Good morning to all of you. It's a joy to be with you again. And I want to bring you greetings from my pastor, John MacArthur, and the elders of my church, Grace Community Church. We often hear testimony of God's faithfulness in and through your lives as you serve here through your church to reach your own community. And we're certainly grateful for you by way of partnership in the ministry of the gospel around the world. And it's a joy for me to have the privilege of opening God's word to you this morning. I would invite you to take your Bibles and open with me to the book of Colossians. Our text this morning is found in chapter four, verses two through six. As Paul concludes this epistle to the Colossians, he writes in verse two, devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, 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, that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak, Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace as though seasoned with salt so that you will know how you should respond to each person. I confess to you as we come to this text of scripture that my own motivations for missions involvement over the years has been a motivation that is not a biblical motivation. It's been primarily one in its early days that was a motivation that was governed either by self-interest or self-benefit or even by guilt. I grew up in a very fundamentalist, even what you could term a legalistic, church setting, where duty and obedience were the expectations of most believers, often taught and preached outside the context of an understanding of the grace and love of God. And coming to the church often to participate in their evangelism outreach and things like this, back in those days it was door-to-door evangelism or bus ministry or things like this. I have to confess, in my youth, most often the motivation and what compelled me was a sense of guilt, a sense of pressure to do what was good and right. but not a heart that flowed with a love for my neighbor or a love for Christ. It was mostly a sense of proving to others that I was a committed Christian. This morning, I want you to see clearly in scripture that our motivation to be involved in the ministry of the Great Commission cannot be one that's governed by guilt or just duty. And I want you to discover these great truths, to set your heart free, to consider how you can serve God in this regard, to find the great delight and joy that comes in participating in this endeavor from a different motivation. By way of introduction, let me share this story with you, and maybe this will help you appreciate my point today. I have five children, all five of them are teenagers, so every day is filled with shepherding opportunities. A lot of conversations in our home, and those conversations often are talking about patterns of behavior that you might characterize as either sinful or certainly disobedience. And when your kids are young, you instruct them to obey and there's discipline and consequences. And most often you're shaping character because they're not believers and you want them to learn that if they don't obey, there are consequences. And so we do teach them obedience through that means. But as they mature and grow, you want them to have a greater motivation to obey, not just out of fear of consequences or a sense of guilt or duty, but motivated by a love, a love for certainly Christ in time, and at least a love for their parents. And when you see your children mature and they make choices to obey because they love you, this is a far greater joy that a parent finds in seeing their child choose to obey out of that kind of motivation. And Paul addresses this, and we'll see in just a moment, but I was having a conversation with one of my Teenage sons, he's 16 now, he's driving, he's got a lot more independence, but you know what? He still has a difficult time picking up after himself around the house. Too often the conversation is one that has tinges of frustration, either on his part or my wife's part, in trying to remind him and correct him to take responsibility around the home, to just follow through on his chores, follow through on the things that we've clearly instructed him to do as a member of our household. And we were having breakfast and I was raising this issue with him. And I asked him, what's one of the areas that he could grow in with regard to obedience? And his answer was, I want to grow to desire to obey. I said, I like that answer. Let's talk a little bit more about the desire to obey. What informs a desire towards obedience? As we begin to talk about it, I begin to think in my own mind, for us as believers, and particularly with regard to our involvement in evangelism and missions, sometimes we know we're supposed to obey, but we really don't have a desire to obey, if we were honest. And I thought about the spectrum of obedience and motivation, and I realized that often in the Christian life, Sometimes we do obey, but our obedience is governed by a desire for personal benefit. And ultimately what we're saying is we obey because we love ourselves. We're more concerned about our reputation or about the consequences of disobedience. And so we obey, but we obey because we love ourselves. Does that make sense? As we mature and we understand the