How We Kill Our Christian Witness

Getting Closer to Jesus: Unfortunately, for too many Christians, John 3:17 gets lost in the shadows of the verse that immediately precedes it—John 3:16. Who doesn’t love that verse? It is the heart of God—his sacrificial love for a sinful world. It is the Bible summed up in one short verse. It is the simplest yet most powerful collection of words the world has ever heard. The truth that Jesus declares in John 3:16 is the only hope for the world.

But Jesus’ followers often miss what follows: he didn’t come to force his gracious offer of eternal life down the throats of those who resisted. His plan wasn’t to set up a spiritual police state to enforce adherence to his sacrificial love. He wasn’t even going to publicly condemn those who foolishly, perhaps even violently, rejected the divine plan to eternal life.

So why do so many believers have an insatiable need to condemn the unbelieving world? If condemnation were what sinners needed, Jesus would have done that. Rather, Jesus understood that their very resistance to his grace and rejection of his atonement was all the condemnation that was needed. The unbelieving world already stood condemned. Why condemn what was already condemned?

Contrary to Jesus’ approach, condemnation seems too often to be our leading evangelistic strategy. But when believers, churches, and spiritual leaders take to their social media outlets to decry the current crisis of morality in America, or lash out on the airwaves about the obvious failures of our out-of-control government, or write in their blogs about the evils of gay marriage or the horror of late-term abortion or the ills of our increasingly secular culture, we are well on our way to destroying whatever Christian witness we might have once been able to exert. Does that mean I am in favor of those things or believe that we should never speak out about sin or injustice in the world? Not at all!

It’s just sadly interesting to me that we tend to pass too quickly over the greatest truth in the Bible, John 3:16, and go right for the jugular vein in condemning what already stands condemned when Jesus himself, the one we represent, didn’t even do that. Christian pollster George Barna recently summarized some research on the church’s perception in the world by stating, “The Christian community is not known for love.” If Jesus was known for loving the world so much that he gave his life to redeem it, why should that be any less true of his followers? He concludes that this perception renders ineffective most of our evangelistic efforts. Our condemning voice overshadows our loving heart.

So, what should be our response to all these ills in the world that need to be set right? Are we to just idly stand by, do nothing, and say nothing? No—we would be derelict in our discipleship to take that approach.

We would, however, be far more effective in reaching and redeeming the world if we would do what Jesus did. The best evangelism remains that by our love—for the Lord, for each other, and for the lost—that an unbelieving world will be attracted to our Savior. Like Jesus, when we demonstrate selfless, stubborn, sacrificial love, we will have the undeniable effect that Jesus had: the world will be both repulsed yet attracted by God’s irresistible love in us.

That is the strange thing about God’s love: while every human being fundamentally craves it because of sin, many foolishly, sadly reject it. Those who do stand condemned already. Yet the fact remains, whether our witness is embraced or repulsed, we have an undeniable impact in forgoing condemnation and letting love speak for itself. The Apostle Peter said,

You’ve been chosen…to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his light …[So] live such good lives among unbelievers that even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us…Always be ready [to share your faith], but do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 2:9 & 12, 3:16)

I watch too many believers who are anything but that as they engage in politics, cultural issues, or theological debates. It seems that some Christians are more passionate about their point of view than pointing people to Jesus. We would win more debates, elections, and souls, too, if we’d learn to offer our opinions with more love and less condemnation.

The word “evangelism” is from a compound Greek word, “eu,” meaning “good” (euphoria) and “aggelos” meaning “messenger” (angel.) So euaggelos is simply “a good messenger.” Our task is just translating the Good News by our selfless, sacrificial lives in a way that reconnects lost people with a loving God.

Bottom line: Jesus didn’t condemn; he just fiercely, stubbornly, unconditionally loved. We should go and do likewise.

Take the Next Step: Your assignment this week will be to light a candle instead of cursing darkness when you come across the temptation to condemn. And believe me, you will face such a temptation.