Ready to Risk

Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with an unbeliever is risky business. It has always been that way. Jesus had more people reject his message than he had receive it (John 1:11-12); and the apostles at times got into some serious hot water when they proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:5-20; 7:1-60).

We’re unlikely to face the kind of persecution they faced, or that Christians in different contexts to our own face today, but sharing the gospel in any context demands that we be READY TO RISK. When we openly proclaim our allegiance to Jesus, or share his gospel with someone else, we risk facing reactions of rejection, mockery, hostility, and pity. We risk the humiliation of being asked a question that stumps us, or being accused being narrow-minded, old-fashioned, intolerant, intrusive, judgemental or stupid. The very thought of facing such reactions fills us with fear, and fear keeps us from taking the risk. This explains why so few of us regularly share the gospel and why we see so few conversions to Jesus Christ.

When a fireman suits up and heads into a burning building to rescue a trapped person risk is involved, but he goes in anyway with a mixture of fear and confidence because he has been trained to do this and is equipped with the necessary gear. He goes in because it’s his job and, hopefully, because he cares about the person in peril. In the little letter of Jude in the New Testament Christians are commanded to “snatch others from the fire and save them” (Jude 23). That certainly implies risk.

To help every member of the RUC family to be READY TO RISK we have planned a 6 week sermon series designed to equip us to take the risk of sharing the gospel. The Sunday sermon series will be accompanied by a Study Guide for Community Group members to take us deeper into each week’s topic and help us grow together in our passion and ability to share the message of Jesus. I hope that you will be faithful in your Sunday and Community Group involvement and that you will ask the Lord to equip you to share the story of his love with others.

My prayer for you as we enter this series is expressed by the apostle Paul in his letter to his friend Philemon:

“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ”
Philemon 6

Paul clearly implies that something special happens in us, and in our grasp of what we have in Jesus, when we take the risk and share the gospel with another.

Let’s get ready to risk it!