HOW JESUS HANDLED HYPOCRITES (2 OF 4)
by Tony Thomas
Scripture: Matthew 23:1-35, Matthew 23:37-39
This content is part of a series.
How Jesus Handled Hypocrites (2 of 4)
Series: Difficult People (Is There Any Other Kind?)
Tony Thomas
Matthew 23
Several years ago a high school friend called with problem. He'd gone into business with another classmate and they both attended the same church. They began every day with a short devotion and prayer. All of the other employees were welcome to join in, and their customers believed they operated on principles derived from the Bible.
However, over time, my friend saw another side to his partner. Some of the product was inferior but it was sold anyway. He turned in a fraudulent insurance claim but kept it secret. He became rude and ill-mannered to the employees. Then he asked, ''Tony, what would you do if you were me?''
Hypocrisy is easy to spot but difficult to handle! The word ''hypocrite'' comes from a Greek word meaning ''actor.'' A hypocrite literally means, ''One who wears a mask.'' In Greek theatre actors played multiple roles. Instead of changing costumes; they changed masks.
That's where we get our expression, ''Two faced.'' A hypocrite is a phony; a phony is a play actor. In religious circles, a hypocrite wears a mask to fake a relationship with God.
Some people have lived with a phony for so long they live under the illusion that nothing can be done to solve the problem. If you speak up it might get worse. If you confront them you might become the object of attack. So you live with a permanent bite mark on your lip because you've trained yourself to look the other way.
Open your Bibles to Matthew 23. We're in a new holiday series called, ''Difficult People'' (is there any other kind). In three weeks the Thanksgiving season will bring families a little too close together and the obvious differences will surface. Last week we reviewed the story of Judas who criticized Mary for her outlandish display of affection for Jesus.
Today we're in Matthew 23 where Matthew recounts the harshest words ever to fall from the lips of Je ...
Series: Difficult People (Is There Any Other Kind?)
Tony Thomas
Matthew 23
Several years ago a high school friend called with problem. He'd gone into business with another classmate and they both attended the same church. They began every day with a short devotion and prayer. All of the other employees were welcome to join in, and their customers believed they operated on principles derived from the Bible.
However, over time, my friend saw another side to his partner. Some of the product was inferior but it was sold anyway. He turned in a fraudulent insurance claim but kept it secret. He became rude and ill-mannered to the employees. Then he asked, ''Tony, what would you do if you were me?''
Hypocrisy is easy to spot but difficult to handle! The word ''hypocrite'' comes from a Greek word meaning ''actor.'' A hypocrite literally means, ''One who wears a mask.'' In Greek theatre actors played multiple roles. Instead of changing costumes; they changed masks.
That's where we get our expression, ''Two faced.'' A hypocrite is a phony; a phony is a play actor. In religious circles, a hypocrite wears a mask to fake a relationship with God.
Some people have lived with a phony for so long they live under the illusion that nothing can be done to solve the problem. If you speak up it might get worse. If you confront them you might become the object of attack. So you live with a permanent bite mark on your lip because you've trained yourself to look the other way.
Open your Bibles to Matthew 23. We're in a new holiday series called, ''Difficult People'' (is there any other kind). In three weeks the Thanksgiving season will bring families a little too close together and the obvious differences will surface. Last week we reviewed the story of Judas who criticized Mary for her outlandish display of affection for Jesus.
Today we're in Matthew 23 where Matthew recounts the harshest words ever to fall from the lips of Je ...
There are 14850 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
