That remains true for us as God's people. Our flesh always inclines us toward the fear of man. In fact, our flesh even inclines us toward contentment with fearing man. Apart from the empowering of the Spirit, we will sit back in a convenient and idle comfort that leads to spiritual apathy and atrophy.
ASKING BEFORE ACTING
The Holy Spirit lives in us to awaken a stronger desire for that which glorifies Jesus. So any courage as witnesses flows from an acknowledgement of our cowardice. We are utterly dependent on the Spirit of God to supply an alien boldness. We will never share the gospel with clarity, regularity or authority if we are not accompanied and animated by the Holy Spirit. That's where our witness begins - personally, privately and persistently begging for the power and the presence of the Spirit to invade our hearts and lives. We must humbly refuse to act in our own ability and resolve to move in the authority of God's Spirit and God's Word.
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
But don't confuse Spirit-empowered boldness with temperamental brashness. It's one thing to know how to answer questions. It's another thing altogether to know how to answer people. One requires knowledge. The other requires wisdom. That's why Paul says that we are to, "Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person" (Col. 4:5-6). When the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of boldness, it is accompanied by the fruit of wisdom.
A canned presentation of the gospel may be accurate and true and not matter at all. It takes wisdom to apply gospel truths to the particular doubts, questions, fears and longs of an individual's heart. We must be committed, not just to sharing the gospel in general, but to cultivating gospel conversations with wisdom and love.
GOSPEL CONVERSATIONS
Gospel conversations are about bringing some aspect of the gospel to bare on particular areas of a persons life. You can have a gospel conversation without necessarily "sharing the gospel." I suggest thinking about three primary aspects of a gospel conversation:
1) Listen to their Story
Any gospel conversation must be driven by love. A truthful presentation of the gospel cannot compensate for a twisted representation of the gospel. James writes that "we should be slow to speak and quick to listen." Listening is selfless. Listening communicates value. Listening indicates interest. Listening is an act of love. Gospel conversations begin with listening to each other and to others.
Listening is also enhanced by questions. Lots of questions. Open ended questions. Follow up questions. Questions that get to people's hearts. Questions that address feelings and motives. Listen without criticizing, without correcting and without considering how you are going to respond. Listen just to listen. Listen to understand. They are not ready to hear the gospel if you are not ready to hear them.
2) Connect to their Story
Enter into their experience of pain or joy, fear or excitement, despair or hope. These emotions are universal. Put yourself in their shoes. Connect your own story to their story. Identify with what they are going through or struggling with and how they are responding. Admit your own failures or weakness.
3) Retell their Story Redemptively
The gospel offers hope to the hopeless; grace for the guilty; healing for the hurting; peace for the conflicted; rest for the weary; acceptance for reject; belonging for the outcast; strength for the weak; security for the fearful. You may not offer a clear gospel presentation in every conversation or even most conversations, but you can offer to people some aspect of what the gospel offers them. You can affirm the grace of God at work in their story in some way in order to encourage them. Or you can challenge their pride and self-sufficiency in some small way, pointing them to the Creator.
You can share with them how you found hope or peace or some other redemptive aspect of the gospel in a similar situation. Discern what particular area of brokenness the gospel could address and offer word of hope to that specifically. Paint a picture for them of what God wants for them, or what he has already provided for them. See their story through the eyes of grace. Help them see something greater and more beautiful for themselves in light of what Christ has done. That's what Paul means when he writes that, "from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view" (2 Cor. 5:16). As new creations ourselves, we are to see individuals and their stories in light of the redemption that has found us and which is available to them.
We should be praying for opportunities and asking for the Spirit's presence and power to be faithful and fruitful. As we are filled with the Spirit, we should boldly and winsomely cultivate gospel conversations, with wisdom, as a normative way of life. We should be listening to people and to their stories with discernment and love. We should be entering their stories and connecting to them at an emotional and human level. And we should be seeking to sow seeds of grace into the hearts and lives of those individuals, speaking the gospel to their particular struggles and situations.
This can happen over lunch with a co-worker, in the front yard with a neighbor or over morning coffee with a family member. It can be an extended one time conversation or a shorter interaction that you revisit. It can be planned or spontaneous and with a stranger or a friend.
What would happen if we continually sought the empowering of the Holy Spirit to boldly and wisely cultivate gospel conversations? I dare you to wake every day and pray for that very thing... then just watch what God will do.
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