Colossians chapter four and verse
two. Continue in prayer and watch
in the same with thanksgiving, with all praying also for us,
that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. that I may make it
manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer
every man. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. Just a few verses this evening,
but I trust that the Lord will bless us as we seek to study
his word together. We have noted before how the
believer when we read these instructions
from the Word of God, see them as being not mere instructions,
but also a testimony to God's enablings. For the believer,
God's instructions are also his enablings. The Lord does not
lay upon us obligations, burdens that are going to sink us or
are going to weigh us down. This is no heavy yoke that the
Lord God gives to His people. Rather, He implants in His people
such graces as He then calls forth from us. So that, for example,
as we were thinking last week, when we are called to love one
another and submit to one another, we do so by grace. It is the evidence of grace in
our life that we should so act towards one another. God's grace
is given to his people. When we are directed to obey,
when we are instructed to nurture, when we are to speak and act
with honesty and integrity, with equity, with mercy, one towards
another, we do these things because Christ is in us. Not because
someone has given us a standard or a textbook or a set of rules
that we are called to be obedient to, but rather Christ in us flows
from us. There is a reflection of Christ. There is the presence of Christ.
There is the sweetness of Christ. There is the gentleness and kindness
of Christ within an individual who has tasted these things.
And these things in a believer's life have a testimony, have a
witness. It is like as if there is a perfume,
there is a scent, that emanates from the presence of the Lord
Jesus Christ in us. Just as if you were in a room
and someone was in that room, then the presence of that person
would indicate somewhat of the outward hygiene of that person. and there is a scent and a perfume
which reveals the inward state of a man and a woman's soul. If Christ lives in us, if we
are a new creation, if these changes have been effected in
the heart, then there will be that consequence, there will
be that evidence in a believer's life. Do you remember when the
Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and following his death, he was
taken from the cross and he was laid in the tomb? And we're told
that perfume was bound up together with him in the grave clothes
as he was prepared for burial. You know what that means? That
means that when Jesus rose from the dead, he smelled wonderful. So much perfume had been used
on the body of the Lord Jesus Christ that he smelled wonderful. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
into that upper room with his disciples, he smelled wonderful. When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke
to Mary in the garden, he smelled wonderful. And when believers
are raised together with the Lord Jesus Christ, their lives
are scented and perfumed with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
in them. Proverbs 27 verse 9 says, Ointment
and perfume rejoice the heart. and so doth the sweetness of
a man's friend by hearty counsel. As God has loved us and has cared
for us, and as God bestows his goodness and his kindness upon
us, so the Lord's people, by the enabling of the Spirit of
God and the enabling of grace, by faith at work in our lives,
we love and care. and are kind and gentle to those
around about us. It just happens. It is just the
outflowing of the result of Christ in us. And that's true for these
verses that we have before us this evening also. Here we are
again turning to this little book of Colossians and thinking
once again of the way in which the Apostle Paul, writing to
this little church which perhaps he hadn't seen, is careful to
bring to them both the doctrine of their union with the Lord
Jesus Christ and how that doctrine laying hold upon the heart of
an individual has an influence and effect upon them. And we
have seen how the apostle started off chapter four as a perhaps
more practical element and aspect of this little epistle and writes
about, I'm sorry, the end of chapter three and the beginning
of chapter four, writes about the way in which grace evidences
itself in the life of the Lord's people. Divine injunctions are
Holy Ghost empowerings, and there is a perfume of Spirit. There is a fruit of faith. There is a reflection of grace
where grace has been felt. The Holy Spirit does not dwell
in a soul in secret and Christ does not reign in a life unseen. The Father's love does not flow
to a man or a woman and leave them unchanged. And true it is
that we often lament our weaknesses, we often wonder about our lack
of faith or the shallowness of our commitment the absence of
joy and peace in our souls, and the kind of qualities and virtues
that we might aspire to. We wonder and we lament at why
