In our
"New Year's" post, we looked at 1 Peter 3:15-16 as a guide on how to more effectively share our faith:
Honor Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you. However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame.
From this passage we gleaned three principles:
- We are to prepare ourselves with ready answers for our faith
- We are to share our faith with gentleness and respect
- We are to do so with a clear conscience, with a life of integrity, with actions that match our words
As a follow-up to that blog post, I want explore practical steps that we can take to equip ourselves to lead someone to Christ more readily.
-
Learn how to lead someone to Christ.
A well-known strategy for leading others to Christ, which you may already be familiar with, is called the
Romans Road*, which is a series of verses from the book of Romans that explain:
- Why we need salvation
- How God provides salvation
- How we can receive salvation
- What the results of salvation are
A. Why we need salvation: We have all sinned and the consequence of sin is spiritual death (separation from God)
Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
B. How God provides salvation: Jesus died to pay the price for our sin.
Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
C. How we can receive salvation: We must believe in Jesus and give our lives to Him
Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:13, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
D. What the results of salvation are: If we believe in Jesus, God will forgive our sins and give us eternal life.
Romans 5:1, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Romans 8:1, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:38-39, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
These are a series of verses from the book of Romans that can be used to lead someone to Christ. When I first became serious about wanting to be able to lead others to Christ, I wrote this outline and these verses on a blank page in the front of my Bible so they were all there.
But then, in the book of Romans in my Bible, I also went to that first verse, Romans 3:23, and in the margin near that verse, I wrote the next verse, Romans 6:23. Next, I went to Romans 6:23, and in the margin near that verse, I wrote the next verse, Romans 5:28… and so on. This way, I could just take someone from verse to verse through the Romans Road without having to turn back to the page in the front of my Bible where I had written them all.
-
Learn to tell the story of how you came to Christ.
The next step in learning how to lead someone else to Christ is to be able to share with someone how
you came to Christ. There are three steps to this:
A. Tell how you became a Christian
A parent or teacher or friend many have led you to Christ at an early age. Someone may have led you to Christ as a student or adult. Maybe you became a Christian by yourself as you were reading the Bible or a Christian book, or were spending time with God in prayer. Or, perhaps you don’t remember exactly when you became a Christian, but the day came when you realized you had become a Christian.
So, think through what the answer is to the question of how you became a Christian and write it down. You can write out the story entirely or just an outline. But then, review it until you have the essential elements of your story down in your mind and are able to tell it, to a friend perhaps, in a conversational way. Then, you will have it down in your mind and be be more prepared to share when the opportunity arises.
B. Tell why you became a Christian
Next, tell
why you became a Christian. This might be included in telling
how you became a Christian, but it can be helpful to think it through to make sure you are clear on it.
It might be because you were afraid of dying, or because of a crisis in your life, or the accumulating misery of a wasted life. Perhaps you were looking for something worth living for, something greater than yourself to give you purpose and meaning in life. Or, perhaps you were just convinced and compelled by the evidence.
Whatever they were for you, think through and write down the reasons why you became a Christian. It can be very compelling to others who hear your story.
C. Tell what has changed since you became a Christian
Finally, in telling how you came to Christ, tell what has changed in your life since you became a Christian. Perhaps you lost your fear of dying, or received purpose and meaning in life, or gained power to overcome a sin. Perhaps you gained a sense of forgiveness and peace, or your character changed or all (or a combination) of the above.
It can give others a sense of hope to hear how your life changed since becoming a Christian.
-
Learn to answer some of the questions/objections some may have about Christianity.
The series of
five apologetics blogs I posted recently can be a valuable source of information for you to help answer some of the common questions/objections others may have about Christianity. You can study them and/or keep the URLs handy to give to a person to read.
You will almost certainly be asked questions you don’t know the answer to. Just admit that you don’t know the answer, but that you will find out the answer, and share it with them later. I list at the end of the blog some helpful resources to find answers to important questions**. You may also want to ask a pastor or friend for help.
Conclusion
Finally, remember that the life you live will affect the message you share. The most powerful thing we can do to influence others for Christ is to live a life of integrity as we tell the story.
And, we can pray. We cannot lead someone else to Christ. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him.” (John 6:44). So, it is God who draws people to Himself. Therefore, we should always pray for the Lord to draw people to Himself. But we can also pray that, as we prepare ourselves, He will give us the privilege us using us to lead others to Christ.
*(
https://www.gotquestions.org/Romans-road-salvation.html)
**Always Be Ready by Hugh Ross; The Allure of Gentleness by Dallas Willard; Bold and Broken by David and Jason Benham
Help spread the message, “Like” my Facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/maxanders.author and invite your friends to do the same. If you know someone you think may find this blog valuable, please forward it to them. I am always glad to hear from readers. Write me at
max@maxanders.com. I try to answer all emails, but, if not, I may address in future blogs the questions/issues you raise.