motivation for love so clear in scripture is that we should be more concerned about loving and serving one another because we love them. And so we grow in our own understanding that our motivation should be a concern for others and not for ourselves. And many of us approach missions and evangelism out of that greater love for others. The lost are destined to spend eternity in anguish, separated from Jesus Christ. We're concerned for their future and their wellbeing. We know Christ and we walk with Him and we want them to not only spend eternity with Christ, but to experience relationship with Him in this life. And so we can be motivated out of a love for others in our obedience in evangelism and missions. And yet there's a greater, motivation, if you will, there's a greater love than personal love, and even a love for others, and that is a love for Jesus Christ. The challenge to myself and to us this morning from the text is, are we motivated ultimately by our love for Jesus Christ, to see the nations reached with his wonderful gospel? More often than not, I have to admit to myself, the reason I don't share Christ with others is I don't love others and I don't love him. And I want us to see in the book of Colossians this morning that Paul elevates the priority of a love for Christ to motivate us to obedience, and particularly for gospel ministry. The book of Colossians, I would say, has as its central theme, the person and honor of Jesus Christ. Christ is the cornerstone of our lives. We see in each chapter, an emphasis on this. In chapter one, verse 10, we're instructed to walk in a manner, what? Worthy of the Lord, consistent with the life and character of Jesus Christ. And what does Paul say there? To please Him in all respects. Not to please ourselves or not to please our neighbor, but to please Christ. And not just to please Him out of a sense of duty, but to honor Him. Because we love Him so much, we want to do that, which pleases Him. Paul goes on then later in the chapter in verses 17 through 18, it so clearly illustrates that Christ is above all. He is the head of all creation and he is deserving to have the position of primacy in our lives and not just our lives, but in all mankind. He deserves to be worshiped as Lord, as God, as creator, as head of all. As Paul impacts that in chapter one, he comes to verse 28, and he says, this then is the focus of our ministry. As we preach the word, as we teach and train others, he says in verse 28, that we may present everyone, what? Mature in Christ. That we may live a holy and sanctified life that puts Christ himself on display. That when people see us, they see Christ. It's not to applaud us, it's not to affirm us, it's not that we find our identity and significance in a proud sense, but simply it's not about us at all. It's about Christ being put on display and that others can see Him and know Him. Paul continues on then in chapter two. in saying to us, just as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord so walk in him. Again, it's the primacy of Jesus Christ that Paul emphasizes. And he reminds us in verse 13 of chapter two that the work of the gospel has resulted so that we've been made alive together with him. This is the source of life that we share. It's the life of Christ in us. In chapter three, he emphasizes this by saying, for your life now is hidden with Christ in God. And in verse 10, he reminds us then, as we live a life that is hidden with Christ, that we are putting on the new self. We are reflecting the image of Christ. It's being renewed. We are being renewed in the knowledge after the image of our own creator. And so our sanctification has as its ultimate purpose, not our benefit, but the benefit and honor of Jesus Christ. Paul's not done, he says in chapter three, verse 17, bringing everything under the lordship of Christ, he says, whatever you do in word or deed, that's inclusive. of all that we possibly can do in the flesh and in this human body, whether we speak or act, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. And then Paul begins to apply this principle in chapter three, verses 18 and following, where he talks and illustrates, describes and illustrates a call to Christ-centered relationships. He talks about the husband and wife relationship, that we're to care for one another, serve one another, love one another, submit to one another, as is fitting, what? In the Lord. We're actually, in the context of our marriage, able to demonstrate the character of Christ in our relationship with Him, in our relationship with our spouse. We see this in verses 18 and 19, and then in verses 20 and 21, He speaks to children. and their obligation to honor and obey their parents. And he describes it this way as the motivation, as is well pleasing to the Lord. It's not done just with the human relationship of spouses or children to parents, but he goes on to talk about employee to an employer and says that we're to do our work as though we're doing it for our master in heaven. We're to work as for the Lord rather than for men. So all through the text of Colossians, what Paul does is he elevates Christ as the ultimate motivation and aim for our lives. And then we come to our text, chapter four, beginning in verse two. And we see in this beautiful prayer of