our Christian testimony is so weak. But remember this child
of God, that weakness, is a consequence of the trial that we face in
the war against our flesh. It is the effect of that war
and that in itself is an evidence of grace because Christians do
not carry those marks or bear those scars of life in vain. It is because we have this battle
in our life that we see the evidence of life, of spiritual life in
a Christian. Those who are without faith are
not concerned about these things, but here is an evidence of grace
in the life of a believer, that he is aware of his own unworthiness,
his own lack of spiritual awareness and responsiveness. And yet he
laments that because he desires to be a better witness and a
better servant and a better minister in the things of the Lord and
a better help to those around about him. The Apostle Paul calls
on the Colossians to be a prayerful people. And as we have been doing
throughout these studies to the Colossians, we take the apostles'
words to ourselves as only believers can. We see that these words
to the Colossians have a consequence and have an influence to a much
broader group of people than just the church or the churches
to whom it was first addressed. And the Lord's people throughout
the history of the church, down through the ages, they have a
desire to be a people in communion with our God, and to have that
relationship, to have that interaction with our Lord. Indeed, it is
another example of the fact that the apostolic instructions are
the Holy Spirit's enablings. We do commune with God. As we've
already said, the love of the Father, the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the peace of the Holy Spirit in our heart, it
is an interactive, it is a lively experience. And the child of
God cannot be as dead as a post. to these overtures of the apostles
because God is in our lives and he enables and he stirs up our
spirit so to respond to him. Continuing in prayer as the apostle
directs the people of God here, can only be done by those who
first have begun in prayer. We can only continue to do that
which we have begun. And a true prayer is a reflection
and an outpouring and an utterance of that spiritual communion and
communication with God that began at the time of our conversion. and the time of our realisation
that we had a need before a holy God. God, the Holy Spirit, making
his overtures to us, bringing to us that quickening spark,
that enlivening grace, that effectual call that we were speaking about,
that irresistible grace that we were dwelling upon last weekend. has initiated a response in the
believer and that responsiveness is our spiritual prayer to God
and a request for help and asking for faith, a desire to know the
forgiveness of our sins. And continuing in prayer, as
the apostle has here directed us in verse two, where he says,
continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Continuing in prayer does not
mean incessant prayer, as if we are on our knees 24 hours
a day, or even prayer at set times. but rather it is a familiarity
in our fellowship with God. It is a closeness of walk with
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is walking in the Spirit and
it is having that awareness that the Lord is with us, the Lord
is all around us, that the circumstances of our life are according to
the work and principle of our loving God. And it is to see
in that relationship, that bond that we have with Him, that God
is present in all things and he is present in our thoughts,
present with an easiness, present with a readiness of acquaintance. And that is to be expected. because
our interaction with our God is an interaction based upon
His goodness towards us, His love towards us, and our love
in response to Him. We love Him because He first
loved us, and He does love us. And we do love him. And just as a couple in love. share together and dwell together
and have an affinity and an affection one for another, have a thoughtfulness
one for the other. So even in the imperfectness
of that struggle, caused by that struggle between the flesh and
the spirit, yet these holy attributes of spiritual life pulse in the
believer's heart towards our God. Or just in the way in which
there is a weeping and there is a sighing in a widow bereaved
of her husband. longing after him, seeing him,
as it were, in all the familiar places, hearing his voice as
he would have spoken. And she thinks to himself, I
know what he would have said in this situation. I know what
he would have been thinking in this situation. I know what he
would have directed in this situation. And her mind is always upon that
one whom she has lost. And whether it's the affection
of the young lover or whether it's the loss of the old widow,
we find that there is an affinity with those things that we have
a desire. to be with. And that is true
in our relationship with the Lord. We love the Lord and we
think of ourselves constantly in every circumstance, in every
situation. What would the Lord be thinking?
