Living Letters – Chapter 3 – Sharing My Salvation Story

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Living Letters: A Christian Legacy

Chapter 3 — Sharing My Salvation Story

Review

In Chapter 1, we looked back at how God brought us to salvation. We thought about the people who taught us about God, the Scriptures we heard, the circumstances God used, when we came to understand the gospel, and when we personally repented and trusted Jesus Christ. We also looked at our baptism and how it publicly identified us as followers of Christ.

In Chapter 2, we looked at what happened after salvation. We used the Ten Commandments to help us recognize the difference Christ has made in our relationship with God, our treatment of other people, and the desires and attitudes of our hearts.

We have already been putting these pieces together in our Christian Legacy Journal. Now we are going to learn how to take what we have written and tell someone our salvation story.

Lesson Focus

Every Christian should be able to tell someone how he or she came to faith in Jesus and repentance of sin.

Our salvation story explains how God brought us to Christ and what He has done in our lives since. We share it for a purpose. We want others to understand how Jesus Christ saves and to persuade them to trust Him too.

They See It, But We Must Also Say It

At the beginning of this series, we talked about two ways we communicate who we are. People listen to what we say, and they watch how we live. Paul described the Corinthians as letters of Christ that were “known and read of all men.” Their lives gave visible evidence that God had worked in them.

Chapter 2 concentrated on that visible evidence. Our families may recognize changes in our attitudes and relationships. Coworkers may notice greater honesty or patience. Friends may see different priorities. People can read something about our faith by watching us live.

But there are some things they cannot learn just by watching. Someone may see that your life has changed without knowing why. They may know that you attend church without knowing what you believe about salvation. They cannot know how you came to Christ unless someone tells them.

Peter wrote to Christians whose faith was being lived in front of people who did not understand them. He told them:

1 Peter 3:15 — But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

Peter expected Christians to be ready to explain the hope that others could see in them. That does not mean we have to know the answer to every Bible question someone might ask. But every Christian can learn to tell someone how he or she came to know Christ.

 

Paul Tells His Salvation Story

One of the clearest examples is found in Acts 26. Paul had been arrested and accused by Jewish leaders. After a series of hearings, he was given an opportunity to speak before King Agrippa. Paul was defending himself, but he used the opportunity to do more than answer the charges. He told Agrippa how Jesus Christ had changed his life.

Acts 26:1 — Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:

As we listen to Paul’s testimony, we can see the parts of a salvation story that matter. He explains who he was, how he encountered Christ, what changed afterward, and why he wanted Agrippa to hear it.

Who Paul Was

Paul begins by telling Agrippa about his life before Christ. He had been a Pharisee and was deeply committed to his religion. He was not searching for a new religion when he came to Christ. In fact, he believed that opposing Jesus was the right thing to do.

Acts 26:9–11 — I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison… And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

Paul does not tell Agrippa everything that had ever happened to him. He chooses the part of his past that helps Agrippa understand where Paul stood before he met Christ. Paul was sincere, religious, and convinced that he was right, but he was actually fighting against Jesus Christ.

The beginning of our salvation story should do the same thing. We do not need to give our entire life history. We need enough to help someone understand where we were spiritually before we trusted Christ.

For some people, that includes years of obvious sinful living. Others were saved as children and grew up in Christian homes. Their stories will sound very different. A person saved young does not need to make the story sound more dramatic than it was. Every Christian was a sinner who needed Christ. The important question is: What was true about me before I personally understood the gospel and trusted Christ?

 

How Paul Came to Christ

Paul then tells Agrippa what happened while he was traveling to Damascus. He was actually on his way there to continue persecuting Christians when something happened that changed the direction of his life.

Acts 26:12–15 — Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun… And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

Jesus is at the center of Paul’s salvation story. Paul did not simply decide that he needed to become a better person. Religion was not the answer; Paul had already been deeply religious. His life changed when he came face-to-face with the truth about Jesus Christ.

This is the most important part of our salvation story too.

In Chapter 1, we looked at Paul’s description of the message he preached:

Acts 20:21 — Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Think back to the work we did in Chapter 1. Who did God use to bring the gospel to you? Maybe it was a parent, grandparent, pastor, Sunday School teacher, friend, or coworker. Maybe you remember a sermon, Bible verse, conversation, or circumstance that caused you to begin thinking seriously about your soul.

Those things belong in your story because they show how God worked to bring the gospel to you. But our story eventually needs to get to Jesus Christ. We should be able to tell someone what we came to understand about our sin, what we understood about Christ’s death and resurrection, and how we personally responded in repentance and faith.

A salvation story should make it clear that Jesus Christ saved us. If someone hears our entire story and comes away thinking that church attendance, baptism, becoming religious, or trying harder is what saved us, we have left out the most important part.

What Changed Afterward

Paul’s story did not end on the road to Damascus. After telling Agrippa how he encountered Christ, Paul tells him what happened next.

Acts 26:19–20 — Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

The man who had traveled from city to city persecuting Christians began traveling from city to city preaching Christ. The Jesus he had opposed became the Jesus he proclaimed. Paul’s changed life gave evidence that something real had happened to him.

