How would you feel if I stood up here and, deeply disappointed and angry with you, called you all a bunch of hypocrites? If I said you were all blind? A brood of snakes and vipers? Condemned to hell, all of you?
私がここに立って、みなさんに深く失望し、腹が立ち、みんな偽善者だと言ったら、どう感じますか？
How would you respond? Would you be angry with me? Would you use it as a cause for self-examination in case I was right? Would you band together with others and and argue your case against me? Would you turn it around and condemn me as being a hypocrite and ungodly?
私に腹が立ちますか？
These terms I have used [These] are the words that Jesus used – the “Seven Woes” from Matthew 23 – when speaking to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious, ‘godly’ people of the day and yet Jesus reserved his strongest words for them. Not for the prostitutes or the thieves or gays or thugs. But for the religious. This is because the ‘sinners’ already knew their ‘place’ in society. They didn’t pretend to be something they weren’t. The main criticism against the Pharisees (mentioned 6 times in this passage alone) was that they were “hypocrites”.
これらはイエスがパリサイ人に語っているときに使ったマタイ23章からの“7つの忌まわしいもの”の言葉です。
We are the godly people of today. Are we hypocrites? Are we “blind guides”, “broods of snakes and vipers”? Are we Pharisaical?
私たちは現代の神の御心にかなった民です。私たちは偽善者でしょうか？私たちは“目の見えぬ手引き”、“蛇やまむしのすえども”でしょうか？私たちはパリサイ人のようでしょうか？
One of the highest callings we have today as Christians is to be Christlike.
クリスチャンとして最も重大な使命の一つはキリストのようになることです。
Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 1 John 2:6
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:12
But are we really Christlike in our attitude and our actions? Or in our zealousness for God and for righteousness, have we become more like the Pharisees?
David Kinnaman, president of the respected Barna group which conducts surveys on Christians and Christian living, conducted a survey on Christians across the U.S. to find out if they were more Christ-like in their attitudes and actions, or more Pharisaical. The results are sobering and I thought, we, too, would do well to look at this survey and ask ourselves the same questions.
In the States at least, Christians are too often seen by society as hypocritical. 84% of non-Christians said that they knew a Christian personally but only 14% said that their lifestyles were noticeably different in a good way. Although we are ultimately trying to please God and not people, this should still be cause for some concern. What is cause for greater concern is the results of the survey which show how Christians end up rating themselves in terms of Christlike or Pharisaical attitudes and actions (as a result of the survey). I’ll get to these at the end.
For now, I would like us to do the survey for ourselves, so that this issue of our Christlikeness is not just an academic one but a real one that we can use to better understand ourselves, more accurately assess how we are living, and get a better idea of how others might see us, too.
私たち自身のことを調べる調査をしたいと思います。そうすれば私たちがキリストのようであるかということが理論的なことだけでなく、私たち自身をよりよく理解するために用いることができるからです。
Mark ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the following questions:
♣ I listen to others to learn their story before telling them about my faith.
自分の信仰のことを言う前に相手の話を聞く。
♣ In recent years, I have influenced multiple people to consider following Christ.
ここ数年、 複数の人にキリストに従ってみないかと促してきた。
♣ I regularly choose to have meals with people with very different faith or morals from me. 自分と違った信仰や道徳の人たちとよく食事をするようにしている。
♣ I try to discover the needs of non-Christians rather than waiting for them to come to me. クリスチャンではない人が私のところに来るのを待つよりかは彼らの必要を見つけようとする。
♣ I am personally spending time with non-believers to help them follow Jesus.
クリスチャンではない人がイエスに従えるように個人的に彼らと時間を過ごしている。
♣ I see God-given value in every person, regardless of their past or present condition.
過去や現在の状況が何であれ、すべての人に神から与えられた価値が見える。
♣ I believe God is for everyone.
神はすべての人のため存在しておられる。
♣ I see God working in people’s lives, even when they are not following him.
神に従っていない人のうちにも神ははたらいておられるのが分かる。
♣ It is more important to help people know God is for them than to make sure they know they are sinners.
