God's Road Map for Evangelism Colossians 4:2-6

Praying Continually and Asking God for Open Doors

As I mentioned in the call to worship, I called an audible this week and instead of preaching from Matthew chapter 4, I'm preaching from Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 through 6. As I talk to people during the week, I kept on having people tell me, I'm not going to be here.

I'm not going to be here. And so I'm thinking, okay, let's do something different and obviously the weather might be playing a role as well. So I encourage you to turn with me to Colossians chapter 4.

We'll be looking at verses 2 through 6. If you're using a red Bible in the pews, it's on page 1170. And the reason I selected this passage is because it relates to the passage that we're going to see next Sunday in Matthew.

So it's my desire that those who missed today could come back and listen to this one if they are able. Today's sermon is really focused on how to do evangelism. Where next week's sermon is focused on the plea, the urgency in doing evangelism.

And in fact, the text that we're going to be looking at today is the very first text that I preached from this pulpit in December of 2016 when I wasn't even the pastor of this church yet. You were deciding if you wanted me to be your pastor at that point.

So this passage is very near and dear to my heart and a passage that is so helpful in understanding how do we engage with the lost world around us. So Colossians chapter 4 verses 2 through 6. And what this sermon is calling us to do today is to share the gospel with unbelievers.

The sermon title here is, you may have noticed this in your bulletin, it says a road map to evangelism. So we need to share the gospel with unbelievers and we're going to see four ways how in these verses.

The first way how is by praying for opportunities and we'll see this in verses 2 and 3. Paul provides, the apostle Paul who wrote this, he provides specific instructions in this text about how believers should approach their prayer life.

Prayer is essential when we're talking about evangelism. At the beginning of verse 2 he says to pray continually. This is similar to Paul's statement in 1 Thessalonians 5 .17 where he tells believers to pray without ceasing.

So you get the idea here, right? This continual life of continual prayer. It must be a regular pattern in our lives. Paul also commands us to be watchful as we pray. He says that in the second half of verse 2 here.

He says being watchful in it with thanksgiving. To be watchful is to be vigilant. We need to pray for a purpose. Know what you are praying for and keep your eyes peeled as you pray. The same Greek word that Paul uses here is the same word Jesus used in the garden of Gethsemane when he told his disciples to pray.

Jesus told his disciples to be alert as they prayed. You can remember about the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, right? What were they doing? They were what? They were falling asleep. They were tired.

And Jesus says be watchful as you pray. So when we think about prayer, what we need to understand is that there's this temptation to be lethargic. There's this temptation to just go through the motions.

I always queeze a little bit when I hear people say the Lord's Prayer. Obviously, the Lord's Prayer is a wonderful prayer. It's in Scripture. But it seems like people just do it ritualistically, right?

We don't even know what we're saying. It's just babbling words. And in fact, Jesus tells us not to do that and we'll see that pretty soon here in the Sermon on the Mount. We need to know what we're praying for.

We need to know why we're praying. We need to be strategic in the ways that we pray. So do not go through the motions as you pray. We should ask the Lord, what do I need to be praying for? Pray with a purpose.

So in verse two, Paul's two instructions of our prayer are pray all the time, right? Pray continuously and to be alert as you pray. Now, in verse three, Paul tells them specifically what to pray for. And this is where we see the important connection between prayer and evangelism, right?

It's like peanut butter and jelly. They go together. Verse three says, at the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the Word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison.

So he instructs them to pray for an open door. And as we think about what is an open door, another way to say open door is an opportunity. In your prayer life, do you look for open doors and do you pray continuously for them?

That's what this passage is telling us to do. We should be in the habit of doing this. And we should pray for opportunities for other people. That's specifically what this passage is concerned about, in fact, is Paul is telling them, would you pray for me that I would have open doors to share Jesus with unbelievers?

But another conclusion we can draw from this passage is that we should be praying for opportunities for ourself in evangelism. I remember a number of years ago, I was in Florida with my uncle who passed away about three years ago.

And I knew that my uncle wasn't a believer. And you get this understanding as you're going through life that you're not going to have much more time with him. And so I asked Florida, I said, Lord, would you give me an opportunity to share the gospel with my uncle?

And we were on his boat in the Gulf of Mexico. And he said, Seth, what do you do in your spare time? And right when he said that, I knew, OK, this is the door that God has opened to me because the door was I was able to tell him that I was getting more involved in church with the church in my life and my pastor was discipling me and all these things.

And before we knew it, we were talking about the gospel. So typically when you pray for an open door, the person doesn't just say to you, well, could you tell me about Jesus? It's usually not that obvious.

But usually there's a little bit of a little bit of a crease where you can get in and start talking about the Lord with people. This is a prayer that God loves to answer. And I know this from experience.

