Maybe you’ve been confused, hurt, disappointed, or disillusioned by followers of Jesus whose lives don’t look anything like His. If so, you’re not alone.
I’m convinced that many people have spiritual doubts, not because of Jesus, but because of His followers. Instead of showing us God as He really is—full of unconditional love, unending grace, and life-giving, liberating truth, some Christians make God seem narrow-minded, harsh, judgmental, and untrustworthy.
Turns out, Jesus didn’t like it when people claimed one thing and lived another.
He really didn’t like it.
What Did Jesus Say About Hypocrites?
When you look at the gospels, Jesus never spoke more harshly about anyone than He did those He called “hypocrites.” For instance, in Matthew 23, we find seven times when Jesus said “woe to you” to the Pharisees, the religious leaders claiming to live in holiness but who were actually very self-absorbed and self-glorifying men. Here’s one of the seven:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matthew 23:27-28 NIV
Jesus called them hypocrites. You’ll find the word “hypocrite” 17 times in the gospels. Every time, it’s Jesus who spoke the word. And every time, He used it to describe people who “do not practice what they preach ... everything they do is done for people to see” (Matthew 23:3, 5 NIV).
Examples of Christian Hypocrites
Instead of being known for love, as Jesus commanded, His followers are sometimes known for who they hate, what they are against, and being exclusive, hypercritical, and maybe even antagonistic. The kind of people who “do not practice what they preach.” For example:
- Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, but today people claiming to be His followers relentlessly attack their enemies on social media.
- Jesus taught that we are to be peacemakers, but Christians today scream hate-filled words at their protests and rallies.
- Jesus said that the one without sin could cast a stone, leading the people who wanted to punish a guilty woman to drop their weapons. Today, Christians quickly and easily pick up “stones” and throw them at the guilty and, sometimes, the innocent.
Tragically, instead of representing Jesus accurately, far too many people can name off a list of hypocritical Christians who make God look unappealing, if not repulsive.
Here are a few common examples:
- There’s the college girl who posts Bible verses nonstop on social media during the week, then parties hard all weekend.
- There’s the boss who talks about “keeping Jesus first” and then treats his employees with disrespect.
- There’s the father who shames his daughter for dressing immodestly but looks at porn when his family sleeps at night.
- There’s the politician who touts “godly values” but has no compassion for the “least of these”—the very people Jesus told us to serve and protect.
- And there’s the spiritual leader everyone admires until it comes out he hasn’t been living the life he claimed we should all be living.
Jesus Hates Hypocrisy
If you’ve been frustrated, turned off, or disgusted by Christians who say one thing and do another, Jesus is with you.
—Pastor Craig Groeschel
If you’ve been frustrated, turned off, or disgusted by Christians who say one thing and do another, Jesus is with you. The fact is, He condemned hypocrites. But many people today who claim to follow Him could be described as hypocrites. So, this raises a question: Why do so many Christians get it wrong?
Let me offer three reasons Christians can be hypocritical:
1. They’re Not Really Christians
First, some who claim Christ are not really Christians. These folks may be church members who carry a Bible and have a fish symbol on the bumper of their car. But they’ve never truly put their faith in Jesus or been forgiven or transformed by Him.
Sadly, there are many who claim Christ but do not know Him. And yes, there are people in positions of spiritual leadership who don’t know Him. These people are a big part of the reason why too many Christians are viewed as hypocrites, which distracts and diverts attention from what Jesus actually does in our lives.
2. They’re Just Baby Christians
I was far from God in college, but then I started reading the Bible and was drawn to Jesus. One day, I knelt and prayed, “God, if You’re there, show me. I will give You my life.” Following that simple salvation prayer, I sincerely felt God’s presence and knew everything was different.
Soon, I met with a good friend of mine, who was living at least as wild a life as I was. I told him, “I think I’ve decided I’m ‘religious.’” I would never say it that way today, but I was new to all this and didn’t know how to explain what was happening.
Unbeknownst to me, my friend had also just put his faith in Jesus and was trying to figure out how to tell me. I had no idea!
We were both so pumped at our mutual decision that we just had to celebrate the only way we knew how. We went out … and got wasted. Seriously. That’s what we did. We were brand-new followers of Jesus and didn’t know any better yet.
I’m sharing this story because some people who misrepresent Jesus are Christians (like me and my friend), but they’re still brand new or very young in their spiritual development. They’re described in Hebrews 5 as baby Christians.
So, why do some Christians do wrong things that confuse those who look at their lives and see them not representing Jesus? They are born of the kingdom of God, but they’re still immature and growing in their faith. They have not yet learned wrong from right and how to do what’s right.
3. We’re Imperfect, In-Process Christians
To be clear, that’s the rest of us. You and me. It’s no longer “them,” it’s “us.” We are all imperfect, in-process Christians.
When we mess up, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re hell-bound hypocrites. We genuinely love Jesus but, in a weak moment, we might tell a lie or speak harsh words. We may give in to temptation and betray someone. There is no excuse, and it’s heartbreaking, but that does not necessarily mean we don’t have real faith.
