Guiding Lights #4 - "Our Outward Reach: Evangelism" (Colossians 4:2-6) | Kofi Adu-Boahen

Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4. One last time we come to the letter of Colossians as we round out the series that we've been in for the last few weeks.

A series that we have entitled Guiding Lights. Guiding Lights, a biblical look at the core values of Redeemer Bible Fellowship.

This morning we come to Colossians chapter 4. And if you have a copy of God's word, which I hope you do, hopefully you're at Colossians chapter 4.

We're going to look at verses 2 through 6 this morning. Colossians chapter 4 and verses 2 through to 6.

If you've got one of the red bibles we give away, that's on page 1045. Colossians chapter 4 and verses 2 through 6.

One more time if you're able, can I invite you to stand with me as we come to God's word. Colossians chapter 2, chapter 4 excuse me, beginning in verse 2 and reading through to verse 6.

Brothers and sisters, these are God's words to us this morning. Devote yourself to prayer.

Stay alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door for us for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ for which

I am in chains, so that I may make it known as I should. Act wisely towards outsiders, making the most of the time.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.

Pray that God will bless that reading of his word and give us understanding. Let me pray, ask for the Lord's help and we will get to work in this text this morning.

Let's pray together. Lord, we simply ask that as we come to your word, that your word would do the work that only it can by the power of your spirit.

Father, I pray that a better word will be heard by your people than the one that is preached as your spirit takes the truth and buries it deep within our souls.

Fathers, we think about the role we have in proclaiming your gospel. May your word shed light on what that role is and how we can be more faithful in that.

Fathers, I pray that for us. I pray for our friends at Heritage Christian Fellowship in Medford. Thank you for Pastor Paul and Pastor Jeremy and the leadership team there.

Paul has been on sabbatical and is just coming back into ministry there. Pray that you bless his return.

Continue to bless the fellowship. Bless the men in their lead program who are being discipled and trained for gospel ministry.

Father, pray for the spread of your gospel through them in this valley. I pray that for us as well as we come before your word.

We ask all this in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Please be seated. If you want to empty your church, preach on money, preach on marriage, preach on election, or preach on evangelism.

That was a piece of advice given to me very much tongue -in -cheek by my friend and friend of our church

Pastor John Benzinger out there in Arizona at Redeemer Gilbert. I trust my brother's wisdom so much that this morning

I want to talk to you about evangelism. I grew up in church. Some of you know

I've talked about this. I'm a pastor's kid. And I always noticed that whenever my dad got the desire to preach about evangelism and then decided to, people in church would tense up.

It was almost as though there was this sense of, oh here he goes again with this. Can't he give it a rest?

And I always wondered why that was. I mean, I didn't come to faith, I believe, until I was actually 14.

But growing up in church, why would you be that bent out of shape about talking about evangelism?

Is that what Christians are supposed to do? But the reality is there is something about the subject of evangelism that when you start talking to Christians about evangelizing and sharing their faith, in the words of the great

Todd Frill who is an excellent evangelist, he said that sometimes people get terrified.

But the reality is that evangelism is an important part of faithfulness for those who've come to faith in the

Lord Jesus. So throughout this series I've mentioned Matthew chapter 28, if I'm going to put up on screen once again.

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 28? That the church's mission is to go and to make disciples of all the nations.

Remember how that starts? Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the

Holy Spirit. Like that work of making disciples, what we spent the last two weeks, almost two and a half hours talking about, phase one of that work implies that there are some people who will come to faith.

Actually, everyone comes to faith who isn't already a disciple. That's why you baptize them.

If the church exists to make disciples, that implies that some who will become disciples start off not being disciples.

Everyone track with me so far? Okay. Part one of the church's mission, the mission to make disciples, part one of that mission is calling people to follow

Jesus. But then that begs the question, doesn't it? If the mission is to call people to follow

Jesus, well, what does it mean to call people to follow Jesus? And that begs another question.

How do we call people to follow Jesus? If that's the mission, if we're supposed to be calling people to faith in the

Lord Jesus, well, what does it mean to do that? And how do we do it? We might need a little help on those.

And so thankfully there's an expert, someone who knew a thing or two about what it was to tell people about Jesus.

And we're going to get his help this morning. As I said, we're in Colossians chapter four this morning.

I remember I said in week one of our series, as we've been looking at our core values as a church, I said that Colossians breaks up into four.

I won't go through all four of those sections. You can listen to that material. This is in the final section, the final section that deals with what is the outward mission for those who have found completeness in Christ.

And this morning, Paul's going to give us some help about how to relate to those around us who don't know the

Lord Jesus. How is it that we are supposed to carry ourselves when it comes to those who don't know the savior?

The section that we've read, it really can be summed up under this one word evangelism.

What do we do before we evangelize? What do we do as we evangelize? What should it look like as we do it?

My big idea this morning is actually a very, very simple one. My idea is this, that as Christians, we all,

I'm going to add the word all in there, as Christians, we all ought to live with a profoundly evangelistic impulse.