What would the Lord be saying? What would the Lord do in this
situation? And so there is a continuation
in our thoughtfulness about the Lord. The providences which the
Lord brings into our lives, into our circumstances, the circumstances
that we have to bear, the trials that we have to endure, they
provide us with endless content. for our prayers. And again I
say, I'm repeating myself, our prayers are not our formal public
prayers that we might hear at church. Rather they're the inward
communication with the Lord as we go through our day, the frequent
reflection upon the things that are happening in our life in
the context of that relationship that we have with the Lord Jesus
Christ and that communion that we have spirit to spirit by the
Holy Spirit's presence in us. And the circumstances of our
life, again I say, give us an endless content for our prayers. The Apostle describes these prayers
as prayers based on watchfulness and thanksgiving. And these are
really, if you think about it, two wonderful descriptions of
this attitude of prayer that we are to have, the silent utterances
of our heart and of our mind towards the events of our day
with the Lord's engagement with us. watchful and thankful. That is to be our attitude before
the Lord. And out of our watchfulness,
as we see the things going on around about us, come our petitions
and come our requests in prayer. We see a brother hurting and
we send up a prayer to the Lord for that brother. We see a danger
on the horizon and we send up a petition and we say, Lord help
us, Lord protect us. We see something going on and
just as the Lord encourages us to give thanks for our daily
bread, so in all of our circumstances, from the most basic provision
of food upon our table, We give thanks to God and we send up
our requests based on our watchfulness and the things that become evident
to us. Out of watchfulness come our
petitions and requests. Out of thankfulness comes our
praise and our gratitude for the mercies which we have received. And both this watchfulness and
thanksgiving exemplify the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our
hearts and the Holy Spirit with His people. They are the spiritual
evidences of grace and faith in a believer's life. lovely
little verse in the prophecy of Ezekiel. It's amazing how
these Old Testament prophets were given glimpses of the nature
of God and received these revelations from God which speak to us with
so much depth and significance as we reflect upon them, all
of this time later, all of these years later, and in the context
of all that has happened as far as the revelation of Jesus Christ
is concerned. And yet here is Ezekiel, hundreds
of years before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this
is what he writes in chapter 36 and verse 37. Thus saith the
Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of
Israel to do it for them. Now I wonder if you just pause
with me for a moment and think about what that verse is saying.
God's eternal purpose is certain and sure and absolute and determined. And He is accomplishing all things
according to that predetermined, predestinated purpose of His
will and the election of grace and the covenant of peace. But,
says the Lord, In order to do the things that I am going to
do for my church and people, I will be inquired of by them. I will have them come to me and
ask for the things that they require. I will have them come
to me with their petitions and lay them before my throne. I will be inquired of by the
house of Israel to do it for them. And that's a quite astounding
insight for the people of God to have. That's what makes us
go before the Lord with prayer. That's what underscores and undergirds
our approach to God. The fatalist would say, well,
whatever's going to be is going to be. We just have to live with
that. We just have to accept that.
But the child of God says no. The child of God says a burden
has been laid upon me. An anxiety has been given to
me. A lack has been shown to me. A need has been revealed. I will
take that need. I will take that burden and I
will inquire of the Lord on this matter. and God will give freely
according to his purpose, because he has purposed the felt need. He has purposed the desire to
be inquired of by his people, and he has purposed the satisfaction
of those requests that come to him by a needy, believing, and
faithful people. Saints commune with the Lord. We just do. That's part of having
Christ in us. It's a relationship. And we do
as the Apostle would have us do. And we pray And we pray with
watchfulness and we pray with thanksgiving because God has
enabled us so to do. He has established those principles
in us. He has caused us to do these
things because His instructions are His enablings. And he has
reminded us in these words of the Apostle in Colossians chapter
4, that this is our privilege to go before him as intercessors
and ambassadors in this world. Ambassadors in this world, as
it were, speaking on behalf of our God to this world. and intercessors
speaking on behalf, first of the church and then of those
in the world, that the Lord might be merciful and gracious and
that the purposes of God might be fulfilled. And we who have
received the gospel and we who have trusted in the Lord Jesus
Christ, we desire that others might share in what we have received.
Now, not all are called to preach the gospel, but all are called
to support the preaching of the gospel. All the Lord's people
are called to support the preaching and the knowledge that it is
by the preaching of the gospel that the elect are gathered and
that the church is blessed. It is by the preaching of the
gospel that the lost sheep are found and that the people of
God are comforted and encouraged. It is by the preaching of the
gospel because it is the same message. It is the same Christ
that is declared. It is the same truths that are
set forth. I don't have a message for unbelievers
and a message for believers. I preach Christ crucified. And
that same message will both gather the elect, even those who are
yet wandering far from the fold of Christ, and build up the church. And I just think it's lovely
the way the Apostle Paul here asks for the prayers of the Colossians. Here he is, the great Apostle.
