Sharing Your Faith

Why We Share

Before we learn how to share our faith, we need to understand why we share it. Too many Christians carry guilt about evangelism — they feel like failures because they haven't knocked on enough doors or handed out enough tracts. But the Bible's motivation for sharing the gospel is not guilt. It's love.

The gospel is not a sales pitch to deliver. It's good news that overflows from a transformed life.

The Great Commission Is for Everyone

When Jesus gave the Great Commission, He wasn't talking only to the eleven disciples standing in front of Him. He was establishing the mission of the entire church — every generation, every believer, every vocation.

¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”Matthew 28:18-20 · NIV

Notice what Jesus says first: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Before He sends us, He establishes His authority. We don't go in our own strength or with our own message. We go under His authority, with His message, backed by His power.

The Great Commission isn't just for pastors, missionaries, or the especially outgoing. It's for every believer. A teacher can make disciples. A mechanic can make disciples. A stay-at-home parent can make disciples. The command is to make disciples "as you go" — in the normal rhythm of your life.

The Motivation: Love, Not Guilt

¹⁴For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. ¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.2 Corinthians 5:14-21 · NIV

Paul reveals the engine behind all of his evangelistic work: "Christ's love compels us" (v.14). Not obligation. Not a quota. Not the fear of someone going to hell. Love. When you have genuinely experienced the love of Christ — when you know what it's like to be forgiven, adopted, and given purpose — sharing that with others becomes natural. It would be strange not to talk about it.

Verse 20 takes it further: "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us." An ambassador doesn't create the message — they deliver it. They represent someone else. You are not responsible for saving people. You are responsible for faithfully representing the One who does.

Not Ashamed, but Maybe Nervous

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.Romans 1:16 · NIV

"I am not ashamed of the gospel." That's Paul's declaration. But here's something important: "not ashamed" doesn't mean "not nervous." Courage and fear can coexist. You can be terrified of a conversation and still have it. In fact, most courageous things happen in the presence of fear, not in its absence.

If you feel nervous about sharing your faith, that doesn't disqualify you. It makes you human. The question is not whether you feel fear — it's whether you let fear have the final word.

The Holy Spirit Provides the Power

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”Acts 1:8 · NIV

Jesus' last words before ascending to heaven were not "Try harder" or "Be more eloquent." They were: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses." The power for evangelism doesn't come from your personality, your Bible knowledge, or your communication skills. It comes from the Holy Spirit living in you.

This changes everything. You don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to be a skilled debater. You don't have to be an extrovert. You just have to be willing — and the Spirit does the rest.

Discussion Questions

1. When you think about "evangelism," what images or experiences come to mind? Are they positive or negative?

2. How does 2 Corinthians 5:14 ("Christ's love compels us") change the motivation for sharing your faith compared to guilt or obligation?

3. Paul says we are "ambassadors" — representatives, not originators of the message. How does that take the pressure off?

Reflection

When you think about sharing your faith, what emotion comes up first — excitement, fear, guilt, or something else? Why? How does 2 Corinthians 5:14 ("Christ's love compels us") reframe your motivation?