Genuine Faith

 Everyone knows Santa Claus can't be at every single mall or store to get pictures with children, so he has helpers who look like him, right? You can tell by maybe a fake beard or a not so jolly attitude. But how do you really know what the 'real Santa' looks like?

For the first time in almost 1,700 years, thanks to the work of scientists, people can see the actual face of Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas of Myra was an early Christian saint whose reputation for gift-giving inspired the Dutch folk figure of Sinterklaas, later to become Santa Claus. And this is what he supposedly looked like. Scientists constructed the image using forensic data collected in the 1950's.

Saint Nicholas "was a bishop who lived in the early centuries of Christianity and had the courage to defend and live the teachings of Jesus Christ, even at the risk of his life. He helped those in need so frequently and effectively that when people sought a symbol of kindness for Christmas, the inspiration came from him."

So now we can accurately tell a 'fake Santa' from the 'real Santa'. This morning, I want us to look at the idea of a 'fake Christian'. How can you tell a fake Christian from a real one? Well, even those who don't attend Church services can usually spot one. They even have a word for 'fake Christians' – 'hypocrite'.

That seems to be the biggest complaint of those outside the Church – 'Churches are full of hypocrites'. Many use that as an excuse to never darken the doorway of a Church building. Of course, by definition, Wal-Mart is also probably full of hypocrites, but they still seem to go there. They still go because they need something at Wal-Mart - so they can overlook the hypocrites there. They don't understand that they need something here, too...

I can't really address those individuals since they're not here, so I guess we'll take a look at ourselves. I want to start with the question…

I. What makes one a hypocrite?

One preacher said, "A man's message will always be viewed in context with his character."

A rather self righteous preacher was teaching a Sunday school class of young boys the importance of living the Christian life. He asked them, "Why do people call me a Christian?" After a moment's pause, one young man raised his hand, "Maybe it's because they don't really know you?"

Your message means little if your actions don't match. One whose words and actions don't match is usually labeled a hypocrite. The Apostle Paul had some strong words for some hypocrites of his day. We find this in Paul's letter to Titus in Titus 1:13b-16 (NIV)...

Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith (14) and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. (15) To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. (16) They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

Those outside of the Church don't care much for hypocrites and evidently neither did Paul. From his writings - what makes one a hypocrite?

A. Your actions

A true hypocrite is not that way by accident. We choose our actions and when they betray what we really believe, as opposed to what we say we believe – that's the problem. There are those who can fake being a genuine follower of Jesus, but after a while, our actions can show our real character.

Jesus valued actions more than just words as we see in Matthew 7:18-21 (NIV)...

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (21) Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

A hypocrite claims to be one thing when in reality they are something else completely. A person's actions speak volumes about who they truly are. Your actions can show you as a hypocrite, but there's something even deeper that in fact makes one a hypocrite. It's something that's a little harder to detect. And that's…

B. Your intent

There are times when every one of us will slip and do something hypocritical. - We do something that we've previously said is wrong. But doing something hypocritical is different than intentionally being a hypocrite. Fortunately, God knows the difference between the two.

Our actions can be an indicator of our true self, but ultimately it's our intent that makes us a hypocrite. A hypocrite is a person who knowingly and intentionally attempts to deceive people with their fine words while doing something completely different. Occasionally doing something hypocritical, that just makes you inconsistent - it makes you human - just like me and many others.

Hypocrisy in religion is certainly not solely a modern problem. I want to look at how Jesus dealt with religious hypocrites, those who intentionally deceived others in Matthew 15:1-9 (NIV)...

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, (2) "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" (3) Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? (4) For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'

(5) But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' (6) he is not to 'honor his father ' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. (7) You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: (8) 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. (9) They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"

Then if we jump ahead to chapter 23…

Matthew 23:27-28 (NIV)

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. (28) In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

The Pharisees, the religious leaders of Jesus' day looked fine from the outside – but when Jesus examined them He pointed out just how useless they were for God's purposes.

Mark Twain wrote, "We're all like the moon, we have a dark side we don't want anyone to see."

