Sharing the Message

Sharing the Message:  Acts 14.1-7

The passage shows that the message is not always easy. It’s not always easy to share the Gospel. But there are some rules, if you will, that will help us to share. Let’s read the text

Rule 1: Be consistent. Paul and Barnabas went weekly into the Synagogues to proclaim the Messiah to the people. These would be people who were believers in God, but they were just in error, or in ignorance. And for being the Apostle to the Gentiles, why did Paul first go to the Jews? He went because it was fitting since God revealed Jesus through them to all creation. Then after they had their fill, Paul would turn and proclaim Jesus to the Gentiles as well.

So now the question becomes how can we be consistent? There is the matter of rote. Paul always did this so that when it was time to do this, he could do this. Were you able to follow? He created for himself a routine to follow every time that he was in a new place. First, seek out the Jews and then seek the Gentiles.  Are we in the habit of sharing our faith in the same manner time and again?

One of the reasons we may not be, which then keeps us from being consistent, is that we are not ourselves. We are not ourselves when we try to be someone else. As a preacher, it is easy to hear the comparisons. I can listen to Chuck Swindoll and wonder if ever I will sound as polish as he does, or perhaps as engaging a story teller as Brant over in Hot Springs. Then I read another preacher. We are not called to be someone else. We are called to be ourselves. I am never going to be another preacher. I am me. I must be content in being me. Just as you must find contentment in being you.

What works for me in sharing my faith is not always going to work for you. Of course, learning to take an interest in the person, be they clerk, boss, family or whoever, is a trait that is not unique to some. It is something we are called to be, just as the parable of the Good Samaritan suggests.

Of course a warning must come now. This is not to say that we must follow our hearts. Jeremiah said that the heart, our feelings, are deceitful above all else. When we give ourselves to following our hearts, we may just deny our downside. We deny our sinful tendencies. We are comfortable being a Christian sinner because God is faithful. Yet we are thereby changing the grace of the Gospel into a perversion. Paul warned the Romans against doing that very thing. Shall sin abound so that grace abound even more? Absolutely NO!

We are to be ourselves, striving to living up to the hope, trying to be found worthy of the grace that we have been given. That is the consistency that the world needs to see from us.

Rule 2: Do not be discouraged. Not everyone is going to accept our message. The message, according to Jesus, will end up dividing people, even families, fathers against sons, mothers against daughters. Some accepted what Paul had to share. Those who did not, not only did not accept the message, but they created trouble for Paul and Barnabas. Yet, in the midst of these attacks, Paul and Barnabas were not discouraged. They kept sharing, preaching.  Verse 3 is key here. They spoke boldly in reliance on the Lord. It means that they clung to Jesus. Paul would later write to the Philippians that he can do all things because Christ gives him the strength to do so. To the church of Corinth, Paul made the promise that they have already all they need to further the Gospel message of Jesus. Paul would tell another man that we are not given a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of boldness. These are promises that we can claim for our lives. Are we willing to rely upon the Lord?

It is a question that we each must resolve before the time comes, and soon is coming when people will disparage us for our faith. We will be and are already being told that it is good to be Christian in our faith, but that we should leave our faith at home when we enter the public sector.  The attacks are coming. And we can weather the attacks as long as we remember Christ.

Now I am not saying that Jesus will empower us as he did with the Apostles, allowing us to do miraculous works. There was purpose to those works. He may still use them, but the promise for working miracles is not given. Instead Jesus said that we shall do greater works than what is recorded of Jesus. Today the Church worldwide feeds millions, heals millions, clothes millions and cares for millions daily. That is indeed greater works than Jesus did. Are we part of that work? Are we vessels of hope and grace for those hurting, facing storms in their lives? We are if we do not allow ourselves to be discouraged. Jesus is with us.

Rule 3: Keep doing what you are doing. After the trouble arose, Paul and Barnabas learned that their very lives were in danger. Let me stop here. When trouble rises up against you, you do not have to take it. You can flee. The text here says that they fled. God didn’t mean for us to be whipping bags. He meant for us to be messengers of hope and grace. Barnabas and Paul were no different. So they fled, when they learned that the people of Iconium meant to kill them.

When people flee, such as those in the witness protection program, they are given new identities. What they did in the old location must not be done in the new location. It’s how the witnesses hide from the bad guys. But it is the opposite with God and his children. It is different with us. Yes, we should flee, but as we do so, we follow what they did in the last verse. They kept evangelizing. They kept preaching Jesus.

So if you see trouble rise against you, then move, but keep sharing your faith. Of course, if you look at rule 3, following it helps you to live rule 1. A person becomes consistent by doing what he is doing. It won’t always be easy. Your loved ones may reject you. Your friends may leave you. It sometimes will require us to take bold steps, but remember. God is with us. He will guide our words.

Is your life an example of these 3 rules? If not, then make that choice now to start being a witness for Christ. You may be the only one able to reach someone. And when you do, the results will be eternal.