Apologetics for Every Man

- CALL TO WORSHIP -

Let us rise and worship the Triune God.

ADORATION

Minister: Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from

God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Congregation: And also to you

SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 44:23 “Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, And glorified Himself in Israel.” Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord!

PRAYER

Father, we thank you that you are unstoppable. That your pursposes in the world cannot be thwarted. That the salvation that you set forth in your Son went straight on ahead like flint to Jerusalem where His death, burial and resurrection accomplished exactly what you desired. We thank you that you have redeemed your people and are in the process of applying this salvation to the world today so that with all the earth, we to can worship you today. Be magnified and enthroned on our praise of thanksgiving for this great salvation.

Almighty God, we worship you now through Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with You, and the Holy Spirit, One God, world without end, and Amen.

HYMN

O Come, My Soul, Bless Thou the Lord (196)

- CONFESSION -

Please sit.

EXHORTATION (Samuel Davidson)

The apostle Paul asks many times for strength to speak the word of Christ boldly, implying that even the mighty apostle Paul struggled with a bold unafraid declaration of the Gospel. At the heart of all such inhibition is a large fear of man and a small fear of God. Consider the words of Isaiah 51:12 “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid Of a man who will die, And of the son of a man who will be made like grass?” Did you catch that? “Who are you that you should be afraid of man?”

While fear and inhibition may not feel so, it is indeed a form of pride. It is when the inflated bubble of pride has burst and what remains is a decrepit wreckage unwilling to surrender to God. The wicked man flees when no one pursues but also, the wicked man fears when no one threatens. The unbelieving heart that has refused to acknowledge the kingship of God has no solace in this world but wanders restless, fearing anything and anyone. But listen to the prophet: Who do you think you are that you should be afraid? It is not as though by your own strength you have held yourself up. Have you forgotten the great salvation that the Lord your God has given you. Does it not fill your heart with zeal and fervour to attempt great things for God? Would you rather live a fearful king, locking himself in his own castle, unable to sleep at night because anyone may attack or a fearless servant of the almighty God who upholds all heaven and earth? This reminds us of our need to confess our sins so let us prepare to do so as we sing..

PSALM

Out of the Depths of Sadness (256)

CONFESSION OF SIN

So, as you are able please kneel in confession before God

Isaiah 49:4 “Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain; Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, And my work with my God.’ ”” Lord, our witness to you in the world has been ineffectual because we have not believed your promises. We considered it better to receive the testimony of man than of God and when men failed us, we did not return to you but rather plunged into fear, holding on to our prideful rejection of your lordship. We are sorry and ashamed of our fearful disposition towards the things of the world. Forgive us because of the blood of your Son.

You have called Your church to truth in the inward parts, so we confess our individual sins to you now, Selah.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Please rise for the assurance of pardon! Jeremiah 46:27 ““But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, And do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, And your offspring from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; No one shall make him afraid.” Christian, you may be bold and fearless in your witness, for..

Minister: Your sins are forgiven through Christ. Congregation: Thanks be to God!

CONFESSION OF FAITH

WLC

Great Is Thy Faithfulness (677)

HYMN

And Can It Be?....................................................447

- CONSECRATION -

SCRIPTURE READING

(Eric Robinson)

Psalm 8:1-9; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28

Reader: The Word of the Lord.

Congregation: Thanks be to God!

HYMN

Please sit. It’s Good to Thank the Lord (169)

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

(Aiden Button)

Opening: Psalm 121:1-2

Thanksgiving: Psalm 121:5-6

Petitions: Psalm 121:8

HYMN

Please stand. When the Enemy Comes In (527)

SERMON: Apologetics for Every Man

Introduction

Apologetics is a big word that gets thrown around in Christian circles, especially in the context of academia. Thick books come to mind and so do street preachers and college evangelists. But the history of apologetics is broader than that. Ever since the fall, God’s people have been called upon by earthly authorities to give an account for the hope that they have and it usually does not look like a highly specialized academic discussion. Consider: Abraham and Isaac before Elimelech, Joseph before Pharaoh, Israel and his sons before Joseph, Moses before Pharaoh, David before the Philistine king, Elijah and Micaiah before Ahab, Daniel and his friends before Nebuchadnezzar. And then in the NT: Jesus Himself, before the Sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod. And He promised that his disciples too will be brought before rulers and synagogues (Luke 12:11). That’s largely what happens in the book of Acts. Peter, John, Stephen and Paul appear over and over before various authorities in order to give an account of their actions. This is how God judges rulers: He allows them to judge His people. If they bless God’s people, God blesses them. If they curse God’s people, they are cursed by God.