Paul, two aspects that make Christ the greatest motivation in all that we do. The first is a prayer of thanksgiving, thanksgiving for what Christ has done for us. He says, devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving. This is a prayer of thanksgiving, thanksgiving for what God has done on our behalf through Jesus Christ. Paul says here, as we look carefully at this principle, that we are to devote ourselves to prayer. The language here is to be committed in a steadfast fashion. We are to continue in this steadfast fashion. Another way to say it is that we are to be courageously persistent. We are to hold fast in prayer and not let go. This is a common exhortation by Paul in the scriptures. You could think of Ephesians 6, verse 18, where he reminds us to pray at all times. In 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17, he says, pray without ceasing. And again, in Romans 12, verse 12, he says, be devoted to prayer. Paul, on many occasions, reminds us that we are to be constantly in prayer. All throughout the day, throughout the night, we are to be devoted to prayer, persistent commitment to prayer. This persistence is something Christ speaks to as an example of how we're to come to God in prayer. In Luke chapter 11, verses five through 10, it's the testimony and a story really of a widow who continues to persistently appeal to a judge that he would hear and honor her request. And finally, in recognition of her persistence, he answers her request. It's not that God is unloving or is trying to provoke us, that we're persistent. The emphasis is not on God, the emphasis is on us. And the picture of the widow is one who needs to understand that their life is to be devoted to seeking the purpose and honor of God. The persistency is something that illustrates the purity and devotion of our hearts to the purpose of God. And so we come to him in prayer in this fashion. It's true in Luke chapter 18 as well, Christ relates the account of a man who has guests who come to him in the middle of the night and he has nothing to feed them. And this individual rises up, crosses over to his neighbor's home and persistently knocks on the door until he arouses his neighbor from sleep and pleads with him to help him meet the needs of his guest. So throughout scripture, we're reminded that we're to be devoted in prayer, seeking the purposes and honor of God. And this is the language that Paul uses here, this idea of being devoted. This isn't praying once a week. in this fashion, it's a life that's characterized by an ongoing prayer life that is doing what? It's a prayer life that's on alert. It's looking for opportunities to do what? To express gratitude and thanksgiving for what God has done. This is a life that lives daily, moment by moment, in light of the truth of the gospel and what God has done. Paul says to keep alert. To keep alert, this means there's an intentionality. This is not occasional, this is not something that's accidental. This characterizes you in your private communication with God. And he says as you're devoted and you're keeping alert in prayer, that this prayer should be characterized by thanksgiving. This prayer is not characterized by what you need, asking God to meet that need, it's a prayer life that is devoted to expressing gratitude for what He has already given you. This is a picture of an individual who does not take for granted the grace that's been extended to them, but reminds themselves every single day, I am a broken and needy sinner that apart from the abundant and lavish, merciful grace of God, I would have no hope and could do nothing else but in an ongoing way express gratitude to God for what He's done on our behalf. Paul says it earlier in the book in chapter 1, verse 12, he says, giving thanks to the Father. who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in life. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. This is a source of our thanksgiving. We meditate on all that is ours through the gospel and the work of Jesus Christ. So this is not duty bound. This is a heart that is compelled to offer up an unending and unceasing prayer of praise and thanksgiving for what God has done. But not only is this a prayer of thanksgiving, it's also a prayer of opportunity. Not only giving thanks for what Christ has done on our behalf, but what he can do for others. And it's here we see again our motivation, a pure, a higher, more noble motivation for evangelism and missions. In the following verses here, Paul calls the church to be focused on three opportunities to see the gospel advance and Christ honored in the hearts of men and women. Beginning in verse three, And through verse four, we see, first of all, this is a prayer of opportunity to declare Christ. What does Paul say here? Pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ. Your prayers are to be characterized by gratitude for the gospel and how it has been demonstrated on your behalf, and now, he says, let's turn our attention to how Christ is honored as He continues to extend His grace and mercy to those who are yet unreached or unredeemed. Isn't it true in your own life, when you reflect on what God's done for you, you can't help then to desire what He's done for you to be accomplished in those that you know and love. that they