Colossians 4:2-6 - Intentionality and the Hosts Are Unhinged

Well, welcome back to Strength for the Day.

How are you doing, Bryon?

I'm doing pretty good.

Yeah, how's your week been?

It's been good. My family started up MOPs again, and so they were having lots of fun hanging out with some other kids and some other moms of preschoolers, which is what that stands for.

I was just wondering, like, someone might be watching, and they started up MOPs again, like what? Cleaning house? Yeah.

It's been a couple months and just the house is filthy, so we started up MOPs.

Mopping again.

Yeah.

But no, they've really enjoyed that, and Evelyn was climbing all over all the fun new toys.

Evelyn had something happen?

She did. She is one years old now. Wow.

Is it one years or one year?

Yeah, one year.

It's one year?

Yeah.

Singular.

Singular.

Two years becomes plural.

Yeah.

Okay.

Unless you count any of her time in the womb.

Well, some people do.

Yep.

Yeah, there you go. So she's one and a half now.

One and a half months.

Exactly. Three more months and yeah.

There should be two.

There you go.

Okay.

Congratulations. I've won two birthdays in one year.

All right. Well.

Going for a record. We are going to cut all of this out.

I literally just had somebody. Why? I just had somebody the other day that's like, Pastor, I watched the podcast.

You and Brian just make me laugh. I don't even know if I'm growing, but you guys make me laugh. And then she's like, wait, wait, I'm kidding.

I'm growing. You just make me laugh.

So it's fine. So we're going to get this out.

No, no. Leave it. It's good.

Oh no.

So welcome back to Strength of the Day.

It's been a good week so far, and I'm looking forward to jump in back into our study. And really, we've been studying out the Book of Colossians and studying Paul writing to the believers at Colossi.

Of course, he hadn't been there, and yet he still has a heart for them to grow in the Lord, to know what they have in Christ. He's writing against all of the isms, of course, and you can go back to the previous lessons to catch all of that.

But why don't you tell us where we were at last week and then what we're going to look at today?

Yeah. So last week, we looked at in the Roman culture, and world that the believers were in.

You had all of these hierarchies, and there were expectations that, you know, husbands should kind of just really rule with an iron fist over their wives and children and slaves.

And Paul spoke to them and said, hey, the gospel changes all of this, that you love people. You do not cause your children to despair or to be discouraged. You treat your slaves like you want to be treated because you have a master in heaven.

He talked to the wives who had certain expectations, and he tells them, even though you're in Christ, many of you, we can even read in some other passages, many of you have unbelieving husbands.

As a result, even though now you are free in Christ, submit, because your submission can lead to an open door for the gospel as opposed to, oh, this new cult is just causing people to be anti.

But it's new, like your continued submission to the authority that God has over you can cause there to be wonderful fruit and your husband could become a believer.

Or if your husband is a believer, all the more reason to submit to others as believers are to do to one another, like you have in Ephesians 5 and verse 21. Then he says, children are to obey their parents, and B is learning that one.

He's in that stage right now.

He's in that stage right now. And then you have...

Well, your dad actually called and he's...

I am also still in that stage.

And then they have slaves and masters, that slaves weren't just to be people pleasers, only work when their masters were around, but much as with wives, he says, you know, slaves, you will get a reward from your father in heaven for all the work that

you do, even if on earth your earthly masters aren't treating you as well. God sees and God, he gives the promise that God will exact judgments on those that were harming them and were doing wrong to them.

So he says, serve the Lord because he's really the one that is your master. And so any work that you do, do for him. And then already mentioned, the masters, treat your slaves well, give them what is fair and good because you have a master in heaven.

So.

Yeah, it's all about relationships, right? God has changed every relationship in our approach to it. So looking at that, knowing it, let's transition to today.

Yeah, and today is, it's packed with a lot. So yes, why don't you read Colossians chapter two, verse four, verse two through six, is that right? Yep.

Okay. Why don't you read that and we'll jump into it.

Okay. Devote yourselves to prayer, stay alert in it with thanksgiving. 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, so that I may make it known as I should.

Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.

I know that's just short verses, but as I was looking at this for today, there's so much there.

