Gospel Doors

Good morning, turn with me in your Bibles to Colossians. We’re now in chapter 4 which is the last chapter of Colossians. We most likely have 2 more weeks left after this week so we are quickly coming to an end of this great letter.

Paul, as he does in other letters, is now wrapping this up with a few final instructions before giving his final greetings and farewell to this young thriving church.

This morning, we will be looking at those further instructions.

Look with me at verses 2-6. I’ll read the text and then we can go to the lord in prayer

READ

Colossians 4:2–6 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

PRAY

Last week, Tyler finished up our household codes sections with looking at bondservants and masters. The household codes section, which began with husbands & wives, children and parents, bondservants and masters, is a part of the bigger section of instructions on how Christians are supposed to interact with each other.

Paul, now turns us around and shifts our gaze from looking at those inside the household of God to peer out the window and look to the outside world. His focus, which will be our focus, here this morning is on how we as believers are to orientate our lives for gospel service to reach the lost and dying world.

We will look at first our communication with God, and then our communication with others

First, our communication with God

Pauls begins these final instructions with how he began the letter to the Colossians… prayer

Turn back a page or two and look with me at Colossians 1:3. I looked up when I preached Colossians 1:3 and it was August 3 of last year. which means it’s been nearly 9 months so I figured it might be nice to reflect on this section together again.

Paul opens his letter with a standard greeting and then rolls right into prayer for this church. Let’s read this section here and keep in mind as we look at Pauls closing command for prayer.

READ Col 1:3-14

With that in mind, we now look to Pauls instruction in Colossians 4

He begins with a command - “Continue steadfastly in prayer.”

This “continue steadfastly” carries the idea of “persisting in” with specific nuance of “to busy oneself”, “to be busily engaged in” or “to be devoted to”.

You’ll remember from the section we read together in chapter 1 how Paul says that they have not ceased to pray for this church and now Paul is telling us to do likewise. Continue in prayer, persist in prayer, devote yourself to prayer. Paul cannot overstate the central, vital nature of prayer in the life of a christian.

Notice Paul’s emphasis is more on frequency than it is intensity. Sometimes we may be tempted to think that the aim is the intensity of prayer. I need to pray with big, lofty words. Or craft some amazingly eloquent poetic. Or, as rome practices, just repeat the same prayer over and over and over, as if the intensity of the prayer routine is the goal.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s good we think through the things we are saying to the God of the universe and I think it’s appropriate to pray beautiful prayers written by faithful men and women before us, but let us be careful to not think that the goal is intensity.

Imagine you asked me how often I brush my teeth and I told you once a month, but when I brush them that day I go all out. I break out 4 different toothbrushes, multiple toothpastes, floss sticks, mouthwash, the whole nine yards. You would tell me 9 out 10 dentists do not recommend that strategy.

Likewise, the life of a christian is not one that should be marked by sporadic, perhaps intense, prayer. but rather one of continual, ongoing, steadfast persistence

Paul qualifies this continual steadfast prayer by instructing them to be watchful in it with thanksgiving

Be watchful can literally be translated “be awake”. Now, I don’t think Paul’s point here is to tell these believers to try not to physically fall asleep while they are praying, but rather he is using this language metaphorically. I think there are a few appropriate meanings

This is often used in the new testament in light of the return of Christ

(No one knows the day and hour of the return of Jesus)Matthew 24:42 “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

Perhaps the return of Christ is what fuels the persistence in prayer

2. Against dangers

Given the context of the letter, which is written as a polemic against the false teachings that have creeped into the Colossian church, perhaps Paul is calling them to be alert and watch out for other dangers.

My coaches would say “head on a swivel” because if you lost awareness of the dangers around you, you were likely to get hit.

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

We know the devil prowls like a lion and so it could be that Paul is telling them to keep their spiritual head on a swivel

3. Prayer needs/opportunities

Be awake, be alert, be watchful for the needs and opportunities all around you.

There is tragedy that happens every day in our communities. There are needs that we will never know about. There are prayers that we could be praying for people under our noses and if we are asleep to the world around us we may miss these prayer opportunities.

Whatever the specific intention in Pauls mind of watchfulness is, it is clear that we shouldn’t approach prayer in a lackadaisical, absentminded, or unintentional spirit.

Not only are we to be watchful in prayer, but we are also to be thankful. As we are well aware of by this point, thanksgiving is a prominent characteristic of the letter to the Colossians. From the very beginning, all the way through, this book is littered with thanksgiving. Paul cannot help himself but to overflow with gratitude and he tells us that also should be true of our lives, specifically here, our prayer lives.

I worry that can subconsciously we can turn prayer into some sort of christianized fokelore like Aladdin, where we use prayer as the way to rub the genie lamp and then our wish becomes his command.