As Christians, we ought to live, we all ought to live with a profoundly evangelistic impulse.

Unfortunately though, for lots of Christians, what ends up happening is we assume a passive stance when it comes to being evangelistic to others.

That is, if you have any stance at all on the issue. More often than not, we can either allow fear or awkwardness to keep us either passive or outright silent where the good news of salvation in Jesus is concerned.

Now, one thing that's going to become very apparent from this passage and some of the is that the

New Testament knows nothing of such passivity or silence.

The New Testament assumption is that the kingdom of God advances as God's people go forth into the world, not when they wait for the world to come to them.

Put it another way, the New Testament assumes a active stance when it comes to gospel proclamation, not a passive one.

Well, that's because how do we move from a passive or silent posture to an active one?

How do we go from a posture of waiting for people to come to us to actively going to people with the gospel?

You can see why I say we might need an expert's help on this because that's kind of a big deal. Thankfully, we have an expert and if you haven't guessed, the expert

I'm referring to is Paul the Apostle. This man was arguably the evangelist and the missionary of the

New Testament. So we might want to listen to what he has to say about this. And so for the rest of our time this morning,

I want to consider three ways to develop a profoundly evangelistic impulse as believers.

I want to consider three ways to develop a profoundly evangelistic impulse as believers.

Three ways that come right out of this text. How do we develop a profoundly evangelistic impulse as believers?

Well, first of all, we have to start with the desire to develop an attitude of gospel -shaped prayer.

Start with developing an attitude of gospel -shaped prayer. So look at verse two with me.

Questions for two. Devote yourselves to prayer. Stay alert in it with thanksgiving.

A profoundly evangelistic impulse starts with prayer. I don't forget,

I had a friend, Tom Woodbridge. His dad was a seminary professor. I didn't know that when I met him at the time, but his dad was a seminary professor.

Everyone knew him as Woody. First time I met him, it was in a Christian union meeting. He was in the UK, what we call the president of the union.

Guy in charge, basically. I remember the first time we met him, he said, this Christian union exists to do two things.

We exist to talk to people about God, but before we can do that, we talk to God about people.

And that stuck with me. I was 18 when I first heard him say that. That we exist to talk to people about God, and before we can do that, we talk to God about people.

Gospel witness depends on prayer, first and foremost. Before we think strategies, and what to say, and training, and resources, and all of those things.

Before we think about any of that, gospel witness depends on prayer, because I've said this before, and I'll say it again in the life of our church,

I'm sure. Prayer is, at its very core, an act of dependency.

What does that have to do with evangelism? Everything. Too often, evangelism jumps from methods and strategies, and it doesn't start with the heart of the person who is evangelizing.

If, as a church, we're going to have a profoundly evangelistic impulse, if you, as an individual

Christian, are going to have a profoundly evangelistic impulse, that begins on our knees, before we get on our feet to go anywhere.

J .R. Packer said it so well. He said, quote, God will make us pray before he blesses our labors, in order that we may constantly learn afresh, that we depend on God for everything.

Prayer implies you need help, and that someone else, capital

S, capital E, someone else, is in the position to give that help. And so, if we want to see souls, one to Christ, if we want to see people come to faith in Christ, we have to begin with prayer.

Well, let's get specific. What kind of prayer? What is the kind of prayer that is gospel shaped?

I think we can learn a few markers from what Paul says here in verses two through four. So, for one thing, it's constant prayer.

So, do you notice that Paul says, devote yourself to prayer? I wonder where Paul got that from.

Actually, I don't have to wonder. I can tell you where Paul got that from. Acts chapter two, verse 42. What was one of the apostolic church's priorities?

Remember that passage? Preached on here before. Acts chapter two, verse 42. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

And what's the next thing? To prayer. Literally, in the Greek, it's to the prayers.

Paul didn't have to make this up, as it were. All he had to do was say, hey, as Christians, this is what we do.

There's a story that's told of Charles Spurgeon, or Uncle Charlie, as I like to call him. Uncle Charlie had some visitors from this side of the pond, came to see the tabernacle.

The tabernacle was a very large church. It's one reason that, as much as I don't like the seeker -sensitive movement,

I'm not always anti -megachurches, because Spurgeon was the first megachurch pastor. 3 ,000 people. So people genuinely wanted to see the tabernacle when they came to London.

And so one day, he has these visitors from this side of the pond. They go to London, and they ask Mr. Spurgeon, this place is huge.

How do you keep this thing warm? Because if you've ever been to London, you know London is kind of cold. And so Mr.

Spurgeon said, come with me. Didn't say a word, and started taking them downstairs in the tabernacle.

And they're thinking, oh, they're going to see some marvel of engineering. They're going to see a boiler room, a bunch of radiators, or some system of getting heat through the building.

So imagine the surprise of these visitors from the US, when Mr. Spurgeon very quietly opens a door and shows them a prayer meeting taking place, and says, dear sir, this is the engine room of the tabernacle.

