Acts 4:1-4
We tend to have such a great fear in living our faith out loud. There are obviously several reasons: fear of rejection, fear of confrontation, fear of knowledge, fear of embarassment, etc. Those fears are human nature. But Paul, in 1 Corinthians 2:14-3:3, lays out the differences between human nature and spiritual nature. It seems, as the beginning of Acts is teaching us, that we who are filled with the Spirit are filled so that there might be a powerful witness to Jesus as Christ and Lord. These post-pentecostal followers can't help but talk about Jesus (Acts 4:20).
They had much to fear; these to whom they were witnessing had very recently crucified the Christ--why should they fare any better? But the Holy Spirit in them changed their outlook and they witnessed nonetheless. Acts 4 speaks of their very first confrontation from the anti-christs who rejected their message and arrested them. But, many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
Our witnessing fears are all wrapped up in, I think, the fear of defeat. We don't want to mess it up. We don't want to fail in the results. What if everyone says no? I don't want to be a subpar witness.
Here's the plain facts: we will be rejected, we will be embarrassed, we will be defeated; our fears are valid...BUT, the Spirit will move and work and breathe life into dead places through our obedience to witness anyway. Yes, obedience. If we long to be obedient we must be a witness to Jesus as Christ and Lord. We cannot be obedient without attesting to Jesus as Christ and Lord. And we cannot base whether we will witness on whether we think there will be results. You and I will never have results because we are merely messengers; the Soveriegn God of the universe does His own perfect work in hearts. Somehow, for some reason, He has chosen to use us in the process of planting faith in people's hearts. We must not fear defeat for God's work of salvation cannot be defeated.
What opportunities do you have today to proclaim your faith in Jesus as Christ and Lord?
