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Prince Philip of England’s royal family was laid to rest this weekend. The media buzz was all about Prince Harry and Prince William walking together in the procession. When you’re part of the royal family, there are certain expectations and protocol to follow, which Prince Harry and Meghan did not follow. You and I as believers are part of a far more important royal family, the family of God. We are in this world as God’s royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) and representatives of King Jesus. We need to represent Him well. There’s a world of lost people around us who need to see and hear a true Christian, not a fake but a genuine, Christ-loving, growing believer. You are that Christian, right? You want your life to count for Christ and eternity.
Last week we talked about the importance of prayer, and the last part was to pray for the progress of the gospel.
Colossians 4:3-4, praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
Prayer is absolutely essential for the success of the gospel. And Paul gives us three things we ought to pray for.
1) That God would open doors of great opportunities to spread the gospel.
2) That God would help us to make the gospel clear so we don’t misrepresent it in any way.
3) That God would fill us with an unflinching boldness for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now we come to verses 5-6, about your witness in this world.
Colossians 4:5-6, Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
There are two wings on any aircraft. Lose one and you’ve got major trouble. God very clearly tells us we need two wings on our witness – our walk and our talk. Both are crucial. Let’s look at these two elements of a genuine witness for Christ.
YOUR WALK
Colossians 4:5, Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, redeeming the time (LSB).
The Greek word for “walk” means to walk around – “peri + pateo.” It speaks of your conduct. There you are every day of your life, getting up, going to work or taking care of your children, shopping, working out, coming home, and interacting with people. Your walk is how you live and conduct yourself from morning to night. It includes your responses to trials and evil and good times. Do you reflect the reality of Christ in your walk? Do others see His joy and peace and grace? You are God’s representative here in this world of people lost in sin and you have a responsibility as His child to walk in a certain way. Paul points out three characteristics of a Christ-honoring walk.
1. Walk wisely. The verse literally reads, “In wisdom conduct yourself toward outsiders.” Wisdom is handling life and all of its challenges in a way that pleases God. Wisdom comes from God and His Word. Proverbs 2 gives you the formula for developing wisdom: through diligent hearing and studying God’s Word and then praying and applying God’s Word to your life. The more you hear, learn, and apply the Word, the wiser you’ll become. And when you’re not sure what the next step is, James 1:5 says if you lack wisdom, ask God for it. He’ll give it, but not apart from the Word. James 3 describes God’s wisdom for you.
James 3:17-18, But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Let these qualities probe your heart. Ask yourself. Am I developing purity in my life or fooling with dirty, immoral stuff? Am I a peacemaker or always ready to argue and full of anger? Am I gentle with others and open to reason or do I resent being corrected and think I know it all? Am I quick to extend mercy and forgiveness? Do I look for ways to bless others or just live for myself? Do I treat all people with respect? Am I unwavering or all over the place emotionally? And am I genuine in my relationship with Christ or just trying to impress others?
That’s what it means to walk in wisdom toward outsiders. When they see you growing in these areas, you’ve got a credible witness in the world.
2. Walk attractively. “Outsiders” obviously means lost people all around us. Your walk should attract, not repel lost people. There are lots of verses that tell us to live before the world in a way that enhances the message of Jesus Christ. Let’s look at a few.
For elders: 1 Timothy 3:7, And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
For everyone: 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, 12 so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.
1 Corinthians 10:32-33, Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; 33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.
Paul doesn’t mean he was a people pleaser. And we know that the gospel does offend lost people. But Paul calls us to live in such a way that we do not discredit the message of the gospel. Lost people are quick to see the flaws in believers’ lives. Live in a way shows you being a responsible, loving, caring, generous person. Give that hard working server a good tip.
3. Walk with an eternal purpose. “Redeeming the time” means buying up or investing in the opportunities God gives us to serve Him. The word time here is kairos, not chronos. Chronos speaks of time ticking away. Kairos speaks of seasons or occasions. You’ve got only one life to represent Christ to a lost and dying world. Once you die, you won’t be a witness to lost people anymore. And what is this life for? To invest in eternal values. Buy up opportunities to serve Christ in whatever ways you can. Missionary C. T. Studd famously wrote:
“Only one life, will soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Walk through this world wisely, attractively, with an eternal purpose. Do the unsaved people in your life clearly see something of Jesus Christ and His power in your life? Are you like Daniel? His enemies couldn’t find a thing to accuse him of except he faithfully worshipped God and prayed regularly.
Your walk is one wing of your Christian witness life. Now let’s look at the other needed wing: your talk. Remember, you need both. Memorize this next verse.
YOUR TALK –
Colossians 4:6, Let your words always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should answer each person (LSB).
That tongue of yours is made up of eight striated muscles and can move in any direction. The tongue can easily and quickly get us into trouble and bring reproach on the gospel. By the way, I read that in Tibet when two people greet each other they stick out their tongues, but for certain aboriginal people sticking out their tongues are the sign of a war chant. So be careful what you do with your tongue. You’ve probably heard about hell-fire missiles. They are only about 5-1/2 feet long but can wreak great havoc! James 3:6 says that little hunk of flesh in your mouth can bring misery and destruction.
