My very least favorite quote in the entire world is “Speak the Gospel, and when necessary, use words.” I’m sorry if you have that plastered above your doorway or on a key chain, but frankly I think it is deceitful and cowardly. The Bible does not call us to merely walk the Christian line with tunnel-vision, keeping our noses high and hands untainted from the sinful world around us. In fact, it calls us to quite the opposite. Let’s dig into scripture together and see what the Living Word of God has to say on the matter.
1. Romans 10:13-17 says:
“'For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in himof whom they have never heard?And how are they to hear without someone preaching?And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’Butthey have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says,‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
All across the world there are people dying and going to Hell. We are flawed, contaminated by sin, sons and daughters of Adam, and therefore Hell-bound without Christ. There is literally only one solution: a relationship with Jesus Christ. And as Paul so eloquently says in Romans 10, how do we expect people to know that solution, if they have never heard about it? If you put me into a senior level Organic Chemistry class, I would have absolutely no idea what I was doing. I have no knowledge of even the basics of Chemistry. Unsaved people are in the same boat. They have no idea that the Creator of their bones is also the reconciliation for their sins. So, unless we tell them, how do we expect people in China, India, Russia, Germany, Mali, Brazil, St. Louis and your small town to know that there is a God who loves them and was slaughtered on their behalf? Unless we open our mouths, speak truth and love them to their core, people without Christ will go to Hell and spend eternity in a pit where there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth.
2.1 Thessalonians 2:2-6 says:
“But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive,but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.For we never came with words of flattery,as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.”
Even if we “act Christianly” and play nice, the Bible does not permit us to keep our mouths shut as Christians. Sharing the Gospel is part of walking faithfully and being obedient. Scripture places a clear call on our lives to share the Gospel boldly and with every nation. The Gospel is not something to speak for our own glory, nor does it require words of eloquence; the mystery of Christ, in and of itself, is so beautifully holy, it requires absolutely none of your tampering. It is infallible. All you have to do is speak it.
So, friend, stop waiting around for the person next to you in the church pew to share the Gospel. Stop waiting for the missions’ teams at your church to go and make disciples. Get off your suit-wrapped butt and prideful high horse and do it yourself. You are called to share the Gospel, not just “live good.” You are demanded, instructed, told and personally sent into the entire world to win souls for Christ. YOU. GO.
