BREAKING FREE FROM HYPOCRISY (8 OF 20)
by Tim Melton
Scripture: Matthew 6:1-8, Matthew 6:16-18
This content is part of a series.
Breaking Free from Hypocrisy (8 of 20)
Series: Sermon on the Mount
Tim Melton
Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18
Hypocrite. It is a word that brings emotion as soon as we hear it. Feelings of distrust and bitterness that even may bring a past experience to mind. The word hypocrite has an interesting history. It was used centuries ago by the Greeks. It was the word used for an actor, a person who pretended to be someone else, on stage. In our present day that same word now describes a person who pretends to be someone else, in real life.
If we are honest, we all have been hypocrites at one time or another. It is hard not to be. How often are we different in public than we are in private? How often are we different on the inside then we seem on the outside? How often do we say one thing and do another? How often do we wear a ''mask'' to hide who we really are? Whether it be to win the approval of others or to make us feel better about ourselves, we act in a way that we think will best serve our agenda and help us get what we want. We have been living this way for so long that at times we seem enslaved to it.
In some ways it is like the circus who receives a new baby elephant. They drive a three-meter-long, iron bar deep into the ground. They connect a thick metal chain to it and fasten it to the leg of the baby elephant. The baby elephant then spends several days pulling on that metal chain to be set free, but it never works. It is a hopeless situation. Now fast-forward ten years. The elephant is now enormous but still connected to a bar and a chain. He no longer pulls to gain his freedom. Based on his experience as a baby elephant he believes that freedom is impossible. Because of this he no longer pulls on the bar and the chain which he could easily escape from.
Hypocrisy is like that for a lot of us. We have grown so used to wearing a mask to impress others that we can't imagine being free and being content with who we truly are. So we continue to hide . . . ...
Series: Sermon on the Mount
Tim Melton
Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18
Hypocrite. It is a word that brings emotion as soon as we hear it. Feelings of distrust and bitterness that even may bring a past experience to mind. The word hypocrite has an interesting history. It was used centuries ago by the Greeks. It was the word used for an actor, a person who pretended to be someone else, on stage. In our present day that same word now describes a person who pretends to be someone else, in real life.
If we are honest, we all have been hypocrites at one time or another. It is hard not to be. How often are we different in public than we are in private? How often are we different on the inside then we seem on the outside? How often do we say one thing and do another? How often do we wear a ''mask'' to hide who we really are? Whether it be to win the approval of others or to make us feel better about ourselves, we act in a way that we think will best serve our agenda and help us get what we want. We have been living this way for so long that at times we seem enslaved to it.
In some ways it is like the circus who receives a new baby elephant. They drive a three-meter-long, iron bar deep into the ground. They connect a thick metal chain to it and fasten it to the leg of the baby elephant. The baby elephant then spends several days pulling on that metal chain to be set free, but it never works. It is a hopeless situation. Now fast-forward ten years. The elephant is now enormous but still connected to a bar and a chain. He no longer pulls to gain his freedom. Based on his experience as a baby elephant he believes that freedom is impossible. Because of this he no longer pulls on the bar and the chain which he could easily escape from.
Hypocrisy is like that for a lot of us. We have grown so used to wearing a mask to impress others that we can't imagine being free and being content with who we truly are. So we continue to hide . . . ...
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