There are of course many reasons why we do not share the gospel. Fear, embarrassment, worrying about what others think about us, or maybe not feeling equipped to share. But there is one additional reason I want to talk about today because it might be a reason that you haven’t thought about, but it may be having the most significant impact on us for why we do not share.
I want to pose this question to you. Could it be that even as Christians, we don’t really believe in the reality of God and the reality of heaven and hell? Yes, it is a tough thought to think that we, as Christians, actually might not fully believe in God and the reality of heaven and hell, but it is vitally important because it could be greatly influencing us; meaning it dictates how we live our life and it definitely could be the reason we are not sharing the gospel.
Some might be a little surprised with what I am suggesting, but please hear me out because I don’t believe that it is too farfetched. My challenge to you is to give it some thought. The reason I don’t think it’s farfetched is because I believe it’s absolutely possible to go to church, pray, fully believe in Jesus but not believe in a spiritual reality or at least certain aspects of a spiritual reality. If it sounds like that way of thinking is in contradiction to Biblical Christianity, you would be right.
But I know many people like this. I would go as far as to say, most Christians I know, only believe in certain aspects of a real spiritual reality. They fully believe in Jesus but when it comes down to it, they only believe in certain aspects of Christianity. Maybe they believe in Jesus, but that he doesn’t really interact with us. Maybe they believe in Jesus, but not in a hell. Maybe they believe in heaven and hell but they don’t believe in angels or demons. Maybe they believe in Jesus but they don’t believe in anything supernatural. Whatever the situation, it is common.
This belief system that is so common among Christianity is almost like a form of Naturalism. You could call it Christian Naturalism. Naturalism seeks to explain what happens in this world by natural causes (natural laws) rather than supernatural explanations. A pure Naturalist definition would be: the belief that there is no such thing as the supernatural. There is no God, no heaven, hell or any form of spiritual reality. But there are different forms of naturalism and one of those is having a belief in a God but not in the supernatural. For example, Thomas Jefferson, who was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, was a Christian naturalist. He held the view that Jesus was primarily a moral teacher and a guide for living, but denied any supernatural claims. Jefferson even created a bible where he removed all of the supernatural elements. It is called the Jefferson Bible. Look it up!
Whatever the case may be, we can at least agree that many of our actions don’t really show that we believe in a full biblical spiritual reality. For example, having no motivation to share the gospel. I think many of us know Christians like this and you might be one of them. If you are one of them, my hope and prayer is that this challenges you to believe in these things I am talking about, and most importantly, impact your life and how you live, especially when it comes to sharing the most important message in the world.
I have said this many times to challenge and inspire people to share the gospel, and I will say it again here. If we truly believed in the reality of God, and in the reality of heaven and hell, then we would be out day and night trying to rescue people! Let me say it again. If we truly believed in the reality of God, and in the reality of heaven and hell, then we would be out day and night trying to rescue people!
If we believed in the reality of heaven alone, most of us would try to save people. If it is a glorious everlasting existence with the living God, wouldn’t we do anything to tell people about it?
If heaven is not going to move us, then maybe hell will? It seems like most of us have no problem believing in a heaven, but so many of us have a problem believing in a hell, or maybe we just don’t like to think about it. Ignoring it doesn’t make it not exist. If you believe in the Bible, there really is a heaven and there is a hell.
Everyday people die in this world. Around 150K a day. In Texas where I live, it’s 150k a year. In the Dallas Ft Worth Metroplex, it’s around 40k a year. People we know die every year. Open up the newspaper, turn on the news, it’s mostly all about people dying. It can feel like people are dying all around us. But does it feel like we can tend to have this casual attitude about it. When I say casual attitude, I mean, we do not stop and think about the eternal part of it. Where is this person going and am I even concerned? And it’s not just people we don’t know that we can have a casual attitude about. It can be people we know, our close friends, and even family members! Again could it be we are not concerned because deep down we really don’t believe in an eternal reality?
