MATTHEW 23: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.

Keeping It Real!

WRITE IT DOWN: To live in conformity with what I believe in spite of what I feel is not hypocritical it is integrity.

SOME THOUGHTS: 1.A preoccupation with image is a dangerous road. Dangerous for others.

MARK 2:17 17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

NOTE THIS: The gap between image and reality creates confusion.

SOME THOUGHTS: 2. There is a better way.

MATTHEW 23:26 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.

SOME THOUGHTS: Image must never matter more than character.

SOME THOUGHTS: 3.To pursue an authentic life we choose to be: Honest with ourselves.

PSALMS 139: Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

SOME THOUGHTS: 3.To pursue an authentic life we choose to be: Honest to God.

I JOHN 1:6-9 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

SOME THOUGHTS: 3.To pursue an authentic life we choose to be: Honest with others.

PSALMS 141:4-5 4 Don’t let me drift toward evil or take part in acts of wickedness. Don’t let me share in the delicacies of those who do wrong. 5 Let the godly strike me! It will be a kindness! If they correct me, it is soothing medicine. Don’t let me refuse it. But I pray constantly against the wicked and their deeds.

JAMES 5:16 16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Keeping It Real!