Apologeet.nl
Why are Christians not Bolder?This week I was preparing for a sermon. In the congregation where I get to speak, I have previously talked about studying the Bible. Know what you believe! Teach your children, because if you don’t, the world will do it for you.
Actually, I wanted to expound on that. The intention was to talk a little more about how we can be role models for our children. But then I gradually realised that we have a problem that goes at least as deep, if not deeper.
Let me explain a little. To be an example, we need boldness. Many Christians yearn for the boldness we read about in early church. Many of us listen with admiration to the stories of missionaries and evangelists. Who does not know the books of Anne van der Bijl, or brother Andrew for the English folk among us, and Corrie ten Boom? At the same time, we realise that we lack that same boldness. Why is that anyway?
Our Favourite Excuses
First, a word about the excuses we use. In almost all groups, I hear the same excuses. The three most familiar are “I’m just not an evangelist,” “I don’t need to be in the foreground so much” and “I show it by my actions.”
We can quickly jettison the first one. No, indeed, not everyone is an evangelist.
Ephesians 4:11-12
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ
But we are all called to witness.
Mark 16:15
And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature
The second one doesn’t seem as well-thought-out, and is actually a bit presumptuous. As if someone testifying of Jesus has an urgent need to be in the foreground all the time. I know plenty of people who are quite introverted and yet take every opportunity to witness about Jesus’ work. This has nothing to do with ‘wanting to be in the foreground.’ No, this has everything to do with their understanding of the need to call people to repentance. People are lost and we have the answer.
Then the last excuse. I made a video about it the other day titled: Preach the Gospel, with words if needed?
I will suffice with the text from
Romans 10:13-14; 17
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
What is our Problem?
Cause 1 — Fear
“What will they think of me?”
I fear this has to do with the image we have of ourselves. Self-confidence begins with understanding who we are in Christ.
Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
His righteousness is a gift!
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.
And the more we come to realise what we have been given; the more we come to understand what Christ has done for us; the more boldly we will stand before the truth of the Gospel.
Cause 2 — Holy Spirit
But not only understanding who we are in Christ, but also understanding Who dwells in us!
Acts 4:31
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Peter and John had been imprisoned because they spoke about Jesus and, and in the process, the were used by the Holy Spirit to heal a paralysed man. The leaders released them again with orders not to preach any more about the risen Lord.
Peter and John conveyed this message to the other disciples. Their response? They started praying! The conclusion? They were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke of the Word of God with boldness!
If we wonder why we are not bold then this is an important key. We need to ask God’s Spirit to fill us.
Yes, Paul informs us in 2 Corinthians 1:22, that we have received God’s Spirit as a seal. If we repent and are saved, God will give us His Spirit!
But somewhat irreverently, the Holy Spirit is like a bottle of Pepsi. If you open it carefully, you can very gently pour some for yourself. But if you shake the can well enough, you can count on a fountain! Our prayer to the Lord to use us, our request to be filled with His Spirit becomes, like that Pepsi, a fountain.
But beware! If you prefer not to be used by God, don’t pray the Lord to fill you. When God’s Spirit fills you, all kinds of things can happen, and in verse 31 that was speaking the Word of God with boldness.
Cause 3 — Consent?
A third point I would like to mention is our weird habit of wanting to get permission for what we are about to say. Why should we need permission to serve God?
When we were not serving the Lord we were doing the works of the devil, says Jesus in John 8. And then we seemed to have no problem living as we pleased. We did not ask anyone’s permission for our behaviour. In other words, when we served the devil we did so with full conviction! Looking at myself, I remember very well that I took pride in many were afraid of getting a beating. I took pride in swearing, drinking too much and challenging my teachers at school.
This is not surprising because we acted according to our nature. Sinning is something that comes naturally. But now that we are Christians, we suddenly seem to find it very important how people look at us. You see it as soon as we are in a group. Group pressure makes everyone look at everyone else and everyone is afraid that everyone will think something of them.
What we don’t realise is that nine times out of ten, someone really isn’t into your geekiness. People don’t look at you and think “Oh, that one is saved, now I have to pay close attention to how he or she behaves.” That is something we tell ourselves. The reality is that most people are mostly concerned with themselves only. We don’t even know what the other person is thinking anyway. Only God knows what is going on in that person. That is not our job, our job is to serve God.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Let us take those words seriously and let Christ work through us.
Peter and all the others
Let us look again at Peter. He was an ordinary man. A hard-working man you might run into at the fish market today. Peter knew better than anyone how to prevent anyone from thinking he belonged to Jesus. But in the Bible we can read what can happen when someone no longer needs to get approval from people. We see Peter as a new man led by God’s Spirit boldly speaking the Gospel of salvation.
But Peter, of course, was really not the only one. We see men and women, both in the Bible and throughout history, who were used mightily. Not because they were great of themselves. No, because God chose to use them.
We often look at these people thinking they are some kind of super Christians. The boldness they had makes it easy for us to put them in our special box with the label ‘saints.’ And, we tell ourselves, we are not like that.
But is that fair? Granted, not everyone has received the gift of evangelist. But do you really need to be an evangelist to possess boldness?
I am also willing to admit that a man like Peter was a bold man by nature. But is it fair to say that God only uses people who naturally possess all the qualities He needs for that particular task?
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 that God chose the weak, foolish and insubstantial, so as to show the world that it is the Lord Himself who works, not us!
Impact
What an impact we could have on our environment if, like all those men and women before us, we stopped looking at our shortcomings.
What an impact we could have on those around us if we fully realised that the Lord wants to use us despite all of our weakness and shortcomings.
How would it affect our country if we daily asked the Lord to fill us so that we may fizzle violently like a shaken Pepsi bottle!
Many young people are confused. I am convinced that the church would become more attractive if they see Christians standing with a straight spine in society. The Gospel challenges us to stand up as a new creation. As Christians, we don’t have to wait for permission to say something.
We have the most important message the world can and should hear. We have already received the permission to share it from the Supreme Authority, King Jesus Himself!
May I challenge you to stand up for what we believe from this day on?
Follow and Support
I am very curious about your thoughts on this matter. But! Be careful with what you say! It is quite easy to look at others and think they are not doing well, but how are you doing yourself?
If you like or find what I’m doing interesting, you can subscribe to my channel and don’t forget to press the notification bell-if you want to be notified of new videos!
I really appreciate your prayers and support! Check out the below to see how you can help me.
Anyway, thanks very much for watching and/or reading.
I close with the words from 2 Peter 1:2
grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord
