Alba 8-27-2023
SPEAK BOLDLY
Ephesians 6:18-20
The night I was going to ask Janine to marry me, I had a plan. I was preaching in North Platte, Nebraska and she had come there for the weekend. She was staying with one of the ladies of the church. My plan was to wait until the end of the evening service. And when everyone else had left, take her to the front of the sanctuary and sit her down on the pew. I was going to kneel down before her and ask for her hand in marriage.
Well, it didn't happen. It could have. Everyone else had left, and all was in place for the plan to go forward. But I lost my nerve. So we left the church building in my car and I drove to the house where she was staying. It was December 10th, and in North Platte, it was way below freezing that night.
So then I suggested that we should go get some hot chocolate at a fast food restaurant, which we did. After that we went back to the house where she was staying. We sat and talked for a bit. And then, fortified by the hot chocolate, I asked her to marry me. Thankfully, she said yes!
I needed boldness that didn't seem to be there. If fact, Janine said later that I was acting so strange that she thought I was going to break up with her! All I really needed was to find the courage to use the words that I wanted to say.
There are times in our lives when we need to speak boldly. The apostle Paul realized that when he asked the Ephesian church to pray for him. He had a specific prayer request. And it was for boldness.
As he challenged the church to put on the whole armor of God to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, he wraps it all up with the reminder that prayer is an essential part of what is needed to win the spiritual battles we face daily.
Ephesians 6:18 is where he tells us that we should be, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
Then he adds a personal request for prayer. He says in verses 19 and 20, “and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
He wanted boldness. He asked that the right words be given him and for the courage to speak them. Remember where he was! He was a prisoner in Rome, and it was his words that got him where he was; chained to a prison guard.
But he didn't ask the believers in Ephesus to pray for his release. Instead, he only asked that they pray that he would be given the words to proclaim the gospel with boldness.
Paul is being persecuted. He’s in jail for proclaiming his faith in Jesus. Did he ask for money so he could hire a lawyer to get him out? No. Did he ask them to take up a collection so he could have plenty of food and blankets in his cell, and maybe a TV and a coffee pot? No.
Given a similar circumstance as Paul, what might have been our request? “Pray that God gets me outta here!” “Pray that God protect me.” “Pray that more people come to see me.”
“Pray that my circumstance changes for the better.”
In his second letter to Timothy, when Paul is in jail again, he did ask Timothy to send his warm coat before winter and his favorite books and parchments, which may have included scripture and some of his own writings.
But Paul’s primary concern was the effective communication of the Gospel. He is concerned about two things: Words to speak, and boldness to speak them. Maybe that's why Paul's letters so often direct our attention toward the spiritual and away from earthly needs.
For example, as I said, when Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, he was in prison. Similarly, when Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians, he was also in prison. Yet even then, Paul focused on how his imprisonment made others even more fearless in their witness.
In Philippians 1:12-14 he said: “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”
The positive effect of Paul being in prison was that others saw his faith and it encouraged them to be bold in their witness for the Lord. And he himself certainly had no desire to fall short of that most important quality in a preacher of the gospel, and that is boldness. He was no coward, or people-pleaser.
So he wanted prayer so that he might not fail to declare the whole truth of God, and not declare it in an apologetic, hesitating way. He wanted boldness. Paul understood that prayer ensures the successful spread of the Gospel message.
That's why we need to be praying for each other, asking God to strengthen each other's faith so that we can be better witnesses for the Lord. Paul knew that such empowerment comes from the prayers of other Christians. He was not in a good situation and needed the support of others.
This is not the only time that Paul made this kind of request. In II Thessalonians 3:1 he wrote, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you.”
He knew that prayer opens doors and makes the Gospel message understandable as he wrote in Colossians 4:2-4, “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.”
This is a legitimate request in times of stress and difficult circumstances. The prayers of others give us strength. And we have other help as well. Our Lord knew that such times would come and He promised the disciples that the Holy Spirit would give them the right words to say.
Jesus said in Matthew 10:19-20 “But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”
It is good to know that with the prayers of fellow Christians and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we can have the courage to be a witness of God's love to those around us. But be careful. Boldness does not mean brashness.
I know of a situation where a young lady finally made her decision to be a Christian and was baptized. She and her husband were living with her husband's parents who were members of the church. But her father in law did not show wisdom.
He kept reminding her how good it was that she was now a Christian, and kept saying things like, “You know, you'd be going to hell if you hadn't done this.” And it was constant. His negative way of talking about it eventually caused her to stop going to church and weakened her faith.
I think he thought he was reinforcing her decision, but he was wrong. That's not the kind of boldness we need. That man needed what Paul asked for prayer to do; to know the right words to say.
If I asked the question, “Do you pray enough?” most of us would say no, right? I think that’s probably been the story for most of the ages. If we asked people in the church down through the centuries, “Do you think you pray enough?” most people would likely say no.
There have always been a few prayer warriors, those who pray a lot and pray continuously. But generally I think the average person struggles with this issue of prayer and neglect this area. May God help us to be people of prayer.
But if you pray, the next question is, “Do you pray for those who are making the gospel known?” I know that many of you pray regularly for me and my family. I so appreciate that. But there are many others who also deserve, and need, our prayer support. We have missionaries who are giving their lives, away from families, to share the gospel message. They need our prayers.
