Introduction:
A. Last week, we talked about relationships that work and today I want us to talk about witnessing that works.
1. In Colossians 4:2-6, Paul shares some instructions about how to be effective as witnesses for Christ.
2. I want to start by suggesting that being a witness for Christ is not so much about something you do, but is about something you are.
a. Jesus said: “You are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world” (Mt. 5:13-14).
b. Paul wrote: “We are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20).
3. As we will see later in this sermon, one of the keys to effective witnessing is taking advantage of opportunities to share the good news when the opportunity presents itself.
4. I heard about a man who prayed this prayer every morning: “Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please give me a sign to show me who it is.”
a. One day he found himself on a bus when a big, burly man sat next to him.
b. The bus was nearly empty, but this guy sat down right next to the praying man.
c. The timid Christian anxiously waited for his stop so that he could exit the bus.
d. But before he could get away, the big guy burst into tears and cried out, “I need to be saved. I’m a lost sinner and I need the Lord. I need somebody to tell me how to be saved.”
e. The praying man immediately bowed his head and prayed, “Lord, is this a sign?”
5. Yes, that’s a sign and we need to learn how to spot the opportunities that present themselves.
B. Here’s how I want to approach our sermon today.
1. First, I want us to work through our text and draw out the principles we can glean.
2. Then, I want to share the results of my little survey of the congregation and share a few conversion stories.
I. Paul’s Instructions
A. So, as we move into the text and examine Paul’s instructions, we will notice that Paul wasn’t offering a 1-2-3 method of evangelism.
1. Rather, we will notice that Paul was talking about the kind of lifestyle that would enable the Colossians and us to be able to reach people for Jesus.
2. I trust that all of us want to be able to have a witness that works. Right?
B. Paul’s instructions began with learning to “Pray with Perseverance.”
1. All of our efforts to reach out to others ought to be done in a spirit of prayer.
2. Paul wrote: 2 Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains, 4 so that I may make it known as I should. (Col. 4:2-4)
3. The first thing that Paul suggests is that we should be faithful in prayer.
a. Prayer is something we should be devoted to doing, meaning it is something we do regularly or continually.
b. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul commanded them to “pray without ceasing” or “pray continually.”
c. This doesn’t mean that we spend every moment of our lives on our knees in prayer, but it does mean that we walk in conscious fellowship with the Father and pray in our heart as needs arise.
4. The second thing that Paul suggests is that we should be watchful in prayer.
a. This suggests that we remain alert to things around us that need our prayer.
b. The phrase “watch and pray” is often used in the Bible.
c. We must remain alert and ready to pray when needs or opportunities present themselves, or when temptations and traps come at us.
5. A third thing that Paul suggests is that we should be thankful in prayer.
a. Thanksgiving is an important ingredient in effective prayer.
b. There are always so many things for which to be thankful and it does us good to be mindful of them and express them.
c. When we remember that Paul was a prisoner when he wrote this letter, it makes his emphasis on thanksgiving even more powerful – he mentions thankfulness seven times.
d. So, whenever we come before God in prayer, we should come in a spirit of thanksgiving.
6. The final thing that Paul suggests about our prayers is that they ought to be purposeful.
a. Sometimes our prayers are vague or general and that’s okay, but how much better and more effective are our prayers when they are specific.
b. Notice how specific were Paul’s prayer requests for himself.
1. He asked that they pray that he might have open door opportunities.
2. He asked that they pray that he might present the message clearly.
c. Keep in mind that this is the apostle Paul who is asking for these prayers.
1. He was humble enough to know that he needed the prayers of others.
2. And he was focused enough to ask for prayers about kingdom issues not about his imprisonment or trials.
d. As we pray about kingdom issues and the spiritual needs of others, let’s be specific.
1. Let’s pray for open doors of opportunity and for clarity in our presentations.
2. And let’s pray for people by name who we know need to open their hearts and lives to God.
C. Paul’s next instruction has to do with learning to “Wisely take Advantage of Opportunities.”
1. Paul wrote: Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. (Col. 4:5)
2. The NLT translates the verse: Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.
3. Living wisely means that we are trying to walk in a way that honors Jesus and represents Him appropriately.
a. Unbelievers are watching Christians – some are looking for an excuse not to believe, others are looking for a reason to believe.
b. We must walk wisely because our lives have the ability to attract or repel others.