Spurgeon understood that, and you have to remember, Spurgeon in his day had some of the largest evangelistic impact of any preacher in history.

But he recognized that that couldn't happen if people didn't pray for him. History is filled with stories of prayer being the catalyst for mighty moves of God.

Can I share with you one of my favorite stories? In England, we have this event.

We call it the 1859 revival. I'm not sure what they call it here in the

US, but in the UK, we all know it as the revival of 1859. The interesting thing is that revival didn't start in England.

It started on this side of the pond. I'm going to take you two years back, 1857. A Dutch reformed home missionary.

Lots of older denominations used to have this thing called a home missionary. Some of them still do. They call them domestic missionaries, people who would essentially serve as missionaries within the country.

A Dutch reformed home missionary called Jeremiah Lanphier moves to New York, wanting to plant a church.

But he doesn't start with meetings. He doesn't start with a core group or any of the prevailing wisdom that we have today. He starts with prayer meetings.

There was a Dutch reformed chapel on Fulton street in New York. And so he starts these prayer meetings.

History tells us the first prayer meeting had six people in attendance. It started small, but history tells us it didn't stay small that long.

The meetings were very simple. There was no flashiness to them. They prayed, they sang some knowing them to be

Dutch reformed. They probably sang psalms because that's what they do. And then there was a brief exhortation and then they prayed some more.

Before long though, an interesting thing started to happen. The attendance at this prayer meeting began to grow by 1858.

So he starts his prayer meeting in 57. A year later in 1858, 10 ,000 people are gathering daily in New York city.

They gathered at a theater because the little Dutch reformed church wasn't quite built to take 10 ,000 people.

So they start meeting in a theater and that only one thing is on the prayer list. But one thing they're praying is

Lord, give us souls. And God did.

The prayer meetings began to expand across the city. And as it began to expand, pastors started to support the prayer meetings with evangelistic meetings and people began to come to faith in Jesus.

By 1859, that revival that started in New York had spread across the U .S. and had leapt over the pond to the

UK. Spurgeon's own ministry was radically affected as a result of it really catapulted him to fame.

He would fill a building called the crystal palace, preaching the gospel and seeing souls come to faith.

This massive move of God started with a prayer meeting of six people. And I've often wondered whether the lack of evangelistic passion or the lack of evangelistic fruit we see, whether that's present because of the fact that we aren't begging

God for the souls of those who don't know his son. I've often wondered whether it's, we kind of just think, well,

God will take care of that. So I don't need to do anything with that. I'm not saying anyone in this room thinks that, please, please don't hear me as accusing anybody of thinking that.

I'm simply asking the question as a church with a big seed, have we lost sight of the fact that God will not bring souls into his kingdom that we have not prayed in?

If we want to see souls saved, it starts on our knees as we seek the Lord for the salvation of those souls.

There needs to be constant prayer, prayer that we are devoting ourselves to. But notice that Paul doesn't end there because there's also vigilant prayer.

There's also vigilant prayer. So he says, devote yourselves to prayer. Stay alert in it.

It's interesting. Why does Paul bring up this language of alertness? The word that's used here for being alert, it's only ever used in one context.

It's only ever used in the context of Jesus's soon return, of Jesus's soon return.

What does that have to do with evangelism? I might argue everything, actually.

I know tradition says that when we pray, we pray with our eyes closed. And for the most part, there's a lot of wisdom in that.

We used to get distracted in prayer. But I've often wondered, what would happen if we didn't pray with our eyes closed and we prayed with our eyes open?

And I mean that in the more metaphorical sense. We pray for gospel opportunities.

Here's what I think the link is. We pray for gospel opportunities as we are keenly aware that we are waiting for someone to return one day.

We might not be able to proclaim the gospel after Christ comes back. There's no second chances at that point.

But until then, while we're waiting, while we're alert, looking for him to return, we're praying for those who don't know him to come to know him before that day comes.

And so gospel -shaped prayer is constant. It's vigilant. It's also expected. Expectant.

So again, look at the text. Devote yourselves to prayer. Stay alert in it with thanksgiving.

Stay alert in it with thanksgiving. Paul says that the believer is supposed to pray with thanksgiving.

Now typically, let's think through this for a moment. Why do you normally say thank you to someone? Because they did something for you.

But how do you thank someone when they haven't done anything for you yet? Typically, we don't, do we?

But Paul says you're supposed to pray, staying alert in it with thanksgiving. Could it be?

Could it be that Paul wants us to pray with thanksgiving? Because Paul assumes

God will answer this prayer if you pray it. That it's so guaranteed that God will answer this prayer that just you praying it should give you cause to thank him.

Where are you going with this? Is it God's will? Let's put it in the form of a question. That might help.

Is it God's will for people to be saved? 2nd Peter 3 .9. It's God's will that no one should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth.

1st Timothy 2 .4. God wills that all people would be saved. So yes, God wants people to be saved.

So if we are praying in line with God's will that people should be saved, will God answer that prayer? He will.

