Got A Beef Against Religion? You May Have Something In Common With Jesus!

“The thing that keeps me from considering Christianity is the hypocrisy of the church. From the Crusades, to the Inquisition, to Tele-Evangelists always asking for money, I’m just plain turned off!”

If hypocrisy is your concern, it may surprise you to learn that you actually have something in common with Jesus, for Jesus hated religious hypocrisy and preached against it quite often.

“Not everyone who says to be ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers’” (Matt. 7:21-23).

This interesting discourse, given early in Jesus’ ministry, proved to be very prophetic. Therefore, hypocrisy in the church, while sad, is not a phenomenon, which contradicts the words of Christ, for He not only spoke of hypocrisy but hypocrisy in his own name! Try to imagine some mere man, ambitious, anxious to start a following, gathering people together before things even get rolling and saying: “Can I have your attention? I just want you to know that many of you who call yourselves my followers will be cast into Hell by me personally. Just thought you should know.” Not very likely. Such chilling honesty suggests from the onset that there is more to Jesus than meets the eye. He is making it clear that regardless of terminology or sworn allegiance, true Christians have two minimum qualities: 1) A personal relationship with God. The term know in Greek (Prognosko) referred to an intimate knowledge. B) An obedience to God that follows this relationship. Although elsewhere in scripture it is made clear that sinless perfection cannot be obtained in this life (I John 1:8), Jesus is nevertheless emphasizing that true followers are at least on God’s path and His words here in Matthew let us in on a little secret: Those who aren’t truly on the road with God can perform mighty religious deeds, even supernatural ones. This is a scary and sobering thought. Still, we conclude that religious hypocrisy is not a genuine reason with which to reject the real Jesus and His true teachings.

NOTE: For a fuller discussion of this topic, see my book, I’d Like To Believe In Jesus, But…