Trinity Baptist Church March 9, 2008
Against the Tide
God�s Open Doors
Colossians 4:2-6
This week I read about a new book which has been on best-seller lists recently. The book was written by a pastor and his wife -- its title is Thirty Days to Live. Apparently it examines the idea of �what would you do?� and �how would you live?� if you knew you only had a short time left.
Our paragraph this morning suggests a similar question to me. It goes like this: If you knew you only had a few weeks or a few months, what would you communicate to people you most care about? What would you leave with them, as kind of a legacy of what matters most to you? What would you say -- about issues that have steered your life and kept you going?
As I read and re-read Paul�s words in this paragraph, I get a strong sense: it�s the sense that as he�s winding down this letter to Christians he�s never met, these are some of his final thoughts. We know that he�s either under house arrest or in a Roman prison. It�s unlikely he�ll survive the Roman justice system. After this paragraph, he will end the letter by describing faithful people -- in his life and in the Colossian church. Essentially, these are some of Paul�s final thoughts.
So what�s on his heart to convey to his readers to remember? More importantly, what�s God saying, to Christians in all generations, through this man whose life will likely end soon?
We�ve heard him tell of the glories of Christ. This letter includes more grand Truth laid out about Jesus Christ than any other book. If you want to know Christ deeply, I�d suggest strongly that you spend serious time studying, maybe memorizing Colossians.
Paul has told his readers Jesus Christ is supreme and without equal -- He is the Creator and therefore He is Sovereign over every spiritual and material realm. Every authority -- whether it�s human, angelic or demonic bows to the rule of the Living Christ. No authority operates outside His ultimate sovereignty.
Paul has taught us that when Jesus was nailed to His cross, all our sin and all our sin�s resulting condemnation was nailed there with Him. And so when Jesus died, sin�s horrific penalty was paid -- fully, finally and freely. The astounding result is -- every one who trusts in Christ�s death is made free; your debts are paid, your future is secure and your hope is glorious. Colossians said, if you trust in Him, you died with Him and you also were raised up with Christ. What�s more -- you now have a share in the inheritance of the only King and Son Who took you in and made you part of His Kingdom. God declares, your past was irrevocably changed, your future is as secure as His Son can make it.
And what about your present? Colossians has challenged us to allow the reality of being in Christ to transform the present -- to live life worthy of who and what God made you be because you know Christ. Paul�s gotten to the nitty-gritty of changes that need to happen -- everyday issues like how we talk and act toward each other. Those need transformation. And, transformation also has to impact the closest relationships -- husband and wife, parent and child, worker and supervisor.
In verses 2-6 here in chapter 4, Paul lays another challenging relationships before us:
this one we have with people who don�t know Christ. First, he says,
1. Give yourselves to prayer. (4:2-4)
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word,
so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;
4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
First, an observation. Notice he doesn�t ask for prayer that he�ll get out of prison, he wants them to pray the gospel will get out. Philippians and this letter indicate that�s precisely what happened. People in prison, imperial guards chained to Paul -- all kinds of people -- heard about Christ through Paul. Prison didn�t curtain the gospel�s proclamation. He says,
be people of prayer. Like him, they have adverse circumstances. The church is threatened by the pagan culture and false religious teaching. The need is to pray. How? And about what? Verses 2-4 give us some insight into Effective prayer:
He says first, Be devoted. Devote yourselves to prayer. Devotion to prayer isn�t the first thing that most of us think about as American Christians. We�re activists -- we want to get busy with something. God says, here�s the pathway to ministering in your world. Be devoted to prayer.
Devote means to grab hold of something and not let go. It�s a lot like two teams grabbing the ends of a long rope to play �Tug of War�. When the tugging starts, people will yell to each other, �don�t give up. Don�t let go!� You hang on because you don�t want to lose or get pulled into mud or something. Paul�s saying, don�t let go of a strong, regular connection to God.
To devote yourself to pray means you�ll keep at it, in spite of what you see happen or not happen.
He�s simply saying, make sure that a constant in your life is your time communicating with God. For some people, that means using a prayer journal, where you write down specifics and you cover them systematically as you pray. For others of us, it means committing to a specific time of prayer with another Christian. It helps me to have three of those in my weekly schedule. As Re-Tool begins to take hold, I hope there will be more times and more significant times of praying -- times when a couple or a few or several people will be together to meet God and ask Him to do deep and good things in us and through us.
