole outlook on life will be affected by a self-righteous, elitist and exclusivist persuasion”.
As a result, there were several occasions when Jesus found himself in heated exchanges with the Pharisees over their religious hypocrisy and self-righteousness, and Matthew 23 records just one of them. In this chapter, Jesus challenges them about the state of their hearts, and the reason for his stinging verbal rebuke is obvious. The Pharisees had allowed themselves to become filled with religious hypocrisy that kept those they were leading from experiencing the true liberty of knowing and serving God.
So, in this post, I want to look more closely at Matthew 23 and Jesus’ words of warning to those who were supposed to represent God but had fallen victim to a religious spirit. I believe that there are some valuable lessons that we can learn to help us guard our own hearts against the same kind of religious hypocrisy.
I’ve titled this post The 7 Habits of Highly Annoying Religious People because I want to point out seven ways in which we can potentially misrepresent God and, in doing so, dissuade others from following Jesus.
So here they are.
We know that we have fallen into religious hypocrisy when…
1. WHAT WE SAY AND WHAT WE DO DON’T MATCH UP
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So, practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. – Matthew 23:3 (NLT)
When people get caught up in a religious system of hypocrisy, there is little or no consistency between what they profess and what they practice.
What made Jesus so powerful was that there was no inconsistency between what He said and what He did.
“The single biggest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk right out the door and deny Him with their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world finds simply unbelievable”. – Brennan Manning
I was at a birthday party one Saturday night and overheard a conversation between two teenage girls who happened to attend the church I was at. The one turned to the other and asked, “Are you going to church tomorrow?” Her friend answered, “For sure!” to which the first girl replied, “Great, what are you going as?”
It was a pointed and cynical question, but she was right on the money. Religious hypocrisy can turn the church into a “fancy dress”, where people come dressed up as someone they think they ought to be rather than the person they are.
The word “hypocrite” was used in ancient Greece to refer to a theatrical performer. That is what religious hypocrisy does: it leaves you pretending to be something you’re not. It creates separation between the “real” you and the “religious” you, and maintaining the two is exhausting.
God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, but He does want us to be real.
When we fail to live authentically and don’t practice what we profess or profess what we practice, we risk misrepresenting God to the world around us.
So that’s the first thing. We know we have fallen victim to a religious spirit when what we say and what we do don’t match up.
The second is this…
2. WE HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS OF OTHERS BUT LOW EXPECTATIONS OF OURSELVES
They crush people with unbearable religious demands but never lift a finger to ease the burden. – Matthew 23:4 (NLT)
Living under the influence of this religious spirit quickly develops fixed and often unrealistic expectations of the people around us. When those expectations aren’t met, we become angry, disillusioned, and offended.
When we suffer from this kind of religious hypocrisy, we tend to judge others by their actions but ourselves by our intentions. We develop a very serious spiritual condition called “plank-eye”.
“Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” while the plank is still in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.” – Matthew 7:3-5 (NLT)
When you are caught up in a religious system, you find yourself constantly trying to deal with the issues in other people’s lives while there are far more significant issues to deal with in your own. You become so preoccupied with assessing, evaluating and criticizing those around you that you have no time to look at yourself.
Somebody once said there are two kinds of criticism: Constructive Criticism and Destructive Criticism. Constructive Criticism is when I criticise you. Destructive Criticism is when you criticise me. It’s tongue-in-cheek, but there’s truth in that.
How do you know if you have succumbed to this spirit? Well, if you’re reading this thinking, “Gee, I hope so and so reads this because this is exactly what she needs to hear!” then chances are good that you have fallen victim to a religious spirit.
The irony is that those who feel this truth is for someone else are often the ones who need to hear it the most. Sadly, a religious spirit has a blinding and deceiving effect on the hearts of those seduced by it. Jesus called the Pharisees “blind leaders of the blind.”
Then, we know we have succumbed to religious hypocrisy when…
3. WE SERVE ONLY TO BE SEEN
Everything they do is for show. On their arms, they wear extra wide prayer boxes with scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. – Matthew 23:5 (NLT)
When your heart is driven by religious hypocrisy, you busy yourself with much spiritual activity but only so that people around you will see you, commend you, reward you and applaud you for your effort. And heaven help them if they don’t! If their praise isn’t forthcoming, you become offended, disappointed, dejected and angry.
When your heart is captive to a religious spirit, you thrive on the affirmation and appreciation of others, and your service to them is fueled by your love of their praise or your need to be needed.
That’s why, in an attempt to break the stronghold of religion over the people, Jesus said that when you do your charitable deed, don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. Do it in secret, for your Father in heaven and His reward and appreciation alone (Matthew 6:1-4).
Can you serve God in the secret place? Can you serve when no one sees? Can you love in obscurity without reward or acknowledgement? If not, you have bought into a religious system of service.
A good question to ask yourself, to help determine whether or not this religious spirit traps you, is whether or not you really care about who gets the credit. Can you take full responsibility for a task and not worry about who gets rewarded for it? Are you offended or upset when somebody else gets thanked for something you have done? Are you angry when nobody takes the time to express appreciation for your service?
