“God hates you! God is against sin and sinner!” Did you just cringe a bit? So did I. The above statement is how some Christians share the “Gospel.” Is it just me, or is something missing?
One could look to Scripture and see examples of God hating specific sins, and specific types of sinners. However, when it comes to being a Christian and being watched by the world, we need to be careful about how we present things we see in the Bible to the World. It’s called tact. I have a vague idea, but most unbelievers would probably shake their head and go: “God hates? I thought God was love.” Then they would turn, walk away, and close the door on any sort of witness we could ever have with them. Some Christians only seem to get half the message.
If we leave the message out there that ‘God hates sin,’ but we don’t speak of redemption, we’ve missed the point of the Bible. We’ve missed the purpose of Jesus’ life. Particularly when dealing with unbelieving ‘sinners,’ Jesus did not ignore their sin, but pointed to himself as the means of forgiveness. Consider the Woman at Samaria and Jesus not only acknowledging her sin, but pointing her to true worship of God:
John 4:22-26 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (23) But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (24) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (25) The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” (26) Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
Even when Jesus rebukes sinful people, there is still the inference that they could believe and be forgiven:
John 5:43-47 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. (44) How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? (45) Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. (46) For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. (47) But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
Notice that even in his rebuke, there is the acknowledgment of the possibility of belief and therefore redemption. There is a time to confront sin, to expose it. In the context of believers, it is in house with a message of restoration, and not before the eyes of a watching world. In the context of evangelizing the World, we also need to point to grace.
We could also note that when Jesus was angry, it was usually with religious people (think of the Pharisees and Sadducees.) When he is confronting sinners, there is a redemptive aspect.
So, what’s the point? When we are on display before a watching world and we say things for unbelievers to hear because it is “truth,” with no context or redemptive side to it, we are not presenting the Gospel, nor are we showing Jesus in our actions. Really, by hiding away a part of the counsel of God (mainly the redemptive side that calls to sinners to come to Jesus and his saving love for them,) we are actually putting up more walls between God and our hearers. So, we need to think before we speak. Otherwise we may be presenting half-baked truth.
What the best course of action for evangelism is, is to live out our faith before an unbelieving world.
-Pastor Aaron Knapp