2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it
with thanksgiving;
3 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,
4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside,
redeeming the time.
6 Let your speech always be with salt, that you may
know how you ought to answer each one.
Colossians
4:2-6
Just about every morning my wife and I go through the
scriptures inductively and at this particular time we are finishing up
Colossians. Every so often as we read
and study together the Lord presses upon my heart something I have never seen
before. The Holy Spirit has a way of using
our spouses to gain insight of a text probably because they know us so well. Today was one of those days as we read and
explained things to each other, the pieces fit perfectly for a lesson that I
personally needed to hear.
Continued Earnest Vigilance in Thankful Prayer
When it comes to evangelism, many of us talk about planning,
preparation of sermons, and getting ready to talk to people about Christ. We read the books, plan the events, but some
of us neglect the things that really matter…like prayer. The Reverend Billy Graham stated that if
there is one thing he could do differently, he would spend more time in
prayer. Not only more time, but quality
time, earnestly and with the right heart and attitude, being thankful for what
the Lord has done in YOUR life, and that he chose to save even a wretched
sinner as yourself in the midst of your sin.
When I open-air preach, I always am reminded of that. I tell others, “Gifts are meant to be shared,
and I’m just sharing the gift that was given to me ten years ago.” This is how to be successful in prayer…preparing your heart, be alert in what you
say, and doing it with the right attitude.
Pray for Open Doors to Preach the Word
More times than I like to admit I go through life not
praying for God to open doors and windows of opportunity to preach His
word. But if you think about it, it’s
the divine appointments that seem to have the most impact in evangelism. God is the mover of all things, and His plans
always come to pass. As you go through
life…”Think Evangelism”. Think of every
opportunity and every interaction as a moment to share the gospel. Maybe you haven’t shared the Lord with the
lost in a while, and you feel dry. Pray
to God that He would open those doors of opportunity and help you be the
soul-winner He created in you.
Make it Clear. Make it Count.
The NASB says of verse 4, “that I may make it
clear in the way I ought to speak.” Our
prayers shouldn’t end with just opening the doors, but also asking God to help
us walk through those doors and help to make our speech clear in a way that
others who are outside the fellowship of Christ can understand. It’s not enough at the end of the day we say
to God, we’ve shared the gospel with 10 people today when those 10 people
didn’t understand a thing you said. I
need to pray to ask the Holy Spirit to make to make what I say
understandable. Not so much that they
understand with their heart but that
they at least understand with their head. It’s the Holy Spirits goal is to change
the heart, it’s my goal is to make it understandable. One way
is to teach unbelievers as if you are teaching children. Not talking down to them, but simplifying
it. We shouldn’t use “Christianeese” and
big words like presuppositionalism
and propitiation which just adds to
the confusion. We should take the
Apostle Paul’s advice and just preach Christ and Him crucified. Not getting caught up in things that don’t
really matter in the beginning. There is
a place to talk about baptismal regeneration and the reasons why or why not to
keep the Sabbath. In the beginning
though…just adds to the uncertainty of the Christian faith for people who are
on the outside.
How To Walk and How To Talk
In verses 5 and 6 we see how the apostle Paul responds to
how we as believers and soul-winners should walk and talk. When I came to these verses something struck
me right off the bat...the walking part of the Christian soul-winner comes
before the talking part. It’s as if the
walking aspect is more emphasized than the speaking part. Albert Barnes, author of Barnes Notes states
in his commentary the reason why this may be.
“The reason why we
need to walk in wisdom towards outsiders is the following:
·
People of the world
judge of religion, not from the profession, but from the life of its friends.
·
they judge of religion, not from preaching, or from books, or from the
conduct of its Founder and his apostles, but from what they see in the daily
walk and conversation of the members of the church.
·
they understand the nature of religion so well as to know when its
friends are or are not consistent with their profession.
·
they set a much higher value on honesty and integrity than they do on
the doctrines and duties of religion; and if the professed friends of religion
are destitute of the principles of truth and honesty, they think they have
nothing of any value. They may be very devout on the Sabbath; very regular at
prayer-meetings; very strict in the observance of rites and ceremonies - but
all these are of little worth in the estimation of the world, unless attended
with an upright life.
·
no professing Christian can possibly do good to others who does not
live an upright life. If you have cheated a man out of never so small a sum, it
is vain that you talk to him about the salvation of his soul; if you have
failed to pay him a debt when it was due, or to finish a piece of work when you
promised it, or to tell him the exact truth in conversation, it is vain for you
to endeavor to induce him to be a Christian. He will feel, if he does not say -
and he might very properly say - that he wants no religion which will not make
a man honest.
·
no person will attempt to do much good to others whose own life is not
upright. He will be sensible of the inconsistency, and will feel that he cannot
do it with any sense of propriety; and the honor of religion, therefore, and
the salvation of our fellow-men, demand that in all our intercourse with
others, we should lead lives of the strictest integrity.”
