When preaching Jesus is not a good thing
Sometimes, I wish certain people would stop talking about Jesus.
What?? How could I say that? Isn’t it always a good thing to proclaim the name of Jesus and speak well of Him? Shouldn’t we rejoice when anyone does that?
Not necessarily. A story in Acts 16 teaches us this, when Paul the apostle and his companions were in Philippi:
16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days.
But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.
This incident raises a couple of questions. Why would a demonic spirit want to draw attention to those who proclaimed the way of salvation (Jesus)? And why would Paul not want that?
It’s the enemy’s craftiness to oppose the church not by external attack, but by infiltration. The worst thing the devil can do to a church is join it and corrupt it from the inside, making the Lord look bad.
Christians should not want evil on our side. Our witness must be holy, and so we must not tolerate unholiness within or aligned with the church, even when the right words are used. We don’t want the world to associate Christianity with evil messengers. We don’t want His name blasphemed by unholy lips. We don’t need their help. Like Jesus said, a bad tree cannot bear good fruit — even if the fruit itself looks good, it leads back to the tree. It advertises for the tree.
That’s why I cringe when I hear Jesus preached by those who have no business doing that, such as:
Nationalists who cry “Christ is King!” (often in a spirit of antisemitism) and think our mission is to attain worldly power.
Prosperity/word of faith preachers like Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn, and their allies in the “prophetic” movement like Bethel Redding.
Theological heretics like Roman Catholics, Mormons, and progressives.
Politicians who use Christianity to get Christian votes.
Fictional dramatizations like The Chosen, which inevitably misrepresent the Lord.
Celebrities who praise God but live just like the hedonistic world.
And countless professing believers who hypocritically spew obnoxious hate on social media.
This doesn’t mean our words or even motives must always be perfect when we talk about Jesus; Paul rejoiced when Christ was preached even by those who did so out of selfish ambition (Philippians 1:15-18). But when we hear Jesus’ name proclaimed, we should consider the source. If it’s from people who publicly and egregiously dishonor the Lord by other things they say and do, we need to call them to repent — either from their wickedness or, if they don’t, from taking Christ’s name in vain.
That name is too precious, and His message too important, to allow them to be hijacked.
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