Colossians chapter 4 verses 5 and 6. This is on page 749 in your pew Bible. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." A good reputation is a precious and protected We want to protect our reputation. That's not necessarily sinful or a result of the idolatry of yourself. It's a natural thing and there's room for that. And this is also something we see in many situations. I recall this idea. It's actually been about a year ago now. I had some car trouble. and I couldn't take my vehicle to my normal mechanic and I had to get it towed to the dealership, the Lexus dealership. I had good service there in the past. Long story short, for many reasons that were kind of strange, but for reasons that were still, they should have responded to, I received terrible service. It was bad, really bad. It took them two or three days to get to my vehicle, which is somewhat understandable. But then they dropped the ball and dropped it for another two or three days. And they did something I didn't tell them to do. And then, of course, I was going to be charged an arm and a leg. And when I came back from the family camp, that's how long ago it was, back in L.A., it had been eight, nine days since I dropped it off. And here's this bill. And I think politely and in a Christian way, I said, you know, I'm not doing this. I'm going to take my car insurance, get a free tow, and I'm going to tow it to where I typically go, and this is just, y'all have given me terrible treatment, y'all have done things I've asked not to do, and so my representative said, okay, okay, I understand, I understand. He took me to the cash register, dropped off my bill, as it were, and I'm pulling out my wallet, and I say, you know, what is it? And she says, you're good. The lady at the register said, no, you're good. You don't owe us anything. And I realized that they had a policy. They care so much about their reputation and how they're perceived by customers, those who are outside. In this case, $200, $300 doesn't really mean anything to a Lexus dealership. They want me to give them a good word. And I do. I actually really appreciated that. I thought it was appropriate. And that phenomena, excuse the imperfect parallel again, but God is like that. He's like that in a godly way, of course. He's concerned about how people perceive him and how his people show him to be. His glory, his praise, his honor is something that he is jealous for. And I want you to think about this idea. It's very important for Christians to realize you don't have to be an ordained officer or a preacher to be an ambassador for God and for the Lord Jesus Christ. All of you give Christ a name. Unbelievers put adjectives next to Jesus Christ based on how you live your life, where you work, where you go to school, your neighborhood, etc. With maybe a few exceptions. This is the one place where we are around, 99% of the time, the people of God. And when we leave this building, we're around those who are outside. And God would have us, Paul would have the church in Colossae think about specific considerations in that regard. And I wanna ask you, this sermon is really this, what is your reputation like? Someone who's not a Christian, if I was to meet them or if the person next to you was to meet them and say, what's this person like? Would they have good things to say about you and about your God? Paul is at the end, if you will, of really the substance of his letter to Colossians. This is his last exhortation. Lord willing, we'll look at in the coming weeks these farewells and these greetings. This is the last exhortation. He's been telling the church in Colossae not just that Christ is sufficient and preeminent and a complete Savior, and that He is all that you need for life and salvation. He's also been telling them that He is our standard for life. He's at the center of all the things that we do, whether you're a husband, whether you're a wife, etc. And now he's been speaking again to the whole church, generally giving exhortations. And this, verses 5 and 6, pertains to our behavior and our speech specifically around unbelievers. And the lesson this morning that I want to show you is that when interacting, when Christians interact with unbelievers, they are to take special care that their conduct be wise and that their speech be gracious. When interacting with unbelievers, Christians ought to take special care, special care, that their conduct be wise and their speech be gracious. And I want to bring this lesson to you under two points. Verse five is wise conduct and then verse six, gracious speech. So let's look at verse five for a moment. Verse 5, wise conduct. Verse 5 begins with a metaphor. The verse says, walk in wisdom. Walk in wisdom. Now, this word here is a command. Again, this is an exhortation. He's saying walk. And he's referring to your manner of life, the way you conduct yourself, the decisions that you make, your behavior, if you will. And this is a common way of speaking in the Bible. We do the same thing in our English language. Perhaps you're familiar. Maybe this is something that was peculiar to my youth growing up in grade school and such, but the phrase, you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk? A Christian slogan, if you will. Well, it's just getting at this metaphor. It's a biblical metaphor. Proverbs one, or I'm sorry, Psalms one, verses one through two. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." He's describing life, associations, relationships. It's a metaphor. It's common in Scripture. And as I've mentioned already, he goes on and he says, "...walk in wisdom toward those who are outside." There's a sense in which both verse 5 and 6 apply to church life. But we're going to dial in here More on how you and I interact with unbelievers. Because that's what's in view. Toward those who are outside. This is referring to the kingdom of God. The visible church, if you will. Those who profess faith in their children. The kingdom of God. The visible church. And those who are not in it. Paul speaks in this way in 1 Corinthians 5.12. