1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2 saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) 5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?" 6 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." 9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
Mark 7:1-13
David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, wrote a book with Gabe Lyons entitled “unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity ... and Why It Matters.” The book details and analyzes research about what the impressions that young, unbelieving Americans have regarding Christianity. One of the findings of this research is that a majority of unbelievers in the target age group (late teens to late twenties) view Christians as hypocrites. This is not very surprising. Not only does it reflect an attitude toward Christians that unbelievers have had for as long as research has been done, it is consistent with the growth trends regarding this issue. However, it is surprising that, unlike previous generations, today’s young people don’t seem to have a problem with hypocrisy. They see hypocrisy as something necessity for getting what you want out of life and expect everyone to act hypocritically, at least on occasion.
This increasing acceptance of hypocrisy has to be viewed by us Christians as bad news, not good news. It turns things upside down. If being hypocritical on occasion is acceptable what other immoral behaviors are seen as okay? If such behavior is okay occasionally, how long will it be until it is acceptable frequently — or even all of the time? Besides, who decides if a situation justifies hypocrisy and what if there’s disagreement on this point?
Besides, the upside-down people who excuse hypocrisy aren’t cutting Christians any slack. What they view as hypocrisy isn’t hypocrisy at all. From their point of view, we are charged with hypocrisy — for pretending to be something we are not — when we fail to live up to the standards of God’s law. But when Christians sin we are not being hypocritical, we’re being exactly what we are: sinners. What the people surveyed for the book “unChristian” failed to understand is that the difference between believers and unbelievers isn’t outward, but inward. Christians don’t behave any better than nonChristians (a sad fact also documented in the book), but Christians have forgiveness for their sins by faith. Faith is the inward and unseen difference between believers and unbelievers — and between hypocrites and forgiven sinners. While Christians ought to live in accordance with the moral standards of God's Word, looking for faith on the basis of behavior turns things upside down. God desires that we seek to turn things inside out not upside down. He enables us to let our inward faith express itself in love. And, so far, there is no research that that finds any fault with faith expressing itself in love.
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