Living a Prayerful, Wise, and Gracious Life
Do you know this guy? [show picture of master Yoda and keep showing until I read the passage] His name is master Yoda. He is arguably the wisest of the Jedi masters. He speaks slowly and some of his phrases are short but profound.
Short and profound, that is the makeup of our passage today. It presents 3 exhortations that are short and yet profound, important, applicable, relevant.
This passage embedded in the letter from Paul to the Colossians calls you and me to:
- Pray steadfastly
- Manage time wisely (Yoda: “Wisely manage your time you must”)
- Speak graciously
Those are the 3 nuggets of instruction that this passage presents to us today.
Please open your bibles. We will read chapter 4 from the letter of Paul to the Colossians, starting in verse 2.
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak
5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Let us pray
Last week, Kevin preached about life revolving around Christian households, and today we will learn about the Christian life beyond households. Paul, in this passage, instructs the Colossians how to live, how to conduct themselves, and he focuses in particular on three exhortations, encouraging them to:
- Pray steadfastly
- Manage time wisely
- Speak graciously
We will follow that sequence derived from the text. So let’s start with exhortation number 1
1. Pray steadfastly (4:2-4)
Paul starts this section with his first exhortation: “Continue steadfastly in prayer”
You may be wondering: “what does ‘steadfastly’ mean?”. I looked it up and this is what the dictionary says: steadfastly means “strongly and without stopping”
So what Paul is saying is: pray strongly and without stopping, pray steadfastly, tenaciously, constantly, regularly. Persevere, persist and devote yourself to prayer, be resolute, firm and unwavering in your prayers.
Wow! Can you do that?
Based on what Paul says elsewhere, apparently he can. For instance, at the beginning of this same letter to the Colossians, chapter 1:9, he says: “we have not ceased to pray for you”. And in 1 Thessalonians (5:17) he says: “pray without ceasing”
It sounds like Paul prays a lot and he expects Christians to pray a lot, too.
But I’ve always wondered, if he is praying all the time, when does he have time to evangelize, or study, or work? You know, he had a job, just like us, he was a tentmaker.
So when he says: “continue steadfastly in prayer”, does he mean that we should be on our knees all the time? I do not think so, otherwise, we would not have time to do anything else.
Prayer is a sign of dependence on God. God knows what we need before we even open our mouths, but we need to pray as an expression of our humble dependence on him, our need for him in everything we do. Prayer also helps develop and grow our relationship with God.
So this verse does not call us to be on our knees all the time, but to have an intentional, constant, steadfast dependence on God, an orientation toward him, building up our relationship with him.
How does this look practically? If I am at school and have a test, I pray: “Lord please help me remember what I studied”. Or if I am crazy busy at home, I ask: “Lord, please help me, I need your strength, give me patience and grace”. If I am taking a walk after dinner, I pause for a few seconds marveling at the beautiful sunset, while I worship the almighty creator. If I am at work and I am stuck trying to solve this problem, I stop for a few seconds and I acknowledge: “Lord, this problem is too hard for me, but not for you. Would you direct me to the solution?”. If your child gets into an accident and you are rushing to the ER, you cry: “Lord, HELP!” So it doesn’t necessarily need to be long prayers, they can be short.
Whether long or short, you pray steadfastly, constantly, regularly, in complete dependence on God, acknowledging that you need him everywhere, all the time, in all circumstances.
Not only that, but as you “continue steadfastly in prayer” you should be “watchful in it with thanksgiving”. That is what Paul says next: “being watchful in it with thanksgiving”
Watchful means being vigilant and alert, observing closely, with the eyes wide open. And according to this text we should be watchful, looking for reasons to give thanks.
You can picture here a watchman who is vigilantly looking. He is alert, seeking, watching.
“There! Look at that! God is at work! Thank you Lord, Look! Our son demonstrated selflessness, thank you Lord. My friend has been patient and kind, thank you God. My coworker asked me about my faith, thank you Jesus”.
We pray steadfastly, without ceasing on the look for reasons to thank God.
At the same time we also pray for Gospel opportunities. Read with me verse 3: “At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ”
Here, “the word” and “the mystery of Christ” refer to the Gospel. Paul is asking the Colossians to pray that God may open a door to proclaim the Gospel.
Now, if you are like me you are not having Gospel conversations left and right. These opportunities are rare or almost completely absent. You may even assume that evangelism is not your gift and therefore abandon it altogether. Well, you are not alone. At least, I myself am in this boat with you. And I suspect that this boat is full of people like us.
But could it be that we do not have opportunities to share the Gospel, because we are not steadfastly praying and asking God to open the door so we can get these Gospel conversations?
