Five Reasons To Share Your Faith

Five Reasons We Share Our Faith?

2 Cor. 5:9-19

9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. 12 We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. NASU

Introduction

Christians keep the faith—but they shouldn’t keep it too themselves. But it looks like that’s precisely what we’ve been doing for the last thirty or forty years; keeping the good news to ourselves!

A Contradiction about witnessing. Witness, Needed because:

A light that does not shine, A spring that does not flow, A germ that does not grow,

Is no more abnormal that a life in Christ which does not witness for

Christ. A. T. Pierson

1. Because It’s Our . . Choice. v 9

Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

A. The . . Ambition of Choice. v 9 a

1. We Need the Ambition to tell of Jesus.

a. The aim to Win others to Christ.

b. 1Cor. 9:22 KJV To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

2. All of us have know people without any ambition.

3. There are like people who could pray Lord help me to wonder around for you today.

B. The . . Aim of Choice. v 9 a

1. We Need an aim to our ambition.

a. The aim to glorify God.

b. 1 Cor. 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. NASU

2. All of us know people with aimless ambition.

3. They are like the people Paul spoke of by saying

For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. Rom. 10:2 NASU

Illustration EVANGELISM:

A missionary sat on the patio watching a black ant crawl up a table leg until it reached some spilled sugar. It seemed to eat, then crawled back down the table leg. Soon the two black ants crawled up the table leg to the sugar. They ate and left. Soon a steady steam of black ants moved up and down the table leg to enjoy the sugar. The missionary thought to himself, "They must have some system by which they communicate, ’I have found something good and I want to share it!’"

Application

We Should Share Because It’s Our . . Choice.

2. Because of . . Consequences. v 10

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

A. The Consequences of . . Appearing. v 10 a

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so

that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body,

1. All Christians will stand at the Judgement Seat.

2. It Is A Day of Reckoning.

B. The Consequences of . . Accounting. v 10 b

". . . according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

1. We Will Give An Account of Faithfulness.