Be a Hypocrite

This week's message at church was how we as Christians need to be hypocrites. Seriously.

The passage was from Ephesians 5:
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

The point made was this. The origin of the word hypocrite used in Ephesians comes from Greek plays. The actors would take on the look and the attributes of another. This was done without pretense. That is to say they never claimed to be the person they were acted as. As Christians we are to imitate God, but never claim to be Him.

Clearly, I am not God, but that doesn't mean I can't take on His attributes. It doesn't mean that even as a broken sinful person I can't be patient, kind, and forgiving. And it doesn't mean that being patient, kind, and forgiving makes me God. Under the facade I am still a broken person. But therein lies the good news!

I am broken, and yet I am being made into a new creation. I am fallen and sinful and selfish, yet I have learned and continue to learn how to care for others more than myself, how to care for others instead of myself. The good news of the Scriptures is that all of us are imperfect, but that God has redeemed us and is molding us into perfection.

I am not better than the person who sees the veneer, who sees in me the attributes of God. I was just shown where the mask and cape were first. But there is another mask, there is another cape, there is another opportunity to be changed from who we are into who we were meant to be.

The hypocrisy we see in the Church is that as we put on the attributes of God, we think that it makes us holy, that it makes us better than those without. Remember, we have these treasures in jars of clay. We aren't the main attraction. We are just the vessels showing the love and forgiveness of God to others.

So then why can't "anyone' just pick up the attributes of God, or the attributes of Mohamed, or Buddha, or just be a good person?

 The answer lies in the first chapter of Ephesians:

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace ⁸that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

¹¹In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹²in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that ensures me that I am being made into a new creation that will, one day, be perfected. It is the Holy Spirit that enables me to live a life of patience, kindness, and forgiveness. Remember, I am broken. I need God to make me more than I am.

--Jesse "Gonzo" Letourneau

Serving Him alongside all of you, just from further away.