If we're more concerned with what others think of us than with what God thinks of us – we're useless for His purposes. If we act like Christians just for the show of it and then privately live our lives however we choose – we're useless for God's purposes. And that brings us to the next point…

II. Handling hypocrisy

If we can get past our pride, it really doesn't take long to stop being a hypocrite. I'm not saying it's easy by any stretch, but the process can start pretty quickly – and the first step is…

A. Admit it

For those who are still trying to hide behind the mask of piety – let it go. Trying to hide sin always makes it worse. We are all sinners. - One difference between an unbeliever and a believer - when we sin, we're called to confess that sin - to admit it was wrong. I try to take a lesson from the Apostle Paul when he wrote…

Romans 7:18-25 (NIV)

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. (19) For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. (20) Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (21) So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. (22) For in my inner being I delight in God's law;

(23) but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. (24) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (25) Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

It's a bit confusing, but I think I can relate...

The Apostle Paul, arguably the greatest missionary ever, a man chosen by Jesus Himself - Paul was admitting his failings. He wasn't trying to hide from those to whom he was writing – he told them like it was, warts and all. Paul wasn't going to be like the Pharisees and pretend that he had everything in his life exactly perfect. He knew he was flawed and didn't pretend he was anywhere near the same level as his savior, Jesus.

Paul was admitting his imperfection, but he wasn't satisfied with it. As we look at that passage, was Paul saying that he could just keep on being imperfect; that he could just keep sinning because it wasn't his fault?

Romans 6:1-4 (NIV)

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? (2) By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (3) Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (4) We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

If we are going to deal with any hypocrisy in our lives, we need to first admit it, and then…

B. Fight it

Just admitting our hypocrisy, our bad behavior, isn't enough. We need to fight against the sin in our lives and double our efforts to get rid of it.

1 Peter 1:22-25, 2:1 (NIV)

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. (23) For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (24) For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, (25) but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.

(2:1) Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

If the religious leaders of Jesus' day would have just admitted, "Yes, Jesus, you're right, we're a brood of vipers", and then continued doing exactly what they had been doing before – they still would have been hypocrites and useless for God's purposes.

As a believer, just admitting that I'm not perfect doesn't make everything all right. To be an authentic Christian, a genuine follower of Jesus, you have to repent – you have to turn away from sin. You have to 'take up your cross daily' and choose to fight against sin in your life every day.

If you feel at all like Paul when he said, "what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing" – don't think I'm beating you up and telling you to just 'fix it'. As a Christian, remember – you are not alone. You have your brothers and sisters in Christ around you to help you. And most importantly, you have the power of the Holy Spirit; God's Holy Spirit in you!

God has given us His Spirit to fight against the sin in our lives; to help us live authentic Christian lives – to help us become the people He wants us to be for His purposes!

So What?

At the beginning I talked about St. Nicholas of Smyrna and how his legacy became the legend we know as Santa Claus. And Santa Claus continues to touch the hearts of millions every year! That only happened because one man chose to live a consistent Christian life. His actions aligned with his belief in his Savior Jesus Christ! Nicholas allowed Jesus to use him for His purposes!

I quoted Mark Twain earlier in my message. Mr. Twain was actually a bit hostile toward the Bible and the Christian faith. As he grew up, he saw elders and deacons who owned slaves and abused them. He heard men using reckless, foul language and saw them practice dishonesty during the week after speaking piously in church on Sunday. He listened to ministers use the Bible to justify slavery.

Although he saw genuine Christian love in some people, including his mother and his wife, he was so disturbed by the hypocrisy and poor examples of many church folk, that he became bitter towards the things of God.

Fake Christians hurt people's trust in God. Mark Twain stayed away from God because of fake Christians.

I've been asking you every week to bring a friend to Church services. Those people, many of whom don't even have a clue that they are lost; they need you to set a genuine example - especially during this holiday season. If you don't, if you don't practice what you preach – if you live like the Pharisees – I can guarantee they'll decline any invitation to have anything to do with God.

If you're not genuine, you won't be worth much for God's purposes. If, however, you are authentic – even despite your flaws, God can use you for great things! Let's show the world how real Christians live!