And I will admit to you that I'm going to make it my goal to do this more. God works mightily. Just the other day, I prayed for an open door with a specific person, and I'm expecting that the Lord is going to do that.

We need to be expectant that he is going to answer this because he loves to answer this prayer of opening doors. God will open up those doors for gospel conversations. So we see here in these first two verses, we need to share the gospel with unbelievers.

Speaking the Gospel Clearly

And the first way how is by praying for opportunities. The second way how we must share the gospel with unbelievers is speaking your words clearly. We'll see this in verse four here. Verse four says this.

The Apostle Paul says this to the church in Colossae. He says that I may make it clear which is how to speak. Paul desires that his words would be clear as he shares the gospel. Have you ever sat through a sermon and were frustrated because the sermon was clear?

Now, hopefully this sermon isn't that way. But I think we can all say that, yes, I've been there. Or you read a book and you don't understand it, or you're sitting in a classroom in school and I remember sitting in math class and thinking, I have no idea what we just learned today.

You have experiences like that in life. One of the greatest strengths to have as a communicator is clarity. People know what you are saying and they know the message you are delivering. They know what you expect them to understand.

I remember in college, we had one professor who was a business professor. He was beloved by the whole student body. And because he didn't have a doctorate, he only had a master's degree, they didn't want him to be there anymore.

And so they got this guy to come in who had a doctorate. And he was far less the teacher that the guy with the master's was. Because the guy with the master's degree, he was an excellent communicator.

He connected with the students. Everybody loved him. Everybody learned from him. The other professor who had a doctorate, it was the most confusing classes I've ever been in. We had no idea what we were supposed to do.

I remember sitting there halfway through the semester, having no idea what my grade was. And that's not a comfortable feeling to have as a student. And so we need to be clear. We need to be clear when we share the gospel.

We need to be able to be understood when you're talking with someone. We don't want to talk over people's head. We want to meet them right where they're at. And one of the ways that you become clear in understanding the gospel is by knowing it better.

Do you know it well? Do you know it beyond just a surface level? This is important to do, to understand it. If you want to make a difference in this world, then know the gospel well. There's so much knowledge out there in the world.

There's so many things we don't know. I mean, think about all the subjects there are. There's math, there's science, there's history. There's so many other different subjects where you can learn. And there's so many things we don't know.

But do you know the gospel? If you do, then you can make an enormous difference in this world. You don't need to have a wide range of knowledge to make a difference in this world. You just need to know the most important things.

And the most important thing is the gospel. That Jesus died on the cross for our sins. That He was raised bodily from the dead. And that if anybody believes in Him, that He did this on your behalf, then you have eternal life.

It's important to know it and to be able to communicate it clearly to people. And your communication may be the instrument God uses to give another person eternal life in Christ. You can be that instrument.

So do you know the gospel? Do you know it well? On the back table there, I have a gospel tract called Two Ways to Live. We did a class on this the spring that I was here. And I highly recommend that gospel tract.

It does an excellent job of explaining the story of life. And that's something you can give to someone if you have a conversation with them. And if we run out, we will order more of those. So please take one as you leave today.

Because when you share the gospel, you are delivering the most important message in the world. And our clarity of speech is of utmost importance. So we must share the gospel with unbelievers. And the second way how is by speaking your words clearly.

As Paul tells this church that he would do it clearly. He's asking them, he says, pray that my words may be clear. And we need to do that as a church. The third way how we must share the gospel with unbelievers is by spending your time wisely.

Spending Time Wisely With Outsiders

Spending your time wisely. Verse 5, this is what he says. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Outsiders in this passage, this is referring to anybody who does not have a relationship with Christ.

So this is any unbeliever. A difficulty we have as Christians is how do we approach unbelievers? How do you have a close relationship with someone who does not know the Lord? You will need wisdom with unbelievers because you do not have the most important thing in common.

You may have many things in common, many interests in life. I was joking with Lori when she came in today. She was all excited because she said there's a big deal on Sprecher's root beer at Menards. And so head on down there today if you want to get a good deal on that.

And I joked with her, I said, that's one of the many things I have in common with Mark. We both love Sprecher's root beer. But if that's all we had in common, that would be good, right? Thankfully, we have the most important thing in common, and that is we both love the Lord.

So you may have many things in common, but do you have the most important thing in common? And so we need to know how do we spend our time with unbelievers? You specifically need wisdom about how to spend your time.

The second half of verse 5 stresses the importance of making a good use of your time. It says this, let me say this again. Make the best use of the time. You do not want to waste your time on trivial matters with unbelievers, right?

You may have something in common, and when you get together, that's all you talk about. Now, it's okay to talk about those things, but is that all you talk about? I feel this way with my cousin. My cousin and I, we're both big sports fans.