4. I heard about a well-known preacher in Atlanta who actually had someone from his community hire a private detective to investigate the preacher to see if his life matched his preaching.
a. After a period of investigation, the private detective reported that the minister’s life matched his preaching.
b. The man who hired the detective then began listening to the preacher’s teaching and eventually gave his life to Christ.
5. In addition to living wisely, we also need to wisely take advantage of the opportunities as they arise.
a. As we go through our daily lives, God presents us with many opportunities to plant seeds of faith and Scripture.
b. There may be unplanned encounters and unexpected turns in conversation, so we must learn how to recognize them and then wisely take advantage of them.
c. The opportunity may come when someone is going through a difficult situation and we may have a way to carry their burden or serve them.
6. I get frustrated with myself when I later realize that I let an opportunity pass by – doors can open and close so quickly, and unless we act quickly upon the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the opportunity may be lost.
7. Before we move on from this point, let me suggest there is another kind of opportunity that I want us to wisely take advantage of and it is the opportunity to grow in Christ.
a. As followers of Christ, our goal should be to grow in our spiritual knowledge, skill, and strength.
b. We can certainly receive those things individually from our own study, but we can also gain so much from studying together and being helped by the insights and experiences of others.
c. I want to encourage all of us to take advantage of every opportunity to study and fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
d. Participate in our Bible classes and get together with others for fellowship, study and prayer – these things will help you grow and keep you spiritually stong.
D. The final instruction that Paul gave in this section is “Control Your Conversation.”
1. Paul wrote: Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person. (Col. 4:6)
2. In the same way that our conduct can impede our witness, so can our speech.
3. Solomon the wise king, Jesus, James and Paul all taught about the power of our words to do good or to do evil.
4. Paul suggests that our speech should be full of grace.
a. This means that the things we say and how we say them should be full of “pleasantness, attractiveness and charm.”
b. All of these ideas are implicit in the word “grace” or “graceful.”
c. You are probably familiar with the old saying: “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
d. That saying suggests that being pleasant, kind, and gentle (like honey) is far more effective at persuading people, than being harsh, critical, or confrontational (like vinegar).
e. That doesn’t mean that we don’t speak the truth, but we do so in love and lovingly.
5. Paul also suggested that our speech should be seasoned with salt.
a. Our words being seasoned with salt could mean three things.
1. It could mean that our words have a preserving and purifying effect.
2. It could mean that our words are tasteful and satisfying.
3. Or it could mean that our words can create thirst and spark interest.
b. How good it is when our speech makes people want to hear more from us about God.
E. Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 is a good example of taking advantage of an opportunity and having speech that is gracious and seasoned with salt.
1. The apostle John said that Jesus was full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
2. Jesus had the ability to identify with people and communicate with them in such a way that they weren’t offended and were interested in hearing more.
3. When Jesus came upon that Samaritan woman, he could have ignored her or easily offended her, but He did neither.
4. Being God, He knew that she was sinful and lost, after all she had had five husbands and was now shacking up with a man she wasn’t married to.
5. Jesus cared about her and wanted to draw her to the Himself and to salvation.
6. So, He started by asking her to draw Him a drink of water while she was drawing water for herself.
7. He piqued her interest by offering her living water and revealing that He knew private details of her life that He should not have known because he was a stranger.
8. Jesus’ words, full of grace and seasoned with salt, led to the salvation of the woman and her village.
9. Let’s seek to be like Jesus by taking advantage of opportunities and by letting our conversation be full of grace and be seasoned with salt.
II. People’s Conversions
A. This week, I sent out a quick survey by email asking this question: Who or what was involved in helping you come to have a relationship with Jesus and His church?
1. I gave these options for a simple and streamlined response: 1. Family member; 2. Friend; 3. Program on TV, radio, internet, etc.; 4. Book or tract; 5. Other - please describe.
2. I had 32 people respond.
3. Can you guess which one had the highest number of responses? 18 of the 32 (over half) said it was a family member who helped them find Jesus and His church.
4. The next highest number of responses was “friends.” 8 of the 32 said it was a friend who helped them find Jesus and His church.
5. One person put family and friends, so that brings our total for the category of family and friends to 27 out of the 32 who responded.
6. Can you guess which two categories had zero responses? Categories 3 and 4 – no one said they came to have a relationship with Jesus and His church through programs on the TV, radio, internet, book, or tract.
a. That doesn’t mean that that never happens.
b. There have been people who have come to have a relationship with Jesus because of something they saw, heard, or read.
c. But I want us to realize how rare that is by percentage.