The Apostle Paul, with all his years of study, with all of his
depth of experience, with all of the evidences that he has
of the hand of God and the spirit of God in his life, in all of
the ways in which the miraculous works have been performed by
the Apostle, yet here at the end of his ministry, towards
the end of his ministry, as he is in prison, as he is waiting
on the judgment of these Roman courts, he asks the Colossians,
to pray for him and to send their support in prayerful intercession
to the Lord on his behalf. What a beautiful picture that
is. The apostle's not proud. The apostle's not precious. He
is simply saying, I feel my need and I desire your prayers in
my support. And I don't know a gospel preacher
who would not implore his congregation to be supportive of him in their
prayers. And I trust that the Lord, even
as you're driving to church on a Sunday morning or as you're
anticipating the service on a Saturday evening, enables and equips you
to send up a prayer for the preaching of the gospel the next day, that
there might be a message given, that there might be a communication
granted, that there might be a comfort bestowed, and that
there might be a word for some poor lost sinner yet wandering
far from Christ. It is good for us to bear the
yoke together in seeking the Lord's blessing for his people.
The Lord will be inquired of, and he lays a burden on his people
to seek the blessings that he purposes to give. And he gives those gifts as he
is pleased to give them. Remember, the Apostle Paul is
in prison here, And yet, see what his request is. He says
to the Colossians, pray for me, pray for us, because we already
remember that there were a number of them there together. Pray
for us that a door of utterance may be given. A door of utterance
may be open. that God would open unto us a
door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ. Now a door
of utterance may mean more than simply an opportunity to speak. The Apostle Paul is incarcerated. The Apostle Paul is not free
and able to do the things which are upon his heart and in his
mind as what he would yet desire to do. Remember, we spoke about
this, I think, towards the end of our study in Romans a few
weeks ago, how that he desired to go to Spain. But he was prevented
from doing that by his arrest and his imprisonment in Rome,
in Italy. So here is Spain on the horizon
and he desires to go there. So he says to the Colossians,
pray for us that God would open a door of utterance. Perhaps
that is a shorthand for might let me go away from this place
that I might go and preach in Spain as is my heart's desire.
And we've remarked that we don't know whether that ever happened.
There's no testimony in scripture that gives us an answer one way
or another. There is a possibility because
it does appear as if a door of utterance was given and the apostle
did have an opportunity, it seems, to go and then return to Rome,
where the end of the story takes place, with perhaps the implication
that he gives up his life at that time. But preachers are
always looking for that door of utterance. an opportunity
to speak, an opportunity to set forth the glorious gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what is meant here
by the mystery of Christ. Preachers look for opportunities
to declare the mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ. And again,
it's another aspect of the apostle's humility here. Not only does
he ask for help, of the Colossians that they might pray for him,
but he is aware that that door of utterance is God's to give,
and that open door is the Lord's provision for him. And so it
implicitly testifies to Paul's dependence upon the Lord. He
knew that a door was needed, and he knew that speaking audibly testifying was also not
simply the end of the matter, but that a door of understanding
needed to be opened also, and that that was a work of the Holy
Spirit. So here is the apostle, as it
were, taking this back to God, taking it back to the Lord, saying
that this is the Lord's work. Paul could speak till his heart
was content and roam, presumably. He could shout out of his window
if he had one. He could speak to his guards
if he didn't. He could speak, presumably, with
some liberality. It appears to be so, because
people were visiting his home. It seems as if he was under some
kind of house arrest. But it's more than that. A door
of utterance is also a needful door of understanding, that the
Holy Spirit would take this message and apply it to the hearts of
the hearer. And I think that that's one of
the greatest privileges that is granted to the Church of Jesus
Christ in this world, to be employed in the ministry of the Gospel
of Christ, to be, as it were, participants in the revelation
of the mystery of Christ. And just as that request shows
the humility of the Apostle Paul, so it should remind us of that
need for humility when it comes to preaching the Gospel. Mitch
is getting ready to preach the Gospel on Saturday evening to
these needy souls O that the Lord might grant a door of utterance. Oh, that the Lord might open
that door. He's opened the door of the rescue
mission to allow us inside. He's granted us the pulpit and
the platform from which to speak. God grant that we might have
the words to declare and a humility to realize that it's not the
