How To Not Fear
Bible Study, Week 4, Sem 2/23
1. List some reasons why evangelism is so difficult.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
2. Why is love the antidote to fear, instead of courage?
3. According to John, what is one way we can prove our love for God is genuine? Why?
According to Matt Smethurst, there are two ways we can go wrong in evangelism:
“The first ditch is ignoring “friendship evangelism” altogether, which can lead to treating people as projects. We’re probably most susceptible to this when initiating gospel conversations with strangers. What might it look like?
Being a poor listener.
Rushing too quickly to the gospel.
Not caring enough to remember their name.
The second ditch is practicing “friendship evangelism” indefinitely, which can lead to idolizing relational comfort. As we have seen, friendship evangelism can be a beautiful thing—so long as the friendship doesn’t crowd out the evangelism. It is dangerously easy to build relationships with nonbelievers in the name of gospel witness . . . without ever getting around to gospel witness.”
(Smethurst, ch.3)
4. Which of the two extremes are you most susceptible to?
5. Complete the sentence: Loving someone means…
“It would be a mistake to conclude that contact evangelism—sharing Christ with strangers—is inherently impersonal and unloving. As we will see in chapter five, this approach has rich biblical precedent and has led to countless conversions over the years. Extensive time in a relationship is often evidence of love, but it’s not always a precondition. You can genuinely love someone in a brief interaction, just as you can fail to truly love someone in a forty-year friendship.”
(Smethurst, ch.3)
6. Think of 1 - 2 people in your life you can love by sharing the gospel with them and pray.