I only see him twice a year, and we probably only spend hours together every year. That's it. And so what we talk about is so important because if we only spend a few hours a year together, and let's say that we live another, you know, that we live, you know, several more decades.

We are talking maybe just a handful of days that we are going to be able to spend together before the end of our life. So the question is, how am I going to spend that time with my cousin? There needs to be conversations about Christ mixed in somewhere as we spend that time.

So it's wise to be intentional with unbelievers. Your unbelieving family and friends may do things too that, they may do things that make you feel uncomfortable. And we need wisdom on how to spend time with them during this as well.

You may be led into sin in certain environments. So it's important in your time with them to be different, to maintain your integrity in Christ. We're supposed to be in the world, but not of the world.

That's what Jesus teaches in John 17. Philippians 2, 14, and 15 says, Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

There's that word that Sean used during the prayer and praise, shine as lights in the world. You should not be able to be criticized for an impure life, right? We're not saying that you're going to live a perfect life, but there should be a difference between your lifestyle and their lifestyle.

You should be blameless. You should shine and stand out. You need wisdom because you'll wonder, how do I spend this time with them, right? You want to reflect Christ well, and you want to talk about Christ with them.

So you want to show Christ, right? And you want to share Christ. I'm wrestling this with you, right? Because it's hard to figure this out, you know, how to do this. But what Paul says, all he says is, be wise about it.

Use wisdom. So we need to pray for wisdom, that the Lord would give us wisdom on how to best spend the little time that we have. James 1, 5, and 6 says that if anyone lacks wisdom, let them ask God. And let them ask in faith without doubting, because God gives that to you generously.

The Lord will let you know when to speak and when not to. And you need to follow the Spirit's lead. And as you spend your time well by showing and sharing Christ to unbelievers, you are walking in wisdom.

The time is short. And as you go through life, you realize, right, that the time is not unlimited. We have a window of time with each person, right? Imagine that window, the window is shutting. And it's getting closer and closer to closing.

I mentioned my uncle, right? Little did I know that that was probably one of the last conversations I was ever going to have with him. I didn't. He was only 59 years old when he died, and it was unexpected.

None of us know when the time will run out. And so we need to use our time wisely. I think about Billy Graham, right? He passed away about a year ago, and he was 99 years old when he died. And yet, what is Billy Graham known for?

He's known for evangelism. The first thing that pops into your mind when you think of Billy Graham is, this guy shared Jesus with millions of people. He spent 99 years of his life just telling people about Christ.

He spent his time wisely. That's a good legacy to leave behind. So the best way to spend your time with unbelievers is sharing Christ with them, right? And being strategic about it. It doesn't mean doing it all the time.

It just means finding the right opportunities, praying for it, showing Christ, right? Showing yourself as a light that Christ has changed. So this is the third way how to share the gospel with unbelievers, and that is by spending your time wisely.

Making Your Words Gracious, Interesting, and Seasoned With Salt

The fourth way how, the fourth and final way how, we must share the gospel with unbelievers is by making your words interesting. We'll see this in verse 6, our final verse here. Paul writes, Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

So your words and my words toward unbelievers must be gracious. The content of what you speak is very important, right? The content matters. However, the correct content with the wrong tone is damaging.

Strive to be a person who speaks the truth clearly without compromising, but you and I must do it in a way that people respect you, that they will listen and not be turned away by your harsh tone. I remember going to a twins game in Minneapolis.

My brother and I, we were walking into the gate, and there was this guy standing on the corner, teaching here in Brimstone saying, you're going to go to hell. I mean, that was like the first thing that came out of his mouth.

And as you might imagine, do you think people wanted to listen to this guy? Probably not. I'm a Christian, and I didn't want to listen to him. In fact, I thought taking him down and saying, you are doing more harm than good by just teaching a fire and brimstone message here, when people, they don't even know what you're talking about.

You need to have a careful conversation with people, and they need to know that you love them. First Peter 3 .18 says, always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have, but do it with gentleness and respect.

And I'll be honest with you, I think with a conservative Baptist like we are, I think our tradition historically, the content has always been good, right? We believe the gospel, we believe the Bible. There isn't a lot of air, glaring air that stands out.

But I think the weakness of the Baptist movement historically, and even in the present day, is people don't know that we love them, right? There can be a harsh tone, and that is so damaging. I think that when I think about the evangelical movement today, a Bible believing Christians, I think the people on the left, their big problem is doctrine.

There's so many errors there. There's numerous errors that are very problematic. But I think on this side, the problem, where doctrine isn't the problem, I think what the problem is, is the tone. And I see that over and over again, even with pastors that I know of.

I'm just alarmed by the way that they say it. I'm thinking, you just turned off a gazillion people by the way you said it. Where if you could have said the exact same thing and said it in a different way, and people would listen to you.

