Colossians 4:2-6
Remember: Matthew 12:34 – ...For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
• The Bible has a lot to say about our speech. It’s the truest indicator of your spiritual state.
The Tongue – mentioned 137 times in the Bible. Most of them refer to speech.
The Mouth – mentioned 391 times. Again, most of them refer to speech.
The Lips – mentioned 115 times
Speak - mentioned 565 times
Speech - mentioned 51 times
Words - mentioned 1,237 times
Total 2400+ times
Matthew 12:35-7 – The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
What is an unbeliever’s speech characterized by?: evil, sexual immorality, deceit, curses, oppression, lies, destruction, vanity, flattery, foolishness, madness, carelessness, boasting, false doctrine, evil plots, hatred, too many words, gossip.
What about a believer, someone who has trusted in Christ? Their speech will be characterized by confession of sin, confession of Christ, edifying speech, talk of God’s law, praise to God, blessing of enemies, talk about God, kindness, gentleness, modeling after Jesus (who spoke instructively, graciously, blamelessly, and without deceit)
James calls the tongue the rudder that steers your life. We forget this far too often.
Colossians 4:2-6 begins by talking about prayer. What is prayer?
• Prayer is communicating to God.
The Westminster Catechism defines prayer like this: Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.
To simplify that a little: Prayer is acknowledging our dependence on Him
John Piper says this: prayer is not some small thing. It is not some marginal thing. It is not some incidental thing in the Christian life. Prayer is at the heart of why God created the universe.
Think of it this way: Spiritually, reading the Word is breathing in. Prayer is breathing out.
These are the two of the basic elements of our spiritual lives. Spiritual breathing involves the Word and prayer.
So let’s look at what Paul says to the Colossians about prayer.
I. Prayer
a. Steadfast
steadfast means to adhere to, persist in, be busily engaged in, and be devoted to.
It is the most important speech someone can utter.
That’s what this verse is about.
Donald Whitney says that prayer is a spiritual discipline. Something we must be intentional about.
It’s not constant, vocalized prayer, but it is:
• A God-consciousness that relates every experience in life to Him
b. Watchful
The idea of staying awake and not falling asleep.
Matthew 26:40-41 – Jesus asked His disciples why they couldn’t stay awake and watch with Him.
It’s impossible to pray while you’re sleeping.
Don’t be vague in your prayers. (vague question = vague answer)
Watchful, intentional, awake, alert, you’re thinking.
You’re thinking about how you can pray for others.
Looking for things. Not just saying you’ll pray for someone, but actually praying for them.
• How better to knit yourself together with someone than to pray with them?
Watchful prayer is not careless or mechanical, dull, or heavy. It’s alive in the fullest sense
Steadfast - consistent - disciplined - regular Watchful - alive - intentional, alert, passionate
c. Thankful
Our primary prayer attitude should be thanksgiving.
(If you’re keeping score, Paul has mentioned thanksgiving five times now.)
• We know that God will answer prayer according to His purpose.
What should you be thankful for?
God’s presence (Psalm 75:1)
The Basic necessities of life. (Acts 27:35)
Salvation (Romans 6:17-18)
Do you thank God daily for saving you? Do you think about the gospel regularly?
The Daily Details of your life (Romans 8:28)
d. Ask for these:
Paul has a couple of requests. These are things we should be praying for as well.
• Paul’s request is not for release from prison, but for the proclamation of the gospel.
We should be asking for prayer for open doors for evangelism. Your needs can still be there, it’s not wrong to ask for prayer for your needs, but how about first thinking: “how can this situation be a platform from which to share the gospel?” Then - make your request from that foundation.
We should be praying for more opportunities to share the gospel.
We should also pray for:
2. Clarity
Remember that Paul wrote Romans. He’s already written what is considered the most theological exposition of the gospel. 16 Chapters of “What is the Gospel?”
And he’s praying for more clarity. (they should be asking him)
And he’s praying for more clarity. (they should be asking him)
Paul has a compulsion to share the Gospel
1 Corinthians 9:16 - For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
I say: Paul can’t NOT share the gospel (should be us too)
Paul ask them to Pray that he proclaims this message as clearly as he should.
II. Proclamation
a. Conduct:
1. Be wise
What you are gives credibility to what you say.
Titus 2:1-10 – But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9 Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
“adorn” – to cause something to be beautiful by decorating—‘to beautify, to adorn, to decorate,
• When we live right, it makes the gospel look beautiful
Your life gives credibility to your claim.
If you claim to be a Christian, your life can either say: “yes - this is true” or “Um---- what?!?”
There are two different ways to live. Wise, or as a fool.
If you live as a fool, it will mock the faith you claim to hold.
How to live like a fool:
1. Live for Money (1 Timothy 6:9-10)
2. Live Legalistically (Galatians 3:1, 3)
3. Be Jealous and/or self-ambitious (James 3:16)
Living Wisely is the distinct opposite of that
James 3:17-18 – But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
How to live wisely:
1. Spend time with wise, godly people (Proverbs 13:20)
2. Worship (Proverbs 9:10)
These two things are going to involve being taught. This is critical to your Christian life - being taught God’s Word. (Titus 1:9)
3. Prayer
4. Scripture Saturation (Studying God’s Word, Colossians 3:16)
Only when you are living a life worthy of the gospel (Philippians 1:27) will your words have meaning.
You grow to care about people and as you do, your desire for them to know Christ should intensify.
• Evangelism is something we need to be intentional about.
A thorough definition of evangelism:
• To explain the Gospel to sinful people hoping that they may repent of their sins and put their trust and hope in Jesus Christ alone and serve Him in the fellowship of His church.
What is Success in evangelism? Is it when the person gets saved? What if they don’t? Remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler? He rejected the gospel. Does that mean Jesus was a failure that day?
• Sharing the gospel IS successful evangelism.
People get saved because God saved them, not because you explained it perfectly, not missing a point and quoting every verse with 100% accuracy. When we share the gospel we have been successful!
When you are living by the Word, you’ll not only proclaim the Word, but your life will back it up!
Along with being wise is
2. Be Disciplined
If you’re truly making the best use of time - you’ll be looking for opportunities to share the gospel with others. You’ll be sharing what you know and striving to learn more.
This passage is telling us to
• Be intentional about evangelism.
You’re busy. I’m busy. We’re all busy. BUT - make time for evangelism. Be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to share the gospel with others in your daily life.
It doesn’t say “better use of time” but best use of time.
It’s hard to argue that you could find a better way to spend your time than sharing the gospel with someone, right?
St. Francis of Assisi is widely credited with saying this: “preach the gospel always, when necessary use words.” Well, I say that we are not preaching the gospel if we are not using words. But - the rest of our lives should be a confirmation of those words when we speak them.
And I think that we would all agree that we could and should share the gospel more ofteh.
And I think that we would all agree that we could and should share the gospel more ofteh.
Now - Verse six is about
b. Speech:
Not every conversation you have will be a proclamation of the gospel. That’s reasonable, normal, and expected. (it’s not an excuse to skip it when the opportunity arrives however)
BUT - All of your conversations (and by “all” I mean ALL) need to be like this:
1. Be Gracious
No matter what the situation, there’s really no place for not speaking with grace. This should be a habit. Ephesians 4:29
Seasoned with salt - our speech should have an effect on people. Salt has an effect, right? It was used as a preservative and it adds flavor.
Our conversations should be like that.
• You should be someone who others enjoy having a conversation with.
If not, ask yourself: “am I being gracious?”
Are you known like this? Wholesome? Pure? Righteous? Always doing the right thing?
If I were to ask your friends to describe you would the idea of purity and sanctification be included in the description? It should.
2. Be Specific and Individual
This relates to all conversations whether or not you’re sharing the gospel.
1 Peter 3:15 - Know what to say and when to say it.
This passage also tells us to know people.
Street evangelism, door-to-door evangelism, and evangelism programs have their place, but primarily, evangelism should be “as you are going.” The idea behind Matthew 28:19 is “as you are going” - The word “go” implies that we should be making disciples, baptizing them, integrating them into the body of Christ - teaching them as a normal flow of our lives.
We need to know people. We need to be sharing the gospel with them. We need to know how to answer each person.
One of the main points of this passage is:
• Prayer and evangelism must be connected.
And our lives must back up the gospel and make it look good.
We need to make the gospel look beautiful with our lives and with our speech.
And we must care about people enough to share the Gospel with them.
Reflection Questions:
• Are you steadfast, watchful, and thankful in your prayer life?
• Are you praying for evangelistic opportunities regularly? (For yourself & others)
• Are you thinking: “how can this situation be a platform from which to share the gospel?”
• If I were to ask your friends to describe you would the idea of purity and sanctification be included in the description? It should.
• Are you wasting time or redeeming it?
Especially in your relationships with people. Redeeming the time. It’s not just “don’t say wicked things” but you should get rid of things that are worthless and idle. Always - be wise. Stop wasting time.
• Is your speech gracious and full of salt?
• Are you ready to share the Gospel right now?
If I were to ask you “what is the Gospel?” would you be able to give a clear, comprehensive answer?
If not, what should you be doing to get there?
(check the blog again this afternoon for my answer)
Soli Deo Gloria!
Rob
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