No matter how mature you are, you’re still vulnerable. And if you think you’re not, you are even more vulnerable. Pride often comes before a fall (see Proverbs 16:18).
All of that means we’re going to let each other down. While that’s a problem, I think there’s actually an even deeper problem.
Showing Grace to Hypocritical Christians
I wonder if we would be less shocked and offended by other people’s sins if we were a little more aware and honest about our own.
In Luke 6, Jesus said,
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Luke 6:41-42 NIV
Just like everyone else, and for the same kinds of reasons, we sin. When we do, God doesn’t say, in shock, “I can’t believe it. How could this happen?!” No, He doesn’t flinch.
He knows …
- We are weak.
- We give in to temptation.
- We give in to peer pressure.
- We take the easy way out.
- We slip up and say the wrong thing.
Unfortunately, when we sin, we often hurt people.
I hurt people. You hurt people. We all do, because we’re all imperfect.
We need to consider how often we excuse our own sins while exposing others’ flaws. If you’ve been offended by the sin of a Christian, perhaps your expectations were too high. Perhaps you were being judgmental. You forgot that person is flawed, just like you.
Grace Doesn’t Minimize Pain
I’m not minimizing that you have been hurt. Another person’s actions may have set you back, cost you a lot, robbed you of your innocence, or caused you deep pain. Betrayal sucks. People can be cruel. The pain can be excruciating. But at some point, you’ll realize God wants you to heal, move on, and get better.
I realize, if you’ve been mistreated, betrayed, or abused, it’s going to take a lot of praying, and maybe some counseling, and maybe some more praying and some introspection. It’s not easy, but at some point, for your sake, you’ve got to find the ability to forgive, heal, and let go.
Have You Experienced Church Hurt?
I understand the biggest complaint against the church may be that it’s full of narrow-minded, judgmental hypocrites. I don’t want that to be true, but the greatest hurts I have experienced personally have been from church-going, narrow-minded, judgmental hypocrites.
I want to say to you: If you’ve been hurt by the church or a hypocrite who goes to one, I am sorry. I’m sorry because church people do not always get it right.
- Some in the church say one thing and then do another.
- Some church leaders have abused their power.
- Some Christians can be arrogant, harsh, unkind, and unloving.
It is ugly. And that’s not Jesus. It does not honor God. There is no excuse, and I am sorry.
Sincerely. I am sorry someone claiming to be a Christian hurt you.
Full transparency: Even as a pastor, I sometimes lose my temper or slip into pride. I can be critical. I can focus more on being right than being loving. When I do, I hurt people, and I am sorry.
But can I just ask you … if you’ve been hurt by people and it led you to lose your faith in Jesus, is it possible your faith was in people when it should have been in Jesus?
Are you potentially struggling with your faith in Jesus, not because of Jesus, but because you put your faith in a fallible person, instead of putting your faith in our sinless Savior?
Jesus Will Never Let You Down
Can I encourage you to look to Jesus? He will never let you down. People will. Jesus won’t.
Read the gospels and look at His life. Not the hypocrites, not the people, just Jesus.
- Look at how He lived and loved.
- Look at how He confronted hypocrisy.
- Look at how He showed compassion for the least, the last, and the lost.
- Look at how He defended the abused and the oppressed, the widows and the poor.
- Look at how people who were turned off by religion were drawn to Jesus.
- Look at how people who were sinful or broken wanted to be around Him because He wanted to be around them.
You may think, Well, Craig, that’s easy for you to say. But it’s not.
My sister was sexually abused, for years, by a man who, the whole time, taught Sunday School at our church. That man never apologized and continued to claim he was a Christian his whole life. What did we do? Our family—led by my sister—decided to forgive him.
That was not easy. Choosing to forgive what felt unforgivable may have been one of the most difficult things our family has ever done. It was a Spirit-led journey that took a lot of years. It took counseling and praying. But ultimately, God helped us to heal.
We wrote him a letter explaining why we forgave him and shared the gospel with him.
Turns out, when he received it, he was literally on his deathbed. His hospice nurse read him our letter. We learned later that both he and the nurse were very moved and that the two of them prayed together.
Honestly, I don’t know what happened to him at that moment, but I do know what happened to our family. My sister, by the grace of God, let it go. We were not going to let his hypocrisy keep us from living in the grace and forgiveness of Jesus.
And we were not going to let the pain he caused keep us from living in the joy of the Holy Spirit.
I know it’s not easy. But if you’ve been hurt by someone who claimed to be a Christian, ask God to help you forgive, and look to Jesus.
Trust in Him.
Rest in Him.
Put your whole faith in Him.
Jesus will never let you down.
Doubt is an important part of deepening your faith, but that doesn’t make it an easy process to walk through. If you’re wrestling with spiritual doubts, The Benefit of Doubt: How Confronting Your Deepest Questions Can Lead to a Richer Faith, along with God’s transformative power, can help you develop a richer faith, a deeper understanding, and a more authentic relationship with God. Find additional tools for facing doubt here, or keep exploring these free doubt resources.