I Like the Church, Just Not the Hypocrites

I have to admit, I hate this excuse when people decide to turn away from the church. But in reality, I hate even more that we set up a system where people were surprised that other people in the church were not perfect. The church will be full of sinners from now until Jesus comes back. So how can we change the system to acknowledge this fact up front? Honesty. It sounds simple but it could get messy.

Do you act like the real you when you are around other people? What about when you are in church? For me, I like to wear my pretty mask, the one with the “I have no problems in my life” smile. It is just easier to be fake most of the time. The problem occurs when that fake persona falls apart and people see the reality behind the mask. It is not that I then become a hypocrite, it is just then revealed I am not who my mask says I am. What we need is not less hypocrites, but less mask wearers. What if church became a place where we could be who we really are and continue working to be who Christ wants us to be? That is the goal right, becoming more like Christ everyday? Why do we expect sinful people to be perfect? I wonder how similar people’s lives would be if we could lay them all out there and see them without any disguises? One of the greatest lies satan has convinced Christ followers, is that we can’t be who we really are. To me, this is what the outside world sees and can’t understand. People far from God wonder how they will ever achieve the level of perfectness they see on Sunday mornings. The task is too difficult so they either doubt Christ or they doubt His followers. And the funny thing is they are right. It is too much to ask to be perfect. Why can’t we all just agree we are messed up and honestly seek to move forward together? What would this look like to a lost and hurting world? What would this look like in your own life?

All of this came to mind as I was reading in Matthew 18 this week. In verses 31-35 the people are outraged. They see someone being forgiven and getting a clean slate. They see someone receiving a fresh start and hope, and yet he is unwilling to offer that to the next person. I see this same thing playing out every Sunday in church. People that have been given forgiveness put on their masks and act like they never needed it in the first place. They are very judgmental of others struggles and insecure about their own. This creates an environment where it appears to be better to simply fake it than to genuinely seek after the real deal.

Think about people who had life changing encounters with Christ in the Bible. Their junk was aired out for all of humanity to see. It was told from one generation to the next and was then recorded in the best selling book of all time and yet it did not seem to bother them. Granted, I doubt they knew at the time they would be written about in the Bible, but it would have been a big deal even in their time. Think about the woman washing Jesus’ feet with her hair. It was no secret what her life was like and what she was involved with. And yet she laid it all on the line to follow Him. Do you think she had a problem loving people in the church that had problems? Do you think she was judgmental to other’s faults? I wish that was the environment we encountered as we worship in our churches.

Forgiveness is more than simply recognizing and accepting it from God. Forgiveness defines who you become. You can’t be forgiven an insurmountable sum and walk away the same. When we honestly realize all we have been forgiven from we will more willingly accept other people with open arms. Please know that i am not endorsing sin, just wishing we could all be a little bit more honest about the sin in our lives. We haven’t arrived yet, so let’s stop acting like we have. Be honest. Be vulnerable. Be forgiven!