This connects directly to Chapter 2. We spent that lesson looking for the changes Christ has made in us. Some changes may be obvious to almost everyone. Others may be recognized mainly by the people closest to us. We considered our worship, words, relationships, honesty, purity, anger, contentment, priorities, and other areas of everyday life.

We do not need to put every change into our salvation story. Choose one or two that clearly show what Christ has done. It may be something God changed quickly after you were saved, or it may be an area in which you can look back over several years and see His work.

We also do not need to pretend that every struggle disappeared when we were saved. Our testimony should be truthful. We are telling someone what Christ has changed and what He continues to do in us.

 

Why Paul Told His Story

Paul’s testimony had a purpose. He was not simply telling Agrippa an interesting story about himself. After Festus interrupted him, Paul turned directly to Agrippa and asked:

Acts 26:27 — King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.

Agrippa immediately understood where Paul’s testimony was leading.

Acts 26:28 — Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Paul answered:

Acts 26:29 — And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.

Paul wanted Agrippa to become a Christian. In fact, he wanted everyone listening to him to come to Christ. His salvation story was a way of witnessing to them.

That should help us understand why we share ours. Our goal is more than helping someone know us better. We want them to know Christ. We tell them how God brought us to repentance and faith because we want them to understand that they can come to Christ too.

Our salvation story does not replace the gospel. It gives us a natural way to share the gospel through something we know personally: what Jesus Christ has done for us.

 

One Thing I Know

Some Christians are hesitant to tell their story because they feel unqualified. They worry that someone will ask a question they cannot answer. Others think their salvation story is not dramatic enough to be worth telling.

A man in John 9 faced something similar. Jesus had healed him after he had been blind from birth. The religious leaders repeatedly questioned him about Jesus and what had happened. They asked questions he could not completely answer. Finally, he told them:

John 9:25 — Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

The man did not know everything about Jesus yet, but he knew what Jesus had done for him.

We should continue learning Scripture and become better prepared to answer questions about our faith. But we do not have to know everything before we can tell someone what Christ has done for us.

Neither does our story have to be dramatic. Someone saved at six years old may not have a story of being rescued from years of addiction or crime. That person can still explain who taught them about God, when they began to understand their sin, how they learned what Christ had done for them, when they personally trusted Him, and how they have seen God work in their life since.

Your story does not have to sound like Paul’s. It needs to be true, and it needs to point people to Christ.

Putting Your Salvation Story Together

We have already done most of the work. Chapter 1 helped us identify the people, Scriptures, conversations, and circumstances God used to bring us to salvation. We wrote about when and how we trusted Christ and when we followed Him in baptism. Chapter 2 helped us identify some of the changes Christ has made since.

Now we need to decide what belongs when we tell that story.

Start with where you were before Christ. Tell enough for someone to understand why you needed to be saved. You do not need to tell everything you ever did wrong. In fact, we should be careful that the sinful part of our past does not become the most interesting part of the testimony. The purpose of talking about our past is to help someone understand our need for Christ.

Spend the most time explaining how you came to Christ. Tell who God used and what helped you understand, but make sure the listener hears what you came to believe. You were a sinner who needed forgiveness. Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again. You personally responded to Him in repentance and faith. This is the heart of your salvation story.

Baptism also belongs in your story because it was your public identification with Christ after salvation. You do not have to spend a long time explaining it, but you can tell when and why you followed Christ in baptism.

Then tell what has changed. Choose one or two examples that honestly show the difference Christ has made. This is where the work from Chapter 2 becomes useful. The person listening should hear that salvation was more than a decision you made years ago. Christ has continued working in your life.

There are also things we can leave out. We do not need every detail of our childhood, every church we attended, or every mistake we ever made. We do not need to use words that only longtime church members understand without explaining them. We do not need to make ourselves the hero of the story. Our story should keep moving toward the One who saved us.

When you finish, ask yourself a simple question: If I told this to someone who was not a Christian, would that person understand how I came to Christ and why I believe he or she needs Christ too?

Be Ready

Peter said to “be ready always to give an answer.” That is what we are learning to do.

Your opportunity probably will not look like Paul’s. You may never stand before a king. It may happen while sitting across the table from a family member. A coworker may ask why you believe what you believe. A grandchild may ask when you became a Christian. A friend going through a difficult season may ask why you have hope.

When the opportunity comes, you already know the story.

You know where you were. You know how God brought the gospel to you. You know when you repented and trusted Christ. You know what Christ has done in your life since.

Now learn to tell it.

This Week

Use your Christian Legacy Journal to begin putting your salvation story into your own words. Then practice saying it aloud. The goal is not to memorize a speech. The goal is to become comfortable enough with your own salvation story that when God gives you an opportunity to witness to someone, you are ready to tell what Jesus Christ has done for you.

Coming Up

So far we have examined how our Christian life began, how Christ has changed us, and how to share our salvation story with someone else. In the next chapter, we will look at Church Life and how our place in a local church becomes part of the Christian legacy we live and leave.