I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to think about it carefully: Do you try to make Christianity look good? By this, I don’t mean, Do you try to represent Christ well by demonstrating his character in your conversations about him? or, Do you try to correct misunderstandings about the Bible that people use to impugn God’s good character? or even, Do you try to convince people that Christianity is good?

No. I mean, Do you carefully present a kind of truncated Christianity that you think people will like? Take a moment to evaluate yourself. Do you avoid certain truths our culture dislikes because you think that will attract people to Jesus?

We probably all do this to some extent, I’m sorry to say, but it’s a mistake. It’s a mistake because it misses the point of our telling people about Jesus in the first place. The point isn’t to gain people for our tribe. The point is to bring glory to God by “proclaiming his excellencies” to others so that they see him for who he is, and so that those who are enabled to see his beauty will come to him.

Jesus’ Words Cost Him Followers

Truth matters, not numbers. Jesus himself is our model in this. He certainly didn’t hold back, even when it cost him followers. Think about when he announces, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh” (John 6:51).

When this statement causes a ruckus, Jesus doesn’t back away from it. Instead, he continues to explain, and the truth just gets more controversial:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever. (John 6:53–58)

At this point, even his disciples grumble against this, saying, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” (v. 60). And what is the end result of Jesus’ words? “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore” (v. 66).

All That the Father Gives Him Will Come to Him

Jesus didn’t shy away from the truth, even though it cost him followers, because he knew, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me” (v. 37). As he reiterates in verse 65 as he’s being rejected, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

In other words, Jesus knew that those being called by the Father would not be repelled by his speaking the truth—rather, they would be drawn and would come. He knew he didn’t need to carefully curate his image in order to gain followers. Instead, he trusted in the Father’s power to draw his followers, and he simply spoke the truth that gives life to the world, leaving the numbers to God.

Trust in the God who can raise even the most unlikely people from spiritual death, and speak the truth.