Sharing Your Faith
I Peter 3:15-16
CHCC: February 8, 2009
INTRODUCTION:
SKIT: “I am a Christian and a Saint”
The "evangelist" walks up behind a person standing on stage, gets in their face and says, "I am an evangelist! A Christian and a Saint! Are you saved? Are you washed in the blood? Are you redeemed? Are you sanctified? (the vistim begins walking away) Wait! Come back here. I have tracts for you!" (end) (Borrowed from Jeremiah People skit)
What you just saw is NOT what we’re going to talk about today. When we talk about sharing your faith that doesn’t mean you have to get into awkward conversations with complete strangers. When you develop a relationship with Jesus, sharing your faith is something that will flow naturally out of your day to day life. You’ll find that every day is full of Divine Appointments that God will give you so that He can share His love through you.
Today we’re going to look at a couple of verses in I Peter that give a good blue print of what it means to share your faith. 15 In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. I Peter 3:15 - 16
1. Set your heart on Christ
Notice the FIRST step to sharing your faith with others. Verse 15 says In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. You can’t share what you don’t have! Step 1 is to SET YOUR HEART fully and completely ON CHRIST. Jesus does not want to be just a PART of your life. Jesus wants to BE your life.
And when Jesus is the center of your life, everyone who get’s to know YOU will just naturally have some connection with Him through you. People can’t get close to you without knowing something about Him because He is central to who you are.
This is the last sermon in a series we’ve been doing called "I’m In." All of the topics in the I’m In Series so far are meant to help you take this first and ALL-IMPORTANT step of centering your heart on Christ.
So far we have discovered that “Being in” involves worshipping together, studying God’s word together, joyous and generous giving, dedicated service, and meaningful relationships within the church.
We want everyone who comes to CHCC to be “in” on these commitments and if you do that --- you will find that sharing your faith is going to happen naturally. For one thing, People WILL ask you about your connection to God.
We had two examples of this just in the last few weeks from people in our Pueblo group. One woman has a neighbor who has been asking her all kinds of questions about Christianity. The neighbor is a Muslim, and she sees something in the life of her neighbors that makes her curious to know more.
Another person in our group mentioned that he’s had a lot of interesting conversations about God with someone he works with. The guy doesn’t seem very receptive, but he keeps asking things. The other day the guy asked him, “How come you’re always in such a positive mood?” He said, “You know I can’t answer that question without talking about Jesus Christ. He’s the reason.”
Notice that these folks didn’t come by my office to ask their questions. They didn’t call any of the other ministers here at our church. When God’s Spirit moves in their hearts, your neighbors and friends and co-workers are going to feel comfortable asking YOU.
2. Speak with respect
That’s why I Peter 2:15 goes on to say, Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect
Don’t be afraid to answer when people ask you questions. It’s not WHAT you say that will make the big difference. It’s more the way you love them. Just tell them why Jesus is important to you. Tell what the church means to you.
Don’t argue with them. It’s up to God’s Spirit to convict them of the truth. And if they ask something that stumps you, just let them know you’ll try to find an answer for them. That’s one reason we join together in the church. Someone here will have a good answer you can give to any questions you encounter.
If you attend Bible Classes and read Christian Books and take advantage of opportunities to know God better through Scripture, then you will be more and more ready to give an answer to ANYONE who asks you. But always keep in mind that all the clever techniques in the world won’t matter if you don’t have the ATTITUDE of Jesus Christ when you speak up for Him.
Consider Jesus and the Woman at the well ( John 4) – Since there was no communication between women and men in Jesus day, or between Jews and Samaritans either for that matter, It would have been natural for Jesus to simply ignore the woman who came to the well to draw water while Jesus sat there waiting for his men to return from town. Instead, Jesus broke all protocol by speaking freely with this woman and even asking her for a drink. He showed that he was no slave to the usual customs of the day, and that his openness to her was genuine and honest. He broke custom and in the process gained her as an ally.
Zachaeus – Jesus didn’t see him as an unwanted interruption; wasn’t intimidated by his position as TAX collector; wasn’t afraid to associate with someone who was despised by most of the religious folks.
3. Show Christ in your actions
There’s one more part of this blueprint for sharing your faith. I Peter 2:16 adds this caveat: (Answer) with gentleness and respect … keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
* Step ONE is to have Jesus at the Center of your Heart
* Step TWO is to be ready to answer those who approach YOU – which WILL happen
* But Step THREE goes beyond this. Our actions DO speak louder than our words. Nothing hurts your witness more than behavior that dishonors Christ.
This doesn’t mean that we have to be PERFECT in order to share our faith. Notice it says to keep a clear conscience. The operative word here is “transparency” which implies that we avoid the pretense and hypocrisy common to most people in the world. A person with a clear conscience is not putting on airs to impress others, instead he speaks the truth with love in all that he says. His yes is yes and his no is no. People who encounter a person with a clear conscience realize that what this person says is the real deal. This is not a snow job, not a dog and pony show, not a sales job. And it is a refreshing change from the usual sales pitch we have all come to expect and have built up resistance against.
As Christians we can do MORE than just wait for the people around us to ASK about our faith.
In Luke 15 Jesus told three parables about the lost, the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son (prodigal) all reconfirm the same theme. In every case, the person who was seeking went OUT OF THEIR way to FIND what was lost.
The lost coin was worthy of a thorough house cleaning to find even though the owner had nine other coins in hand. The lost sheep was worthy to leave the 99 other sheep safely in the fold and go out to search out the missing sheep. The prodigal son was worth bringing out the ring, robe, and sandals, and slaughtering the fatted calf in celebration of his return to the father’s loving embrace. All of this lets us know that the lost are precious to our Lord and therefore should be equally precious to us. We are not wasting time to go out of our way to seek out the lost.
Here are some thoughts you MIGHT want to use:
Jesus I came to seek and to save that which is lost.
Go out of your way to love the “unlovely” – even those who speak against you. This is what Christ will do through you if you are setting your heart on HIM…
CONCLUSION:
You could end with a list of things people could do to Be INTENTIONAL – Ways to go out of your way to SEEK the lost.
* Make a list of lost souls you know and PRAY for them.
* Look for occasions where you can meet people outside of the church and participate with them for the purpose of meeting non church people (example, National night out)
* Invite neighbors to come over to your house and spend time with them.
* Invite outsiders to visit special church events like the African Children’s choir concert, church picnic, etc.
* Participate with other church folk in Random Acts of Kindness projects such as handing out food to homeless people downtown. Etc.
* Ask God to open up divine appointments for you and make you aware of them when the opportunities come your say so you don’t miss the chance to share with others.
