Wear Christian T-Shirts
More than 60% of born-again Christians in America between the ages of 18 and 39 believe Jesus is not the only path to salvation. We’ve developed a consumeristic version of Christianity that says, “My faith is all about me, but if it’s not your cup of tea, you can pick a different religion.” As a result, evangelism is becoming outdated. In fact, almost half of practicing Christian millennials say evangelism is wrong. Our biblical mandate is to lead people to Jesus, but we are following the opinions of culture, not the truth of Scripture.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Think about the storage room in your house. You’ve got one box for the clothes your kids grew out of, one for old photo albums, one for your wedding dress, and one for Christmas decorations. Who am I kidding? This is America, you’ve got five for Christmas decorations. When Christmas comes around, you pull out the boxes with the decorations, use them for a month, then put them away.
This is what we tend to do with our faith. We put our faith in one of our boxes, but we have a lot of boxes. When Sunday comes around, we pull out our Christian box, do the Christian stuff, then hide it away for the rest of the week so we can pull out the other things that are important to us. “I pull this box out on Mondays for work, this one on Tuesdays, this one on Wednesdays, and the dirty box is for Fridays. That’s the fun box. It smells bad, and I hope my wife never looks in it, or God, but I enjoy that box. Well, kind of. I enjoy it while it’s open, but when I have to close it, I spend the rest of the week cleaning up the mess that it made. In fact, this box affects the rest of my week more than my Sunday box.”
What’s the one room in your house you never show guests? The storage room. This stuff just hides in there. Do you store your Christianity in a box so you can just pull it out when you need it? Or do you wear your faith everywhere you go? Are you willing to wear a Christian t-shirt on Fridays? Christians, have you gone public with your faith, or are you afraid of awkward conversations? Are you living to bring glory to God? Or are you living to bring glory to yourself? You might say something like, “I swear too much. I can’t tell everyone I’m a Christian.” Or, “I don’t want to put a Christian bumper sticker on my car. I cut people off in traffic.” Well, stop it. You’ve got a mission. You’ve got a calling on your life, and those things that are keeping you from leading people to Jesus are holding you back.
Consider Peter’s story. When Jesus was arrested, Peter followed Jesus and the soldiers at a distance, and eventually denied three times that he knew Jesus. Why did Peter deny knowing Jesus? Was he scared? Was he mad because Jesus made him put the sword away in the garden? Was he doubting Jesus was the Messiah? To answer this, we should look at a story that happened a few months before this event.
Jesus began to tell the disciples that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things. Peter took Jesus aside and reprimanded him for saying such things. Jesus turned around, looked at his disciples, and then reprimanded Peter.
Peter trusted Jesus when he thought he was on the way to the throne. Peter wanted power, but now that it appeared Jesus had lost, Peter doubted Jesus. Peter wanted life to get easier, not harder. Jesus never promised to make life easier. Maybe you started following Jesus because you thought he would make life easier, but then realized he wouldn’t. Jesus will make your life better, not easier. When you realize that, it will offend you. You too will be tempted to turn away from Jesus.
Eventually, this change of thinking needs to happen to every Christian. We stop seeing our lives the way the world sees their lives, and we start to realize we were created for something better than the pleasures of this world. That’s the transition we see Peter going through here. Jesus had to offend Peter’s way of thinking so Peter would begin to fully become the unashamed, passionate leader of the church that God created him to be.
Peter did deny Jesus, and when he realized what he did, he was emotionally broken.
Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
Jesus, however, did not leave Peter in this dejected state. After Jesus rose from the dead, he sought out Peter to reconcile. Like the Shepherd going after the lost sheep, Jesus went after Peter. That is when Peter had an incredible encounter with Jesus on a Galilean beach. Peter denied knowing Jesus three times, then three times Jesus asked Peter “Do you love me?” Three times Peter said, “Yes,” and three times Jesus told Peter to feed his sheep.
After Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, Peter repented three times. Jesus led Peter through a process of renewing his mind, and he traded his shame for faith. We see Peter again in the book of Acts, preaching boldly about his faith in Jesus, and many people were saved.
Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.
Peter invited people to repent. To repent literally means to “change your mind.” He invited people to stop seeing things their way and start seeing things God’s way. With this message, three thousand people were saved. By this time, Peter had reached a new level of faith maturity. Eventually, Peter was killed for his faith. They crucified him upside down.
What about you? Have you repented of your way and put your faith in God’s way? Are you ready to live a life unashamed of the Christian mission?
I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ.
Don’t follow Jesus because it’s easy or because you want to sit on a throne. Follow Jesus because you want to bow to his throne.
