Hypocrites

On Thursday March 18th, I was the speaker at Nexus, our large group meeting. The topic was "Religious Hypocrisy" based on the "seven woes" scripture in Matthew 23. In the passage, Jesus calls out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. The central point of my sermon was that we are ALL hypocrites, and there are three main ways we are. 1) We say we follow Jesus, but our actions disprove it. 2) We primarily focus on rules/behavior, not the heart. 3) We put on a mask or front in order to hide from people.

Here is a video clip from the talk. It is about 2 minutes long. (I apologize for how dark it is. Lighting wasn't my job that night)


During small group sharing time, many students acknowledged ways that they had been being hypocrites. Here is what a couple had to say...

Kayla (junior) - "I realized that I was being a hypocrite , because I had been not being honest with myself. I was trying to put up a mask by convincing myself that I wasn't struggling with some things, but I really was. Now, I'm starting to deal with those issues."



Spencer (freshman) - "I was pushed to look deeper into myself and see that I am living a life like that of the Pharisees in Matthew 23. My attention was drawn to how much I tend to clean the outside of "the cup and dish" and neglect to clean "the inside". Instead of worrying just about my outward appearance, I need to keep my focus on what glorifies God and keeps my heart pure."