Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful people who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus- 2nd Timothy 2:1-3 NASB

Every once in a while, a verse or a word in the Bible will grab my attention and derail any further Bible reading for the remainder of the day.  Such was the case this last week when I came across this verse in 1st Thessalonians:

We have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not intending to please people, but to please God, who examines our hearts- 1st Thessalonians 2:4 NASB

It wasn’t the whole verse that sent me to rabbit trail town.  It was two words in English that turned out to be one word in Greek that got me inquisitive enough to go searching for my handy-dandy Greek dictionary. The words in question are “entrusted with” in English and pisteuo in Greek. This Greek word means to put one’s trust in someone or something.  At its most basic level it means to believe in something or to have faith in someone. The most common use of the word describes how humans relate to God. People have faith in God, people trust God, people believe in God. People trust God to do what He says He will do. However, the use of the word in 1stThessalonians 2:4 is not common or typical. It depicts God doing something odd, considering who He is, who we are and what our track record is with just about everything.

God is clearly placing HIS FAITH in people in this passage.

The notion that the God of the universe would have any sort of confidence at all in imperfect, chaotic humans is a wee-bit crazy.  It’s not like the human race has a history of wisdom or faithfulness (Genesis 3, Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:23). Humans typically make all the wrong choices and yet God is choosing to trust us with something huge. God trusts us with the gospel (Matthew 28:19-20. The gospel message is literally the most important message of all time. It’s the message of life and death (Romans 10:13-14). It’s the message that changed the course of history. It’s the message that transforms every person who chooses to embrace it (2nd Corinthians 5:17).

The notion that Christians are called to share the gospel is hardly new news to most of the folks who routinely read this blog. The vast majority know very well that we are called to tell people about Jesus (Mark 16:15, Acts 5:20).

However, life is busy. We all have work and families and friendships that need maintenance. Additionally, folks tend to be very hardhearted and/or apathetic to the message of Jesus. No one wants to be embarrassed by a “no thank you” to an invitation to hear about Jesus, attend a church service or go to a Bible study. Nonetheless, there are a number of lesser-known benefits to co-laboring with God to share the gospel. Following are three of them:

You will get to know Jesus better-

The early church saw themselves differently than we do. They believed first and foremost they were vessels that carried around the Spirit of Jesus (2nd Corinthians 2:7, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 1:27). They believed the God of the universe intentionally led them into people and places where they could share the gospel and reveal the light of moral truth (1st John 4:10).  This perspective transformed how they lived and how they interacted with others. They also saw evangelism very differently from how we see evangelism.  We tend to see evangelism as something we do for God.  They saw evangelism as something they did WITH God.  If we reframe our thinking to align with the early church it will empower our evangelistic efforts. It will also radically deepen our relationship with Jesus. When we know that we know God is in us and empowering us we naturally lean on that power (Philippians 4:13). We pray more, we seek God’s wisdom more and in the process our intimacy with Jesus grows deeper (Romans 15:13). As an extra added bonus, it becomes easier for the world to see Jesus in us as well (Acts 4:13).

You will love people more-

Most people (including me) have a tendency to view other human beings as simply annoyances or as an impediment to whatever progress we are trying to make.   Like a lot of facts this one isn’t nice, but it is true. Everything changes when we choose to partner with God and tell others about Jesus. When we invest our time and energy in people, we naturally begin to see people the way God sees people (1st John 3:1). We see them as priceless and unique and worth devoting our time and energy to (Ephesians 2:4-5). When our love for people grows so does our ability to reach them with the love and truth of God.

And finally:

You get to be a part of changing someone else’s eternity-

This is without question the greatest future and present benefit to evangelism. Telling others about the gospel means we become an instrument God uses to change another person’s future. There is simply no greater joy than knowing someone will spend eternity with Jesus because you chose to get involved and tell your story.