I don't know about you, but there are times I don't even want to be called a Christian.  When my non-Christian friends talk about the hypocrisy and self-righteousness they observe in many Christians, I can't honestly disagree with them.  I see the same things, and it makes me angry.  In some cultures today, Christians are known more for hypocrisy than for grace, and that's a terrible shame.

But I have to remind myself that these things made Jesus angry, too.  The Jesus I serve is the same Jesus who spent his time eating with the most obvious sinners of his day without condemning them.  He's the same Jesus who spoke up for an adulteress when the rest of the town was ready to stone her for her sin.  And he's the same Jesus who reserved his harshest words for the religious leaders, angrily denouncing them as "sons of hell."

Next time you get angry at hypocritical Christians who turn people away from God, read this passage and know that God is angry with you.

Matthew 23:13-28 (NIV)

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are....

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cumin.  But you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness.  You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.  You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel....

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

 

Notice how strong the language in this passages is.  Do you understand why Jesus was so angry?  Are you ever guilty of hypocrisy, ungrace, or other behaviors that might give Christians a bad name?

The church is made up of fallible human beings, so sometimes our pride gets in the way of becoming what the body of Christ is intended to be.  Nevertheless, what does this passage tell us about God's character as well as God's plans for us as Christians?