Evangelism 101 - Face Your Fear

4. Face your Fear

If you have your Bible turn to 1 John4:18

John 1:5 ESV

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

I have a problem.

I have a tendency to spot perfect chances to share the gospel with someone and then I’ll miss the opportunity.

A little over a year ago I was in New Orleans on my own for work. Over the course of 5-6 years I was in Louisiana dozens of times, but I usually did not like to stay in New Orleans because it is a dirty and ultimately spiritually dark city. But since I knew it was likely to be my last trip, I decided to stay in New Orleans one final time. I chose a hotel near one of the stores I was going to be working at and when I arrived I was shocked to learn that it was right on Bourbon Street.

If you know anything about Bourbon Street it is the heart of the French Quarter, the heart of the Mardi Gras festivities. I wasn’t there during Mardi Gras (thank goodness), but I was surrounded by centuries old architecture and, being a nerd, I wanted to go look at the buildings and read the historical plaques to learn more about the city. I also thought I might be able to find a cool coffee shop to sit down and work on my paperwork. So I grabbed my laptop backpack and off I went.

As I followed the streets and enjoyed the architecture, I passed a woman who was sitting at a table advertising palm readings for $10. I thought, “that’s a bit eerie” and kept walking because I had a deadline on my paperwork.

I found a shop in a 400 year old building a mile or so away and I got my work done, enjoyed the sights, and started the walk back to my hotel. It was warm so my back was getting all sweaty and I was getting hungry and suddenly I realized I was coming back to the intersection where that woman was seated, offering palm readings.

I thought, “I should share the Gospel with her.” But then immediately was overly aware of my hunger and my sweaty back. “I need a shower and need to find dinner, this would take too long.”

I then thought of a question to awkwardly start the conversation, “So, uh, how long have you been doing this? Right, Cool, cool, cool.” But then I was acutely aware of how inadequate I was to continue to the conversation forward.

And as I walked up to her intersection, my stomach was twisting into a knot as I contemplated starting to speak with her.

And I wish I could tell you an incredible story of how God used my faithful proclamation of the gospel to save this woman. I wish I could tell you that she repented on the spot and became a Christian and we burned her witchcraft materials together. I wish I could tell you she was delivered from the demons who promised her power, and delivered on that promise, but at the price of her spiritual bondage. I wish I could even just tell you that I was faithful to proclaim the one message that this woman needed to hear above all others even though she rejected it, but I can’t! Because I walked on by and never even looked her in the eyes.

My fear of looking like a fool, my fear of interacting with strangers, my fear of discomfort, my fear! outweighed my love for her and for all I know, she is still lost, still in spiritual chains, still a rebel to her good Creator and still a slave to sin. Or she could be dead, facing the wrath of a holy pure and perfect God against her sin filled rejection of Him. And for all I know, I might have been the only Christian to have crossed her path since then.

Over the past few weeks we have worked through a few steps to prepare ourselves to share the Gospel with others, and they were first outlined in this excellent little book before you share your faith where Matt Smethurst teaches his readers to prepare themselves to share the Gospel so that when the time comes they can share the gospel.

Grasp the Gospel

Check Your context

Love the Lost, and this morning is number Four

Face Your Fear.

Let’s read 1 John4:18 together

1 John 4:18 ESV

18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Last week we talked about loving the Lost and what that means. We talked about how if we really loved people our fears would be driven out, because perfect love casts out fear. How the best way to evangelize is to love God and love people and to let those twin loves overflow into proclaiming the gospel into any situation.

This week we are talking about how to actually look fear in the face and do the work to confront, and eventually kill, our fears.

“If we wait to share our faith until our fears have completely evaporated, we will never share it.” - Matt Smethurst

As I shared in my story, I have the sinful habit of reasoning myself out of gospel conversations, of passing up good enough opportunities in search of the perfect one. I’m sure none of you can relate with me.

But the simple fact is that sharing our faith will almost never be convenient or perfect.

There will always be something in every situation that doesn’t hit our ideals that the devil will use to whisper in our ear, not yet, you could find something better tomorrow. We talked about the two evangelism ditches last week. On one side you have the ditch of going straight to trying to convert people, of trying to get them to say the magic sinners prayer, of trying to get through a structured gospel presentation, but you completely neglect the aspect of loving that person and knowing that person. On the other side you have the ditch of never actually getting to the gospel because you really just want to love that person and be a good example to them, but you’re completely neglecting time and the simple fact that you and that person are careening off a cliff towards your deaths never knowing which rock you are going to hit and die upon on your way down! Our rock or their rock could be coming by the end of the day and our main concern is not the state of their souls and proclaiming the one thing that God has said in his word is the power to save people? Romans 1:16

Far too often it is our fear that keeps us from fulfilling our duty as Jesus’ followers, as heralds of good news.

My fear caused me to abdicate my duty as a herald. And this is far from the only time that I have missed good chances to be faithful in gospel proclamation because of my fear! I still do this more than I care to admit! And while I can come up with all sorts of reasons that make sense as to why sharing the gospel doesn’t make sense in the moment, none of them excuse me from doing what Jesus told me to do!

Reasons are not Excuses!

If I was deathly afraid of rodents, and we started to get mice in the house, would I be excused in ignoring the things that made me afraid? Cause my fear of rodents is certainly a reason why I would not want to be messing with them. I mean, they’re dirty, they’re stinky, they can bite, what if they use their little claws to climb up my pant leg? I can give you all sorts of reasons, but are those reasons valid for excusing me from addressing the issue?