He may not answer it in your timing, which obviously is a challenge for us as human beings.

But we can trust that as we keep asking and we keep praying and we keep asking and we keep praying that he will answer.

We can have confidence and even thank God in advance because we're praying a prayer that is in line with his will and acknowledges the fact that if anybody is saved, it's because God sovereignly grants that salvation.

If you want an example of what this constant and vigilant and expectant prayer looks like, all you have to do is look at verse three and four.

So here's the example Paul gives. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door for us for the word to speak the mystery of Christ for which

I am in chains so that I may make it known as I should.

Do you notice what Paul prays for here? It's very simple. Firstly, Paul prays for opportunities for gospel witness.

He says pray for us that God may open a door for us. That language of opening a door is a language of opportunity in the bible.

Pray that God will give us an opportunity for the word.

He prays for opportunities for gospel witness. He prays for clarity in gospel proclamation.

So notice that he says in verse three, pray for us, pray also for us that God may open a door for us, door to us, excuse me, for the word to speak the mystery of Christ.

It's for clarity in the gospel presentation. There is this mystery, this truth that was not known in the past but it's now known in the present and he says that I pray that God would give me clarity in proclaiming that mystery.

But not only does Paul pray for opportunities and for clarity, he pays for greater burden for gospel witness.

So again, do you notice in the passage? At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ for which

I am in chains so that I may make it known, catch those three words at the end, as I should.

I'm going to say more about this later on in the message but it's one thing for us to have, how should

I say this? It's one thing for us to understand the duty of evangelism. It's one thing for us to understand that, okay,

I have to tell people about Jesus if I'm a Christian. It's another thing entirely to have a burden on our hearts to do so.

It's kind of like how I feel about cleaning my office. I need to clean my office.

It's kind of overdue. I know I should do it. The duty is there.

Do I feel this burning urgency to do it? I'll be honest with you, not really.

It could be the same way with evangelism. We know we should but we don't feel a heart level urgency to do it.

And Paul says actually pray for me that I should make it known as I should. That's that language of obligation but that it doesn't, it's not obligation in the sense of I have to do this.

I guess I should, I suppose. But this weightiness, the feeling that I have to do this.

As Paul will say elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 9, woe unto me if I don't preach the gospel.

So if you want a model of what gospel -shaped prayer looks like, I think Colossians 4, 3 and 4 gives you an example.

If we're going to live with a profoundly evangelistic impulse, we have to start with developing an attitude of gospel -shaped prayer.

But that's not the only thing. It's not just we pray and we leave it at that. Secondly, you need to commit to develop a lifestyle of gospel -shaped wisdom.

Develop a lifestyle of gospel -shaped wisdom. So look with me at verse 5.

Verse 5, act wisely towards outsiders, making the most of the time.

Prayer is an indispensable and massive part of evangelism and gospel witness. But never let us get confused to thinking that prayer is the totality of gospel witness.

If you've been a redeemer for any length of time, you know that there's a quote on prayer that I say all the time.

It's from John Bunyan. We can do more than pray after we pray, but we cannot do more than pray before we pray.

I often quote that to quote the second half of that, that before we do anything, we should pray.

But for a moment, I actually want to flip the emphasis. I want to talk more about that first part for a moment because I think at times it can be very easy to say, okay, okay,

Kofi, I hear you. I should pray. Yes, I'll pray for my, whether it's my colleague at work, the family member, my friend or what have you, the person

I engage in this recreation with, whatever it is, I'll pray for them to be saved and leave it at that. But after you've prayed, there's a lot you can actually do.

Once we pray and seek God's help, we have to receive that help and act.

As you read this verse, there's a word that isn't very popular in our day and age, but I think it actually bears some usefulness for this passage.

The word prudence, P -R -U -D -E -N -C, prudence. The dictionary definition of prudence is the skill and good judgment in the use of resources, as well as caution or circumspection as to danger or risk.

All that simply means is being prudent, is knowing how best to do something and knowing what the dangers are while you try to do it.

Let me say that again. Prudence is knowing how best to do something and knowing what the dangers are as you do it.

Prudence and wisdom are very closely related. I went with wisdom because it's just an easier word to use, but prudence really captures what

Paul is getting at here in verse five. Don't just be wise, but be the kind of wise that knows the best way to do something and is cautious of the dangers as you try to do it.

Paul highlights two areas that we need wisdom in, that we need prudence in. Firstly, we need wisdom in our posture.

We need wisdom in our posture. So, do you notice what Paul says? Verse five, act wisely towards outsiders.

I think I said this last week, my pastor, Dr. Tom Dreon, at the time he was Pastor Tom Dreon, at the time

PT, as I used to call him, he was talking about evangelism and he said, so much of our evangelism fails for two reasons.

We either don't have the words to say or we lack the life to back up the words we say.

So much of our evangelistic capital, if you will, it just evaporates like water in the sun because we live lives that undercut our attempts to tell others about Christ.

Paul says that in relation to those who are, note the word that he uses, act wisely towards outsiders.

