Unashamed of the Gospel

Now you all may not know this about me, but I do not like confrontation. I can get really awkward and I don’t always know what to say when I am not familiar with someone. I can sometimes not be a natural conversationalist. In fact, I can get incredibly anxious in settings where I don’t know what to say. That’s why I hate talking on the phone. I am terrible talking on the phone. Like if I have to order a pizza and I have to call I always panic when they say hello and I forget what I was trying to order and I mix up my words. It’s awful. I am the same way when someone is trying to sell me something. Like when Meagan and I went to purchase our new van, or when someone asks me “is there anything you need help with today?” I never know what to say.

So now imagine me, then, in a class where one of our assignments was to share the Gospel with someone that we don’t know. So we had to find someone and share the Gospel with them. So even though I know the Gospel, I have verses memorized, I have the truth in me, it is still hard for me to share with others. BUT, as believers the Bible calls us to share the Gospel. This can feel daunting and it can make you feel anxious, but I think what Paul gives us here is an encouragement for how we can do that.

God’s works in hard circumstances

Notice that Paul is in a difficult spot. But this isn’t something new for him.

He says that they know “what has happened to me”, something has happened in his past. He has been imprisoned, he has been flogged, he has been dragged out of the city. He has been lied about, he has been insulted and gossiped about. He has been embarrassed in public. But he says every single one of those was for the advance of the Gospel.

I want you all to close your eyes for a second. Think about your life that has been awful, something that made you cry, something that was said that hurt you, something that you did that embarrasses you now. Think about how you felt after that, whether it was pain, or sadness, or fear. Now when you think about that moment you probably think that there was nothing good that could have come from that moment, that it is only bad and not at all good.

There are circumstances I hope you never have to go through, or things in your life that you have had to deal with that I am truly sad that you have had to deal with. But we also know that God uses our hard circumstances. I know that in high school I dealt with things I wish I didn’t have to. Bullying, being verbally harassed, I had someone who I thought was my friend blame a car accident on me that wasn’t my fault. But it certainly has given me a heart for kids who deal with bullying and for those who have bad friends.

Paul looks, and I look, and you are to look at what Paul said in v. 6. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Because notice that in Paul’s difficult circumstances He is using it to preach to the guards that are there with him. Can you imagine that? Rather than complaining about where he is and saying “if only I could get out of prison then I would share the Gospel” he says “I have used this as an opportunity.” And this also became an encouragement to other believers to be bold in their faith. And he talks about how others, including us are also called to share the Gospel.

God can use us even when we feel unqualified

Then Paul looks at those who are preaching the Gospel in other places. He talks about those that he knew who had gained confidence and started to preach Christ and they do so even do so daringly in difficult circumstances. But then there are others who are proclaiming the Gospel and they do it to get attention, or for money, or for fame. There are people who still do that today, there are some who preach the Gospel only for money and they get paid millions of dollars to do it because they manipulate people’s feelings and they tell them that if they donate that God will bless them. That still occurs. But guess what Paul says about this? He says that even in those circumstances he rejoices that Christ is proclaimed. That doesn’t mean that he condones it or that we should let it continues, but Christ is still proclaimed.

But you know what that means? It means that if someone can try and proclaim the Gospel and they do it for the wrong reasons yet Christ is still proclaimed. Then if you proclaim the Gospel, and you don’t really know what you are saying, and you feel you are bad at it, and you are scared, that Christ is still proclaimed and that it is a reason to rejoice! That if someone learns about Jesus from you that it is always a good thing. So you don’t exactly how to do that, you just need to try. But

We are called to have courage in Christ

This leads us to the last part of what Paul says, which is that we should have courage in proclaiming the Gospel. Why?

Because we are sharing something that is true.

The Gospel is true and so when we share it we have confidence that it is a message that we will be right about.

It’s like if you went to school and you saw a fire so you pulled the fire alarm, and you started screaming fire. You are doing it to save lifes.

But often what we worry is that we are screaming fire but there isn’t really one.

But we don’t need to be ashamed because our message is true!

Because we have hope.

We know that the Gospel isn’t just something that is true, we know that it is news that brings hope.

We have hope that Christ will honor us for our faithfulness.

Because we have others who pray for us and encourage us.