Galatians 1:1-2, 11-24, 6:1-3
In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he shares an important piece of info with those of us who choose to follow Jesus Christ. He tells us that as believers we are Jesus’ ambassadors, His representatives in this world. He goes on to tell us that God uses the likes of you and me to “make His appeal” to non-believers. Meaning that it is up to you and me to share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Meaning that your personal testimony is the key to a successful ambassadorship.
Now for those of us who have experienced the true joy of salvation, we’ve witnessed Jesus’ grace redeeming us and restoring us, you would think that sharing that experience with others would not only be easy but something we would be jumping on every opportunity to go out and do.
But it doesn’t work that way.
There are several reasons why that’s the case. The first is that sadly we live in a world today that has by and large rejected the gospel. It may sound extreme, but huge segments of our society hate Jesus and everything he represents. That makes talking about Him with people we meet intimidating if not downright risky. We’ve talked about this before. If you share the gospel using your personal testimony with ten people, maybe – maybe – one will be moderately interested. The other nine will tease you, or reject you, or respond in anger towards you. Great, right? Well, nowhere in scripture does it say that this ambassadorship will be easy.
But there are a couple of other major hurdles that have to be cleared in order for you to share your testimony. And these roadblocks are of our own making. The first one is the most obvious – fear. And if you have to ask what there is to be afraid of, re-read the last paragraph. Sharing Jesus is a daunting task because finding a receptive audience feels next to impossible at times. The other thing that obstructs our willingness to share our testimony is a bit more subtle than fear. It’s pride! Pride allows us to be “internally grateful” to Jesus for all that He’s delivered us from, but pride makes it next to impossible to for us to be open, transparent, and vulnerable about those things.
In my early days of preaching, whenever I would share my testimony, I’d go into great detail about my years of struggle as an alcoholic. But I would conveniently skip over the months I spent after getting sober in total bondage to internet pornography. There were two reasons for that. One, it was humiliating for me to talk about and two, it was even more humiliating for my wife to sit and listen to me talk about it. Well, somewhere along the line we both got over that and I’ve made that season of my life an important stop in my testimony. And I tell you what. Openly sharing my addiction to pornography has probably brought more people into the One Step Ministry than anything else.
But for years my pride kept me from sharing that very important piece of my “Jesus Story”.
One of the all-time greats at sharing testimony and providing us with a model for doing the same is the Apostle Paul. Paul shares his testimony in a couple of places in the New Testament, among them the Book of Acts and in his letter to the churches located in a place called Galatia, located in what today is central Turkey.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul addresses a situation where the churches there have been drawn away from the gospel of faith provided by Jesus to a gospel of works. Legalism and the belief that salvation must be earned is having a big-time negative impact. Paul is using this letter to try and get the churches back in line. One of the tools he uses to do that is his testimony. You can read it for yourself in Galatians chapter 1, verses 11-24. In sharing his story, Paul demonstrates some effective ways to share personal testimony with people who A) Need to hear it and B) Probably don’t want to hear it. Here’s how he does it…
The first thing Paul does is make clear that the gospel message is not something he dreamed up one day, but that it was in fact revealed to him by Jesus Himself. What that means for you and me is that when we share, we’re doing it humbly. Your testimony isn’t about you, it’s about what Jesus has done for you.
The next thing Paul does is own his sin. He openly shares why he needed Jesus in the first place. “I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it.” Pretty clear, right? Then he brings Jesus into the equation, and he shares how God chose him before he was born to serve him faithfully by bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. He talks about how the only way that was possible was by God’s grace extended to him despite how sinful he was.
Then comes the most important piece of any testimony. Paul shares how after he surrenders to Jesus, he was patient in waiting to see what Jesus had for him to do and with that, he was willing to submit to a time of isolation with Jesus. Once transformed on the Damascus Road, Paul didn’t pack up and leave on his first mission journey. It was over three years before he was acknowledged by Peter and James as being an apostle. And it was only then that it became clear to Paul that he was ready to do the work.
At times, when we first get saved, we get so fired up that we start telling Jesus what it is we’re willing to do for Him rather than what He has for us. It’s always good to wait on Him, because just as He does with Paul, He will reveal His calling on us and we can effective ambassadors.
But here’s the key. When Jesus reveals to you an opportunity to share His good news, pray. Pray for the confidence to push ahead. Do it humbly and gently and you may just be surprised at the response you get in return.