Living Authentically: Overcoming Hypocrisy in Spiritual Life

"Jesus in Matthew 23 says this, this is a passage where he uses this word hypocrite over and over and over again again this is about financial life V to you teachers of the laws and Pharisees you Hypocrites you give a tenth of your spices mint dill and cumin now that's not a bad thing they're doing a good thing but they're doing it for the wrong reason and here's part of how that uh betrays itself but you have neglected the more important matters of the law Justice mercy and faithfulness so you don't have a heart that is actually generous that actually wants to do a good thing and and that's the nature of hypocrisy." [00:04:45]

"Now the idea of hypocrisy is not simply that uh there's inconsistency between what I say and what I do the real problem is um that I add to that deception I clean the outside of the cup I whitewash the tomb so it's not that I talk about doing good things but do bad things I may do good things but I do them for a bad reason." [00:04:22]

"To live without a mask is such a relief, but uh because it's so tempting for me to think I am who you think I am and I want you to think well of me and therefore I put on a mask and this is why very often when people get caught in something if there's a scandal where they've been living a double life a secret life a hidden life often after the initial pain they will actually experience a great sense of relief because we were not meant the soul was not meant to carry a mask." [00:03:01]

"Jesus says when he's talking about um finances and then he'll talk about the same thing in prayer the same thing in fasting when you give don't be like the Hypocrites because they love to blow trumpets and synagogues and on Street quarters uh I tell you the truth if that's what you do then you you have your reward in full you have been paid in full but instead when you give don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be done in secret." [00:03:47]

"Fascinating research on this topic of hypocrisy one of the kind of brilliant experiments that's been done lots of times now is to put people in a setting where they're working with another person who's kind of a Confederate in on the deal and if I'm the subject I have to assign one problem to the other person and one problem to my myself one of them was real difficult tedious problem nobody would want to do and the other one's much easier so naturally I would want to give myself the easy one but then I might look like I'm not a good person if I give it to the other person so I got to decide do I want to be moral do I want to look moral." [00:06:41]

"Here's what's interesting when people are prompted to think thoughts of moral superiority I really am quite a moral person I really am quite a lot better than other people they are actually more likely to cheat in private on the coin flip and this is this has to do with the way that we view ourselves and the way that our eyes get distorted almost all areas of life there's kind of a bell curve there'll be people who run really fast people who are stronger than the average folks IQ lots of different ways and people may be quite aware of that they may be able to be pretty realistic we do have to fight the self-serving bias but it's Poss however however uh the idea that I'm morally Superior to anyone is always toxic misguiding and misleading always it always leads people uh to be um less alive to the kingdom of God it always causes people to take steps that will be less Godlike and less moral." [00:07:42]

"Part of that is because I can never compare myself accurately with any other person cuz I don't know what their genetic endowment was I don't some people are predisposed to be extremely anxious or extremely angry I don't know what environment they grew up in I don't know what their parents were like I don't know there's no way I can ever assess my moral praiseworthiness compared to another person but we all try to do it and when we do it it sets us up for increased hypocrisy." [00:08:56]

"There's a wonderful book that was written I don't know 150 Years Ago by Max beerbom called the happy hypocrite and it's a story about a man who whose life was a train wreck he was a mass and needed help um he was corrupt deceitful Gambler treated women dishonorably and then one day he saw and fell in love with a woman who is a truly good woman who had a wonderful character only uh she had made a vow she would only marry a man with the face of a saint character Saint and so in this kind of a fairy tale that he finds a shop and the shop keeper has these very lifelike plastic masks and so he gets one that is the face of a saint and he wears it and this woman marries him and he begins to change and he gives generously to folks in secret and he speaks the truth even when it's difficult and when he's with people who don't look very important he treats them as people who are very honorable and he serves and then one day years into this marriage an old lover of his finds him and decides to unmask him and humiliate him before his wife and so that moment comes and the mask is taken off and underneath the mask his face now looks just like the mask did it's the face of a saint he he has grown into his face he has over time bit by bit Choice by choice Moment by moment Day by Day become the person from the inside that he desired to be and that's the promise of life in the kingdom of God." [00:10:27]

"There's a wonderful passage in uh 2 Corinthians 3 where Paul talks about how Moses used to put a veil over his face there was Radiance and it was kind of fading away and he says but we all with unveiled faces no mask will reflect the glory of God and I can move in that direction a little bit today oh God oh God I need your help help me to be a generous person help me to do it in secret to be free from the need of other people's AB make it Golden Rule day." [00:12:16]

"Three questions cuz really good with finances to get out of fuzzy reality is is always our friend when it comes to deliverance from hypocrisy and giving in secrecy uh three questions one how much did you give last year really good to get out of fuzzy and if you don't know take a look at your bank statements and figure it out number two what's your goal for this year and it might be a percentage might be a dollar amount um what would that be and then number three can you have an honest conversation with one other person about your financial life where they see you and and where you can be financially accountable because if we ask for God's help and I seek to practice giving on a regular basis in a systematic way and do it with accountability but then not trying to impress other people not going um public in ways that are designed to get people to applaud but with appropriate accountability change can happen." [00:09:23]

"Jesus said now you do many things like this and here's where we get to part of the subtle danger of hypocrisy and this is where it's so good to be in The Fellowship of the withered hand and just say I'm a mess God and this is step one we acknowledge we realize that our lives were powerless over money maybe greed status other people's opinions and our lives have become unmanageable." [00:06:10]

"To combat hypocrisy, we must acknowledge our weaknesses and seek God's help. By practicing generosity in secret and being accountable, we can move towards a more authentic and spiritually fulfilling life. This journey requires honesty, self-reflection, and a commitment to living according to God's principles, free from the need for external validation." [00:12:37]