Prayer connects the church to her head. It�s the acknowledgement, every time we do it, of what Jesus said in John 15: without Me, you can do nothing.
Maybe you�ve never prayed with other Christians or prayed aloud. You need to learn that. It will take you further in your commitment and in tenacity in spending time with God. I learned to pray at 18 with in a group of Christian students. Together we learned how to ask God to do in us and in other students things that we could never do. We prayed honestly and often and regularly for people by name. Then in the weeks and months that followed, we�d often see God open doors. And He�d predictably, often use one of us as a His representative in an unbelieving student�s life. Don�t miss this -- Paul�s talking in this paragraph about bold Christians having an impact in their world. If that�s what you want, be devoted to prayer.
Then, Stay alert. In 4:2 the word is watchful. That term means stay awake. And he not simply talking about physically staying alert in an early or late prayer time, although that�s obviously a good thing. This call is stand your guard -- to stay vigilant. Why�s that necessary? Because the moment you commit to time in prayer, you�ll get bombarded with distractions.
Noise, the phone, or the kids, your pug dogs, or all the things you have to do that day, all that starts running interference. Sometimes I have to pray out loud. Sometimes I�ll read a verse and pray it back to God aloud to focus my mind. Strangely enough, when my mouth is engaged I get more alert! Maybe you need to do like Marty describes -- take an outdoor walk -- get out and spend time talking to God about opening some doors. The other aspect of alertness is, God will speak while we�re praying. And if we like to hear ourselves talk, we don�t listen too well. But God moves and provides an impulse or thought while we and others pray. So set your heart and mind on �high alert�.
He says to pray effectively Always be thankful. I read about the children of Israel this week -- and I shake my head. Until I remember my own issues. Here are the people God chose and rescued and miraculously, powerfully extracted from Egyptian slavery. They promptly started grumbling and complaining -- for instance because they didn�t have some of the food they said they had enjoyed back under slavery!
Be watchful and thankful. Gratitude should always be part of prayer. Someone said, �gratitude is the doorway to every spiritual benefit�. That�s because God rarely gives you more when ungrateful for what you already have. Thank God for the magnificence of grace in your life. Thank Him for a day that, even though it might be full of temptation and challenge and hard things, is a day you can serve Him on the Earth.
And from this passage is, thank God that He�s moving and active and working in our world. He�s at work all around us -- do you know that? All over the place, He�s touching people by His Spirit, moving them in the direction of faith in His Son -- and we�re to be part of that. The best way, if you want to be in on what God�s doing, is to pray and pray -- pray for people around you, people you�ll encounter today -- pray about their situations -- and keep praying -- but too, pray with your eyes and ears open -- knowing God very likely will speak and lead you. And whatever you do express gratitude.
The obvious question then is Prayer about what? Paul says first,
Pray that God will open doors
Again, Paul�s in prison. But that�s not going to stop his reach with Christ�s message. He�s Christ�s messenger -- he�s been on the front lines of the spiritual war for three decades or so.
This is his life and heart. So, pray for us too, he says, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Colossians told us, the mystery of Christ is code language for the gospel. Paul urges the Christians, ask to blow open some doors. Spiritual doors are opportunities, he�ll say later -- open doors are people in whom God�s Spirit has worked -- they�re situations or circumstance by which God greases the skids, for His gospel to get transmitted. Open doors might be relationships or they might be what we call accidental meetings.
Every day, God�s opening doors. One time Jesus said My Father is working even until now. He also said, we must work, while it is day, because the night is coming when no one can work. That tells me that in every neighborhood, every school, every workplace, every city, every state, God�s doing something. Sure, He might be working in one locale more than another. But God is working. The question is, who�s praying, who�s listening, who�s ready for God�s open doors? Paul testifies, I want to walk through God-opened doors.
Then he tells then, Pray for God�s people to be bold communicators
He�s got a two-part prayer request. He writes, that we may proclaim Christ�s mystery and that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. One need communicators have is boldness; the other is clarity. Romans says, how will they believe if they do not hear? The point is, people must hear in words of Truth, the content of the gospel. The gospel is defined over in 1 Corinthians 15; it says, Christ died for sins�.He was buried and�.He rose again from the dead. The gospel declares God�s Son came in human flesh -- he died for our sin against God;
to prove He was dead, He was buried. But then God raised Him in power from death and now He is the Living Christ and Lord, Someone people can come to know when they trust in Him. The message isn�t difficult, but we can be unclear in its delivery. We also often lack boldness. That�s not something you�d expect Paul to have a problem with, but still he says pray for God to open doors and pray too that we be courageous enough to walk through them to deliver a clear message.
