Repentance is a Homeschool Objective

By Gary L. Cox

Repentance: “To turn to God and change the way you think and act.”

Matthew 7:1-12

"Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."

Hypocrisy is probably our greatest personal battle. What is hypocrisy? There are two sides of hypocrisy. The chameleon side of hypocrisy is conforming to others' expectations to get their approval. It is a deadly killer for true spirituality, shaping ourselves after what we think other people would expect of us. The other side of hypocrisy is manipulative. We create external expectations that we impose on others. This is judgmental Christianity. (see Rom. 14.:4)

We are dealing with Jesus’ simple phrase: “Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:20 This is most a great danger for second generation Christians. Children, who profess Christ at an early age live their whole life in a Christian home and in the model of Christianity. For them is it easy to become focused on the form of godliness without the power, and having a form of godliness and denying the power is a mark of the last days. So for young people, I just want to give a warning: you have great potential to pretend Christianity and become a hypocrite!

When Jesus taught about hypocrisy, 100% of the time He was characterizing the behavior of religious people. One thing that a pagan is not, is a hypocrite. Hypocrisy is exclusively a sin for those people who claim to follow the true and living God. It is not a Gentile disease as much as it is a Jewish disease. It’s not much so a disease of the flesh as having absolute license, as it is a disease of the flesh wanting to dress up in apparent righteousness, while not walking in righteousness at all.

What did Jesus teach? “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This is the center of Christ’s teaching. Christ very simply and plainly is calling those who think they are spiritual and to repent (change your mind) from hypocrisy. It is more likely that those who have religious authority and are responsible for religious teaching are going to be hypocritical than those who are walking in need of salvation. So hypocrisy is one of the central messages of the gospel of Christ. The Sermon on the Mount focuses on hypocrisy in the application of what the Bible actually teaches.

Three Battlefields

There are three battlefields of hypocrisy. 2 Cor 4:1-2 “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.”

The first battle field is ‘to be seen’. Matthew 6:1-8 speaks of the form of hypocrisy that seeks to make one’s religion visible. If the jews were going to tithe, they didn’t just give a donation in the offering plate, they hired a band to play before them as they marched down the street, and in addition they probably exchanged all their large bills for dollar bills or pennies and they dragged this big heavy bag with them and poured it into the treasure chest so everyone could see. That kind of “visible Christianity” is hypocrisy. That is the chameleon side; going after the appearance so that people think well of you.

The battlefield is point ‘to be secure.’ This has to do with the fundamental issues of finances how we survive and live and what we focus on. In this area, the focus of hidden dishonesties recognizes the difference between the Gentiles and true  spirituality. Gentiles unabashedly pursue wealth as their god, their security, their hope and expectation. This also is a temptation for religious folks if they are not following Christ whole heartedly.

The third battlefield is ‘to be treated well’. Where as the other battlefields reflect the chameleon nature of hypocrisy, this issue is the converse. It is the projection of my expectations onto others to bring them into conformity with me. I believe that these areas of hypocrisy are absolutely deadly and is the day to do battle as Christians.

I want to treated well by people. By nature desires to live as he we imagines life to be. We want to preserve life for ourselves so and we tend to behave in protective manners when what we imagine life to be threatened in some way. Hypocrisy isn’t something the family across the pew has a problem with; it is a problem that you have in your family. There are no exceptions! I love the  way Christ pegs us! He says ‘how can you being evil…’. What a wonderful representation of how Christ ministers to us. He ministers to us because He knows who we are: He knows that we are evil!

“Judge not that ye be not judged.” The danger of hypocrisy is that we have the capacity, as Christians, to expect other people to conform to us. While there are other kinds of judgment that we are called to have as Christians, those judgments  are earmarked so absolute and profoundly in the scripture that it is if those judgments are already made. We don’t have to convene a congress to determine ‘is this a judgment that needs to be carried out?’ The scripture is so absolutely clear on judgments that recognize that which is judged by God. But outside of that arena we have no privilege whatsoever to walk in judgment towards one another. Where the church ought to be following through with obeying the judgment of God we often avoid. And on the other hand,what God has forbidden in judgment we do at the drop of a hat. It’s a struggle that we all have. More on this next month.

‘Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it will be opened to you.’ This text is not talking about you asking your neighbor for help. This is talking about you asking God! ‘If you that are evil know how to give good gifts, how much more does your Heavenly Father going good gifts.’ We are talking about asking God, not asking your neighbor. We ask God and that is where faith changes us from hypocrites to true believers seek God. ‘Lord my need is that I’m really hurting and people are calling me all kinds of names and it hurts and I know that means I’m a hypocrite. I need all this approval to feel good so Lord I need your help’. In this way God will help us again and again.

Here are two helps.

1.         Don’t grumble in front of others about your troubles.

2.         Ask, seek and knock from God who alone cares for you.

Using others as a resource is a true source of hypocrisy. Burden yourself as you would burden others. ‘Whatsoever you would have others to do, do also to them’. If you are you loving God and your neighbor, Jesus said that is fulfilling the law and the prophets. If you love God with all your might and all your soul and your neighbor as yourself, you fulfill all the law and the commandments. So obviously this is loving your neighbor as yourself. Whatever you wish others to do, you do to them. Now we call it the golden rule, but it is the single best antidote for self pity… providing for others what you expect for yourself. If you don’t want to be full of self pity start meeting others needs instead of seeing to have your needs met. Is somebody not meeting your needs in your church? Start meeting needs in your church and then you satisfy God’s law. You avoid hypocrisy. That is tough. When we really love our brother and serve them, then we are going to serve God’s interest in them instead of ourselves.

…Continued next month, Judge Not