You may recall that back in January we had Scott Redd as guest speaker and he preached from Luke 9. In that message, Scott exhorted all of us to pray that God would give us a heart to proclaim his Kingdom and opportunities to do it.
I remember thinking almost in a dismissive way: “Pfff, sure, as if my petition alone to have opportunities would change much of anything”. I do not recall making the prayer with anticipation or much faith. It was more like: “Ok Lord, the preacher asked me to pray for opportunities, so here I am. Over”. Checkbox marked!
Around that time someone totally random made me aware of a group of Christians at work that I didn’t know existed. It turns out, they are super active and one of their initiatives is to match employees that want to learn more about Christianity or grow in their faith with employees that are willing to disciple them. So I signed up as a discipler and just a few days later I received a list of more than 30 people that wanted to be discipled.
So, let us follow Paul’s instruction, let us also pray that God will open a door to us to declare the mystery of Christ, the word, the Gospel.
Paul continues in verse 3: ”… to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison”. Paul writes this letter from prison. He is captive on account of the Gospel, because of his bold and persistent proclamation of the Gospel, a message that is intensely rejected by the Jews and at best ignored by the Romans. And since they could not silence Paul, now he is in prison.
If you carefully read any letter from Paul, you cannot miss the fact that he is totally and completely devoted to the Gospel. His goal in life is to proclaim it everywhere, even if that costs him his freedom, even his life. For instance, we read in Colossians 1:28-29 “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me”.
Paul’s life revolves around the Gospel. He lives to proclaim it and he is willing to die for it.
What about you? What is it that you are passionate about? What are you willing to live and die for? What is your life centered around? Is it your career? Your family? Your boyfriend? Your girlfriend? Your studies? Your favorite sport? Your house? Your stock? What is it that keeps you up at night or springs you out of bed in the morning? What consumes most of your thoughts, your actions, your mental and physical energy?
For Paul it was Christ and his Gospel!
Now, we are not the apostle Paul, and there are aspects of his role that we are not called to fulfill. But, could it be that through the letters of the New Testament, God is communicating what should also be important, central, essential, critical in our lives?
Yes, we should pray for God to open to us the doors to proclaim the Gospel, and we should be praying that God will give us the desire to look for those doors. So we may walk through our lives, looking around for doors all over the place and then asking God to open one of them, to give us the privilege and the honor to use our mouths to proclaim the sublime, weighty, life-or-death message of the Gospel.
You and I need to pray that God will break through our busyness, lethargy, and ignorance. That he will inflame our affections toward him, so that we live on this earth, centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In verse 4, Paul continues: “that I may make it clear”, that is to make the Gospel clear. So we first pray that God will open the door to proclaim the Gospel, and now we pray that God will give us the ability to proclaim this Gospel with clarity and precision, making it visible and understandable.
Who is equipped for this task? I am not! Are you? Do you feel qualified? Maybe not. That’s why we pray and cry out: “Lord please grant me to proclaim the Gospel and to make it clear, overcome my limitations and by the power of your Spirit let me make it known and intelligible to others”
Summarizing this first exhortation: let us pray steadfastly, firmly and tenaciously, being watchful with thanksgiving, asking God to open doors to proclaim the Gospel, with clarity, precision and passion. That is exhortation number 1. Now…
2. Manage time wisely (4:5)
5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
“Walk in wisdom” Paul exhorts, in particular “toward outsiders”, that is non-Christians, unbelievers. So that when they see how you live, they may notice that there is something radically different about how you approach life. The way you conduct yourself before outsiders, at work, in your neighborhood, at school really matters. Non-Christians should see that your life has a different orientation than the rest of the world.
Specifically, Paul here focuses on how we make use of our time. He says, walk wisely “making the best use of the time”
Time is precious, it is not renewable, you cannot borrow time, you cannot pay it back. Once it is gone it is gone. There will only be one May 5, 2024, and it will never come back.
Therefore, Paul here calls us to make the best use of the time! We need to maximize and optimize how we manage it. That doesn’t mean that we are productivity machines, filling every single second with a meeting or an activity. But it means that we humbly and wisely recognize that time is a scarce resource, that we only have one life, and that we do not know how long it is going to last, and therefore we want to make the best use of every moment we have on this earth, seeking the will of the Lord for our lives, having an eternal perspective, doing what really matters to God.
My children are quickly approaching college age. My oldest just has two more years of high school. Time has gone too fast. It feels like yesterday when all of them were little munchkins laughing and running around the house, and now I have my oldest for just two more years… (sigh). Time goes by and never comes back, and I am acutely aware of that reality. I want to make much of these last two years. I do not want to waste any minute. Everything else can wait. My career development can wait, some pastoral responsibilities can wait, sports can wait … but once my kids leave, they are gone and I cannot go back in time. The realization of their imminent departure sets everything on a different perspective. The way I organize my time and the priorities I set in my calendar, they all are affected as I ponder the near future.
