Hypocrites Anonymous

I once received a bitter salvo from an anti-Christian.  "You Christians are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites," he spat (one, he actually did spit when he talked, but two, I like the word "spat").  Ever had that accusation thrown at you?


"You're no better than the rest of us!"

"You have this high 'moral code' and don't like when anyone violates it, but you violate it yourselves!"

"You're hypocrites!"

My answer to all three of these accusations is always the same:  yes.  The meaning of the word hypocrite is two-faced.  To believe one thing and do another is a two-faced thing to do.  We know it's wrong to worship anything other than God, but we do it anyway.  We seek out money in the hopes that it will bring us joy and security, even though we know that God alone "fills [our] heart[s] with greater joy than when . . . grain and new wine abound" and that we "lie down and sleep in peace for You alone, O Lord, make [us] dwell in safety" (Psalm 4: 7-8).  We worship food and sex.

We know it's wrong to lie, but we lie:  "Hi!  How are you?"  "Fine, thanks!  Everything's wonderful!  God's really blessed me!"  (okay, so God has blessed us, but how often do we say it without believing it?).

We know it's wrong to steal, but we pirate movies and music.

We know it's wrong to be hypocritical, but we are anyway.

In fact, we do have a "moral code" (we just call it God's Word), and we often fail to live up to it.  We are, in fact, no better than anyone else.  But here's the deal Mr. Anti-Christian:  that doesn't let you off the hook.

You see, God doesn't look at you and judge you by the way I live.  God looks at you and judges you for your life, He looks at my neighbor and judges him for his life, and He looks at me and judges me for my life.  In Ezekiel 18, God makes it abundantly clear that our choices - that is, whether we submit to Christ in humility and discipleship, or continue on in our sin, unrepentant - determine our eternity.  Our eternity is not determined by our comparison to others.  God does not look at me and then look at the atrocities of World War II and say, "We'll, he didn't take part in that, so I guess I'll let him in!"

Revelation paints an interesting picture of what the Judgment will look like.  Check it out:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.  Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.  Another book was opened, which is the book of life.  The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.  The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.  Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.  The lake of fire is the second death.  If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (20:11-15, NIV).

Two of the five verses state that we will all be judged according to what we have done.  So know this, if I am a jerk, or a hypocrite, or any number of other things, it's going to come up when I stand before God.  My sins will be read, out loud, before the Creator of the universe.  So will yours, my friend.

All of them.

But, thank God, the judgment doesn't end there.  Notice the end of that passage:  If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.  This tells me two things.  The first is that no one goes through the first judgment with an acquittal.  "If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life. . . ."  The fact that they have to move on to the second book tells me that everyone is found guilty in the first book.  Our deeds come up wanting.

The second thing that this tells me is that salvation is dependent on my deeds, but only if I deny the grace of Christ.  Why do I say this?  Because if my name is not found written in the book of life, the first judgment stands:  guilty.  If your name, Mr. Atheist, is not found in the book of life (and how could it, if you don't even believe in the Author of the book?), your deeds will determine your judgment:  guilty.  And then there's grace.       

Grace is why Christ's death is so important.  It demonstrates His love for us - a love that is so great that He is willing to serve your guilty sentence on your behalf.  But more than that, He takes His innocence and puts it on you.  So when the charges are read, Christ is there to say, "That's already been served.  Check the record and see for yourself."  And so there, in the book of life, is a name.  A name that could be yours.

So while yes, I am often a hypocrite, and yes, that is unacceptable, know two things:  first, I'm in a program to help me with that - it's called discipleship.  Sometimes (often times) I fall off the wagon, but I still keep on keeping on.  Second, know that your deeds are your sentence, but God, Who desires that no one would ever go to Hell, has died and taken those deeds upon Himself.  All you have to do is believe that.

Get your name written in the book of life.