What About Hypocrisy? - Luke 18:9-14

What about the hypocrites in the church — and what if one of them is you?

When NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope, its mirror had been ground with breathtaking precision — against the wrong standard. It passed every test it gave itself, blind to its own blindness. In this message from our What About? series, Elder Rick Closius shows that this is exactly what hypocrisy and self-righteousness do to the human heart.

Working through Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14) and Paul's verdict in Romans 3, Rick exposes the trap of comparative righteousness — measuring ourselves against other people instead of the holiness of God — and then turns the mirror on himself: after 32 years as a deputy sheriff, "I'd become the very Pharisee." But the parable ends in mercy. The tax collector who could only cry, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner," went home justified — declared righteous as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Go home justified today — not because your mirror is flawless, but because your Savior is.

📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9IBoGUi2Y

📖 Daily devotionals + study guide: https://app.christchurchmiami.org/2026-06-14-what-about-hypocrisy/resources/