Hurtful or helpful?

One of the complaints I frequently hear from unbelievers when talking to them about the Gospel is that they don't want to be part of the Church because it's full of hypocrites.  Why do people feel this way?  I think it's because there's some truth to their claim.

At one time or another in our lives, we all have probably acted in a hypocritical manner. To me, it seems to be our human nature that desires to present the outward appearance that we're living godly lives, even when we know we aren't.  A popular adage in the secular world is "fake it `til you make it".  Human nature or not, when it comes to living the Christian life, this behavior is hypocritical and the Bible clearly teaches us that this is wrong.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.
Matthew 23:27

In this verse, Jesus was addressing the religious leaders of Israel. During his ministry, he was rarely harsh with people that he encountered. But the Bible tells us that God judges teachers of the Word more strictly. That seems to be what Jesus was doing here. He was criticizing the teachers of Israel for not practicing what they preach.

Back to my main point, I remember a Christian that I used to work with about twenty years ago. He was the brother of a pastor and went to church twice or more each week. He felt compelled to invite people to his brother's church.  One day, he yelled at me for claiming to be a Christian but not acting like one.  He was right, of course.  At that time I was a back-sliding Christian and like everyone else working around me, I fell into the practice of swearing and telling inappropriate jokes.  This man had a bad temper, even to the point of being violent at times. As it turns out, he was hiding greater sin than that. A short time after this yelling incident, I learned that he was convicted of statutory rape. Apparently, he had been sleeping with his under-aged niece.

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Matthew 7:3 

I think this verse makes it clear that it's not our place to correct the sins of others before dealing with our own sin.  If you want to do good works for Jesus, first repent from your own sins. Then you can help your brothers and sisters in Christ to remove the speck that's in their eye.

By the way, I like to tell unbelievers who complain of hypocrisy, that I agree that hypocrisy is wrong but they should not consider those hypocrites as being a model of Christianity.  I point out that only Jesus Christ is qualified to be that role model and if they want to know what it means to live a Christian life, they should look to Jesus.

Let me end with this. If you don't have control of your temper, I'd like to urge you to ask God for help. I believe that any time you discuss the gospel with people and the person you're talking to becomes angry, then the conversation is over. When this happens, you may have done more damage than good to the Church and in that person's life. Of course, you should always speak the gospel truth but only in the spirit of grace.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 ESV 

God bless, Daniel