While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” (Luke 11:37-44)

Introduction

The ocean liner Queen Mary was once greatest ocean-going vessel in the world. She was 1,019 feet long, and weighed twice as much as the Titanic. The Queen Mary was retired in 1967 after making 1,001 Atlantic Ocean crossings, and is now a tourist attraction in Long Beach. But when the Queen Mary was retired from active passenger service, it was discovered that part of her exterior was hiding something far less attractive and substantial.

The Queen Mary’s had three gigantic smokestacks which were made of sheets of steel over an inch thick. During her decades of service, at least 30 coats of paint had been applied to the massive smokestacks, forming a shell around the steel interior. But when the smokestacks were removed for maintenance after her decommissioning, it was discovered that they were nothing but shells. When lifted off the liner and placed on the docks, they crumbled! Over the years, the thick steel had turned to rust from long exposure to heat and moisture. The beautiful exteriors of the smokestacks revealed a rusty, crumbly interior that showed only deterioration and decay. The external appearance was hiding the internal reality. (Holman New Testament Commentary, Romans, p. 90-92) And my friends, that’s what the decay of hypocrisy looks like, nothing but a shell of beauty hiding a decay of internal corruption.

And all of us have some form of hypocrisy in our lives. We point out wrongs in others while we are still sinners. Jesus made that very clear when the crowd surrounded the woman caught in the act of adultery. He asked the crowd: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7) The reality was that no one was able to cast the first stone because everyone had sin in their lives. In our text today and in the next two weeks, Jesus gives us 10 characteristics of hypocrisy exhibited by the chief priests and lawyers. But before we cast the first stone at them, we need to consider whether we are without this sin as well. Today, we’ll cover the first four characteristics from Luke 11:37-44 and after describing each in detail, I’ll share with you the cure from such a heart.

Hypocrites Focus on External Appearances Than Internal Holiness (vv. 37-41)

The first characteristic of hypocrisy is that hypocrites focus on external appearance rather than internal holiness. Let’s read verses 39-41: “While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at tab le. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.” Jesus was extended an invitation to dinner and as Jesus often did, he accepted that invitation regardless of who was making it. Jesus met with tax collectors and prostitutes (those who were ‘obvious sinners’) as well as with Pharisees and Lawyers (those who were ‘morally good’ but out to ‘get him). And just before the dinner, Jesus does something that makes the Pharisee cringe: Jesus did not first wash before dinner.

Now I know what you’re thinking. You probably think that given where Jesus had been, it probably would be a good thing to wash before dinner. But this was not about hygiene. No, the Pharisee was shocked not because of poor hygiene, but because eating without washing made one ceremonially unclean. The problem with this law was that nowhere in the OT was eating before washing considered sinful or unclean. But the Pharisees had abided by a secondary system of laws as an extrapolation of Mosaic Law that amped up the burdens people bore as a result of such laws. Rabbinical literature like this passage from the Mishnah describes what the Pharisees intended by washing before a meal:

The hands are susceptible to uncleanness, and they are rendered clean up to the wrist. Thus if a man had poured the first water up to the wrist and the second water beyond the wrist, and the water flowed back to the hand, the hand becomes clean; but if he poured both the first water and the second water beyond the wrist, and the water followed back to the hand, the hand remains unclean. (Quoted from Phil Ryken, Luke Vol., 1, 620.)

It was this heart, the heart that was so concerned about external appearances rather than internal holiness and godliness that Jesus portrayed as rampant hypocrisy. And so Jesus addresses a second act of cleanliness, the washing of cups and dishes so thoroughly again for the pursuit of ritual cleanness, that fails to comprehend that purity is not about what things appear to be, but rather, how one’s heart is pure internally. In fact, this very act without a heart of humility and grace is “full of greed and wickedness,” and undermines their efforts in trying to be ceremonially clean. As Jesus rebukes in verse 40, such a perspective is nothing but utter foolishness.

Therefore, hypocrisy is foolish because our very efforts to ‘look good’ before others and God is undermined by those same efforts without a heart that honors God. For example, one piece of advice I give couples when I’m doing premarital counseling with them is that that do all they can to control their voices. If one spouse who is in control can point out to the other that he/she is raising their voice, it usually is such a stark contrast in voices, that he’ll catch himself and lower his voice. But occasionally, you’ll have the outburst, “Don’t tell me I’m raising my voice, I’m not raising my voice!!” And my friends, in this way the hypocrite begins to act like the fool. Hypocrites tell others to pray and spend no time praying. Hypocrites are angry when people fail them and beg for mercy or expect mercy when they fail them. I had a person upset with me when I didn’t return a phone call or email immediately, and yet, when he would fail to email me or call me immediately, he didn’t see anything wrong with it. A hypocrisy of external appearance without internal holiness is death to the soul.