And sadly, just like the apostle Paul who was in prison because of his faith, there are millions of Christians in other countries today who are facing horrible persecution for their faith. And they need our prayers.
Leta has told us about the persecution in Pakistan with houses of Christians and their churches being burned. They need our prayers. Christians in many countries are enduring such abuse.
In China there was a time that the government relaxed its controls over the economy, allowing their incredible economic boom. But they have started tightening the screws on Christians again, especially Christians who won’t register their churches with the government and allow the government to control them.
The most recent report is that China is closing churches, jailing ministers, and even rewriting the scriptures to fit their ideology. The Christians there need our prayers.
Today there are thousands of Palestinian Christians caught in the middle of the conflicts. The Israelis mistrust them because they are Arabs, and the Moslems mistrust them because they are Christians. They need our prayers.
And in Saudi Arabia and some other Moslem countries, Christians must hide if they want to worship, and Moslems are forbidden to read the Bible. They need our prayers.
So how should we pray? Why not start with Paul’s request and pray that in the persecution, God would guide those people to be able to communicate the gospel clearly and boldly.
Does persecution ruin the church? No. One minister asked a friend, who had returned from another country how it went for him working as an evangelist where it was against the law. He said he liked it, because when people knew he could go to jail for telling them about Jesus, they really listened. They knew that he meant every word he said.
The church of Jesus Christ has been persecuted for much of its life. Do we have to be afraid of giving offense to the world simply by being faithful to our Lord? No, we should not be afraid, but rather speak out with love and concern to others about what we believe.
There is growing antagonism in our own country against Christians. I read a report from American Family News this past week how Lizzie Marbach, communications specialist for Ohio Right to Life was fired this month for something she posted on social media.
And what was so damaging that she had to be fired? On her personal Twitter account, now X, she wrote: “There's no hope for any of us outside of having faith in Jesus Christ alone.”
Representative Max Miller (Ohio-R) responded with his own post saying: “This is one of the most bigoted tweets I have every seen.” Miller's wife sits on the board of Ohio Right to Life. That may tell you something.
So what are we to do? Here's a thought: if anyone gives you trouble, love them in return and double your efforts to be a Christian before them.
When interviewed on American Family Radio, Marbach said, “I'm hoping that what I'm going through will really inspire everyone across the country, Christians specifically, to stand up, speak the truth and not be afraid of the consequences.”
Notice again that when Paul asked for the church to pray for God to give him a message to make known the mystery of the gospel, it was... To whom? It must be to his jailers. And he asked for God to give him boldness, even there in jail.
You might think he would have cooled it in jail for his faith, but not Paul. He was wearing the full armor of God, and could hold his ground with anyone. Was he embarrassed to be in jail? No, he wasn't embarrassed, he was ‘an ambassador in chains.’ He saw it as an honor to suffer for Christ.
If persecution comes to us, even if it’s just with some mockery or insults, we should see it as a time to witness for our faith, not to run away or hide.
God’s love shines brightest when it is displayed right beside bigotry and mean spiritedness. And there is plenty of that around today.
Sharing the Gospel is a spiritual war. That is why it is difficult to witness to the people who are close to us about our faith. We love these people and care about their salvation. We know that salvation is in Jesus Christ.
We know that His death on the cross paid the penalty for our sin. We know that everyone needs the forgiveness that He made possible. But still it is hard. So we pray.
I want to encourage you. We are not to grow weary in praying. Just because our prayers are not answered right away doesn’t mean God isn’t going to answer. Sometimes the spiritual resistance is greater – sometimes you have to push harder to get the door opened.
It doesn’t mean that we should quit praying. Don’t give up! We are to persevere in faith. Persistence is a valuable commodity for every area of our Christian life, not just in prayer. God blesses those who persist.
If you are ever tempted to give up, just remember the composer Brahms. It took him seven long years to write his famous Lullaby – maybe he kept falling asleep at the piano!
It takes something special to change the contents of peoples’ hearts so that God’s Word can burst into flames inside of them. That something special is unleashed by our prayers. Because God really does respond to our prayers
We are drawing on the power of God when we pray. We need to follow the example of the apostle Paul. It is important for us to focus on the spiritual battles we are fighting, because we have a message that the world needs to hear. Our message is one of hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus.
So look at what we have learned. Even the great apostle Paul is asking the church to pray for him that he will be bold, making known the good news!
This should encourage those of us who also need boldness to speak for our Lord.
In I Peter 3:15 we are told, “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”
CLOSE:
Kenneth Bailey told the story of teaching some short courses several years ago at the Lutheran Church of Latvia, which used to be under communist control. While there, he observed them interviewing prospective students for ministry, and he asked the interviewers what questions they had for the students.
They said, “The most important question is ‘When were you baptized?’” And he asked why is that so important?
They answered, ‘If they were baptized during the period of Soviet rule, they risked their lives and compromised their futures by being baptized. But if they were baptized after liberation from the Soviets, we have many further questions to ask about why they want to become a minister.”
Bailey concluded, “The Master challenges His servants to live boldly and publicly... using His resources and unafraid of His enemies, confident in the future as His future.”
May we be bold for our Lord now and in the future. Because we know what the future holds for us as Christians. That's why we know that it is worth it all to follow Jesus.
