When Christians Get It Wrong: Session One

Adam Hamilton's When Christians Get It Wrong (We're using the DVD version.)

Introduction: There is a growing frustration and sometimes open hostility toward Christianity on the part of an increasing number of people today, particularly young adults. In fact, according to the research of the Barna Institute, 40% of young adults have turned away from Christianity and want nothing to do with Christians. In their 2007 book unChristian, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons outlined the Barna Institute's research with hundreds of young adults who were outside the Christian faith. They found that these young adults perceived Christians to be hypocritical among a host of other issues.

Session one serves as a warning that many of us have become the very Pharisees Jesus preached against, condemning first and asking questions later. Viewing the DVD segment brought up a number of questions for discussion.

Jesus warned his followers about four things related to hypocrisy: wrong motives, judging others, majoring in the minors, and being two-faced. How have we both as individuals and a church body been hypocritical? Consider these questions:

1. Do I point out other people's sins without recognizing my own?
2. Have I forgotten Jesus' assurance that our love for one another is how the world will know we are his followers?
3. Have I cleaned the outside of the cup but neglected the inside?
4. Have we as a church presented ourselves as the message rather than presenting Jesus as the message?
5. Are there barriers (walls) that we sometime don't recognize that are keeping people from finding God in our church?

Discussion of the topic of hypocrisy will continue next Sunday!