too might find the great joy of worshiping and praising Him and expressing to Him all throughout the day of every day of their life such a gratitude for what He can do in drawing near an enemy and offering a message of reconciliation and restoration and the making of peace and granting of forgiveness and the lavishing of His mercy undeserved. And so those who understand the power of the gospel in their own lives are those who, like Paul, are eager to pray and ask that God would advance that great truth in the lives of others, that Christ might be praised. This opportunity to declare Christ, this request, it begins by saying that God may open up a door. And as we look at this, we really see here an affirmation in scripture to the doctrine of predestination. God's election. See, it is God who opens up the heart. It is God who begins the work of regeneration. It's God who grants the faith for man to respond to that gospel message. Paul understands this. He expresses it clearly in his writings. And so it's to be expected in his prayer then, if Christ is to be honored among men, then God has to do the work in the heart to open up the door. It's God who prepares the heart. It's God who determines the time and the occasion for one to respond to the gospel message. Paul uses this phrase, an open door for the gospel, many times in 1 Corinthians 16, verses eight through nine, he writes, I shall remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective service has opened to me. What's he saying? It's God who's gone before me and created the opportunity for the advancement of the gospel message. Again, in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 12, he says this, a wide door has been opened to me at Troas. To whom is Paul giving the credit for paving the way, for opening up an opportunity for the gospel to be extended? It's God who does this. And he leads us by example here in saying our prayers should be asking God to open up those doors. 14 verse 27, at the close of Paul's first missionary journey, he and Barnabas reflecting back could say this, all things that God had with them, those that he had encountered on his journey, and saying this, how it was God who opened up a door of faith to the Gentiles. Do you pray for those gospel opportunities? Do you pray for the occasions that God would give you to declare the gospel? If you want to see Christ honored and glorified, and men and women come to love Him and to know Him, then we need to pray that God would open up these doors. He goes on to say, as the doors open, what is it that He's expecting the opportunity will present? It's an opportunity for the Word of God to be preached. And so we're told here that what we should have by way of an expectation is the preaching of God's Word, the teaching of God's Word. And this is an affirmation that our evangelism methodology can't be driven by slick marketing strategies or creative hook and bait programs where we manipulate people to listen to the gospel, or it's not really about being the most charismatic personality or presenter of the gospel ministry. All of those things are putting man forward. And what Paul's saying here is it's not about us and our ability to be persuasive or convincing or even strategic. We're praying for an opportunity for the Word to be brought to bear on the unredeemed heart. I don't know about you, but sometimes the pressure and guilt and duty that we sense to be faithful in evangelism and missions creates in our own heart a fearfulness. I'm not adequate to meet every argument, to answer any question that may be asked of me. And not only are we characterized by guilt, when we do go out, we're characterized by fear and anxiety. Brothers and sisters, you need to understand, it's the Spirit of God at work in the heart of men and women. He's preparing them to hear the Word. The only issue is this, are you being faithful to declare the Word? I'll give you an example. Early in my life, I mentioned in Sunday school having a chance to go on a missions trip when I was in college to Brazil and how God began to change my heart and perspective on missions. And I had the opportunity to preach as I was sharing out Acts chapter 16, the gospel message. And you know, I felt very confident or more confident standing behind a pulpit or a podium with my notes in front of me, sharing the gospel. But I was not as confident or as bold just going up to somebody in an informal context and beginning a gospel conversation with them. And I realized what I was really most fearful was, was I didn't feel confident that I could, from memory or from my little New Testament, direct people to present the gospel in a clear fashion. And I just devoted myself at that time to begin to memorize key gospel passages. that I could have available as Lord worked even within me by way of recall to share with people. And it's amazing how a devotion to memorizing and setting the Word of God in your heart and studying the Word of God gives you a great freedom to be available to do gospel ministry. You may be like me at that point. You need to put a little time and effort in. have confidence in just a simple gospel outline and how to direct people to scripture, I would appeal to you, devote yourself this day to setting those gospel texts to memory and setting