Sharing YOUR Faith YOUR Way: Acts 3-4
October 19-20, 2002
Intro:
Last week my wife came home from work and said, “I feel bad. I realized on the way home that I had an opportunity to share my faith with a co-worker and I blew it. She had asked a question about how we balance life with both of us working and having a child, and I didn’t recognize that as an opportunity to share the difference that Jesus makes in our life until it was too late.” I tried to encourage her with the fact that she still has a relationship with this person, and there will be other opportunities. But she still felt bad, saying that since I had just preached a sermon on taking opportunities the day before she should have seen it and acted on it.
So the very next day, I was in the grocery store picking up a few things. I got back to my car and realized that the cashier had missed the pop under my cart, so I turned around and went back in and pointed out the mistake. She quickly rang it in, and as she handed me my change said, “thanks for being honest.” I said, “no problem,” and walked back to the car. Then I got home and said, “Joanne, I feel bad. I had an opportunity to share my faith and I missed it too.” Then I think she felt a little better!
I tell you those two stories to encourage you. We’ve spent the last little while talking about evangelism, about the need to share our faith with others. And I’ve been trying to motivate and equip us to be more effective witnesses for Christ in our world. The encouraging part is that we are all growing – a we all have room to improve, myself included. Today I want to get more specific, more practical, as we talk about sharing YOUR faith YOUR way.
Sharing YOUR faith
The first thing I want to look at is sharing YOUR faith. There is an important difference here that I want you to notice: the difference between sharing THE faith and sharing YOUR faith. Sharing THE faith is about communicating a body of facts about God, sin, and salvation. And that is important, it needs to happen at some point along the road, but it isn’t usually where evangelism starts. And it isn’t usually where there is fruit. Sharing YOUR faith is different: it is about sharing what God has done in your life with someone else. It is sharing your testimony of how being in a relationship with God has changed you, has met the deep needs of your heart, how it makes a difference in who you are and how you meet the challenges of life. It is YOUR faith, YOUR journey with God, and how He is real to you.
I’m going to give you two examples in just a moment, but first let me ask you this: do you have a faith to share? How is your relationship with God right now – are you close to Him or distant? Relying on Him or fighting with Him? Letting Him be Lord of your life, or are you calling the shots? Are you holding on to things that He has called you to get rid of? Are you living the full, free, exciting life that God desires for you? If not, let me make a rare invitation. Don’t listen to the rest of my sermon. Now, I don’t say that very often, so take the chance while you have it! If your faith is not at a place of sharing, then take the time right here and now to have a conversation with God, to get that straightened out so that you can move on in the life God desires for you. Let Him speak to you, change you, heal you, restore you, encourage you. Let Him give you something to share. Then borrow the tape or grab a manuscript and get the rest of this…
So what do I mean by sharing YOUR faith. For me personally, I would talk about how I grew up in a home with no father. My parents divorced when I was three, and my mom raised my older brother and me alone. But the truth is that I never really lacked a father, because I always knew and felt that God was there in my life meeting my needs to be loved, to be supported, to be cared for. And for all the tangible things, I was part of a church community full of men who loved God and were wonderful male role-models, who included me in their father-son activities, and who cared about me. I experienced God’s love and reality as I grew up, as the father I never had. That is a part of MY faith; of my experience of God in my life. And that, I think, is a good place to start.
Let me share another example with you by way of a video clip. Much of what I have to share this morning is based on material called Becoming a Contagious Christian.
Sharing your faith YOUR way:
So, moving from the fact that we all have something to share, how do we share it? I believe God has given us each a unique personality, and a responsibility to share the faith that we have in Christ in a way that is consistent with our personality. The creators of the Becoming a Contagious Christian material have identified 6 evangelism styles that are tied to our personality. I’d like to share those with you quickly.
A. Confrontational Style
This is likely the one most of us think of when we think of evangelists. This is Peter in Acts 2 – if you remember the story: Peter stands up in the middle of Jerusalem, where just a few weeks earlier Jesus had been crucified, and says, “22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” He was confrontational! And that is the kind of person we know Peter was – we see in the Gospels how he was naturally a confrontational kind of person!
Listen to these statements, and if they sound like you, this could be your style:
• In conversations, I like to approach topics directly without much small talk or beating around the bush.
• I put people on the spot when it seems necessary
• I do not have a problem confronting my friends with the truth even if it risks hurting the relationship – I tell the truth, even when it hurts.
• I sometimes get in trouble for lacking sensitivity and gentleness
If this seems to describe your personality, don’t shy away from conversations. Be yourself, be bold and direct and confident and share YOUR faith – the story of what God has done in YOUR life. A caution – remember to be tactful, and be eager to follow up and apologize if you think people may have taken offense at how you expressed yourself.
B. Intellectual Style
The intellectual style is the one we find Paul using in Acts 17. He has travelled to the city of Athens, a Greek city full of philosophers and deep thinkers. He begins to teach there, and some of these philosophers are intrigued and interested to hear these new ideas, so they invite him to come and talk to them. Here is what he says: “22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” And he continues from there to lay out a very logical, analytical case for faith in Christ.
I think this is my natural style; this might be your style if:
• You love to read and understand issues being debated in society
• You tend to analyze things
• You naturally focus on the questions or ideas that people might be talking about, or that might be keeping them from decisions
• You enjoy discussions and debates on difficult questions
• You get frustrated with people who are illogical or have weak arguments
• You like to get at the underlying reasons for opinions that people hold.