While there is nothing wrong with going to God with our requests, In fact, Paul has no problem praying for, and asking people to pray for, his requests. But if your idea of prayer is use God as a cosmic vending machine, you have got it all wrong.

Our first disposition is one of gratitude towards God for who he and what he’s done

If I were to ask you what you have to be thankful to God for, what would you say?

Often times, we can go straight to the physical blessings God has given us. You might say “Geez Marcus, where do I begin? I have a roof over my head. I have a wonderful family. I am healthy.” and on and on it goes.

Those are all good things to be thankful for and we ought to thank God for those wonderful gifts, but let me ask you another question; “What would you have to be thankful for, if God took those all away?”

Is that not what happened to Job

God gives satan permission tob test Job and all he owns is destroyed and all his children are killed.

And it says in Job 1 20-21

Job 1:20–21 “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.””

Remember, Paul is in prison when he pens this and it has not changed his thankfulness to God

Remember when Paul told them to be thankful in chapter 1 (verse 12)?

Giving thanks to the father (why?)

Because he has saved you!

God does not solve all your problems but he has solved your greatest problem.

The problem that we have been separated from him. The problem is we were unqualified. The problem is you had no inheritance. The problem is you were a citizen of the domain of darkness.

But God sent his son to die in your place. Jesus paid the price you couldn’t. He reconciled you to the father. He delivered you from that domain of darkness. He redeemed you. He forgave you. He adopted you. He plucked you from the fires of hell. Are you thankful church!

There is nothing that could separate you from his love which means there is nothing that could ever compromise eternal reason for thankfulness to him.

Paul now moves from the posture of prayer to specific requests for him and his fellow workers.

The first request is for gospel opportunity

He says, pray also, that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ. He’s begging that gospel doors would be opened to him and his fellow laborers to preach Christ.

Of all the things he could ask, he chooses to ask his readers to pray for gospel opportunities for them.

It’s interesting that Paul requests these gospel doors to be opened. These opportunities to be presented to him.

It’s hard to walk through gospel doors if you’re not looking for them.

you buy a new car and see it everywhere.

You look for gospel doors and start to see them

Once a door is opened, Christ must be proclaimed. Paul says these doors that are opened are opened for the word. to declare the mystery of Christ. He tells us in at the end of chapter one that this mystery is Christ. The plan from before the foundation of the world for God to redeem his people is Jesus Christ. And now we are called to go into the world and proclaim Christ and him crucified.

People are not saved by from seeing that you are a “good person”. People are saved when they hear the word of Christ proclaimed.

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Not only does he request prayer for gospel opportunities but also for gospel clarity

he says “that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.”

The “it” being the proclaiming of Christ. The heralding of the Gospel. Paul’s desire is that he would preach Christ clearly.

People ask me how they can pray for me and specifically my preaching and this is one of the things I continually say… If you want to pray for my preaching pray that I would preach Christ and preach clearly.

We have a responsibility to clearly proclaim the gospel to the world. Maybe we should train for that. Maybe we should practice for that. Maybe we should think through what it looks like to proclaim the gospel clearly when given an opportunity.

The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, died a horrible death, and rose victoriously from the grave so that any and all who look to him by faith will be saved.

Now that we have looked at communication with God, Paul addresses our communication with others

He tells us first to walk in wisdom toward outsiders…

The idea of walking, as we’ve seen earlier in this book, is a reference to how you live your entire life. If you look back just a few paragraphs to chapter 3 verse 5. Paul lists these sins and then says we once “walked” in these.

So Paul is telling these believers that their entire lives must be lived wisely, specifically in how we related to outsiders. The reason, as we’ll see in a moment, is precisely because of those Gospel doors.

So how is it that we walk in wisdom? Well it begins by looking to Jesus Christ. If we lose sight of our north star, we will lose our way and all the strategies in the world will all be in vain. but with eyes fixed firmly on Christ, we begin to, by his spirit, renew our minds with his word. We practice putting off the old self and putting on the new. We put away sin and put on righteousness and we find ourselves becoming more and more conformed into his very image.

Paul zooms in on a couple key facets of our lives to walk in wisdom. The first is our time.

See time is the one commodity we all have that we can never get more of. No matter your upbringing, your gender, your race, your socio economic status, your fame, your power, we all have the same 24 hours in a day. And those hours are a gift from God that we are called to steward.

Stewardship is often thought of in terms of finances but it applies to all areas of our lives that God has entrusted us to, including our time.

Personal productivity is a booming industry today. Millions and millions of people are looking for tips and tricks and hacks to optimize the minutes. The problem is they are looking to optimize the minutes for their glory not Gods. For their kingdoms, not Christs.

