Study 11 "Knowing the right time to speak"
We began our study by looking at Romans 10:5-17. Here, Paul contrasts
the "righteousness that is based on the law" (v.5) and "the
righteousness based on faith" (v.6).The Jews had sought to establish
their own righteousness through the former, instead of the God's
righteousness based on the latter (v.3). Paul takes the words of Deut 30
and says that, just as Christ is the 'end' (the objective and
completion) of the law (v. 4), so also the words of Dt 30:12-13 also
find their ultimate fulfilment in Christ, who has both come down from
heaven and is raised from the dead. His completed work makes works of
the law unnecessary. Instead, the word of life is found in confessing
(the truth of our allegiance to Christ in public, before others) with
the mouth and believing (trusting in) the whole complex of belief
associated with His resurrection (i.e. the need for His death as
atonement for our sin and His resurrection from the dead). We noted that
confession and belief is more than a mechanical/intellectual effort
(c.f. Js 2:19).
Everyone (Jew and Greek) who calls on God's name (v. 13, cf. AC 2:21, Joel 2:32) is saved. The saving act of calling on God then can be regarded as the equivalent of public confession and inner trust. We asked whether one can be saved by trusting alone without public confession, because there are situations where one may be compelled to suppress one's faith for good reasons. We affirmed that that is possible, but true saving faith always manifests in works (Js 2 Ti 2:19, Js 2:26), The new birth must create new appetites and priorities that manifest in changed behaviour.
The thread of Paul's logic in Ro 10:13-17 is that we can only call on God if we believe, we can only believe if we hear of Him, we can only hear if the word is preached to us, and we can only preach if we are sent. It is God who does the sending. He is the giver of the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20) and the Lord of the harvest who sends labourers out (Mt 9:38). The context of Rom 10: 20 also indicates that the One sending is Divine, not Christians.
We affirmed that both a godly lifestyle and clear verbal presentation of the gospel are necessary in evangelism. Without the former our words lack convicting power and credibility. Without the latter our lives lack saving gospel content.
We saw that evangelism needs the Spirit's power and boldness (Ac 4:29-31), not having shame in the gospel (Ro 1:16) and a spirit of power, love and self-control (2 Ti 1:6-8). We may be tempted to feel ashamed because the gospel of the Cross is nonintellectual and sounds unconvincing. It is a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles (1 Co 1:23). Yet a great hindrance to belief nowadays seems to be the perceived lack of need for a saviour. People do not see the holiness of God who will judge them, or the depth of their sin. We spoke about an 'angle of approach' to people like these - at the point of the needs and fears.
In our regular interaction with people we see fro 1 Pet 3:15-16 that we are 'always' to be ready to witness to 'anyone'. In contrast to 1 Pe 3:1, when wives are asked to win their husbands without a word, here we are asked to share our faith with those who ask as us (directly or in an implied manner) about it. And we do this with gentleness (peaceably, without forcing or anger or rudeness or roughness = a fruit of the Spirit c.f. Gal 5:23) and respect ('fear' = Gk 'phobos'). This fear is not the fear or rejection or persecution. If directed at people it would speak of an attitude that honours them, but it can be taken to chiefly refer to fear of God, to whom we bear witness. So our consciences (our inner sense of right and wrong) should be good. In the first place, this means that those who make accusations against us will be found false because we have done no wrong, and in the second we will have the favour of our Heavenly Father when we walk before Him in holiness and testify about Him.
Qin Ying gave a helpful sharing about how even great preachers like Francis Chan and David Platt struggle with sharing their faith. And how important it is to love people enough to share with them to save them from hell. Selwyn said, "We should not be wanting others to love us more than we love them" when we approach them with the gospel (or something like that...it sounded very pithy and wise, ha ha!).
We celebrated Grace's birthday (late!)
Everyone (Jew and Greek) who calls on God's name (v. 13, cf. AC 2:21, Joel 2:32) is saved. The saving act of calling on God then can be regarded as the equivalent of public confession and inner trust. We asked whether one can be saved by trusting alone without public confession, because there are situations where one may be compelled to suppress one's faith for good reasons. We affirmed that that is possible, but true saving faith always manifests in works (Js 2 Ti 2:19, Js 2:26), The new birth must create new appetites and priorities that manifest in changed behaviour.
The thread of Paul's logic in Ro 10:13-17 is that we can only call on God if we believe, we can only believe if we hear of Him, we can only hear if the word is preached to us, and we can only preach if we are sent. It is God who does the sending. He is the giver of the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20) and the Lord of the harvest who sends labourers out (Mt 9:38). The context of Rom 10: 20 also indicates that the One sending is Divine, not Christians.
We affirmed that both a godly lifestyle and clear verbal presentation of the gospel are necessary in evangelism. Without the former our words lack convicting power and credibility. Without the latter our lives lack saving gospel content.
We saw that evangelism needs the Spirit's power and boldness (Ac 4:29-31), not having shame in the gospel (Ro 1:16) and a spirit of power, love and self-control (2 Ti 1:6-8). We may be tempted to feel ashamed because the gospel of the Cross is nonintellectual and sounds unconvincing. It is a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles (1 Co 1:23). Yet a great hindrance to belief nowadays seems to be the perceived lack of need for a saviour. People do not see the holiness of God who will judge them, or the depth of their sin. We spoke about an 'angle of approach' to people like these - at the point of the needs and fears.
In our regular interaction with people we see fro 1 Pet 3:15-16 that we are 'always' to be ready to witness to 'anyone'. In contrast to 1 Pe 3:1, when wives are asked to win their husbands without a word, here we are asked to share our faith with those who ask as us (directly or in an implied manner) about it. And we do this with gentleness (peaceably, without forcing or anger or rudeness or roughness = a fruit of the Spirit c.f. Gal 5:23) and respect ('fear' = Gk 'phobos'). This fear is not the fear or rejection or persecution. If directed at people it would speak of an attitude that honours them, but it can be taken to chiefly refer to fear of God, to whom we bear witness. So our consciences (our inner sense of right and wrong) should be good. In the first place, this means that those who make accusations against us will be found false because we have done no wrong, and in the second we will have the favour of our Heavenly Father when we walk before Him in holiness and testify about Him.
Qin Ying gave a helpful sharing about how even great preachers like Francis Chan and David Platt struggle with sharing their faith. And how important it is to love people enough to share with them to save them from hell. Selwyn said, "We should not be wanting others to love us more than we love them" when we approach them with the gospel (or something like that...it sounded very pithy and wise, ha ha!).
We celebrated Grace's birthday (late!)
It's actually "If the Gospel is true but still we fail to preach the gospel out of fear, then it means that our want for others to love us is more than our love for them" (rephrased for clarity haha)
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