Hypocrites Have A Selective View In Obedience To God (v. 42)

The second characteristic of hypocrisy is that hypocrites have a selective view of obedience to God. Let’s look at verse 42: “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” Tithing is a biblical mandate for believers to trust in the God who provides all things. And though the Lord asked people to tithe their property (Lev 27:30), the Pharisees were so consumed by the exactness of their tithe, that they forgot the spirit of this command in the first place. Tithing had always been intended to be a symbol of their trust in God’s provisions, and their tithes would be used to support the priests and Levites (those who were not given a portion of the land so they could do the work of the ministry) and to support the poor and the widow (Deut 26:12). In other words, tithing represented their compassion for the defenseless. But the Pharisees were so consumed by exact ritual obedience to the law that they had forgotten what the purpose the law was intended for, the love of God and the love of neighbor as oneself.

This is a dangerous hypocrisy that befalls so many of us. For example, there’s the story of a man and a woman stopped to buy some fast food. After they had paid for it, they were handed a paper bag which, they assumed, contained their food. When they arrived at the place where they planned to eat, they opened up the sack and found that it contained the day’s proceeds, and not their food. The man closed the bag, went back to the place where he had been given the sack, and handed back the money, much to the relief of the employee who had made the mistake. The management of the business was so delighted at the man’s honesty that they wanted to do
something to honor the man. They started to call the press, so that a photographer could come and take his picture. The man was very insistent that this not be done. Finally, because they seemed intent on calling the press anyway, the man explained his reluctance. “The woman with me is not my wife.”  Selective obedience is no obedience at all.

Similarly, how often are you so angered or disturbed when someone else sins against you in something you deem important, and yet, in other areas of holiness and godliness, you are not troubled at all? I remember when I was in youth group, our music was led by a band with drums. But some of the elders were so bothered by the fact that we were using the ‘devil’s instrument (the drums).’ For some reason, the church needed to be protected from the evil drums, but not from the evil of the anger of those opposed to the drums. You see, for hypocrites, their obedience to God in what they deems to be important to them is the only thing that matters. This person selectively obeys God, but the danger for such a person is that if he tries to perfectly keep one part of the law, he must keep the whole law or he is condemned as James writes: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” (James 2:10) Thus, a hypocrisy that has a selective view of one’s obedience to God is death to the soul.

Hypocrites Crave Man’s Attention And Applause (v. 43)

The third characteristic of hypocrisy is that hypocrites crave man’s attention and applause. In verse 43, Jesus says: “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.” The Pharisees loved to be treated a certain way. They loved being recognized. They craved flattery and Jesus probably observed many instances when they would walk around in long flowing robes, praying on the street corners, fishing for compliments, adored by the people. We all want to be recognized, appreciated, loved. God created that desire in our hearts because it was always intended to be ultimately fulfilled by God Himself. But our hearts can be so deceitful and what was created by God for our good, we can easily turn to be our idol, our counterfeit god to use Tim Keller’s term. This hypocrite is so concerned about what people think of him. He doesn’t want to look like fool. He stays up at night beating himself up for saying something stupid. He’s afraid of people finding out that he actually fails and sins sometimes. He’s always trying to get people to look at him in a positive light. He makes sure that people know his accomplishments and is very adept at doing so. He’s more concerned about his own opinions than the thoughts of others, and so he’s often dominating the conversation leaving no room for others. He shows favorites by one’s position in society, how one looks physically, how one dresses, completely going against the wisdom of James 2:1-4. He is deathly fearful of correction, and in fact, will refuse to hear any of it. But he’s often dissatisfied with himself because he believes he deserves better from those around him, even from God.

There is a terrible danger with such a heart, because when one lives for the attention and applause of others, one is bound to fail miserably. Proverbs 25:6-7 warns: “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, 7 for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.” And later, we see that Jesus says essentially the same thing in Luke 14:8-10: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.” Shame and disgrace will be the consequences of this characteristic of hypocrisy.

