Is there really an urgency in sharing our faith?

Is there really an urgency in sharing our faith?

How many of you remember the street evangelists of the 60’s and 70’s, who were given the sarcastic label of “Jesus Freaks”? I was a young man when I was first exposed to these zealous Christian believers. At the time I did not know what to think of their bold and aggressive approach to sharing their faith with others. As I have gotten older, I have a greater respect for those individuals who were not ashamed or inhibited to talk about God’s judgement on an unbelieving world, or more importantly, Jesus Saves!

I recently took the liberty to look up information attached to the title “Jesus Freak” and here is what I found from a website called “Got Questions”.

The term Jesus freak was originally used to demean or insult Christians involved with the Jesus Movement in the 1960s and 1970s. It was primarily directed towards “Bible thumpers” and those who were especially aggressive in their evangelistic efforts. The core meaning of Jesus freak was a person who is so dedicated to following Jesus that there is nothing else the person can talk about. A Jesus freak is basically a person who is obsessed with Jesus. While it was originally used as a pejorative (belittling comment), Jesus freak has become more accepted and even embraced by many in the Christian community. A “Jesus Freak” song and album by the Christian band DC Talk in 1995 helped popularize the term. This is perhaps similar to the term Christian, which seemingly originated as an insult (Acts 11:26), but later became the most widely accepted term for a follower of Jesus Christ. If obsession with Jesus is indeed the core meaning of Jesus freak, then, yes, a Jesus freak is precisely what a Christian should strive to be (Matthew 16:24). In the song “Jesus Freak,” there is a contrast between how the world views a Jesus freak and what the Bible would declare to be a Jesus freak. First, a man with “Jesus saves” tattooed on his belly is standing on a box in the middle of a city, claiming that he had a dream. That is perhaps what the world thinks of as a Jesus freak. Contrasted with that is the example of John the Baptist. While the world thought he was crazy, he demonstrated the ultimate commitment to Jesus by dying for refusing to be silent: “the king took the head of this Jesus freak” (see Matthew 14:10). That should be the definition of a Jesus freak. We should be so radically committed to Jesus that we would rather lay down our lives than deny Him.

The question we need to ask ourselves as Christians is this: If Jesus is the only way to salvation, and dying without Him as your Savior leads to eternal death, then is there an urgency to be sharing Jesus with those we meet who do not know Him, even if it may mean persecution for us?

I truly believe so and I pray each of you do as well! Pastor McCarty