'Do as I say, not as I do...'

"You have not lied to men but to God.” – Acts 5:4b (NIV)

One of the major criticisms of the Christian church is that Christian are hypocrites, preaching that people should behave one way, but then the Christians themselves do the complete opposite of what they had been advocating. It is like they are saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.”.

The early church, shortly after Jesus had risen from the dead and had been taken back up to Heaven, had to deal with this in the case of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira. It was the practice of members of the early church to take their personal possessions, sell them, and then give the money to the church leaders who would then distribute it for the work of spreading the message of Jesus Christ and helping the poor.

Ananias had a piece of property that he pledged to sell and give all of the proceeds to the church. However, with the full knowledge of his wife, he sold the property, but kept part of the profits for himself (see Acts 5:2). Peter caught him at this, saying he had been lying to God when he pledged the full proceeds to the church but did not keep his bargain. Ananias dropped dead on the spot, stricken by God. Sapphira had a chance to tell the truth, but instead also lied, and she soon dropped dead as well (see Acts 5: 7-10).

Sadly, far too many times, Christians also have committed the same sin, pushing for one thing, but then doing the complete opposite of they have been advocating. In recent years, there have been high-profile cases of Christian leaders, ministers and priests who had taught on the need to be sexually pure, for instance, but then were caught committing the very sin they had spoken against. Needless to say, they had been caught, and had to not only reconcile themselves with God, but also work to repair the damage done by their acts, if possible.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus Christ never condemned regular people for their sins, such as the woman caught in adultery (see John 8:3-11), reserving his harshest words for the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees. The Pharisees regularly ordered the people to be humble and serve the synagogue in the name of God, but then pursued their own power while appearing to still be serving God. Jesus said “woe” on them, saying they were clean on the outside, but dirty on the inside (see Matthew 23:23-28).

Simply put, Christians should always examine their own hearts as to whether they are truly following Christ (see 2 Corinthians 13:5). Then we will be able to present ourselves as worthy representatives of Christ, and the rest of the world will know what Jesus is like.