The Congregation of the Hypocrites

In Matthew 12 Jesus warned his disciples to “be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy”

This is interesting to me because generally we consider our own sin to have only consequences for ourselves. This passage suggests otherwise.

Yeast affects the whole loaf of bread and the same concept is repeated in 1 Corinthians 5 where Paul admonishes the Corinthians to keep the local congregation free from “yeast” (sin).

The Pharisees hypocrisy affected the whole of God’s Jewish nation because the Pharisees were in a position of leadership. Their hypocrisy could permeate and adversely affect the ones they were teaching and influencing making them hypocrites as well.

How can church leaders today be hypocrites? Here are a few things off the top of my head.

- The teacher who teaches kindness and compassion towards the poor but when given the opportunity to help the poor comes up with some excuse not to.

- The teacher who teaches the need for hospitality and the “oneness” hospitality helps create but is not hospitable at all except perhaps to his friends.

- The teacher who urges the congregation to invite their neighbors to church but never does himself.

I wish we had some kind of spiritual mirror where we could view ourselves as God views us with 20/20 spiritual vision. Of course we can look in God’s word but too often when we look in that mirror our eyes are often blurred with selfish hypocrisy that can harm the entire congregation and render it the Church of the Hypocrites.