As a general rule, young Amsterdammers are independent thinkers, fiercely committed to fair trade, generally ideologically opposed to "globalization," and by most all accounts quite liberal.  Yes, I'm trucking in stereotypes a bit here -- but I think most would agree that Dutch young people are generally the type of people who would show up wherever the G8 Summit might be taking place and protest the "Evil Capitalist Elite."  You know the type that I'm talking about, don't you?  They are politically active, they think green, and they are almost categorically against any sense of "The Man."

So I think it's ironic -- and a little bit funny -- that young Amsterdammers also seem to be crazy about Starbucks.

I find it ironic because Starbucks seems to epitomize globalization (with hundreds of franchise locations around the world -- and an almost inescapable corporate presence in so many cities)... they seem to serve as something of a poster child for American Capitalism (with large amounts of liquid being sold at hefty prices)... and -- while they do seem to be more committed to social responsibility and ethical business practices than many other world-wide businesses -- everyone still knows (deep down, though they don't always like to admit it) that Starbucks is the personification of the "evil mega-corporation" that could very well serve as the front for Dr. Evil's quest for world domination.

I don't know why it's taken Starbucks this long to make any significant inroads within the Netherlands (rumors abound on this subject) -- but a couple of years ago, a Starbucks appeared on the inside ("for passengers only") part of Schiphol Airport.  A year later, a Starbucks popped up outside of the gated area, where anyone could access the establishment (presumably while picking someone up or dropping someone off).  And now, within the last couple of months, Starbucks seems to have struck a deal with the Dutch National Railroad, putting Starbucks stores within several of the main train stations throughout the country (including Amsterdam Centraal Station).  And now, there are long lines of young Amsterdammers lining up to spend their €6 for a small cup of espresso-based beverage... while still holding fiercely to their anti-global, anti-corporate, anti-American sentiments.

Doesn't this seem ironic and incongruent to anyone else?

I don't understand it.  I don't condemn any position on the spectrum, given that I, too, don't want to have anything to do with promoting slavery or injustice in the developing world -- but I do enjoy a good Caramel Macchiato whenever I can get one. :-)  But I am fascinated by the apparent contradiction and subtle hypocrisy that creeps into the picture in situations like this.  How does Starbucks do it?  I think they have to be geniuses!  They trade with the best of the mega-corporations on Wall Street, but they simultaneously find friends among the protesters and progressives in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.  How do they do it?  They're geniuses, I'm telling you.  Either that, or we're all dupes...

I hope that I've demonstrated, through the past week's series on Hypocrisy, that we've all got a lot to think about when it comes to confronting this issue of hypocrisy.  It's persistent, pervasive, and often so deeply embedded that it's practically invisible at times.  It may be helpful to have other trusted friends assist in the process of uncovering the hypocrisy in our lives (granted the fact that we can have such a hard time seeing it in our own lives) -- yet I still believe that it's ultimately an issue that has to start with each one of us examining his or her own life.  As I said in my introduction to the series, we're all recovering hypocrites -- and recovery is a life-long process that starts when we stop pointing fingers at others and turn our examination inwards.

Perhaps you already picked up on this refrain from my previous posts about five of the major outworkings of hypocrisy in our lives, but the ultimate answer to hypocrisy is repentance.

When Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about the issue of hypocrisy, people immediately tried to make sense of current events in the light of Jesus' teaching.  In Luke 13:1-4 Jesus was confronted with some of the "headlines" in the news about terrible disasters that had happened in Galilee and Jerusalem -- with the people basically wondering if the people who had encountered tragedy and death were the ones who were
the most evil (such that God was paying them back for their sins).  But
Jesus emphatically replied:  No, we all make mistakes sometimes.  We all need to repent.  He said, "You will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God... No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too."  Repentence is a process that needs to be taken seriously.

But repentence doesn’t have to be viewed as a negative process.  In fact, it can be one of the most liberating experiences of your life.  Acts 3:19 frames this call to repentence in especially beautiful words:  "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."  It's not just rhetoric either; I can personally attest to the refreshing benefits of repentence.

For each area of our life, repentence looks slightly differently:

  Repentence in the area of factional hypocrisy basically comes down to fearing God instead of fearing people...

   Repentence in the area of financial hypocrisy comes down to focusing on a rich relationship with God, depending on Him (instead of our financial resources) for our every need.

  Repentence in areas of reputational hypocrisy centers on finding one's identity in Jesus instead of in external circumstances or cultural codes.

  Repentence in the area of religious hypocrisy comes down to actively pursuing honesty and transparency.

  And repentence in the area of knowledge-based hypocrisy starts with relying on the Holy Spirit over and above any conventional wisdom or education.

