People won’t care how much you know…

…until they know how much you care

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. - Romans 1:16

How frequently have you heard this tired trope? How often has a Christian mentioned this in regard to sharing the gospel? “People won’t listen to the gospel if they’re hungry or homeless. First we have to provide their physical needs before we can deal with their spiritual needs.” Perhaps you’ve said this yourself to someone else. I tell you, this is nothing more than a cowardly, Christian cop-out. Before I go further, let me say that I myself am not perfect in this respect (I expect few are). I want, however, to get you thinking about what it is to which we are called and what really is required in order to fulfill that calling.

The idea that “people won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” though it may seem logical, caring, compassionate even, is simply an excuse. Instead of preaching the gospel as we are called to do, Christians would rather perform charity. Charity, after all, is easy. One need simply give - money, time, material needs. It is so easy, in fact, that anyone, Christian or non-Christian, can do it. This is why so many secular charities exist.

If secular charities can do the same charitable work that Christians can, what distinguishes the Christian from the non-Christian? What is the distinction between what the Christian has to offer and what the non-Christian has to offer to those who are perishing, as Scripture describes them? There is only one disparity between the two that truly matters: the gospel.

The “Great Commission”, as it is called, is simple: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). This is the task to which we have been called. This is the one thing we as Christians have to offer that the world cannot. The world can provide food, clothing, shelter, and other material goods, but only Christianity holds the keys to eternal life. The gospel must take priority. While there is nothing wrong with charity, it is not, and should not be, our primary focus. Unfortunately, charity is the locus of many so-called “missions trips” today.

While there is certainly nothing wrong with charity, it cannot be given primacy over the gospel. It often happens, and in so doing, Christians not only neglect the mission to which we’ve actually been called (“preach the gospel”), they are leaving people in their sin. I have often said, “performing charity without preaching the gospel is like paving potholes on the road to hell” - it may make the ride smoother, but it does not change the destination. It may make the recipient more comfortable, but it leaves them in darkness.

There are two fallacies underlying this seemingly compassionate cliche. First is that preaching the gospel has something to do with “how much you know.” This is patently false. The gospel is not about how much you know or even what you know - it’s about Who you know! Jesus Christ, the Messiah, Son of God, is at the center of the gospel. It is Him whom we preach, and it is about Him alone. It is not about our knowledge of theology. It is not about being able to recite Scripture. It is about Jesus and the work He did on our behalf to reconcile us to God. Paul put it rather succinctly:

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

1 Corinthians 15:1-5, emphases mine

The gospel really is that simple. Because of this work that Jesus did, salvation is made available. Paul tells us how to procure this salvific offer:

…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Romans 10:9-10

The second fallacy in this believably benevolent bromide is the assumption that sharing the gospel isn’t caring. While meeting someone’s physical needs is certainly compassionate, nothing shows love more than sharing the gospel. After all, what good is a meal that is here and gone, leaving someone still hungry hours or days later, in comparison to eternal redemption? Is it caring to give someone the coat off your back if that person is still left out in the cold of condemnation? How loving is it to provide someone a roof for a night yet leave that person in the dark of damnation?

“…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” - Acts 1:6

We are given the power to preach, to witness. This from Jesus’ own lips.

Again, I am not saying charity is wrong in and of itself, but if the gospel is not preached, charity is wasted.

Don’t fall prey to pithy platitudes that have the appearance of altruism. Charity is a good thing; of this there is no doubt. As Christians, however, with the unsaved, the gospel must take preeminence. This is truly loving. Preach the gospel, take opportunity to perform charity when it presents itself. Only in this way can we truly fulfill the Great Commission.