This is the second post in a six-part series, 6 Barriers to Sharing Your Faith—And How to Overcome Them, taken from the book, Lit Up with Love: Becoming Good-News People in a Gospel-Starved World by Derwin L. Gray. If you like what you’re reading, you can click through to the next post when you’re finished reading this one. Want to start at the beginning of the series? Click here to start with the first post. This post dives into Barrier #2. It’s based on Lifeway Research and a framework created by Ken Boa and featured in his book, Conformed to His Image (with a change in Barrier #5 from A Barrier of Isolation to Derwin Gray’s A Barrier of Shame, which we dive into in this post).
According to Gray, barriers aren’t walls; they’re invitations. When you’re lit up with love, you know that barriers are opportunities to press deeper into Christ and rely on the Holy Spirit’s power.
The biggest barrier to sharing our faith is fear.
We are afraid of being rejected.
We’re afraid of failing.
We are afraid of being branded “weird.”
We’re afraid of offending someone.
Fear paralyzes us from reaching people who don’t know Jesus. Our fear of sharing the Good News is really about us focusing too much on ourselves. Instead of being absorbed in Jesus, we are absorbed in our own reputation, our self-image, the perception people have of us. But when we focus on Jesus, his perfect love overcomes fear. (Read 1 John 4:18.)
When people reject the gospel, they are rejecting Jesus, not us. It’s not our gospel. Whatever people decide to do with what we share is between them and Jesus. We are simply messengers commanded to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
We don’t trust God’s power and work in people’s lives so we subconsciously believe that we are the ones in control of what happens. But we are not God the Holy Spirit. We can’t save anyone. Paul says, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (Read 1 Corinthians 12:3.) He does not say, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by Derwin.”
The power to save belongs to the triune God alone. When we choose to truly understand who God is and what he does, we can rest in knowing he is drawing people to himself. (Read John 12:32 and 2 Peter 3:9.) Gospel seeds that I sow today may lay dormant in a person’s heart for years before they sprout. God saves, and we can trust him to save his lost sheep!
When you’re lit up with love, your fear becomes an opportunity—because you acknowledge the fear and let it push you deeper into relying on the Holy Spirit’s power. (Read Acts 1:8.) The strongest people in God’s family are the weakest because they depend on his strength. Their confidence is rooted in the only One who conquered sin in death. And who know that God “has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (Read 2 Timothy 1:7.) When fear tries to keep us silent, let’s say the name of Jesus—because only he saves sinners.
When you’re ready, move on to The Barrier of Inadequacy.
Derwin L. Gray
Dr. Derwin L. Gray is the co-founding and lead pastor of Transformation Church (TC), one of the fastest growing churches in America. TC is a multiethnic, multigenerational, mission-shaped community near Charlotte, NC. Pastor Derwin and his wife, Vicki, have been married since 1992 and have two children: daughter, Presley, and son, Jeremiah. He is a bestselling author of several books including The Good Life, Limitless Life, God, Do You Hear Me?, Building a Multiethnic Church, and How to Heal Our Racial Divide.