Go, therefore… What do you suppose is the single most formidable obstacle that Christ-followers encounter when attempting to share the gospel with others? If you’ve ever attempted to share your faith with anyone, then you already know the answer to that question: Fear. Fear is a faith killer. What was it that kept the Israelites from crossing the river into the promised land? Fear. What was it that caused a nation of people to wander the desert for 40 years? Fear. What was it that caused an entire generation to die as nomads instead of crossing over into the land of milk and honey? Fear. The same fear that keeps the believer from sharing their faith! Fear of rejection. Fear of our own inadequacy and lack of understanding. Fear of ridicule. Fear of being odd or different. Fear kills faith. And Satan uses our fears and anxieties to quell the spread of the good news in the world. He does not have the power to alter or change or destroy the Word. He cannot touch the gospel message because he cannot dispel the Truth. But, he can and will use our human weakness, our fear, against us to prevent us from stepping out to boldly proclaim the gospel. What conquers fear? Fear bows to only one thing… Divine Love. The love of God will drive out fear under any and all circumstances. As created people, we derive our strength from the receiving and giving of Love. The Bible says in 1 John 4:17-19 that, “15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us.” So you see, beloved, love casts out fear. In ancient times, just as they do today, the Jewish people would study the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses, which are the first books of the Torah. As Christians we know these books as the first five books of the Old Testament; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Contained in Deuteronomy is the central prayer of the Jewish prayer book (the Siddur), known as The Shema’: She ma’ Yis ra el, Adonai elo hei nu (elo hey nu), Adonai echad. 4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) So important is the love of God in the lives of the believer, that we are commanded to keep the commandment to love God on our hearts, teach it to our children and talk about it daily in our homes, in the morning when we wake up and in the evening before bed, so that it endures generation to generation. We should wear reminders of the commandment on our hands, so that we can see, and on our foreheads, so that others can see, and we should write them on the doorways and gates of our homes. Have you ever visited a Jewish home? Faithful Jews will have a mezuzot mounted to the door frames of their houses and inside each mezuzot is a scroll written in Hebrew containing The Shema’. Why do I share this with you? Why is this important as we set out to share the love of Jesus Christ with our community? As you go, you will inevitably encounter Satan’s favorite obstacle. You will meet someone who needs to hear the good news. God will place that on your heart. And the devil will throw your natural fears and anxieties in front of you to discourage you from sharing the gospel. When that happens, I want you to remember who it is that sent you. I want you to remember the love He has for you, and the love you have for Him. And then I want you to know who it is you are ministering to… If you walk into the TOMAGWA HealthCare Ministries clinic, for example, you are likely to minister to TOMAGWA patients. TOMAGWA, if you are not familiar, is a Christian ministry that, by the Grace of God and in response to the Love of Jesus, provides quality health care, offers hope and restores dignity to uninsured, low-income families and individuals in the Tri-County region. But, just who, exactly, are TOMAGWA patients? They are whole families… or single moms. They are the working poor, or the recently laid off executive. They might have a mortgage or they might call the streets home. They might mow the lawn of the house next door to you, or they might own it and be struggling to keep it out of foreclosure. They are the person in the checkout line next to you at the grocery store, or the butcher who slices your meat. They might hand you your child’s happy meal at the drive-through window or pour you more iced tea at your favorite restaurant. The day care worker you trust with your toddler every day might be a TOMAGWA patient, and many of your child’s friends at school as well. They are your family members, your neighbors, your co-workers and fellow parishioners. TOMAGWA patients, thousands of them, are woven into the fabric of your community and you just never know who they might be and where you might encounter them as you go through your day. The fact is, at any given moment, anyone of us might be in circumstances where a TOMAGWA clinic is our only access to health care... or even more than that for some, the only point of access to the hope of Christ. With all of that in mind, I want you to see the people that you are sharing the gospel with as loveable… worthy of love, and worthy of compassion; made worthy not because of who they are, but because of whose they are. They are just like you and me. If that knowledge doesn’t dispel the fear, then think of this Word from 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” We worship a mighty God, a God of power and strength and love and discipline, and He passes those qualities on to us in abundance. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13). If we can approach a God like that, surely we can find the courage through Christ to approach someone who is just like us! If you can kneel before God, you can stand in front of anybody! So, I encourage you today to go with confidence and share the good news as we have been commanded to do by Christ Himself. Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) There is no force on earth, no force in heaven that can keep God from advancing His kingdom, and by extension, nothing can keep you from accomplishing the kingdom work you have been called to do. We have the love of God on our side! “If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer [we are more than conquerors] through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-39) And to that I say, “Go, therefore, in courage and love!”
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:46:04 +0000
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