So your tone is so important, and my tone is so important. People need to know that you love them. In the second half of verse six, Paul says that your words need to be seasoned with salt. Okay, so people need to know that you love them by your words being gracious, but they also need to be seasoned with salt.

This does not mean salty language. That popped into my head when I read this. I'm like, okay, that's obviously not what he's saying. But seasoned with salt, what it means is interesting. Your words are interesting.

No one wants to listen to a boring person or someone who is out of touch. Make your words interesting, right? The gospel is interesting, but we need to strive to say it in a way that the people in their context are going to understand it.

So not only do your words need to be interesting to you, right? They need to be interesting to the people that you're spending time with, that you're sharing Christ with. Now, in order to do that, you need to know the person, right?

You need to know enough about them to know how to connect. So get to know him or her. Now, you won't be able to share the gospel the same way with everyone. In evangelism, you should strive to meet right where they're at.

And this is what Paul writes at the end of verse six. That's why he says, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person, right? So make your words interesting with the purpose that you'll know how to speak with each person in a given context.

Now, the Apostle Paul does an excellent job of modeling this in the Bible. When he was talking to Jews, he talked differently than when he talked to the Romans. When he talked to the Jews in Acts chapter 17, verses one through three, he went to the Old Testament, right?

Because the Jews would have known the Old Testament. And what he did is he took them there and he said, the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would come, that he would die for your sins, and you should believe in him, right?

So he took them to the Old Testament, what they would have known. Now, if he would have done that with the Gentiles, with the Romans, that would have been a horrible idea because the Romans didn't know the Old Testament.

So what he did with the Romans in Acts 17, 22 through 24, is he appealed to them that the God of the Bible is the creator, right? They didn't, these were polytheists. These are people who believed in many, many gods.

They did not believe in the God of the Bible. So he had to say, believe in the God of the Bible. He created you. He created everything you see. He sent his son to die for your sins. That's how Paul approached the pagan community, not the religious community, but the pagan community.

I think it's helpful for us to think about this too as Christians living in 2019, soon to be 2020. We are people who are living in a culture that is rapidly changing, right? 20 years ago, our culture was largely Christian, where you could go to the Old Testament.

You didn't have to start with Genesis because people believed that the one God of the universe was the God of the Bible, right? On the dollar bill, when it says, in God we trust, which God is that referring to?

In American history, it's referring to the God of the Bible. But as our culture increasingly changes and becomes more secular, when you say God, all these different things come to mind, right? So we have to take them back to the beginning and say, well, this is what the Bible teaches.

That there's one God that created everything, right? He sent his son to die for your sins and you are a sinner and you need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And yeah, so that's the approach that we probably need to be taking more in our evangelism.

There still are a lot of people, right, who grew up in the church. When you say God, they're thinking the Bible. But we need to be ready to meet those people who have really been secularized as our culture has moved in that direction.

So we must know the person, right? Know them well, learn how to communicate with each person. The content doesn't change, right? The gospel's the same, but the angle that you take is going to be different with every single person.

And once you know them, you'll know how to best reach them. And in this way, your words will be seasoned with salt. So the sermon here today is calling every one of us to share the gospel with unbelievers.

And we've seen four ways how in our passage this morning. The first is by praying for opportunities. The second is by speaking your words clearly. The third is by spending your time wisely. And fourthly, it's by making your words interesting.

So the Lord calls us to make disciples in our time here on earth. It's one of the last things Jesus said before he ascended to heaven, after his resurrection. What he told his disciples was to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

This is the call that God has given us. And so may we be faithful in it. May we spend our life devoting ourselves to this most important task. So as I mentioned in the introduction, this morning, this sermon was focused on the how-to of evangelism.

And next Sunday, when we return to our sermon series in Matthew, we will see why this need is so urgent. And we're going to see it as Jesus begins his ministry, right? The very one who is going to save people is going to call people to repent.

And he's going to be the one to shine the light. And then he's going to send his messengers to be that light wherever they go. So we'll look at that in Matthew 4 next Sunday. At this time, would you bow your heads with me?

Father in heaven, I thank you for your word. Indeed, Lord, it is living and active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. And as Barb quoted this morning, that all Scripture is breathed out by you.

And it's profitable. Profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that we may be competent, that we may be equipped for every good work. And Lord, Colossians 4, 2 -6 is able to equip us, Lord, to be effective around those who most need Jesus Christ.

So Lord, I pray this morning that we would be faithful in praying for opportunities as a church, that we would speak our words clearly, that we would spend our time wisely, and that we would know people right where they're at, that we would meet them right where they're at, and that our words to them would be interesting.

And so I pray for this church, for everyone here today, and for those who aren't able to be here, Lord, but may they do this as well. And I ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.