Jesus Is Enough - part 8 (Col 4:2-17)
“There Should Be ND in Our Speech”
Jesus IS enough!!! Jesus IS enough!!! >>> Do YOU believe that?
Do YOU live that?
This is week 8 in our study of the book of Colossians - and let me tell you it has been an awesome time in God’s word...
Let’s do a little review....of where we have been - these last 7 weeks....
The First part of this letter - chapters 1 & 2 could be called “JESUS IS ENOUGH...”
In these chapters Paul tells us that - Jesus’ Grace is Enough....
His grace is enough to: Free us from our sins
Rescue us from danger
Brush away our tears
Reconcile us to God
Cloth us with Christ
Remove our guilt
Fill us with hope
Take us to heaven
He also tells us that Jesus’ Lordship is enough and because he is k of k - and l of l - we said, that He‘s Got it covered.. God’s word taught us in week 2 - that;
Jesus is Savior >>> He’s got our salvation covered
Jesus is Creator >>> He ‘s got our life covered
Jesus is the Church >>> He’s got Central covered
Jesus is God >>> He’s got everything covered...
Then he tells -- us that Jesus’ Word is enough - Listen, we don’t need anyone to give us any ‘other’ stuff about God, we got it all right in here....The bible is the FULL and FINAL revelation of God.
The second part of this letter we could call - “Let Go Of The World...” If Jesus is enough then you need to let Go of the world....
AND we do that;
“BY letting heaven fill our thoughts......
“By putting to death - greed & sexual immorality, “Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust and shameful desires...”
“BY removing the grave clothes of old way of life - God’s word says to the Christian, “NOW is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy speech and lies....”
And then we need to put some things on - Christians are to put on; compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love.
The final section of Paul’s letter could be called - “Change The World” - Listen, people who have become convinced that Jesus is enough! People who have let go of the world - people who have put to death and stripped off the old ways of living.... and who have put on the royal garments of Jesus Christ - are now ready to change the world..... How? through lives that are different from those in the world - noticeably different......
God through Paul is teaching that there should be a ND - in four essential areas of our lives.... IN our churches --- In our homes -- in our speech and in our work life....
The last 2 weeks we talked about the first 2 areas.
There should be a ND in the church....When people gathered together at Christ’s Church.... there should be a ND between their assemblies and the worlds assemblies...
In The Church Christ Rules - (Jesus Christ IS the agenda -- He is the ruling and driving force of the church - not anger, rage, slander - AND not our way, our wants, our agenda, our glory or our self....)
In the church we are thankful - when the body of Christ assembles - we don’t a hear a bunch whining, gripping & complaining -- but rather we hear conversations full of thanks & gratitude. People grateful; for the grace the saves them - the blood that redeemed them - the hope that fills them and the presence of Christ that is with them...
In the Church The Word is home - The word of God is comfortable - because we know, love and live it....
In The Church Jesus Is Praised - and as we worship God He is magnified - we realize how big He is - He’s huge - and our faces are changed by being in the presence of one so great!
And In the Church It Is All About Jesus - Jesus is the heart of worship and the heart of the church...
And last week, we talked about how there is to be a ND in our homes - Christians homes are to be different than non-Christian homes - and often time they are not...
In many Christian homes - marriages, attitudes, actions, words, and family relationships are as messed up as those in the world.
But they don’t have to stay that way...As we saw last week we can restore harmony to the home -- How? BY -- Getting our relationship with God right - Honoring one another - being a minister - talking right and resolving conflict.....
Question, how is your home life, right now? - apply those 5 principles and watch it change....for the better.......guaranteed... Okay, Review Over...
TODAY - we are going to study the final words in this letter and talk about how there is to be a ND in our speech.... Next week we will jump back and grab a couple of verses and talk about how there is to be ND - in our work life......
Question - are you ready to change the world? Are you ready to change people’s lives for Christ? Then let’s live lives with a ND......
PRAYER
Have you notice how much people like to talk... Here are some statistics on the average American. If you are the average American you 30 conversations a day and you’ll spend 1/5 of your life talking. In one year your conversations will fill 66 books of 800 pages each. If you’re a man, you speak an average of 20,000 words a day. If you a woman, you speak 30,000 words a day. [like the guy who was asked, “Do you resent that your wife always has the last word? He replied, “No, I’m just glad when she finally gets to it...!”]
