What Are We Afraid Of To Talk About In Church?

Fellowship is a wonderful thing. I am not talking about having a meal together, although there is nothing wrong with that. What I am talking about is the common fellowship brothers and sisters have because of their faith in Jesus. We share with one another how our week was or what we did the night before. However, there are some things we are afraid to speak about.

Have you ever asked the question to a fellow believer, how is the Lord working in your life? I know I never had. We often talk about our favorite sports team or the weather. Rarely do we speak about the grace of God and His work in our lives through the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 2:9 tells us that we are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." The King James Version has "a people for his own possession" translated as "a peculiar people." The word "peculiar" means odd, strange, or unusual. It also means exclusively belonging to something or someone. In a believer's case, we exclusively belong to God through the finished work of Christ which was are given the seal of the Holy Spirit.

The people of God are to be the ones who boast in the Lord (Jeremiah 9:24; 1 Corinthians 1:31). We are to be proclaiming what God has done and what He is doing. Yes, it is okay to speak about your hobbies and interests, but we are to be unusual to proclaim God's excellencies.

Another thing we are afraid to talk about in church is our struggles. Think about it. Every Sunday we have to put on some form of show so that everyone will not know how bad of a wreck our lives our. Jesus never promised a lot of easy things in this life yet we act as if everything is alright with the world.

We are also afraid to speak about the sins we struggle with. Men don't want to confess they have a lust problem. The Bible does tells us to confess our sins with one another (James 5:16). We think that Christianity is private matter and the church should stay out of it. If you read the Bible, Christianity is not a private matter, it is a public display. It does not mean we go to everyone and share our struggles, but it does mean we can be transparent without fear of judgment or condemnation.

The church should be the safest place for its people to be bold in proclaiming God's excellent work, our struggles, and our failure yet some churches have made it hard where we can't do that. We have become afraid to be the peculiar people God has called us to be within our own church body. What can fix that is a lot of prayer for the church and its leaders to cultivate a culture of discipleship within the four walls of the church.