And you know what, that is the same way I should think about time in general. My life is also short and I will not always be here. As the old poem puts it:
Only one life, twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.
How are you walking in life? Would people around you recognize wisdom in the way you spend your time in every sphere?
If you are young, do not waste your time! It is precious. Make the best use of the time. Study hard, work hard, have fun, all for the glory of God. As you go through college, as you start your career, think about how you can maximize your time to reflect and mirror God and honor him with the unique gifts he has granted you. There are new inventions to be developed, new discoveries to be found, many people to be helped, new order to be brought, new planets, and stars and galaxies to be found, observed and admired, as you exercise those God-given gifts, worshiping Him in the journey. Telling others that all things were made by Jesus… created through him and for him. That he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. That in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and that through him all things were reconciled by the blood of his cross.
There is so much to say and so much to do, and so little time. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of your time!
And if you are not young, the weight of this exhortation should feel even more acute. I do not need to tell you about the shortness of life and the exorbitant value of time. Just let me remind you and exhort you: Walk in wisdom in this last season of your life, making the best use of the time. Now
3. Speak graciously (4:6)
6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
The way you speak matters. On the final day, you will give an account of every careless word you spoke (Matthew 12:36)
Paul here exhorts us to be gracious in our speech. Not occasionally, not most of the time, but always, “Let your speech always be gracious”, he says.
A gracious speech is marked by kindness and courtesy, charm and winsomeness.
Our speech should be “seasoned with salt”. What does it mean to be “seasoned with salt”?
I like steak. In fact, I love a good cut, grilled at the right temperature, nicely seasoned, flavorful, juicy steak! I am already feeling hungry right now. I never was trained on how to cook or grill, but I was well trained on eating and enjoying tasteful food. When I started learning how to grill I was worried that the steak would not come out flavorful enough, but I was gladly surprised to realize that seasoning the steak beforehand with the right amount of salt and letting it sit there for a while, can make a huge difference on how the steak tastes after grilling it. You can add more condiments, but salt by itself makes it very tasteful and a delight to the palate.
That is how our speech should be, tasteful and delightful to hear, seasoned with salt.
“So that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” This instruction does not explicitly explain “to answer what”. So it can be applied in general. But if we consider the immediate context about the proclamation of the Gospel, we can apply it to it. That is, when we share and proclaim the Gospel, we should do it graciously and kindly, not with an I-know-it-all or I-am-right-and-you-are-wrong attitude. In fact, that would be in contradiction with the content of the Gospel itself, which is soaking with grace and kindness. So when you are getting into a heated debate about the Gospel, or theology, make sure you check whether you are representing Christ well by letting your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt.
Now the verse does not seem to confine speech to just the proclamation of the Gospel, but also how you should “answer to each person”, on any topic, and any circumstance.
So whether you are debating about politics, sports, or the news, whether you do it at work, school, or at home, let your speech always be gracious.
By the way, this should also apply to social media. Facebook, Twitter, X, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, you name it. The way you communicate and share your thoughts should always be gracious, tasteful and edifying.
Applying this at home is particularly important and relevant. Because you interact with your family on a regular basis, every day, for years and even decades, the way you speak to your children and wife will have a significant impact on them. Therefore let your speech always be gracious at home.
A quick parenthesis here. While preaching in the past, I have mentioned a few times about my propensity to get angry at my kids. Someone pointed out that I speak in very vague terms and some may be left with questions about how things really play out. So I thought it would be relevant here to shed some light on this matter. When I get angry, I do not express my anger physically at all. I do not either use language that is derogatory or harmful. Sometimes, my children do not even notice that I am angry. But I know what is going on inside. I am aware that my tone sometimes is not gracious, seasoned with salt, and I pray that I will grow in this area, so that my attitude will be of patience, grace, kindness, as those influence my speech and communication with my wife and children.
Because it is God himself in this verse who tells us: “Let your speech always be gracious” we want to pay close attention to this exhortation.
Alright, that concludes exhortation number 3.
Some of you may be feeling convicted right now, as you realize that you fall short in some or all these areas: prayer, wise use of time and speech.
But let me remind you that before Paul went into instruction mode, he laid down the foundation of the Gospel in the first half of his letter.
Remember, Jesus paid for all your sins, failures and shortcomings, once and for all.
You were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, but he has now reconciled you in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col 1:21-22)
You do not have to work on these areas, so you may gain or preserve your salvation. You can work to grow on them because you are already saved, and you belong to God, his spirit dwells within you and supplies the power to change.
So let’s ask God to help us and empower us to:
Pray steadfastly, Manage time wisely, Speak graciously
All for the glory of his name.
Let’s pray