skill of the preacher. It's not the eloquence of the
message. It's not the vocabulary. It's
the need for the Holy Spirit to open the heart. And if we
come before the Lord with that prayerful desire that He would
grant that understanding, that door of utterance, then we will
be following in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul, and we will
be wise to do so. The mystery of Christ is a beautiful
phrase describing the gospel, and it reminds us of those glorious
truths concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and the way of salvation. It reminds us that those truths
are not naturally known, and they're not naturally understood. This is sometimes what we call
the difference between general revelation and special revelation. Now, don't get wound up in thinking
that this is theological terms that you can't understand. You
look around you in the world and you see that there is glory
and there is design and there is purpose. Now, it's the fool
that has said in his heart, there is no God. Because anyone with
a glimmer of perspective can see that this
didn't all just happen by accident. There is method and there is
purpose in the world around us. And that's called general revelation. And even when we look into our
own heart and when we look at conscience and we look at sin,
we know that there is an accountability. That is called general revelation. But the things of Christ, the
things of the glory of God, the person of God, the works of God,
the words and the ways of God, they are only revealed by the
Holy Spirit and only to certain individuals. There is a specialness
about that revelation which does not come through mere natural
observation. The way of salvation cannot be
naturally known or understood. And indeed, the carnal mind,
we're told, cannot receive the things of the spirit because
they're foolishness. They're strange and they're mysterious
to human reason. And they're repugnant to man's
will and to man's heart and to man's desires. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14 says,
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them,
not out of some general revelation. He requires a special revelation
because these things are spiritually discerned. And the Gospel is
a mystery that must be revealed. It must be spiritually opened. Or rather, to put it another
way, a man's blindness must be removed. in order for him to
see these glorious truths of the gospel. His ears must be
unstopped to spiritual truths, or else he never will hear. And
that's why we sometimes speak about eyes to see and ears to
hear, because we understand that this is a Holy Spirit work. We've
spoken about the effectual call, We've been thinking about these
gospel mysteries on the past few Sundays. How that there is
this total depravity and man is in a state of deadness spiritually
by which it's not only that he doesn't desire the things of
God, he is spiritually incapable of receiving the things of God.
It's not just a lack of desire or a lack of will. People speak
about the free will. It's a lack of ability because
of the deadness that we are in. And so there is a totality, a
totalness in that state of inability, total depravity. And then we
thought about the unconditional election and how it is absolutely
essential to see the source and the origin of grace emanating
from God and that God takes no cognizance of an individual's
abilities or qualities or goodness in order to decide upon whom
he will show his mercy, but rather he elects unconditionally. And he is good to whomsoever
he will be good. He shows mercy to whomsoever
he will show mercy. He places his love upon whomsoever
he chooses to place his love upon. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world to die for the sins of those that God had
chosen in eternity and placed into his care and keeping. And
there is a particularity about that redemptive work. And the
Holy Spirit brings the blessings of that redemptive work, that
atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that cleansing from the
blood of Jesus Christ, and applies it to the lives of men and women
whom he chooses in accordance with the extensiveness of the
death of Christ and the extensiveness of the election of God the Father. And there is a unanimity here
in this message. This is the mystery. This is
the mystery of Christ. This is the gospel truth. And
it comes only by special revelation. The doctrine of free grace. The
imputed righteousness of God upon sinners. Salvation as an
unconditional gift of the sovereign God is the mystery of Christ. And the Apostle Paul is desiring
opportunity to preach that message. And he asks the Colossians if
they will join with him, if they will take upon themselves this
yoke and they will join together with him in this labour of declaring
Christ, lifting him up and glorifying his name in the gospel. And so
he seeks of God a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ. Why Christ? Why is it called
the mystery of Christ and not the mystery of God or the mystery
of the Holy Spirit or the mystery of salvation? It's the mystery
of Christ. because Christ is the fulfiller
of every requirement. He is the covenant keeper. He
is the completer of every duty. He is the supplier of every need.
