Undercover Agent
When I started my year-long study of Romans by RC Sproul, I was worried that it would get tedious parsing every sentence to make one book of the Bible last a whole year. Boy was I wrong.
Today, was focused on the first half of Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
Romans 1:16 ESV
Dr. Sproul discussed what it meant for Paul to say that he wasn’t ashamed of the gospel at a time when the Jewish leaders and Rome was trying to squash it. Then he made a profound statement that most believers want to be secret service Christians. Not trying to hide their faith but not sharing it either. This hit me with a big old “ouch”.
In my faith walk, I’d say a majority of the time I would have been the poster child for Dr. Sprouls description of trying to fly under the radar. I most definitely didn’t want to be labeled as a religious nut or proselytizing to my co-workers. This fits my introverted nature well.
That’s not to say I didn’t try to step out of my comfort zone at times. For example, about 20 years ago, I offered a voluntary prayer time in my office (I was the department boss). I was very careful to only make the session available and not to be perceived as pressuring anyone to attend. I had a core group of about 5 - 10 regulars and it made me happy to serve.
Then, we had an employee that we eventually let go. In part of her “discussions” with HR, she claimed that I was pressuring employees to participate in this prayer time. Of course, HR hauled me in and, even though they were very careful not to tell me to stop, the message was conveyed that they didn’t believe it was appropriate for me to offer a prayer session. I was happy to find out later that HR couldn’t find another person that collaborated the “pressure to participate” angle.
…“and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” - 2 Timothy 2:2-13
I’m still an introvert and my nature is to hide from sharing the good news. My desire is to be an undercover agent for God in a secular world. But that really isn’t what God wants me to do. I often find myself going over my interactions with people trying to find opportunities to say something that, at the time, I didn’t. My faith walk is not over by any stretch of the imagination.
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
Matthew 28:18-20
