Colossians: God's Final Answer to Political Correctness

Christian Communication

I. Two Critical Areas of Christian Communication, (Colossians 4:2-6)

A. Communicating with God , (vs. 1-4)

1. ( v. 2 ), “Devote yourself to prayer, keep alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”
a. First, Paul says to “devote” ourselves to prayer, and not just to “pray”!
1) Prayer, our conversation with God, is something we should be doing ALL THE TIME!
2) ( I Thess. 5:17 ), “Pray without ceasing.” – There is no bad time to pray and there is no good time not to!
3) Re: Scripture Reading, ( Lk. 18:7 ), “…now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?” NO!!!
4) Yet Jesus then asks, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith” like this woman had??!

b. Second, “keep alert in it” = have a wide-eyed awareness in your prayers.
1) No “going through the motions,” “saying my prayers,” etc. – No cliché or rote prayers allowed!
2) We need to constantly be aware (and praying) for physical/spiritual needs.
3) ( Matt. 26:40-41 ), “And He came to His disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘So, you could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'”
3) Notice that Jesus says it is our prayers that strengthen us against temptation!

c. Third, “…an attitude of thanksgiving” expresses a faith in God in all circumstances.
1) We quote ( Rom. 8:28 ) well. Yet do we know its context?
a) ( Rom. 8:18 ), “For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glories that will follow.”
b) ( Rom. 8:36 ), For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
2) Why be thankful for suffering??!, ( Rom. 8:37 ), “But in all these things we overwhelmingly through Him who loved us!”
3) Thankfulness = seeing life from God's side (we need to recognize that the victor's stand is waiting at the end of the race!).



2. ( v. 3 ), “…praying at the same time for us as well”
a. Notice that Paul shows the “otherness” of prayer, i.e., that we need to be making requests for others!
1) Jesus encouraged this same thing, ( Matt. 6:9-13 ), “ Our Father…, Give Us this day…, Forgive Us …, Lead Us not into temptation, but deliver Us …!”
2) ILLUST.: The “Mountain Moving Prayer” list in your bulletin (we can use this as a means to pray for others!).

b. ( v. 4 ), “…that God may open up for us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have been imprisoned; in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”
1) Paul prayed for those things that God would want from him, (evangelism!!).
2) Paul is in prison. But he has found much success wherever God has put him.
a) ( Acts 16:29-30, 33 ), “And the jailor called for lights and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul & Silas, and after he had brought them out [of the jail], he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' He took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his family.”
b) ( Phil. 1:13 ), “…my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else.”
3) Praying for “open doors” demands that we have the faith to walk thru them!


B. Communication with Man , (vs. 5-6)

1. Our Actions , ( v. 5 ), “Conduct yourselves with wisdom towards outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.”
a. “Wisdom” = the practical application of God's word. – ( Matt. 7:24 ), “Everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man.”
1) How a person lives their life earns them the right to be heard!
2) Emerson. “Your life speaks so loud, I can't hear what you are saying.”
3) ( Matt. 5:16 ), “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
4) Therefore, “wise conduct” is conduct that is in keeping with the will of God!

b. God grants us “opportunities” so we may use them to reach others with the “word.”
1) Talking to family – bring them to Jesus, ( Jn. 1:40-42 ), “One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Jesus, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He found his own brother Simon, and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus.”
2) Talking to friends, ( Acts 10:26 ), “On the following day Peter entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius waiting for him, and he called together his family and close friends .”


3) People who are sick, ( Mk. 5:22 ), “One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and upon seeing Him, fell at His feet, and begged Him earnestly, saying, ‘My daughter is sick to the point of death; please come.”'”
4) People who are mourning, ( Jn. 11:23-25 ), “Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother shall rise again.' Martha said to Him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.' Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.'”
5) Everyday God gives us many opportunities, ( II Tim. 4:2 ), “Proclaim the word. Be ready in season and out of season.”

c. Our conduct, “Let your light shine,” may earn us the right to be heard, but “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.”


2. Our Words , ( v. 6 ), “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.”
a. Two qualities need to characterize a Christian's speech;
1) “…speech be with grace” = Our “favor-filled” words should seek to be pleasing unto God!
a) ( Lk. 4:22 ), “All were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips.”
b) Jesus words did not always please His listeners, but they blessed those who heard!
c) ( Eph. 4:15 ), “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, Christ.”
d) ( Eph. 4:29 ), “Let no unwholesome word [profanity, cursing] proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification [building others up].”
2) “…seasoned, as it were, with salt.” = Salt enhances flavor; our words should enhance lives.
a) Do your words make the lives of others bitter, or better?!
b) ( Heb. 10:24 ), “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love & good deeds.”
c) ( Heb. 3:13 ), “Let us encourage one another day after day, as long as it is called, ‘Today.'”
d) ( I Cor. 14:12 ), “…seek to abound for the edification of the church.”

c. A follower of Jesus should be known by how they live and by how they speak!
1) Peter was asked several times on the night of our Lord's trial if he was a follower of Jesus.
2) They stopped asking him after a particular incident. ( Matt. 26:73-74 ), “A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Surely you too are one of them; for the way you talk gives you away.' Then Peter began to curse and swear , ‘I do not know the man!' And the cock crowed.””
3) Do people know we are disciples of Jesus because of the way we talk? Or not?!

CONCLUSIONS:

•  A person's conversion is the blending of their communication with man (our teaching/their confessing Christ) and their communication with God God (baptism).
a. Acts 8:35-38 , “And beginning with this scripture he [Philip] preached Jesus to him [an Ethiopian eunuch] . And they came to a certain body of water, and the eunuch said, ‘Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?' And Philip said, ‘If you elieve with all your heart, you may.' And he responded, ‘I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both got down and went into the
water, Philip as well as the eunuch. And he baptized him.”
b. I Peter 3:21 , “Baptism now saves you – not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a clear conscience – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”