Hello everybody and welcome in to episode 193 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading Luke 12 today and our focus is on What is Hypocrisy and Why is it So Bad? + Most Important Last Days Teaching of Jesus. We are a daily 10 minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in Thanks for listening! Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast! Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more– Click here for our Bible 2021 reading plan\
We have talked about this before, but it bears repeating. When it comes to the last days/second coming/return of Jesus/eschatology, the focus that almost everybody has had in the church for the last few hundred years is all about the timing. WHEN will Jesus return. We have had book after book hit the church with predictions about the precise timing of Jesus’ return, which is extremely foolish in my view, because Jesus Himself said that the day and hour of His return was NOT known by the angels, not known by any human, and not even known by Jesus – ONLY the Father knew the date and time of the return of Jesus. This means that we can NOT look into the Bible and find hidden codes that predict the day and date of the return of Jesus, because that information is NOT in the Bible – it is ONLY known by the Father. So, what is Jesus’ most important end times teaching? Quite simply this: Be watching, be prepared, be obeying. Watch for His return, prepare for His return, and be obeying His commands as we watch and wait.
35 “Be ready for service and have your lamps lit. 36 You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. 37 Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, blessed are those servants. Luke 12:35-38
Let’s read our passage, and then discuss our main topic.
What is hypocrisy? Over and over again, Jesus challenges the Scribes, Pharisees, and teachers of the Jewish people, and the thing He seems most incensed about is their hypocrisy, as we see in passages like vs. 1:
Meanwhile, a crowd of many thousands came together, so that they were trampling on one another. He began to say to his disciples first, “Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Luke 12:1
Consider these challenges of Jesus:
So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. (Matthew 6:2)
“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. Matthew 6:5
“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. Matthew 6:16
Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:5
And it goes on and on.
Hypocrisy has NO place among Christians, as we see: in 1 Peter:
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. 1 Peter 2:1
So, what is hypocrisy? What is a hypocrite? Hypocrisy comes from a Greek word that means actor, or pretender. A hypocrite is somebody who is acting, pretending to be Godly. As the website gotquestions.org notes, “There are two forms hypocrisy can take: that of professing belief in something and then acting in a manner contrary to that belief, and that of looking down on others when we ourselves are flawed…During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He had many run-ins with the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees. These men were well versed in the Scriptures and zealous about following every letter of the Law (Acts 26:5). However, in adhering to the letter of the Law, they actively sought loopholes that allowed them to violate the spirit of the Law. Also, they displayed a lack of compassion toward their fellow man and were often overly demonstrative of their so-called spirituality in order to garner praise (Matthew 23:5–7; Luke 18:11). Jesus denounced their behavior in no uncertain terms, pointing out that “justice, mercy, and faithfulness” are more important than pursuing a perfection based on faulty standards (Matthew 23:23). Jesus made it clear that the problem was not with the Law but the way in which the Pharisees implemented it (Matthew 23:2-3). Today, the word pharisee has become synonymous with hypocrite.
” Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-hypocrisy.html
Hypocrisy is dangerous, dear friends. Let us not be actors or pretenders, and let us not look down our noses at others, when we ourselves are just as sinful – just maybe in a different way. Humility must be our way, not hypocrisy.
Bible Memory verses for the month of July: 47 “I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well built.” Luke 6:47-48
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