Today sharing the good news of Jesus can cause many bad reactions including brutal deaths in places like Nigeria, Yemen and Somalia. In Britain there is a sharp rise in the incidents of police harassing street preachers and even intimidating people in their homes for their Christian beliefs. Yet in the face of anti-Christian hostility, Christians need to follow the example of the first century church that faced great persecution yet who spread the gospel of Jesus throughout the Roman Empire in one generation.
Jesus commanded His disciples to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And He promised them that the Holy Spirit would give them the power to fulfil this great task. The Holy Spirit was given not just for personal fellowship but for the purpose of helping the disciples be effective witnesses for Christ (Luke 4:18-19).
Today, with an estimated 2.3 billion Christians around the globe, the world can be changed if each believer speaks up and refused to be silenced like the first century disciples would not stop talking about Jesus despite being arrested and threatened (Acts 4:13). We see:
1. Christians who share their faith effectively are bold in their witness (Acts 4:9-12; John 14:6)
2. Christians who share their faith effectively are ordinary people (Acts 4:13 MSG)
3. Christians who share their faith effectively are people who have experienced Jesus
Apply
1. Christians who share their faith effectively are bold in their witness. J.A. Alexander in his commentary on the Acts writes: ‘the word translated boldness…signifies not merely…bravery or courage, but freedom and readiness of speech, as opposed to hesitation and reserve.’ The disciples weren’t tongue tied, embarrassed or shy. They were free of fear and inhibitions to speak what was in their heart. They were bold in the face of opposition: They were speaking to the religious rulers of their nation who, only weeks before, had conspired together to have Jesus arrested and crucified. Now they had the disciples in their sights. Yet the disciples refused to be intimidated by them: When they asked by what power or name they had healed the man and thereby caused many to be interested in the gospel, Peter answered them straight (Acts 4:10). Today Christians face hostility, ridicule, peer pressure and bullying and it can cause a defensive reaction. How reluctant are we to say we are Christians or speak about our faith? To see change in our nation we are all going to have to step out of our fears and face down the intimidation through bold and clear witness. The disciples refused to be manipulated by them: What had happened through Peter and John was good, but the rulers were ‘greatly disturbed’ by the effective witness of the apostles and tried to infer that something wrong was taking place. This healing was politically incorrect. But Peter cut through the manipulation and turned it back on them (Acts 4:9). People today would like to manipulate the church into silence by suggesting that Christianity is backward and negative rather than recognising all the good that is being done by countless Christians, Christian communities, and Christian agencies. They were bold in the declaration of their message (Acts 4:12): In a society that promotes multi-culturalism there is great temptation to play down the core truth of Christianity that only through Jesus can people be saved. Christians must not back off from repeating the claim of Jesus that ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through me’ (John 14:6). If this claim is true and Christians believe it is, then we must lift Jesus up if people are to be drawn to Him. We owe it to people to declare the message that the apostles declared.
2. Christians who share their faith effectively are ordinary people. In the New Testament the growth of the early church was rapid because the Christians spread the good news as a normal part of their life. They did not keep quiet about their faith. They shared the good news of the gospel at any and every opportunity (Acts 4:13 MSG). Peter and John were uneducated in the schools of the day. They were not elite theological scholars nor professionals with official knowledge. They were just a couple of down to earth, ordinary guys and they were speaking with great authority. The early church was known for gossiping the gospel everywhere they went. The spread of Christianity through so called ordinary believers is also what happened with the 18th Century Methodists, the 19th Century Salvation Army, and the 20th Century Pentecostals. When all church gets involved in talking about Jesus to all they meet then all the world feels the impact.
3. Christians who share their faith effectively are people who have experienced Jesus. Peter and John had not been trained in the schools and colleges of the day, but they had been trained as disciples of Jesus. They were practicing what they had first seen. They had seen how Jesus spoke and acted which was always with authority - whether with religious rulers, demons, or in calming a storm. They had learned that when Jesus is with you, there is no need to fear anything or anyone. They knew Jesus personally and they knew that He had given them authority to carry on the work He had started to preach the good news of the kingdom and heal the sick and release those oppressed by the devil. The best and only way to learn is always from people who have modelled what they are teaching. Also, they had been in the presence of Jesus. So, we too must spend time with Christ. We need to fellowship with Him through prayer. We need to let His Word - the Bible - saturate our spirits. We need to live in daily partnership with the Holy Spirit who makes Christ real to us. We will see people and situations differently when we have seen Jesus. We will not look at how people appear outwardly even if they are aggressive. We will have a Christ-like love for all people. Today our world, with all its hatreds and divisions, can change not from the top down but from the bottom up, when each ordinary Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit and accepts the challenge to share the good news of Jesus, as wisely and courageously as possible, to everyone that we can influence.