Now, perhaps not with the kind of special effects that occur in these examples, but you too are called to give an account of the faith. Sometimes this is explicit: Gospel conversations, literally appearing before a judge, before a police officer, before a parent, a teacher or employer. Other times it is implicit. Broadly considered, any interaction with an unbeliever is a mini-evaluation by them of you, as a Christian. In every interaction with an unbeliever, you are building a witness. You are building a possible occasion to give an account for the hope that is in you. This is the context of 1 Peter 3:15, the verse usually used as a springboard for the task of apologetics. And this is in the background of our text as well. How do you do apologetics as a lay Christian with no theological background: You pay attention. That’s the chief means through which you can be equipped to give a defense of the faith. You pay attention to God and spiritual realities around you. You pay attention to your actions. You pay attention to the watching world. You actively look for and engage in opportunities to represent Christ. This is the way the Gospel tree grows throughout the world bearing fruit. So consider with me the background and the text.

The Text

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. (Col 4:2-6, NKJV)

Background

This epistle to the Colossians is a warning against false teachers, Jewish and Gentile who seek to corrupt the Gospel of God by adding to it other religious requirements like some secret knowledge, some religious observances, some elemental principles of religion. So, the apostles warns the people in the earlier part of the epistle against such charlatans and commands them instead to grow in the knowledge of God in Christ by faith. In this latter part of the epistle, the apostle goes on the offensive against such false doctrine by issuing the commands to put off sin and to put on Christ. He has just finished exhorting particular groups of Christians as to how they must do that. Now he is applying that to prayer and the Christian witness.

Speech to God

This text has two parts primarily. First, the apostle addresses how the saints’ speech to God must be and second, he considers how the saints must address men. Consider the latter one first.

He begins by encouraging the saints to be strong in prayer, to be watchful in it. The word there for vigilant is γρηγοροῦντες from which we get the name Gregory, meaning ‘watchful.’ The saints at Colossae are to be as a watcher in the night in their prayers. But not only that, they must be watchful in thanksgiving! One of the ways to be watchful is to be thankful. One of the temptations that all Christians face is to be prayerful in distress but not in times of joy. When you need God’s help, you turn to God for help but then do not return to Him in thanksgiving when you receive an answer to the prayer that you prayed. That evinces your lack of vigilance. You weren’t being watchful, prepared, vigilant in your prayer. Prayer was something you deposited and you went away and forgot about it. That ought not to be. You are called to pay attention. Be in the attitude of prayer. Keep your arms on the steering wheel of prayer and do not let go. When God answers your prayer, continue in thanksgiving and ask for strength for the next task. Do not give up on fellowship with God.

Oftentimes Christians think of the spiritual disciplines as something you must fit in to your already busy schedule. You have to workout in the morning, get the house in order, work, spend time with the children, shop, prepare for the next day. And in the midst of all of that, you have to make time for Scripture reading and prayer. That ought not to be so. Instead of that, you must think yourself as a child sitting in the lap of God, enjoying fellowship with Him all day. And interspersed in that fellowship are the things you have to do. Like tasks assigned by your Father to do for Him. Imagine Him telling you, “Go get that toy. Tell me what its colour is.” That’s how you must think of your job. Fellowship with God is not the side-dish to your busy life. Your tasks are the side-dish to all-day-long fellowship with God.

Do not think that this is changing the subject from apologetics. The means to effective apologetics is to pay attention and this is the context, the atmosphere within that starts. Pay attention to the One in whose lap you live and move and have your being.