them in your heart and rehearse them so that you can be free to share when those doors do open. But the point is, it's just speaking God's word. That's what God's spirit uses to accomplish God's work. And it releases you from that sense of fear and anxiety to just be a witness, to just be an ambassador of the truth. And so today you might just need to take the practical step of not only praying that God would open up those doors to declare the word, but commit the word. to memory so that you have an understanding and take a little New Testament and take a little gospel track or a three by five card with an outline and always carry it with you in your purse or your pocket and just make sure that you're prepared. This is what Paul's saying, that we are to declare the truth or to speak forth the truth. And his point here is that we need to speak the truth. One of the things that has been popularized in our generation is forms of evangelism that are focused more on not preaching Christ, but just living Christ. And I absolutely believe we should live Christ and put him on display. But at some point you gotta tell people about Christ. And that's what Paul's saying here. We have to declare him. And so he prays that God would grant an open door for the declaration of the truth. Our theme verse this weekend, as we talk about global impact, is found in Romans 16. Those of us who were together last night read this text, and I wanna share it with you again. This is Paul writing at the close of the book of Romans. Listen to what he says. Now to him who is able to establish you, according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith and to the only wise God through Jesus Christ be the glory forever. Paul's ministry of reconciliation was a ministry of declaring or preaching the gospel. And this gospel he refers to as the mystery of Christ. What does that mean? We explain who Christ is. We explain what Christ has done. This is what we need to alert the lost to. The term mystery itself is used multiple times to explain this truth. And it's the idea of knowledge that needs to be revealed so that people can understand this. This is the idea of a mystery that is revealed. And it's used in scripture in a number of ways. Earlier in Colossians 2, verse two through three, it says, the mystery of the incarnate God. And earlier, if you go back and look at John 1, verse 18, it says that Christ, who took on flesh, came and what? He revealed the Father to us. We can look at the life of Christ and see in Him the character of God. He revealed that or made that known. And here, what Paul is saying is we have to give voice in explaining this wonderful truth of who Christ is. What a privilege. What a privilege it is because we understand the mystery. See, the world's understanding, their mind, they have a darkened understanding. It's a mystery to them. And we come along an individual who maybe has or has not heard the name of Jesus Christ. They have or have not heard explanations of faith and religion. They've been exposed to all kinds of false gospels and heresies and untruths. And in that conversation where we declare the word, God uses us to open their eyes, to reveal the mystery, that which was unknown to them beforehand. Is there anything greater that we can do in this life than to be an instrument of God for the opening up of someone's eyes to the person of Jesus Christ? See, if you love Christ, you want people to know him. And not just know them for their own benefit, but they might worship him just as we do. Paul goes on to say it's because of this ministry of declaring the gospel and revealing the mystery of Christ. He says that I have been imprisoned. I have been in prison. We know that during Paul's imprisonment, he actually authored this epistle and three others. And so he's saying, listen, there is cost that comes. But isn't it interesting that even Paul's imprisonment was part of God's sovereign plan for the advancement of the gospel? What do we know by his testimony throughout the New Testament is that there were opportunities for Paul to give testimony of Christ before kings. There were those who were governors, there were those who were guards surrounding him, and there were those of the household of Caesar himself who would come to worship Jesus Christ. Paul looked at his trials as occasions for gospel declaration. Again, Acts chapter 16, remember the account there in Philippi and the earthquake? If you're in prison in the depth and darkness, unjustly arrested, what would your response be when the door swung open? To flee as quickly as possible. Paul doesn't flee, because he has confidence in the sovereignty of God. And even in the midst of that trial, he knows that God has appointed a man to receive the gospel. And that Philippian jailer asks the most important question anyone could ever ask, what must I do to be saved? And that beautiful account where Paul and Silas go with that jailer, they're taken to his home where they're cared for, he declares the mystery of Christ to them, and the Philippian jailer's household comes to faith in Jesus Christ. When we pray for open doors for the preaching of Christ, that may include trials in your life. It may be a financial trial that causes you to engage with certain people, to make decisions, to solve