A man went into a restaurant and ordered 2 full meals, the waitress said, “You must be hungry” He said, “no one’s for my brother,” and he pulled out of his pocket this little guy about 5 inches tall.
She said, “Is he real?” “Sure” “Can he walk?” He said, “Hey Jake go get me that pack of sugar.” The little guy ran across the table and brought a packet of sugar back. “Can he eat?” “Sure” “hey Jake, eat on of those chips.” Jake climbed up got a chip out of the bowl and started munching on it.
“Can he talk” “Sure” “Jake tell about the time we went hunting in Africa and you called the witch doctor an idiot...”
Our words can get us into trouble.... Listen to what James has to say.
“We can make a large horse turn around and go wherever we want by means of a small bit in it’s mouth. And a tiny rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot wants it to go, even though the winds are strong. SO also, the tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do. A tiny spark set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction, for it is set on fire by hell itself...People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison. SOMETIMES it praises our Lord & Father, and sometimes it breaks out into curses against those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessings and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! DOES a spring of water, bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? CAN you pick olives from a fig tree or figs from a grapevine? NO, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty pool.” Jms 3:3-12 (NLT)
James says that the tongue, that our speech, is powerful -- James tells us in those verses, some of the wrong uses of our tongue. And it is good for us to know and obey these things.
But just as we have repeatedly said in this study of Colossians, it is not enough in Christianity to simply not do the don’ts, to take off the bad --- but rather we need to also, put on the good, and do the do’s. We must replace our bad behavior, with good.
We have talked many times about the wrong uses of the tongue and we are not going to do that today. I’ll think what God has said through James the half brother of Jesus - has done a fine job in summing it up -- Today, we are going to head in a different direction.
Listen, even though the tongue can and is, many times used for bad.... it was designed by God to be used for good.... And just as the tongue is powerful in destruction.... it is equally powerful when used for good. James in the text we just read, says that the tongue can also be like a fresh water spring or a fruitful tree. And, In proverbs we read;
“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing..” Pr 12:18
“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” Pr 16:24
Listen, the tongue isn’t all bad .... It can do great good. And in Colossians 4:2-17 we see 3 ways in which we can use our tongues for good. First,
We Can Use Our Tongue In PRAYER (2-4)
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us to, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should...”
Prayer, is perhaps one of the greatest uses of the gift of speech. And Listen, if Paul who was an apostle felt the need to spend time in prayer, so should we.
Paul in these verses, describes for us the characteristics of a satisfying and spiritual prayer life. If we want our prayer life to be all that it can be we need:
FIRST OF ALL, TO PRAY FAITHFULLY
Paul says that we are to, "DEVOTE OURSELVES TO PRAYER..." What does it mean to be devoted to something? To your family, your career..etc. A devoted family man, spends time, and expends great effort with and on his family. A devoted career man -- spends time and effort on his career.
Listen; When we are devoted to something, there is a strong desire to see something happen in, or with, our lives.
And Understand, there is no substitute for desire...Because without this desire you won’t even get out of the starting gate. You’ll quit long before your hopes are fulfilled or your dreams are realized..
DESIRE IS ESSENTIAL.
Haven’t you ever heard a sportscaster say, "these 2 teams are about the same we’ll just have to see who wants it more"
Charles Lindberg had this kind of desire on May 20, 1927 he flew across the Atlantic from Rhode Island to France. Now he was concerned about a lot things on this trip but his main concern was falling asleep. So he put tobacco under his eye lids to burn his eyes... How badly do you want it...a great prayer life?
At the Olympics in Montreal in 1976 we saw this kind of desire displayed again when the 26 year old Bruce Jenner won the grueling ten day decathlon competition and was acclaimed the worlds greatest athlete. This moment of personal victory and world triumph did not come easily and it did not come without desire. Jenner had trained long and hard for the decathlon after he finished 9th in Munich. It was reported by sportswriters that he trained with nonstop dedication for more than 7 hours each day for 4 years (that’s over 10,000 hours).
Listen, if we want to develop in some area in our life - piano, guitar, basketball, skate boarding -- what do we do? we practice regularly...
