Building On The RockSample

Putting on a Show

In 1967 the Queen Mary sailed into the harbor at Long Beach, California, to be refurbished as a maritime museum and hotel. The ship was famous for its three funnels that stood proudly above the decks. As part of the work, the funnels were removed; however, as they were removed large parts of them collapsed. The many layers of paint turned out to be thicker than the metal that had given way to rust. The three funnels had looked good, but they had no substance. When we see that in people, we call it hypocrisy.

Jesus was born and raised as a Jew in a Jewish culture, a culture in which it was cool to be religious, and to be religious was to be ‘righteous,’ to do the right things. Jesus knew that kind of righteousness could easily lead to hypocrisy. In Jewish culture there were three great pillars— giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting. To do these things was to be admired, so Jesus points a finger at each of these and says, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).

We may not live in a monolithic religious culture as these early Jews did; however, we may have fellow-Christians at church who expect us to behave in certain ways, and we may have non-Christians at work or in our neighborhood who have different expectations. And this poses a question: Do you act or talk differently when you are with different people in order to create different impressions? 

We need to be aware of the danger of letting our audience determine the characters we play. Our text says, “Be careful”; another version says “Beware.” I challenge you to go through the next week with an awareness of your behavior before different people. Do you change your behavior to make a different impression? Do you go so far as to assume a different character? May the Lord preserve us from hypocrisy. May He keep us from depending on the paint and not the structure under it.

Prayer: Father, please make me aware of any hypocrisy in my life. Call me up short when I am tempted to act a part. Keep my heart close to You. Keep my motives pure, and help me to behave with integrity.