issues, maybe change of employment, whatever it might be, but that trial presents for us open doors for the gospel. Might be a health issue. Mindful of my mother-in-law, she has very, very severe rheumatoid arthritis. She's 80 years old. She and her husband serve as missionaries on the field. She knows why she's on this planet. She's given her life to gospel ministry, loving people and sharing Christ with them. And here she is in her frailty, recently having fallen, broken her back, having just had extremely invasive back surgery. And her thought, lying in bed as she recovers in the hospital, is about her nurses and her roommate. And I remember going to visit her, and I'm interrupting a gospel conversation she's having with her nurse. And I was convicted by that. And I thought, I don't know, they're laying in a bed, suffering in anguish and pain. My first thought would be, Can I make Christ known to those around me? This is what Paul's asking God to do. That he would open up these doors and he goes on to say that we might make it clear in the way that we ought to speak. The terms he's using there, he uses earlier in Acts chapter 20, verse 21, where he's getting ready to leave the city of Ephesus. And as the church has gathered there, he begins to rehearse how he was given the privilege to solemnly, this is the phrase he uses, the words, solemnly testify to Christ. Wow. To give testimony to Christ. This is who he is, and this is what he's done for me, and this is what he came to do for you. We need to be those who are praying for opportunities to give a solemn testimony to declare Jesus Christ. Now, Paul goes on in the text as he has prayed this prayer to then look at the opportunities that we need to anticipate to declare Christ. The second thing we see here that is gospel focus is found in verse five. It says, conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders. making the most of the opportunity. This is translated in the ESV to walk in wisdom. You know, throughout the scriptures, the phrase walking is used, walking in the spirit, that we might bear fruit of Christ's likeness and godliness, the fruit of the spirit. We're called to walk in the light, and the light, of course, is that which penetrates the darkness and reveals the truth about the author of light, which is God himself. We're instructed to not stray off the path of righteousness. And in Galatians 6.1, if somebody does trespass, steps off the path of righteousness, what are we supposed to do in love, in gentleness? Call them back to that path. And so this imagery of walking in wisdom or conducting our lives in wisdom is something that we're very familiar with. And this idea of wisdom is focused not only on knowing the truth, But what? Living the truth. Isn't that the whole emphasis of the book of Proverbs? Talk about a father who instructs his son, but what's his father hoping for? You won't just hear my words, but you will abide by my words. you'll live out this truth principle in your life. And it's the same with regard to our own lives. And so what Paul's saying here is, if you're praying that God would give you the opportunity to declare Christ, you need to anticipate the opportunity to demonstrate Christ. Walking in wisdom is, frankly, the simple idea of living a godly life. living your life in a way that lives out the truth consistent with the character of God. And as we go forward to engage a lost and dying world, to penetrate the darkness, to walk through those open doors, we have to be people who are godly. We have to demonstrate Christ. Paul makes this point earlier in Colossians 1, again, verse 28, saying, we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with what? all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. And our motivation to live a holy life is not just self-benefit. There's something far greater at stake. And that is that we can demonstrate Christ to a dying world. They can see Him in us. And this is Paul's point. He says, we live this way, how? Toward outsiders. Not insiders, but towards outsiders, unbelievers, those who are not members of the church. This is how we're to be in the world, but not of the world. We're to live in such a way that they see Christ in us. And as we do so, we fulfill what Peter says in 1 Peter 2, verse 12. He says, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that As a result of your good deeds, they may come to glorify God in the day of visitation. What's he saying there? As we go out and live life among unbelievers, here he's using the term Gentiles to describe that, we're to keep our behavior excellent. And what he's saying is the standard of excellence is the character of God. This is godliness. And we're to live life, making choices, demonstrating priorities, ethics, convictions that are consistent with the priorities, ethics, and principles revealed in Scripture. And in so doing, we don't look like the world. And people are provoked to ask the simple question, who is the God you know? And that becomes a critical aspect that provides the platform and opportunity for us then to explain or declare the mystery of Christ. You need to understand, I wasn't always like this. I was a hedonist committed to my personal wellbeing at the expense of everybody else. I was a pleasure seeker. I was an idolater. And