Christian Living
Understanding Biblical Hypocrisy as Jesus taught it
Hi Faith-writers, I thank God for another opportunity to share HIS Word with HIS people. I’m sorry for the long lay-off from writing. I’m going to try my best to write more often like I use to. Two weeks ago, as I prayed about what the Lord wanted me to teach, Hypocrisy came to mind really strongly. After I read the book of Galatians Chapter 2:11-21 NKJV, with the story of Paul confronting Peter about Peter’s hypocritical acts when he dine with Gentiles.
When the Jews would come in to eat and commune with the other believers, Peter got up from the table where the Gentiles were seated and sat with the Jews for fear of being criticized by the Jews. The Apostle Paul confronted Peter in front of everyone there about his hypocrisy. (Read Galatians chapter 2)
Divine Revelation of Scripture
I have never studied deeply the topic of Hypocrisy as I did these 2 weeks thinking about it, and then being led to outline a powerful teaching the Lord had given me about Hypocrisy. The interesting thing about the story of Paul and Peter is that Peter was an Apostle 8 to 10 years before Paul was Saved (Converted to Christianity) in Acts chapter 9. Then we read in Galatians chapter 2, that 17 years after Paul was Saved--did Paul encountered Peter’s hypocrisy of exercising partiality. So, Peter was a Hypocrite in the area of partiality for about 25 to 27 years.
This teaches us that there may be some areas in our lives that we can practice Hypocrisy and fail to be confronted about it. We may even practice Hypocrisy and don’t even realize it. I remember when I was being Hypocritical in my Prayer life.
In 1992, the Lord had me read Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, over and over for 6 months. I didn’t understand why. But eventually the Holy Spirit started to reveal things to me about the application of all the teachings Jesus shared in these chapters. Jesus taught about 19 different Topics in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. And 4 times Jesus mentioned Hypocrisy, or Hypocrites.
1. Don’t Give like a Hypocrite (Matthew 6:1-4 NKJV)
2. Don’t Pray like a Hypocrite (Matthew 6:5-8 NKJV)
3. Don’t Fast like a Hypocrite (Matthew 6:16-18 NKJV)
4. Don’t be Hypocritical as you judge—remove the beam from your own eye before you try to remove the tooth pick out of your brothers eye (Matthew 7:1-5 NKJV/ AMP)
However, going back to my experience of studying Hypocrisy—it hit me really hard when I saw that I was being hypocritical with my Prayer life. Jesus taught about the ‘Do Not’s in Prayer that Hypocrites of HIS time were doing:
* They would stand in the streets praying out loud to be heard by others (Matt. 6:5 NKJV)
* Jesus said don’t do that but Pray privately and God would reward us openly (Matt. 6:6 NKJV)
* Jesus said we should NOT be REPITITIOUS (Matt. 6:7 NKJV) (This is where it hit me!) Because I have been REPITITIOUSLY saying the Our Father whose in Heaven Prayer Over and Over!!!
You see, I was brought up Catholic and we would always recite or repeat the, “Our Father whose in Heaven” Prayer over and over. This is what I was taught in the Catholic Religion. The interesting thing is that right after the instructions of not being Hypocritical in our prayer life—Jesus gave us the ‘Our Father whose in Heaven Prayer’ as a format of Praying. Yet, today many Christians and Catholics are Hypocritical by Praying this Prayer REPITITIOUSLY.
I’m not here to offend anyone, I’m merely speaking about my Hypocritical Prayer life. And how I came to Biblically realize that I was being a HYPOCRITE. We are told by Jesus not to be REPITITIOUS in Prayer. This includes the “Our Father whose in Heaven Prayer.”
You see, I’m a practical Bible Teacher. I have heard so many things over the 25 years of being a Christian. And when I read the Bible it doesn’t make sense what I usually hear people tell me. I read the Bible over and over hundreds of times and in different translations. Each time the Holy Spirit reveals the Truth of the Word of God, that Christians and other religions are practicing that is not Biblical. This is why I always encourage all readers to check it out yourself. This is why I include a lot of Scripture references when I explain things.
Jesus verses Religion
Jesus had to restructure and reinstruct all the common people who were being misled by the religious order of HIS day who taught the people to be REPITITIOUS in their prayer life. Here we are 2000 years later and we are still being REPITITIOUS in our Prayer life. This is why the Lord had been telling me to teach a lot about Prayer.
You can also read the previous article I was led to write, “Our Father Who is in Heaven” written 12-13-2013. This article goes in-depth about the Our Father Prayer. However, the topic of this article I am writing now is about our Hypocrisy. Let’s face it! If we were ignorantly Praying the Our Father Prayer over and over. We need to repent and ask for forgiveness and move on as mature Christians who now knows better. God is NOT going to kill us if we were ignorant about HIS clear teaching.
All we need to do is to acknowledge our error, ask for forgiveness, and learn how to pray more effectively. I was led to teach about 70-80 different Prayers. I recommend that you personally start learning how to pray the different prayers we have in Scripture, and continue to grow in the Grace of God in the area of Prayer. And let us stop being REPITITIOUS and Hypocritical in this area of our lives.
In my next article, we will discuss other areas of Hypocrisy. The more we know the better we will become in our Christian walk of Faith, Amen. May God grant you peace and clear guidance to make whatever changes necessary to be the Man and Woman of God HE called us to be, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Please don’t be offended—But be Productive Believers in Christ Jesus who gave us clear instructions about our prayer life.
Peter accepted Paul’s rebuke (confrontation) and learned from his mistake because later on Peter wrote,
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and Hypocrisy and envy and all slander (1 Peter 2:1 NAS). Peter could have remained angry with Paul and remain stuck in his spiritual growth or accept responsibility and continue to grow spiritually. Peter did the right thing if not we would not have his 2 letters in the New Testament.
If Peter can grow from his 25 year practice of Hypocrisy (as an Apostle). We can grow from our mistake of being Hypocritical in our prayer life and other areas of Hypocrisy we may or may not be aware of. Amen.
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