But these aren't the only areas of our life in which hypocrisy can come to roost.  I focused on these five areas because they are the most directly addressed in the middle chapters of Luke (which served as the base text for this study on hypocrisy).   But I can certainly think of other areas -- also addressed in the Bible -- which also need to be examined, if one is trying to root out all kinds of hypocrisy.  Sexual hypocrisy seems to be one of the most obvious (John 8:1-11 and Matthew 5:27-30 provide some great food for thought, if you wanted to study out this subject further).  Other potential areas of hypocrisy to be examined might include our relationships, our child-rearing, and our consumption habits.  And that is by no means an exhaustive list!

In everything, though, we just need to remember to be constantly vigilant against hypocrisy (examining our own lives!) and we need to remember to repent.  That's the end analysis of this series.  I hope you've enjoyed it.  If you have any further thoughts, please feel free to interact through the comments.

So I'm coming to the end of my little blog series on the dangers of hypocrisy.  And today I'd like to address the fifth and final major area of our lives in which hypocrisy likes to roost:  our attitudes toward knowledge.  For us, "Knowledge" could be educational systems or simply life-experience.  Whatever the criteria, we seem to naturally elevate or put down other people based on their level of knowledge.

This was certainly the case with the Pharisees, back in Jesus' time.  In fact, the main “commodity” that separated the religious teachers from the rest of the people was education.  Religious leaders in that time period simply spent more time reading and studying the Hebrew Scriptures than anyone else.  Thus, they were literate, while most of the population was not.  Unfortunately, they didn’t use their knowledge to help other people, but actually to reinforce their class system.  Jesus noticed this and called them out on it:  "What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering" (Luke 11:52).

These days, there's a classic debate about what "qualifies" someone for ministry.  It just so happens that I had a conversation about this in Berlin about a month ago, together with some other pastors from around Europe.  Historically, our association of churches (Great Commission Churches) has not emphasized formal education (i.e. seminary training and theological degrees), saying that diplomas aren’t always the best criteria for determining who’s prepared to lead a church.  I’ve always kind of agreed with that.  But along the way, there’s become a different, subtle, “knowledge” filter where your ability to teach others comes from life experience.  One regional conference recently boasted that no one was permitted to take the stage and teach at that conference unless they had been leading a Great Commission Church for at least 30 years.  And while, again, there’s some wisdom in this -- and I can kind of go along with it --  it also started to dawn on us, as we were talking, that we’ve developed our own special filter to determine who’s “qualified” and who’s not.  And to be completely honest, I don’t think that filter is the same as God’s.  Even while trying to be vigilant about knowledge-based hypocrisy, we had simultaneously allowed a subtle sort hypocrisy to creep in.  Scary how that can happen, isn't it?

It really comes down to the Holy Spirit.  Not education, not experience:  simply the Holy Spirit.  Jesus explained that the antidote to hypocrisy in the area of knowledge is to rely on the Holy Spirit and not on any conventional wisdom or education.  In Luke 12:11-12, Jesus told his disciples, "When you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said."  This is really cool.  It says that our most advanced systems of knowledge and learning are far inferior to the wisdom that the Holy Spirit gives.  And what Jesus said here actually came true in Acts 4.  Peter and John were put on trial, before the Jewish Sanhedrin, and Peter gave an impassioned speech, with the Scriptures specifically noting that he was filled with the Holy Spirit.  And in Acts 4:13, it says, “The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.”  The most important thing for us is to stick close to Jesus, and let him teach us through the Holy Spirit.

The more we can do this, the less we'll be susceptible to knowledge-based hypocrisy.  Like rooting out hypocrisy in any of the other four major areas of our lives, it's not always easy.  But it's definitely worthwhile.

When it comes to hypocrisy, religiosity seems to be the most obvious, most stereotypical pitfall.  It's all the little rules that we make for ourselves.  They can be religious rituals, lists of “do’s” and “don’ts, or just personal values of what we consider acceptable or not acceptable (either explicit or implicit).  It happens whenever we let the means to the end take priority over the end itself -- when we let a relationship become a religion.

Back in 1st Century Palestine, the religiosity of the Pharisees was legendary.  Jesus spoke to the problems with their religiosity when he said, "You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy -- full of greed and wickedness!" (Luke 11:39).  And it was true.  The Pharisees had forgotten about the most essential issues of developing lives of godly generosity and goodness, and had become obsessed with making and keeping rules about cleanliness.  What you’re allowed to touch or not touch...  What you’re allowed to eat or not eat... What you’re allowed to say or not say... There were very strict expectations for how a person’s external appearances and actions would be.  In Luke 11:46, Jesus said, "What sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden."  Religiosity leads to legalism, shaming, and blaming.  In the end, it often separates people from the true heart of God, even though the rules had originally been intended to bring people closer to God.  And in so doing, it creates hypocrisy.

