Potsherd (Part 2 of 4) - Hypocrisy
Has your walk with the LORD become gilded?
Gilded- having a pleasing or showy appearance that conceals something of little worth. Based on pretense, deceptively pleasing
1 of 4 link Deception
Proverbs 26:23 KJV
Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.
Burning Lips; fervent lips in some translations
Potsherd- broken earthen vessel; broken piece of pottery
Dross- impurities, waste, worthless matter, scum or from the melting process of metals
Likened to a piece of pottery covered with silver to mask the brokenness and impurities by which it is truly covered.
Part 2 -Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy- pretense of piety, insincerity; a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue; a pretender: pretending, masquerading, and acting like something you are not. It’s being two-faced, putting on a show. Hypocrisy and deception go hand in hand and it is an act that always displeases God.
In Matthew 23 Jesus confronts the scribes and Pharisees for a number of things;
- Placing heavy yokes upon the people with all their rules and regulations that they themselves did not adhere to in contrast to Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
- Preying on widows but, take note God is a defender of widows
- Evangelizing that resulted in converts twice as bad from following in the Pharisee footsteps
- Blind guides leading the people away from Christ instead of to Him
- Gave tithes and offering but, neglected “weightier matters”- justice, mercy, and faith
- Self-righteous and extorting the people
- Outwardly religious, holy and righteous yet inwardly dead, unclean, hypocrites, lawless
- Honored the prophets and righteous ones who were dead, yet were the very ones who would persecute his disciples
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
The religious leaders were exalting themselves and using religion to appear righteous, when in fact they were not. James 1:27 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. They most certainly did not practice what they preached. They were merely pretending to be holy and uphold the word of God holding to a form of godliness in appearance but, rejected Jesus. They were not friends of Jesus but, were instead enemies who constantly were looking for ways to trap Jesus in his teaching and went out of their way to block others from receiving the truth. They placed heavy burdens on the people obsessing over rules and regulations which they themselves did not keep. Their legalistic teaching, pride, self-righteousness, and wickedness caused their converts to follow in the same footsteps and end up worse off than before and twice as bad as the Pharisees themselves. In their self-righteousness they believed nothing was wrong with them and, repentance was not necessary in their eyes only keeping the Law of Moses. The people were deceived into thinking external was more important than internal. Full of pride, they were supposed to guide the people but, themselves were blind guides who were so wrapped up in themselves they couldn’t see that Jesus, the very one who the scripture was pointing to was right in front of them. Indeed they had a position of authority (they sat in Moses’s seat) , looked the part, knew the law like no other however, Jesus (knowing their hearts) calls them out. They were hypocrites.
We’ve likely all heard the saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” That is what Jesus tells the people regarding the religious leaders. Jesus did not condemn the law (the Law of Moses) which was put into place but, rather He told them to do as they say however, do not do what they do. Hypocrisy pushes people away from Christ instead of drawing them to Him. Don't under estimate or ignore the "Woe". Jesus was warning the people then and us today not to be like the hypocrites.
Not one of us is able to keep the law perfectly. We are under grace because of Christ not law. We cannot work our way into the kingdom. Remember, Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. God indeed has standards laid out in the word of God however, they do not place a heavy burden upon us. 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
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