This is salvation by the substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ for
the chosen people. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is
the great deliverer of his church and the great winner of his bride. And so it's the mystery of Christ,
of what Christ has done in order to accomplish and complete the
salvation of his people. And it's a mystery that God can
become man. It's a mystery that fallen man
can be reconciled to a holy God. It is a mystery that human blood
cleanses sin and satisfies divine justice. It is a mystery that
life conquers death, that love surpasses wrath. The church is a mystery. That
God in Christ is joined to his people in eternal union is a
mystery, but it is a mystery revealed. And we, as the church
of Christ, have the privilege of declaring that mystery to
the world. And that was Paul's desire. That's
what he wanted to do. and he's now in bonds for declaring
that message. But the chains didn't deter his
passion for the gospel or his burden to declare that message
to sinners. And let us note, let us be aware
of Paul's conviction in this matter, because his message is
our message. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. And that same gospel that Paul
preaches is the same gospel that is committed to us. His burden
is our burden. We preach Christ crucified as
Paul preached Christ crucified. We're not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ as he wasn't. We know that the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness but we believe with
the apostle that unto us which are saved it becomes the power
of God. So Let us make Christ manifest as
Paul sought to manifest the Saviour. And let us do it with the same
care and carefulness as the apostle Paul strove to do. Let us see in the apostle a fine
servant and minister of the mystery of Christ and seek to emulate
him in that task. Speaking as we ought. Isn't that
a lovely phrase? Mitch, we are to speak as we
ought. When we preach the gospel, we
are to speak as we ought. Friends, brothers and sisters
in Christ, as we go through this life, we are to speak as we ought
of the things which we have seen and heard, of the glorious mysteries
of the Lord Jesus Christ that have been revealed to us. as
chosen people, as faithful, as dedicated, as sent men, as preachers
of the gospel, we are to speak as we ought, with care and with
attention to detail, speaking the truth. We are not to be lying
witnesses. but rather we are to speak with
clarity and we are to bring light upon the scriptures. We are not
to be deceivers of men. We are no false teachers. We
are no children of darkness. We are to declare with scriptural
warrant and authority these truths from scripture, not as some false
prophet, but as those who speak the truth in love as we ought. And as Paul did, the apostle, probably around
this time, wrote to Titus that there were many unruly and vain
talkers and deceivers gone out into the world. Many unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers. Let us not be those people. John
could say, many deceivers are entered into the world who confess
not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist. And Paul again to Timothy in
2 Timothy 4, verse 3 said, for the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. A few years ago, I was speaking
to a well-known preacher. He has a huge campus church in
a large city. Nationally recognized preacher,
widely respected in evangelical circles, a leader in what is
called the Gospel Coalition movement, which sells itself as quote,
a network of broadly reformed evangelical churches advocating
gospel-centered principles and practices. And I asked this man,
what are your views on the extent of the atonement? For whom did
Christ die? And his answer to me was, My
church doesn't require me to have a view on that question. And I paused and I thought a
moment about what he had just said. And I said, well, that's
okay, but I'm asking you man to man, what do you believe? And he said, my church does not
require me to have a view on that question. God give us grace to preach the
mystery of Christ as we ought according to scripture. Verse
five says, walk in wisdom toward them that are without. Now the
apostle's writing to the church at Colossae and he is saying
walk in wisdom towards them that are without, that are outside
of the church. Now Okay, I don't imagine for
a moment that we've got any idea what life was like in Colossae
nearly 2,000 years ago, or what it was like to deal with the
people that were outside the church. There was an idolatrous
community, there were heathen people, there were people from
all different places coming and trading, and the Colossians were
told to walk in wisdom toward them. and they could have no
conception whatsoever what life would be like for us in 21st
century Montana in the United States or in Washington or in
South Georgia or in wherever you might be. No concept at all
what life would have been like and yet the words Re-echo down through the centuries
to the Lord's people wherever they are. Walk in wisdom toward
them that are outside of the church, that are without. Our
walk as believers in Christ is both an inward walk and an outward
walk. These are the two aspects of
our life. Our inward walk is by faith on
the Lord Jesus. And our outward walk is our lifestyle
amongst the men of the age that we live with. And women. Ephesians speaks about walking
circumspectly. And to be circumspect about the
way in which we live is to think about it. Be thoughtful, be reflective,
be wise about the way in which we walk. Walk circumspectly. You see, professing Christ carries
a responsibility in this world. You cannot be a secret disciple
and live as if nothing has happened in your life. That's not how
Christianity works. We are called to bear testimony.
We are Baptists and our baptism is a public display of an inward
change. And it is saying that a transformation
has taken place and that we are giving allegiance to Christ who
has loved us and saved us and made us anew and caused us to
be born again. And that profession means something. It carries responsibility and
the men and women of this world, they see and they observe and
they watch and they are quick to identify hypocrisy and insincerity
in the lives of God's people. So walking in wisdom is walking
according to the example of Christ because we are his followers.