7. There were five people who chose the “other” category and they explained that they came to have a relationship with Jesus and His church through people other than a friend or family member – those other people included a counselor, an elder, and some missionaries.
8. Isn’t that amazing everyone from our congregation who responded said they came to know Jesus through the influence of people – people just like you and me.
B. Now let me share a few personal stories of conversions involving people to help us see how God might want to use us in the process of leading others to Christ.
C. Don Galla says that he wasn’t allowed to read the bible as a kid, although he occasionally went to church with his mom.
1. He thought there must be something interesting if not important in that book and so he started reading it and then went looking for a church.
2. Don was 21 years old when he started reading the Bible and he hasn’t stopped reading it since.
D. Mark Condolora said that a friend in got him to start reading the Bible and he attended his friends church a few times, but that was just the start to his investigation into the Bible and the church.
E. Tim Masterson said he studied with an elder of the church who happened to be his girlfriend’s father and that girlfriend ended up becoming his wife.
F. The person who first influenced Ed Grant was someone who Ed picked on in school – I know, it’s hard to imagine Ed not being nice and kind to a person.
1. Ed said a boy named Brian Butterfield was a new student in his middle school class and Ed would knock his books out of his hand and say something unkind to him, but Brian just picked up his books and ignored his nasty comments.
2. One day, Brian overheard Ed telling someone that he had started trapping and had trouble skinning his first muskrat.
3. What did Brian do, the one who Ed had mistreated? Brian offered to come over to Ed’s house and help him skin his muskrat and that’s what he did.
4. Later, some family friends invited Ed to go to the YMCA for an evening of basketball and games.
5. Guess who ended up being there and invited Ed into the game like he was a friend. Yup, Brian!
6. Over the next few weeks, Brian shared the gospel message with Ed and Ed’s life was changed forever.
G. Sue Evans grew up in Michigan and her best friend from high school, named Karen, invited her to go to church with Karen and Karen’s mother.
1. During Sue’s senior year of high school, Karen and Karen’s mother studied with her and Sue committed her life to the Lord and was baptized.
2. Karen continued to be her best friend through college and was her Maid of Honor.
3. Interestingly enough, Karen has had the chance to worship with and serve with Ed and Jean Grant’s daughter, Rachel, at the Church of Christ in Michigan.
H. Antoinette Roberts is from St. Vincent an island in the Caribbean.
1. She was doing a Bible correspondence course and received an email saying that missionaries from the U.S. would be in her country and would love to meet her.
2. During their visit, the missionaries studied with Antoinette and she was baptized.
3. She was only 17 at the time and when her mom learned about her baptism and that she was attending a church of Christ and not the church that her family had been a part of, she forbade her from going to the church of Christ.
4. Brothers from the church of Christ eventually went to Antionette’s home and convinced her mother that they would help Antionette get safely to and from church and she was allowed to go back to worship with the church of Christ.
I. Let me share one other story about someone who became a Christian many years ago.
1. This lady, named Nancy, was working at Wegmans and a very nice customer always made sure to come through Nancy’s check-out lane.
2. One day, Nancy asked the lady, “Why are you also so happy?” and the lady replied, “Because I am a Christian.”
3. From then on, when that lady, named Michelle Cooper, came through Nancy’s line, she would talk about Jesus and the church.
4. Eventually, Nancy came to Wetzel Road and became a Christian.
Conclusion:
A. So, what have we learned today about witnessing that works?
1. I hope we have learned something about the place of prayer, the use of wisdom in seizing opportunities, and the need to have our words be full of grace and seasoned with salt.
B. Ultimately, God has many ways of drawing people to Himself, but many times those ways include people – people just like us.
1. God may work through us to help family, friends, co-workers, school mates, neighbors, and even strangers at the check-out counter, to come to know the Gospel.
2. Our lives can be a witness to them as our lives confirm that faith in Jesus makes a difference.
3. We might use our words to encourage them to read the Bible, join a Bible study, or come with us to worship.
4. Let’s look for the opportunities around us and let’s wisely take advantage of those opportunities.
5. Let’s allow God to use us to populate heaven and depopulate hell.
6. How rewarding it will be someday to be in heaven and have someone thank us for helping them get there, rather than allowing them to stay on that broad road to hell that they were on.
Resources:
Colossians, by Warren Wiersbe, in The Bible Exposition Commentary, Victory Books, 1989
Colossians, by David E. Garland, in the NIV Application Commentary, Zondervan, 1998
Colossians, by Owen D. Olbricht, in the Truth for Today Commentary, Resource Publications, 2005
