A man may cry Church! Church! at ev’ry word,
With no more piety than other people—
A crow’s not reckoned a religious bird
Because it keeps a-cawing from a steeple.

—Thomas Hood

I’m thinking of a minister I once knew. Loved by his congregation. Respected by his peers. Powerful in the pulpit. Leading a growing, dynamic church. He was so together. He was always fine. Even his hair was perfect. Only it turns out he was systematically stealing from the church treasury to cover a growing gambling debt. The man everyone saw on Sunday mornings was very different from the man who called his bookie on Saturday afternoons and fixed the books on Sunday nights.

I’m thinking of a man I knew who played a prominent role among churches in a northwest city. A generous donor to worthy causes. A great defender of conservative values. When he talked, people listened. He was always fine, too. Except he wasn’t. Turns out he’d carried on an affair with his daughter-in-law for almost 20 years. All the time he was writing big checks and speaking with such fervent certainty, he was involved in a sin so heinous it eventually destroyed his family.

I’m thinking about a friend of mine. Raised in a Christian home. Married to a good woman. Faithful attender of the church I served. We ate breakfast once a week as part of an accountability group. He was always fine. Fine, fine, fine. Until the morning he told me his business was bust and he was declaring bankruptcy. Fine, fine, fine. Until he confessed that his marriage was bust and he’d found another woman. Fine, fine, fine. Until the Sunday I preached on the resurrection of Jesus and he decided his faith was bust and left.

The Lies We Tell

Week after week, in churches all over the world, people claiming to follow Jesus congregate to worship God and lie to each other. We dress so prettily. We have such polite conversations in the foyer. We come across as successful and sincere and fine. But we’re not fine. There are holes in our hulls and wounds in our hearts. We shiver through winter seasons of the soul. There are times of temptation and struggle and doubt.

The question is: Can we be honest about that?

Everybody struggles. Everyone is tempted and ashamed. Christians aren’t exempt from that. We don’t get a free pass on failure with our baptismal certificates. It’s how we handle the presence of failure that distinguishes the genuine follower from pretenders and from the world.

Genuine followers are willing to admit the struggle and take the risk of honesty. We can confess failure—even massive failure—in confidence that telling the truth always sets us free, whereas hiding the truth always enslaves. Nothing erodes disciples quite like sins hidden and denied. Nothing matures disciples quite like sins confessed and forgiven.

But that requires a courage many of us lack. We can’t talk about our failings. We can’t acknowledge them. We can’t “come clean” about them. What would that say about us . . . claiming to be good Christians and falling apart like sinners? Instead, we choose the path of pretense. We opt for hypocrisy.

There are those, of course, who contend that all Christians are hypocrites—as if anyone who tries to be better than he really is, is guilty of this sin. But the problem of hypocrisy isn’t trying to be better. It’s pretending to be better. Hypocrisy is the denial of struggle, the hiding of failure, the pretense that somehow—in Christ—we’ve risen above the dust and dirt of the fray.

Coming Clean

When Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” he’s not blessing the morally perfected or those whose lives are all neat and tidy. He’s blessing the relentlessly honest. He’s blessing those who are genuine, who feel no need to hide, who have a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get life. He’s blessing the kind of living that is transparent, undiluted, without pretense or false motives or hidden places.

Only that kind of life is trustable. Only Christians living that kind of life can make a difference in the world. For while we might fool each other with our hypocrisies, we cannot fool the world. They don’t buy it for a minute. People “out there” see right through our “fines.” They hear our denials as dishonesty. They think we can’t even face the truth about ourselves and wonder why they should listen when we try to share the truth about Jesus.

Hypocrisy destroys our witness
. . . honesty enhances it. Hypocrisy undermines our credibility . . . honesty augments it. Hypocrisy closes the conversational door . . . honesty opens it.

Want to change the world? Tell the truth about yourself. You’ll be amazed by how the world sits up and takes notice. |L

Dr. Tim Woodroof is senior minister of Otter Creek Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee.

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells