How to Share the Gospel
How do you share the gospel with others? This is a question that many believers in Christ have. It’s a question that we want to know the answer to, but it also scares us at the same time because we don’t know how it’s going to go when we do try to share the gospel with someone.
At the same time, many believers approach sharing the gospel for the wrong reasons. A lot of us have been told by others that it is our duty to share our faith with unbelievers. Sometimes, others make it feel like it is a requirement of salvation. If you don’t share your faith, then you may not really be a Christian.
Others make it sound like you can still be a Christian but it’s just that you are not being a good Christian if you don’t share your faith and God is going to be very disappointed in you.
Sometimes, we approach sharing as a checklist mentality. It’s an obligation that we should check off our list of things Christians are just supposed to do daily. So, we might try to find someone to share the gospel with, not so much for them, but so that we can feel better about us being able to check that off our list and sleep better at night.
However, the Christian life is not a checklist. The Christian life is Christ. If you are in Christ (and you are in Christ if you’ve put your faith in Him for salvation), then you are in a relationship with the One who is Life, meets your needs, loves you, likes you, and will express His life through you.
He will lead you to share the gospel with others, but it will always be in and through a loving relationship that He has with you and that is for the person you are sharing with.
How will that work? Through relationships.
SHARING THE GOSPEL STARTS WITH RELATIONSHIPS
Sometimes, Jesus will lead us to share the gospel through some kind of interaction with a stranger, but more times than not, He will use us in the context of a relationship we have with an unbeliever.
Therefore, the first thing we want to look for is Jesus leading us into relationships with unbelievers. Of course, He wants us to be in community with other brothers and sisters in Christ, but He will always lead us to become friends with unbelievers so that He can love and serve them through us and reveal His love and grace to them as well.
As you trust Him to do so, He will lead you to value them as people and not see them as projects to convert. He loves them dearly, and He will love them through your relationship with them.
Take time to listen and get to know them by asking sincere questions. Jesus will rarely just lead you to start shoving the gospel down someone’s throat. He will usually lead you to deepen your relationship with them by asking them questions about themselves, their interests, dreams, aspirations, struggles, etc.
Oftentimes, Jesus will move beyond conversation and use you to serve them in some way. He’ll reveal a need you can meet. He’ll prompt you to just do something nice for them.
People become much more open to hearing about the gospel when they know you care about them and have valued them, listened to them, and served them.
At some point, as the relationship is built, Jesus will lead you to transition a conversation into their spiritual beliefs.
“Do you have any spiritual beliefs?”
“What do you believe about Jesus?”
“Do you believe in heaven and hell?”
“What do you think will happen to you when you die and why?”
This will give you an idea of how much they understand the gospel, and if not much, then it will give you a chance to ask something like, “If what you believe isn’t true, would you want to know it?”
Most people will say yes, and you’ll have the opportunity to share the gospel with them from a biblical perspective.
HOW TO SHARE THE GOSPEL
In order to know how good the good news of God’s grace really is, we have to first know how bad the bad news is for us.
Therefore, the first thing we want to do is show someone that they are a sinner before a holy and just God.
There are several places in Scripture that can help someone see this is true.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God(Rom. 3:23)
There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.(Rom. 3:10-12)
After helping someone see the truth about their sin and the standing that leaves them before a holy and just God, the Lord will want to help them see that they cannot do anything about the situation they are in.
No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. (Ro. 3:20)
We cannot be declared righteous through works of the law because we’ll never reach perfection. We cannot achieve holiness on our own.
Oftentimes, at this point, someone might ask why God can’t just give us a pass. Can’t He just forgive us and show us mercy?
Bringing up God’s attribute of justice will help them see why this is not possible.
“The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
God must deal with sin. As a just God, He must punish the guilty.
… he does not leave the guilty unpunished(Ex. 34:7)
It would be a violation of God’s justice to let sin go unpunished.
Now that someone has seen how bad the bad news really is, they are ready to hear the good news.
The good news starts with Jesus dying for their sin.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Ro. 5:8)
By dying for our sin on the cross, Jesus was substituting Himself for us in our place (2 Cor. 5:21), paying the price for our redemption (1 Cor. 6:20), and receiving God’s wrath to satisfy His demand of justice (Ro. 3:25-26).
As a result of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, you can now show someone that He offers salvation to them as a gift to be received by faith.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.(Eph. 2:8-9)
This is the good news of Jesus, and after sharing this truth with an unbeliever, He’ll lead you to ask if they would like to receive this gift that they are being offered.
If they say yes, then you’ll want to pray with them. Some people will try to make a big fuss about how the “sinner’s prayer” is not in the Bible, but it is a simple way to help someone understand what they are doing in this moment of response from a biblical perspective.
Here’s an example of what you could lead them to pray:
“God, I recognize that I am a sinner and that my sin separates me from You as a holy and perfect God. Thank You for sending Jesus to die for my sins and for raising Him from the dead. Right now, in this moment, I place my faith and trust in Jesus to be my Savior. Please forgive me, come dwell in me, give me a new heart, and accept me into Your family. Thank You for loving me, rescuing me, making me into a new creation, and making me part of Your family right now in this moment. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
SHARING THE REST OF THE GOSPEL
At this point, Jesus wants them to know what just happened to them because the gospel message isn’t a message that their sins are forgiven and they get to go to heaven when they die. The gospel message is a message that they are transformed and have new life now in this moment!
Show them from Scripture how different they are now that they have received God’s gift of salvation.
Jesus has completely forgiven them of all their past, present, and future sins.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7)
Jesus has declared them justified and to be made right with God.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Ro. 5:9)
The Holy Spirit has come to indwell them.
When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:13-14)
They are now in a forever spiritual union with Jesus.
But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. (1 Cor. 6:17)
Jesus has brought them from spiritual death to spiritual life. They’ve been regenerated!
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 3:5)
They are not who they once were. They are a new creation.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17)
Jesus has given them a new heart and a new nature.
I will give you a new heart… (Ez. 36:26)
We are those who have died to sin… For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. (Ro. 6:2,7)
They don’t have to wait to experience eternal life with Jesus in heaven one day in the future, but rather have eternal life now!
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life… (1 Jn. 5:11-12)
Finally, they have ben born into God’s family.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent…but born of God.(John 1:12-13)
As you can see, God’s work of salvation is so much more than just forgiveness of sins and the promise of heaven. Jesus will want someone to know how different they really are now that they have responded to the gospel in faith. Trust Him to use you to reveal these truths to them and to teach them to walk by faith they are true.
This is how to share the gospel with an unbeliever. Allow Jesus to build a relationship with them. Look for Him to transition conversations to spiritual matters. Show them their sin and separation from God. Reveal the good news of Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Pray with them as they respond. Teach them about the new creation in Christ they have become and how that changes their lives now.