For those who believe in Jesus but don’t really buy into angels, demons, spirits and all of those sort of things; The Bible is a very supernatural book with a supernatural spiritual reality; filled also with spiritual beings and spirits. Demons/devils/evil spirits, unclean spirits are mentioned all throughout the Bible. If demonic spirits, evil spirits, lying spirits, and unclean spirits enter or influence people throughout history; in the Old and New Testament, what makes us think they don’t exist today?
What about the reality that we have an enemy in this world? Ephesians 6:12, “12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” 1 Peter 5:8, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Does it almost seem like we do not even think there is a devil anymore? Have we bought into the idea that all evil people are just “bad” people? Have we bought into the idea that all mental illness is just mental illness? Is it biblical that we connect and diagnose everything to psychological disorders?
If we believe the Bible, then satan is real, demons are real, and there is a hell. Satan and hell is mentioned in the Bible over and over. Jesus and the disciples are casting out demons in story after story. In the Bible, even among non-Christians, it was a common belief that there were demons. Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ first followers, had seven demons casted out of her. Demons were connected to the deaf, the mute, people who were having seizures, along with many other afflictions and extraordinary behaviors. Hell is a real place and demons are real according to Jesus. He casted out an untold number of demons and he taught about hell dozens of times. If it was real to Jesus, it should be real to us.
Angels are mentioned in the Bible; around 300 times. They appear to dozens of people in the Old and New Testament. Again the question needs to be asked, if angels appear to people throughout history; in the Old and New Testament, what makes us think they don’t exist today?
Check out this verse in Hebrews 13:1-2
1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Wow! Could this be happening today? Do we believe this?
If we believed the Bible and applied it to our world view, it would go something like this. God created the earth and then man. Satan tempted man and man sinned. God made a promise to redeem His people and rescued them through supernatural means over and over. Then he sent Jesus (the redemptive promise) to die on the cross for our sins and then raised Him from the dead so we could be with Him forever in eternity. This is the Jesus who casted out demons, healed the sick, performed supernatural miracles, raised people from the dead and proclaimed the Kingdom of God in story after story. Jesus then built His Church through His disciples by giving them the Holy Spirit to cast out demons, heal the sick, perform supernatural miracles, raise the dead and to spread the Kingdom of God. Is this Biblical worldview our worldview?
One might bring up the argument of Cessationism vs Continuationism. Cessationism is a doctrine that spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing ceased with the Apostolic Age. Meaning the gifts died out with the early church and mainly with the first apostles. Continuationism is the belief that they continue through today.. I bring it up because I know some of you listening automatically go to that argument and there are genuine arguments to be had on both sides. No matter which is wrong or right, it doesn’t negate the fact that heaven and hell exist. There is a spiritual realty. There are demonic forces. There are angels. If the Cessationist view is right, that doesn’t mean these things are not real. It just means that we can’t perform miracles or have the spiritual gifts as Jesus did and the early apostles. If the Continuationist view is right, you can still believe in this view, but your actions may show no indication that you really believe in the reality of heaven and hell.
We kind of just get sucked into believing secular views probably because we are bombarded with the secular culture that we choose to partake in. It can be really difficult to believe in the spiritual reality 100 percent of the time. Some people consider me a radical Christians guy, but I promise you, I struggle with always believing in spiritual realities. But do you know who also struggled? Pretty much everyone in Bible outside of a few people and Jesus. Even the disciples struggled with it. So that should make us feel a little better. But there is a choice to be made. Believe in a Biblical view or a secular one. We can’t have it both ways.
Our belief system is so powerful. Something in our belief system, is causing us not to share and we need to figure out what it is.
If we believed fully in the Biblical spiritual reality, then would we share? If Jesus appeared to you physically right now, how would that change your life? If God gave you a glimpse into the everlasting heaven, how would you start living your life? If God gave you a glimpse into the reality of hell, how would that change the way you view people’s eternal value? Would you start to share if it was all real?
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