How many of you have done this to your kids, “Apologize to your brother/sister right now!” A forced apology is not an apology at all, is it? You can tell when an apology is not real and it does no good. Hypocrisy means pretending to be what one is not. In that sense, a hypocrite is a person who pretends to be someone he or she is not. The hypocrite is play acting his or her way through life, living behind a mask, never facing reality. Hypocrisy has been described alongside lack of sincerity. So, it not so much sometimes what you do, it can be what you don’t do.

Today, as best as I know how, I believe I owe you an apology. I believe the church owes you an apology.

Many of us have been hurt by other Christians and/or churches. We have lived/talked/walked in a way that is not consistent with what we preach. We have been hypocrites. Not all Christians or all churches are hypocritical, far from it I believe. But, nonetheless we have pretended to be something that we are not.

I take responsibility for this pain. I have been a Christian most all of my life and I have pastored churches that have been hypocritical. I truly am sorry. I regret that thousands, no, millions have been turned off to church, but more sadly, have been turned off to Jesus by our actions and lives. I want to ask you to forgive me and forgive us for the hurt you have. I want you to forgive us for not living what we preach. I am a hypocrite.

I can’t promise you that other churches or other Christians won’t continue this stupid lifestyle, but I do promise you this: That we at Bridge Church will do our best to live out what we preach and if we don’t you have my permission to call us on it.