Hypocrites Are Spiritually Dead Without Even Realizing It. (v. 44)

The fourth characteristic of hypocrisy is that hypocrites are spiritually dead without anyone realizing it, including themselves. Jesus adds in verse 44: “Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” The Pharisees were quite aware that any contact with a dead body made them unclean (Num 19:11-11), and they were the foremost in keeping this law. So even to walk on a gravesite would have disqualified them from worship. And Jesus knowing their sensitivities, compares their hypocrisy not merely to graves, but to unmarked graves. In other words, their hypocrisy through their teaching and lifestyle was leading people to their very death, without anyone realizing it.

And this is the impending danger of the hypocrite’s heart. He doesn’t realize he’s hypocritical at all. He is unteachable and refuses to recognize his own sinfulness. Sure, he can say he’s a sinner. But he refuses to listen to specific correction. And his words and actions are leading others down a deadly spiral of sin and pride and self-righteousness that can destroy friendships, churches, marriages, business partnerships, parent-child-sibling relationships, and of course, our relationship to God Himself. And according to Scripture, this person is on the road to destruction and loneliness as Proverbs reminds us: “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you” (Prov 9:8) and “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray” (Prov 10:17). Puritan Richard Baxter describes this person well:

As godly, humble men rightly amplify their sins in light of the greatness and excellency of God whom they offend; so the proud man foolishly amplifies every little wrong that is done to him, and every word that is said against him, and every supposed omission or neglect of him, because of the high estimation he has of himself. (Quoted from Lou Priolo, Pleasing People, 124)

Such a person would never be willing to admit his hypocrisy.

The Cure: The Gospel

But that is exactly what needs to be done, an admission of guilt and the hypocritical heart. So what is the cure for such a heart? Paul begins his letter to the Corinthian church with these words: “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together.” (1 Cor 1:2) In other words, we are being sanctified (being made holy because of Jesus’ work on the cross for sinners), and we are called to be holy together. Paul realizes that saints (Christians) are holy because Christ washed us clean by His blood (the Gospel). And yet, Paul exhorts us and pleads with us to ACT as though we are holy. Paul realizes that Christians do not always act as though they are Christians, which is every reason why we still need the Gospel to cure our hypocritical hearts. We won’t know how to show mercy to others when they fail us, until we realize that we too have been shown mercy while we were still sinners.

Hypocrites only want to look righteous and holy. They are deathly afraid that people will find out who they really are. And so they hide. They never have problems in their lives, in their marriages, in the parenting, in their struggles with anger, loneliness, depression, anxiety. And if they do, they never share it. Pastor Kent Hughes observes about hypocrites:

All of us inevitably communicate what we are. We can externally do all the right religious things, right down to tithing our basil and garlic off our pasta, but we will ultimately impart what is within. The people around us will see the artificiality, the affectedness, the elitism, the anger, the hostility, the hatred, the suspicion, the sourness, the inner blasphemies. We leave our fingerprints on each other’s souls, for Christ or for our unbelief. (Kent Hughes, Luke Vol. 2, 27)

There is no hiding our hypocrisy. And it can impact others for worse and it is there for all to see. And sadly, it’s like cream cheese on our chin after eating a bagel. Everyone else notices it except for me.

But Christians who long to be holy internally want to extend grace and mercy because they too have been shown such grace and mercy. They focus on all the things of God, trying hard to make sure that their love of God and love of others is holistic and balanced. They don’t focus on one area of holiness (like tithing, or going to Homegroup, or missions, or sharing the Gospel with your neighbor, or caring for the poor), but instead, strive to show grace to all, regardless of their spiritual state. If you’re quick to judge a person because they don’t share the same burden for the lost, or the poor, or the unreached around the world, because they don’t go to very church event, or are uninvolved in ministry, beware of the throes of hypocrisy.

You see, the Gospel allows us to see people, life, relationships, the church through God’s viewpoint. We do all of those good things because of God’s grace for us. The reality is for Christians who refrain from hypocrisy is that they believe that God loved us solely based on His grace and not on the basis of our works. Jesus died while we were still hypocrites. And the reality is, that as long as we live in a world of sin, where we continue to sin, there will always be some hypocrisy in our lives. But thanks be to God that we are forgiven and set free because God justifies us, declares us righteous, through the death of His Son Jesus Christ. So if our holy and perfect God should love me the hypocrite, shouldn’t I extend grace and mercy and do all that I can to live without hypocrisy? Next week, we’ll cover 6 more ways in which people are hypocritical, but thanks be to God that not even 10 characteristics of hypocrisy stopped God from forgiving us of that hypocrisy through the work of His Son, Jesus Christ!