Pretenders of the Faith

Happy Sunday. Proverbs 13:7 will describe people that we all know. Let me read it to you. Some pretend to be rich yet have nothing, and others pretend to be poor yet have great wealth.

Let me do it again. Some pretend to be rich yet have nothing. Others pretend to be poor yet have great wealth. We can interpret this verse a couple of ways.

On the surface, this can be all about money. The first part, some pretend to be rich yet have nothing is so true in our world today. Too many people live well beyond their means. They live in nice houses and their mortgages are months behind.

They drive nice cars and they're not far from being repossessed. They take vacations and charge them on credit cards that have huge balances. That's the world that too many people live in. One financial phrase that is used about these kinds of people is big hat, no cattle.

Big hat, no cattle. They look the part, but they have nothing. The fake rich live to impress others and they're just digging a hole of trouble deeper and deeper. I talked with a neighbor sometimes last year uh he's a financial manager now retired and he told me a story of a famous athlete whose name you would likely know who had I think it was 19 car payments.

19. Now none of the cars were his. They were for his family and for his entourage. And these were all really nice cars, many of them exotic cars with big payments.

He had to declare bankruptcy because he was living like a billionaire on a millionaire salary. Some people pretend to be rich yet have nothing. The last part of the verse is refreshing to me. Others pretend to be poor yet have great wealth.

I've known several folks like this over the years. They have all they could ever need, yet they choose to live in perhaps the same house they lived in when they had little. They drive cars that are not ostentatious. Maybe the richest man I ever know d kn knew drove a beat up old station wagon until the day he died.

They're not trying to impress anyone. Those that I know who live this way are often silently helping others with their wealth. They gain joy from blessing others instead of building bigger barns to hold their stuff in or trying to show off in fancy ways. Some pretend to be poor yet have great wealth.

A couple of lessons here. You cannot judge a book by the cover. Appearances can be so deceiving. I had a friend, a boss 50 years ago who was very wealthy.

He'd buy a new car every year and he and his wife would dress up and he liked Cadillacs and they would go in their old clothes to the Cadillac dealer looking like they didn't have a penny and they'd buy a car from the salesman who treated them with dignity in spite of their appearance. This verse makes sense to me financially. Is there a spiritual component? I think absolutely.

Let me read Proverbs 13:7 again. And this time, don't think about money. Think about faith. Some pretend to be rich yet have nothing.

Others pretend to be poor yet have great wealth. Let me do it again and think about faith. Some pretend to be rich yet have nothing. Others pretend to be poor yet have great wealth.

It's likely that all of us have known pretenders of the faith. Those who pretend to be rich yet have nothing. On the outside, they may look respectable. They may be active in their church.

They may carry a big Bible. They may even talk the talk. Yet, they do not walk the walk. They don't walk in the right way.

Jesus had words for folks like that. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 23:es 27 and 28. Jesus said, "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you're like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of uncleanliness. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

Here Jesus is describing those who pretend to be rich yet have nothing in the faith. Now the last group that we'll look at today, those who pretend to be poor yet have great wealth. The kingdom of God is made so much better by those who just live the life without any desire of recognition. Now listen to how the sixth chapter of the book of Matthew begins.

Jesus said this about those people. Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them. For then you have no reward from your father in heaven. So whenever you give, Jesus said, whenever you give alms, whenever you give your tithe, don't sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they can be praised by others.

Truly, I tell you, they've received their reward. But but when you give, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your gifts may be done in secret, and your heavenly Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. Let me read Proverbs 13:7 one last time. Some pretend to be rich yet have nothing.

Others pretend to be poor yet have great wealth. It's likely that we can be fooled by some people. It is also very clear that God is not fooled at all. May you truly know great wealth, great spiritual wealth.

That's what matters, isn't it? Pray with me. Lord, thank you for each one that hears these words. And I pray that you would bless these words and bless the hearers and help us to examine our lives and see how we live and who we're living for.

Help us to be people that are people of great faith. Help us to be honest and real and not fake in any way. We know we can't fool you. Help us to be real to a world around us that needs real people.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen. God bless. Have a great great week.