If you come to the door of our house you are likely to be greeted by our beautiful 10 year old English Springer Spaniel, Dixie. She is a happy dog who not only wags her tail when she welcomes us home, she wags the entire back half of her body with delight.
If I take her to the door of our veterinarian, however, Dixie begins to quake with fear and trembling. Her pulse rate increases and her whole body vibrates as I lift her up onto the examination table.
"Fear and trembling" are the words St. Paul used to describe his experience of sharing the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 2. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:3-5 "I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. {4} My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, {5} so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."
I think Paul probably did use wise and persuasive words and was a skillful communicator. He knew, however, that if the Gospel's effectiveness were dependent on his charisma or skill as a speaker, he would have failed. Paul understood that the effectiveness of a shared Gospel message was dependent on "the Spirit's power." By comparison to that power, Paul is saying that when he came to share Jesus with the Christians at Corinth, he really did experience fear and trembling! He knew that he was totally inadequate to the task.
Paul goes on to say in verses 6-7 "We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. {7} No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began." Paul believed that he was sharing wisdom that would lead to salvation and glory for those who believed.
Paul's words are a comfort to me because when it comes to sharing the Gospel, I am surely no St. Paul, and for that matter, neither are you! Like Paul, I too experience fear and trembling each time I share the Gospel. The good news for you and I is that the effectiveness of our witness is not dependent on us having "wise and persuasive words" but rather in our own dependence on a "demonstration of the Spirit's power" as we faithfully seek out opportunities to share Jesus with friends, family, colleagues and neighbors.
Despite Paul's trembling, he continued to faithfully go from city to city, sharing the Gospel, planting churches and raising up missional leaders. He did not let his fears stop him from giving testimony of salvation in Jesus to whoever would listen. He could do that precisely because he knew that it wasn't dependent on his skill or cleverness.
So – have you felt yourself shaking and trembling lately? Maybe that's a good thing. The next time you feel yourself quaking in your boots when given an opportunity to share Jesus, just remind yourself – I'm just like St. Paul!
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