Speech to Man

That's speech to God. In the rest of the text, the apostle addresses speech to men. First, continuing from verse 2, he asks the Colossians to pray for him and the other apostles that God would give them opportunities to bring the Gospel to unbelievers. Preaching put Paul in prison in Rome, where he is writing them from. He is writing from house arrest in Rome as mentioned the last few verses of the book of Acts. One of the things prayer and prayer requests do is they make us pay attention when those things actually come about. The apostle Paul asked for prayer and when he finds opportunity to preach the Gospel, he will have reason to rejoice. If he never asked for prayer, he would have been robbed for that opportunity to thank God and be glad. So prayer requests help us remember and pay closer attention what God is up to in the world. Prayer teaches us to “expect great things from God” (to borrow a phrase from William Carey).

Secondly, note that the main thing he asks prayer for is to be able to speak the word of Christ as he should, in a clear manner. He needs God's strength to be able to do it right. Can't do it on his own. In order to preach the word he needs to know the Word and know the people he is addressing. In order to incarnate the word he needs to yoke the truth about Christ with the lives of the people he meets. And that's the chief difference between the gnostic false teachers and the true apostles. The preaching of the apostle is meant to bring the hearer into a deeper relationship with everyone and everything around him in light of the Gospel. Chesterton has said something to the effect of: believing in God is like believing the sun. You not only see Him but in Him you see everything else. That is the central message of this article. Drawing close to God so that you are able to pay attention and make sense of the world around you and explain it to unbelievers when they come to you asking for an explanation.

Following this, the apostle issues the second command in this text to the Christians at Colossae. That is to ‘walk in wisdom’ with respect to outsiders. This parallel passage in Ephesians 5:15 says, ‘walk circumspectly’ not as unwise but as wise. The emphasis then here is on paying attention to our way of life. The verse particularly adds the dimension of outsiders, that is, unbelievers. So, Christians are to give special attention to how they behave in relation to unbelievers. And so, the theme of apologetics for every man comes full circle. They are to walk in wisdom. Wisdom has been mentioned five times in the epistle so far, being of the things that false teachers claim to provide. James says that if anyone lacks wisdom he should ask God who gives to all who in faith, liberally (James 1:5). So also, prays the apostle Paul for them in 1:9. Wisdom consists in the incarnation of God’s Word in Christ and in our hearts (1:28, 2:3, 3:16). This wisdom, which comes from Christ has a practical component in ‘redeeming the time.’ That phrase has the sense of ‘making the most of every opportunity.’ The point is, show forth the Gospel of Christ in action to unbelievers every opportunity that you get. Whether you like it or not, you are a witness of Christ. You are a city on a hill. You cannot escape being noticed by the world. Since you are light of the world, be careful little feet how you walk. Every encounter with an unbeliever is building a witness for Christ, for good or for ill. It is a mini courtroom seen whether the unbeliever is responding to an envoy of King Jesus. The Wisdom of Christ, as opposed to the wisdom of the world is seen in action. “Wisdom is justified by her children” (Matthew 11:19) “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.” (James 3:13) “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.” (Psalm 111:10) “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:14)

As a result, the apostle continues to command that the speech of the Christians always be full of grace. Here grace means graciousness, kindness, benevolence, a disposition to effect good for the other. Wisdom and graciousness are related! “The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious” (Ecc 10:12). He says that their speech must be seasoned with salt. The only other place in the NT where these words show up together is where Christ mentions the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13-16). Salt adds flavour to the food so Christian witness brings flavour to the earth. It is also a preservative. And that is what a godly witness does to a culture. It gives it life and wholesomeness but is also acts a preservative against evil. As Christ gave His church the authority to disciple the nations, He sent his disciples as envoys to flavour the earth.

