One-to-one Week 22. Reaching Out and Telling Others.
Key Question: Does your faith have any impact on others?
______
______
______
I don’t know if you’ve thought about all the people God used to help you find faith. How many people showed you their faith by what they did? How many people spoke to you about Jesus and explained to you who He is and what He has done for you? God gives us the privilege of having a part in sharing His message.
It’s also absolutely amazing to see someone come to faith, to pray with them, to watch them grow and to follow Jesus in new ways. The reason we reach out to others isn’t because we have to but because it is a wonderful thing to tell people about Jesus. If you want to share about Jesus you need to know the message we share, how to share it and have a lifestyle that matches up to it.
What is the message we share?
We want to explain to people what it is they need to know to understand what God has done for them and how they can have eternal life in Jesus. We want to make sure we don’t leave anything out sometimes and at other times we don’t want to confuse people. So how do we find a simple message to help people understand? There are a lot of little leaflets which have simple ways to explain the Good News, like ‘2 ways to live,’ ‘Connecting with God,’ ‘God’s unfolding plan,’ ‘Why Jesus?’ and others. These try and take the message back to basics. If I could simplify the message it must include the following plan:
God creates: Everything is created by Him and for Him and He is over all things (Colossians 1:16-17). Everything was perfect as he created it and we are made with eternal souls (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Man messes it all up: God gave us one choice and we chose wrong, we keep choosing wrong and our choices mess up the whole world (Romans 3:23). Most people are aware that there is a problem but we don’t hide it or ignore it. The problem we have isn’t just intellectual or moral either. If I understand lots of things and be as good as I can be (as other religions suggest) I still have a nagging problem with guilt, hopelessness and loss in my soul. People have a deep seated need and brokenness.
God redeems and restores: God steps into our mess as Jesus and pays for our guilt and sin. He buys us out of our slavery and defeats our enemies – sin, death and the devil. He gives us hope and is restoring us. This process will finally be complete when we get to heaven, when we are set free from every part of sin and loss. Through Jesus we can be forgiven, set free and have eternal life (John 3:16).
We have a choice: God allows us to choose for ourselves whether we accept what Jesus did for us or not. If we follow Him we have everlasting life in heaven and if we reject Him, (as though we don’t need what He has done) we will be punished ourselves for what we’ve done. If He doesn’t carry our guilt then we do.
I suppose I can bring it down to a phrase I was taught as a teenager... God, man, God, what if I do? What if I don’t? It seems simple doesn’t it and yet the experience of it fills forever and it transforms nations and kingdoms.
Are you evangelical about God?
The word evangelical is a word most often used about churches or people talking about Jesus but it actually just means being excited about something you believe in strongly and trying to convince people to agree with you. I guess I am evangelical about my country, my football teams and the value of a sugary diet as well as Jesus then!
Are you excited about God? A whole generation of churches were called evangelical churches because the people were excited about God, excited about His message and excited about His Son. This is important even if you are not good at speaking to others, You need to be excited that God loves you! We should still wonder and thrill in the idea that God came from heaven for me, died for me and rose from the dead so I can be resurrected too. One of the things that I loved about my granny was the fact that she was still fresh and new and excited about Jesus. Nothing and no-one could take that away. People used to cringe at my Granda who would try and convince everyone who came to the door about Jesus, even if they were just selling windows. Are you excited about His compassion? Are you excited about the hope that He gives that doesn’t end in death? Are you excited about being adopted into His family? Does it make your world spin differently? We should admire creation because God designed it for us to see His glory. We should see in others the hope God has for them. The Good News of God should inspire our every moment. When you’re excited like that speaking about it should be second nature.
My favourite people often tend to be people who get excited easily, even about the little things. Every meal is the best they’ve ever tasted, every view is stunning, every person is intriguing. They might make a mess of things but they’ll live life to the full and enjoy what God has done. It is excellent to be zealous and to be so always (Proverbs 23:17).
Speaking about it is then just a combination of knowing what it is we are excited about and being around people and talking. If we can talk about sofas, yoghurt and where to buy cat food then we can talk about Jesus. If we talk about bereavement or guilt or bullying or fear then we can talk about hope and life as well. When I was a teenager I used to always plan what I would say to someone in conversation about Jesus. It literally never happened the way I planned but often things worked out more as God planned. Be available to be used by God, be around people, know the message and be excited about it, trust the Holy Spirit to give you the words and then share. It is the most inspiring thing talking about Jesus, it will do you good. How can you practice? Maybe with some Christian friends?
What about your lifestyle?
St. Francis of Assissi is attributed with the quote: ‘share the Gospel in all circumstances and if necessary use words.’ What we do should be evidence of God’s work in itself. While I am convinced that we need to actually speak to people, often it should come from them seeing hope in us that they do not have (1 Peter 3:14-15). We should express the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, by how we live. It should be consistent with the message we share.
Now that need for consistency is important because some people think this means we should be pious and do everything perfectly. However, the Gospel says men mess up, so our goodness isn’t always consistent with what we teach (not that I’m suggesting you should sin more!) The key things that we show are hope in hopelessness (because the Gospel has hope for the lost), unwavering grace (because God loved us when we didn’t deserve it) and love for enemies (because God came into the darkness). Ask yourself if your lifestyle is consistent with what you preach? I’m sure I put people off because I let people down and am a constant mess, but guys who are hopeless listen to what I’m saying. Jesus often looks for the sick not those who are well. If you’re going to do good things make sure it is out of restoration, not self-motivation. By that I mean, make sure it is God who moves you to do good, not you trying to impress Him and others. Live by the Spirit and you will be someone that impacts people.
One good question you might ask is ‘do they know I care?’ If you pray for people and care about them there should be evidence of your compassion. Have you given evidence of God’s compassion? Why would someone confide in you? Do they know you are trustworthy? The Gospel must be real.
How do we share the message?
There isn’t really a formula or plan for how to share the message of Jesus because our God is not a God of formulas but of amazing grace and life. Add to that the fact there is so much diversity in people so there’s no one way to explain the Gospel to everyone. However there’s a few steps we can take to help us speak to others about Jesus:
Prepare for opportunities: Know what to say, practice saying the words, speak it out and maybe carry a simple leaflet that helps you understand. Put a bit of effort into understanding more of God so that you don’t get side-tracked. Know what it is worth. If you knew where someone could get £1,000,000 would you feel bad about telling them? Of course not, you know the Gospel is about bringing life.
Live for opportunities: By that I mean you should get excited about every opportunity and thank God for them. But I also mean that your life should speak for you. Live compassion, live hope, live thankfulness, live with eternity on your mind. Living like this is not a waste in itself, but it also makes people question why you are like that. People were always excited about seeing Jesus.
Pray for opportunities: Ask God to give you a chance to share about Him. D.L. Moody, a famous evangelist said he asked God for at least one opportunity every day, and God never failed to provide him with a conversation or moment with someone to share about God. When you think you might get a chance in a conversation to bring it to Jesus then ask God to help you say the right thing.
Take the opportunities: When someone sits down to talk to you, opens up about something or even laughs at what you’re doing, just take the chance to speak life into their situation. Speak about hope, share compassion and explain eternal life. Ask God as you speak to know what to say. What you share is worth more than gold.
Now one last thing to remember is this, that however excited or skilled we are, it is still the Holy Spirit that actually opens ears and hearts to receive it (Revelation 3:6). It takes prayer and connection with Him to ask for the Spirit to move and all that we do can be done well without results. Sometimes you still have to leave the really important part of opening hearts to the One who is able to do that.
What is God’s big message?
How do you get excited about it?
Is your life consistent with the Gospel?
How can you explain it?