James 3:6, And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.
So what does God want your talk to sound like? Paul gives us three characteristics of godly talk this world needs to hear from every believer: gracious talk, well-seasoned talk, and discerning talk.
1. Gracious talk. “Always with grace.” Always. We’ve got to stop right there because how easy it is to let stuff come shooting from our mouths that destroy and hurt others and our Christian testimony. Cars need brakes and we need brakes on our tongues! If you’re having trouble getting a handle on that slippery tongue of yours, you need to put a muzzle on it. Pray like David.
Psalms 39:1, I said, “I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle while the wicked are in my presence.”
What are words full of grace? Gracious words are full of hope. They are humble. They are encouraging. Not critical or negative. Not proud or self-righteous. Not know-it-all words, but words that build up others.
Ephesians 4:29, Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
Remember those four lepers who found the enemy’s camp deserted with all their goods left behind? God had literally sent the sounds of a great army in the middle of the night that scared the daylights out of the enemy. They fled as fast as they could, leaving everything behind. The lepers found all their stuff, silver and gold and food and clothing and carried some away. Then they said, “We’re not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves.” So they decided to share and sent the message to the king. Those were gracious words. We are all debtors to grace, blessed beyond measure in the gospel. We ought share our blessings and tell others the good news of this amazing grace of the gospel.
2. Seasoned talk. This is good: words nicely seasoned with salt. Salt heightens taste, preserves, heals, and makes thirsty. Saltless talk is bland. So sprinkle salty truths into your talk. Be gracious, but add truths about God or the Bible or the gospel whenever you can. When I’m not sure about a person’s salvation, I like to ask them what they would say to someone in a car wreck who is just minutes from dying and is asking you how they can be sure they are going to heaven. What would you say to someone who asks how to be sure of heaven? Our talk should be well seasoned. Not too much salt that will destroy the message, but sprinkled with enough salt to give our message flavor, well-seasoned with God-honoring truth.
Today, April 18, is the 500th anniversary of Luther’s appearance in Worms before the King and the papal representatives. He was commanded to retract his writings. With a well-seasoned response, he declared that his conscience was captive to the word of God and that he would not retract his writings. Then he said those three famous words, “Here I stand,” words that launched the Protestant Reformation. Always be ready to give well-seasoned words to all you meet.
3. Discerning talk. “Knowing how to answer every person.” This is the purpose of the gracious, seasoned talk: to be prepared to represent your Lord in a discerning way. “How” means not only what to say but how and when to say it. And notice, “every person.” Not just everybody, but each person. Christ didn’t deal with Nicodemus the same way as the woman at the well. God wants us to think about the person we’re responding to. Who is this particular person? How can I approach this person with the gospel? The gospel message never changes, but we can use different avenues to get there. We can use marriage, cancer, death in a family, a handicapped child, war, even Covid and the craziness of our own day to open conversations leading to the gospel.
Peter put it like this.
1 Peter 3:15, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
Always be ready! One author wrote, “The Christian must be a man (or woman) on the lookout for opportunity.” The word “defense” is “apologia,” which doesn’t mean we should apologize for our hope. It means giving a reason for our faith. It’s our word “apologetics.” How would you respond to these typical questions unbelievers or even believers often have. Where would you go in your Bible?
- What about all the errors in the Bible? 2 Timothy 3:16
- Don’t all religions eventually get you to heaven? John 14:6
- What about people who have never heard the gospel? Romans 1:20
- I’m doing the best I can. What more would God demand? Ephesians 2:8-9
- Doesn’t science contradict the Bible? What about the big bang and evolution?
- If God is so good, why does He allow suffering and evil? Romans 8:20-23
- Can’t people love whomever they choose? Genesis 2:24
Never forget, you are part of the royal family of God. Walk wisely, attractively, and with eternal purpose before lost people. Speak graciously with biblically seasoned words. Speak discerningly, being ready to give a biblical answer. You won’t win people just by your walk. You need to be willing to talk about the gospel with people, but your talk needs to be backed up with a credible, virtuous, godly walk. Tommy Nelson tells about a gentleman who came to visit their church. He walked in the back door, recognized one of the men of the church, made a U-turn and went out the back door and never came back. He had done business with that church member and felt like he got a raw deal (Godly Success, p. 58). That man sitting in church had a walk didn’t match his talk. Paul is saying, “Pray to God for boldness and clarity with the gospel, and then walk and talk in such a way that unbelievers have nothing bad to say about us.” If they are going to be offended, let them be offended by the call of the gospel to repent and believe in Christ.
Let’s be clear that people will not be saved just by seeing your life. They probably won’t say, “Wow, you have such a wonderful life, I want to be saved.” No, they need to hear the gospel, and the gospel offends the natural, unsaved person. They don’t like to hear about their sin and their need to repent and believe in Christ. Paul’s point is that our walk and our talk should not stand in the way of their coming to Christ. Let us walk attractively with God’s wisdom and talk graciously with words seasoned with God’s truths.