Fewer and fewer Christians are sharing this faith, but why? Why does it seem harder to share Christ today than ever before?
Ashamed of Jesus?
[1]Saint Paul Writing His Epistles by Valentin de Boulogne.
Fewer and fewer Christians are sharing this faith, but why? Why does it seem harder to share Christ today than ever before? First of all, it’s never been easy, but it’s always been necessary. The Apostle Paul was never shy about sharing Christ and said, “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” (Rom 1:16). Its serious business to God when we are ashamed of God and ashamed to speak about Jesus Christ, for our Lord said that “whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26).
A Loving Act
One of the most loving acts we can do and one that God did for us, is to warn the sinner of the coming wrath of God on those who refuse to repent and trust in Christ. It’s easy to be silent, but that is not really loving our neighbor as ourselves. God loved us first (1 John 4:19), and even while we were weak, ungodly, wicked enemies of Him (Rom 5:6-10), so how can we remain on the sidelines, disobeying the Great Commission from our Lord and King, Jesus Christ? Here’s an imperative command from the King of the Universe (Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8), and we’re “too embarrassed” to bring up Jesus? I admit, it’s not easy, but it is loving and it is necessary. Someone shared Christ with us didn’t they? They took a risk of offending us so that we might be saved. It’s like warning someone of a bridge out around the curve they can’t see. We know it’s washed out but most people won’t believe us and don’t want us to ruin their nice day, but even at the risk of offending them, remember you are trying to save them from certain death! In our case, we warn of eternal death (Rev 20:15).
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Know the Gospel
Imagine you found an accident victim at the side of the road and they only had minutes to live. Do you know the gospel well enough to share it with them before they die? If we don’t know the real gospel, we likely won’t share it with anyone. The gospel is that no one is good enough to save themselves, for none are good (Rom 3:10-12), and that God’s wrath remains on a person before they trust in Christ and that wrath must be removed only by repentance and faith. We trust He lived a sinless life, being born of a virgin, being killed at Calvary, but raised on the third day and now sits at the right hand of the Father. Romans 10:9-13 and 1 Cor 15:1-5 sums up the gospel very well as does 2nd Corinthians 5:21 where Paul says it was “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. “ The mercy of God is relevant to the sinner only when the wrath of God is revealed. Only then does it become “amazing grace” to the sinner (Eph 2:8-9).
Excuses
[3]Remember when Moses made excuses to God that he was not an eloquent speaker and that he couldn’t possibly do what God asked him to do and that was to speak to Pharaoh and tell him, “Let my people go” (Ex 9:1)? God is using us as a means of letting His people go out from this world and step into the Kingdom through Christ, the only way to be saved (Act 4:12). We fail to remember that the power is in the gospel itself (Rom 1:16; 1 Cor 1:18) and not in us. God opens hearts, not us (Acts 16:14), but God is pleased to use us as a means to reach His ends, namely saving the perishing. This was God’s plan in the beginning that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:19). Did you catch that?! He has given us “the message of reconciliation,” or He wants to use us in reconciling sinners to God through Christ. It was given to us, so what have we done with it? You feel too shy? Jesus died for us who deserved God’s wrath but took that wrath upon us and I know He expects us to tell others.
Pride
Is it possibly that our pride interferes with our sharing Christ? Are we afraid to look bad in front of others or be embarrassed by being scorned in public by their hatred for God? When we begin to fear man more than God, we’ve got a huge stumbling block in sharing our faith. We can easily become underground, silent partners of the gospel, while people slide into hell every day and every hour. Nearly 150,000 people will die today, most of them never hearing about Jesus. We’re told to go into all the world, but we won’t even go next door. Friend, I’m not trying to shame you because I struggle too at sharing Christ, but I know I must and I care less now what people think of me and more about what God thinks of me. I want to please Him and not man.
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Conclusion
I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.
Here is some related reading for you: Who Are the Disciples of Christ? [5]
Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.