人が罪人であることを分からせるより、人が神を知ることを助けるほうが大切である。
♣ I feel compassion for people who are not following God and doing immoral things.
神に従っておらず不道徳なことをしている人たちを哀れに思う。
♣ I tell others the most important thing in my life is following God’s rules.
自分の人生でいちばん大切なことは神の律法に従うことだと言う。
♣ I don’t talk about my sins or struggles. That’s between me and God.
自分の罪や悩みについては話さない。 それは私と神の間の問題だから。
♣ I try to avoid spending time with people who are openly gay or lesbian.
同性愛者であると公表している人とは時間を過ごさないようにしている。
♣ I like to point out those who do not have the right theology or doctrine.
正しい神学や信条をもっていない人を指摘するのが好きだ。
♣ I prefer to serve people who attend my church rather than those outside the church.
教会に来ない人より教会に来る人たちに仕えるほうがいい。
♣ I find it hard to be friends with people who seem to constantly do the wrong things.
絶えず間違いをおかしているような人と友達になりにくい。
♣ It’s not my responsibility to help people who won’t help themselves.
自らを助けようとしない人を助けることは私の責任ではない。
♣ I feel grateful to be a Christian when I see other people’s failures and flaws.
人の失敗や欠点を見て自分がクリスチャンであってよかったと思う。
♣ I believe we should stand against those who are opposed to Christian values.
クリスチャンの価値に反対する人たちには立ち向かうべきだと思う。
♣ People who follow God’s rules are better than those who do not.
神の律法に従う人は従わない人よりいい人たちだ。
Although not a precise judgement, you can get an idea of your Christlikeness by adding up the ‘yes’ scores.
The first 5 questions assess Actions like Jesus: イエスのような行動
The next 5 questions assess Attitudes like Jesus: イエスのような態度
The third group of 5 questions assess Self-Righteous Actions: 独善的な行動
The final 5 questions assess Self-Righteous Attitudes: 独善的な態度
So, a higher score in the first 10 questions would indicate Christlikeness, while a higher score in the bottom 10 questions would indicate self-righteousness.
Survey Results
Only 14% of U.S. Christians were Christ-like in action and attitude; キリストのような行動と態度
14% of U.S. Christians were Christ-like in action, but not in attitude; キリストのような行動ではあるが、態度はそうでない
21% of U.S. Christians were Christ-like in attitude, but not action; キリストのような態度ではあるが、行動はそうでない
A whopping 51% of U.S. Christians were Christ-like in neither どちらもキリストのようでない
Kinnaman says it’s not surprising that believers miss the mark in terms of representing Jesus, because transformation in Christ is sodifficult and so rare in American society. In particular, evangelicals seem to know the right way to behave, but they often admit to harbouring sanctimonious motives.
“Many Christians are more concerned with what they call unrighteousness than they are with self-righteousness. It’s a lot easier to point fingers at how the culture is immoral than it is to confront Christians (and ourselves) in their comfortable spiritual patterns.
Kinnamon concludes: the responsibility of the Christian community is to challenge hypocrisy just as boldly as other kinds of sin.”
クリスチャンコミュニティーの責任は他の罪と同じように偽善に大胆に挑むことです。
I believe this brings us a renewed call to humble ourselves before God and to rediscover the deep compassion and love that God has for the world. John 3:16 needs to become a motivating force in our lives as we relate to those around us. I believe we need to better connect to ‘sinful, unrighteous, non-believers’, not to bring judgement or condemnation but to bring God’s light and love into their lives.
このことが神の前にへりくだり、神の世への深い哀れみと愛を改めて知る新たな使命へと私たちを導いてくれると信じています。
裁いたり非難したりするのではなく、神の光と愛をもたらすために‘罪深く不義な未信者’とより良くつながる必要があると思います。
Let’s pray for forgiveness for any hypocrisy we have had in our lives and ask God to fill us with the love of His Spirit to befriend and reach a lost and hurting world with the compassion and love of Jesus.