And in like manner, a Christian who is devoted to prayer has a strong desire to both spend time, and expend effort, in prayer... He prays more then just occasionally, he prays even: on days other then Sunday and at times other then meals, he even prays when he doesn’t really feel like it, when there is not a crisis -- and even when he doesn’t want something... Prayer is just something he does a lot of.
Question, what motivates people to be devoted? Why would people put so much time and effort into something. For Charles Lindberg it was to be the first to fly across the Atlantic - for Bruce Jenner it was Olympic Gold....
What should motivate us to be devoted to prayer...? Why should we desire to have a consistent prayer life?
Because Through prayer, we have the ear and attention of the All Mighty God (the one was and is - and is to come) - through prayer we stand in the presence of the Infinite being who spoke this entire universe into existence... Through prayer we tap into - we get connected to, the power of God. Because Through prayer great things happen!
Listen; The scriptures overflow with passages teaching that our, almighty, all powerful God; is ready, willing & able to answer the prayers of his followers. The miracles of Israel’s exodus from Egypt & journey to the promise land, were all answers to prayer. So were Jesus’ miracles of stilling storms, providing food, healing the sick and raising the dead. And as the early church formed, as it grew and spread throughout the world. God answered the believers continual prayers, for healing and deliverance.
Never forget that God’s power, can change circumstances and relationships. His power, can help us face life’s daily struggles. It can heal psychological & physical problems, remove marital obstructions, meet financial needs - in fact, it can handle any kind of difficulty, dilemma or discouragement....
You see, when we work we work - but when we pray - God works.... Listen, God’s supernatural power, is available to praying people who are convicted at the core of their being, that He can & wants to, make a difference....
OUR PRAYING MUST ALSO BE WATCHFUL
We must be awake and alert as we pray. The phrase "WATCH AND PRAY" is used often in the Bible. We find it first being used in Bible history when Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem, after the Jewish people had returned to the city following their exile in Babylon. As they worked at re-building the walls their enemies tried to discourage and prevent them...
And in Nehemiah 4:9 we read how Nehemiah handled this situation, "BUT WE PRAYED TO OUR GOD AND POSTED A WATCH DAY AND NIGHT TO MEET THE THREAT." They prayed to God and they also kept watching, keeping their eyes open to see what their enemies were up to.
Jesus, used this phrase, "watch and pray" in the garden...Remember? He was praying before His arrest and he wanted His friends to be there with Him, AND to be there for Him, Mark records, "THEN HE RETURNED TO HIS DISCIPLES AND FOUND THEM SLEEPING. `SIMON,’ HE SAID TO PETER, `ARE YOU ASLEEP? COULD YOU NOT KEEP WATCH FOR ONE HOUR? WATCH AND PRAY SO THAT YOU WILL NOT FALL INTO TEMPTATION.’ THE SPIRIT IS WILLING BUT THE BODY IS WEAK."
Okay, so we are commanded to be watchful or alert when we pray -- but what does that mean? Alert to what?
For one thing like Nehemiah - we need to be alert to what our enemy (satan) is up to... Because one thing is for sure, satan does not want us to build or rebuild our relationship with God, or with others for that matter...
In addition, we need to be alert to our own vulnerabilities... we need to be alert to our own weakness and temptations to sin so that we can ask God to strengthen us, so that we do not fall asleep in our garden and sin against God.
And we also need to be alert to our brothers and sisters... Alert to their needs, their hurts and their pain, so that we can lift them up in prayer...
Question Are you alert to the needs of those even sitting right next to you? Do you think they have any needs? Let’s start something today and try to keep it going -- It will be called PRAY RIGHT! And what we will mean by "pray right" is that every week following Sunday’s service you will pray for the person to your right.... And if your right is the wall pray for the individual across the room in you row....
We need to pray >> faithfully, watchfully - and
WE ALSO NEED TO PRAY THANKFULLY
Thanksgiving is an essential part of successful praying...
Question Why should we be thankful when we pray? What is there to be thankful about?
How about that we have the privilege to enter the throne room of the One True, Almighty, All Powerful, All Knowing , All Present -- KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS..." Thankful that we can bring our concern directly to God....That as Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:8; “Give all your worries and cares to the God, for he cares about what happens to you.”
