Part three:
How to Share Your Faith Even If You’re Timid
In my last blog, I pointed out that
many Christians are uncomfortable sharing their faith. It may be they’re afraid
of being asked questions they can’t answer (the solution here is to study apologetics).
Others are afraid of being ridiculed—and that happens sometimes, although most
people are interested in spiritual
things. Some Christians are simply intimidated because they think sharing the
Gospel is too confrontational. Others are just shy—it’s too much like public
speaking. But there is one approach to evangelism that every single Christian can apply. In fact every single Christian should apply it. And believe it or not, this
evangelistic “tactic” probably accounts for more people becoming Christians than
any other avenue of evangelism. It played an important role in my own
conversion.
I’m speaking about lifestyle evangelism, which plays out in two ways. First, it’s living out our
Christian faith with integrity before non-Christians, so they can witness
Christians modeling a Christian lifestyle (e.g. Mt 5:16; 1 Pet. 2:12). Second, its
building relationships with non-Christians, which will inevitably provide opportunities
for sharing the Gospel (e.g. John 13:35; Col. 4:5-6). It’s like the old maxim,
“your actions speak louder than your words.” Because Christians can experience
a profound sense of peace during life's many crises, and because we have the
power of God to deal with suffering and to resist sin, unbelievers can observe
this and desire a similar relationship with Christ. Living out our faith among
skeptics and critics can also create an
atmosphere in which we have “earned” the right to explain how and why we know
what we believe (apologetics).
As Christians, we are always on stage
before unbelievers. Certainly, they sometimes look for opportunities to point
out our failures and to criticize us. Paul warns about this in 2 Tim. 3:12: "Everyone
who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." But
non-Christians are also aware of how we respond to life's challenges. This can
make a tremendous impact on unbelievers. If we demonstrate through our
lifestyles that we possess an inner strength and peace of mind the world can't
offer, Christianity can become extremely appealing to people who have never
been responsive to direct witnessing or apologetics.
The principle is this. The life a
Christian lives in the presence of unbelievers acts as a preview to what they see
themselves becoming if they become a Christian. If we are legalistic and
self-righteous, or condemning and gossipy, non-Christians will assume they were
right along to reject Christianity. We’re just like everyone else. Even worse,
if we live a life more in harmony with the secular world than with the Kingdom
of God, unbelievers will judge all Christians as hypocrites. This is one of the
major reasons unbelievers give for not wanting to become a Christian. I think
it’s telling that Jesus was kind, patient, and loving to every variety of
sinner He encountered—except one: religious hypocrites. In Matthew
twenty-three, Jesus called them “blind guides,” “white-washed tombs,” and
“brood of vipers.” He told them they deserved condemnation and warned them of
the consequences of hell.
In Sum, many unbelievers will choose
to accept or reject Christianity on the basis of what they see in us—not what
they hear. Even if we are awkward or uncomfortable sharing our faith, it is
often what unbelievers observe and our relationships with them that draws them
to Christ. When our lives reflect Jesus Christ, it’s a powerful and effective
non-verbal communication of the Gospel.
In my next blog article on the Four
Approaches of Evangelism, we’ll get into the meat-and-potatoes of this study.
We’ll begin by considering how we can apply “law” as a tool for evangelism and
apologetics. That is, help unbelievers see that they are sinners in need of a
Savior.
* This and the
other blog articles in this series are copyrighted material and may not be
reproduced electronically or in print. But feel free to link this blog to your
own website, personal email list, or Facebook friends and groups. I explore the
topic of this series of articles more fully in my book Engaging the Closed Minded; Presenting Your Faith to the Confirmed
Unbeliever (Kregel Publications).
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