Needing More Passion and Truth

Paul begins Romans 9 with a very emotional statement of passion for his people, the Jews. Paul says that he has great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart for his people. He says that he wishes he could give up his salvation so that they could be saved (Rom 9.2-3). He says a little later on that his heart's desire and his prayer is that they would be saved (Rom 10.1). What a passion for souls!

Interestingly, Paul's passion for people is guided by a recognition that not everybody is going to be saved. In the middle of these two verses, Paul tells us that God hardens some people towards salvation, while also softening some people in order to receive Jesus. God has mercy on whomever He wills and He hardens whomever He wills (Rom 9.18).

At first, these two paragraphs seem in contradiction to one another. It seems that Paul should either really passionate to see people saved or quietly confident that whoever will get saved will get saved. But, he's not. He is both passionate and trusting in God's truth.

I need to grow in both passion and truth. I need to be more passionate for people, more desirous to see people saved, and more eager to share the gospel with a dying world. I also need to be more confident that God will soften people's hearts, that salvation rests with Him, and that He is glorified even in the gospel being rejected.

If I get out of balance, passionate with too little truth, I'll end up acting as if salvation is something that I can do for someone. I'll try to do the work of the Holy Spirit myself. I'll think that just one more verse, or one more conversation, or one more new book will save that lost person. I'll think that salvation is the ultimate end of all things, not God's glory.

If I get out of balance, truth with too little passion, I'll rarely witness or pray. I'll rarely witness, because I'll think "well, they'll get saved anyway." I'll rarely pray, because God already knows and He'll save whomever He wills. I will become an ineffective Christian.

The key is keeping both passion and truth in balance, while also growing in them both.

More passion. More truth. To God be the glory.

Ten Ways: Witness

“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come preaching to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” --1 Corinthians 2.1-5

We want to see the glory of God. We want to see God at work. We want fuel for our Christian life. The 9th way: Witness.

Share your faith. Tell someone else about Jesus. Tell someone the good news. If you claim to be a Christian, you should know the Gospel. You should know the message that saved you.

Here's the Gospel in a sentence from John Piper: The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all His enemies, so that there is now no condemnation, for those who believe, but only everlasting joy.

This is the good news we are to preach. You don't have to know the ins-and-outs of the creation/evolution debate, you don't need to have the end times all figured out, and you don't have to have the minds of Tim Keller, Cornelius Van Til, and C.S. Lewis all rolled into one. You just need to know and believe the good news. That's it.

The reason a lot of Christians don't share their faith is fear. They're afraid of people or afraid of the unknown, or afraid they'll mess something up. From the above verses, we can see Paul was afraid when he shared the Gospel. It says he came in weakness and fear and much trembling. Sounds like a lot of us. Weakness. Fear. Much Trembling. In spite of his fears, Paul was compelled to preach. Though he had fear, he prayed that God would give him boldness. He didn't wait for his fear to subside, he prayed and he witnessed.

Even if you're not the most eloquent speaker, God still wants you to share your faith. You don't need to have a slick sales pitch or be really great at speaking in front of groups (again, see verses above). God is the One who saves people and changes people's hearts. Its not up to us. Its not up to you. God just wants us to preach the Gospel--Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

I need to get better at sharing my faith--telling other people about Jesus. Every time I have, I get the biggest boost of joy and faith. I'm so excited to be a Christian and I so believe God exists and loves me. I get these feelings regardless of the reaction of the person I was witnessing to.

You want to see God's glory? Get out of your comfort zone (aka: your selfish, prideful, fleshly zone) and share your faith.