You know, the life of Jesus Christ shines out so clearly in a murky background of what we call normal human standards, that if you had to give that light a name, you might be stuck. Sincerity is too weak a word. The total absence of any hypocrisy – well that’s too negative. Well, how about, His absolute fearless honesty? Well, that’s not good enough, but let’s use it for now.
Even unbelievers admire that kind of shining human honesty. People of all ages have applauded the way He denounced the hypocrisy amongst the actors of His day, and by that I mean actors in religion or anything else.
Jesus showed that it’s no use pretending to be good if in your heart you know you’re not. It’s no use pretending or giving the appearance of being loving when inside you are full of hatred. It’s no good saying things or pretending things you don’t really mean. Good words and deeds can only spring from a nature which is itself personally in touch with the source of goodness -and that is God.
Jesus put it this way – every tree is recognised by the fruit it produces. A good tree produces good fruit, a bad tree produces rotten fruit, and hypocrisy is a bad tree, giving the appearance of making good fruit.
If you want to read about this you can read it in Matthew Chapter 7.