Galatians 2:11-14 ESV
“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’”
There are two messages here, one that is specific to the particular
situation Paul was dealing with with Cephas (Peter), and the other is a broader
message dealing with the subject of hypocrisy, in general, and that is what I
will be addressing today. For if we are one way with one group of people and
another way with another group of people that is hypocrisy. And if we hold to
our convictions when we are with certain people but then not when we are with
other people, but we conform to them, that is hypocrisy.
An Illustration
I was once in a church situation where I attended a
gathering of the church on a Tuesday for a meal. At this meal they brought in a
group of people to entertain us with singing and dancing and acting, and they
were singing and acting out some songs from a Broadway musical. Now I was
familiar with this musical because I used to love to watch musicals until the
Lord showed me the central message in so many of them was of romantic
relationships between a weak woman and a man who was a womanizer, cheat, and
liar.
Anyway, several of the songs and actions were of a sensual
nature, and one of the songs was about a woman who could not say “no” to men’s
sexual advances. She said that she knew right from wrong. She knew she must not
fall into the pit, but then she would forget when she was in that moment of
temptation. She said she would say “yes” when she knew she ought to say “no.” And
then she acknowledged that other girls were hard to catch but that they weren’t
having any fun like she was.
The pastor and the assistant pastor sat there, though, and
did nothing to stop this, and in fact, they applauded the song. They applauded
a song about a girl who could not say no to men’s sexual advances. And I wept!
And I had to walk out. For there was a time in my past life when I was that
girl, and that is nothing to applaud. We are to weep over such situations. But
they were smiling and applauding, instead.
Well, the next day the pastor was teaching a Bible study and
then he began to condemn people who drink alcohol and who smoke (maybe). He was
getting down hard on those who drink alcohol and smoke, but he applauded a song
the day before about a girl who could not say “no” to men’s sexual advances and
so she consistently gave in, although she knew right from wrong. And he did
nothing to stop that kind of entertainment from taking place in a church
function. And I found that very hypocritical.
And since this Bible study was open to all of us participating
in the discussion, if we raised our hands, and if we were given permission to
speak, the Lord had me do something like Paul did with Peter, and the Lord had
me speak to the issue of the hypocrisy of applauding the idea of a woman not
being able to say “no” to men’s sexual advances one day and then turning around
the next day and condemning people for drinking alcohol when the Scriptures do
not prohibit alcoholic beverages, only getting drunk. But they do prohibit
sexual immorality and us finding enjoyment in such sin.
The pastor and I did talk privately about this later, and he
did admit that he was in the wrong in what he did the day before, but I think
he was more concerned about what people would think of him if he stopped the
performance, for that would not be regarded as socially acceptable to stop the
performance and to make a scene. It was more socially acceptable to let the
performance continue on as scheduled regardless of the message that was being
given or the sensual nature of how it was being presented.
Our Present Situation
And this represents the present situation in much of today’s
church here in America. Many pastors are more concerned with being socially
acceptable to the world, and so most of them are not speaking out against
sexual immorality. Instead, many of them are using sensuality to sell their
churches to the world, and they are playing video clips from movies with sexual
situations in them, and they are coddling people in their sins and teaching
people that their sins no longer matter to God once they “believe” in Jesus.
So, these pastors profess faith in Jesus Christ, which
biblically is to be a life of service to the Lord in walks of obedience and in
holiness and righteousness and in the putting sin to death, by the Spirit. But
so many of them are not teaching death to sin nor submission to Christ as Lord
nor walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands. Why? Because that is
not socially acceptable, for it offends people. And many of them are living the
life of that girl who could not say “no,” though she could, in reality.
We can all say “No!” to sin, and as followers of Christ we
can live lives which are free from the control of sin over our lives because
Jesus Christ died to set us free from slavery to sin so we would now be slaves
of God and of his righteousness. Not saying “No!” is a choice of our wills, no
matter how hard the temptation may be. For Jesus provided the way of escape for
us. We just have to take the way he provided which is for us to daily put sin
to death in our lives and to daily walk in obedience to our Lord in his
righteousness.
But many people choose the “easy way out,” and they just
cave to the sin rather than to do what is necessary to cut that sin out of
their lives. And the Scriptures teach that these evils come from what is stored
up in our hearts. And so our hearts need to be cleansed by the Spirit of God
and then we need to walk by the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh.
And this is possible, by God’s grace, in the power of God, when we choose to
say “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to God, and when we choose to resist the devil and
to draw near to our Lord in walks of obedience to him.
Don’t Be a Hypocrite!
So, don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t profess one thing but live
another. Don’t act like you are a good Christian if you are not saying “No!” to
sin, in practice. Yes, I was there, too, at one time in my life. And that is hell!
So, if that is where you are, repent of (turn away from) your sin and choose to
daily say “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to God. Now, if you try saying “No” but you
are still wandering in other ways, and your lives are not dedicated to following
Jesus in obedience, and so you keep going back to that same sin, your heart
needs a transformation and then you need to never go back to your old ways.
For, again, how we live is a daily choice of our wills. We
can choose to die daily to sin and to follow Jesus in obedience and to not put
any obstacles before our eyes that might tempt us to go backwards, or we can
just play games with fate and we can just drift along in meaningless wanderings
to this or that and eventually who we are at heart is going to resurface time
and time again. And we can choose to be people of integrity, or we can choose
to be one thing to some people and another to other people.
So, I hope you will make the right choice today to shut that
door permanently to your past life of living in sin and to now walk in holiness
and in righteousness in the power of God from this moment forward. But this is
not going to happen if you play with sin and with temptation and if you are
being casual about your relationship with the Lord. You have to mean business,
not just in your emotions, but in your heart’s determination to never go back
and to only move forward, and to walk with integrity and no longer as a
hypocrite.
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs
are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus
Christ is gently calling
You
to follow Him in all ways.
Trust
Him with your life today.
Make
Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn
from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He
will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse
your heart, made new within.
Men
betraying: Our trust fraying.
On
our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking
God to give us answers
That
are only found in Him.
God
is sovereign over all things.
Nothing
from His mind escaping.
He
has all things under His command,
And
will work all for good.
Jesus
Christ is gently calling
You
to follow Him in all ways.
Men
deceiving: We’re believing
In
our Lord, and interceding
For
our nation and its people
To
obey their God today.
He
is our hope for our future.
For
our wounds He offers suture.
He
is all we need for this life.
Trust
Him with your life today.
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