I met Jesus Christ. and I've repented of my idolatry, I've repented of my pleasure-seeking and self-interest, and now I live for Him. Let me put it this way. When we go out to preach the gospel, it's a beautiful message in which the character of God is most powerfully illustrated. Is not the gospel a message of reconciliation and forgiveness, a making of peace between enemies, where there's a broken relationship. And what Paul is saying here and what Peter is saying in 1 Peter chapter two, and of course there's many other texts we can look at, what he's saying is if you're gonna preach a gospel of reconciliation and forgiveness and peace, you better demonstrate that in your own life towards others who sinned against you. How dare you? How dare you as a church? think that you're gonna have any power in the proclamation of the gospel, any validity of the gospel that promises reconciliation and transformation, if you and your brother can't even be reconciled over a minor offense. The world looks at us and what do they accuse us of? Being hypocrites. And that becomes the excuse that allows them to reject the gospel. See, our lives count in our witness. You have a broken relationship where forgiveness has not been sought or granted over some minor offense. That offense pales in comparison to how offensive you were to God, and yet he forgave you. And when we live this way, where we demonstrate the character of Christ to one another, It gives us the opportunity to explain, yes, I forgave my friend or my neighbor who offended me. And so I asked, why would you do that? Why aren't you seeking vengeance and justice against them? He said, you know what? Because I know a Lord who I am more grossly and greatly offended by my sin. And yet he moved towards me. He sought peace with me. He extended forgiveness to me. And I want to tell you that that's available to you as well. The mercy and compassion and love of God, if you think of the fruit of the Spirit or all the attributes of God, as we are living a godly life, like God, towards one another, it validates and it gives us a foundation for gospel proclamation. And to the extent the lost can point to our lives and say, yeah, you're preaching a message, but you live totally inconsistent with that message. If you can't forgive your friend for a minor offense, why would I believe that your God would forgive me? I believe you, I'm a sinner. I violated his commandments. But why would I believe that God would forgive me such a great offense when you can't even forgive your brother or sister, your neighbor, your friend for such a minor offense? This is what Paul's saying here. We have to pray for the opportunity to demonstrate Christ, to conduct ourselves with wisdom. He goes on to say to make the best use of our time or the most of the opportunity. And what Paul's saying here is there's a sense of urgency. Get serious, church, about living a holy and sanctified life and looking for the opportunities to declare the gospel. The days are numbered. What are you waiting for? This is not a casual commitment. This is an abandonment to steward our days and our time to see the gospel advanced. He goes on then to say, not only is there an opportunity to declare Christ or an opportunity to demonstrate Christ, but there needs to be an opportunity to defend Christ. He says, let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond or answer each person. As we go out into the world to declare and demonstrate Christ, he says, now be prepared to defend the message of Christ, the person of Christ. He says, first of all, your speech needs to be characterized by grace. Paul says in Ephesians 4 verse 29, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, right? But only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. We have to examine our speech. But here, Paul's not saying that we should just be gracious in speech. He's saying that our speech itself must communicate what grace is. We need to give testimony to this great doctrine. And grace, of course, is extending to those what is undeserved. That's why in our daily lives, meeting unkind words with kindness is a simple way to demonstrate grace. And this is especially true in evangelism. When we are attacked or we are criticized or we are falsely accused, do we respond in a proud, self-defensive, argumentative, self-promoting manner? See, it's not about us and defending ourselves. And if we're free of selves and a love for others and a love for Christ, then what we wanna do in our speech is not get caught up in fleshly attitudes and responses, but we wanna simply speak to them in a gracious manner about the grace of God. And so the way we go about gospel proclamation needs to be consistent with our message. And he goes on to say our speech needs to be gracious and it needs to be seasoned with salt, okay? And salt, of course, is used many times even by Christ in Matthew chapter five to talk about the purifying effect. And we're instructed here that our speech should have that same kind of effect. It should be kind and fitting and gentle. It should be wholesome and truthful. It can encourage, but it can also exhort. and call people to repentance. But you can do that in a loving, loving fashion. But the focus here that I wanna look at is, he says, let your speech