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Wisdom, Outsiders, and Opportunities

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I’m still feeling the challenge from this past Sunday’s Sunday School lesson at Crestview.  We’re working through BILD International’s Participating in the Mission of the Church.  We’ve talked about the New Testament strategy and how good works relate to that.  We got into a lesson that dealt with this passage:

[2] Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. [3] 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—[4] that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. [5] Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. [6] Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:2-6)

So, what do we make of this?  A few thoughts…

  1. Thankful prayer – interesting isn’t it?  Paul invites these believers to join his work of Gospel advance by praying prayers (continually with perseverance) of thanksgiving.  Yes, they pray that doors are opened for the Gospel mystery.  Paul wants them to pray that his speech would be clear.  But, thankful prayer, that doesn’t seem too dynamic.  Paul placed an emphasis on this, though.
  2. We’re called to walk with outsiders.  Church people have a hard time doing this.  We’re great, good friends with people who see the world, vote (by and large), and enjoy the things we enjoy.  This isn’t bad.  After all, the church is meant to be a compelling community to the world.  But, we need to walk with outsiders in life.  This is Gospel 101.
  3. We walk with wisdom.  We’re not free styling.  There’s a degree of intentionality with this walk we have with those outside.  We’re walking in ways that make the compelling storyline of Christianity attractive to the watching world.  This takes wisdom.
  4. Making the best use of the time.  The time/opportunity given to us is the time we have with others.  We get to drink coffee, work, be involved in kids sports, eat, drop off/pick up our kids with all kinds of people that we individually have an opportunity to walk in wisdom with, drawing them close with our attractive, gracious speech, enticing them to ask questions.

What would happen if we gave ourselves to thankful prayer, walking with outsiders, in wisdom, realizing that God’s given us this opportunity for Gospel witness?  It might be that “sharing our faith” might not be such an elusive thing.  So, let me encourage you to get walking and see what fruit God might give.

The Rhythm of Gratitude

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Having preaching through Colossians in the past year, I was amazed at the number of times that book called us to be a grateful people. At one point in chapter 3, it seems like every verse was calling us to gratitude:

3:15 – Be thankful.
3:16 – …with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
3:17 – …giving thanks to God the Father through Him (the Lord Jesus).

What is the reason for this? Paul understands that if we are going to seek Jesus Christ above all things (3:1), put off the old self (3:5ff) and put on the new self (3:12ff) then the atmosphere in which this grows best is one of gratitude.

So, this thanksgiving, rather than putting on a one day show expressing thanks to God for all the creature comforts you have, why not go deep and express gratitude to God for what He has done to redeem you so that you can no longer live for yourself but for Him who died and rose again on your behalf. Give thanks to God.

Weekend Recap – Christ Alone/Be Thankful

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This weekend had numerous highlights. On Sun AM, I preached on Colossians 2:6-7. The sermon was titled Christ Alone. This overview of Colossians sought to plant us as a church firmly in the Gospel-Centered camp. We want to be defined by the Gospel and be Gospel people.

In the evening, we gathered for a church wide Thanksgiving meal. Good time. Always a highlight thinking of how God has blessed us as a church. Hope you have a great week abounding in thanksgiving because of the amazing truth of the Gospel.

Weekend Preview – Christ Alone! / Give Thanks

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As we prep for another Lord’s Day, tomorrow we plan to dive into the book of Colossians one more time. Colossians beats the drum pretty loudly of gratitude. This is because gratitude is closely tied to the Gospel. In Colossians 2:6-7, we hear a call that living a Gospel-centered life is the path to being thankful and, deeper, living a life that honors Jesus as Lord. In the AM sermon, I plan to overview the Gospel that comes through Christ alone.

In the PM, we will have a special time as a church at our Annual Church-Wide Thanksgiving Dinner. This is such a special time every year. I have many great memories of this. We will also be collecting a special offering to advance the Gospel in Australia. So, plan for a great, Christ-exalting Lord’s Day at Crestview.

Weekend Recap – Community and the King

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Today was a great Lord’s Day. In the AM, we wrapped up the book of Colossians by looking at Colossians 4:7-18 and a sermon entitled Gospel Community, showing how God intends for the church to relate to one another.

