Isn’t it amazing how something of comfort, beauty, and appreciation can be experienced and then go worldwide? We have a local restaurant that serves, without a doubt, some of the best chocolate cake that ever went into your mouth. People will experience a bite and then take a picture of the deliriously delicious dessert in its clear clamshell container, then post it on social media for all the world to see and wait for the likes and comments. Yet when it comes to the things of Christ, most Christians have a “should I share this” mentality over an “I can’t wait to share this” mentality.
In the safety of my office, I begin to ask questions of “Why do believers have such a hard time speaking of Christ to others?”, “Isn’t Christ what this world needs? and Shouldn’t all Christians be shouting it from the rooftops?” Then I begin to rattle off a list that begins to feebly attempt to answer the reason of why. Perhaps it’s…
Then I begin to realize that this list poured out of me not only because of why people won’t share Christ, but because these are thoughts and feelings that I have experienced throughout my life that have been obstacles of me sharing Christ.
The Bible even has verses that deal with not sharing and acknowledging our Lord.
Matthew 10:33 – but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
2 Timothy 2:12b – if we deny him, he also will deny us;
Titus 1:16 – They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Sideline confession. I am a struggling people pleaser and earlier on in my walk with Christ, these verses would have sent me down a path involving guilt, shame, and self-deprecation. However, praise be to God, these verses have now become an alarm, a warning that I am called to have a healthy, biblical fear of the Lord and not an unhealthy, worldly fear of sharing the Lord.
The phrase “fear of the Lord” appears over 130 times in the scripture, like:
Proverbs 9:10 - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Proverbs 14:27 - The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.
Proverbs 19:43 - The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.
Hebrews 12:28-29 - Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence (Greek word “eulabeia”, fear of God) and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
The fear of the Lord should empower us to please God over man.
Galatians 1:10 - For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Acts 5:29 - 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
I Thessalonians 2:4 - but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts
Each of us, as a believer in Christ, has been entrusted with the saving news of Jesus Christ. And it is only by us that others can hear the gospel…
Romans 10:14 - How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
Let us not allow the attempts of the enemy to replace the fear of the Lord with the fear of man and silence us from telling the truth of Christ to others where we work, live, and play.
We, as the church, are to have a healthy fear of the Lord. One that is submissive, reverent, full of awe, willing to glorify and trust Him. Where He is priority over everything and not to be swayed by the fear of man. We need to echo the words of Paul when he said, “For 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.”
As was mentioned earlier, we can so easily tell others about temporal experiences like a piece of cake and post them for the world to see. The Psalms tell us to taste and see that the Lord is good! He is truly the one that we should be experiencing, tasting, and telling the world of His goodness. Jesus Christ is the greatest source of comfort, beauty, appreciation, peace, love, and most of all salvation. Let us pray not only for a refreshing boldness to share His gospel, but also to be aware of the daily opportunities to share in word and deed.
In the safety of my office, I begin to ask questions of “Why do believers have such a hard time speaking of Christ to others?”, “Isn’t Christ what this world needs? and Shouldn’t all Christians be shouting it from the rooftops?” Then I begin to rattle off a list that begins to feebly attempt to answer the reason of why. Perhaps it’s…
- Fear of rejection
- Fear of failure
- Fear of not knowing enough
- Insecurity
- Arrogance
- Apathy
- And so on…
Then I begin to realize that this list poured out of me not only because of why people won’t share Christ, but because these are thoughts and feelings that I have experienced throughout my life that have been obstacles of me sharing Christ.
The Bible even has verses that deal with not sharing and acknowledging our Lord.
Matthew 10:33 – but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
2 Timothy 2:12b – if we deny him, he also will deny us;
Titus 1:16 – They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Sideline confession. I am a struggling people pleaser and earlier on in my walk with Christ, these verses would have sent me down a path involving guilt, shame, and self-deprecation. However, praise be to God, these verses have now become an alarm, a warning that I am called to have a healthy, biblical fear of the Lord and not an unhealthy, worldly fear of sharing the Lord.
The phrase “fear of the Lord” appears over 130 times in the scripture, like:
Proverbs 9:10 - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Proverbs 14:27 - The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.
Proverbs 19:43 - The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.
Hebrews 12:28-29 - Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence (Greek word “eulabeia”, fear of God) and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
The fear of the Lord should empower us to please God over man.
Galatians 1:10 - For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Acts 5:29 - 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
I Thessalonians 2:4 - but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts
Each of us, as a believer in Christ, has been entrusted with the saving news of Jesus Christ. And it is only by us that others can hear the gospel…
Romans 10:14 - How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
Let us not allow the attempts of the enemy to replace the fear of the Lord with the fear of man and silence us from telling the truth of Christ to others where we work, live, and play.
We, as the church, are to have a healthy fear of the Lord. One that is submissive, reverent, full of awe, willing to glorify and trust Him. Where He is priority over everything and not to be swayed by the fear of man. We need to echo the words of Paul when he said, “For 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.”
As was mentioned earlier, we can so easily tell others about temporal experiences like a piece of cake and post them for the world to see. The Psalms tell us to taste and see that the Lord is good! He is truly the one that we should be experiencing, tasting, and telling the world of His goodness. Jesus Christ is the greatest source of comfort, beauty, appreciation, peace, love, and most of all salvation. Let us pray not only for a refreshing boldness to share His gospel, but also to be aware of the daily opportunities to share in word and deed.
Posted in Tim Hardy
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