When you became a believer, God adopted you into His family and made you a co-heir with His Son Jesus. In addition, you also became a co-worker with Jesus in God’s family business. God’s family business? Maybe you never really thought of it that way, yet when He was a child, Jesus told His parents that He “must be about [His] Father’s business” (Luke 2:49, nkjv). Now this business isn’t like the ones we encounter on earth — focused on profit margins and market shares — but there are similarities between God’s business and those we might be more familiar with.

So what exactly is God’s business? By sending Jesus to become the perfect sacrifice for us, God clearly defined His business — reconciling people to Himself. Jesus came to make a way for people to be made right with God and then passed the torch on to us to continue the work He began while on earth. It’s your responsibility now to reach unbelievers with the Good News. Just like Jesus, you are here “to seek and save the lost.” You are Christ’s ambassador — His representative in the family business.

How, then, do we go about putting God first in our relationship with those who are lost? It all starts by aligning our lives with God’s purpose. In essence, our purpose as believers is to know God and make Him known. Our relationships with others either help or hinder our worship of God. In the same way, what we do impacts others’ interaction with God. Just like a single encounter with a poor or pushy salesperson determines whether or not an individual will ever do business with their company, the way we engage with unbelievers as God’s representatives either influences them towards the Lord or away from Him.

But we’re not mere salespeople in a heavenly sales force. God isn’t asking us to “sell” Christianity or convince people to become saved. The power of the Gospel message is inherent. Our job is to simply share the message of Jesus and represent Him well.

Truly great businesses don’t just have valuable products or services, they also run based on certain foundational principles. Not only is what they do important, how they go about doing it is also important. For example, Chick-fi l-A, founded by Truett Cathy, was built upon the principle of putting faith and family first. That’s why Chick-fi l-A is never open on Sundays. Though Truett Cathy’s children have since taken over the business, the foundational principles upon which Chick-fi l-A was built still remain. They have stayed true to the how, not just the what.

We know that what we are to do in God’s business is share the message of the Gospel with those who do not yet believe. But how should we go about doing that? To discover the answer, we need to look no further than Jesus. He’s our operational model. So start by asking, “What was His approach?”

Jesus always kept the purpose of His Father’s business in the forefront of His mind and didn’t allow Himself to become distracted with less important things. He purposefully pursued relationships with unbelievers. He wasn’t repelled by their sinfulness nor did He expect heathen people to behave like those who were already saved. He looked past their sin and saw their worth. Jesus accepted people exactly as they were, but He didn’t leave them like that.

The Bible tells us that Jesus repeatedly helped people because He was “moved with compassion.” He didn’t view people as projects or ways to earn brownie points with God. Jesus earned people’s trust by listening to them without judgment or condemnation. He earned their respect by treating them with respect, even when they didn’t deserve it. He spoke the truth, but always clothed it in love. Jesus paid close attention to the lost. In fact, He actively sought them out.

If you’re a child of God, then you’re already representing Him whether you realize it or not. When others interact with you, do they want to be involved with your Father’s business? God has given you a sphere of influence — a territory so to speak — for you to work within on His behalf. How have you been doing at representing Him lately?

Our business is to present the Christian faith clothed in modern terms, not to propagate modern thought clothed in Christian terms. Confusion here is fatal.
~ J.I. Packer