Continuing on in my notes about One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven. You can see the original post here.
Oswald J. Smith said, “We are loaded down with countless church activities, while the real work of the church, that of evangelizing the world and winning the lost, is almost entirely neglected!”
These are some of the reasons we give for not sharing our faith:
Fear of being rejected
Are we more worried about what people think of us, or about what God thinks of us? Galatians 1:10 says, “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Phillipians 1:21 says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” We should live for Christ and die for Christ.
Don’t know how to
If someone led you to Jesus, then you actually do know how to lead someone to the Lord. And if not, this book will help you! One good way is to talk about a tragic event involving death and ask the person what they think happens when we die. Or ask them if they died tonight, are they 100% sure they would go to heaven.
Fear of losing a friend
My two cents: If you have a true friendship with the person and share with them in a loving way, they aren’t going to end the friendship. They know that you care about them and that you’re going to be their friend no matter what.
They have already heard
Supposedly someone has to hear the Gospel 7.6 times before they commit their life to Jesus. So even if they’ve already heard, it’s okay. Your conversation might be #7 or 8!
I’m just lazy
I’m going to use some direct quotes from the book here because they are so good.
“According to Zondervan Church Source, 97 percent of church members have no involvement in any sort of evangelism. A survey by Christianity Today found that only 1 percent of their readership had witnessed to someone ‘recently’. This does not sound like the people I read about in the New Testament who had so much zeal that they were willing to die for our Lord.”
Maybe we just don’t have any faith to share? It’s not real enough in our lives.
“If God gave you a thousand dollars every time you shared your faith in Jesus Christ, would you share your faith? Every one of us, including me, ought to repent of the fact that we would share Jesus for a measly dollar bill, instead of sharing Him because of the unconditional love that He has for each one of us.”
Friendship evangelism
Lots of times you hear people say (and I’ve said this myself) that they will just let their lives be a testimony. It’s definitely important to live for Christ and pray that our lives would bring Him glory, no doubt. But that seems like stopping halfway. The fact is almost everyone who’s ever accepted Christ has done so because they heard about Him – someone verbally told them. (Romans 10:14 – “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”)
So why do we hope that just actions will suffice? Mark Cahill says, “When we don’t want to talk about our faith, it is usually because we are ashamed of what people might think of us. However, God commands us to stand for Him and never be ashamed of Jesus.” I have to admit that this is my biggest obstacle to sharing my faith. I want to be able to say along with Paul, “…I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
I don’t know enough
If you’re saved and the person you’re talking to isn’t, then you know enough to have a spiritual conversation! Plus you have the Holy Spirit living within you to help you with what to say and to understand God’s Word. And honestly, it’s not about knowing enough. It’s as simple as explaining the difference that Jesus has made in your life…no can argue with the power of a changed life. If someone asks you a question you don’t know how to answer, just say, “That’s a good question. Let me get back to you on that.”
They won’t want to talk about it
Cahill says always assume people do want to talk about eternity, not that they don’t. In this crazy world, people are searching for meaning and truth and trying to make sense of things. Pray that the Lord will lead you to lost people during the day and that He will be working in their hearts before the conversation begins.