In relation to those who are outsiders in the context, he is outsiders to the faith. We are to act wisely.

The literal phrase here is to walk in wisdom. We have to properly evaluate our circumstances, make decisions and live lives that are consistent before a watching world.

The reality is, as Christians, if we're going to have a profoundly evangelistic impulse, that's going to extend to the way we live.

That means we can't respond to, I'm going to say more about this in a moment, but we can't respond to things the same way that the world does.

We can't deal with things the same way the world does. Because what are we doing?

We are basically not acting wisely towards those who are outside the faith who are watching us. In the

Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about this a lot. You ever thought about this? That he constantly talks about the fact that don't do things like the

Gentiles do. Don't do things like those outside of knowing God do. If you function just like them, what does that say to them?

Well, he does things just like we do. There can't be anything different about him. As one writer puts it, in Christ's earthly absence, the church, absence, excuse me, the church remains the conduit of the word of truth on earth, for good or for ill.

If we remain in vice and despair without any indication that God's grace makes the difference, who but the fool will believe the claims of the gospel?

Christians don't have any impact. Think about this. Christians don't have any impact by being like the world around them.

And please, do not hear me as saying, well, that means I must now be recluse. I can't enjoy anything.

I can't, you know, the legitimate fun things that believers do. That's not what I'm getting at.

I'm talking about a approach to life. I'm talking about an understanding of what's most important in life.

We can't impact the world if we have the same perspective, chief values, and highest goals that they do.

We can't impact the world by being like them. Even in our attitude, whether it's being angry or unreasonable on one end or being convictionless and agreeable to everything.

On the other hand, we will only make gospel impact when our lives match the truths we try to proclaim.

And so we should pursue wisdom in our posture and how we live. We should also pursue wisdom, not just in our posture, but in our practice.

So again, you notice in the verse, verse five, act wisely towards outsiders, making the most of the time.

Actually that word time isn't maybe the best way to translate that word. There's two words in Greek for time.

I won't give you both because we don't really need to do a Greek lesson this morning, but one of them refers to what we think of in time in terms of minutes and seconds.

Actually, you know, this word is where we get our chronological from something is chronological. It's ordered to time.

It's where we get that word from. But there's another word in the new Testament for time.

And that carries more of the idea of a season, a window. Maybe if I use the word opportunity, that makes the point.

In fact, some translations do translate this word this way that it's making the most of every opportunity.

And I think that's actually a better translation. The word making the most is an interesting,

Paul already uses it in two places. Here and in Ephesians five, it carries this idea of buying up something of taking stock that's available and buying it all up.

Paul says essentially Christians are to buy up the time, buy up opportunities, make the most, extract the most value out of every opportunity.

Remember what the context is here for gospel witness. I remember years ago,

I had a friend, good guy. No doubt he loved the Lord. Zero doubt in my mind, wanted to serve the

Lord, but he and I had a problem. The problem was whenever we talk about evangelism, he had,

I considered it a preoccupation. For him, evangelism wasn't something you did just automatically.

For him, evangelism was this thing that the spirit had to kind of prompt you to go talk to someone.

And so constantly you say, I don't feel led to talk to that person. And occasionally we go places, we travel and like,

I don't have that problem. I'm honest. Like you have a pulse, you're going to get this gospel.

So one day he asked me, he's like, Kofi, I never see you like pray and ask whether God wants you to speak to this person.

And you just seem to just do it. Don't you think the spirit has a place in this? I do.

I believe he gives me the words to say. I believe he gives me the insight in what to say. But I said, you know, one thing

I don't read in the Bible, I don't read in the Bible. I'm supposed to pray about whether to do it.

I'm supposed to pray for the spirits helping how we do it. But if the opportunity is there, which to me means this person has a pulse, they don't hear it.

Some questions in life have complex answers, don't they? Does this person need to hear the gospel is not one of them.

I'll just be honest. It's not one of them. What size TV do

I want to buy? I'm not trying to buy a TV, but if I were trying to buy a TV, what size TV don't want to buy? That might be a complex question.

Mostly, am I going to eat chicken or am

I going to eat beef? That might be a complex question depending on how I feel during the day. Do I proclaim the gospel to somebody

I know doesn't know Jesus? It's not one of those complex questions. Can I put it to you that the need of the hour is not a green light.

This is what I tried to help my friend understand, and we never actually were able to agree on this. The need of the hour is not, as it were, for some sort of internal green light.

The need of the hour is to see when those green lights appear. Part of living our lives with gospel witness includes being aware of and taking every opportunity that comes up.

So there may be times when it's not the best time. I remember

I had a church I was at previously. One of the deacons was a on -call surgeon at a pretty prominent hospital.

Actually, fun fact, during the height of the COVID stuff, he actually was the doctor to the prime minister.

When Boris Johnson got COVID, it was pretty bad. He was one of the doctors who visited him. I remember he used to joke when he talked about evangelism and sharing the faith that when

I've got my hands firmly in someone's chest cavity, that's probably not the best time.

