Any meaningful testimony about a life changed by Christ includes not only sin’s bankruptcy but also Jesus’s beauty and power to redeem.
In the past, I’ve been skeptical about people coming to Christ not because they’ve seen his beauty but because they’ve only seen their sin’s ugly fruit. Such people have identified what they’re running from, but I’ve doubted their faith in the One they’re running to.
While I still think Christ’s positive pull (Matt. 12:45) is more powerful than sin’s repelling nature (2 Pet. 2:22), our current cultural landscape has me reevaluating an unlikely evangelism tool: hellfire and brimstone.
Outrage: No Match for God’s Plan
“If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”
I’ve heard this slogan thrown around more times than I can count—and not just from those who’ve adopted conspiracy theories. The news cycle thrives on (and profits from) outrage. I’m not surprised when I learn of yet another public figure’s moral bankruptcy. I’m also not apathetic, but I resist the pull to be outraged.
I still believe that God will, in the end, “cut them down.” And I’m starting to think my non-Christian neighbors and friends might also find the once-unpopular doctrine of God’s judgment attractive.
With trust in public officials near an all-time low, more people are adopting a pessimistic outlook on the future. They’re no longer worried that something bad may happen. They reactively assume a posture of outrage when bad things are revealed.
I’m starting to think my non-Christian neighbors and friends might also find the once-unpopular doctrine of God’s judgment attractive.
For Christians who embrace the doctrine of depravity, our world’s evil shouldn’t be surprising. But it’d be imbalanced for us to mimic our neighbors’ outrage and pessimism. As defenses against disappointment, these postures seem effective, but sadly, they blind us from seeing the larger tapestry God is weaving.
Yes, humans are hopelessly sinful (Rom. 3:9–18, 23). Yes, power often corrupts (Eccl. 4:1). Yet God isn’t deaf to the afflicted’s cries (Isa. 59:1). He’s not blind to their plight (Gen. 16:13). Outrage accomplishes little, though it does threaten our own flourishing (Matt. 6:27). What if instead we pointed our neighbors to the One who will exact perfect justice?
For the LORD loves justice;
he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. (Ps. 37:28)
The psalmist here gives us both a warning and a promise. Saints calling on God’s name will be preserved eternally, but the wicked will receive their just damnation. To “be cut off” is no small consequence. It’s the appropriate way to deal with humanity’s secret sins.
Surprised by Injustice?
The Lord doesn’t only love justice; he also exacts it. Think of Jesus’s warning to the one who causes “little ones” to stumble: “It would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6). When a friend or neighbor asks me what I think, for example, of the Epstein files, these words seem highly applicable.
Luke similarly records an interaction where Jesus is approached about deep moral corruption in the government. Pontius Pilate had profaned some Galileans’ worship by mixing their kinsmen’s blood with their sacrifices (Luke 13:1).
What strikes me here is the lack of outrage among Jesus’s audience. Pilate’s evil is irrefutable. In our day, the online world would burn red-hot condemning his actions. Yet it’s not surprising to Jesus’s audience. Why are we so scandalized when yet another public figure’s deeds are exposed as evil? I suspect many of us have a naive view of human depravity.
Your neighbors and mine likely believe they’re upright moral citizens. In the post-Enlightenment West, they extend their belief in humanity’s goodness to those in positions of power. And all the while, they clutch their pearls when the latest scandal breaks—and break it will.
Fertile Gospel Ground
Our culture’s shock at evil is fertile ground for gospel conversations. My neighbors need to be told (as I need to be reminded) of the full gospel narrative and the place on redemptive history’s timeline we currently inhabit. Humanity was created good, but we live in a fallen world. We shouldn’t be surprised when bad people do bad things.
Later, when the rich young ruler approaches Jesus and calls him good, Jesus philosophizes about the sentiment: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:18–19). If Jesus can use this tool, so can we.
When a coworker brings up the latest celebrity evil, invite him or her into the Bible’s narrative. “Why are you surprised when the evil deeds of those with influence come to light?” Humanity was created upright, but he pursues many evil schemes (Eccl. 7:29), often hurting others in the process. Yet a day is coming when God’s justice will make all things right. He’ll punish the evil ones eternally in hell. And this is good news.
Humanity was created good, but we currently live in a fallen world. We shouldn’t be surprised when bad people do bad things.
The question is whether we’ll take stock of our own souls.
We have little control over what goes on out there in the world. But we must decide to turn away from sin and to Christ for ourselves. Will we repent? I’ve often heard that the gospel is “bad news” before it’s “good news.” Before we can see how great a Savior Jesus is, we must grasp the wretchedness of our sinfulness. Not only are those in power capable of great evil—so are we. We’re not exempt from God’s justice.
Will You Examine Your Heart?
When we see evil in the world, will it prompt us to examine ourselves? We can shake our fists at the evil powers all we want, but we all must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. God’s justice will be exacted, either on us in hell or on the Substitute. That’s the call we must extend to our neighbors.
The only perfectly just man to ever live also suffered an unjust death. The same Pilate who profaned the Galileans’ sacrifices oversaw the profaning of Jesus. But so did we. So before we respond with outrage at the world’s injustice, we must repent for the injustice in our own hearts.
Apart from Christ, we all deserve hell. But Jesus suffered for us at the hands of an unjust system. This is good news even for those who don’t yet know it. Maybe you can tell them . . . and use God’s judgment of evil as your starting point.
