Pointy fingers
This week's study is on Romans 2:17-24:
These verses become interesting if you make a small exercise of them. Take the word "Jew" and replace it with "Christian." Take "the law" and read it in the sense of both written (Bible) and living (Holy Spirit) word of God. It nails hypocrisy right between the eyes! Paul is scolding religious people in his day for getting all in other people's business when they've got problems of their own. We do that as Christians sometimes.
He's saying "If you're convinced that others need you to go around correcting and 'discipling' them, but aren't also looking at yourself and being willing to be corrected, you're blaspheming God's name among the unbelievers." Ouch. Blasphemy is a serious deal. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the only sin Jesus makes a point of saying he's never cool with. But how do we blaspheme by being hypocrites?
When we go around telling other people how to live, without ourselves being transformed, we make the kingdom of God out to be something it's not. We make a relationship with God out to be a license to point fingers at other while ignoring our own faults. We burden others with change, while suggesting that the Holy Spirit doesn't actually have power to change lives. It's a kingdom that is portrayed as being all about a kind of taxation in shame, without any tangible benefit. No wonder people hate Christians!
But isn't it also blasphemy to say "God forgives my sins, but not yours. God wants change in you, but I'm OK," or to model "God is powerless to change our lives," or "Being a Christian means never having to say you're sorry?" What kind of God must people think we serve? Where is the love and humility that God embodies and cherishes?
The worst hypocrites do the very things they condemn others for. Religious people always get bent out of shape about people who practice religion differently than they do. Sex offenders always shriek the loudest about other sex offenders. But even pointing the finger about one thing while refusing to acknowledge your own sin in another area is hypocrisy. It's one thing to point something out in someone else if you're willing to receive as good as you give. But it's quite another to be telling others how to live and then be outraged when someone points out one of your flaws.
Have a look at yourself. I hate mirrors, but I benefit from using them from time to time. If someone says "You've got something on you" and I can't see it, the mirror often removes all doubt. Holy introspection accomplishes that same thing. If someone comes to you and accuses you of something and it's not something you can see, don't puff yourself up and attack them. Get alone with God and ask him about it. When you read scriptures, ask yourself first "How might this apply to me?" I know it seems narcissistic, but we need to make sure we have clean hands if we're going to do surgery on others.
Hypocrites rarely look at themselves. They busy themselves with chasing after others so that they don't have to. Maybe they know there's rot beneath their own surface, or maybe they think they're perfect. It doesn't matter. What matters is that pointing fingers at others, deciding they're blind and you're going to lead them, is a very dangerous thing if you're not also willing to have others do the same for you.
Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
These verses become interesting if you make a small exercise of them. Take the word "Jew" and replace it with "Christian." Take "the law" and read it in the sense of both written (Bible) and living (Holy Spirit) word of God. It nails hypocrisy right between the eyes! Paul is scolding religious people in his day for getting all in other people's business when they've got problems of their own. We do that as Christians sometimes.
He's saying "If you're convinced that others need you to go around correcting and 'discipling' them, but aren't also looking at yourself and being willing to be corrected, you're blaspheming God's name among the unbelievers." Ouch. Blasphemy is a serious deal. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the only sin Jesus makes a point of saying he's never cool with. But how do we blaspheme by being hypocrites?
When we go around telling other people how to live, without ourselves being transformed, we make the kingdom of God out to be something it's not. We make a relationship with God out to be a license to point fingers at other while ignoring our own faults. We burden others with change, while suggesting that the Holy Spirit doesn't actually have power to change lives. It's a kingdom that is portrayed as being all about a kind of taxation in shame, without any tangible benefit. No wonder people hate Christians!
But isn't it also blasphemy to say "God forgives my sins, but not yours. God wants change in you, but I'm OK," or to model "God is powerless to change our lives," or "Being a Christian means never having to say you're sorry?" What kind of God must people think we serve? Where is the love and humility that God embodies and cherishes?
The worst hypocrites do the very things they condemn others for. Religious people always get bent out of shape about people who practice religion differently than they do. Sex offenders always shriek the loudest about other sex offenders. But even pointing the finger about one thing while refusing to acknowledge your own sin in another area is hypocrisy. It's one thing to point something out in someone else if you're willing to receive as good as you give. But it's quite another to be telling others how to live and then be outraged when someone points out one of your flaws.
Have a look at yourself. I hate mirrors, but I benefit from using them from time to time. If someone says "You've got something on you" and I can't see it, the mirror often removes all doubt. Holy introspection accomplishes that same thing. If someone comes to you and accuses you of something and it's not something you can see, don't puff yourself up and attack them. Get alone with God and ask him about it. When you read scriptures, ask yourself first "How might this apply to me?" I know it seems narcissistic, but we need to make sure we have clean hands if we're going to do surgery on others.
Hypocrites rarely look at themselves. They busy themselves with chasing after others so that they don't have to. Maybe they know there's rot beneath their own surface, or maybe they think they're perfect. It doesn't matter. What matters is that pointing fingers at others, deciding they're blind and you're going to lead them, is a very dangerous thing if you're not also willing to have others do the same for you.
Comments
Post a Comment