I would agree if I ever had surgery and had a Christian doctor.

I hope he's sharing the faith with the people in the operating room, just not with your hands in my chest.

We recognize that there are times and places, but when the time and the place becomes apparent,

Paul says we should make the most of that. We should take, buy up literally that opportunity.

So let's get practical with this for a moment. You're at work. A co -worker starts to share with you that they're going through a trial at the moment.

That might be an opportunity. You have a friend and they come to you and say, hey,

I'm thinking through this big moral issue. What are your thoughts on it?

Opportunity. I haven't flown anywhere in a year, but I will be in October while I'm taking some time off.

Planes are always a great opportunity for this because they force you to sit next to someone. I'll never forget.

I was going to a conference. It was October of 22. I was going to a conference. We're flying from Medford to LA.

The flight was weird. The first person who sat next to me was really upset that they had to sit next to me. I still don't know why to this day.

So a very nice guy was like, okay, she's freaking out. I'll swap with her. It's no problem. I don't know if I can.

So the guy sits next to me. I'm one of those people when I fly, I always want an aisle seat. I want an opportunity to stretch my legs.

I can't do that when I'm cramped next to a window. So aisle seat. So he comes, he sits next to the window, and he starts a conversation with me.

So we get to talking and turns out he worked in Ashland. It was something environmentally related.

I can't remember exactly what. But we get to talking. He goes, what's taking you to LA?

He's like, oh, I'm going to a Bible conference. He goes, oh, interesting. I'm actually going to LA because some friends of mine are having a dedication for their baby.

I was like, oh, awesome. Do you know what church? Oh, I can't remember the church. But he mentioned where the church was and I had a, oh,

I think I know what church he's going to. That's a really good gospel preaching church. You'll hear the gospel there. So I was like, oh, awesome.

I think I might know that church actually. And I mentioned some connections. Yeah, those names ring a bell. That might be the place.

So we start talking. And so he asked me, so are you a pastor then?

I was like, I am. He goes, I've got a question. Always a dangerous thing when someone says,

I have a question. You never know what I'm about to get myself into. You've only got an hour and some change on this flag.

I remember the question was an interesting one. He said, what does the Bible say about the environment? Let's go.

So the Bible says God created all things that he gave man stewardship over creation. That man is supposed to be a good and responsible steward over creation.

Now we may debate what good and responsible stewardship of creation is, but man is definitely created to be a steward over what

God has made. In fact, the Bible says revelation chapter 14, that in the final end time judgment,

God will destroy those who destroy the earth. So whatever we do, we should probably take care of the planet to some degree.

He was like, huh? The Bible really says, I don't generally use my Bible on my phone, but I do have it on there in case

I showed him the verse. It was like, huh? All this time, I thought Christians didn't really care about the earth.

I was like, oh no, um, Bible says Christians are going to inherit it one day. We might want to take care of it. Again, opportunity just popped up out of nowhere.

Made a relatively long short flight, right? Even shorter, actually. Those opportunities are all around us.

What if I had done what I normally do when I get on flights, which is headphones on what film are watching today?

I don't get to watch movies like that. And I do like movies. Opportunities are all around us, aren't they?

We just need to be faithful to take them. One of my favorite books on evangelism.

In fact, I recommended it in this week's notes. Tell the truth by Will Metzger. For years minister is still alive.

For years was a minister on university campuses with intervarsity fellowship across the country. Excellent book on evangelism.

He says this. It's unfortunate that our mental image of an evangelist is often abnormal when compared to scripture.

Instead of the picture, I said of our picture, excuse me, of a super salesman who has stage presence in the gift of gab.

We are merely to be humans at home with their maker and with themselves. God's people are called to be whole, complete, real, balanced, integrated people.

Evangelism is not about being, thank God for Billy Graham. Thank God for the many people who came to faith through him and through the organization he started.

But I think sometimes we can get the picture that evangelism means you've got to be as good as he was. Let's be clear, he was good.

Here's the beautiful thing. Evangelism is for everyday people who simply ask

God for the wisdom to walk and ask God for the wisdom to see the opportunities he presents.

But Kofi, I don't feel like I have that wisdom. Well, I'm glad you mentioned that. Because the wisdom for life, to walk in the way, the kind of way that points to Jesus and the wisdom to see opportunities left to us, we don't have it.

But I'm thankful that there are verses in the Bible like James 1 .5. Remember James 1 .5?

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all and ungrudgingly and it will be given to him.

Remember I told you that God's will is for people to be saved? First John 5, 14 and 15.

This is the confidence we have before him. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Again, is it God's will for people to be saved? So he hears us and we know that he hears whatever we we know.

And if we know, excuse me, that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.

Lord, I need the wisdom to live in the kind of way that glorifies you and to see the opportunities God says bear.

How much do you need? If we're going to develop a profoundly evangelistic impulse, it calls us to develop an attitude of gospel -shaped prayer and a lifestyle of gospel -shaped wisdom.

