People need the right perspective in order to be believe in and submit to Christ. Someone can have the wrong perspective and no matter how many authoritative facts are presented to them, they still reject them. This struggle to present the Gospel to non-believers is very similar to the current batch of flat-earthers, moon landing skeptics and deniers of the holocaust. There’s a common thread here. It seems that no matter how true something is and how much evidence there is supporting it, the more time that has passed, the less likely people are to believe it. Let’s see what God’s Word says about perspective…
Galatians 3:26-28 reads:
‘So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 reads:
‘What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”’
John 3:17 reads:
‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’
We also must not condemn the world. However, we are commanded to keep the church, Christ’s bride, as pure as possible — either by confronting the person and their sin directly, and if they repent, forgiving them… or as a last resort against the unrepentant, expelling them. In my opinion, this is what Paul is referring to in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13. The purity of the church isn’t one-sided either, as in ‘squashing all sin’, but it’s also about forgiving the repentant sinner. In the verse just before, 1 Corinthians 5:11, Paul addresses the unrepentant sinner by stating that you must not associate with a drunkard, greedy person, swindler, idolator that also claims to be a brother or sister. This kind of behavior, someone who says one thing then does another thing — repeatedly and intentionally, is exactly what Galatians 6:7 is referring to:
‘Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.’
All of this is commanded so that we may set a good example through our actions of God’s church for the world to see. They will see that we are a community that is loving, compassionate, and full of grace, while also not saying “sin is OK” or “we’ll sin with you”. So that when we tell others about the Gospel, about Jesus being the Savior, about the love, grace and forgiveness of God, and about the hope of eternal life — that people listen and don’t immediately dismiss us as hypocrites. This is our Christian witness. Simply telling people in the world that they are sinning or going to hell does not win them to Christ. It’s about as effective as telling a smoker, “You know, those things will kill you.” Unfortunately in both situations, most people don’t see the truth until they are facing death. God knew this, it’s how we are — stubborn and “stiff-necked” as it says in Exodus 32:9. God is patient, and that is why He sent Jesus into the world to save it, not condemn it. We must also be patient, it can take a lifetime of living a loving, forgiving, Christ-like life before people around you see the truth, especially family.
John 6:44 tells us that the Father must draw people to Christ first, only then can they be convicted of their sin through the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:14 reads:
‘The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.’
So basically, as with so many things, it’s in God’s hands. Only God can soften someone’s heart to make it receptive to the Gospel that we share. This requires patience on our part, but not as much as God has repeatedly shown all of us — remember we all had a journey before we came to Christ, and someone, usually multiple people, were patient with us on that journey. We have to do the same with others and meet them where they are. God’s Word tells us exactly how to do it, what to expect, and that we should press on.
Galatians 6:9-10 reads:
‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.’