The reality is, we, as christians, ought to be the most productive people of all. Now when I say productive what I mean is “efficiently accomplishing the right things” (Reagan Rose). That goes for every category in your life. Productive in work, productive in family time, productive in leisure, you name it.

We know that we have been given a set number of days (cant change it) and we are here for an eternal purpose, so steward wisely.

and that’s exactly what Paul is saying, ”make the best use of the time that you have been given”

Given the context, Paul certainly has in mind stewarding time for gospel opportunity.

The next element he addresses is our speech.

(perhaps go into the power of speech)

Death and life are in the power of the tongue

The tongue can tear down or build up

It can bless God or curse people

We will have to answer for every careless word

He gives us two traits that should mark our speech, specifically in the context of speech with unbelievers.

First, our speech much be gracious.

You could say pleasant, favorable, winsome. Often times, one of the first changes someone will notice in a transformed life is transformed speech.

Many sins that the believer is convicted of can be hard or impossible for someone else to see. You can’t tell if someone has anger in their heart. It’s difficult to identify if someone harbors bitterness or greed or lust. But speech is unavoidable to notice. The outsider can’t help but notice that this speech is different.

The vulgarities. The crude joking. the profanities. the gossip. the slander. The harsh critique. the rude comments. The put down

The things that we once engaged in we are now convicted of and as we put off earthly speech and put on righteous speech, the world notices that.

Is your insider speech the same as your outsider speech? Do you participate in verbal schizophrenia. You use your Christian talk around believers but when you’re at work, or at home, or out to dinner with friends, or on vacation, Your earthly tongue comes back out.

Be careful, your life is a walking testimony of Christ and to the unbeliever it can be a glimpse of the power of the gospel. But if they look at you and see nothing different, what power does that convey at all?

The second trait Paul lists here is that our speech should be seasoned with salt

When we hear this perhaps Jesus’s teaching where he tells his followers they are the salt of the earth. There, Jesus’s emphasis in on the function of salt in preservation and slowing down decay. Here, the emphasis is not on the function of preservation but of flavor.

The speech of a Christian specifically within the context of evangelism or gospel opportunities, should be one of flavor. Now Paul isn’t saying “go be someone you’re not” “get all hyped up” “really sell this thing”. Rather, he is encouraging believers speech to present the gospel in such a way that engages, sparks interest, raises questions. Thats its appealing

The way in which you say something can communicate entirely different meanings to people

Let me say the same sentence 4 different ways

I didn’t hit my dog

I didn’t hit my dog

I didn’t hit my dog

I didn’t hit my dog

He now gives the reason for this gracious, seasoned speech… So that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

This is strikingly similar to Peters exhortation in 1 Pet 3:15

1 Peter 3:15 “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

Like Peter, Paul intention is that we ought to know how to answer each individual person. People with different backgrounds, educations, personalities, will have different questions, different angles, different arguments, and we need to be prepared to answer each person

Pauls expectation is that Christians are going to be engaging the people in their lives with this warm, kind, gracious, speech, and presenting the gospel in such a way that it will bring about questions from their hearers. And Paul wants us to be ready to answer these people as they engage us.

I think one of the reasons he says this like this is because given the alternative, you won’t know how to answer someone. What I mean is if you don’t walk in wisdom toward outsiders, if you don’t steward your time well, if your speech isn’t gracious, isn’t tender. When (or if) someone asks you about Jesus, your mouth may say one thing but your life has said another.

Don’t let your life tarnish your testimony. (Don’t let your speech tarnish your words)

Obs

We’re not the spirit

We can’t convict, we can’t save

Evangelism is going to cost you something

Paul in prison. You might lose friends

God will use the proclamation of his son by his people to save his people

Notice that it is God who opens these doors. We cannot, left to ourselves, advance the kingdom of Christ unless God opens some doors.

The reason Paul prays, and you can pray, for the salvation of your unbelieving friend or coworker or family member is because God can do it. God can and will do the work of saving his people. At the end of the day

We plant, we water, but it is God who gives the growth

I’ve felt more of a burden lately for the unbelieving world. My prayer is that we would be a zealous church to see souls saved. To see the baptism waters stirred. To see dead men and women brought to life.

I challenge you all, to pray for each other, that we would have gospel doors opened and that we would graciously, affectionately, boldly, preach Christ to this lost and dying world and that God would use that work to draw men and women to himself.

Let us leave here looking to what God is doing.

Remember chapter 1? Where he says that the gospel is going to the world and it is bearing fruit and increasing.

God is gathering a people to himself and saving souls of men and women.

And he is using frail, broken people to accomplish his purposes