One more thing to develop and we'll be done. Develop a pattern of gospel -shaped talking.

Point number three, develop a pattern of gospel -shaped talking. So verse six, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer each person.

After discussing prayer, after discussing wisdom, Paul finally gets to this whole business of proclamation.

Well, that makes sense. Remember last two weeks, disciples are made as the word of God is proclaimed. Well, now that we've prayed and we are living in the kind of way that invites the wisdom of God, now we get to the whole issue of how to actually talk to people.

I won't labor this point too long. I think it's actually pretty simple. What does effective gospel proclamation look like?

What does it look like to develop a pattern of gospel -shaped talking? Well, first of all, it looks like pure speech.

So look at verse six, let your speech always be gracious.

The idea behind the word gracious here is speech that is not corrupt or unholy.

It's speech that is not defiled or dishonest. It's more than just being polite.

As important as that is, let's be clear, Christians should not be known for being rude and impolite.

So that's important, but that's not quite what Paul's getting at here. It's more than just being polite.

It's speech that is markedly different from those who don't know God, his word, or his ways.

It's speaking in the kind of way that, catch this, it flows from grace and it ministers grace.

It flows from grace because it understands the gospel message that God is holy and man isn't.

And even as we confessed our faith earlier, this reality that we need a mediator. So God sends the mediator and the person of Christ, and that if people will turn from their sin and turn to the savior, they can experience true life in him.

It's people who understand that gospel message who can speak in this kind of way.

But not only does it flow from grace because it understands the gospel message, it seeks to minister grace because it recognizes that people can't come to faith in Jesus without the grace of God.

So Paul says, let your speech always be gracious. We should be characterized by pure speech.

We should also be characterized by prudent speech, prudent speech.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt. What on earth does that mean?

Why does Paul pull on this analogy of speech that is seasoned with salt?

I think he's got two things in mind. In the ancient world, you use salt for two reasons. Actually, even until very recently in history, you use salt for two reasons.

Salt was a preservative and salt was an enhancer. So you've got a piece of meat.

You want the piece of meat to last a little longer, then it probably will on its own. This is pre the days of refrigeration.

So what do you do? You pack it in salt and that kind of holds off the process of decaying.

And of course, we still use salt for this purpose today. It enhances flavor. I think

Paul has both of these meanings in mind that the speech of the Christian, John McArthur in his commentary puts it like this.

That Christian speech is not only to be gracious, but it's also to have an effect. Salt can sting when it's rubbed into a wound, but it also prevents corruption.

Believers speech should have a purifying influence rescuing conversation from the filth that so often engulfs it.

Salt also adds flavor and the speech of the new man should add charm and wit to conversation.

That as we are proclaiming the message about Jesus, we are doing so in a way that both deals with the sin problem, but is also charming and gracious.

There are forms of evangelism at times that seem to forget this. There are forms of evangelism that can presume that the way in which we bring people to faith is we basically bully them into faith.

I generally live by the rule that I like people's way of doing something versus people's way of not doing something.

But I might make an obsession for that day. If you're just going to bully people and browbeat them and call that evangelism, it's not evangelism and I'd rather you didn't do it.

As my dad would say, you're messing up the market for the rest of us. The speech of the

Christian should be prudent. It shouldn't be given to whether it's despondency or fear as we see in our culture or anger and frustration.

We cannot function like the world around us does. I think I've said this line before and I'm gonna say it again.

Believers ought to be the adults in the room at all times. 2

Corinthians 10 Paul says, though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. Our speech ought to be prudent.

We declare the truth, but we declare the truth with a humble desire to see sin defeated and righteousness established.

I need to hasten on, but I would be failing in my duty to shepherd you, those of you who call this church your home.

I would be failing to shepherd you if for a moment I didn't share my heart with you on this. We could all agree that the world around us right now is something of a mess.

I think we can all agree that. I mean granted as Christians we generally believe that since Adam and Eve the world has been in a mess, but it definitely feels more so a mess these days.

I think we can all agree that. We feel the messiness of our world a little more acutely lately.

I don't know if you've ever experienced acute pain in your life before. I pray you don't. I have.

Those of you who've experienced that, doesn't acute pain make you do some crazy things? Make you say some crazy things?

So some of you might remember end of, actually no, it was the beginning, was it the beginning of this year? Yeah, I think it was the beginning of this year.

I was on some medication. I didn't know the medication was causing me to have gout flare -ups. Some of you remember

I had a really bad one at the beginning of the year for almost two months. I was basically hobbling around. I remember one day

I'm like, Laura's off work. I'm lying on the sofa because I couldn't even sit in my office chair.

It hurt too much. I remember my frustration just like telling Laura, I'd rather just have my foot chopped off than deal with this.

I like my feet, especially my right one. I don't get to play football often, but when

I do, I shoot with my right. I kind of need that thing, but I was in so much pain.

Why not start acting out and saying stuff that I normally wouldn't say? I fear that for too many

Christians, in light of the roughness of the times in which we find ourselves, we can be tempted to act out and to say and to do things out of the acute pain we feel rather than wisdom.

