Who Will Listen to the Witness of a Hypoccrite?

How you live is important. The Holy Spirit teaches us through Paul’s inspired words to make sure our conduct is worthy of the Gospel. Philippians 1:27 says,

“Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”

It is significant that Paul places this command in the context of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Preaching the Gospel, remember, was Paul’s passion. It was his call, It was his ministry.

But it’s also supposed to be ours. We are all supposed to share our faith and witness to the Gospel, aren’t we? Paul’s passion should be our passion. I really shouldn’t have to prove this from the Bible should I? Isn’t this something that you already know?

Jesus told us in Acts 1:8:

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; an you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end (or to the uttermost part) of the earth.”

My town of Orrington, Maine, of course, is at the end of the earth. So my congregation is included. We are expected to be witnesses to Christ here in Orrington. But wherever you live is pretty close to the end of the earth too, at least compared to Jerusalem.

But the effect of your witness is tied directly to your conduct. I mean, for people to believe your witness, you have to not only believe it yourself, but you have to live it. If not, well, there is a word for those who don’t. That word is “hypocrite.” It’s claiming to believe one thing, but living as though you don’t. And if you don’t live it as though you believe it, how can you ever expect those whom you witness to to believe it? You can’t! Because the Gospel is intended to not just save us, but to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ.

What will the world think if it hasn’t done that in you? What will that do to your witness? Certainly, anyone who believes the Gospel will, more and more, have a conduct that emulates Christ. That is what makes our message believable.

John MacArthur writes:

“The world can hardly be expected to embrace a faith whose proponents so little emulate its standards of holiness and fail to manifest the transforming power of Christ.”

As John MacArthur also writes:

“The church’s greatest testimony before the world is spiritual integrity. When Christians live below the standards of Biblical morality and reverence for their Lord, they compromise the full Biblical truth concerning the character, plan and will of God. By so doing, they seriously weaken the credibility of the Gospel.”

How true that is. I know that most Christians probably never rob a bank or rape or kill anyone, and most Christian men don’t look at porn, or drink and drive and sit in bars. But what does the world think if we constantly argue with one another? Or gossip about one another? Or act like we can’t stand each other? Especially since Jesus established love as the test of our faith in John 13:35, which says, “By this.” By what? The previous verse, John 13:34, which says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

Love is the test. Therefore, John 13:35 can say, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

And what if we live constantly worrying about everything as if Jesus can’t be trusted to control things, or He doesn’t know best what to allow in our lives. Or what if we make our priorities all about acquiring the things of this world, and we become greedy, or power mad, or lazy? You pick the area of your life that would be appropriate as an example that fits you. But if we live that way, what happens to our testimony?

The moral is: We need to live out our faith in every area because the world is watching. And unfortunately, they judge your Jesus by your conduct. To not live a consistent Christian life will destroy your testimony

On the other hand, there is no greater testimony to the truth of your witness than a consistent lifestyle - one that shows you firmly believe what you preach - that you believe it so much you live it out.

As Warren Wiersbe says,

“The most important weapon against the enemy is not a stirring sermon or a powerful book; it is the consistent life of a believer.”

There is an anonymous poem that goes like this:

“You are writing a gospel a chapter each day,
By the deeds that you do, and the words that you say.
Men read what you write, whether faithful or true;
Just what is the Gospel according to you?”