No! It’s only gonna get worse! If I loved my home and my family, then I need to be facing my fear and figuring out how to beat it! And should I only be preparing when I see its little head pop out of its hole? Should I think, “Oh, there’s one of those mice again. While its here I should go look up how to kill it.” and then once the head is gone I can stop being concerned about it?

No! I need to be researching and preparing before it pops out so that when it does pop out I am ready to kill it! If I had a problem like mice I wouldn’t be waiting to see the problem, I would be learning techniques, I would be spending my money on good resources, I would even ask someone who is better than me at killing mice for help and advice, and I might even hire someone to teach me how to combat it better for the next time! I might even do a practice walkthrough to make sure my mind and body are on the same page. Then, when I face the groundhog again, I am much more confident and prepared to handle the problem. Wouldn’t you do something along those lines?

Are not the souls of our friends and family worth far more than your home? How should we expect to be able to defend their souls and face the problem of fear without putting effort into preparation? We must prepare if we want to be faithful evangelists!

So how do you prepare to overcome fear? You face it. You stare it in the eyes and study it to understand where it comes from so that you may understand how to train yourself to kill it when it raises its ugly head.

You beat fear through preparing to beat it, which is building confidence in the Truth of the Gospel, and then you train to be ready to kill it when it rises up again.

How do we train?

We train by reciting the Gospel to ourselves daily (a great practice for us to remember who God is) and to others who are friends and members of our church so that our brains and mouths are trained to be in unison

We study the Scriptures and seek out answers to our own questions and doubts so that we are able to joyfully affirm and be supported by the truth of the Gospel

We don’t go alone into the battle.

First, the Holy Spirit is our Helper. We have the very Spirit of God in us and directing our steps!

The darkness, no matter how dark cannot overcome the light!

John 1:5 ESV

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Second, we develop brothers and sisters who will join us in our evangelism. Maybe that means physically, but maybe that means by praying for each other and holding each other accountable.

We train by building confidence in the truth that it is the God who saves people through the GOSPEL and not through our wise words and apologetics

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

And one great piece of encouragement: evangelism almost always goes better than we expect it to. So don’t be brought into submission by your fear.

Most of the time our fear is of the consequences of losing the approval of someone we care about, but hear the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:

Galatians 1:10 ESV

10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Thomas Chalmers, a pastor and mathematician (who would have thought those go together?) has a sermon titled “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection” where he argues that it is not enough to simply remove an old affection, or an old love. Something must take its place or there will be a void because are designed by God to love and enjoy things. It is our sin that twists our enjoyment into debauchery. The best option we have to get rid of sinful old loves is to start with a new love that shoves the old loves out of their place!

do you love your comfort? Do you love your social standing? Do you love not having to speak with strangers or friends or family about things that are eternal? Do you love not having strife because you are willing to not speak on the good news of the Kingdom of God? Do you find it impossible because of your fear to say that though we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us, to win for himself a people who can stand unashamed before the throne of God and we must simply believe Him when He says he is the Son of God and turn from our rebellion against him to be a part of that people? That we can be saved from our sin and made into new Creations!

If you find yourself backing off when you should be stepping up, seek to love the Lord and seek His approval. Start there, then ruthlessly evict and exterminate all portions of your life where you love other things more. When you love Jesus more than your family, you will love your family better and more boldly. When you love Jesus more than you love your comfort, you will sacrifice your comfort to bring glory to his name. When you love Jesus, you will keep his commandments, and your fear will be cast out.

I can give you all the practical application in the world, but if you don’t know and love the Gospel, you won’t evangelize.

If you aren’t willing to go out of your way to understand people and love them exactly as they are, you won’t evangelize.

If you don’t start with steps 1-3 (Grasp the Gospel, Check your Context, Love the Lost), you won’t ever get to step 4 (Face your Fear) let alone step 5 that we’ll be talking about next week (start to speak).

To the church members and other Christians in this room: I can’t love Jesus and the lost for you. I can’t pray for all of your loved ones and friends for you. I can’t evangelize for you. I can’t face your fear for you. I can help you in all of these things, but its time to kneel down and pray, it’s time to swallow your pride and ask for help, it’s time to get up and do something! Jesus is glorious, Jesus has saved you, Jesus deserves to be worshipped in all the earth! Make the motto of your life, however long or short it may be, All Glory Be to Christ!

If you need help with that, then tell me, please! I want to assist you in all things! To build you up where you are weak, but you have to talk to me so I can know best how to do that!

And if you are not a Christian this morning, can I ask you why? This sermon is for Christians, and most of my sermons tend to be that way, but can I ask you what is holding you back from believing Jesus when he says he is the son of God?

Is there something that you take pleasure in that you’re afraid Jesus will tell you to drop? Jesus is better and sweeter than that thing.

Are you afraid to lose social standing, or the tribe you have become a part of? Jesus invites you into a family that spans all of the earth and all of time.

Do you have something else holding you back that you want to speak about? Let’s talk! I want to know you. I want to be able to join you in your walk, to support you where you are weak. And to show you how good it is to be a follower of Jesus.

Read “Before you Share Your Faith” bottom of page 67

Time of Confession

Confess your sinful fear

Confess the ways in which you have not brought All Glory to Christ in your everyday interactions

Assurance of Pardon

Song of Response/