Notice that it says let your speech always be gracious and seasoned with salt. Only when your life, your walk and your speech is consistent with the Gospel generally speaking, will your answer to the question “What is the hope that is in you?” be persuasive. James again says, “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.” (James 3:9-12) So, then experiential godly wisdom (in word and deed) is needed so you may know how to answer each one! So then, is God asking you to put up a show in front of unbelievers? Not at all. You are not faking in front of unbelievers in show how good you are. It is exhausting to try to do that. He is simply drawing out an implication of what it means to be saved in Christ. It means to put on the new man, made after Christ’s image. You are not performing before an unbeliever, somehow to get him to vote for Jesus. No, you already represent Jesus to him because Jesus represented you to God for your sins. Since you belong to Jesus, you will be His witness whether you like it or not. But for your full joy and obedience, you are called to represent Him well. Anyway, it’s not like your salvation depends on it. Rather, his does. The unbeliever is the one who is being judged in that interaction. When the unbeliever sees God’s goodness through you, he has an option either to come closer to it or to shove it away. In this, God will judge him. So, in this interaction you are not the one in the spotlight. You are just the means of judgment. You are light God is using to expose the sin of the world. That is the task of the Christian witness, the apologist. You need to know the beginning and end of all wisdom, Jesus Christ. You need know His Gospel. You need an experiential knowledge of obeying Him. You need to be praying to God to keep you spiritually sensitive to the spiritual realities around you. And you need to bear in mind how you walk and talk to unbelievers. This is a task for all Christians everywhere, not just smart people in universities. You too are commanded to be an apologist! Pay attention to God, pay attention to His Gospel. Pay attention to how you live, how you speak, how you spend time interacting with unbelievers, make a note of your prayers regularly. Pray to God until you pray to God. Read the Bible until you read the bible. Let fellowship be the atmosphere within which you swim. Confess you sin as soon as you commit it. Appropriate the blood of Jesus Christ there and then. Abound in thanksgiving to the salvation that Christ Jesu has given you. Let that spur you on in kind words to others and in dutiful, benevolent action towards all.

Conclusion

Apologetics is God’s people appearing before the kings of earth in ordered to be evaluated by them and during which evaluation, God is evaluating the kings of earth. Each time you meet an unbeliever you are building towards an apologetic encounter, whether at work or in the marketplace or even in your family (among those who do not believe yet). God uses ordinary Christian faithfulness in prayerful expectancy to do great things in the world and grow His kingdom by the power of His Word. So, walk in wisdom towards unbelievers, speaking graciously always so that the words of the Gospel may be worthily issue forth from your mouth whenever you are called upon to give an account of the hope that is in you. Remember, do this in faith, praying to God. Attempt great things for God, expect great things from God.

PRAYER

Ending with The Lord’s Prayer…

OFFERTORY

Please stand. Doxology (734)

- COMMUNION -

Please sit.

MEDITATION

My son, eat honey because it is good, And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste; So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; If you have found it, there is a prospect, And your hope will not be cut off. (Proverbs 24:13-14)

God made honey to lead you to understand how wisdom affects your soul. God likes material things. God calls us to worship Him in the splendor of holiness. He calls us to keep our speech seasoned with salt always, full of grace. He has formed by His own blood not an amorphous mass of ragged soldiers but a body, with each member fitting together and knit together in love, with each part functioning as it ought, in the right order. He calls us to worship Him with food and drink. We taste and see that He is good. This is not by accident. God is the author of order and not of chaos. God wants to shape our tastes a certain way in order to show the watching world what heaven feels like. Without the breaking of this bread, it is not possible to enter the fullness of fellowship that God has bestowed on us as His creatures. The Gospel is not just to be propositions that you roll around in your head. The Gospel is to be heard, the Gospel is to be loved, enjoyed, cherished, delighted in, it is to be sung, it is to be held and tasted. It has to be experienced. So, you are reminded through this meal before you of all the many ways that God comes and takes hold of you. He’s given you eyes to see, ears to hear, a tongue to taste, fingers to feel. Just like honey to wisdom, all the things you take in through your senses call you forth to a deeper appreciation and love for what God has gifted you in this world and in the cross. As in the bread and wine you receive Christ by faith, so also do in everything else you receive throughout the week. So, come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

THE BREAD

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he broke it:

We Gather Together to Ask the Lord’s Blessing (684) And when Jesus had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

THE WINE

Behold the Glories of the Lamb (475)

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

- COMMISSION -

Please stand.

CLOSING DOXOLOGY

The congregation may raise hands.

CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. Amen.