So if you are a naturally intellectual person, engage people in spiritual conversations when the deep questions come up. When people around you are discussing a current issue, such as whether it is right to pre-select the sex of your child like I heard this week that a lab in the US will do, or how all religions are evil since they all try to kill one another, dive right in to the conversation. Share your faith (again, focusing on what God has done in your life, even if the emphasis is on the facts in keeping with your personality), and be a witness according to the personality that God has given you. A caution to you is to avoid becoming argumentative, and to be careful to present the Gospel and not just give answers.
3. Testimonial Style:
The third style is the one that focuses on telling others one’s own story. This is the style we see in the man born blind in John 9. Jesus heals him, he gets hauled in front of the religious leaders who demand answers (from him and his parents…), and he says: “25He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
This might be your style if:
• You often tell personal stories to illustrate a point
• You identify with others often, saying things like “I used to feel/think that way”
• People are interested in hearing you tell the story of how you came to faith in Christ
• You intentionally share your mistakes with others when you feel it will help them relate to answers you have found
• People are interested in hearing stories about things that have happened in your life.
If that sounds like you, tell your story to people. Use your story-telling abilities to share the greatest story of all – how God has saved us. You don’t need to get into deep debates, or confront people, just tell them the difference that God has made in your life, just share your testimony, and listen to other people share their story with you.
4. Interpersonal Style:
Listen to the words of Luke 5: “27After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. 29Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.” This illustrates the fourth style, the “interpersonal style.” Levi (or Matthew), meets Jesus and then invites all his friends to a party to meet Jesus too. This is the highly relational person, outgoing, friendly, seems to know lots of people, makes friends easily. A person with this style is the kind of person who gets to know lots of people on a fairly deep level, connecting with them, and is able to lead them to Christ through the depth of their friendship.
Here are a few descriptors that might apply to a person with this style:
• You are a people person; high value on friendship
• People recognize your ability to make new friends
• You’d rather talk about personal life issues than abstract ideas
• You want to talk about life first and belief second
• You enjoy long talks with friends
• You are generally an interactive, sensitive, caring person
If that sounds like you, use the personality God has given you to introduce them to the greatest friend of all, Jesus. This type of person naturally exudes warmth and love, and has a great tool for sharing faith since people are generally already attracted to you because of your vibrancy. As you build a friendship, share with them the source of your joy and life and love.
5. Invitational Style:
This fifth style is similar to the last one, in that the person tends to be outgoing and relational. But the difference is that instead of necessarily going deep personally and sharing on an intimate level, the person with the invitational style is able to get others excited about going with them to certain events or activities. This is the style we see in John 4, with the Samaritan woman Jesus meets at the well. She meets Jesus, recognizes that there is something really unique about Him, and then runs back into town and gathers everyone up for a quick trip out to the well to meet this guy. And they all come! You know those type of people – they’re the ones saying, “Ya, come on, it’ll be great, we’ll grab a coffee on the way back, it’ll be better than sitting at home watching CSI or an old Seinfeld re-run…
Here are some statements that you would identify with if this is your style:
• You enjoy including new people in activities you are involved in
• You are more comfortable having someone else answer questions your friends might ask, even if you know the answer
• You make a big effort to bring people to things that you think might impact them
• You regularly try to match the needs/interests of friends with an event or book that they might enjoy or benefit from
If this sounds like you, this is a good week! We have a bowling night planned for Friday – a low key, fun, family activity to which you can invite as many people as you like. If that is too soon, start inviting them to be a part of Operation Christmas Child, we can even (very easily) provide you with a copy of the video or DVD we watched earlier to help get them excited about it. There are quite a few opportunities in our city to invite non-Christian friends to be a part of – check the bulletin board by the front door to see what is going on.
6. Serving Style:
The last of the six styles is illustrated by a Biblical character you might not be too familiar with. Here is the story from Acts 9: “36In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas[2] ), who was always doing good and helping the poor. 37About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, "Please come at once!"
39Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
40Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. 42This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.”
Dorcas is an example of the serving style – she helped people everywhere, made them clothing etc., and had a huge impact in Joppa because of how she served.
You might have a serving style if you:
• See needs in people that others often overlook
• Find fulfillment in helping others “behind the scenes”
• Prefer to show love through action rather than words
• Enjoy giving quiet demonstrations of Christian love
• Tend to be practical and action oriented rather than word oriented
If that fits you, continue to serve others in the name of Christ. And look for ways to ensure that people understand that your service to them is because of your love for God. The Kingdom of God needs more of this kind of service, which demonstrates the reality of God’s love for people in an authentic way.
Conclusion:
Sharing YOUR faith, YOUR way. I’ve tried today to encourage you to share the story of what Christ has done in your life in a way that fits your personality, whether that is confrontational, intellectual, testimonial, interpersonal, invitation, or serving.
For every person, coming to faith in Christ is a journey. We each need to be sharing Christ in our personality so that we can be participating with the Holy Spirit as God works in their lives.
Let me close with a story about the first time I shared faith with a friend: Shayne and I had been friends through all of high school, he knew I spent lots of time at church and youth group and he respected my character. In the winter we used to gather a couple of people up and go to my church on Saturday afternoons and play floor hockey (my brother had a key to the gym). One day while taking a break and sitting on the stairs, the opportunity came up to share the basics of Christianity. I’ll never forget two things: first was Shayne’s response – “How come you never told me any of this before?”; and the second was the incredible joy that I felt that day and even the next, at having shared something so important to me with a person who was important to me.
If you find it a little scary to think of sharing faith, remember that last part – the joy at taking the risk will be worth it.
