Living a sent life

Christian leaders often motivate others to talk about Jesus by appealing to guilt, duty, or even shame. I endured many sermons that told me I should share my faith, and I would if only I loved Jesus more. I left these messages feeling like a failure. And I didn’t feel closer to Jesus or inspired to talk about him.

Now, as someone who regularly and joyfully talks to others about Jesus, I think differently about evangelism. The secret to evangelism—and something I missed for many years—is identity. When we miss this, we perceive evangelism as a guilt-driven task rather than part of joyful intimacy with God.

We can define this identity from a key verb in Scripture—the often-overlooked word “sent.” In John 20:21 Jesus said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

Core Principles

The sent identity operates from three core principles that can significantly change how we live even our most ordinary days. When we believe these biblical principles, our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, and larger communities become places God sends us to serve as agents of blessing and proclamation.

• God is at work to draw people to himself.
• God uses people to lead others to Jesus.
• God continually calls us into the work of evangelism.

Do I really believe God is at work to draw people to himself—even if I cannot perceive it? I think about the ticket agent who helped me rebook a canceled flight a few years ago. As I paced nervously in a strange city, clutching the phone and grinding my jaw in frustration, the agent said, “Stay on the line. You won’t hear anything. But I am here. I am working. I am making this right.”

• I called out every few minutes, “Are you still there?”
• The agent would repeat, “You won’t hear me. But I am here. I am working.”

Similarly, Jesus tells us the “Father is always at his work” and that he too is working (John 5:17)—whether or not we perceive it.

We know that God has “set eternity in the human heart” so people consider spiritual things (Eccl. 3:11. We know the Holy Spirit is testifying about Jesus (John 15:26). Finally, we know Jesus’s stated mission that continues at this moment to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

First, then, God is working, and second, he uses people to lead others to Jesus.

Understanding the Sent Identity

One semester in school, I read the astonishing claims in the Bible that the Holy Spirit gives us power to be God’s witnesses (Acts 1:8), that God uses us to spread knowledge about Jesus (2 Cor. 2:14), that God gave us a ministry to lead others to Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17–20), and that God chose us and appointed us to bear fruit and complete good works (John 15:16; Eph. 2:10).

God continually calls his followers into the work of evangelism—right where we are—as part of our identity in Christ.

I stuffed more french fries into my mouth and sat stunned with the realization that God wanted to use me to lead others to Jesus. This was my identity. It wasn’t only being a professor or a wife or a mother or a writer. It was living a sent life.

• God continually calls his followers into the work of evangelism—right where we are—as part of our identity in Christ.
• It isn’t just something to do. It’s something to be.

Sent people develop a rich theology of place because they know God has determined the exact places where they live and when (Acts 17:26). In the very places of our neighborhoods and workplaces, God sends us to tell others about Jesus.

It’s no accident where you live and with whom you interact in the natural pathways of your life. It’s no accident what happens to you; perhaps God has positioned you there to tell someone about Jesus.

Our sent lives allow us to experience Jesus and the world around us through a lens of expectation: we expect God to work in the lives around us; we expect that he still uses people to accomplish his kingdom-advancing work; and we expect God’s call into this daily work of introducing others to Jesus.

Practicing the Sent Life

As sent people, we can develop four joyful practices: noticing the people around us, praying for them specifically, taking steps of faith to engage others in meaningful conversation, and sharing our stories of gospel transformation in authentic and natural ways.

Since that day in the student union, I have kept a list in my journal of five people in my life who don’t yet know Jesus. Maybe it’s someone on my street or in my classroom. Maybe it’s a family member. Maybe it’s the checkout person at the grocery store.

We don’t have to know all the answers. We don’t have to be extroverts or have seminary training. Instead, we can know with confidence that God sends us into the lives of others around us.

Then, I commit to pray prayers outlined in Scripture for those on my list. We can pray, like Paul did in Colossians 4:3–6, that “God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.” We can pray that God would give revelation to know Jesus (Eph. 1:17–19); that God would turn their eyes from worthless things (Ps. 119:34–37) and help them “come to their senses” (2 Tim. 2:25–26); and that God would send others to help (Matt. 9:38).

As the Holy Spirit leads and empowers us, we can ask meaningful questions, share the story of God’s work in our lives, and direct friends to the passages of Scripture God has used to teach us about Jesus.

We don’t have to know all the answers. We don’t have to be extroverts or have Bible College training. Instead, we can know with confidence that God sends us into the lives of others around us. We can wake up with the joyful expectation that God will use us to seek and save the lost as part of our identity in Christ.

Heather Holleman