Hypocrisy???

Reflection:  One of the things that often keeps people from coming to the church is that they use the excuse, “The Church is full of hypocrites!”  In some ways this might be accurate, in other ways it might just be an excuse for people to not deal with being honest with God in their own lives.  Throughout the history of the temple, synagogue and church, the people of God have struggled with this. 

Listen to what Jeremiah says to the house of Judah in Jeremiah 7, “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? ¹¹ Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.”

Apparently these folks did all kinds of things during the week breaking the Law of God, and then came to the house of the Lord under the pretense that they were safe.  They thought we can live how we please and then somehow by showing up at worship it made it okay, and then they would go on living like before.  God raised up Jeremiah to tell them that this is not okay.  Jeremiah tells them that not only does God see what they are doing, but he is going to shortly judge them for their idolatry. 

Things did not change much by the time Jesus came to the people of Israel some 600 years later.  Remember one of the phrases he used, perhaps borrowing from the words of the prophet Jeremiah were, “Do not make my Father’s house a den of robbers!”  Jesus harshest words are not for the sinners in his day, but for the religious leaders who were leading double lives. 

As Paul writes his letter to the church at Thessalonica he says, “¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.”

Paul does not want them to reject the same prophetic voice that called Israel back to God through prophets like Jeremiah, and through the ultimate prophet God’s Son, Jesus.  To prophesy means to speak the Word of God in a timely fashion.  Prophets bring God’s Word to bear on the people of God so they are in alignment with God’s plan for their lives individually and collectively.   

Paul says, “Do not quench the Spirit!”  Why?  The Spirit helps us to listen to God’s Word and the Spirit convicts us when we are going astray.  The Spirit gives us power to pray and the Spirit enables us to rejoice always!

All of these examples will help us to be faithful to God’s plan through the Church today.  Yes there are still hypocrites out there in the Church, who say one thing and do another thing.  If we were to be honest there are times in my life or in yours that we didn’t align with what God would have wanted us to do or be!  We are still sinners in need of a Savior, and yet God is calling us to stand up for His cause in the world today in His power not ours! 

Paul ends with this which I think is a good way to sum up this whole conversation,

²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Give thanks today that God has called you to be His light in the world, and submit to His plan in your life through prayer and not quenching His Holy Spirit, which is in you.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.  Thanks be to God for that!  And thanks be to Jesus who enables us to follow Him by His Spirit.  Amen. 

Psalm 96:1-9

¹ Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
² Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
    proclaim his salvation day after day.
³ Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

⁴ For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

⁷ Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
⁸ Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
⁹ Worship the Lord in the splendor of his^[a] holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.

Jeremiah 7

False Religion Worthless

7 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message: “‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. ³ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. ⁴ Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” ⁵ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, ⁶ if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, ⁷ then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. ⁸ But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. ⁹ “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? ¹¹ Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.¹² “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³ While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. ¹⁴ Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. ¹⁵ I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’

¹⁶ “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. ¹⁹ But am I the one they are provoking? declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame? ²⁰ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched. ²¹ “‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! ²² For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²³ but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. ²⁴ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. ²⁵ From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. ²⁶ But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.’

²⁷ “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. ²⁸ Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

²⁹ “‘Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.

The Valley of Slaughter

³⁰ “‘The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. ³¹ They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. ³² So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ³³ Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. ³⁴ I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-28

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.

²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. ²⁵ Brothers and sisters, pray for us. ²⁶ Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. ²⁷ I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. ²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

The Lord answered Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? and said to the sea, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped'?" Job 38:4,11

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. John 1:1,3

Everlasting God, you extend your righteous hand. Let us feel your touch. You inspire and encourage us in the face of our troubles. Help us to know all strength comes through you. We worship and adore you. Amen.