STRUGGLING WITH HYPOCRISY

MATTHEW 13:24-30; 36-43

STRUGGLING WITH HYPOCRISY

More than $130 million in counterfeit U. S. money is estimated to be circulating around the globe! If you put all those end-to-end they would stretch more than 260 miles. There are many ways you can tell a bill is counterfeit, but an easy way is to check and make sure it has its’ currency written in a line across the bill. Look at a $20 bill and you will see “ USA twenty.” (Take an offering.)

There are many sins that hinder the work of God in our country, but none more dangerous than our struggle with hypocrisy-counterfeit Christians! This parable teaches us that they will be everywhere in our world, but we know that we really struggle with them when they are inside the church. Today we will study the wheat in order to find what Jesus tells us about counterfeit Christians in the church.

I. LET’S LEARN ABOUT THE TARES AND THE WHEAT. (24-30)

Tares are a variety of the darnel weed that closely resembles wheat and they are almost impossible to distinguish until the wheat ripens and bears grain. There are always some weeds, but the wording in this passage tells us that there was a large amount that was done intentionally. It was a common practice in Jesus’ day to plant these plants in your enemies’ wheat fields to reduce the value of their crop. It was so common that there were specific Roman laws outlawing the practice.

The owner instructs his servants that they must wait until the end of harvest when it will be obvious which plants are the weeds. If they were to try and do it now, they would destroy much of the wheat thinking that it was weeds.

II. OUR RESPONSE TO THE TARES IN OUR MIDST (36-43)

Jesus is telling this parable for two reasons:

A. Jesus wants His followers to know that wherever God sows true believers Satan will ALWAYS sow counterfeit believers. Satan even did this with the 12 apostles of Christ by planting Judas in their midst! Have you ever had a garden that had absolutely no weeds? In the same way you will never have a church that doesn’t have counterfeit Christians. Rather than being surprised that there are counterfeits in RBC, we should understand that if we are doing something good for God, then Satan will ALWAYS infiltrate us with counterfeits.

Unbelievers, you can’t use this as an excuse for not coming to Jesus. They are in every church and they always have been. You need to turn you attention to the Savior. He is the only one who is perfect. Certainly none of us are! Besides, had you rather go to church with the hypocrites or go to hell with them?

B. Jesus tells us what our response should be to counterfeit believers. Even though Christ tells us we are not to judge one another, He also tells us that we will know the counterfeit Christians by their fruit. (Matthew 7:20) There is absolutely no evidence of the fruit of the Spirit-only fruit of Satan in their lives.

Jesus tells us to leave their punishment up to the Lord! When we come across people who have no fruit of God’s Spirit in their lives, it is tempting to drive them way away. This is what Jesus’ apostles desired in Luke 9:54 when they asked Jesus’ permission “to command fire to come down from heaven and consume” the Samaritans who refused to receive Him. Have you ever desired to do the same to a counterfeit Christian? Jesus tells us not to do this, but it will be done at the end of the age in a time of judgment.

Why won’t God let us do this? Because He knows we do not have the ability to determine whether someone is saved or not. We can determine that they are not mature enough in their faith to be our leaders. We can determine that they are false teachers and not allow them to teach. We can look to their ungodly attitudes and/or ungodly actions fruits and understand that they don’t need to be in spiritual leadership or places of importance, but we still can’t know for 100% sure that they are counterfeit. Therefore, we cannot rip them out of our midst.

Another reason that we must not rip them out of our midst is His great grace and His plans for redemption of the whole world-even counterfeit Christians. The very reason that Jesus died was to open the Father’s house to everybody, including the superficial, the indifferent, and the mockers. The bells of invitation to come to our church should sound all over the Jackson are with the words from the heart of Jesus that Ridgecrest is a church where EVERYBODY is welcome. The good people, the not so good people and the totally bad people are all invited into our church because Christ died to open the doors to them not close them!

Our deacons are helping Bro. Tony Duckworth and his congregation from Mt. Olive , MS , to renovate a building to be their sanctuary. He used to be a drug dealer, but found Christ as his Savior and now brings people like himself to the Lord. For years he has had the same problem. He would bring them to church, but the different churches he joined didn’t really want “their kind” at church. So last year Bro. Tony started a church where he says “Everybody is welcome.”

My friends, that’s the Jesus planned on every church to be! As long as we are here on earth we are called to exist side by side with the counterfeits and all other kinds of sinners and love them all the while. To do this, we need to understand the true definition of love. The Russian novelist, Dostoevski, explains it: “to love a person means to see him as God intended him to be.” In 1 Corinthians 13 we are told that the only thing that will last throughout eternity is love. We are to exhibit this kind of love to our world-hypocrites and all.

III. MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT A COUNTERFEIT CHRISITAN!

We are all master pretenders. It’s like the little boy who found a rat in his back yard. He jumped on it and killed it. He was so proud of himself that he ran in to tell his mother. He ran in screaming, “Mom, look what I found! I found a rat and jumped on it and stomped it.” At that moment he noticed that their preacher had come in for a visit. He continued, “And then the Lord called him home.”

But we are talking about those who say they are Christians when there is absolutely no fruit to back it up. A lady asked a pastor and a guest evangelist during a revival to come and visit her husband. She told them that her husband had joined the church about 7 years earlier and shortly thereafter quit going. She wanted the evangelist to talk to him about being backslidden. The evangelist replied, “Lady, I don’t need to talk to him about being backslidden, I need to talk to him about being saved!” Many times what we call backslidden, God calls lost!

There is a difference between a Christian who is struggling in their faith and a counterfeit Christian. The Christian who is struggling asks God to help them in their weakness. The counterfeit doesn’t really struggle to overcome his sin, but just tries to hide it. When he is in church he acts like a true believer. He says the prayers, sings the songs, and obeys the rules, but when he is in the world he is a different person who behaves exactly the way the world behaves.

Maybe you think I shouldn’t be speaking about this. Look at 2 Peter 1:1). Peter doesn’t tell us to make sure we are church members or make sure we are baptized or make sure we are good. He tells us to make sure that there has been a time in our lives where God called us to salvation and we received it.

If you are uncertain about your relationship with Christ, look to see if the name of Jesus is written on you. Have you ever heard and responded to the call of God? Are you wheat or only a pretender?

CONCLUSION

A preacher in the Midwest tells about a couple in his church who were flying to New York for one day. The highlight of their trip was going to their favorite Broadway play, My Fair Lady. They had told all their friends and they were all excited because none of them had ever been to a Broadway play. When they got to New York , they caught a cab and went to the theater. To their disappointment, the play was sold out. What were they going to do? They couldn’t go home and face all their friends and tell them they didn’t get to go.

So they devised a plan. They walked around and found a couple of ticket stubs on the sidewalk. They bought a program from the play. They went home singing, “I Could Have Danced All Night,” and told everyone how great the play was. They had the ticket stubs. They had the programs. They knew the songs. They had been to the theater. But they didn’t see the play for themselves. No one ever knew except them and the Lord.

That’s the way it is for counterfeit Christians. They come to church. They have the bulletin. They know the songs. They know what goes on in church. The problem is they have never met Jesus as their Savior. Only they and the Lord know. What about you?

Ridgecrest Baptist Church | 7469 Old Canton Rd. | Madison, MS 39110 phone: 601.853.1090 fax: 601.853.1092