Yes.

There is just a ton. I mean, our prayer, our relationship with people outside of Christianity, our approach to time and how we use it, and our words, it is all impactful, all there.

So what from these verses, what is one of the first things that just kind of jumps on off the page at you that you would give us today?

Yeah, I think one thing that just jumps out at me is the centrality that Paul places on, okay, we've gone through everything else.

You know who Jesus is, you know what you're supposed to do, you know what your relationships are supposed to be, you know all of this. So for your life, everything you do needs to be thinking about other people and specifically the unsaved.

So when he's talking about prayer, he mentions, pray for us that God may open a door to us for the word to speak the mystery of Christ.

When he tells them to redeem the time, to make the most of their time, he tells them to do it by acting wisely toward outsiders.

So those that do not know Christ, he says, you redeem the time by acting in such a way that's realizing people don't know Jesus, and so that should change your behavior.

And then your speech being gracious, seasoned with salt, is so that we can know how to answer each person.

So every aspect of what we're looking at says, we have a responsibility of witnessing and living a life that proclaims Jesus to those that do not know him. Yeah.

No, that's really good. I actually have never thought about it through that lens, but it does connect, especially even as you continue.

Yes.

And he's writing about all the people that he's reached. There's kind of this focus there. When I look at it, the one word that stands out to me is the word intentionality.

So when you think about all that Paul is writing, it is be intentional. So your prayer, like continue earnestly in prayer, be devoted to prayer. That's an intentional approach, right?

It's not just, did I pray? Oh man, I don't remember if I prayed. No, I know I prayed.

I don't know why, because I intentionally do that every day. I intentionally spend time with the Lord. So, and then he says being vigilant in it with Thanksgiving or having Thanksgiving as an intricate part of it.

That takes intentionality, because if we're not careful, like when we pray, what do we do? We complain a lot.

Yeah.

We complain to the gimmies. We're like, God, like here's all of my life issues. You need to do this.

Yeah. When the gratitude attitude goes a long way. Yeah.

And that takes like forethought. Right? Of course, your kids are still young, but I remember when our kids were probably junior high-ish.

Yeah.

And we're teaching them about prayer.

We'd be like, all right, tell us something you're thankful for. And they'd be like, the day. And I'm like, no.

What is something? But you know what? That's like in us, right?

To just have this negative thinking. Yeah. So there's intentionality in prayer.

Sure.

Second thing I see is that intentionality, of course, the intentionality in prayer continues in verse number three, where he's like, pray for us.

Yep.

Right?

So your aspect of outreach there, but being intentional to pray that God's work would continue.

Yes.

And this is one of the actually only times in the Pauline Epistles that I believe there's only like five or six times that Paul says, pray for us.

Yeah.

But here's what it's always about. It's never like, pray for me and my, right? He's in a jail cell.

Like that's one thing we've already talked about in the first one. Paul was writing this from a jail cell. Yeah.

So our listeners and those watching would remember, if you go back to the first one or two episodes of this, like, him like, hey, I'm praying for you. Now he's like, pray for me, but it's not, pray for me to get out of jail.

It's, you know, if you read it, it's pray for me so that I would know what open doors to walk through and speak for God. So how does that work with this idea of intentionality?

Well, just being intentional in prayer is, I'm continuing in prayer, I'm giving God thanks, and I'm thinking of others in prayer. Yeah. I'm praying for God to work in the lives of others and doors to be open for them.

And then the intentionality continues in verse number five with continuing with wisdom or walking in wisdom with those who are outside. He wrote in another place that we are to walk in wisdom so that unbelievers won't have an accusation against us.

Many people think, oh, that's just written for pastors. But like, it's all Christians. Let's live in such a way that Christians, that you're not dragging the name of Jesus through the mud.

Yeah.

Well, how many times have you heard, oh, all Christians are hypocrites?

Yeah, tons of times.

I think I've probably heard some time before, oh, pastors are hypocrites, which 100% pastors and 1,000,000% be. But-

You're like ratting me. I told you sorry for punching. I'm just kidding.

I didn't punch you.

He didn't punch me. It was Pastor Rob.

