Today, I preached from Colossians 4. Specifically, Colossians 4:2-6. Here are the highlights and the message is below.
- Opportunities to share our faith come from prayer. We must pray for opportunities to proclaim the message. Then we must pray that we can see and seize the opportunities. And then we must pray that we are clear when we speak.
- We are to have relationships with “outsiders,” or those who don’t know Jesus. Whoever said we must separate ourselves from people who think or believe differently from ourselves.
- The way we live our lives tells people about Jesus. The question is, what are we telling them? Paul talks a lot about our way of life amongst those who don’t know Christ.
- “…making the most of every opportunity” could be translated “redeeming the time.” The time is short to share Jesus with people. We must buy it back.
- Only after talking about how we live our lives amongst non-Christians does Paul then switch to what we say to non-Christians. Words mean nothing if we don’t live our lives as Christ-followers. Or, as someone once said, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Enjoy!
We have made our way through the first 3 chapters of the book of Colossians. Today we will read the 4th and final one. Let’s review, really quickly, where we have been.
In Chapter 1, we discussed a few things that we knew already:
1) That the Christian virtues of faith, hope and love still remain.
2) That the gospel still has power and still changes lives and still changes the world.
3) That prayer still works.
4) That Christ is still sufficient…he is all we need.
In Chapter 2, we saw some goals that the author of the letter, Paul, had for the church he was writing to in Colossae.
1) The church should have courageous hearts.
2) The church should be united, knit together, in love.
3) The church should have understanding, wisdom and knowledge.
4) The church should have the power to resist seductive teachings.
5) The church should be able to stand, disciplined and orderly, like an army.
6) The church should have life in Christ—it should be growing down, deeper in the roots, and growing up, bearing fruit.
7) The church should be strong in its faith.
The church should be, as a result of all these things, overflowing with thankfulness to God.
In Chapter 3, last week—we switched from some of the theological to the practical. If we are talking theology, how does that translate over into action and real life? Paul mentions, in chapter 2, our baptism as a turning point. Our lives can be divided into two parts at our baptism…the before, the stained, the enslaved, to after our baptism: the after, the cleansed, the free, the forgiven.
And Paul talks in chapter 3 about what we wear. He says, before our baptism, we were wearing the clothes of unholy love and of hate. But, at our baptism, we are, as Galatians 3 says, clothed in something new. We are clothed in Christ. And we put on new garments…clothes of compassion and humility and patience and, above all else, love.
Keri had a great idea after we got home from church. Have any of you seen that TV show on TLC called “What Not to Wear?” This sermon could have been called “What Not to Wear.” Isn’t that normal…you have a great idea about a sermon title 30 minutes after you preach the sermon?
Last week—we talked about what not to wear.
And now—we are in chapter 4. Let’s read the final chapter of this great letter together:
Colossians 4 (TNIV)
1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven. 2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. 7 Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. 9 He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here. 10 My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.) 11 Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. 13 I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. 16 After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea. 17 Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord.” 18 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
How many of you have heard this phrase?
Christians are to “be in the world, but not of it.”
That phrase has always caused me some trouble…but there is some truth to it.
Being a Christian has a built-in tension…it has a built-in balance. Let me explain, as this may set the tone for the rest of what we are going to talk about today.
The more mature I grow as a Christian, the more I realize there is a delicate balance to living the life of a Christ-follower. For example, if I forsake all of you and never associate with Christians again in an effort to evangelize the lost, that would be a negative thing. Why? Because, I need the fellowship of believers to strengthen and encourage me.
On the other hand, though, if I only hang out with Christians—if I have no non-Christian friends at all—then I am forsaking the Great Commission, given to me by Christ, to go and make disciples.
There has to be both…thus, there is a tension.
If we look at Jesus—he walked with tension. Consider this:
Jesus was a comforter—but he was also a prophet, and prophets are not often comforters. Jesus was the epitome of one who “comforted the afflicted, yet afflicted the comfortable.”
Jesus loved tradition, yet he also undermined tradition at times. Great tension here.
Jesus was tender, yet he was also tough.
Jesus was (what we are talking about today) in the world, but not of the world.
Tension seems to me to be necessary…because we can go to far one way or the other and be out of balance.
Consider the guitar…the strings of a guitar only sound good when they are in perfect tension. If one is too loose, the entire thing sounds bad. If one string is too tight, the entire thing sounds badly. But when it is in perfect tension, it sounds great.
And there is great tension in trying to be “in the world, but not of the world.”
