Evangelism and Hypocrisy

I was downtown yesterday with a couple of great guys who were open air evangelizing, where we stood outside talking about Jesus. These guys know the good news of God, and were preaching it unashamedly. The fact that I knew the hearts of these men is one of the main reasons why I wanted to see their method of evangelism.

The truth is I love evangelism. I know some great men and women who are evangelizing around the country, and the people I know all do it a different way. The method that we used today was standing on a box and lovingly preaching the Gospel of Christ.

I know for some people standing on a box and shouting is quite the turn off no matter what that person is talking about.  But I would argue that the reason it is a turn off to people is because the majority of box preachers obnoxiously talk about hell. But the mastermind of this specific operation is a good friend of mine who led us in a way that I did not expect.

Before we started evangelizing we went to Biggby to warm up with a hot drink. While we were waiting for our drinks we discussed our goals and hopes for our endeavor. We had some pretty great goals for the day; preach Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead for us as well as to show people that we are not crazy bible thumpers, rather that we are sinners who have been saved by Gods' great love for us. We hoped that just one person wanted to talk to us so we could praise God for that opportunity.

As we were getting ready to start evangelizing my friend led us in prayer, the message in his prayer was clear: God is love, but love is not God, who God is defines what love is like. God is a God of Justice and Mercy. There are many bad things happening in the world; our own “city is sick. We murder and rob our own people; we destroy the gift of life. We need to turn from these things. Our City NEEDS Jesus Christ.” We need Gods justice. However- by the agency of Jesus’ death on the cross- whoever repents of their sins will be saved.

My friend Stephen and I, Courtesy of our friend Matt

So we took that mindset into our time of evangelism.

We handed out a bible or two while my friend spoke about our need for the love of God. There were not many people walking by us, so as my friend was speaking I used that downtime to reflect and pray on our efforts.

As I reflected on our endeavor, my heart was broken because of the people who are using the Bible to beat down everyone that the Bible tells us to love. The Word of God that so many people use as a weapon against sinners says this,  'As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:24 NIV). God is blasphemed because of hypocrisy (Romans 2:21). Those who preach condemnation to people have clearly not read the Bible because the Jesus in the Bible said this, ‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.’ (John 3:17 NIV). Twisting scripture to condemn people when there are other scriptures that communicate the exact opposite of what they are preaching is indeed hypocrisy.

Although box preaching may not be the most effective way of evangelism the real enemy is hypocrisy. I know because I was the worst of hypocrites.

I remember one time in particular when a friend of mine confessed a sin that had been weighing on him heavily. And instead of communicating the truth of Gods word-‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ (1st John 1:9 NIV)- I asked him, in a condemning way, how it felt to know that God was watching him consciously disobey Him? My friend was on his way to being purified of his unrighteousness but my hypocrisy put an even heavier weight on his already downcast soul.

I apologized a year later but I had almost permanently damaged our spiritual relationship.

Evangelism in all forms is good unless accompanied by blatant hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy can do unbearable damage. If you have been a hypocrite I suggest you humbly admit it to whomever you have burdened because many people have rejected Jesus because of unacknowledged hypocrisy.

Remember if we confess our sin of hypocrisy “[God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

As we examine our life for signs of hypocrisy let us walk humbly in the grace of God, by the blood of Jesus Christ who has taken the sin of hypocrisy upon himself for those who have shown genuine repentance.

***

My next few posts will be about hypocrisy and judging, because judging is often followed with hypocrisy. These are hard topics that are very heavy, but still good!

God Bless you all!