Jesus saved
us for many reasons, but not one of those reasons was so that we could stay
comfortable. That’s not to say God dislikes when we’re comfy; He instituted a
day of rest, after all, and I don’t know anyone who can rest and be uncomfortable
at the same time. So comfort isn't always a bad thing.
But when it
comes to sharing the Gospel, we – the Church – must step out of our comfort
zones. It doesn't have to be a grand display when we share the love of God with
strangers, friends, or family, but share it with them we must.
Jesus said that if anyone's ashamed of Him, He’ll be ashamed of them. If
we’re not careful, we can take this verse and feel extremely
guilty for not sharing the Gospel. In reality, I think more Christians are afraid of being rejected by men than they are embarrassed by Jesus.
Fear is the
biggest hindrance, I believe, to sharing the Gospel.
We’re afraid
of what people will say.
…of what they’ll
think.
…of being
made fun of.
… of looking
like an idiot.
…of someone getting
mad at us.
…of someone
challenging our beliefs and not knowing how to respond.
…of being asked
a question and not knowing how to answer.
There are
several reasons why we don’t share the Message with strangers, and those
reasons seem to get more complicated when it comes to people we know.
But I
believe it’s a lot easier than we think.
There are
various types of evangelism, but I’m going
to focus on two.
First, there’s
what’s often referred to as lifestyle evangelism. This is exactly what it sounds
like: it’s relational. It’s living your life in front of people and reaching
them for the Kingdom simply by letting them see you living out your daily life.
This is typically exercised in work, school, or social settings; neighborhoods,
families, and so forth. It can be executed in countless ways and situations.
It’s
incredibly natural, incredibly purposeful, incredibly effective, and at its
most basic level, incredibly easy.
It’s not
scary at all, because it simply requires a Christian to be themselves and live
their life. Service – helping your neighbor – is typically a
huge part of this kind of evangelism, but that’s also pretty easy in the grand
scheme of things.
St. Francis
of Assisi said “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.”
This is the ultimate crux of lifestyle evangelism, and it’s Biblical too.
“By this all
will know
that you are My disciples,
if you have love for one another.”
(John 13:35,
NKJV)
“You will
know them by their fruit.”
(Matthew 7:16, NKJV)
“Therefore,
by their fruits you will know them.”
(Matthew 7:20, NKJV)
“Let your
light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works,
and glorify your
Father which is in heaven.”
(Matthew 5:16, NKJV)
However,
there’s also the good ol' fashioned, “Excuse me sir, do you have a moment to
talk about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?” approach.
Now, I
personally would advise against using that as your opening line, but
the idea is important and leads to the second type of evangelism; the type most people tend to be afraid of.
I’ll call it
verbal evangelism.
While I
agree with St. Francis of Assisi, I’m also of the stance that words are actually quite necessary a lot of the time. This is also Biblical.
“But how can
they call on Him
to save them unless they believe in Him?
And how can they
believe in Him
if they have never heard about Him?
And how can they hear about
Him
unless someone tells them?”
(Romans 10:14, NLT)
“And then He
told them,
‘Go into all the world and
preach the Good News to everyone.’”
(Mark
16:15, NLT)
“And the
disciples went everywhere
and preached, and the Lord
worked through them,
confirming what they said
by many miraculous signs.”
(Mark 16:20, NLT)
“But you
will receive power when
the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
And you will be my
witnesses,
telling people about me everywhere -
in Jerusalem, throughout Judea,
in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
(Acts 1:8, NLT)
This is the
part that’s scary for people. This is the part that makes people feel
intimidated. It’s the talking about Jesus. It’s the answering the tough
questions (telling someone that yes, without knowing Jesus, hell is where they’ll
end up – that’s not popular, not easy, and it’s definitely not fun). It’s the
asking someone if they need prayer, and then it’s the praying. This is
where most people freeze up.
But I’m here
to say relax...breathe…calm down…because it’s actually a lot easier than we might think. Here are three things that I think may help begin to ease our fear.
1. Embrace
the Awkward!
I’m going to
make a bold statement and stand by it: awkwardness has never killed anyone. No
one has ever died from being in an awkward situation, and no one has ever died
from being the one to cause the awkward situation. I promise.