True story, I actually did it Rob in the face with my fist. Total accident, he walked into it.

Disqualified from ministry. He's a striker.

Brawler.

He's a brawler. Yeah, so pastors can be hypocrites, but the world doesn't just judge Christianity and Jesus by pastors.

If you claim the name of Jesus, if you're like, oh yeah, you pray before meals and your coworkers see you, your family know or your neighbors know that you go to church, they will judge Jesus by our actions.

And man, what a convicting thought of, I need to walk in wisdom towards outsiders because I don't want them to reject Jesus because I'm a bad imager of who Jesus is.

Yes, and here's the thought, and every listener, every watcher needs to remember this. When it says to walk in wisdom and the fact that we should be intentional about our testimony, that's not legalistic.

Oh, no.

Right, because there's a group of people out there that would say, oh, so now we have to be concerned about what people see, but God only sees the heart.

Like, I've heard that from people, like, no, a Christian can do whatever because God only sees the heart. Or, okay, like, I understand the thought that God sees our heart.

Yes.

But man does look on the outward.

Yes.

So I should be concerned about my testimony and how I carry myself and how the idea of a walk in wisdom toward those that are without. It's have wisdom in my approach in relationships with people outside of Christianity. Yes.

Because it's Matthew 5, right? Glorify God in your works. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.

Yeah.

That's an outward thing.

Yes. So I think it is something that absolutely pleases God when we have right relationships with people who are outside of the church.

Yes. Well, and the other portion of it is this isn't asking some extra above super incredible thing of believers. This is asking believers to act like they believe in the God who says, don't steal.

Yeah.

Be kind.

Yeah. Like all of the good things that we're regularly supposed to do, do them when you're around people that aren't saved.

Yeah.

Because sometimes when believers get around other believers, we can want to act super spiritual.

Right.

And then when we're in our own home, when we're with our family, when we're with our friends, when we're with our coworkers, then we kind of let it down a little bit.

And we don't walk in the spirit maybe in the way that we would when we're around other believers and we go, oh, I better sharpen up. No.

Like if we're around those that do not know Jesus, there is no better time for us to be cognizant of our words and our actions and how we treat people.

Yeah. And you already said this, but how many times have someone said, has someone said to you, like, no, I don't want to be a Christian because I knew a Christian.

Yeah.

And I don't want that. So there's intentionality in prayer, there's intentionality in our approach with people who don't believe. And then I see the intentionality in our time, right?

Redeeming the time, buying back the time, using wisely the time. What did you read the CSB? What's it said?

Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.

So redeeming the time, making the most of it.

So that, like, unfortunately, I wish we could just get up and press a button, auto-program and accomplish everything we need to in the day. But it takes intentionality, right? Every day, I got to intentionally get up and use the day for God.

That takes discipline, it takes desire. Staying on the Ds, it takes drive. We have to have our mind made up.

So when Paul is writing to the believers, here's what's interesting. I was talking with Dennis, our son, in the day about this. Do you realize our culture, we have so much more to do now than they had?

Think about it, you had done farming, six o'clock, seven o'clock at night. What do you do? Daylight's going away, you go home, you light a lamp, you eat dinner, you read, you play a game with your family, play games together and stuff like that.

And then what do you do? You go to bed. You get up at sunrise the next day and you work, and then go to the market.

You know, they didn't have all these, I mean, they had sports, but it wasn't kids leagues, you know, baseball, they didn't have all of that. They didn't have TV, they didn't have social media.

And yet, here's Paul writing, like, even then, redeem the time, use the time wisely. How much more do we need that? And that takes intentionality.

And then the last thing I see, and I don't mean to, I don't know, am I talking the whole time?

No, it was good, it was good.

The last thing I see is that intentionality in our speech, right? Let our speech.

The word let, I would have to look it up, I don't know off top of my head, but other places when the word let is used in Paul, the Pauline Epistles, the word let means to allow, but it's really actually cool.

It's a, if you were to put up a sail on a ship, you would put it up and then allow the wind to blow you where it wills. That's the same word let. It's a sailing word.