At first, when I started thinking about religiosity in my own life, I was having a hard time seeing where I might be susceptible to my own sorts of hypocrisy.  But as I thought about it, I realized that I can have a problem with being religious about not being religious!

I realize that may not make much sense.  But for instance, last week I blogged about prayer and basically inferred how silly it is when people use really formal, flowery language in talking with God.  And while I still think it’s a good point, as I was recently examining my heart I realized that this value system can sometimes result in a judgmental attitude towards people who pray differently than the way that I might prefer to pray.  A sort of religiosity against the externally-religious -- without much consideration for the true heart behind people and their ways of connecting with God.  Or for another example of this, about a month ago I was encouraging the people in our church to:  "Read your Bible, Pray every day."  And while I was trying to make the point that it doesn’t matter how much you go to church, or how many religious acts you perform -- but that the personal, daily connection with God is the most important -- I also realize that if you take my words totally literally, they become a kind of religiosity just like the Pharisees’ religiosity.  And even I can’t keep up with those religious demands!  I confess that I do not “Read the Bible and pray every day.”  I still think it's a good guideline for one's personal spiritual life, but how fair is it for me to expect that or demand a particular standard from other people?!?  That’s hypocrisy, isn't it?

So as I was studying through the middle chapters of Luke, I was refreshed to realize that the antidote to hypocrisy in the area of religiosity is to practice transparency and humility.  Jesus told his disciples, "The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all.  Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!" (Luke 12:2-3).  Think about that for a second.  If you really believed that every little thing you whispered behind closed doors would be shouted from the housetops, wouldn’t that change you?!?  I think it would probably change us in a good way... That's partially why I'm doing this blog series, to practice the discipline of transparency.  Practicing humility and transparency may not make us the most attractive people in the world -- but at least it keeps us from being hypocrites!

"Reputation" is a very interesting concept to me.  It seems to be different from culture to culture, and from one historical time period to the next.  In our culture, it might be like being considered “cool.”  But it's more than this, too.  It's all about the ideas of respect, honor, and having other people think well of us.  It's one of the most natural traps for practicing hypocrisy:  wearing masks that make it difficult to sort out truth from fiction.

Honor was very important back in the time of Jesus and the Pharisees (as it still is in most Eastern cultures).  I would venture a guess to say that one of the main advantages to being a Pharisee in those days was gaining a good reputation in the community -- being naturally considered to be respectable, moral, and learned.  Jesus, however, was not so impressed by the reputation of the Pharisees.  He actually said, "What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces.  Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on" (Luke 11:43-44).  Basically, if anyone looks “too good to be true,” he probably is.  We're all sinners, who have all fallen short of the glory of God.  Of course, there is hope for regeneration and renewal... but we'll never be perfect.  We need to be careful not to let our reputations get ahead of us, lest we become hypocrites.

It's funny.  For me, you'd think that my problems with this would be most obvious in ministry settings, since I am “the pastor” and involved in full-time ministry.  But our culture doesn’t seem to care about ecclesial responsibility too much these days, so this is less of a temptation for me than it would have been for the Pharisees.  No, for me, my main struggles with this are in the areas of “career” and “accomplishments.”  The best example of this conflict comes with my writing group.  I've been a part of the group for almost two years now, and the other members of the group have become great friends... But they still intimidate me sometimes!  They're all way more educated than me (several with multiple degrees from elite Ivy League schools).  They all make way more money than me (not as writers, but as business people in their “day jobs”).  And they all seem to be way more cultured -- and especially more well-read -- than I am!  They seem to devour 10 to 20 books a month and are very adept at discussing the various works that are out there.  But even though I'm nowhere near their league, when I'm with the others from my writing group I can feel very tempted to try and pretend like I'm the same as them.  I talk about myself as being the “director” of a “non-profit” (which is correct, but perhaps misleading when it comes to figuring out what I actually do).  I pretend like I know the books that they’re discussing amongst themselves, even if I’ve only ever heard a title or something (and I happen to get through an average of one or two books per month).  I use my choicest vocabulary when I’m with them... I'm sure you get the picture.

But the truth of the matter is that I’m a pretty regular guy, who went to a very mediocre university, who pastors a church and just tries to squeeze in a bit of reading and writing for fun, whenever I can!

Maybe this scenario doesn’t sound too hypocritical to you.  But I know my heart, and I know that I’ve got issues here!  That's where I need to remind myself that the antidote to hypocrisy in the area of reputation is to find one's identity in Jesus (not in external circumstances or cultural codes).  Luke 12:8-9 says it beautifully:  "I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels.  But anyone who denies me here on earth will be denied before God’s angels."

Now, I’ve never been one to deny Jesus.  But I haven’t exactly been deliberately acknowledging either.  I'm learning.  I’m growing... so help me, God!