There’s a scene in the first Lord of the Rings film – The Fellowship of the Ring – that reminds me of some Christians that I’ve known.
While relaxing in gorgeous Rivendell – right before the Fellowship takes off for Mordor – Frodo reunites with Bilbo. After Bilbo offers Frodo his sword and the protective Mithril, Frodo unbuttons his shirt to reveal the ring. The kindly Bilbo tells Frodo how much he’d like to hold it one last time, but when Frodo buttons his shirt back up – indicating he doesn’t want Bilbo to touch it – Bilbo snarls, his face turns hideous, and he lunges at Frodo.
I’ve seen that look before … on the faces of Christian people.
I’m thinking in particular of three kinds of two-faced believers:
First, there’s the believer who praises God on Sunday and dishonors God during the week.
I once knew a man who hit on women at church. Every week, he’d sit next to or near a different woman, brazenly making his intentions known. I didn’t find out about his approaches until he hit on a high school girl. (He left the church right before I threw him off the property.)
One night, I was channel-surfing and ran across a telecast of a worship service from a megachurch in our area. A man in the front row was singing gustily to the Lord with his hands outstretched.
Guess who?
By the measure of some Christians, the enraptured believer on the front row just HAD to be a spiritual man. However, I knew differently … and so did the Lord.
I’m reminded of David’s words in Psalm 24:3-4: “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart …”
Sometimes we worship God with two faces, don’t we?
Second, there’s the believer who shows one face to their pastor and another to their friends.
I once knew a woman who displayed a face of sweetness and innocence in public. She developed a reputation as a kind and loving person who wouldn’t hurt a fly.
But there was another side to her that most people never saw.
One time, I confronted her about undermining me. She completely denied it … and her face resembled Bilbo’s when he eyed the ring around Frodo’s neck. It was unbelievable.
Now here’s the kicker: she undermined me all the time. I knew she was doing it, but she never knew that I knew.
She displayed one face around me … and another face when I wasn’t around.
James 5:11-12 says, “Brothers, do not slander one another …. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you – who are you to judge your neighbor?”
But I can act differently around pastors, too.
Our church just hired a new teaching pastor. He’s really good. After yesterday’s service, my wife and I left the worship center and doubled back toward the grill for a hamburger lunch … and ran right into the teaching pastor, who was on the patio after the service.
This is more unusual than it sounds. There were thousands of people on campus at the time.
Because we enjoyed and benefited from his message, we walked right up to him and told him so. We engaged in conversation for a couple minutes … and he asked me to send him a copy of my book (which is finished and going out for endorsements).
But imagine that right after the service, I criticized his message instead. Would I have wanted to meet him?
Nope, I would have avoided him at all costs.
There’s a lesson in there somewhere.
Finally, there’s the believer who can see faults in others but not in themselves.
True or false: a Christian should never confront another person about their behavior.
That is so false.
Jesus tells us we can in Matthew 7:3-5. He asks why we focus on the specks of sawdust in another person’s eyes while ignoring the plank in our own eye. And then He says:
“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (verse 5).
It’s okay for a follower of Jesus to remove small faults from the eyes of other believers … as long as we’ve removed the large faults in our own lives first.
And that process can take quite a while.
I once knew a man who was kind and loving and hospitable. To me, he was a phenomenal Christian. He constantly let me know that he cared about me and listened to me and prayed with me. I haven’t seen him for many years, and I miss him very much.
But he didn’t seem to have time to criticize others because he was so focused on his own imperfections. He was brutally honest about them, too … and his authenticity drew me toward him.
While he was honest about his own faults, he was gracious toward the faults of others … including mine.
That, my friends, is the indication of a truly spiritual man or woman. Whether in public or in private, he seemed to wear only one face.
But hypocrites wear two or more faces, depending upon who they’re with at the time.
May I encourage you: wear only one face in all times and places – and before all people.
Just like Jesus did.
Nice taxonomy of “CCs” Your lead in from the Lord of the Rings movies was evocative. An interesting addition that I think still works well with what you have here is that in the book the scene you describe makes it clear that the transfiguration is in Frodo’s mind alone- he percieves Bilbo with fiendish vissage and snarling etc. but in fact Bilbo had mildly shared a wish to hold it again then thought better of it and said how sory he was for having passed along such a fate and burden to Frodo.
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Thanks for the insight into the book. I always found that scene to be scary … we all have a propensity for acquiring power we shouldn’t have.
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Well and using these stories as you have- couldn’t we all learn much from the Hobbits who are able to cary a burden of power and resist the temptation to use it in self serving ways but are more prepared at the right time to divest themselves of that power for the sake of what is good and right.
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Lord of the Rings is my favorite film, partly because those innocent little hobbits courageously decide to take on beings of pure evil. I could watch those films forever. The Battle of Helms Deep always inspires me!
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