Questions for GodSample

Why should I believe in God when so many Christians are hypocrites? 

If you’ve ever found yourself frustrated by the hypocrisy of some Christians, then you’re in good company. Jesus had zero patience for hypocrisy. Jesus was the first person to use the word hypocrite to call out someone who said one thing and did something different. Before that it was simply used to describe a play actor wearing a mask. 

As you’ll see in our reading today, Jesus did not hold back when it came to calling out hypocritical religious people. Jesus was incredibly direct with these people, because He understood the damage that was caused by hypocrisy. 

Few things make Christianity more unbelievable than people who say they believe in God, but don’t actually follow Jesus. 

So why should you believe in God when so many Christians are hypocrites? Because a bad Christian doesn’t disprove the truth of Christianity in the same way that a bad doctor doesn’t disprove the truth of medicine. 

Even more than that, there are good reasons to believe that God is real and that Christianity is true. Here are just a few: the existence of the universe, the fine-tuning of the universe to support life, human consciousness, morality, and historical evidence for the death and resurrection of Jesus. (If you’re interested in learning more, look up Dr. William Lane Craig.)

Two more questions we have to answer before moving on: 

What is the Church? The Church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners. Jesus made it clear in His teaching that He came to make sick sinners well. Jesus is the doctor, and we are His patients. This matters because Jesus never asked us to be perfect, but He is inviting us to make progress. When we understand this truth, we can take off the mask and stop pretending everything is okay. Instead, we can reject hypocrisy and choose to live with integrity—by being honest about where we are and doing our best to keep moving forward.

What does it mean to be a Christian? Believing in God doesn’t make you a Christian. Following Jesus does. There are a lot of different gods people believe in or claim to believe in. When Jesus called His disciples, He didn’t tell them to just believe in God. He told them to come and follow Him. Then Jesus issued a new command to His followers, to love one another the same way He has loved us. Jesus made it crystal clear, the world will know who He is by the way we love. 

So why should you believe in God when so many Christians are hypocrites? Because there are good reasons to believe in God, and because Jesus offers us something that the world can’t. He offers life, hope, peace, grace, love, and purpose. 

The good news is that Jesus didn’t come for the perfect people who had it all together, He came for broken and imperfect people like you and me.