JP38: INTEGRITY IN AN AGE OF OFFENSE: HOW TO LEAVE HYPOCRISY BEHIND

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s observation that "At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins." is a good reminder of how easy it is to lose integrity for the sake of pretense.

In Jesus’ day, pious folks judged, condemned, and ultimately did not forgive their neighbors.  Jesus’ message on forgiveness helps us reconcile the competing desires for justice while maintaining our integrity in an age of offense.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.  “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”  (Lk 6:37–42, NIV).

Buy Into The Father’s Forgiveness Plan

Moving from hypocrisy to a life of integrity in an age of offense starts when we buy into the Father’s plan of forgiveness.

The key to applying this passage is found in this seemingly out-of-place statement by Jesus,

“The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.”

Why would Jesus inject a sentence on the student/teacher relationship in the middle of a lesson on forgiveness?  Because He knows that it’s easy for us to forget what it means to follow Him.  A student learns from her teacher by observation and application.  If we want to be followers of Jesus, we must do as he did.  Jesus lived a life of forgiveness, and no one has forgiven more than Jesus.

He subjected himself to a brutal death so that our past, present, and future sins could receive forgiveness, not condemnation.  

This plan to reconcile us to God through Jesus’ substitutionary death and bodily resurrection is called the good news or gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is saying that we fail to understand the gospel if we do not forgive those who transgress us.  Simply said, we cannot be like Jesus when we do not forgive.  

Which of course is hard to do when people hurt us intentionally or not.  Yet, we're most like Jesus when we choose to forgive the person who brought us pain.  

This choice to forgive out of love for Jesus does not require that we gloss over the wrong or minimize its damage.  The power of the gospel enables us to forgive, heal, and move past our pain.

Self-righteously condemning others means that we are blind to the gospel.  By overlooking our sins and need for Christ's forgiveness, we deny the gospel's power to work in the lives of others the way it has worked in us.

But, we can do better by His grace when we practice seeing others as better than ourselves.

See Others As Better Than Yourself

Only people who have closely examined their own life first are qualified to encourage another person to a closer walk with God.  Those who do the hard work of removing the “log” before trying to remove the “speck.”

When we ask God to show us our shortcomings in the light of his holiness, we become aware that we are the ones most in need of His grace and mercy which produces a humility needed to walk alongside a potentially wayward brother or sister in Christ.

Remember The Reward Of A Forgiving Attitude

Practicing the habit of forgiveness does not mean we act as if genuine pain and hurt aren’t issues.  Nor does forgiving others suggest that we continue to subject ourselves to their harmful or toxic ways.  

The problem is when we devalue someone based on their shortcomings, big or small.  Or worse, when we devalue someone based on a difference of opinion.  This attitude blinds us to the gospel of Jesus, leads to divisive labeling and fracturing within the church, and makes us hypocrites.  

This judging and condemning flows out of an insecure identity, built on one's self-affirmation, comfort tribes, and philosophies.  

Jesus says we can end this cycle of condemnation when we see the direct relationship between the forgiveness that we receive and bestow on others.  As Jesus says, "For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Who needs your forgiveness? Are there people you devalue because of differences of opinion?  How would the Holy Spirit lead you to become a student of Jesus today and learn to see others better than yourself?

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for reminding me that I’m the one in need of forgiveness.  Instead of rehearsing the wrongs against me, help me remember that when I offer forgiveness, I am walking in your footsteps and that you will reward me with the forgiveness that I need from you and others.  Guard me against feelings of superiority while I consider how humbly you left heaven to make way for me to receive forgiveness.  Amen.

Integrity In An Age of Offense: How to Guard Against Hypocrisy

1. Buy Into The Father’s Forgiveness Plan

The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. v.40

2. See Others As Better Than Yourself

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? V. 41-42

3. Remember The Reward Of A Forgiving Attitude

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” v. 37-38

Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

‍