腓立比書（Philippians） 1:15-18, 9/28/2003 by Elder Victor Lin
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Introduction
Good afternoon brothers and sisters in Christ. As you know, our Pastor is away today and by good fortune I have been picked to preach. I knew that preaching was part of the job description for Elders but this is the first time in my life that I have been called upon to preach the main message during Sunday worship so I am quite excited. My message today is about our responsibility as Christians to spread the Gospel. There are three
points that I would like to address today. The first is why we don’t share our faith. The second is why we need to share our faith. The third and final point is how to share our faith with others.
WHY WE DON’T SHARE OUR FAITH?
Do you know that most Christians have never shared their faith before? There is lots of different reasons why people hesitate to share their faith. Three very common reasons are:
The Fear Factor
We all have fears. Some are rational and some are irrational. Nobody is completely fearless. When it comes to sharing our faith, we may be afraid of rejection or looking foolish. Sometimes we worry about being pushy or judgmental when we talk about beliefs with nonbelievers.
False ideas of responsibility
Some people use excuses when they are asked to evangelize. Have you heard these?
1. “It’s not my job. That’s what we pay the preacher for.¨
2. “I am too busy and don’t have the time.¨
3. “I don’t have the gift of evangelism.¨
I am not Holy enough
The last reason some people do not share their faith is that the devil influences them to think it is not important or that they are hypocrites. I call this the ¡§I am not Holy enough syndrome¡¨.
Now I am sure that there lots of other reasons besides the ones I have just mentioned. I picked these reasons because I could relate to them. When I was a young Christian, I did not share my faith with anyone because I believed the reasons I have just stated are valid. But as I grew spiritually, God showed me the errors in my thinking and how important it is to share my faith with others.
WHY WE NEED TO SHARE OUR FAITH?
This brings us to the second point: why we need to share our faith. Since I gave you three reasons why we do not share our faith, I would like to also give you just three reasons why we need to share our faith.
Lost people matters to God
In Luke 15, there are three parables. Each parable is about something that is missing or lost. The first parable is about a missing sheep. The second parable is about a lost coin. The third parable is about what? A lost son. There is a common theme that runs through all these parables, which is that lost people matters to God. This is the first reason that we need to share our faith. People who are lost not only matters but are valuable to God. In the parable of the lost son, the father prepared a feast and had a big celebration when his lost son returned. Do you know that we matter so much to God that all heaven rejoices whenever a sinner repents and comes to Christ. Can you imagine the angels and Jesus having a big party in heaven when a person here on earth becomes a new Christian.
God wants us to reproduce.
The second reason we need to share our faith is that God clearly wants each of us to reach out to the lost and share our faith so we could reproduce more Christians.
Plants, animals, humans and Christians should be able to reproduce. In Genesis 8:17 it says “Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you－the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground－so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.” (NIV)
There are several Bible passages that speak of our mission to reproduce. Two that comes to my mind are:
1. Matthew 28:18 (The Great Commission)
2. Acts 1:18 (Jesus tells us to be His witnesses)
Our church needs it to grow
Turn with me please to our passage for today which comes from the book of Philippians chapter 1 verses 15-18.
“Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from good will: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.”
One thing learned from this passage is that we all need to realize that Christ may be preached for different reasons by different people. While motive is important, the message is more important. Our church may feel a sense of urgency to grow because we need it to continue this ministry. Although this may not be as pure of a motive as compassion for others, if Christ is being preached, that is what is important.
The second thing we can learn for this passage is that while competition is not something which is desirable, it can lead to a more zealous preaching of the gospel. As in our passage we saw how these men were preaching Christ to draw people away for following Paul, and perhaps they would not have been preaching so vigorously if not the fact they were jealous of Paul. God can and often does use division to further the work of the gospel.
The third and final thing which we can learn from this passage is that the true servant of Christ will value the preaching of Christ, over their own values and ideas. We should not argue over little things, to the point where we forget that the most important things that we can do is to preach Christ. That is what matters, not our view on secondary issues but on whether Christ is being preached. We need to be as Paul was and forgive the injury to our own pride or ego and rejoice in the preaching which is done for the Lord.
HOW DO WE SHARE OUR FAITH?
Just as there are different reasons we need to share faith, there are also different ways of sharing our faith. I would like to give you some tips on how to get started on personal evangelism. The first tip is to identify the people you will be reaching out to.
Oikos － Greek word for household/family
Effective evangelism can start with the people you know already. Do you know that you have a personal community or a realm of influence? We all come in contact with people that we interact, talk and relate on a regular basis. These can be people in our family, friends, neighbors or coworkers. I would like to use the Greek word Oikos¨, which means household, to refer to this extended circle of people that God has put in our lives. God has put them there to expose them to faith in Christ that’s in us. God’s purpose for you in your oikos is to influence them through a sincere, loving relationship. The key here is relationship. Statistics has shown that 70% of all persons in churches today say they are in those churches because a friend or relative who attends that church invited them.
Team Oriented
The second tip is that we need to think of evangelism as a team-oriented activity. God rarely uses just one person to bring someone through the entire process of coming to faith in Him. Cliff Knechtle, a Christian author wrote: “A person’s coming to Christ is like a chain with many links. There is the first link, middle links and a last link. There are many influences and conversations that precede a person’s decision to convert to Christ. I know the joy of being the first link at times, a middle link usually, and occasionally the last link. God has not called me to only be the last link. He has called me to be faithful and to love all people.” What Cliff is saying is that we need to work together as a team toward to same goal of spreading God’s word. For example, if we are putting together a Gospel Sunday event, we should mobilize the entire church. We not only need people to help organize the event but more importantly, everyone should get involved in inviting and bring someone they know to the event.
Develop your own style
The third and final tip on personal evangelism is that we all have our own way of sharing our faith. God can use us the way we are. It does not matter if we are naturally outgoing or reserved. We can be ourselves when we evangelism because God can work through our naturally styles. God wants to work through our unique characters. If we examine the Bible, we will see there are different styles of evangelism. Some of the styles are testimonial, service-oriented, and intellectual.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, although we don’t all have to be like Apostle Paul or Billy Grahams, the great Evangelists, we are called to be everyday evangelists. We may not be called to be oversea missionaries or to go across the country speaking in crusades. But as Christians we are called to share our faith truthfully, sincerely, and courageously. We need to share our faith with our family, our friends, and our coworkers – the people we see everyday ¡V because God cares for them. We are called to be everyday evangelists, sharing our faith by our words or deeds, through the love of God, everyday with everyone around us. How can we start today? I challenge you to start today by listing down some non-believers in your oikos and to pray for them consistently, asking God to provide you with the right opportunity to share your faith with them. And when the right time comes, share your faith with them openly.
Rev. Szuhsing Mao 卯思興牧師 
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