The Problem with the “Show Window Material” – Fighting the Hypocrisy Within

“Christians should be ‘show window material’ for the Lord.”

Just as the window display calls you to enter the store by showing the finest the store has to offer, we should display our best so others want to enter a relationship with the Lord.

And yet, that focus on excellence, if used improperly, can also be dangerous. I would like to use the same illustration to point to problems that can come from focusing primarily on being “show window material.” Consider these dangers carefully and ask yourself the questions in each section to consider the hypocrisy that lurks in our hearts.

Show window material focuses on seeing, not being, and doing.

There’s a danger inherent in a desire to be seen as pristine. To be top-shelf material, we may just make the box pristine and ignore fixing up the inside. We may also mistake looking mature or Christlike for being mature or Christlike. 

Jesus, however, focused on being and doing good rather than being seen as good. He issues a similar challenge in the Sermon on the Mount: We are, “the light of the world,” “a city set on a hill,” and “a lamp in a dark room” (Matthew 5:14-16). But notice what it is about us that shines bright:

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). 

What we do, our good works, is what glorifies the Father.

Are you focusing just on looking upright rather than being upright? Answer a couple of questions:

1. Are you open with others about the areas where God is changing you in life? Are these spots blemishes that you hide rather than faults you confess to gain help from others?
2. Does your being and doing match your appearance?

Show window material gets stuck behind the glass.

There’s another dangerous tendency when focusing entirely on our appearance. We tend to separate from individuals who look different. Of course, we should not follow worldly influences (1 John 2:15-17). And yet that emphasis can eventually separate us from the very people we want to be different around and do good works to. We may end up being “show window material,” safely nuzzled behind a glass or in a Christian bubble with no outside contact. We’re pristine, untouched, and looking very different, from a distance. Consequently, we are not interacting with others or making disciples.

Jesus and His disciples were with people. They didn’t shine from a distance. They ate and drank with them and helped them. A true disciple maker must step out from behind the show window glass and interact with others in the world. Someone intent entirely on looking good from a distance will not make disciples.

Recently, a man in our church led his barber to the Lord. After decades of witnessing while paying for a great cut, the barber agreed to a weekly Bible study in the back of the barbershop after closing. I was so encouraged that the man already knew five others from our church who were also shining brightly to him. Most first-generation Christians have more non-Christian friends than Christian friends. This is healthy for third-generation Christians too. This is the way to make disciples.

Consider a few questions to ask yourself to test whether you have gotten stuck behind the glass:

1. Do you know anyone outside the Department Store? Do you have friends or people you know well who are not yet followers of Jesus? One of my friends asks this question this way. Will many non-Christians show up to your funeral?¹
2. Do you spend time in areas that would be considered neutral ground? Do you have any spots or hobbies where many of the people you connect with are non-Christians?
3. Would you consider moving to a city or town that has a good Bible-driven church and yet not many other Christians, so that your primary contacts are those who need to be made into disciples of Jesus?

Show window material is dead.

The mannequins behind the glass are not alive. They pretend to be alive while showcasing great deals, but there’s no life there. This is the biggest warning Jesus gives. Focusing entirely on outside appearances may clean up the outside but also may hide death. Disciple-making will turn into changing learned behavior or appearance rather than each individual person leaving all to follow Jesus.

This was Jesus’s primary castigation of the Pharisees. They wore the mask well but were hiding a person who was spiritually dead.²

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).

It is easy to look good, to put on a mask, but true heart and character change comes from God. Every month uncovers another spiritual leader who was very good at wearing the mask, but all along the way, they were destroying others because, although they were great show window material, they were not disciples.

A couple more questions:

1. Have your attitudes, thinking, and actions changed since coming to Jesus, or just your outward appearance?
2. Are there common external appearances that you notice about someone that cause you to think they are spiritually alive and yet may be spiritually dead?

Show window material judges others by appearance and not by the heart.

If our primary focus is how we appear in the show window, we’ll end up confronting and challenging others entirely based on their appearance. Consequently, our disciple-making will be appearance-based. Jesus warns that we should not judge based on appearance (John 7:24). We must get to know someone and their circumstances before we judge. Why do they look this way? Let’s get to know them in order to find out.

I remember one of our dear ladies who wore sweatpants singing in the choir one Easter Sunday. Others dressed up more. But that was what she wore. On the way out, she told me, “Wore my best sweats today.” And that is beautiful.

1. Do you ever base your decision on someone’s spiritual maturity entirely on their polished appearance?
2. Have you found fault with someone based on the way they look?
3. Have you made a decision on the circumstances of a situation based entirely on external items that you hear rather than from the persons involved?

All of us should reflect on our Lord’s harsh condemnation of the Pharisees. As we continue to wash our faces and appear kind and appropriate to our culture—even “show-window-material” status—we must also wash and change to be more like Christ on the inside. May our inside and our outside match to the glory and praise of God.

1. Pastor Tim Potter often challenges us to be sure more non-Christians will be at our funeral than Christians. ↩︎
2. Here, the Greek word (ὑποκριτής, where we get our word hypocrite) refers to wearing a mask on the stage. An actor is able to appear different from who they are. Jesus condemns (read the 8 woes of Matthew 23) those who appear one way but are actually another. ↩︎