I want to just throw some ideas out there for you to chew on:
I read an article a couple of months ago by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about a local church who had a meeting every month in a local brewery. The article was called “Beer and the Bible.”
Here are some excerpts:
Beer-stained wooden tables and the smell of hops complemented a free-flowing, spirited debate among hip young people in scruffy beards and T-shirts.
In 2007, this is church.
Theology at the Bottleworks is run by a wildly successful congregation of young St. Louisans called The Journey. The Schlafly program is part of the church’s outreach ministry. And it works.
Every month dozens show up at the brewpub to drink beer and talk about issues ranging from racism in St. Louis to modern art controversies to the debate about embryonic stem cell research. First-timers are invited to check out the church on Sunday, and Journey leaders say many have. Theology at the Bottleworks is just one of The Journey’s ministries, but it has helped the church grow from 30 members in late 2002 to 1,300 today.
The Rev. Darrin Patrick, The Journey’s founder and lead pastor, says its nontraditional approach is aimed at those who are not likely to attend church.
“We want to go where people are,” he said. “We don’t expect them to come to us.”
For nearly two years, the beer ministry has brought new members to the church. Now it’s being called unbiblical.
Now, I am not saying this is wrong or right…but I am bringing it up to cause you to think about it.
Are they in the world? Are they acting as if they are OF the world?
Tension.
Hear some verses from the scriptures:
John 17:11, 14-15 (TNIV)
11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of [b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one…14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
Here we see, in Jesus’ prayer, very clearly that we are in the world. But we are not of the world.
II Corinthians 5:20 (TNIV)
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors…
Ambassadors are citizens of one country living in another country. And they are representing their home. This verse reminds us that we are citizens of another country…a far country. But, as ambassadors, while we are in this strange land, we are to be representing our homeland.
Acts 17:16-23 (TNIV)
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
And then Paul proceeds to preach the gospel…but did you see what he did? He walked amongst the people; he talked with them; he saw their art; he saw their idols.
And then he used those things as a springboard with which to preach the gospel.
These verses show us one side of the tension: that we are to be in the world. Jesus never once called us OUT of the world. And he never set for us an example of leaving this world behind.
In fact, if you look at Jesus’ life, you see some pretty vivid examples of how Jesus lived IN the world.
His first miracle was making wine at a party.
He was known as a drunkard and a glutton.
The people he hung out the most with were great sinners…
He undermined and didn’t follow a lot of the laws and traditions that had been handed down for years and years.
Jesus was definitely in the world. But was he OF the world? No.
Here are a few other verses to consider:
I John 2:15-17 (TNIV)
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If you love the world, love for the Father is not in you. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful people, the lust of their eyes and their boasting about what they have and do—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Not being of the world means not loving the world.
I Peter 2:11-12 (TNIV)
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
We are foreigners and exiles…this world is not our home.
But look at what Peter says…
“Live such good lives AMONG THE PAGANS.”
We are to live amongst the world…we are to live amongst the pagans. But…what has happened in our churches is that we have withdrawn from those people who don’t know Christ. Our only friends are Christians. We aren’t living among ANY pagans.
But Peter says we are to do so…Jesus does so…and Paul, here back in Colossians 4, tells us we are to do so as well. Let’s read it again:
Colossians 4:2-6 (TNIV)
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
I think Paul gives us some insight into living with the tension of being in the world but not of the world.
Let’s unpack and see what that insight might be:
What can we learn about being in, but not of the world, from Paul’s words?
First of all, we must pray. And Paul shows us two things we can pray for.
The first one is “Pray for Opportunities.”
Paul says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.”
Paul shows us that any opportunity he has for ministry is given him because God opened the door for his message to be proclaimed.
If we are going to be in, but not of, the world—than we have to seize the opportunities that are afforded us. Remember, Paul is writing this letter from prison…and he is asking the Colossian church to pray for open doors for him while he is in prison!
It’s interesting to me that Paul is looking for opportunities RIGHT WHERE HE IS AT. Many think you have to go outside of your normal routine to share your faith or tell others about Christ. But I don’t think that is the case at all.
If we look at Matthew 28, we find the Great Commission—Jesus’ final instructions to us.
Matthew 28:18-20 (TNIV)
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
When Jesus says “go and make disciples” what he is saying is this:
…in your going…the assumption is that we are already living in the world. We are already going places. We already have a set of circumstances (where we work, play, rest, interact, drive)—and in those circumstances, we are to make disciples. In our going.
As you are going about your life…make disciples. We don’t have to go outside what we are already doing. But, we are to make disciples as we are going about what we always go about.
