It would make a great idea for a Country-Western song: "When your lips are one place, but your heart is somewhere else." If someone has a steel guitar or a fiddle, maybe we can work on the lyrics after the service. "When your lips are one place, but your heart is somewhere else." Jesus doesn't claim the title as his own; he attributes it to the prophet Isaiah. "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites," said Jesus to the Pharisees. "As it is written: "˜These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.'" (NIV)
I hope you understand that the Pharisees were really not as bad as they are sometimes portrayed in the New Testament. Sure, Jesus had controversies with them. They were the keepers of the religion of their day. Like all bureaucrats they were wed to the status quo. They didn't like change any more than we like change. In fact, if Jesus were to come today, he would have just as many problems with the leaders of most contemporary churches, maybe even in our own. He could easily pick out flaws in the way we do business. It's not rare in any human institution or in any human life for the lips to be one place and the heart somewhere else.
Some of you may be avid listeners to Dr. Laura Schlessinger's radio program. Dr. Laura is a popular radio psychologist who is appalled by the culture of moral relativism that has pervaded our society. In her book, How Could You Do That?!, Dr. Laura tells of a call from a young woman who was living with her fiancee. The young woman's future mother-in-law was insisting that the woman and her son move closer to her home. What was the problem with that? The young woman claimed to be an Orthodox Jew, and she complained that if she moved closer to her future mother-in-law's home, then she would be too far away from the synagogue. Instead of walking to Sabbath services, she would then have to drive, which would be breaking the Sabbath law. Dr. Laura couldn't get the young woman to understand the inconsistency between observing one tenet of her faith--honoring the Sabbath--but not caring if she violated another--the prohibition against living with her fiancee out of wedlock. It's not unusual for people to espouse one thing and to do something entirely different. (1)
Its like a story Clarence Jordan once told. Jordan saw hypocrisy at work at an early age. His father was a prosperous banker and merchant in a small Georgia town. They lived within one hundred yards of the Talbot County jail.
One hot summer night during a revival meeting, Jordan noted how carried away the warden of the jail's chain gang became while singing,"Love Lifted Me." He was inspired at how deeply the prevailing spiritual atmosphere had impacted this man. Later that same night, however, Jordan was awakened by agonizing groans coming from the direction of the chain gang camp. He knew what was happening; he had heard these sounds before. Someone had been placed into the "stretcher" and was being tortured. He also knew only one person could be responsible for inflicting such torture--the same man who had been singing "Love Lifted Me" with great emotion and conviction only hours before. The realization tore at Jordan's heart. He identified with the man who was in agony and, as a result, became angry with the church as he understood it. Jordan didn't reject his faith or launch a protest, however. He stuffed his anger deep inside until such time as he could make a difference, which he certainly did in writing the Cotton Patch versions of the New Testament and in founding Koinonia Farm. (2)
You and I can relate to Jordan's anger. So can Jesus. IN FACT, TO JESUS, NO ONE WAS MORE REPULSIVE THAN THE PERSON WHO LOVES RELIGION BUT HATES PEOPLE.
And we all know that happens sometimes. Religion is the perfect place to hide a heart filled with hatred and resentment. You can look so pious when you sing and when you pray, that people watching you are convinced that all is well with your soul. You can even delude yourself. Memorize some scripture, serve on the church board, have a pin for perfect attendance in Sunday School, and pretty soon you've convinced yourself that your heart is right--even if it is not.
Country music star Willie Nelson loves to tell the story of an image of Jesus that appeared in 1987 on the wall of a town in South America. Tabloid magazines reported the story. People from surrounding towns gathered to pray in front of the image; some reported healing from disease. And then came the second "miracle": after a heavy rainfall, another face appeared on the wall, that of Julio Iglesias. The people had been praying in front of an old poster, covered over in whitewash, advertising a duet between Julio and Willie Nelson. A few days later, the tabloids ran a new headline, "That's not Jesus--it's just old Willie." (3)
People who use religion to whitewash their hearts discover that when the rain of adversity comes, the whitewash fades and people see that it wasn't Jesus after all. It was just old Willie. Religion is the perfect place to hide a heart filled with hate, with doubt, with bitterness. EVEN WORSE,
RELIGION IS THE PERFECT WEAPON TO USE AGAINST THOSE WE DESPISE, THOSE WE FEAR, THOSE WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND.
The December 1998 issue of Life magazine carried a full page picture of a group of about a dozen protestors. These people with twisted and angry faces were not protesting at the White House or in front of a military base. They were protesting at a funeral. One of them holds a sign which reads in big letters: "FREEDOM OF CHOICE IS THE RIGHT TO HATE." They were protesting at the October 16, 1998 funeral of Matthew Shephard, the 21 year old gay student beaten to death and hanged cross-like on a fence in Laramie, Wyoming. After such a terrible crime, could they not at least allow Matthew's family and friends to mourn in peace?
I wonder if the people protesting at Matthew Shephard's funeral consider themselves Christians. If so, I wonder how they justify their hatred--regardless of how they might have felt about Shephard's lifestyle. Even on the cross, Jesus forgave his enemies. How could they possibly justify hatred in his name? But that's what happens when your lips are one place and your heart is somewhere else. You use religion to mask a heart filled with evil. You use religion as a weapon against those whom you despise.
