Why Don't You Share the Gospel?

Consider a hypothetical situation: Suppose God came to you and gave you a 100% guarantee that every time you share the Gospel, it  would result in the conversion of a lost soul. Every single witnessing opportunity would result in repentance and faith - no exceptions!
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Imagine that! How would such a guarantee change the way you live? I don’t know about you, but I would become the most passionate evangelist this world has ever seen. I would share the Gospel at every street corner, supermarket, and bus stop. I would proclaim the Good News to every man and women that crossed my path!

Such a guarantee would transform our churches. Our evangelistic outreaches would boom. Our Gospel preaching would thrive.

Now back to reality: we have no such guarantee. And sadly, our evangelism is typically not characterized by such passion and zeal.

So what does this reveal about us? I believe that since such an incredible guarantee would most certainly result in passionate evangelism, our lack of evangelistic passion is likely rooted in our lack of confidence the Gospel’s power.

We know that sharing the Gospel will not always result in salvation, so we stay silent.
We know that we might experience rejection, or maybe even persecution, so we shrink back.

But God does not leave us without any guarantees. He has guaranteed his presence as we make disciples (Matt. 28:19-20).He has guaranteed that we will be empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). He has guaranteed that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). He has guaranteed that “in due season we will reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9). He has guaranteed that all who call on him “will be saved” (Rom 10:13-15).

Why, then, do these Scriptural guarantees seldom move us to an evangelistic zeal? Because none of these guarantees ensures our personal safety. None of them removes the risk of rejection or ridicule. In short, we love our safety more than we love our Savior. We treasure our reputation more than we treasure the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The possibility of failure produces a fear that keeps the Gospel to oneself.

We hide our Gospel because we’re afraid, but it’s even more serious than that. You see, aside from giving us a multitude of guarantees, God gives us a command: “go into all the world and make disciples.” This command would still be binding even if God hadn’t given us a single guarantee, and my fear does not nullify this command.

Not only is my lack of evangelism a result of my own fear, but also of my outright disobedience.

It is time that you and I consider the command of Christ, rejoice in the guarantee of his presence and power, and tell a hopelessly lost world about the greatest news in world. This is what the early church did in the face of persecution (Acts 8), and it is what we are called to do today.

Don’t wait for a guarantee of success. You will be rejected, ridiculed, mocked, and persecuted, but so was Christ. A servant is not greater than his master.
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Aaron Berry earned both his undergrad and MA in Bible at Bob Jones University. He, along with his wife, Hanna, and daughter, Brooklyn, currently live in Detroit, MI, where Aaron is pursuing his MDiv degree while serving as the Director of Recruitment at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary and working on staff at Inter-City Baptist Church. ​​​You can follow him on twitter @AaronMBerry

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