And so it is like allowing the Holy Spirit, allowing his words, allow our grace, or excuse me, our speech to be seasoned with grace. Tell me, what does that mean? Like when you read that verse, what does it mean?

A word in due season.

Lots of ones like that where how we're talking, how we talk often matters just as much as what we say. And so where he says there involves both. So our speech is to be gracious.

It is to be filled with grace. That can be a hard thing for us because sometimes we get upset at people who let us down, kids that aren't knowing what they're supposed to, a coworker who drops the ball. You wouldn't know anything about that.

The joke is, I'm the coworker. Let's go punch him in the face. See, this is why the person doesn't know if they're growing.

Because our speech isn't always with grace. But we ought to have a graciousness that how we talk to people, there is no question that we love them and we have their best interests at heart.

And then at the same time, that we would know how we ought to answer every person. That there's no... We're not coming to the conversation going, I know what I'm going to say.

It doesn't matter what they say. But that we would listen and actually dialogue with people.

And then as we allow the Holy Spirit to move, that we allow His tone to be the tone that we're using, and we allow what He brings to our heart and mind as we're dealing with people.

Again, as we're looking at outsiders, as we're looking at doors to be opened, here that we would know how we ought to answer every person. That we have a, okay, God, I'm not coming to this going, I'm going to say this and this and this.

We can have intentionality in what we say, but we allow the Holy Spirit to go. Okay, this is what this person needs.

As you're talking to this person, you can have your list of, you can have your Roman's Road, but maybe there's some other things that maybe you need to bring in, or some things that they need for comfort or for encouragement for a person, and

allowing him to fill our sails that we wouldn't be so stuck to our way. But I would say, God, help me to be gracious, help me to know how to answer the person.

I think that's really good, and it brings back to what you just said, and I know we need to wrap up, but the, a minute ago when I asked you about this verse, these passages, this passage, and you said, you know, it has to do with outsiders, people

who don't know Christ, reaching the lost. And I love when it says that you may know how you ought to answer every man, it's so that, in order that.

So let your speech be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you can always answer when somebody asks a question. So going back to what you said, and this is where I'll wrap up, and we can give a challenge and be done.

Intentional Christian living will bring God-given opportunities. Intentional Christian living will bring God-given opportunities.

You come up with that yourself?

Yeah, I just thought of that. But I really think that's enough.

I think that's a really good thought for these verses because there's a lost and dying world out there, and people are watching my life, and they are curious as to if what I say, I believe, is what I'm living.

When I intentionally pray, look for open doors, redeem the time, walk in wisdom, speak right, like when I'm just following the leadership of the Lord and intentionally living out my Christian life, God's gonna open doors.

So I would say to our listener and our watcher on this, in this week, let's just ask the Lord, God help me to live out an intentional Christian life each day, and because the lost is there. I like how these two thoughts go together.

We didn't even talk about this beforehand. This is totally nats.

That's why this episode was so crazy.

Because we didn't talk beforehand. I just love that thought. There's a lost and dying world out there, so if I can live with intentionality, and God will open doors.

People are gonna notice, and so they're gonna ask, like, hey, why are you that way? Now I can answer every man, because it's Jesus. Anyway, well, why don't you wrap us up?

Yeah, I'd say maybe our thought for strength for the day to day is start off where Paul starts off, prayer.

Yeah.

If you never pray for people to be saved, if you never pray for the gospel to go out, we are far less likely, if we don't ask it from God, we're not as likely to talk about it with others.

So let's have that intentionality first and foremost. Every morning this week, set a reminder on your phone, whatever you do, and pray every morning, God, help me to make the most of today.

Walk in wisdom, pray for the gospel to go out, help me to have grace in my speech. And as we do that, exactly what you said. Say it one more time.

I'd say that an intentional Christian living will bring God-given opportunities.

Love that.

I would encourage you with that. Next week, we may or may not finish out the chapter. We might split it into two.

We might cram it into one if we deeply restrict any talking that Pastor and I do. And we're just now allowed to make any jokes. I don't know if we can do it.

We're not powerful enough.

Super serious.

He doesn't cut up at all. Serious.

Somber. Good word. All right, have a good day.

Talk to you later for the day.