In the PM, we looked at how the OT promises to David as God’s forever king in 2 Samuel 7:8-16 point to Jesus in a sermon entitled God’s King.

Both of these sermons get at glorifying God by submitting to all that God is for us in Christ. In the AM, we flesh out the Gospel in community. In the PM, we need to remember that Jesus is God’s forever King and live in that reality. Much grace was shown by God in unfolding these words to us.

Weekend Recap – Reformation Day.

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I hope everyone enjoyed a Happy Reformation Day in corporate worship today. I had the honor and privilege of speaking at Calvary Baptist Church in Lenexa, KS on Christ Alone (that sermon is online here). It was a blessing and a joy to be with old and new friends on this great day. I hope all left worshipping and exulting in Christ.

My sermon focused on Colossians 2:6-7 and on the call to live for Christ alone by receiving Him as Lord, continuing in the Gospel and walking in Him. I hope all here were edified and built up.

We are back in the room resting this afternoon. Looking forward to a fun evening and then returning back to Hutch tomorrow.

Weekend Recap – Missional

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Yesterday’s sermon, A Missional Church, from Colossians 4:5-6 is online. In the closing appeals of the book of Colossians, Paul is enfleshing what the church should look like. In 4:2-4, we saw that they are to be God-dependent: A Praying Church. This week, we see that they are to advance the message of Jesus with wisdom: A Missional Church. Next time, we will see that they are to act a certain way towards one another: A Community Church.

The focus yesterday, though, was on how we can contextualize this message with outsiders. I hope you found it helpful and can use the truth presented from God’s Word to advance the Gospel in ways that don’t detract from the message.

Devoted to Prayer…

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Today’s sermon, A Praying Church, from Colossians 4:2-4 is now online. The sermon surveyed 4 elements of a praying church:
1) She makes prayer her habit
2) She perseveres in prayer
3) She prays gratefully
and 4) She advances the Gospel through prayer.

While we should not minimize our role in taking the Gospel to unbelievers (See next week’s passage Colossians 4:5-6), we often fail to realize the amazing Gospel-advancing work that is ours in prayer as we pray for what I called: open doors, open lives and open mouths. So, join your church in advancing the Gospel through one means: prayer.

Weekend Recap – Lordship & Salvation

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Yesterday’s sermon, Lordship for Society, from Colossians 3:22-4:1 is now online. The big idea of this sermon was that we are called to live for Christ’s supremacy in everything we do, including the “small stuff.” Paul appealed to the Colossians to live this out in this way. He pressed slaves and masters to not get hung up on their current status, but to become so focused and consumed with the Lord that He would permeate their lives. I tried to reflect that in what I said yesterday.

In the evening, at small groups, we discussed Thabiti’s mark 5 of a Healthy Church Member: a healthy church member is a Biblical evangelist. One article I mentioned in my group was on Tim Keller’s talk on Defeater Beliefs. Check out that link and be edified and encouraged in your conversations with unbelievers. But at the core and leading to where we’ll be this coming Lord’s Day is the call to pray for openness to the Gospel and boldness to speak it (see Colossians 4:2-4 for more).

Weekend Recap – Lordship for Parents/Unbelief

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Yesterday’s sermons are now online:

AM: Lordship for Parents from Colossians 3:21
PM: Jesus in the OT – Unbelief from Numbers 13-14 and Hebrews 3-4

I thought the AM message, in particular, was very convicting personally. The call to not lead our children to discouragement is a hard line to keep. I also looked at Ephesians 6:4 and how it brings a positive admonition to the discussion of parenting in leading our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. I urged parents to lead children to this through teaching and example. So, there was much to live from there.

In the PM, we continued looking at the OT story and how it points to Jesus. Specifically, the sermon dealt with the unbelief of Israel in the wilderness. I tried to show how the author of Hebrews points us to persevere in belief and not repeat the mistakes they made. The application for me from that message was to persevere in the message of first importance: the Gospel.

I hope you had a great Lord’s Day as well.