How do I share the Gospel with those who focus on “hypocritical Christians”?

When sharing the gospel with non-Christians, we may encounter those who focus on the hypocrisy of Christians as a reason not to hear or believe the gospel. They may claim to know Christians whose lives are no different than non-Christians or even worse. Perhaps you have met someone who was quick to point out that televangelists preach God’s Word on TV but fail to live it out in their personal lives. Some non-Christians have referred to people who have done horrendous things in the name of Christ such as the Spanish Inquisition and The Crusaders. Even Adolph Hitler claimed to serve God by persecuting the Jewish people because they had crucified Christ. An unbeliever may say, “I want nothing to do with Christianity because I see too many Christians who are some of the most angry, greedy, immoral, and selfish people I have ever known!”

How do we respond to non-Christians whose focus is on the hypocrisy of Christians? There are several things to consider:

1. Explain to them that not all people are Christians who say they are Christians. The Bible emphasizes that eternal life is a free gift (John 4:10-14; Rom. 6:23; Ephes. 2:8-9). A person does not receive eternal life by living a good life, keeping God’s commandments, going to church, praying every day, or being baptized with water. The Bible tells us that a person must come to God as a sinner (Rom. 3:23), realizing that Christ died for all his sins and rose from the dead (I Cor. 15:3-6), and then believe or trust in Christ alone for His gift of everlasting life (John 3:36; 6:40, 47; I Cor 15:3-6). The moment a person trusts in Christ alone to give them everlasting life, God not only gives him or her the free gift He paid for when He died on the cross – eternal life – He also comes to live inside of that person through His Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:11; Gal. 2:20; 3:2) to give them the power to live a life that pleases Him.

Many people who claim to be Christians do not understand this simple gospel message. Instead of trusting in Christ alone to get them to heaven, they are trusting in their good works or in Christ plus their good works to get them to heaven, and therefore, they do not have God’s power in them to live a life that pleases Him. Many non-Christians use their religion to try to cover up their sins. So it is important that the non-Christian understands that not all people who say they are Christians have God’s power in them to live a different life because they are not trusting in Christ alone to save them and give them everlasting life. Instead, they are depending on their good works or religious efforts to get them to heaven, instead of on Christ and His finished work on the cross alone. 

2. Inform them that Christians are also imperfect sinners who do not always live the way God wants them to live. The Bible tells us that when a person believes or trusts in Christ alone for everlasting life, he becomes a child of God forever. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). Just as children can disobey a father and lose their closeness with him, so God’s children can disobey Him and lose their closeness with God. And as an earthly father’s children remain his children no matter how they behave, so God’s children remain His children no matter what they do after they trust in Christ alone for their salvation (cf. 2 Tim. 2:13). But God is not pleased with them and He will lovingly discipline them if they continue in disobedience (Heb. 12:5-11).

It is unfortunate that the disobedience of God’s children can discourage non-Christians from wanting to learn more about Jesus Christ. Ask the non-Christian not to permit the ungodly lifestyles of Christians keep them from receiving the greatest message ever offered to humanity! It is essential that the non-Christian distinguish between the lifestyle of a Christian and the message of Christ.

3. Ask the non-Christian if there are any Christians they respect for the way they live. Most non-Christians know of believers in Christ who try to live consistent Christian lives, but they tend to focus on the few believers they know who live hypocritical lives. Like all of us, non-Christians can be inconsistent in their thinking. 

4. Confront the non-Christian with Christ’s invitation to believe or trust in Him alone on the basis of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, not the lifestyles of Christians. Christ is not inviting non-Christians to trust in Him alone for salvation on the basis of how Christians live or do not live their lives. Christians cannot save lost sinners from hell no matter how much they live for Christ. Only Christ can save sinners from hell because only He has paid the full penalty for the sins of the world through His death and resurrection (John 19:30; Rom. 5:8; I Corinthians 15:3-6). 

When Jesus was talking to a religious leader, named Nicodemus, who thought the way to heaven was by living a good life, Jesus confronted Nicodemus with his need to be born of God’s Spirit by believing in Christ alone for His gift of everlasting life (John 3:1-16). Christ referred to Numbers 21:8 where God instructed Moses to lift up a bronze serpent so that all who were bitten by poisonous snakes and dying, could “look” at the serpent and “live” physically. Jesus explained their “look”as simply believing in Him:

14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). 

Just as the dying Israelites had to look at the bronze serpent lifted up on a pole, so all people who are dying in their sins must look in faith to Jesus Christ who was lifted up on a cross to die for their sins. Christ did not say to look at how Christians live so they can believe in Jesus. No, He says to look at the “Son of Man,” Jesus Christ, who was “lifted up”on the cross for them so they can believe in Him for the gift He paid for when He died in their place.  

The most important issue for the non-Christian to consider is not what Christians have done, but what Christ has done for them when He died on the cross and rose from the dead! Encourage the non-Christian not to let the Christians who disappoint them keep them from believing or trusting in Christ alone who will not disappoint them!

(Adapted from Larry Moyer’s, 1999 Dear God I’m Ticked Off, pp. 110-117).