The first thing I'll say is that this kind of advice (don't share the gospel, just "live it" and everyone will notice a difference in you and ask about it) wasn't consistent with what a 19th century pastor would have said. The Second Great Awakening had happened early in the century, with many evangelistic messages given and countless people coming to Christ. Notably in the later 19th Century, we had the very powerful evangelist Dwight Moody, who certainly wouldn't have advised people to simply live their faith with no explanation until asked. On the other hand, there were unbiblical preachers and movements at that time, as there always have been and always will be until Christ's return. Even so, the "don't preach/just live it" rhetoric certainly wouldn't have been in vogue at the time.
Having said that, this novel I read clearly wasn't authentic for the time in which it was supposed to have taken place. It would be similar to writing a book that takes place in the 1950's but has the characters using the Internet. In just isn't consistent writing.
There is more at stake here than poor writing. This message is incorrect, and that is what I'm going to biblically examine. Here is the question: Should we simply live out our faith? Is that sufficient, or is more required? On the flip side, should we openly share the gospel in any and every situation?
First, let's look at what Jesus said. In Mark 16:15, we hear some of Jesus' final words to His disciples before He ascended to Heaven: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation..." In fact, Acts 1:8 expounds more on this: "But you will receive power, after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses..." The Holy Spirit was going to enter the lives of believers, giving them the power to witness. Not to "live it" and be noticed for being different, but to powerfully share the gospel. We see Peter doing this in Acts 2. In First Corinthians 9:16, the Apostle Paul shares that he is compelled to evangelize, ending with, "Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel." The New Living Translation says, "How terrible for me if I didn't preach the Good News!" In Second Timothy 4:2 (shortly before Paul's death) he urges Timothy, "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season." In season and out of season. In other words, when it is convenient and when it isn't. Not a lot of wiggle room there. A few verses later (verse 5), Paul reiterates "do the work of an evangelist."
All of the 12 apostles, with the exception of John, died for the gospel message. Do you think they would have been a threat to the order of this wicked world if they had simply been "living it?" No, of course not. Living a nice Christian life wouldn't have gotten them killed. Preaching the gospel did. Why would they do that? Wouldn't it be easier to just live their faith and wait to be questioned by interested parties? They wouldn't have even ended up on the authority's radar, much less been killed for it. But they weren't content to just live it. They gave their all for the most vital message in history...so we can have salvation today (let that sink in). Isn't it kind of insulting to them (and even more so to Jesus) when we think just being nice and good is enough...after all the sacrifice it took to get the gospel to the world (and not everyone is even reached yet!)? This living it stuff isn't biblical Christianity. It's modern American bilge.
Here is some sound logic to also refute the "living it" idea. Is anyone ever going to be a perfect witness all the time? Is anyone's life so exemplary that others just drop to their knees in repentance? No! Being a good example isn't something we can perfectly pull off 100% of the time. Counting on that to be our witness without words is incomplete at best. Second, a lot of people do good deeds without being saved, so living a nice life with Christian values isn't really that unique. Christian people don't hold the monopoly on niceness. Third, being nice and good doesn't transmit the gospel into anyone's brain. Nobody ever said, "Hmm, that person let me get in front of them in line. I knew it! Jesus Christ is Lord!" There has to come a point where the gospel is shared and understood before the person attaches your good deed to the Lord. I've had people say to me "You're such a nice person...you must be a Mormon." Naturally, I set the record straight on that. My point is that people don't necessarily connect good conduct with Christianity. It's up to us to share the gospel. I think the most serious point in this is that thinking our conduct is sufficient is taking the glory that belongs to Jesus and putting it on ourselves. It's saying, "I'm such a great person. My goodness will save them." So untrue. So self-righteous!
Added to all of this, I have never, ever had an unsaved person approach me and say, "You're different. I want what you've got." That's just not how it happens (or if it has ever happened to anyone anywhere, it is the extreme minority).
My point so far has been that the Bible, as well as common sense, should tell us to boldly witness, with the Holy Spirit's empowerment. That remains unshakably true, though I'm going to give a slight disclaimer.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father in Heaven." We are to have a testimony that brings God the glory. It is important to note that this only happens when the watching world already knows we're saved. If they know we belong to Jesus, that gives actual meaning to our good works. Ephesians 2:10 says that God had prepared good works in advance for us to do. Living a godly life matters when people know we're Christians. That adds credibility to the truths we've already shared with them. But if we haven't shared the gospel at all, it's useless to think doing good will automatically speak for us.
Peter wrote in his first epistle, "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." (First Peter 3:15). This verse tells us to be ready, because we will be asked about our faith. According to this verse, we are to give that answer kindly and humbly, which makes sense and adds credence to our witness.
Just as it is arrogant and self-righteous to believe our goodness is enough to bring a person to Christ, it is equally wrong to believe our witnessing efforts will save them. It isn't us. God uses us, but only He, by His Holy Spirit, can draw a person to Himself, convicting them of sin and causing them to see their need for Christ (John 6:44). It's a work of God. We can't know what He is doing in someone else's heart. That is why we need to let God direct us in our witnessing.
One of my personal heroes is Brother Andrew, who smuggled Bibles into Communist countries and later evangelized the Islamic world. In his book God's Smuggler he relays an experience he had in witnessing to a coworker when he was a young man. He had taken several coworkers to an evangelistic event, hoping to see this one particular coworker saved. She was loud, rude, caustic and mean, and Andrew wanted to see this woman saved. After the event was over, he offered her a ride home, fully intending to lay out the gospel and ask her if she wanted to receive Christ, but the Holy Spirit was doing something different that Andrew couldn't see. In his heart, the Holy Spirit clearly impressed on him not to talk about anything spiritual on the ride home. Andrew couldn't believe God would say this, but he obeyed, and just admired the scenery and chatted about surface things. The next day at work, this belligerent coworker was kind, soft-spoken, and completely different. The other Christians wanted to know what Andrew had said to her after the evangelistic event the day before. He confessed he'd said nothing at all. Later that day, the lady talked to him. She told him that she had thought he was going to pressure her into making a commitment to Christ, and she had all kinds of arguments ready...but when he didn't say anything, she wondered why. She wondered if the reason he wasn't talking to her about it was because he thought she'd gone too far for God to save her...and that made her see her own sinfulness. She got home and gave her life to the Lord that night. It was a true and lasting commitment. This coworker was later one of the biggest supporters of Andrew's mission work. This was an instance when God led a believer to refrain from evangelizing so He could work. There are those times. We need to be in tune with the Holy Spirit. This is particularly vital in settings where sharing the gospel can have legal and even life-or-death consequences. We don't stop sharing. We face death if need be. But we also listen to what the Spirit is telling us and how He is leading. There may be a more discrete way. Some of these instances are also in Brother Andrew's book, which I highly recommend, and you can order here.
The idea that hits me the most is that we are to do the work of an evangelist, "in season and out of season."
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