Jesus once summarized the entire Old Testament Law this way:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).
God wants us to love Him with our minds.
He wants us to use our brains to distinguish between truth and falsehood and good and evil.
This means that the Lord wants us to critique the culture we live in, the speakers we hear, the books we read, and all that goes on around us.
In that sense, it is good to be critical, as I mentioned two articles back when I asked, “When is Christian Criticism Right?”
However, there are professing Christians in every church who are hypercritical.
They aren’t involved in spiritual ministry and look for flaws in their church and pastor.
Here are two more traits of Christian hypercritics:
For starters, Christian hypercritics rejoice when other Christians fall.
When a hypercritic hears about a scandal involving a Christian leader, they’re actually happy about it. As they recount the details to their friends, they feel good inside . . . as if they have ascended a spiritual ladder one rung because someone higher up fell all the way down.
And when someone’s marriage in the church is on the rocks . . . or the teenage girl of a prominent family gets pregnant out of wedlock . . . or a staff member says something stupid in a worship service . . . they love passing on that information to their network and consider it to be good news.
But in the Love Chapter, Paul says that “love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:6).
From a pastoral perspective, when churchgoers publicly sin or privately hurt, it’s not good news, it’s bad news. God can turn the bad news into good news, but it takes a lot of prayer, love, and time for that to happen.
But the hypercritic rejoices when others hurt because the pain of others gives them something to talk about.
Finally, Christian hypercritics apply ministry to others, not themselves.
When I was in seminary, I took homiletics (preaching) from the late Howard Yim. One day in class, Howard surprised me with something he said.
After a sermon, a pastor sometimes asks people to close their eyes and raise their hands if they’d like to make some kind of commitment to God as a believer.
Howard mentioned that he sometimes raised his hand after such a message. I thought to myself, “You do?”
Up to that time, part of me thought that Howard was too cool to need changing. But when he heard God’s Word preached – even though he taught preaching – his heart was open to the Lord’s work in his life.
I suddenly realized that as a preaching student, I was more interested in how a preacher crafted his message than how that message could impact my life.
Instead of hearing a message and thinking, “I hope my wife’s catching that point . . . and Joe over there needs to listen to that verse with both ears . . . and those gossips in the back need to pay attention to this …” – I’d apply the message 100% to my own heart.
I’d block out everybody else and just focus on what God was saying to me.
Hypercritical Christians won’t do that, though, because they’re critical of everyone but themselves.
As Paul asked in Romans 2:21-22: “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?”
A key mark of spiritual growth is that you apply God’s Word to your life, not the lives of everybody else. Let the Holy Spirit work in their lives … and realize you’re not the Holy Spirit.
I’d write more about hypercritical Christians . . . but I’m coming dangerously close to becoming one myself.
What are your thoughts about hypercritical believers?
Hypercritical Christians are probably that way outside of church as well. There are some who are controlling and have something to say about any environment they are in-church, work, other’s homes-and don’t feel comfortable with leaving things alone. There are some who are just plain angry and don’t know how to deal with that anger in a healthy way, so they project it on other things. Some hyperctitical people are similar to people who gossip, as talking about others makes them feel better about themselves. In my old age I am finding that I am less and less critical in general because I look back on my own life and fail as I try to hold myself up to my own standards! The bottom line is when hypercritical people’s words and actions lead to the forced termination of a pastor, the consequences are devastating to the pastor and his family, the church, and the continuation of spreading the good news about Jesus.
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You’re probably right about finding hypercritical people outside the church, but there is something inside the church that breeds that kind of attitude. I don’t know if it’s the pastor’s tone of voice when he preaches, or the general Christian denunciations against sin, or our desire as believers to be perfect, but it’s a very unattractive quality. As I get older, I don’t have the energy to be as critical as I was when I was younger – I guess one might say I’ve “mellowed” – but we certainly find hypercritical attitudes in politics. And when people in a church become political rather than biblical, hypercriticism rears its ugly head. Thanks for your comment!
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So true! In my quest to read one biography of each president in order, I am struck by how quickly political parties formed, and so early in our history. And the comments made about politicians, by politicins and others, were so nasty! I’ll never forget the article making fun of John Adams’ teeth…what did his not so nice teeth have to do with anything? Talking about the issues is one thing, but personal attacks are another. How can we get people to stop thinking “politically” in churches?
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Has someone really written a book about William Henry Harrison? Didn’t last long as President, as I recall. I’ll bet he had as many accomplishments in office as our current President … whoops! Don’t want to get political!
I think when we stop thinking biblically, we start thinking politically. We ask ourselves, “How can I get my way with the least amount of trouble?” Then we engage in politics.
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Jim Meyer Hi, just wanted to say, I loved this blog post. It was practical. Keep on posting!
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