How to share our faith with prodigals?

Hey, thanks again for sending in questions related to our recent sermons. We are continuing our series in Romans, and this last Sunday, we kind of bridged in between chapters one and chapter two. We said that Paul really addresses two different groups of people, um, that have different mindsets. We could say that secular people, religious people, irreligious people, religious people, um, younger brother types, older brother types, paralleling Jesus’ parable in Luke 15 of the younger brother who

runs away from home, um, after demanding the inheritance from the father versus the older brother who stays home and tries to obey all the rules. Um, and for the older brother types who stay home and want to follow all the rules, Paul’s approach to present the gospel to them is to say, you know, you haven’t kept the rules as good as you think you have.

You still need a savior. But he doesn’t say that, uh, to the younger brother type, the irreligious type, the secular people, um, because they don’t really care about following God’s rules. It’s either not on their radar, or they outright want to defy the rules like the younger brother. So telling the younger brother, hey, don’t you know you disobeyed all the rules? He would say, yeah, I know. That’s the, that’s the whole reason I left.

So instead of telling him he disobeyed all the rules, Paul says, you aren’t really as free as you think that you are. Um, real freedom is found in Christ. So the question this week is, um, how, how do we share our faith with the younger brother types, with the secular people, um, who, you know, God’s rules really aren’t on their radar? Um, you know, evangelism, uh, that I was taught, um, kind of cold call evangelism would be to show people, like, here’s God’s standard, you fell short of it, you

know, repent and receive Christ. Um, but for people who have no reference point for God’s standard, what, how, how do we address them with freedom? Do we just go up to people and say, you’re not as free as you think you are? What’s the strategy? And I would say, um, be invest, first, be invested in people’s lives, know them, walk with them, care about them, um, have them care about you, be intertwined with them. Um, and then as they’re going through life, there’s going to be moments where their

framework has collapsed on them. Um, maybe as severe as the younger brother in, uh, Jesus’ parable. Probably not that severe, but there’s going to be weights on them. Um, and if they know that you love them and you’ve been with them through ups and downs, um, those are moments to say, hey, there’s, Jesus can help you with this. Uh, Jesus is, is good and true and liberating. Um, you can say that in those moments. Um, additionally, as you’re going along through life, um, you need to speak to them

about the freedom that you have in Christ, uh, not in any kind of disingenuous way, but in ways that you really find, um, you know, safety, security, wholeness, a future in Christ. In Jesus, we have enormous resources, um, for, for wholeness, completeness, security. You know, we’re, we’re free from the need to prove ourselves.

We’re free from guilt and shame. We’re, you know, free from worry about the future because Christ has taken care of that. So as we go through the ups and downs of life, talk about that. Um, only to the extent that you’re really grasping it yourself. I mean, don’t be fake about it. Um, if you’re really stressed about the future, say that too.

Don’t say, I’m not stressed because Jesus will take care of it, unless you’re actually feeling that Jesus will take care of it. Don’t say that you’re feeling that way. Um, but the times, the times that you are, say, I got all this going on, but I have confidence that Jesus is holding me close and will carry me through.

He will use all things for my good. Right? We have these resources. Um, we, we have the resources to have all our burdens taken away, all the weights that are on us. We have those resources. So to the extent that we are experiencing freedom in Christ, we share that with the people around us. And over time, especially, they’re going to say, wait, how that guy or that woman is living seems more free than the way I’m living. Right?

I am weighed down by, you know, worries and need to prove myself and guilt. I am weighed down by these things, but this Christian over here seems free from all those things. What is all that about? Um, so especially over time, especially if we’re articulating it over and over and over and over and over again, um, it becomes, you know, um, visible as a, as a better way to live, more freedom. Um, and then especially in those moments when they are dealing with things, we can speak into their lives and

say, hey, Jesus can really help you with this. Um, he, he came to set the captives free, and you certainly seem like you’re experiencing some type of captivity weighing you down. Can I tell you about Jesus? That’s the entry point, um, for the younger brother types. We hope that’s helpful. We’ll see you next time.