Why we don't share the Good News

Recently, I have been thinking about the reasons we do not share the Gospel with others. Evangelism is part of the Christian life. Yes, we must support missionaries, local churches, and other Gospel ministries in our community. But we are commanded to share the Gospel with those we meet every day and with those God has put in our life. I personally do not share the good news of Jesus as much as I should. None of us share the good news as much as we should. The question is, why do we not share the Gospel with others? What holds us back from using our mouth to tell others about Jesus and His death for sinners? Why do we find it so hard many times to spread the grace and love of God in words with others? 

While I believe there are a myriad of reasons we do not share the Gospel with the lost, I think there are 3 large, main reasons we do not. Of all the reasons that prohibit us from evangelizing the lost, there are 3 reasons that keep surfacing that seem to staple our mouth shut when the opportunity to share the Gospel arises. Here are the 3 largest reasons we can't seem to share the Gospel enough with others, and the solutions to each of the 3 reasons. 

#1-We fear the response we will receive when we share the Good News.

Simply put, we live in fear of rejection and anger. When the time comes to share our faith in words, we freeze because we are scared the person will get angry with us. We imagine the person calling us a bigot, intolerant, close-minded, weak, or stupid. We imagine the person (after they hear the Gospel) getting red in the face, getting cold, or turning away and cussing us out. When we could share God's love, we imagine the person rejecting us, we imagine losing a friend, or worse we imagine the person attacking us with their words or actions. Fear to the response of the other person, is what stops us from sharing the Gospel as much as we should.

Solution: Fear God more than man. 

God commands us to share the Gospel. God commands us to make disciples. God commands us to be the bearer of good news and blesses the feet of those who carry the good news. As Jesus tells His followers, we must fear the one who can kill the soul, not the one who could kill the body. Rather than fearing the response of humans, we must fear the Lord. Fearing the Lord is the only solution to a lack of sharing the Gospel. 

#2-We do not believe the person will change. 

When the time comes to share the Gospel with others, many times we do not open our mouths because we think it won't matter. We believe the person who is about to hear the Gospel will not change and will continue to live in sin. We do not believe the Gospel has the real power to change a person. So, we move on with our lives assuming the person will continue to live in sin. We do not believe in the power of the Gospel. 

Solution: Read the Bible

The Bible is full of stories of people changed by the power of the Gospel. Some examples are; Abraham (idolater to father of a nation), Judah (sexual pervert to son of blessing), David (adulter and murderer to repenter), Peter (brash and outspoken to leader of the church), Mary Magdalene (prostitute to follower of Jesus), and Paul (persecutor to martyr). If we spend time in God's Word, the power of the Gospel will be very clear. Jesus did not come down from heaven to die for His people so that they were powerless. Jesus came to give His people power through the Holy Spirit. The good news is the good news because it is the most powerful message in history. We need to truly believe the Gospel has power to change since it changed each one of us. 

#3-We do not believe the good news is actually good news. 

Sadly, this is the worst reason we do not share the Gospel. We do not believe in the news we are sharing. We do not believe we were once sinners deserving the condemnation of God. We do not believe in the justice or holiness of God. We do not believe hell is real. We do not believe God has grace. We do not believe that people need to repent. We do not believe Jesus died to accomplish salvation (instead we think salvation is just possible). We do not believe eternal life is for everyone. We do not believe the Holy Spirit regenerates dead people. We do not believe in the resurrection. We do not believe in the return of Jesus. Simply put, there is some part of the Gospel message we do not believe, so we refuse to share a message we are not totally convinced is true. 

Solution: Get on your knees and become a Christian. 

If there is a part of the Gospel message we do not believe, then we truly are not a Christian anyway. We need to fully and completely believe the entirety of the Gospel message. 

Every single human being is a spiritual dead condemned sinner from birth. It is only in the grace of God, the mission of Jesus (life, death, resurrection), and the application of the Holy Spirit, that sinners will be saved. It is only through the regeneration of the Spirit and the repentance of the sinner that God justifies. Tt is only in the righteous life of Jesus and the sin applied to Him on the cross that salvation occurs. Jesus will one day return to this earth for those the Father elected in His grace who have believed and lived a life of fruitful faith in Him. 

That is the Gospel or the good news of salvation. It is only through sharing this news that others will come to know Jesus and be saved in grace. God commands this Gospel message to be shared to all people. So, we do not have a choice in sharing this news with others. The question is, what is stopping us and what area must we repent of? Which reason is stopping us, and which solution must we hold to?