It's almost as though you end up squandering your evangelistic capital as a result, kind of like a trust fund baby squandering their money on vendors every weekend.

Paul says that how we act before a watching world matters, including the way in which we speak.

I know the world is a messed up place, but faith family, can I encourage you real quickly, if we're going to talk about evangelism, fight the temptation to fight fire with fire.

You know what I mean when I say that? Fight the temptation. Well, the world is angry and belligerent against us as Christians.

We need to answer it back. Nah, nah, that's not how we fight.

Don't be characterized by harsh speech and the inability to be reasonable. In fact, Paul says in Philippians, let your reasonableness be known to all, whether it's harsh speech and an inability to be reasonable or loose speech and constantly having your foot in your mouth all the time because you just don't think before you speak.

Don't let that be true of you. One of my friends back in London used to say we should be salt in our speech, but for heaven's sake, don't be salty.

Don't let the world around you make you foolish in your speech. Let it, let the word of God, excuse me, make you prudent in your speech.

Let it also finally make you a person of purposeful speech. Again, how does he end?

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that for the purpose that you may know how you should answer each person.

Now, do you notice that Paul says you may know how to answer each person? Paul doesn't say you may know what to answer each person.

You know why Paul doesn't have to say what? Because the what of our evangelism is already taken care of.

We proclaim the gospel. We proclaim the Lord Jesus. That's the, he's the what of evangelism.

We don't create that. Our responsibility is the how, the means by which that message about Jesus gets to people.

It's worth noting that Paul again doesn't labor specifics here. He just says pray that, you know, that you would know how to answer each person.

There's a place for evangelistic strategies. There's a place for evangelistic resources. There's a place for having specific ways of proclaiming the gospel to people.

I grabbed one. I forgot to bring it up with me. We have a gospel tract. We've got tons of them that sit on our literature rack.

Two ways to live. Great little resource you can give to someone. Great little resource you can sit down with someone and walk through.

If you're like, I don't know what to say. Well, there are resources out there. Those are great and wonderful.

But we always have to be careful that we don't end up straight jacketing this where there is some liberty. Again, I recommend that resource in the study guide this week.

Tell the truth by Will Metzger. If you want a simple way to think about evangelizing, he actually gives you a really simple way to do it.

But really the method isn't the issue. As believers in the gospel, yes, we want to think about the message, but thankfully we don't have to create a message.

Our responsibility is to be skillful in how we present that message. So Paul says that our speech should be purposeful so that we know how to answer each person.

And that takes time and that takes prayer and asking for the Lord's help. It takes knowing people, but our speech should be purposeful.

I'm done. Can I just leave you with one thought before I wrap up this series?

If we have been given this wonderful message of reconciliation and redemption in Jesus.

There was an atheist a few years ago. It was the guy from the magic tricks. He has a friend, the one who doesn't talk.

Penn & Teller, thank you. I think it was Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller who recorded a video a few years ago, kind of went viral, where he was in the taxi and the guy shared the gospel with him.

Penn Jillette is an atheist. I remember he said something and it was a rebuke, but I'm glad he said it.

He was like, you know, I told this story. I think I tweeted about it. This is him speaking. And people were upset that this man was telling me about his faith.

And in a moment of unusual self -awareness, Penn Jillette said, but if he believes what he believes, that I'm going to hell for eternity, wouldn't it make him unloving not to tell me?

I'm like, I can't get Christians to understand that. We believe that we have a message that saves for now and for eternity.

It is simply unloving and quite frankly nonsensical not to tell people that message.

And in a way, this is probably a fitting way for us to wrap out this entire series, actually. In this series, we've been thinking about the kind of church that we are and the kind of church that we want to be.

Ultimately, we're faced with a decision. Are we going to be an inward -focused church or an outward -focused church?

You know the difference between the two? An inward -focused church is we exist for us.

As long as we're happy, as long as our needs are met here, we're doing good.

An outward -focused church says, yes, we care for one another. We want to see each other built up.

We want to see each other become mature in Christ, as we talked about the last two weeks. But we do that so that we can go out and we can reach outward towards others.

If you're about fellowship, I'll leave you with this thought. Which one do you, which church do you want us to be? The inward one or the outward one?

The insular one or the outward -focused one? Let me pray and we'll come to the

Lord's table. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the reminders of your word about why we're here, that we are here to proclaim the

Lord Jesus. You don't, as Paul says, we don't preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus for your sakes.

Father, help us that we would be a people who have profoundly evangelistic impulses, not just as individuals, but as a church.

As a church, we constantly be thinking about ways in which we can proclaim the good news of Jesus to a world that desperately needs him.

Father, make us a church that is not just focused on what happens in here week to week, but a church that cares for the world out there.

Father, we thank you for the gospel in which we stand. We thank you for this table that reminds us of that gospel. Be with us as we partake in it now and we ask you in Jesus' name and for his sake.