The top reason unchurched people say they want nothing to do with the church is because “The church is full of hypocrites!” That’s not one of the top reasons, the is the top reason. That’s one of the main reasons I’ve always been so committed to leaders who are committed to their own personal ongoing spiritual development – those engaged in prayer and Bible reading tend to leave hypocrisy behind. This morning I got caught up with Acts 5:1–11, the account about Annas and Sapphira, two church members of First Church of Jerusalem, and how God views hypocrisy.
Their story really begins in 4:36–37 when Barnabas sells a field and donates all the proceeds to the church. Apparently his gift was well known (someone probably printed a Thank You in the church newsletter or something 🙂 ) and Annas and Sapphira were envious of the attention he got and the reputation he had.
So Annas and Sapphira sold a piece of property and instead of giving the whole purchase price, they gave a portion. THAT wasn’t the problem as Peter said later; they could have given all of it, none of it, or anything in between. What wasn’t okay, though, was giving a portion of the proceeds but telling everyone that they’d donated it all. They wanted the accolades and were willing to shade the truth (a politically correct way of saying “they lied”) in order to look better in the eyes of their friends. Their actions demonstrate the height of hypocrisy.
But God isn’t terribly tolerant of hypocrites and both of them were struck down and they died. “Great fear seized the whole church” (5:11) and “No one else dared join them … nevertheless, more and more people believed and the Lord added to their numbers” (5:13–14). When the church deals with hypocrites appropriately, the public takes notice.
As hard as the early church was on hypocrites, I just have to wonder how it is that today’s church is so tolerant of hypocrisy. Folks like Annas and Sapphira hurt the church, the reputation of the church, and Christianity itself. They tend to engage in intentional deceit and seem to think that it’s normal behavior for a “Christian” to stir up trouble with constant complaints and negativity, character assassination, gossip, and undermining the decisions church leadership makes. As bad as all that is, though, what’s worse than someone who is a hypocrite is that the church tolerates such behavior – and there is no room for doubt that this kind of behavior hurts the local church. After working with several thousand church leaders and hundreds of churches over the past 15 years, I can say with sad confidence that this behavior is a core contributor to the decline and even the closing of churches from coast to coast. But the reality is that most church members and leaders are uncomfortable confronting the Annas’ and Sapphira’s of their congregations. But God was willing to “take them out.” For the sake of the kingdom we should at least be willing to confront those who are cutting the heart out of the church.
“Gertrude, that kind of talk isn’t welcome here.”
“Ebenezer, it’s not okay to behave like that.”
“Stephanos, let me stop you. If you’re unhappy with the way things are, then you need to go talk to _____ about that, not complain to me.”
You may not be able to change the person – that’s between them and God – but together we could make a start at mitigating the damage the Annas’ and Sapphira’s are doing to the church.
What kind of response will you make the next time someone engages in hypocrisy?
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