We are not ashamed!

Sharing the Gospel

Many of us know the essence of the Gospel - that God loves us, that Man has sinned, that Christ died to reconcile us to Him and that we need to accept Him as our Saviour. We can even recall many instances in which we could have shared... silences we could have spoken into, problems we could have prayed over with our pre-believing friends, intimate conversations during which we could have shared about Who we placed our faith in.

But are we often held back by the fear that the Gospel will offend?
"Will introducing the Gospel into this conversation be too abrupt or obvious?"
"What if my friend starts to think of me as brainwashed and biased?"
"What if I offend my friend and make it harder for him/her to receive the Gospel in future?"
"Will they think I always have an ulterior motive of converting them? Will that make them more reluctant to draw closer to me in future?"
And because of this, we have slunk away from many chances we could have had to declare it.

People's Response to the Gospel

In the book of Acts, the disciples declared the Gospel to all, unabashedly and boldly. Did they receive the opposition that we so fear in this day and age? YES! They were persecuted and reviled in almost every city (Acts 8 onwards). Many were receptive to them at first and granted them an audience, but these who were once receptive turned hostile towards the Gospel after listening to what the disciples had to say (Acts 7, Acts 13).

Let's not deceive ourselves: The Gospel WILL offend, no matter how you sugar-coat it. (Romans 9:33 NKJV - Jesus is a rock of offence to many, which makes them stumble.) There is only one way for anyone sharing the Gospel not to offend anyone at all: if the full Gospel is not shared.

But was preaching it worth it? Yes, because many also were not offended, and believed. If we are afraid to risk offending, we are also forgoing the chance for others to believe.

Learning From Experience

Many of us are afraid to share because of past experiences, in which our friends complained to us of insensitive Christians who've shared with them, or in which we have ourselves been those insensitive Christians.

We have come away learning this lesson: "I must be VERY careful about sharing the Gospel in future." We come to the conclusion that God must be telling us that it is our technique of sharing the Gospel that is wrong, and omit sharing it on so many occasions for fear of making more mistakes.

Why not let THIS be the lesson we learn instead? That instead of cutting down on sharing the Gospel because we've not yet "perfected" our techniques of "non-offence", we decide, "I will increase in LOVING others all the more." For perfect love casts out all fear, and against it there is NO LAW (Galatians 5:22). God WILL be pleased if we share out of love, even if the results seem to go awry, as it did in so many cases with the disciples in Acts.

God's Promise

God promises to be with us as we share the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20), not just to stand by and do nothing, but to BEAR WITNESS (Acts 14:3). His Word does not return to Him void! If we sow, we WILL see fruit (Galatians 6:9), but we MUST sow.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Romans 1:16-17

Prayer & Meditation

The believers prayed for boldness when they first encountered persecution.
Read Acts 4:23-31

Prayer:
- deeper love for lost friends
- boldness to witness, unashamed
- dependence on the Holy Spirit
- inquiring of God for guidance for every step in witnessing