We should also pray thankfully; because we know that God; will do what is best -- -- has the power to deliver, and has promised to work all things out for Good for His people.
Finally we should pray thankfully, because he has answered so many of our prayers before......
Another characteristic of a powerful prayer life is
TO PRAY WITH PURPOSE
Paul said, "AND PRAY FOR US TOO..."
Too often our prayers are vague and general... "LORD BLESS THIS CHURCH, LORD BLESS THE MISSIONARIES...ETC."
It is so much better to pray for specific needs and for specific people... Do you pray for this church? Do you pray for the leaders? Do you pray for specific leaders? (If you are alert and see a need or weakness in a leader which do you do more, pray about it or talk about it?).
Also When we pray with purpose, our prayers are not random, illogical, or directionaless requests, but rather -- they are a focused laser of intercession about what’s most important.
Question; Did you notice what Paul didn’t ask the Colossians to pray for? He didn’t ask them pray for His chains to be loosened, relief from his suffering, or for the prison doors to be opened.
Rather Paul prayed for the doors of opportunity to be opened for his sharing of the Gospel.... You see, Paul’s prayer life was focused on what was of prime importance, on that which is eternal... Saving the lost. Prayer is a great use of our tongue we need to:
PRAY FAITHFULLY? WATCHFULLY,
THANKFULLY AND PURPOSELY?
And finally we need to pray with POWER.... Listen there is little power in dull, listless, lethargic, half hearted ... insincere prayers.
We can and should pray with power, because we know that In Christ we have been given access to God in prayer... “...let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.” (Heb 4:16) And God, both desires and expects us to pray.... Our heavenly Father desires to hear about His children’s needs....
And we can and should pray with Power, because God says, "Great things happen when believing people pray..."
One of the best things we can do with our tongue is to pray... and even if we pray in our hearts, we are still using words even if we don’t say them audibly...
WE CAN USE OUR TONGUE IN
Proclaiming The Message Of Jesus (Col 4:3-6)
“And pray for us to, too, that God will open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
Yes an excellent use of the tongue is to proclaim the message of Christ...
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST?
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God...”
John 3:16-18 (NLT)
The message of Jesus is that through His sacrifice we can escape the coming wrath of God and have eternal life. Listen, There are many people in the world, even people who we know, who are outside of Christ. And what you & I have been commissioned to do, is to bring them inside Christ, and out of danger. To rescue them from the flood waters of sin.
NOW, Can you think of better use of our tongue - then - to tell people about Jesus Christ, to tell them that - They matter to God - That they are special to God - That They are the one that Jesus loves -- that Jesus wants to take away their sins and bring them back home to God and prepare an awesome home for them in heaven.... In your outline circle, “make the most of every opportunity....”
You & I encounter opportunities to share Jesus Christ all the time - and we need to make the most of every one of them. And to do that Paul tells us that we must do 2 things....
First, We Must Watch Our Walk
Paul writes; “Be wise is the way you act toward outsiders.....”
Now, the Greek word that is translated “act” in the NIV, is the word for walk... And walk is frequently used in the bible as a metaphor of how we live our lives...
It was important for Christians in Paul’s day to walk wisely: Because Christians were considered atheists; because they worshiped no visible gods -- they were considered unpatriotic because they did not burn incense to the emperor and they were considered immoral because they meet behind closed doors....
As far as most outsiders were concerned, Christians already had several strikes against them.... So Paul warns them, not to do things that will perpetuate these attitudes... Not to do things that would prevent or hinder the sharing of the message.
Paul says we are to walk wisely....
Again, walking wisely, refers to our daily life. Listen, those who need Jesus watch Christians and some are very critical of us. Therefore there must be nothing in our lives that would jeopardize our testimony.
Walking wisely, includes such things as: not saying or doing anything that would make it difficult to share the Gospel.... (For example if I go to a restaurant on Friday and I am rude and ugly to my waitress -- If someone cuts me off in traffic and I yell & scream at them) >>> And let’s say they both show up in church Sunday morning -- will they listen to my message of Christ? No, I already have three strikes against me because I wasn’t walking wisely... And I have may have lost a tremendous opportunity.
