The
Apostle Paul stated that he was unashamed of the gospel. Why? Romans 1:16 gives
the answer: I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of
God for salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the
Gentile.
The gospel
is the power of God for salvation. It is the only means God has given by which
a person can have eternal life. What could be more important than that? Belief
transforms a heart dominated by rebellion and selfishness into a heart that
loves God and His will. Ultimately, belief changes a person’s destiny from hell
to heaven. The gospel is powerful! When I am ashamed of it, it shows that I
have lost sight of its transforming ability.
In the gospels Jesus is recorded as speaking of
hell 33 times. Every person you see today will either spend eternity in a
lovely, glorious state of eternal bliss or in a terrible state of suffering
that never ends. When I see people I want to view them in this way. The gospel
tells us what it is that will determine their destination.
William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, had
a vision of a dark and stormy ocean full of screaming, cursing, drowning
people. On a great rock was a platform where a few people were rescuing those
in the water and pulling them to safety. However the vast majority on the
platform were entertaining themselves, or preoccupied with things like making
money, while myriads struggled in the water right before their eyes.
William Booth’s vision may seem overly dramatic
but in reality it is not. We live in the midst of an emergency situation.
People who do not believe the gospel are in grave danger. “For God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not
believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of
God’s one and only Son” (John 3:17-18).
There is a
20th Century story about a non-believing man addressing a minister
who had spoken of hell. Addressing the preacher he said, “Sir, if I believed
what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were
covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need
be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul
from an eternal hell like that!”
Though we
don’t have the power to “save” people, we have both the privilege and the
obligation to share the truth of the gospel. I want to encourage you to take
the risk of sharing Jesus with friends, relatives, and neighbors and possibly
even strangers.
Some would
say that sharing with strangers, as I have made a habit of doing in the last
couple years, is ineffective. I used to believe that myself. I fully support
the practice of building relationships with non-believers and thereby earning
the right to speak. But hundreds of meaningful encounters with people I do not know
have convinced me that talking with strangers is also appropriate.
For example, at Willamalane Park in Springfield my
friend and I spoke about the gospel with a group that included a 17 year-old
boy. He followed us as we spoke to others in the park. It became clear that the
Holy Spirit was doing a drawing work in his heart and we were able to lead him
to Christ as we sat on a picnic bench.
Once at
the Eugene Transit Station, a middle-aged man asked about a scenario in which
one person had lived a good life but was not religious while another was
a rapist or murderer who had come to faith. He asked, “Do you believe that the
good man would be condemned but the murderer/rapist would be forgiven?” Like
most humans who want to earn their way to heaven through being a good person, the
concept of grace being shown to a sinner was offensive to him. He was somewhat
hostile at first but eventually his attitude softened. He told us about his
daughter and son-in-law who were Christians and how he admired them. By the end
of our conversation, he was open to my suggestion that he read the gospel of
John.
Many
Christians believe that we should simply live lives of love and integrity and
only rarely speak the words of the gospel. When I was a new Christian I shared
my faith with a family member. When my mother heard about it and was not
impressed with what I had done. She said, in reference to my Father, who passed
away when I was 14, “Your Dad never had to speak about his faith, he just lived
it.”
But I ask
you, Is it biblical to say: “Live it but don’t speak it”? Certainly how we live
is very important. We don’t want poor behavior in our lives to cancel out the
gospel message we share. But we are called to proclaim the good news. I
could not begin to cite all the passages that teach or imply that we should speak
the message. Here are a couple of them:
He
said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe
will be condemned (Mark 16:15-16).
Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through
Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against
them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
(2
Cor. 5:17-19).
In my own
life, I came to realize that just trying to “let my life speak” did not lead to
many conversations about Jesus. I don’t want to come to the end of my life only
to have talked to a few people about the Lord. Rather, I want to be like
Paul who said: However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I
may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the
task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace (Acts 20:24).
Don’t you
desire that same kind of sold-out commitment to testifying to the gospel of
God’s grace?
Next week:
“Our Struggle to Obey the Great Commission”
Copyright
Ed Skipper 2013
For more
information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about
speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.
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