The Rottenness of Hypocrisy

In Luke 12:1, Jesus told his disciples… “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy”

In the preceding verses Jesus had illustrated some characteristics of the Pharisees… they liked to look good on the outside but inwardly were rotten, they were over zealous for the relatively minor points of the law but neglected the major points and they loved attention.

A friend of mine told me that she used to attend one of the mega churches locally but quit attending because the leaders acted one way during the assembly but behaved the opposite way outside the assembly.

Instead of assembling with fellow christians my friend now prefers just to listen to preachers on the radio.

This particular church my friend attended (in her opinion) was like the Pharisees… it looked good on the outside but with closer inspection was … rotten.

Hence Jesus’ warning to his disciples who were the future leaders of his people. Sometimes leaders and preachers are affected by their position of prominence and the adulation that accompanies and let it go to their heads… please don’t.

I asked my Bible class how you might recognize Pharisee-like leaders today. They said those who liked to look good on the outside, those who liked to sit in the best seats, those who loved attention and those who neglected kindness, love and compassion.

That certainly fits the text but another way to tell is if people leave the congregation because of the rottenness of hypocrisy.

An old adage is that congregations will never rise above the level of its leadership. If true, and I suspect it is, fellow leaders let’s see how high we can set that bar.