Walking in wisdom also includes such things as doing our work well, paying our bills and keeping our promises and being a nice and decent person... (what kind of testimony does a Christian who is an undependable worker, who doesn’t pay their bills, doesn’t keep his word -- and is rude and unkind). ANSWER INEFFECTIVE
Walking in wisely’ may give us an opportunity to gain a hearing, or it can kept us from losing our hearing, because of the way we live....
Let me say on more thing about waking wisely.... We are at Central are trying to walk wisely - as we try to spread the Gospel to those who need salvation - 49 people so far this year!!!
You see, like the Christians in Paul’s day as far most of those in the world are concerned, we already have three strikes against us -- Many in the world who don’t know but need Jesus; think that church is boring; that the music is out of date; that the message are stale and irrelevant, that the people are uptight and unfriendly, that all we talk about is wanting their money; and they definitely don’t think that church is a place where you could have any fun....
We know that this how many people think about church - and at Central we are striving to blow that serotype away -- when people drop in for Sunday’s services we want people to discover that church can be different. That the atmosphere can be casual, the music uplifting, the messages relevant and the people friendly...
We want people who need Jesus to feel comfortable - we want them to know that Church is not about wearing certain clothes - knowing special terminology - or being in on some special secret or ritual... it‘s simply about a bunch of imperfect people saved by Jesus hanging out together - praising God, studying the word -- trying to be more like Him...
Watch Our Speech
But as important as our walk is, there does come a time when our walk must become talk -- when we will have to share the message with those who need Jesus. Sooner or later we are going to have to pull the trigger.... Sooner rather than later we will have to tell people WHY our walk is the way it is - tell them how to meet Jesus.
And Paul has some advice for our speech as well.....
The Bible says that we are to let our speech be "full of grace."
Listen, When our speech is controlled by grace, it points to Christ and glorifies the Lord. This means that we must have grace in our hearts, because it is from the heart Jesus says, that the mouth speaks.. AND with grace in our hearts and on our lips, we will be a faithful witnesses, and not judges or prosecuting attorneys!!
Among all the statements about Jesus in Ps 45 is this: "GRACE POURED FROM HIS LIPS."
When your speech is full of grace:
--we will emphasize more of God’s saving grace that is available to people, then His judgment.
--we will be like Christ who though they hurled insults at Him, he did retaliate.
--we will as The Bible says in Eph. 4:15, "speak the truth in love..."
Our speech is also to be seasoned with salt....
What was salt used for in the days of the New Testament? It was used to preserve and to add flavor.
And when our speech is seasoned with salt..... Our speech will be pure, honest and wholesome... and it will also be full of flavor and substance, AND it will be worth listening to.
WHEN WE WALK WISELY (live like Jesus and work to take away barriers) -- WHEN OUR SPEECH IS FULL OF GRACE (WE PEOPLE CAN SENSE OUR GENUINE LOVE AND CONCERN FOR THEIR SALVATION) AND WHEN OUR SPEECH IS SEASONED WITH SALT (HONEST SINCERE WORDS) THEN WE WILL MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY THAT WE HAVE WITH OUTSIDERS, AND WE WILL BE MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE IN PROCLAIMING THE MESSAGE.
A THIRD USE OF OUR TONGUE THAT PAUL TEACHES US IS THAT OF
Praising Our Fellow Christians
We are told throughout the scriptures not to tear each other down but rather to ld each other up -- and one of the best ways to build others up is to praise them and speak well of them... (Barnabas Board)
That’s what Paul does in verses 7-17 (check them out when you get home)
He praises Tychicus -- he calls him a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant.
He praises Onesimus as a faithful and dear brother...
He praises Aristarachus, Mark and Justus as, fellow workers in the kingdom of God and as comforters to Paul....
He praises Epaphras for his prayer life....
You see, Paul looked for opportunities to speak a good word about his brothers and sisters who worked with him in the struggle for God, he look for ways to praise them publicly and so should we....
Let’s use our tongues to praise each other and express our gratitude for the work others do and the life they live....Let’s look for opportunities to brag on, and encourage each other....
Before you leave today say something good to or about someone who is working in the Kingdom here in this place .... It is a great way to use our tongue... And I think if we really start doing it, it just might get contagious.
LET’S USE OUR TONGUES IN PRAYER
IN PROCLAIMING THE MESSAGE OF REDEMPTION IN JESUS CHRIST
IN PRAISING OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST
