The Ups and Downs of Sharing Faith

Acts 13:44-52

Introduction

It was approximately thirty years ago. I had just come out of a period of atheism while a student at Brock University. I had come to believe in a God but I had no idea what religion I should follow. Christianity seemed too obvious, being the most common religion in Canada and the one I had been raised with. I had considered Islam, thinking of it as an update of both Judaism and Christianity. But to be honest, I really had no idea what I should do.

Then it came to me. If anyone knew what the true religion was, it would be God. So I asked God in a prayer to show me what the true religion was. I added a PS to that prayer: “Please God, don’t let it be Jehovah’s Witnesses.” It is not that Jehovah’s Witnesses were bad people, but I just didn’t want to go door to door.

God has a sense of humour. I did become a Christian and not a Jehovah’s Witness, but I got involved in a group at my church that actually did door knocking. While it probably was not the most effective evangelism, it did help to get me out of my shell as I was painfully shy at that time.

I have found that nothing stresses congregations out like preaching on evangelism. For many of us, evangelism feels way outside of our comfort zone. We feel guilty for not doing it but not guilty enough to do it. And when we do it, the results are often not what we were looking for.

How do we go about sharing our faith in a healthy way, in a way that doesn’t damage relationships and doesn’t paint Christianity as “shoving religion down people’s throats”? I believe this passage from Acts will give us some guidance.

Paul and Barnabas

The first thing that we should note is that Paul and Barnabas take for granted the importance of sharing Jesus with others. We don’t get a sense that they are pressured into it by church leadership. Nor do we get a sense that they feel as if God’s love and acceptance is dependent on how often and how well they evangelize. Rather it is that they have met Jesus and this was so transformative that they can’t help but share their faith with others.

We have seen that they have been beginning their efforts by going to the synagogues. This made sense because Paul and Barnabas were Jews and they were preaching the same God. Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and it was logical for them to start there.

The previous Sabbath, Paul and Barnabas had some success in the synagogue. The next Sabbath, things were a bit more heated. Some of the Jews were jealous and strongly opposed them. It was a conversation that was producing much more heat than light.

Paul finally had enough and said that he was going to stop preaching to the Jews and move to the Gentiles. We need to look at this carefully. Some have mistakenly seen this as Paul (and possibly God) giving up completely on the Jews because of their disbelief. That is not the case. In fact in later chapters, we will see Paul right back at the synagogue, talking to Jewish people about Jesus. We see in Paul’s letters that he had great love for his people. Neither Paul nor God ever stopped loving the Jews.

What we see Paul doing here is acknowledging that a certain group of people were not interested in hearing about Jesus and another group was interested in hearing about Jesus. He decided that he was going to focus on those who were welcoming of the message. He could have been stubborn and kept the debate going but for Paul, sharing Jesus was not about winning a debate. Sharing Jesus was about sharing a person, inviting people into a relationship. That was not going to happen when emotions were running as high as they were. Paul was going to put his effort where it was most likely to make a difference.

Sharing God’s Saving Love

You may not feel like you are in the same category as Paul and Barnabas. I know I don’t. But that doesn’t mean that there is no reason to share our faith. Part of our church mission statement is “sharing God’s saving love.” This is presuming that God’s saving love is worth sharing. We share not to earn God’s love or to avoid punishment.

In general, I find that when people find something that is very meaningful to them, they want to share it. It can be anything from an effective diet to a meaningful television show. People want their friends to experience what they experienced and so they share it. It should be the same when it comes to Jesus.

You may agree that is technically true but the results are often different. A relationship usually is not strained when you talk about a low carb diet. Most people are not offended by the latest trend on Netflix. If you have ever talked to someone about Jesus, you may have had some uncomfortable conversations. It is not something we necessarily want to experience again.

Here is where Paul and Barnabas come in. They shared Jesus with the Jews in that city until they no longer wanted to hear about Jesus. He didn’t push the issue, he just shifted to those who were interested in the message.

This is what we need to hear. I think that some of the frustration from both those sharing the message and those to who it is being shared to is that would-be evangelists cannot make this shift. Some Christian become like a guided missile that latches onto its target and won’t let go. To be honest, that is no fun for anyone. It happens when Christians think they are the only hope for that person. But we were never their only hope. Jesus is the only hope and Jesus might come to them through another person at another time.

When a conversation about faith begins, don’t just focus on what you are going to say, watch and listen for the person’s reaction. If they do not want to hear about Jesus from you, it will do no good for you to force the message on them. I know this is especially difficult when they are family or a close friend. But force feeding Jesus on a person is going to do more harm than good. Instead look for the people who are open to discussions about faith. It is always better to share Jesus with a person who is already seeking spiritual truth.

Conclusion

What has your experience been when it comes to sharing your faith? Have you been too afraid to share? Or are you zealous about sharing Jesus and yet frustrated that no matter how often you tell that one person, they refuse to become a Christian.

Consider Paul and Barnabas. Part of their gifts is that they were able to read a crowd and they were flexible enough to switch audiences.

Avoid pit bull evangelism where you bite on some non-Christian and refuse to let go. Instead do what we would do for anything else that we valued. Sense who is open to hearing our message and share with them, refusing to force ourselves on those not interested.

If we give up the pressure of having to be the person’s only hope, we can relax and have a healthy and respectful conversation about faith.