You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For ‘the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,’ as it is written. Romans 2:23-24
If you search the most common reasons people either avoid or abandon Christianity, virtually every list will cite the misdeeds of Christians as one of the most common. Many of us have experienced or witnessed the pain of being mistreated by a brother or sister in Christ, so we can sympathize with those who may have apprehensions about Christianity.
The passage above speaks to the danger of not living consistently with the principles given in Christ’s covenant. When we profess to belong to God while living inconsistently with his directives, many people do not just blame us, they blame God. This helps explain the New Testament’s repeated condemnation of hypocrisy. Therefore, we who claim the name of Jesus need to be diligent to live as consistently with His will as possible. This does not mean we will never step out of character and sin, but it demands we be swift to put things right when we do (Matthew 5:21-26). However, the decision to either avoid or abandon Christianity because of the misdeeds of Christians is misguided, dangerous, and unfair to the Lord and His people.
It is misguided because it misplaces blame. If one who professes to follow Jesus does things that are not in keeping with Jesus’ demands, it is not Jesus’ fault. It is easier to grasp why a worldly person may adopt this attitude than a believer. We must not give up on Jesus because one who claims to follow Him fails. I should add that this applies to leaving one congregation for another because of an individual’s misdeeds rather than seeking reconciliation (Matthew 18:15-20).
It is dangerous because the sins of another will not excuse us from the eternal consequences of shirking His will for the church. Christians are to come together both to worship the One who is worthy (John 4:23-24) and to stir one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24-25). Walking away because of the sins of a fellow disciple causes us to violate God’s will regarding both reasons given for why we worship. Furthermore, this decision plainly violates the Lord’s directive for reconciliation of brethren (Matthew 18:15-20). To abandon the church because someone wronged us is to deny the guilty party this opportunity to make amends. None of the items here named is optional, so when we walk away from Christ and His church, we live in sin.
It is unfair to Christ because He is innocent in every one of these situations. His covenant is pure and wholesome and good even when we fail to live it out. It is also unfair to the faithful in the body for at least three reasons. First, it is discouraging when a brother or sister walks away. Second, the faithful are innocent of the wrongs of another. How can we justify hurting those who never wronged us in our anger towards another who did? Third, inconsistency within one’s proclaimed ethical standard is not unique to Christianity, but many react more harshly to a Christian’s failures than those of others.
It is true there are hypocrites mixing in the assemblies of the Lord’s church, and they must be dealt with scripturally. However, it is often the case that people of honest faith wrong one another through ignorance or moments of weakness. If we just walk away because of a wrong done, we deny these the opportunity to make things right, take our anger out on our Lord in His innocence, and we harm the cause of Christ with the world around us. So, let us remember that, while our fellowship with the brethren is a big part of why we come together, it is truly all about the Lord. We must never blame Jesus for the sins of His people. Put another way, we must not throw out the baby with the bathwater.