You're in a conversation and someone says, “The Church is just full of hypocrites!" What would you say? Have you ever met someone who claims to be a Christian, but doesn’t act like it? Maybe they are even outspoken about what the Bible says, or why a particular point of Christianity is true… but their lives contradict the way Christians are called to live. This sort of religious hypocrisy is damaging to the church and hurts people. And Jesus hates it too. So the next time someone says, “I don’t go to church because the church is full of hypocrites,” here are 3 things to remember: Number 1: Hypocrisy requires a moral standard. A concept like hypocrisy requires a standard of morality or moral conduct with which a person generally agrees, but fails to act accordingly. Every person has some kind of standard by which they make moral judgments. We use these moral standards, even if they are inconsistent or not fully thought out, to guide our everyday actions and thoughts. When our actions contradict the moral standard to which we profess, we act hypocritically. In other words, hypocrisy requires a moral standard. Christians have a clearly defined moral standard, which is found in the very nature of God and revealed in His Word. Our standard is God’s own perfect goodness. And that brings up number 2. Number 2: Jesus condemned religious hypocrisy. We can agree with someone who believes that religious hypocrisy is prevalent. After all, Jesus often called out the double-mindedness of the religious leaders in his time, too. He warned against religious hypocrisy and called out religious leaders for their failure to live up to the truths they profess: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye,” said Jesus “and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?...You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye…” (Matthew 7). Jesus also warned that hypocrisy defiles a person and is utterly detestable to God. Number 3: The behaviors of the believers are not the litmus test for Christianity. Finally, whether or not Christianity is objectively true does not rise and fall on the subjective experiences of human beings. Ultimately, aside from the behaviors of Christ’s followers, there are facts about the nature of God, origin of man, and nature of reality that either match or don’t match the way the world is. These facts are not affected by any person’s experience of the Church. When I go to the doctor’s office, for example, whether or not the doctor has a kind bedside manner does not change the facts of the test results that he shares with me. The facts stay the same. But, it’s worth noting that a lack of kindness and care can initiate skepticism about the information. Paul the Apostle said that if we have knowledge but don’t speak it in love, we come across as an annoyance to the world. And Jesus actually prayed for us that we would reflect the profound reality of God’s sacrificial love for humankind. When we fail to fulfill those teachings, it prompts skepticism about our message of unconditional love. However, through this objection, we have a unique opportunity to say, “Yes, the church is full of hypocrites. That’s actually one of the reasons why Christ offers forgiveness and salvation, because none of us are thoroughly good.” Rather, we all live in the tension of the goodness of God’s redemption and the destructiveness of our sin nature. So the next time someone says, “I don’t go to church because the church is full of hypocrites,” remember these 3 things: Number 1: Hypocrisy requires a moral standard. Number 2: Jesus condemned religious hypocrisy. Number 3: The behaviors of the believers are not the litmus test for Christianity.