always be with grace as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. This is the idea here of being prepared to give an answer or an explanation or a defense for the truth that we understand. Turn with me at 1 Peter 3, and we'll read here the familiar words of Peter in verse 15 and following. He says, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you, to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence, and keep a good conscience, so that in the thing which you are slandered, Those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. And then he goes on to bring us back to the point of what Christ did for us. Christ suffered, certainly. And he says here that we are to provide, the Greek word here is talking about the idea of an apology, making a defense for the gospel. The picture is of a courtroom where all the facts are brought forward so that an accurate conclusion can be drawn. And what we do is we bring the facts of who Jesus Christ is and what He's done on the behalf of men, that they may be reconciled to God. And as we do so, we provide that opportunity and power to the Holy Spirit in His convicting work, His illuminating work in their hearts to weigh the facts and draw the conclusion that what has been declared from the Word of God as to who Christ is, is true. It is true. and I must surrender my life to the verdict that Jesus Christ is Lord and demands of me that I submit my life to Him. And so in this text, Paul raises our attention and says, look, the gospel ministry is not one just of duty and guilt. It's not only just a love for the lost, but it's that Christ would have primacy in the life of all men and women. Evidence in our own life as we walk in this world, declared by our own words as we preach Christ so that the other individual can too come to worship and know Him. Friends, are your prayers characterized by thanksgiving persistently throughout the course of the day? Can you almost not help yourself but just express to God your gratitude for what He's done for you. If you've lost sight of that, let me appeal to you to meditate on this truth on a daily basis. I don't think you can conceal the praise of your heart when you meditate on this great truth. It flows out in expression to God. In light of that thanksgiving then, are you praying for the opening of doors to declare Christ? Are you watching for those opportunities? Do you understand the sense of urgency? And are you living a life of holiness so that your gospel message is not hindered or it's not compromised in any way? And then have you prepared yourself to bring the facts to bear in that individual's life so that they might draw the verdict that is necessary for all men and women, and that is, not only that God loves them and that Christ died for them, but he deserves to be their Lord and Savior. This is Paul's passion in the book of Colossians, from chapter one all the way through chapter four, that Christ be elevated, that we would know Christ, that we would imitate Christ, and that we would proclaim Christ. And so what we see here in the closing chapter of this book is a Christ-centered prayer. And I wanna encourage you, I wanna encourage myself that we would have as our greatest interest the honor of Christ. Let that be our motivation, our love for Him. Drive us to share Him with others. and be free of the shackles of guilt and duty and obligation, and be freed by an understanding and meditation and a depth of thanksgiving for the love of Christ, that you cannot help yourself, but to participate and engage and tell others about Him. Let's just have you close your eyes and your hearts for a moment as I pray. and let this truth just set into your heart for a moment. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, our focus this weekend has been on global impact. reaching the nations with the beautiful message of the gospel, seeing disciples made. This morning, we're reminded by Paul's own testimony, who gave his life as the apostle to the Gentiles, reaching nation after nation, seeing churches established, men and women discipled, elders raised up, the preaching of the word accomplished. We see so clearly this morning that His primary interest was that Christ was honored. He had met Christ on that road to Damascus. He had been set free in his own life to serve him and experience your grace abundantly. And he models for us a life of prayer to give thanks to you. My request is that we as your people this morning, have you heard Paul's words, would be characterized by gratitude. That we could not help ourselves but to praise you. And then in turn, look for every opportunity for you to lead us to those who need to know Christ, that they too may praise him. And so we would ask for us that you would open up such doors. and then grant us the faith to step through those doors. As we do so, let us walk in wisdom and holiness and godliness that we might not find any excuse or provide any excuse for others to reject this wonderful message. This is your work to do, and we praise you for that. And we rest in this great confidence that you've appointed this to us. You will strengthen us, you will empower us, and you will accomplish it according to your sovereign plan. And so we praise you now in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.