What Are There So Many Fake Or Hypocritical "Christians"?
Have you ever wondered why there seem to be so many hypocrites who say they believe God's word and are Christians, but yet their life, their choices, and their habits don't seem to support their claims? Have you ever backed away from God and from His church, because of what you perceive to be fake Christianity or hypocrisy? So why so much hypocrisy?
"21 Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws." Matthew 7:21-23
So Why So Much Hypocrisy?
If you have ever struggled with seeing what you perceive to be hypocrisy among supposed believers, then know that you're not alone. In fact, Jesus Himself ran into many during His time on earth that He struggled with saying, "8 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 Their worship is a farce..." (Matthew 15:8-9) There are many reasons for this phenomenon, and we'll try to explain a few of them, but the bottom line is this: You should never let bad examples keep you from a relationship with your creator! He is the one you must follow, He is the one who will judge everyone according to their deeds, and your eternal future should not be decided by a bad example!
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God, our creator, wants nothing more than to have a relationship with each of us. In fact, in 1 Timothy 2, we read "1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them... 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth." Again in 2 Peter 3, speaking of Jesus' promise to return for His church, it says, "9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." God created us to love Him, and be loved by Him, and He desires all people to know Him and be saved; however, many obstacles tend to get in the way of the very thing He desires. These obstacles not only keep people from becoming actual Christ-Followers, but also work against many well-meaning young Christians from growing and becoming mature in their walk.
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For the most part, the hypocrites and fake Christ-followers can be lumped together in two groups, "liars and deceivers" and "false converts". Let's take a look at both groups.
Some People Are Liars & Deceivers
There are some people who claim to be Christ-followers for a host of reasons, but they are Christ-followers in name only, and do not even try to live according to His standards. Some do this for political reasons, some just like to associate with those who are Christ-followers (and thus assume the title). and some are con artists, who are simply trying to make a living in the church or get help from the church. These people often put up a good front, but when studied carefully, show themselves to be what they are... FAKES.
Some Are False Converts
There are people in the world today who honestly believe they are on the narrow path, but are not actually on that path at all. As we see in Matthew 7, Jesus points out, "21 Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws." What Jesus is saying, is that some people who went to church regularly, was a part of a regular Bible study, served in the children's ministry once a month, and even felt they had done some big ministry things along the way, will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, because "they never knew the Lord" How can this be? Let's take a look at some reasons for what the church calls, "False Converts" (they believe they are "Christians", but they are not really saved).
Reasons For False Converts:
Wrong Teaching In The Church/Lack Of Knowledge
The fact is, the reason some people become false converts, is because they are given incorrect information. Today's church, in an attempt to make the Word of God more palatable to the average contemporary human, has gone a long way to "dumb down" the teachings of Jesus and water down the requirements of salvation in order to keep people coming to church and paying their tithes. Some churches, denominations, and pastoral leaders have even misinterpreted (both accidentally and on purpose) the Bible and created all sorts of "church doctrine" that is completely false. The Bible warns us against these false teachings; however, many people do desire to hear what they want to hear, and gravitate toward these wrong teachings. 2 Timothy 4 tells us "3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear." This unfortunately, is a big problem, and provides a temptation for pastors and teachers to bend to the will of the people for the sake of keeping them in church.
In Matthew 7, Jesus warns us about false prophets/teachers, and tells us how we can identify them. He says, "15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions." (Matthew 7:15-20) Look at the fruit of the teacher/prophet, and you will be able to see if they are genuine or not.
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What's the KEY to not being led astray? READ & STUDY THE BIBLE ON YOUR OWN!!!! There's nothing wrong with learning from a pastor, attending church services, and learning from others in a Bible study; however, never take anything hook-line-and-sinker" without reading it for yourself. And if something you hear seems fishy, dive deeper and study more. Seek God for wisdom, and He will give it to you. James 1:5 says, "5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." There's no reason to be deceive, God will give you clarity if you simply ask.
Self-Deception
Self-deception is a huge problem in many areas of our lives, but nowhere is it more dangerous than when we are dealing with our salvation. This is why Philippians 2 warns us to "12 continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling." Why would we have to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling"? Well simply put, it's because of our tendency to self-deceive. We tend to judge ourselves by our good intentions and others by their actions, and this leads us to a false sense of "goodness" and "righteousness". We don't have to worry about God holding up His end of the deal, because He is Holy and just, and He is always going to do what He said He would do; however, our end is up to us, and with the propensity for self-deception, we must be very careful, because our eternal lives hang in the balance.
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For example, it's easy to say we love the Lord, but do we show our love by being obedient to His commandments? It's easy to say we love other people, but do we love them enough to share the good news with them and actually make disciples (our primary mission if we are a Christ-follower)? It's easy to say we obey all of God's commandments, but have we spent enough time in the Bible to know what they are? There are all sorts of ways that we can deceive ourselves and muster up a false sense of security, so it's important that we live like Jesus, and judge ourselves by how closely we live like Him, not how we compare to others. It's important to look carefully at our actions, how we use our resources, and how we spend our time. Looking at these things will give us a more realistic view of our salvation.
Attempting To "Straddle The Fence"
Some false-converts are created when people love the world too much to let go! 1 John 2 warns us, "15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever." The world offers a lot of things that make us want to "hang on to our lives, as well as our control", and this often leads people to live for God on Sunday, and live for the world and themselves Monday through Saturday. We are warned here that if we love the world, the love of the Father is NOT in us. We have to work very diligently to avoid being enamored by the pleasures of this world and all that it offers.
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In the book of Revelation, Jesus sends a message to the church in Laodicea in which He says, "15 I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. 18 So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. 19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference." Notice here that first, these people think they have everything they need, but Jesus says they are lacking. Then He goes on to call them "lukewarm". What He means is that they have one foot in the world and one foot in the church. They are "fence-straddlers". They are not hot or cold, and they are not "saved". A person cannot straddle the fence, and the reason Jesus said He wanted to spit them out of His mouth is because those people make Him and the church look bad, and cause people to want to run from God.
Spiritual Deception From Satan
We have to keep in mind that as much as God wants all of us to have a relationship with Him, Satan and his demons, will stop at nothing to deceive people, and lead them away from God and salvation. In 1 Timothy 4, we read "1 Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. 2 These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead." Notice that deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons are sometimes responsible for getting people off track. Because we can't see the battle with our eyes, we often forget that there is a war going on in the heavenly realms, and Satan is trying to take as many with him as he can, because he knows the end of the story, and he is not going down without a fight (good news - Satan loses!!! See book of Revelation).
The Bottom Line
In this fallen world, where people are imperfect, where Satan and his demons prowl around like a roaring lions looking for victims to devour (1 Peter 5:8), and where there are deceivers and those who are deceived walking among us, it is EXTREMELY important to keep our eyes on Jesus, spend adequate time reading and studying God's word, seek wisdom from God, and refuse to let those who are not on the narrow path discourage or distract us. It can be very disheartening to see hypocrisy and fakeness in the church, and even Jesus struggled with it, but if we let these people knock us off the path, well, what a tragedy! Seek God, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, maintain a spirit of humility and repentance, and press into your relationship with Jesus. If you do this, God will help you get on the path and stay on the path until you see Him face to face in Heaven!