evangelism

Why Are We Scared To Share? – Romans 1:16

Posted on by chgruver

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

How often are you scared to share your faith? Do you often make up excuses for not going out and sharing the Gospel with others? I will admit I am the type of personality that often worries about how others think of me and at times I think that keeps me from sharing about my faith like I should. How strange it is that in a country where we can proclaim our beliefs without fear or penalty of imprisonment or death are often scared to proclaim the Gospel because of worry that someone may form a negative opinion about us.

We can oftentimes claim we are not ashamed of the Gospel, yet act in the complete opposite way in order to “not offend” someone. The problem is when you look at this verse think of what Paul was stating. Just before he wrote this, Paul was talking about wanting to come to Rome to teach the Gospel; this was Nero’s Rome a Rome known for its persecution of Christians. Paul here is stating that he didn’t care that preaching the Gospel was a death sentence waiting to happen, because when people hear the Gospel it has the power to bring about salvation.

So now the question is if Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel and willing to proclaim it with the threat of death for doing so, why don’t we share with the same boldness?

1 Peter 3:15

Posted on by chgruver

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“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”
1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

This verse is one that is so theologically rich that I am not sure how to properly approach it and do it justice for a short devotional. This is a verse that is used often as the basis for a study known as Apologetics where one defends their faith, thus it also has implications for evangelism as you are sharing your faith with unbelievers. If you ask me however, I feel that while those are important aspects of the verse when it is put into the context of its section in 1 Peter 3 and even in the context of 1 Peter as a whole this verse seems to be getting at more than defending our faith or even evangelism. This verse is talking about our actions as Christians, it is talking about our holiness.

Let’s look at 1 Peter 3:13-17 together:

“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

You see when you read 1 Peter you notice Peter charging Christians to live holy lives and this verse comes right smack in the middle of 1 Peter, where he states that they are being questioned about their hope. Holiness is the outward expression of our inward hope. It is this holiness this expression of our hope that causes people to take a look at us and notice we are different from the world. It is this outward expression of our hope that should be causing unbelievers to question us about the reasons for why we act the way we do. It is this outward expression of our hope that requires us to share and explain the Gospel to any we encounter.

Yes evangelism and apologetics are an important part of this verse. The thing is however, they are meaningless if our lives aren’t displaying the hope we have. Though just like it is stated in an often overused and misused phrase, “Preach the Gospel at all times; and if necessary use words,”  Remember people won’t listen to your words, if your actions don’t match.

John 1:5

Posted on by chgruver

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The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5 ESV

What is the definition of darkness? It is basically the absence of light, in physics there is no term that dictates a measurement of darkness. The term pitch black is just stating that there is absolutely zero amount of light. If you have ever been to one of those tourist attractions where you go into the caverns they usually take you to one section where they will turn out all the lights to show you what pitch black is; it is so dark that no matter how close you hold your hand to your face you are unable to see it. This is an environment that anything living in it is usually blind due to the lack of light. Now when John talks about Jesus entering into the world, he uses the imagery of light shining in the darkness. How many times have you been in a dark room and suddenly been blinded when someone turned on the lights, this was essentially what Jesus stepping into the world was like, a flare going off in a dark room. Look at it this way a child that is scared of the dark is often put at ease by a tiny night light. You see darkness cannot survive where there is even the smallest speck of light.

 

Now the darkness Christ stepped into was not a physical darkness but rather a spiritual darkness. Hearts were far from God, most people if they exhibited any form of righteousness it was self righteousness. Their motivations were to make themselves look good rather than to glorify God, and this is the natural state of man. Without Christ we are at enmity with God, our hearts are living in darkness and like the animals living in the pitch black environment we are spiritually blind; but when Christ enters our lives that darkness is dispelled and our relationship with God is restored.

 

As Christians we are called to be representatives of Christ. This means we are to ourselves become little lights shining in the darkness. We are to spread the Gospel to expose others to the light of Christ which in turn they will go and spread the light. Remember you don’t turn on a light and then stick it in the closet and close the door; you use the light for illumination in order to see where you are going or what you are doing, in much the same way our sharing the Gospel, our being lights reflecting Christ  is much the same it is to show others the way to God and the need for a Savior. So let me end with this how are you letting your light shine for others to see?