THE WORD JESUS USED IS HYPOCRITE. The word hypocrite was used in the theater to mean "one acting a part." In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus cries "Hypocrite!" in three broad situations: 1) when someone's actions are designed solely to impress others; 2) when someone is too focused on the trappings, on the outer rituals of religion, but does not have the right attitude; 3) when someone has impure motives, and covers up those inauthentic motives with lots of religious talk. (4)
I suppose if the truth were known, most of us are hypocrites to one degree or another. All of us believe in a higher ethic than we actually live out. That is part and parcel of the human condition. We know that we should love more, serve more, believe more. But we are imperfect vessels.
To a certain extent we are like Ollie Trolinger. Ollie was a lady in distress. She was going through the motions at church. Her husband's health was failing. Money was tight. Ollie felt herself giving up hope. But she forgot her self-pity when she caught sight of Anne Lawson approaching. Anne was suffering with a terminal illness. Anne was dying. Maybe that's why Anne didn't mince words when she asked Ollie for a favor. Anne knew the pressures Ollie and her husband were enduring. Anne wanted her young daughters to know that it was possible to endure hardship with faith. And thus she asked Ollie for this favor. Would Ollie make a special effort to get to know Anne's daughters and provide them with a good example? Although Ollie was secretly dealing with her own despair and lack of faith, she agreed to the favor.
Not long afterwards, Ollie's resolve was put to the test. She was offered a job at a local school, if she would pay a bribe to the school board. Although Ollie desperately needed that job, she refused to pay the bribe. After all, what would Anne's children think if they knew she had been so underhanded? The school board, impressed by her integrity, hired Ollie anyway. For many years afterwards, Ollie used one standard by which to judge all her attitudes and actions: what would Anne's children think? When she was tempted to give up, or to go against her principles, or to do anything less than her personal best, she asked herself this question, what would Anne's children think? She had promised to be an example to Anne's children, and that promise helped to guide her life. Years later, after Anne's girls had grown into fine, young women, Ollie reflected on Anne's favor. She realized that the Lawson girls had plenty of good influences around them growing up. Anne had not really needed Ollie's example. Instead, she had asked this favor for Ollie's sake. (5)
Do you see what Anne did for Ollie? Ollie was forced to put on a mask for Anne's daughters. She was pretending she had more faith, more character, more determination than she really felt. But underneath that mask she was growing into the person she wanted them to think she was. Sales people often put it this way: Fake it until you make it. In other words, act successful and eventually you will be successful. If you think that is not a very spiritual principle, remember that John Wesley told his followers to act as if they had faith until they really did--not as an attempt at deception, but as a commitment of the will with the knowledge that the heart would soon follow after. That's what you do when your lips are one place and your heart is another. You commit your will. You pray, Lord, I know I am not all I should be, but I know you can help me bring my lips and my heart into perfect alignment. That is one prayer Christ is sure to answer.
But there is one thing more we need to see: WHEN THE LOVE WE HAVE ON OUR LIPS MATCHES THE LOVE WE HAVE IN OUR HEARTS, THE ENTIRE WORLD IS BLESSED.
The year was 1970. A young hippie couple showed up on the steps of a small country church and asked the pastor to marry them. The pastor, hoping to put the young couple off, insisted that they attend church that Sunday. That Sunday, the young couple showed up. When the members of the congregation realized what was happening, they organized a wedding luncheon for the young couple. Everyone had a wonderful time.
Fast forward twenty-five years. A middle-aged couple shows up on the steps of a small country church. They tell the pastor that they were married there twenty-five years ago. At the time, they were a poor, hippie couple, strung out on drugs and alcohol. Imagine their surprise when the folks in this conservative little church threw them a party for their wedding! The first decade of their marriage had been rocky. They were searching for some meaning in their lives. Then they remembered the love and acceptance they found in that little country church. So they began attending a church. Not long afterwards, they became Christians and cleaned up their lives. Now they wanted to return to the small country church to thank the folks who had made a difference in their lives. (6)
Grace breaks out in the strangest places, doesn't it? This story could have had a radically different ending had these church people used their religion to shut this young couple out. They could even have used their religion as a bludgeon in such a situation. And, without a doubt, there were probably some members who had to grit their teeth and show this young couple more love and acceptance than they really felt, but what a pay-off. Two young people were won to Christ. Are your lips and your heart in alignment this day? It is a very sad Christian whose lips are one place while his heart is somewhere else.
1. Schlessinger, Dr. Laura. HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?! (New York: HarperPerennial, 1996), pp. 186-187.
2. BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES: HOW YOUR FAMILY CAN WITHSTAND THE CHALLENGES OF TODAY'S CULTURE by Dr. William Mitchell and Michael A. Mitchell, Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, 1997, p. 193.
3. TWANG! THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF COUNTRY MUSIC QUOTATIONS, compiled by Raymond Obstfeld and Sheila Burgener (New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1997), p. 152.
4. Richards, Lawrence O. THE 365-DAY DEVOTIONAL COMMENTARY (Colorado Springs, Colo.: ChariotVictor Publishing, 1990), p. 645.
5. "A Favor for Anne" by Ollie A. Trolinger, MORE STORIES FROM GUIDEPOSTS: FRIENDSHIP AT ITS BEST (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 1991), pp. 275-277.
6. Josh McDowell and Norm Geisler. LOVE IS ALWAYS RIGHT (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1996), pp. 9-11.