Pray; hang on in prayer. Give serious time to it. When you pray, ask God to advance Christ�s message and His Kingdom. Pray big. Ask Him to take people you know and use them to clearly, boldly get the message into other peoples� lives. I imagine Matt Meschke and Jenny Boll and Anne Garrison would appreciate you praying that for them. We have people in a country we can�t even mention who�d love it if you�d pray this for them. People like Ron and Rachel minister to folks you�d never imagine would have interest in Christ. But they do!
Because people prayed and God opened doors. Ron and Rachel and lots of others are walking through the open doors. Will you take the step to get involved in the great work of praying that around the world and right here in your back yard in Lincoln, God will open doors?
Then, it gets personal. Paul says, don�t just pray for open doors,
2. Live wisely and enter open doors. (4:5)
5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.
Above that word opportunity in your Bible you could write �open door�. So they�re not just for apostles and missionaries -- we too have opportunities. That phrase making the most also gets translated buying up the opportunity. You need to learn to seize them while they�re there.
Here�s where we�d just as soon get a �pass�. We�d be happy to pray for the fire-eating types, like Paul and Jenny and Matt and Ron and Rachel. But, God�s -- uh, He�s not really, working, you know, where I live or go to school, or work.
Jesus said, the Father is working even until now. He said to His men, after the encounter with the Samaritan woman, guys, open your eyes. Lift up your eyes and look on the fields -- they�re white for harvest. I think He�d tell us, you�re looking at your world and people very differently than I am. First, give yourself to prayer; pray for people -- people in your life -- people you encounter all the time -- people you�ll meet today you don�t even know. And ask God to open doors. Then --
Live life before them in a way that reflects Christ�s transformation. Start treating fellow believers well. Be kind and gracious and forbearing. Forgive quickly, don�t gossip, don�t put people down. Love your wife in the power of Christ. Let your husband lead in your marriage. Be a kid who responds to your parents. Work like Christ is your boss, not your supervisor.
In other words, be who Christ made you to be. If that�s not been your commitment, now�s the time to start. Be radically different. And be wise. Insert the right words in conversation. Do good things for people who don�t know Him. Just do the right thing. And live your life every day with God�s wisdom running through the details.
Stop functioning by leaning on your own understanding of what�s right and wrong and good and bad. Live so people will stop and wonder -- what on earth is different about that kid -- or that woman -- or that man?
And then, when God provides opportunities -- and He will -- grab them! Buy them up. Give up your time and your schedule and jump on God-opened doors like a duck on a June bug!
Finally, how should we talk to people who don�t know Christ? Paul says,
3. Always speak with grace and insight. (4:6)
6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
To this point, he�s described the Church as a kind of house of prayer -- here are people who pray -- willingly, consistently, steadily -- asking God to expand the Kingdom, get the gospel out. They should pray, he�s said, for open doors and stay alert all the while for what God is saying, and for His leading as to where they should go or what they ought to do next. And now the call -- don�t just pray, don�t just look for open doors -- you too, walk through them!
You and I need to engage in discussion with unbelievers. How? With gracious, salty words. What�s that involve? At least a couple of things. One is we speak kindly and appropriately to people who don�t believe. The other what comes out of us needs to include the grace-gospel -- that is our message.
Salt here is synonymous with being grace-filled -- being gracious. And notice, let you speech always be with grace. That always is significant. Don�t be the Christian whose mouth spews sarcasm or other kinds of biting words. Paul�s obviously not wanting Christians to be �know-it-all� representatives of Christ either.
His words remind you of Jesus� words to His followers: you are the salt of the earth. Like Jesus, Paul is thinking about salt as both a preservative and a flavor enhancer. Your presence in other peoples� lives -- and your words to them -- about situations and circumstance and relationships -- all kinds of things should make a difference in their thinking. What you say should enhance the flavor of every conversation you have with a non-Christian.
Steps I will take
