A hypocrite is someone who wears a mask – who pretends to be one person on the outside even though he is another person on the inside. A hypocrite lack integrity. He isn’t who he says he is. And there are two types of religious hypocrites today.
Type #1: The legalistic hypocrite
This is the most commonly identified hypocrite. It’s the religious person who loves to remind everyone of the rules. He goes around judging people and telling them they are wrong, but in reality they are just as bad. They tend to minimize their own sins and maximize the sins of others. Jesus had something to say about these hypocrites:
Matthew 7:3-5 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”
The legalistic hypocrite often projects his disgust at his own sin on another sinner. He hides his own problems but points out the problems of others.
Type #2: The liberal hypocrite
This type of hypocrite is usually not identified as a hypocrite, because they do not come off as the “religious type”. The liberal hypocrite is just a normal guy that anyone can relate to. He’s not going around judging people for their sins, because he recognizes he’s a sinner too. But here’s the catch: he continues to sin and thinks nothing of it. If he gets challenged on his failure to honor God, he puts up a wall. “Don’t judge me!” he cries out. But he’s a hypocrite. He’s wearing a mask – calling himself a Christian on the outside but not truly submitting to Christ on the inside. Jesus warned against this type of hypocrite, too.
Matthew 5:19-20 So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
So where do you fall on the spectrum? Most of us have a little hypocrite in us – which way do you lean?
Discussion Questions:
- Watch the video together or invite someone to summarize the topic.
- What is your initial reaction to this video? Do you disagree with any of it? What jumped out at you?
- Give some examples of hypocrisy that you have witnessed. These can be examples of religious hypocrisy or other types of hypocrisy.
- Describe a time when you acted like a hypocrite. How did you realize your error?
- Read Matthew 6:2-16. Why was Jesus bothered by hypocrisy? How can we prevent ourselves from slipping into hypocrisy?
- Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
