Engaging the Lost

What is a “lost person”

There seems to be 2 applications in the Bible for “lost” people.

First, there are lost people who have never accepted Jesus as their Lord...

Second, there are those who once knew the Lord and have turned from him and went their own way.

1 Peter 2:25 “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

So, for the context of this message let’s not assume that we only engage the lost in the bar, or the street corner, or any of the worst case scenarios that many people think of. Many of the conversations that we have with lost peopleFor will be in our every day lives.

In fact, the Bible uses a word all over the NT that becomes extremely important in this conversation. The word is Oikos, and no I am not talking about the Greek Yogurt brand. The word Oikos was the people who you did life with. In business the word might be network; or in social work it might be community; or in sports it called fanbase- the people within your scope of influence.

Oikos is the people that your life influences and impacts in a natural way- larger than your family but smaller than you FB friends list!

Keep that in mind—-we will come back to it...

What is an ambassador?

An ambassador is someone who is a Representative of a nation and given authority to speak, act, and function as an official for the Kingdom they represent. An agent of the Ruler.

Now, according to 2 Corinthians 5:20 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Today, if you have given your life to Jesus and if you a walking with him you are an ambassador tasked with being an agent of his Kingdom.

Now, we can deny it or make excuses all we want, but the reality is that we are given this designation by God and appointed to serve him as such.

“But I don’t know how to talk to the lost” be a learning ambassador

“I am an introvert!” Okay, be an introverted ambassador

“I am new to my faith” Okay, be a new ambassador.

John 4

I want to share a story with you that I think perfectly illustrates how we can engage with people who do not know the Lord. In John 4 Jesus takes the Disciples on a little field trip that will change their lives forever.

Read v1-4

I want to point something out here before we go too far. Jesus did not have to go to Samaria- in fact he had every reason to avoid it as a Jewish man. You see Jews and Samaritans had a very tense relationship and would go to extreme lengths to avoid interacting with one another .

This in and of itself reminds us that sometimes in order to reach the people Jesus wants us to reach we need to be wiling to go places other may not think we need to go- and go there on purpose.

Read 5-8

Jesus strikes up a conversation with a woman at the well. Again, not the usual thing for a man to do in a situation like this; but the main point for today is that Jesus struck up a conversation with the woman, he engaged her with words and invited her into a conversation that would change her life forever.

Now in 2014 author David Watson wrote a book called Contagious Disciple Making- and in the book he defines a simple tool called the Conversation Quadrant that was meant to help Christians initiate conversations about faith. I want to teach it to you today through Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well in John 4.

First, Jesus begins with a CASUAL conversation.

V5-9

He just asks for water- that’s it. This is how most of our conversations everyday start. “Hey, how are the kids?” or “Crazy weather outside, right?” “Did you watch the game last night?”

These are surface level conversations. Many of them never go much deeper—-

Jesus turns it into a MEANINGFUL conversation

V10-18

One question and then entire conversation goes about a mile deeper. Now, in this story the woman asks Jesus the question; but that is not always the case, is it? Sometimes we have to be the ones to ask the question to go a bit deeper. Here are some examples of questions that can easily direct a conversation much deeper:

I’m trying to figure out what to do for ____________... I’d love your opinion.

Motherhood/new career/retirement/ _________ was so hard for me. How are you doing with it? What are your biggest challenges in this stage of life?

You seem to be really into ____________, why is that?

You’re really good at _____________, how did you get that way?

Can you tell me about your tattoo? (There is almost always a story.)

Jesus then makes it a SPIRITUAL conversation

V19-24

Jesus then brings God into the conversation with a teaching about who God is all what he is about. Notice that Jesus does not merely condemn her or offer her something she is not ready for- he instead merely introduces God into the conversation.

Now, for Jesus is very natural- because he is God’s son; for us it might be a little more difficult, but today I would like to offer an 8 word sentence that is guaranteed to turn any conversation into a Spiritual conversation. Ready- you might want to write this one down; but I would bet that everyone in this church can memorize this sentence today-

Has anyone ever prayed with you about that?

8 words that will almost surefire create a Spiritual conversation.

He finally concludes by making it a Discovery conversation

V25-26

Notice what Jesus does not do- he doesn’t go into a long drawn out sermon; he does not tell him everything he had ever done; he does not begin to unpack all of her faults and shortcomings- he just gives her a prompt to invite her to find out more.

You could…

Express something you are grateful for and give God credit for it.

Share about something that God recently taught you.

Tell about a miracle you’ve experienced or witnessed.

Disclose something you’re asking God to help you with.

Describe a trial you went through and how God helped