Confidently Sharing Jesus with our Friends
Part 1 - Reaching People Who Need Jesus
“I feel guilty about not making a better effort at sharing my faith. If I get enough courage to speak up, I’m afraid that I will say something wrong. I also have a deep concern that people might think less of me. So it’s a struggle for me to start a conversation about Jesus.”
Does that sound like you? Most of us get the jitters when it comes to sharing our faith. What can we do to grow in our confidence to tell others about Jesus?
Start with a close connection to Jesus. Our Savior says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).” Faith in Jesus is vital for spiritual life. We can’t live eternally without him. The result of being connected to Christ by faith is that we bear fruit. Just as a branch connected to the vine gives evi-dence that it is alive by producing a bunch of grapes, so Christians connected to Christ by faith will naturally demonstrate their spiritual life by the fruit that they bear. This includes our actions and words that give testimony about Jesus to others. Apart from him we can’t do anything, including sharing our faith. Our connection with Jesus stays close as we stay in his word. God’s Word is the source of knowl-edge about Jesus and the power to give us confidence to tell of him.
Evangelism is sharing the good news of Jesus with people. There are many books and programs to instruct and assist us with evangelism. Many of these are helpful, but the impression that they may leave with us is that evangelism is quite complicated. Essentially, though, it is not. There are three basic things needed for evangelism to take place: the gospel, people who have the gospel, and people who need to hear the gospel.
God has revealed the gospel in the Bible. That’s the first thing needed. By God’s grace, we have it. The Holy Spirit used the gospel to bring us to faith in the way of salvation through Christ. That’s two. The third thing for evangelism is people who need Jesus. They are people who don’t have faith in him, or they are people who may con-fess Jesus but do not actively participate in a Christian church. There are millions of people just in North America who need Jesus. And the number is growing. The immensity of the job before us can be over-whelming, but remember that God works on the hearts of people one at a time.
To underscore this point, there is a story about an old man, walking the beach at dawn, who noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Catching up with the youth, he asked what he was doing. The answer was that the starfish would die if let in the morning sun. “But the beach goes on for miles and miles, and there are millions of starfish,” countered the man. “How can your effort make any difference?” The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to safety in the waves. “It makes a difference to this one,” he said. Sharing the gospel can make a difference for the people that you know who need Jesus. Identify them. Are there some among your
family? How about people with whom you work or those that share leisure time with you? Do you have neighbors whose cars regularly stay stationary in their driveways on Sunday mornings? Do you know people in the organizations or groups that you attend who have little to do with Jesus? Write down their names, and list what you know about them. Are they single or married? Where do they live and work? What about their family? What are some of their interests? Getting to know people is an important first step toward building closer relationships with them. It’s natural and more comfortable for us to share the good news of Jesus with people that we have come to know. The trust and respect that exist in close relationships help us overcome our hesitancy and concerns. As we spend time with people and grow in our relationships with them, there will be opportune moments to speak a fitting word about Jesus and what he means for us. Our love for these people will help us understand the importance of turning small talk into conversation about things that matter eternally. There are several important things to remember as we seek to get to know people and build relationships with them. Accept people in Christian love. Acceptance is believing that a person is valuable and that we are ready to put some time and energy into building a relationship. Acceptance is an act of unconditional love. That does not mean
approval of sinful behavior. It does mean that we will be a friend with someone in spite of their “warts.” Such unconditional love will move the friendship to a deeper relationship in which we will have plenty of opportunity to talk about the unconditional love of our best friend, Jesus. Be interested in people who need Jesus. Focus on them (not on yourself) to find commonalities and make connections. We grow closer with people when we do things together regularly. Spend time with your friends, sharing ordinary times of life together. “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” (Dale Carnegie) As Christians we build friendships not just for friendships’ sake. We have an eternal goal in mind. We want to share the good news with our friends that Jesus is the Savior of all people. Help people in their everyday needs. Our actions testify to the power of God’s love working in our lives. A kind word, a helpful deed, an unexpected gift are ways that we can let our faith show and generate curiosity about “what makes us tick.” Likely our charity will open up various opportunities to explain our faith. Commit yourself to the Lord in prayer. Ask him to help you be more confident about sharing your faith. Pray for the knowledge you need for speaking about Jesus as the world’s Savior. Pray that Christ give you a deep concern for the souls of all people, but especially for the ones that you know personally. Ask God for the privilege of being used by him to reach out with the gospel to those people who need Jesus. Then get ready for the Lord to answer your prayer.
Next month:
Part 2– Starting a Spiritual Conversation: Practical ways of preparing yourself to confidently share Jesus with your friends.