And as we are going, we will find opportunities to share Christ with those we interact with. And, as Paul does, we need to pray for these open doors.
And I warn you—if you pray and ask God to open doors for you—HE WILL! And you will never be the same again.
The second thing that Paul prays for, that we must as well is:
Pray for clarity.
Colossians 4:4 (TNIV)
4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
When we have the opportunity to share, we must be able to share clearly. To proclaim a message clearly is to show the person that you are speaking with that what you are sharing—your message—is from God. It’s not from you or something you made up. It’s a story that only God could write.
That phrase “proclaim it clearly” conveys the idea that we are to make what was unknown or unseen—known and seen. And not just by our words, but by our actions as well.
Evangelism really starts with prayer…
If you want to live in the world—but not of it—we have to, AS WE ARE GOING ABOUT OUR LIFE—pray for and seize clearly the opportunities God gives us to share the gospel.
Next, Paul says this:
Colossians 4:5 (TNIV)
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
What Paul is saying here goes back to the idea we just talked about when Paul asked that the Colossians pray for him that he may be able to take the message of Christ and “proclaim it clearly.” And that proclaiming is not just with words, but with actions.
Notice, first of all, that Paul is assuming that the Colossians have relationships with “outsiders,” non-Christians. He calls for us to be wise in those relationships.
So, we are piecing altogether, right? As we are going through our circumstances, we are to be praying for opportunities to share our faith and for clarity as we do so—and not just with our words, but with our actions.
I heard a minister by the name of Rob Bell preach through the Matthew 28 text we have talked about a bit this morning…and he told a story about some friends of his who moved into this new neighborhood. And, they didn’t know it at the time, but they moved right across the street from a self-proclaimed Satanist. This guy read from the Satanic bible and worshiped the devil. And this new family in the neighborhood realized that this was a crazy opportunity…so they just asked themselves, “what would it look like to love our neighbor?” So they did all they could…they helped him with food and let him borrow their car and helped him find a job. And eventually they got around, some months later, to talking about the deeper realities of the world and faith and freedom and hope and joy. And then…the Satanist…was baptized and became a follower of Christ. And he said later, “Obviously, when they moved in, I didn’t want them there and wanted them to move away. But I decided I was just going to WATCH them.”
See…here is a profound truth I want us to get today. We are ALL talking about Jesus already. The question is, ‘what are we saying about him?’
For example, if this couple who moved across the street from the Satanist, when they found out he was a Satanist, did everything they could to avoid him…avoided talking, helping, sharing…and he knew they were Christians…what were they saying? Well, if Christ’s followers don’t care about him, then Christ must not care about him. That’s what they would have been saying.
If we refuse to talk to, hang out with, serve, love, share or be with non-Christians…we are telling these people about Jesus. We are telling them that Jesus wouldn’t talk to, hang out with, serve, love or share with them. And that’s a lie. And we are at fault.
We are all telling people already about Christ…but the questions is, ‘what are we telling them?’
Listen to a few more verses:
I Thessalonians 4:10-12 (TNIV)
10 And in fact, you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, dear friends, to do so more and more, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
Titus 2:6-8 (TNIV)
6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
I Peter 2:12 (TNIV)
12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
I Peter 3:1-2 (TNIV)
1 Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
Paul says, be wise in the way you act towards outsiders. Why? Because you telling them something about your Jesus.
He says we are supposed to “make the most of every opportunity.” The Greek for “make the most” can be translated as “redeem the time.”
When you redeem something, you are buying it back. If I have a gift certificate that I want to redeem, I buy back whatever good with that certificate. And on that certificate, oftentimes, is an expiration date. I have to redeem, or buy back, the goods by that date.
Paul is encouraging us to buy back the time. What he is conveying is a sense of urgency. We don’t have much time left…Christ is on the way back and there are still people going to hell. So, we must buy back the time with urgency…we must redeem the opportunity…we must make the most of it. Because the time is short.
Paul says almost this exact same thing in Ephesians 5…
Ephesians 5:15-16 (TNIV)
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Be careful how you live…the Greek for live could be translated as walk…be careful in how you are walking…and be wise…and make the most of every opportunity…redeem the time you have been given, because the days are evil.
Colossians 4:6 (TNIV)
6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
It’s interesting to note that now, after Paul has talked extensively about how we act, he switches over to what we say. I think this is very significant…
…in fact, I might even go as far as to say that you words will mean nothing if you don’t act the right way. I think I have said this before: nobody will care how much you know until they know how much you care.
But when you do speak, let your conversation be full of grace, seasoned with salt, and with wise answers.
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