Fishers of Men Part 3

Strong and Courageous

August 31, 2018

Last week we posted that there were five distinct stages of development listed in the parable of the farmer and the seed. There are also five common elements often in play for people in their journey to faith.

This week, I want to explore further, the step from a person starting to trust a Christian friend, to starting to develop a curiosity about who Jesus is.

We often encounter friends who begin to notice that our lives are quite different from the average Joe.  Our priorities in life are on a different plane and this can be an opportunity to build trust in many of our relationships. The scripture paints a clear picture of this dynamic being in play. 2^nd Corinthians 2: 14-16 states:  But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.  For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

The contrast of us representing death to those who are perishing reveals why we are reviled by some. However, the fragrance of life reveals this idea of people beginning to build trust in our relationships. These are the ones that we should be interested in being intentional about helping them to understand the gospel. We do not want to stop at just being liked by a person and then living in a vacuum of not further investigating who Jesus is with them.

This step requires us to listen to the Holy Spirit as to the how we get from point A, to point B.

There is no absolute cookie cutter way to accomplish this, however we do need to be courageous to respond to the  leading  of the Holy Spirit and not shy away.

Jesus often answered people’s questions with another question instead of just delivering a plain answer. Can we also be willing to ask questions to these folks as well? Do you believe that God exists? What happens to us after we die? Is there more to life than just this? How did this amazingly complex universe come into existence? What do you know about the life of Jesus? Do you feel like you have meaning and purpose in your life? What are the big questions that you have in life? The list could go further, but the idea is that asking these types of questions can start to begin a dialogue in a spiritual direction. In addition, the more often we are doing this, the easier it becomes.

We also need to learn how to be comfortable in providing some poignant answers to these type of questions. It helps to research and discover some good answers to these questions ourselves as we mature in discipleship to Christ.