Not only
that, but awkwardness isn't actually as bad as we tend to think it is. Going
into a situation always seems like it’ll be a lot worse than it actually ends
up being. Hindsight is 20/20.
Ken Currie
of Desiring God wrote, "A little awkwardness - or even a lot of it - is
such a small price to pay for enjoying the power of God's Spirit using us to be
His witnesses."
So embrace
the awkwardness! But…
2. Don’t Be Weird.
Seriously.
We can be weird. I've been weird. I've been downright obnoxious. The Bible may
call us a “peculiar” people (1 Peter 2:9, KJV), but we don’t have to be weird.
So let’s strive to be the most normal peculiar people there are, yeah? Yeah.
So how do we
not be weird? Here are a few ideas:
- Don’t appear intimidated. Even if you are, it’s called “fake it ‘til you make it.” Even if you don’t feel relaxed, act relaxed…because eventually, you’ll become relaxed.
- Don’t be too emotional, but don’t be a robot either. At the end of the day, people are drawn to passion, but don’t bawl like a baby when someone's sharing their life story…especially if they’re not crying.
- Don’t act perfect. People are drawn to realness, to honesty, to openness. The Church has enough problems with being labeled hypocritical; don’t add to it. If self-disclosure takes place, talk about your issues with humor and lightheartedness. People feel a lot more prone to open up and relax when they know they’re not alone or aren't being judged.
- Don’t invade personal space. I have no bubble, but some people do. Some people don’t like being hugged or touched, especially not by strangers, so ask first. If you’re praying with someone for healing, before laying hands on them, ask them if it’s ok – and explain why. People will appreciate that you asked, and you have an opportunity to explain the Scriptural significance of what you’re doing.
- Don’t argue, be a know-it-all, or debate theology. I've definitely been guilty of this. At one point, I was so frustrated with myself for getting into heated discussions about theology, that I asked God for help. (Imagine that.) He brought me to 1 Corinthians 2:2, where Paul says, “For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.” How simple is that? Just focus on Jesus! (Again, imagine that.) Certain theological issues are important, but they can be discussed later. Salvation is what matters first and foremost.
And finally,
3. Rely on
the Holy Spirit.
He’s the
Helper; He’ll help you. He’s the Teacher; He’ll teach you. He’s the Giver of spiritual
gifts; He’ll give you words of wisdom and knowledge for people you’re
ministering to as He wills.
And He’s the
Comforter. He’ll comfort you when you do get laughed at for sharing the Gospel.
He’ll comfort you when someone does get mad at you or reject you. And He’ll
comfort you if (let’s be real, when) you’re weird.
Ken Currie
put it this way: “Jesus died for disciples who do a poor job of witnessing.”
So there you
go. There are a few things that may help you get over the hump of fear when it
comes to sharing the Gospel. A few more tips:
- If you’re going to tell someone that God loves them (some people knock this, but I don’t know why: God does love them), go all out and say that Jesus loves them. Don’t be afraid to use His name. A lot of people believe in God, but it’s by the name of Jesus that people are saved.
- Don’t try to magnify yourself or your knowledge. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. It’s always about Jesus. I always try to remind myself that God gave me today to manifest Him and not me.
- Don’t beat yourself up if you miss it. I've flat out disobeyed God and not prayed for people because I didn't want to be awkward or didn't want to embarrass them or myself. I've also said and done really stupid things when trying to share the Good News. But I repented, and God's given me more opportunities. Don’t let the enemy get inside your head; there’s always forgiveness and grace. Just move forward – you’ll get it next time!
- The more you share the Gospel with people, the easier and more natural it will become.
- Here’s an idea: when you get your food at a restaurant and the server asks if there’s anything else, say, “Yeah, we’re about to pray over our food. Is there anything we can pray for you for?” Brent and I have done this before (we need to get better at doing it every time we go out to eat). We've had people say yes and we've had people say no, but it’s a simple and natural way to let someone know you care, and depending on how open they are, it might lead to a great opportunity to share a bit about the Gospel too!
There are a
lot of people who don’t know Jesus. It’s worth a few moments of feeling uncomfortable to at least plant a seed of truth, if not lead them to the Lord right then and
there! This is our job; this is the call of every Christian, to in some way,
preach the Gospel in both deed and word. It's not as hard as we (or the devil makes us) think. We can do this, Church!
