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In what ways have you seen hypocrisy in the church negatively impact the church’s witness to the world? What do you feel is the best way to eliminate hypocrisy in the church?
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I see a lot of Christians live with the knowledge of but not live for him, so we live imperfect lives but we expect Christians to be perfect
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True. Perhaps the church needs to launch campaigns that promise to discuss the problem of hypocrisy in the church, invite nonChristians to share their experiences, then explain to nonbelievers that the church is not a place for perfect people. Rather it is a place where people’s natures have been changed, but the journey to perfection has only begun!
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Gossip. No matter what church I have attended over the years, the gossip is always rampant though it. I just don’t partake. It if hard. After all, juicy stories are so entertaining but they are very hurtful and harmful.
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Man’s desire to ‘run the show’, to stay in control, keeping everything organized, structured not leaving any room for others to contribute to the cause and most importantly it seems not allowing Holy Spirit to have His Way in the church.
I believe that leaders would be more effective in their witness to the church ND the world if they would deny the flesh and set their eyes, ambitions, focus on God’s Kingdom. -
I saw an internal power struggle for our church when I was about 8 years old. One family wanted to boot out the pastor and take over. The husband even threatened to “kill” the pastor. Ultimately the church splintered and became two churches. The splinter took to arguing and fell apart shortly thereafter. It was a negative impact that has flavor how I approach churches for the past 50 years. There is no way to eliminate hypocrisy, at least in our unresurrected state. We can however limit the impacts of hypocrisy by living to the standards that Paul proposed. We are not perfect, and cannot get there, but we can dedicate our lives to living them for the Lord.
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Shamefully people judge the truthfullness of Christianity by examining the sinfullness of believers (and so -called believers in God). When we first surrender our lives to Christ (come to faith in the Gospel) and repent and turn from of our sins, I believe that’s where God begins the work of sanctifying each of us to gradually become more and more like Jesus. This is not an overnight process and even though we are children of God (adopted sons and daughters) we still sometimes sin. The difference however, if we are truely saved is that we become aware that we have sinned and done something displeasing to our Father. Hopefully we repent and continue in our walk to love God with all our heart, mind and soul (and our neighbors as ourselves). Occasionally this seems like one step forward – two steps back. But if we trust in the Holy Spirit to guide us and put God first in our lives (thanking Him for His precious Son, Jesus, who gave His life so that we might be forgiven) – I have confidence that I (we) will become more and more like our LORD.