Harmless or Holy?
Why the Church Must Choose Bravery Over Niceness
Harmless or Holy? Why the Church Must Choose Bravery Over Niceness
The church isn’t faltering because the opposition is overwhelming. It’s faltering because Christians have stopped speaking. Silence does not reflect godliness, and comfort does not indicate faithfulness. When we neglect to act, to speak, and to stand, the kingdom bears the weight. Not because God lacks power, but because Christians lack courage. It is time to move beyond appearances. When reverence becomes an excuse to avoid discomfort, we are no longer obeying God. We are indulging self-preservation. We’re engaging in ritual and calling it faith. That’s not bravery. That’s retreat disguised as faithfulness. When Christians avoid speaking or standing in order to remain comfortable, it is not spiritual discipline. It is self-preservation in the name of religion.
This is not a cry for chaos. It is a call to action. Christians are not called to huddle up and hide. We are called to stand in the fire. To speak the truth. To suffer for righteousness' sake (1 Peter 3:14). To lose our lives in order to gain them (Matthew 16:24–25). That is what bravery looks like in the kingdom of God.
This article expands on a conversation Aaron Dodson and I had during an episode of Christianity Now. We discussed the crisis of passivity in the church and what real Christian bravery looks like. What follows is a structured development of those themes with added scripture and application.
1. Christianity Was Never Meant to Be Comfortable
Many in the modern church have no reason to be brave because they’ve built their faith around avoiding risk. We’ve become event-oriented. Church on Sunday. Bible class on Wednesday. Maybe a service project or two. But no mission.
We spend more time planning our weekends at the lake than preparing to speak up for Jesus. There is no real persecution because there is no real cost. Our lives revolve around comfort and the perceived approval of others—whether cultural, social, or even institutional. We do not ask whether our choices honor God—we ask whether they come with consequences. That shift in questioning reveals our comfort-first mindset. We have lost the willingness to ask, "Is this worth my life?" That was the question Stephen faced when he stood before the Sanhedrin, and Paul considered when he walked back into Lystra after being stoned. Their faith cost them everything. They counted it gain.
That mindset creates passive Christians. Observers, not workers. But the cross is not for display. It is for bearing. There is no Christianity without motion. No faith without effort.
The apostles never prioritized comfort over courage. When Paul was told chains and afflictions awaited him, he said, “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy” (Acts 20:24). His bravery did not come from stubbornness. It came from perspective. He knew what was at stake. He had already counted the cost and knew his soul was not for sale.
2. True Bravery Always Costs Something
Bravery is not proven in words. It is proven in sacrifice. Read Acts 13 and 14. Paul and Barnabas preached in hostile synagogues, were driven out of cities, and Paul was stoned. And then what? He went back to those cities. Why? Because the work was not done. That is what faith looks like. That is what bravery demands.
We are not brave because we have chosen inactivity. We have traded the call to be salt and light for the luxury of keeping quiet. Those who avoid suffering often avoid service.
Peter and John rejoiced after being beaten because they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5:41). That pattern of rejoicing in suffering, of persisting through persecution, is the model we must recover. Until we put ourselves in situations where obedience might actually cost us something, we will never truly understand what it means to be brave.
3. Stop Calling Comfort a Virtue
The modern church has become risk-averse, because it has become passive. And passivity is not prudence. It is negligence in disguise.
We do not want to make waves. We do not want to offend. So we wrap passivity in religious language and call it wisdom. We justify our silence with verses about peace while ignoring the examples of Jeremiah, who was imprisoned for his warnings, and Elijah, who was hunted by kings for confronting idolatry.
We say, “People just won’t listen today.” But how loudly are we speaking? Stop playing church and start living truth out loud. Most of us are speaking only in places where it is safe—among friends, in church buildings, or online echo chambers. Preachers in the Bible Belt are just shouting in echo chambers. They are preaching the gospel to people who already believe it, while calling it bravery.
True courage is not found in friendly pulpits. It is found in the uncomfortable conversations, the hard rebukes, the open confrontations with sin. You do not measure bravery by how comfortable your audience is. You measure it by what you are willing to lose for the sake of truth.
Jesus was not nice. He was kind in the way that calls sin what it is and refuses to compromise truth for comfort. As Paul wrote, love “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). There is a difference. Niceness preserves peace even when truth demands conflict. Kindness tells the truth, even if it cuts. Jesus rebuked entire cities (Matthew 11:20–24), exposed false teachers (Matthew 23), and ran money changers out of the temple (John 2:15). That was love in action. That was kindness, not cowardice.
4. The Church Is Suffering from a Lack of Bold Leadership
The church does not need more agreeable personalities. It needs men with conviction. Preachers who will speak the truth even when it hurts, and elders who will stand beside them when it costs. A congregation cannot thrive on silence and compromise. We have to stop worrying about church size and start worrying about church purity.
If preaching the truth causes a few, or even the majority, to leave, that is not division. Division arises when the body is fractured by sin or false doctrine—not when the faithful stand for truth. As Paul warned in Romans 16:17, it is those who cause offenses contrary to sound doctrine who divide the church, not those who expose them. When truth is preached and some depart, it reveals their lack of fellowship with the truth to begin with (1 John 2:19). That is pruning, just as Jesus described in John 15: where every branch that beareth fruit is purged so it may bring forth more fruit. Pruning is not loss. It is preparation for growth. The Word is a sword (Hebrews 4:12). It cuts. If the gospel we preach never offends anyone, then we are not preaching what Jesus preached.
Too many preachers are afraid of rocking the boat. But Paul said he would take every opportunity to take power away from false teachers (2 Corinthians 11:12). Sometimes you have to be the one who stirs the waters to keep the church from sinking.
5. There Is No Bravery Without Daily Death
The first step in following Jesus is denying yourself and taking up your cross (Luke 9:23). That is not poetic. That is personal. Every Christian has to die to self before he can live for Christ. And that kind of death happens long before anyone points a gun at your head.
If we are not willing to die to our desires, we will not die for our Lord. The rich young ruler walked away sorrowful when asked to give up what he loved (Matthew 19:21–22).
Being brave does not start with martyrdom. It starts with obedience. It starts with doing the hard thing when no one is watching. It starts with telling the truth when it would be easier to stay quiet. It starts with loving someone enough to risk your reputation, your job, or your comfort for their soul.
And if we are not doing that, we are not following Christ. We are still playing church, and we have been doing it far too long. That must end. If that does not change, the church will keep losing ground to a world that never stopped marching forward.
Conclusion: The Time for Silence Is Over
The culture is unraveling, and many Christians are more concerned with stage lighting and seating arrangements than with proclaiming the gospel. This results in a church that entertains rather than equips, and a body that grows softer while the world grows darker. We claim to be faithful. But we have become passive. We avoid conflict, avoid cost, and call it godliness. And harmless is not the same as meek. Meekness is strength that knows when to act. Harmlessness is the appearance of virtue without the substance of conviction.
The church must wake up. The kingdom has no room for passivity. If you are in Christ, you are not called to sit and wait. You are called to move and work. Christianity is not about maintenance. It is about movement. Not preserving safety. Advancing the mission. There is no such thing as a faithful Christian who is not active.
Let the world be loud in its rebellion. The church must stop playing church and be louder in its truth.
If your price is anything less than death, you’re for sale.
And the Remnant said, "Amen."