1. The Leaven of Hypocrisy
Mark 12:38-45

2. Background
Jesus is teaching in the temple: the stronghold of his enemies!
And the large crowd enjoyed listening to Him. Mark 12:37 (NASB-U)
The religious leaders try to trap him…
And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, Mark 12:12 (NASB-U)
His answers embarrass them…
Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God?” Mark 12:24 (NASB-U)

3. On the Offensive – Mark 12:38f
[38] In His teaching He was saying: "Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places,
[39] and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets,
[40] who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.“ Mark 12:38-40

4. On the Offensive – Matthew 23
“Sons of Hell”
“Whitewashed tombstones.”
“Blind guides”
“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?” Matthew 23:33
Their Problem:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Matthew 23:15
Also v13,15,23,25,27,29.
Mt.23=Denunciation of the Pharasees; powerful, unparalleled. Virtually cussed them out.
Widow’s mite: exemplefies / explains

5. Hypocrisy Is: ›ðïêñéôÞò, (hupokritēs)
An Actor: “One who puts on a mask”
Someone who puts on a false front.
For praise and recognition: Mark 12:38-39
For example: Mark 12:41-43
“Holier-than-thou” pride – Matt. 6:2-4
Hiding real dirt: Mark 12:40
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness…” Matthew 23:23-24
41-43 Falls short of real Christian love; required no real sacrifice. Christian love is much more radical than this. It means to give until it hurts. When JC came to die for sin, this was only token sacrifice.
It was showing off: They weren’t concerned about the poor or the WOG; it was with 1 eye on the crowd. “It’s not real sacrifice; and the reason he gave it wasn’t so good. It was all a pride thing.
“holier-than-thou.” You think Christ is being a little rough on them? Not at all, consider Mt.6:2-4, when the hypocrits give, they first blow a trumpt. Can you imagine that? “Oh Lord, I thank thee that I can give to this gracious work of thine!” Oh, that’s dirty. What a show-off! JC says, “Don’t you do that! They do this so ‘they may be honored by men. But when you give money…don’t let the left know what the right hand is doing…’” Ie, you should give without the need to pat yourself on the back! Are you giving so you can pat yourself on the back & say, “I’m so good…” That’s wrong!
Giving is a real hunting-ground for the proud, as it still is today: showing off, to get your name added to the wing of a new building, maybe put a plaque on the back of the seat… Why not blow a trumpet? People love to show off, be do-gooders.
To Christ, this was just human pride at its worse. Not a concern for the poor…
Mk.12:40 Hiding real dirt - See Mt.23:23 = same rebuke, they love public glory = main underlying motives of their life. These same people giving money turned around & devoured widow’s homes. As landlords, rented to widows (or borrowed), and if she couldn’t meet the note they’d turn her out. Now, “let’s go out & pray…” in a long robe (shows great scholarship), “and let’s give some money now”. Listen! If they were so interested in giving money, what about that widow? That would’ve been a good place to start right there!
So what were they interested in? Not charity: that was a mask. Rather, a sense of:

6. What Is the Big Problem? A deliberate attempt to mislead.
“The practice of claiming to have higher standards or beliefs than is the case.” – OED
Big problem: you’ll hear people talking all the time about how disgusted they are by the “hypocrisy of the church.” It comes up often when talking with non-Christians. “It really irritates me, and that’s what I see in the church.”
Sometimes, though, I don’t think they really know what hypocrisy is.
It IS...
MISLEAD: It is a type of dishonesty / lying: deliberate attempt to mislead people into thinking you’re better off than you really are, more spiritual than you are; closer to God than you really are; more sin-free than you really are.

