Third, respond by making a distinction between hypocrisy and repentant Christianity. You can do this by asking them, “What is a hypocrite to you?” People will often say hypocrisy is “when people don’t live up to their beliefs.” Then, turn the question around on them by asking, “Have you ever failed to live up to one of your beliefs? Do you always treat everyone the way you want to be treated? I don’t! But that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re hypocrites.”
This often surfaces curiosity, which gives us the opportunity to clarify that a hypocrite isn’t someone who merely fails to live up to their beliefs but who unrepentantly refuses to live up to their beliefs. For instance, I went against my belief that I should show honor to all men when I gossiped about someone last week. But I’m not a hypocrite; I’m a sinner. Hypocrites don’t care about the gap between belief and behavior (as in some pastoral scandals), but repentant sinners confess their sins to those they offend and to God, seek forgiveness, and resolve to close the gap.
The truth is that there is only one person in all of history who lived up to all of his beliefs. And the good news of the gospel is that he died in our place, the innocent for the guilty, so that we can receive divine forgiveness. That’s true Christianity. So, we all have to ask ourselves if we are going to continue to be hypocrites or reach out for the grace of Jesus Christ? The fundamental reason anyone is not a Christian isn’t our perception of its views of sex, gender, or hypocrisy but of our view of Jesus Christ. We have to decide if we will accept or reject his offer of forgiveness for falling short of our (and his) beliefs.
Cultural Resistance
Finally, resistance is often embedded in various cultural views such as “there is no single truth; what matters is whatever is true for you.” The flaw with this view is that it asserts a truth in order to claim that there is no truth. That’s self-defeating. Instead, we have to be intellectually honest and examine each truth claim. Jesus claimed not to be my truth or a truth but the truth, period (John 14:6). Was he deceiving everyone? Or is he, in fact, the true way to salvation? That’s the question our culture has to answer. American diplomat and politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not to his own facts.” To love people well, we too must insist on the facts of Jesus’ claims while making room for all kinds of opinions.
So, is evangelism plausible in an age of cultural, ethical, and spiritual resistance? Certainly! However, we must be more attentive to the various types of resistance, respond with compassionate concern, and respond to each person with Jesus’ words of saving grace.
This article draws on themes from “Witness,” a book by Jonathan Dodson about how, together with your church family, you can feel confident in reaching the community through effective Spirit-filled evangelism, underlined with confident, persistent prayer.
