Acts 17 5-9 But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying there is another king, one called Jesus." When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
Nothing like a little exaggeration to handle a situation. Paul and Silas have caused trouble "all over the world"? They should be proud to be considered such world beaters! And though it is true that they are claiming there is another king called Jesus, they never said Caesar was not a king. It is highly unlikely that the Roman government, let alone Caesar, cared about Paul and Silas. They didn't even know Paul and Silas were Roman citizens when they were imprisoned unjustly in Philippi and if they were such a threat to Rome, why allow them to leave in the first place?
It was the world of the Jews in Thessalonica that was being threatened. But in order to achieve their goal of ousting Paul and Silas and the followers, they exaggerated a bit to get the point across. And people fell for the exaggeration to the point of arresting Jason and chasing Paul and Silas.
We have all exaggerated but let's call exaggeration what it is: It is the Truth compounded with a Lie.
The church exaggerates, too. Jokingly we say someone is speaking "evangelistically" when they tweak the Sunday Morning attendance a bit. In order to lift ourselves up in the eyes of our fellow ministers we may add a little bit to our missions giving total.
There was a church I knew of that claimed terrific numbers for a Vacation Bible School. 1200 was the number given for the outreach in the small town. Church officials were impressed and fellow ministers "oohed and awed." Until the exaggeration came to light. Yes, there were 1200 in attendance but that represented 300 on average a day. Impressive numbers at any rate but the Pastor sensed the need to exaggerate in order to build up his own reputation. Instead, his reputation was sullied.
Why must we compound a truth with a lie? What is so insecure about us and our call that we can't just say it like it is? Why exaggerate? Why speak evangelistically? Isn't it up to God to decide if we have been successful or not? For that matter, does success have anything to do with numbers at all? Isn't it more about being obedient to what God has called us?
I have been guilty of exaggeration. And I feel awful everytime. If the Truth is not enough how could a lie added to it make it any better?
I have determined to not exaggerate, be it about my golf game (woefully inadequate) or the numbers that fill the chairs on Sunday morning (sometimes woefully inadequate, as well). I have chosen not to speak "evangelistically" but to speak as an evangelist. Surely, if more people come to know Christ the numbers will take care of themselves.
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