When your heart is liberated from a religious spirit by God’s love, you are free to serve, love, and give without needing validation or reward to feel satisfied and content.
Next, we know that religious hypocrisy is driving our lives when we…
4. WE COVET POWER, PROMINENCE AND RECOGNITION
And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honour in the synagogues. – Matthew 23:6 (NIV)
When you have fallen prey to a religious hypocritical spirit, you fall dangerously in love with the spotlight of public ministry and activity. You love the place of honour amongst people, and eventually, if you are there long enough, you start to think that you deserve it.
I heard about a large church pastor who requires everyone on his staff to stand whenever he and his wife come into a room, and the staff aren’t allowed to sit before he does. Tell me, where is the spirit of Christ in that?
Jesus came to liberate us from our love affair with power and prominence and free us to occupy positions of humility, obscurity and service to others. That’s why I love these words from N.T. Wright:
“The day Jesus died on the cross was the day that the power of love overcame the love of power”. – N.T. Wright
Next, we know we have fallen victim to religious hypocrisy when…
5. WE PLACE A PREMIUM ON TITLE, POSITION AND SPIRITUAL STATUS
They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi’. – Matthew 23:7 (NIV)
All man-made religious systems place a high priority on position, title and status. Religious systems have hierarchies consisting of an elite few and masses of the not-so-elite.
Even in Christian traditions, there are some major hierarchical structures, and religious people scramble over one another to claim these positions of prestige and all the social status and privilege that comes with them.
But you know what the Bible says about Jesus? It says that He made Himself of no reputation, took on the form of a servant, came in the likeness of man and humbled Himself even to the point of death on a cross. He emptied Himself of all His divine rights and privileges and laid no claim to any position other than that of a servant, and for that reason, God has highly exalted Him (Philippians 2).
True spirituality isn’t preoccupied with titles, positions and privileges.
In addition to this, we know we are under the spell of religious hypocrisy when…
6. WE MAJOR ON THE MINORS
What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law – justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. – Matthew 23:23 (NLT)
When your heart is captive to religious hypocrisy, you become preoccupied with inconsequential matters, like the colour of the church carpet, the volume of the music, the selection of the songs, the colour of the pastor’s shoes or the fact that the pastor doesn’t wear a suit.
I heard about a conference of very senior church officials convened to discuss the following: if a fly falls into the holy water, is the fly sanctified or defiled? Who cares! I’ll tell you who doesn’t care – God!
When you are trapped in religious hypocrisy, you become outraged by things that don’t matter to God. What is important to God? People. Lost people, hurting people, broken people, needy people. God is concerned about preaching the gospel, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, and liberating the captive. God is concerned about mercy, grace, truth, righteousness, justice, and redemption.
So, save your outrage for things that matter. Don’t major on the minors.
Finally, we know we have given in to religious hypocrisy when…
7. WE FOCUS ON EXTERNALS RATHER THAN INTERNALS
What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside, you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First, wash the inside of the cup and the dish and then the outside will become clean, too. What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs – beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. – Matthew 23:25-28 (NIV)
Wow. These are strong words. Jesus is essentially saying to the Pharisees that they may have clean hands, but they don’t have pure hearts. In other words, you look fine on the outside, but you are full of sin and deceit on the inside.
I remember praying for a young man who had come down to the front of the church for prayer during a weekend gathering. He was wearing a baseball cap. While I was busy praying for him, one of the older, well-intentioned but seriously misguided members of the church rushed over and pulled the cap off the young man’s head, shoved it into his hand and said, “This is the house of God. Show some respect…”. Sad, I know.
What about us makes us more concerned with what’s on a person’s head than what’s in a person’s heart?
That’s what religion does. It makes you judge people based on their appearance. Samuel, the Old Testament prophet, said, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 6:17).
Conclusion
The truth of the matter is that Jesus didn’t live, die and rise again so that the world could have another organised institutional religion.
He lived, died and rose again so that humanity could have friendship with God.
Institutionalised, organised religion is messed up, big time. You only need to pick up a newspaper or watch the news, and you will quickly realise how messed up it really is.
But Jesus came to make it possible for us to experience a relationship with the living God based on His grace and His grace alone, and there’s a big difference between organized religion and a grace-fuelled relationship with the Divine.
In South Africa, there is a holiday resort called Sun City and in the vast complex is a huge water theme park called the Valley of the Waves. Like clockwork, the Valley of the Waves has a giant wave pool that pushes out waves every 60 seconds. It’s nice, but it’s not quite like the reality of swimming in the ocean. The sand isn’t real beach sand, and the water isn’t seawater. The waves are always the same size and roll out with mind-numbing predictability.
In a lot of ways, religion is like a “wave pool” – It’s man-made, artificial, predictable and inevitably somewhat disappointing.
A relationship with Jesus is like swimming in the ocean. No two days are alike. Some days are flat and calm, and other days are wild and tempestuous. There’s an unpredictability to it, but it feels natural and real.
God calls us to dive into the ocean, not waddle into the wave pool.
For those who are followers of Jesus: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees”.
For those who are not: “Don’t settle for religion when I am offering you a relationship. Come follow me.” – Jesus.
