“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Matthew 18:32–35 (NIV)

THREE CAUSES OF HYPOCRISY

THEY DON’T REALLY KNOW GOD.

Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 1 John 2:4 (NIV)

THEY DON’T KNOW BETTER… YET.

Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:1 (NLT)

THEY KNOW BETTER, BUT CHOOSE TO DISOBEY.

For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 1 Peter 2:16 (NLT)

HOW TO AVOID HYPOCRISY

DON’T MINIMIZE YOUR SIN; REPENT OF YOUR SIN.

DON’T EXCUSE YOUR SIN; ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR SIN

DO LOOK IN THE MIRROR.

BOTTOM LINE:

People are Messy, and I am people. 

THE CHALLENGE:

LOOK IN THE MIRROR