Sharing your faith has taken on the meaning, for Christians, of witnessing, or evangelizing. Sometimes we speak in terms of “sharing the gospel” or “sharing Jesus.”
I prefer “proclaim the gospel” or “proclaim Jesus,” but that is beside the present point…
Because we’ve been willingly conditioned to think of sharing your faith as witnessing, we might be tempted to insert that meaning into the term when we read that Paul told Philemon he prayed that the “sharing of your faith might become effective” (Philemon 1:6-7).
We suppose that Paul is praying for evangelistic success.
Paul says that he prays that Philemon’s faith-sharing would become “effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ” (Philemon 1:6). It is true, biblically speaking, that when a disciple witnesses — evangelizes the lost — something is added to his faith experience. In other words, disciples miss something of the walk with Christ when we don’t evangelize (aside from the fact that not witnessing is disobedience).
What might we miss? The full knowledge of every good thing that is in us. Naturally, we would think that obtaining the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us, for the sake of Christ, that is, on account of Christ and for his ongoing glory, is a good thing. We would seek to be involved in whatever that thing is that will increase our knowledge of every good thing.
You would think.
But Paul isn’t saying that evangelizing the lost is connected to gaining full knowledge. It is. But he is saying something different here. Paul tells Philemon that he derives comfort and joy from Philemon, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you (Philemon 1:7).
Paul refers not to Philemon’s relationship to unbelievers and its effect on his full knowledge, but instead to Philemon’s relationship to other believers: “the hearts of the saints have been refreshed…”
Paul says that the full knowledge of every good thing that we have in Christ is related to the sharing of our faith with other believers. This suggests a couple of important conclusions: 1) we should be sharing our faith with other believers, and 2) sharing our faith (proclaiming Christ) to unbelievers is also connected with sharing our faith with other believers.
Paul here is talking about fellowship in the Christian community. Where does refreshment come from in Christian community? Where does joy and camaraderie grow in a local church congregation? It is not the product of potlucks, or service projects, or ministry meetings. It is the product of sharing your faith with other people.
Do you share your faith with other believers in your church? Do you speak of your discoveries in Scripture, your struggles with sin, your difficulties in daily decisions? Or do you wear a mask and keep others at arms’ length from your real, true, spiritual self?
If you are having difficulty witnessing to unbelievers, or don’t experience much refreshing in the body of Christ, it might be because you are not sharing your faith.