We follow in his footsteps. We hold the principles that he
taught. We endeavor to emulate the example
that he has given. qualities that the Lord Jesus
Christ exhibited of kindness and care and gentleness and love
and looking after the poor and helping those in need, of generosity
and charitableness. He showed these things to be
evident in his life and they are evident in the lives of his
people. The people of God have a practical
witness. Now, we do not pray for the salvation
of sinners and then cheat them and defraud them in business.
That's inconsistent. That doesn't work. And we do
not speak of God's sovereign power and control in this world
and then complain constantly about the circumstances and the
providences that he brings against us. There is an issue of credibility
here for the people of God. We earn the right to speak by
the way that we live. The apostle says, redeem the
time. Walk in wisdom, verse five, towards
them that are without redeeming the time. It seems a kind of
odd example to give, but that's exactly what it is. It's an example.
Because so much time is wasted in vanity, in vain things. So much time is squandered in
entertainment and amusement and wasteful activities. And to redeem the time, it means
buy it back. Buy it back. Well, let me ask
you a question. Can you buy back yesterday? Oh
my, how many times do we wish that we could buy back yesterday? I remember hearing the story
about a wealthy old man getting near the end of his life who
said that he would gladly stand at a street corner and buy people's
spare minutes. What do we do with our spare
minutes? The Apostle Paul is showing us that we are to use
our time wisely. We don't have much. Our days
are limited. Time is fleeting. Do not neglect
to use what God has given you to the honour of his name and
to the service of his cause. Look at verse six, and we're
coming to the end of our time this evening, but look at verse
six. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt,
that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Speech with grace, always with
grace, gracious speech. I wish, I wish I could always
let my speech be with grace. You know, I have so many occasions,
so many occasions you wouldn't believe it when I say I wish
I hadn't said that. I wish I hadn't said that. Why
did I say that? Why? Well, I'm speaking to family,
I'm speaking to church brothers and sisters, I'm speaking to
neighbours, I'm speaking to the people of this world, I'm speaking
to friends, relatives, and I come away thinking, why did I say
that? You know, kindness is a rarer
commodity in this world than it should be. And it is so much
easier to be right and to let people know that we're right
than to be kind and let people know that we're being kind. The
apostle says, let our speech be seasoned with salt. And what
is salt? Salt in scripture is a preservative. Let our speech, let our words
preserve peace. Let it be the soft word that
turns away wrath. Proverbs, the wise man says,
Proverbs 15, verse one. A soft answer turneth away wrath,
but grievous words stir up anger. And we know from experience that
that is true, and we still dive headlong into those inappropriate
statements and grievous words that stir up anger when a soft
word and a soft answer is what is called for in a situation. Empathy. Care. Sensitivity towards those that
are outside of the church. That's wise. That's a wise thing
to do. That's what the Apostle is telling
us. Listen, my friends, oaths and curses and dirty stories
and malicious gossip and provocation have no place in our talk or
in our conversation. And the child of God just doesn't
go there. But there's more to it than that.
What is it that first comes out of our mouth when we hit our
finger with a hammer instead of hitting the nail? What is
our first utterance when things go wrong or don't go the way
we want them to go? Circumspection means think about
it. Let us be careful what we say. We are Christ's people in this
world. He is the light, but we also
have lights to shine. Let them shine. He is the living
word of eternal life, and our daily words are important. The people of God have to be
good citizens, good neighbours, good employees, good friends,
good companions in bad times. This is our contribution. This is our witness. This is
our ministry to those around about us. These things, they
don't make us Christians, but they reflect our spirit. They reflect the fact that Christ
indwells us and we are his people. The apostle says, give us knowledge
to answer every man according to the need of the moment. Solomon,
if he was the one who wrote it, could say in Ecclesiastes chapter
three and verse four, there is a time to weep and a time to
laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. God grant us wisdom
to know the difference and God grant us wisdom and knowledge
to have an answer to every man according to the need of the
moment. Let me say this one more time
and then we're done. These instructions are not onerous,
they're not burdens. God does not lay a heavy burden
upon the shoulders of his people. But if he opens our hearts, as
he does do, as he must do, to see the need of others when we
have had our needs so gloriously provided for. then he will grant
us wisdom to see those around about us who need our help, whom
we can serve and minister to as they have need like ours. Peter says in 1 Peter 3, verse
15, but sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness
and fear. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to our hearts this evening. Amen.