Read the Bible to
Strengthen Your Knowledge of Faith
In a recent sermon, I lamented that when
I was in high school, my church urged the teens to be evangelistic. However, we were not taught how or shown
how. I want to urge our church to share
the faith, just as I was urged to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But I also want to offer some equipping.
How do we get “good at evangelism?” One way is to know what we believe. Gain a solid knowledge of the following
terms: salvation, sin, Jesus, faith, disciple (or follower).
I suggest reading the Bible as one way
of gaining confidence in our knowledge of faith. Select one of the four gospels, and go
through it slowly. Keep a notebook. Write down everything you learn about
sin. Write where you see these lessons
in your own life or in the lives of people around you.
Write down everything said about belief and
faith. Consider how your life would
change if you took these things you’ve written and instituted them as normative
practices in your daily ritual. As you
write down observations about sin and faith, think about how your perspective
on relationships will be altered. How
will your view of specific people in your life change? It is important in all these written
observations and learned lessons to be very specific. It is hard to apply general observations in
life. When we are specific, we can see
where actual changes in practice and perspective come about.
After you’ve read through one (just one at this
point) of the Gospels and after you have filled many pages of your journal with
ideas about faith and sin and God, write down your own definition of the word ‘Christian.’ Try to identify at least five ways your
definition is either expanded or different than it was before you started
reading. Also identify ways your
definition is right on track with what you thought before reading in such a
pointed, deeply thoughtful way.
Remember to pray throughout this exercise. This practice will take several days or
weeks, depending on how long your time of reading and contemplation is. Remember everything you read in scripture is
to be in complete interaction with your life: what you seen media and your own
lived experiences. So, pray before your
read, as you read, and after. Ask God to
open your eyes, ears, mind, and heart.
Ask God to give you understanding and discernment. And pray as you watch the news. Even pray (in your mind) during casual times,
hanging out with friends. Prayer is
essential throughout this process.
Finally, pray for opportunities to apply what you’ve
observed and learned in real relationships.
By this I don’t mean you insert theological notions about the trinity
into conversations with a friend when the theology absolutely does not
fit. That kind of forced insertion would
not prompt your friend to begin thinking theologically with you. Rather, your
friend might be quite freaked out or put off.
What I mean is a natural application of what you’ve
learned. Your friend wants to do some
drinking while you play cards and you decide not to drink or to only stop at
one. Your friend is surprised because
you used to get tipsy with her. She asks why the change and you respond that
you just don't go overboard with drink anymore because you don’t think your master
wants you to do that.
She responds, your master? And you tell her Jesus is your master. She is likely to be freaked out, but this is
in the context of a normal conversation.
You assure her that you are still you and still her card-playing friend,
but you’ve been reading Luke’s Gospel.
After your careful reading, you are convinced that to be a Christian is
to be totally devoted to Jesus in all arenas of life – even at the card
table. Because of your reading, you are
committed to Jesus as your master. You
still enjoy Spades (or whatever is the card game of choice), and you certainly
still enjoy your friends’ company. But
you will try your best to enjoy it as a Christ-follower.
This definitely sets you up. The next time your friend tells a raunchy
joke, she’ll be watching to see if the Jesus-follower laughs. The next time a group of your friends are on
the 4th beer, they’ll want to know if their friend who now calls
Jesus “master” is judging them. It is
essential that you communicate love and grace.
Simply state with confidence that you love them and you are committed
both to friendship with them and to loyalty to Jesus. And be prepared to share stories from Luke to
illustrate why you have changed your behavior.
One example might be the story of Jesus hanging out with Zacchaeus and
other tax collectors in Luke 19.
This process is exhaustive because it requires a
very involved approach to reading the Bible and then retaining that
comprehensive thought-approach even in relaxed, social situations. Saturating your life in prayer will soften
the intensity of this approach. Prayer
will deepen your sensitivity to the Spirit and you will find great enjoyment in
Bible reading that previously felt more like a chore than a pleasing
activity. This process is just one way
of equipping us, making us ready to speak our faith in appropriate ways. It is a good start to a life of evangelistic
living. And there is no end the
possibilities of a life submitted to reading scripture in the way described
here.
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