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?" And in that context he's obviously referring to the church. I think it's useful for us to stop and to just observe biblical thinking, Paul's distinctions. It's appropriate to make good distinctions. There are two types of people. There are those who are in the visible church, and there are those who are outside the visible church. You could perhaps speak in different terms, but as far as those terms go, that's true. And it's useful to notice that, because if you feel like an outsider in this world, or maybe you feel like an insider from the perspective of the church, that's okay. In other words, Now, the idea is there are many ways in which as Christians, because we have a Lord whose name is Jesus and not me, like the rest of the world, we're going to be weird. Do you feel weird? Now, I'm going to talk about this more. We shouldn't try to be weird. There's plenty of ways in which we can not be weird and it's very appropriate. I'm going to talk about being a Jew to Jews and Gentiles to Gentiles in a moment. Or if you like to use biblical language, the Bible describes us as aliens. And kids, we're not talking about creatures with a lot of eyes and a lot of fingers or something, okay? The Bible talks about us being aliens and sojourners. We are not like everyone else here. We have some friends that are already in Ethiopia as missionaries, and they told us before they went, we're going to be the only white folks in this part of Ethiopia. They're going to stand out. They're going to be aliens. Right? And that's how we are. And I want you to mention, I want you to think about that, because of who the Lord is, and because of what He requires of us, we may feel weird. We're inside the church. We're not outside the church. Now, he says to walk in a certain way, and this is where I'm going to focus some time. Think about what Paul could say here. I mean, it's important for us to think about that. He says, walk in wisdom toward those who are outside. He could have said a lot of things, but he wants us to be wise. and how we conduct ourselves. What does it mean to, in this context being those who are aliens and strangers, to be wise? One of the things to think about is this idea of Realizing that people in the world that we might have association with, and in some sense are our friends, can influence us. In other words, the world is not the church, and there's a negative impact we can have. And one of the ways that we need to be wise in is that we are being influenced. Listen, the devil has his own preachers. Okay, the world has its own message. The devil has his own doctrine. His own witnesses and people who are influencing you. And we need to remember this principle. The scriptures talk about your friends and who your friends should be. I'm not against having unbelieving friends. But I hope they're not influencing. I hope you're influencing them. I hope you're not too intimate with them. to where they're starting to rub off on you. Proverbs 13, 20, he who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. It's a foolish thing, it's a naive thing to go through this life and to not have these distinctions. Be wise. Okay, be shrewd. The devil has got his own people and his own message, and he's influencing you. Be wise. Don't go to certain places. Don't be around certain people too much. Be wise. There's another aspect to this I want you to think about. 1 Corinthians 9. You can turn there. I'm going to read a passage. 1 Corinthians 9 verses 19 through 22. A passage that has been somewhat misunderstood. I'm going to describe redeeming the time in the next phrase in this verse in a way that might surprise you. And this, what I'm about to say goes along with that well. First Corinthians 9 verses 19 through 22. The idea here is that we need to keep part of being wise and conducting yourself wise in this unbelieving pagan society. okay, is to keep indifferent things indifferent. We don't want to be weird, and we don't need to be weird. We don't want to create obstacles for the gospel. There's not a good reason to create obstacles for the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 19. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the war. And to the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without law, as without law, not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak, I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." This verse has, like a lot of verses in the Bible, is misunderstood. He's not saying you can kind of do whatever you want when it comes to evangelists. Paul's not saying we can break the law of God. In no case are we to break the law of God or to live unbiblical lives. When it comes in different things, let's not put an obstacle in the way. And this is part of being wise. We want to eliminate obstacles when we interact with unbelievers. I was recently in a situation where I was interacting with a Mormon. I didn't know this person was a Mormon. And I said, do you want some coffee? And he said, I don't drink coffee. And Mormons are apparently against caffeine, which is unbiblical. But I have no right. It's not like I'm required to drink coffee. And I can just put that aside, or maybe I shouldn't have brought it up to promote the conversation. This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about. I don't have a right. I'm not obligated by God's law to drink caffeine. At our old house, we had Muslims. Muslims near to us, and we were beginning to talk with them, and we were about to have them over for dinner. And I said, we're not gonna have any pork. I want you to know that. He's like, yes, please don't have it in the kitchen either. And I was prepared to do that. I mean, we can have pork in Christ, but I'm not obligated to. I need to be to the Jew, okay? I need to be a Jew. And to the weak, I need to be weak. This is part of being wise. We live in a world, a pagan world around pagans, and in order to influence them, which is a theme here in this passage, That was the context of the previous verse, to influence them for the gospel, to keep indifferent things indifferent, and remove unnecessary obstacles. In no way are we to put aside God's law, of course. