Sharing the Gospel
To speak the Word of God boldly and
yet sensitively to those who are unsaved,
we must develop a deep appreciation
[of] God's love for us personally.
Here now is Gene Getz:
Now in this paragraph, where we get this Principle.
In fact you'll notice that it's entitled "Waw" [or "Vav"].
which is one of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
The psalmist speaks of God's faithful love.
Look at verse 41:
Let Your faithful love come to me,
LORD, Your salvation as You promised.
Now throughout the psalm, we see that
literally the psalmist had enemies.
And so he may be referring to being
delivered or saved from his literal enemies.
In fact in verse 42, it eludes to that I believe:
Then I can answer the one who taunts me,
for I trust in Your word.
In other words, he's still referring to enemies
who are taunting him. Making fun of him,
as it were, bringing him down into the dust.
So I think literally, we can see that this salvation
does refer perhaps to deliverance on this earth
from the enemies that he's facing.
But there is a correlation here.
When you look at the whole biblical story.
And you look at the concept of salvation.
There is literal deliverance from enemies.
But there's also deliverance from the
penalty and power of sin.
And that's salvation.
So I believe that we can at least
apply the concept here,
that God's faithful love
and our love for Him, enables us
to not be ashamed.
And this is another correlation.
Not to be ashamed of God's Word
and the message of salvation.
And I think you see that correlation.
I've titled this, these verses in
43 and 46, "Our Witness:"
Never take the word of truth from my mouth,
for I hope in Your judgments. ...
I will speak of Your decrees before
kings and not be ashamed.
When we look in the New Testament,
we look at the life of Paul--
I think we see a very direct correlation
with the deliverance that comes through
the salvation experience that we have.
And not being ashamed of that salvation experience
or sharing that salvation experience.
In 1st Timothy, Paul relates to
his salvation experience. He says:
This saying is trustworthy and
deserving of full acceptance:
"Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners"--and I am the worst of them. ...
Now he's not saying: I'm the worst
of them right now.
What he is saying is: I am indeed the
worst of sinners that God has delivered
and given me salvation.
He's reflecting on his status as an unbeliever.
And then he goes on to say--to verify
that concept--he says:
...But I received mercy
[I've received mercy] for this reason
so that in me, the worst of them...
That's what I was like, in other words.
I was a murderer.
I killed Christians.
I was the worst of them.
In the midst of this:
...Christ Jesus might demonstrate
His extraordinary patience as an
example to those who would believe in
Him for eternal life.
Now Paul never got over that mercy.
That grace that was extended to him.
It motivated him until the day God took him home.
To the day he lost his life literally at the
hands of Nero.
But notice what Paul said on another
occasion in relationship to the gospel.
His witnessing experience.
And he wrote this in his letter to the Romans.
Verses 14 to 16, he said:
I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians,
both to the wise and the foolish.
So I am eager to preach the good news
to you also who are in Rome.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel...
You see the correlation with the psalmist?
He said that I can speak the word before kings.
I can speak the word and never be ashamed.
And Here Paul says:
...For I am not ashamed of the gospel,
because it is God's power for salvation
to everyone who believes, first to the Jew,
and also to the Greek.
Now Paul was unique in his calling.
The great apostle of the Gentiles.
But I also believe that what he said applies to us.
We may not have the same calling
in terms of that incredible task
of carrying the good news to the Gentiles.
And going through the suffering that
he went through.
But the aspect of shame certainly applies.
And that's why I've raised this question:
When we fail to share Christ with others,
how do we determine if it is because
we are afraid of something or because
we are ashamed of Christ?
Is there a difference?
I think there is.
Now we've all experienced fear of rejection.
That's a normal feeling.
Even when it comes to sharing the gospel
or living out the gospel sometimes.
But I'm also reminded of what John
wrote in his little Epistle, chapter 4,
verse 18 when he said:
Perfect love casts out fear.
In other words, the more we
understand God's love,
the more we understand God's mercy
in our own lives as Paul did.
The more He gives us boldness.
The more He gives us strength.
The more He gives us the capacity to
overcome the fear of rejection,
which we all experience.
That's a pretty normal feeling.
And the fact is that we may fear rejection.
We're afraid.
But if we're ashamed of the gospel
that's another problem.
That's another problem in relationship
to what we think in terms of our
salvation experience.
There're some Christians that will
not bow their heads in a restaurant
and pray publicly. Why?
Well I can't answer that question for everybody.
But is it a fear that somebody's going to
see them pray?
So what's the problem?
Is it fear of rejection?
I don't think so.
It's the concept of being bold.
And not being ashamed of the fact that
we are followers of Jesus Christ.
And I think that's something to think about.
I think most of us know the answer
to the question
as to why some people would refuse
to pray publicly.
Now sometimes sensitivity says it's
just not the right moment to do that.
I was with a gentleman not too long ago
that happened to be a very
well-known attorney, tax attorney.
A Jewish man.
A very competent individual
who really wanted to meet with me.
And I actually gave him one of my Bibles.
And he invited me to lunch.
And we were in a situation.
And it just didn't feel right to be sensitive
at that moment as his guest to pray publicly.
But I prayed in my heart.
I think there are times when we're
sensitive in a situation to open a
door for another step
in order to be a witness to someone
who doesn't know Jesus Christ.
But generally speaking, I think we know
the answer to the question sometimes
as to why we don't do certain things.
And if we're really honest,
we don't want people to really know who we are
as believers in Jesus Christ.
I have to look at my own heart in
answering that question.
So here's the Principle,
I believe that grows out of this psalm:
To speak the Word of God boldly and
yet sensitively to those who are unsaved,
we must develop a deep appreciation
for God's love for us personally.
The more we understand that love,
the more we understand God's mercy.
The more boldness God gives us to be His witnesses--
a witness for Jesus Christ.