7. What Is the Big Problem? A deliberate attempt to mislead.
Not an issue of sin.
We’re “in sin” all the time!
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30
“Whatever is not from faith is sin.” Rom. 14:23b
Jesus treated immoral people with compassion; hypocrites with confrontation.
Moral acts are often the source of hypocrisy.
It could include immoral acts…
It also occurs in the secular world.
It is NOT:
An issue of Sin: Christian theology never teaches that Christians don’t sin. Christians sin just like everyone else – That’s the whole point, isn’t it? JC ~Need 2 Die: We 2=Guilty;
~Necessarily less than others (although hopefully over time we can get away from the more destructive & odious sins…) But often, we still find the more subtle sins are still there, sins by the 1000s and even by the 1,000,000s being committed all the time…
All the time: If you understand G’s character, then you understand you’re in sin all the time, almost non-stop. ~Only commission: OMISSION 2!
IL:Mk.12:30 “all your mind/soul/strength”. Every moment you live without this being true = sin.
Rom.14:23 Even the good things you do, if it isn’t done with faith & dependance on God = sin. It doesn’t take long to realize: every angy, uncontrolled thought, every lustful thought, every whimper of self-pity – all of these are sin! Ie, we sin quite a bit of the time, even the best among us – so who do we think we’re fooling, anyway? You’re full of sin; I’m full of sin. So why go into a big competition trying to fool each other on this count? “Well, I sin only 1,000,000 times, but you sinned 1,000,000 times…” and that’s the problem with YOU! You need to be more like me! Shave off that extra sin!
So for the person who defines Christian hypocrisy as any time a Christian sins, well, they’re holding us to a standard that isn’t even biblical. Worse, it’s a standard nobody can meet! If the first time someone sins disqualifies them as a hypocrit, well it won’t take very long before just about everyone everywhere is disqualified. Won’t take long. This is how I see a lot of people using this word “hypocrisy” – they don’t understand what it means, or they just don’t understand Christianity.
AP: If you’re a new Christian, you’ll run across this. People will start accusing you of hypocrisy because you “still sin.” “Oh, I thought you were a Christian!” they’ll say. The implication is obvious: “aren’t you a hypocrite?” They would be correct if we said “I am without sin” but then we sin – but who’s saying that? AP: We have an obligation to convey a correct understanding of Christianity to the world around us: that it’s not a matter of becoming “holier-than-thou” – rather, it’s a matter of Mk.12:30-1. It’s a matter of receiving grace & forgiveness, not proving yourself “righteous”.
Jesus treated: Rather than recoiling from sin, Jesus was compassionate; he reached out towards people who were struggling & paying the price of sin. They already knew they were sinners, their lives were full of problems. But with hypocrites, it’s a different matter: he had to get pretty rough on them, because they were lying: to themselves & everybody else. They just don’t get it.
Moral Acts: When scripture points to something hypocritical, often the action involved is a very decent or moral act.: a “good” thing. Like these guys: they tithed, gave money at the temple. Is this evil? Not to our observatoin – “It looks pretty good to me.” This is the case with most hypocritical acts.: good acts, for the most part; but still intended to deceive.
Immoral Acts: eg, serious defeat in your life that you keep quiet = you’re hiding, lying, keeping up a good front with people. On the other hand, you could be struggling with major defeat and still not be a hypocrit, if you’re honestly admitting the failure – even leaders & workers may not be in hypocrisy if they’re honestly admitting it.
Secular World: You don’t have to be a Christian to be a hypocrite. In fact, we live in an unparalleled age of “Postmodern Hypocrisy” – because there’s this widely-held dogma that it is wrong to judge anyone else’s religion or to claim there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to God. All ways are equally right. This is held quite rabidly, tenaciously. Yet, when we discover that the religion of Al-Chida teaches that one way to God is through crashing a plane into the World Trade Center, well now everyone turns on a dime. Suddenly, “that’s wrong”. How can you say their religion is wrong? Who are you? See, this is just a convenient morality that says, “I believe this way, but only when it’s convenient.” Of course, we see hypocrisy in other realms like politics, at the office, really just about everywhere, don’t we? It’s just as bad as anything found in the religious sphere!
{Many non-Theists are guilty of hypocrisy. Every time a non-Theist wants to be treated as a person – as though he were something more than solids/liquids & gas – more than a bag of material juices – wants to be treated on a basis that goes beyond matter, as though there was a spiritual soul – personhood – that’s hypocritical. How can we }

8. What Is the Big Problem? A deliberate attempt to mislead.
Not an issue of sin.
It is opposed to biblical spirituality.
“love the Lord…and your neighbor ” Mk 12:30
“But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 1 Tim. 1:5

9. What Is the Big Problem? A deliberate attempt to mislead.
Not an issue of sin.
It is opposed to biblical spirituality.
It is highly contagious.
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Luke 12:1
Inflamed by a Legalistic Atmosphere
The Hypocrite has a vested interest…
A Competitive Environment…
Leaven = Yeast; just put a few grains of it in a loaf of bread, and at first you may not notice it, but before long it invades the entire loaf, everywhere. It’s one of the most deadly things you can get started in!
Sometimes the whole group will start doing this with one another: trying to show off how close to God they are, how “Christian” they are. Have you ever been around someone like this? It triggers an almost automatic reaction. They can make you feel soooo dirty because they’re soooo clean.

10. What Is the Big Problem? A deliberate attempt to mislead.
Not an issue of sin.
It is opposed to biblical spirituality.
It is highly contagious.
Jesus was enraged by hypocrisy.
“Sons of Hell”, “Brood of Vipers”, “Fools”, “Blind Guides”, etc., etc.
“because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people” Matthew 23:13 (NASB-U)
“you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell.” Matthew 23:15
Leaven = Yeast; just put a few grains of it in a loaf of bread, and at first you may not notice it, but before long it invades the entire loaf, everywhere. It’s one of the most deadly things you can get started in!
Sometimes the whole group will start doing this with one another: trying to show off how close to God they are, how “Christian” they are. Have you ever been around someone like this? It triggers an almost automatic reaction. They can make you feel soooo dirty because they’re soooo clean.

11. What To Do? Critique Hypocrisy like Christ and Paul.
Recognize our own vulnerability here.
Ever bothered by someone else receiving praise?
Ever done things in order to be praised?
Ever held back the truth about your problems?
Ever been defensive, even when you know they’re right?

12. What To Do? Critique Hypocrisy like Christ and Paul.
Recognize our own vulnerability here.
Practicing Honesty
“Confess your sins one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” James 5:16
W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G Christianity

13. What To Do? Critique Hypocrisy like Christ and Paul.
Recognize our own vulnerability here.
Practicing Honesty
Focus on our Acceptance by God
“We were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies” Rom. 5:10 (NLT)
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm…” Galatians 5:1

14. What To Do? Critique Hypocrisy like Christ and Paul.
Recognize our own vulnerability here.
Practicing Honesty
Focus on our Acceptance by God
Value character over performance.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.” Matthew 23:25 (NASB-U)

15. What To Do? Critique Hypocrisy like Christ and Paul.
Recognize our own vulnerability here.
Practicing Honesty
Focus on our Acceptance by God
Value character over performance.
Value “Hidden Ministries”