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Redeeming the time. This phrase is modifying what it means to walk in wisdom. It's elaborating more on what that means. Some translations interpret the Greek more loosely to give it meaning. What does redeeming the time mean? To buy back time. We can't buy time. What does it mean? The ESV, for one example, says to make the most use of your time. That is a biblical idea. There is a measure of fervency we need to have as Christians. We only live once. We don't live once. We need to use our time wisely. The scriptures speak of this. Romans 13, 11 through 12, and do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Today is the day of salvation. Let's seize the day. Carpe diem, right? Seize the day. That's a Christian idea. However, I don't think to me that's actually what's being said here. And it's biblical, and so it's good to think about that. By way of exposition, what Paul is saying here is, he's saying, live in such a way, live in a wise way that you gain time in this evil society. You don't unnecessarily put yourself at physical risk. I want to elaborate on that for a moment. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside redeeming the time. This is a hostile society, a hostile place. It was about to be even more hostile in the first century. Christians were persecuted. physically persecuted. And what he is saying is, by time live in such a way that you don't bring unnecessarily the wrath of wicked men upon you. It is something that I think we don't think about as much as Americans because we are not under physical persecution. We are persecuted in other ways. We are certainly under enormous pressure to cave to the ways of the world. Now this language is consistent with the context here. It is also consistent with Paul's language in Ephesians 5. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." The days are evil. Daniel 2.8, you can reference that. It's another place where this idea is used. Survive. If I can just get through this time. Perhaps you've used that language. If I can just get through this difficult time in my life, I'll be okay. That's the idea. Christ... There were times where Christ fled persecution. Was there not? Was he wrong to do that? Are Christians obligated to be as bold as they have to in a wicked, difficult situation? Did not Paul flee persecution? Are Christian pastors in Saudi Arabia unfaithful? If they don't go to Mecca and proclaim an exclusive gospel in Christ Jesus, they are going to get their heads whacked off. And again, perhaps we don't think about this as much because of our setting, but we're not obligated to put ourselves forward as a target for persecution. Now, I will say that there are going to be times where we will be, even if we walk wisely. And there are times where we have to profess the true faith and we do need to speak up and be willing to face reproach, maybe even some form of persecution. But we don't have to do that. We are able to redeem the time. We're not in the covenanting days in Scotland. It was a reformed and Presbyterian nation. That's not us. Lord willing there will be a time when that comes. For our nation and all the nations. But we are right now in a day of evil day. We need to walk in wisdom. What is your conduct like among outsiders? Are you walking wisely? Well, the scriptures have more to say about this than just our conduct. From the heart, the mouth speaks. A test of someone's godliness and witness has a lot to do with what they say. And there is a sense in which our conduct, that idea includes speech, but Paul elaborates more on speech. And so we need to look at verse 6 as well. wise conduct, but also gracious speech. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." It's interesting that he adds the word always here. Does he really need to say that? Let me be provocative. It's redundant. It's not necessary. But there's something I want you to think about. Why does Paul emphasize the fact that God's people are to always have gracious speech? Perhaps it's because we're prone to, with our mouth, to make a dichotomy in our life. Since I've become a minister, this has even increased, but perhaps you can identify with this. Someone's around you and they know you're a pious Christian, outspoken Christian, And they apologize for their language. I just had this past week, someone apologized to me. I know you're a minister. Forgive my language. And granted, they're unbelievers. But that idea, we can kind of fall into. Do you speak the same way you speak in this building as you speak at work? Something to think about. Double-tongued or two-faced. Hypocrisy. This is something that I think Paul is getting at. Your speech is always to be with grace, no matter where you are, but especially with unbelievers who speak different ways. Let your speech always be with grace. What does it mean to have gracious speech? Again, it's interesting to note that this is what he highlights. We are to have a gentle spirit toward unbelievers. We are to have love for them. We are to identify in our speech compassion for them in their state. Do you remember? Do you keep in your mind that you are saved by grace? These people, whether they be all different types of unbelievers, well-educated and just very much lost, poorly educated and drunk or whatever, All these different types of people, they are what they are because God has not given them grace. And you are what you are because God has given you grace to be who you are. Paul wants us to remember this when we talk with them, when we interact with them, when we share the gospel with them, when we do apologetics formally or informally. I was just recently came in, you know I do street preaching, evangelism and things, and just recently I came into contact with kind of an inappropriate way of doing those type of things. You can go before an abortion clinic and you can plead with people not to go in there. It is emotional. Or people can be very condemning. and forget who they're speaking to. And in our conversations with unbelievers, I think this is what Paul is giving them, being gracious. I mean, they're in a world of sin. Preach the gospel to them. Speak the gospel to them. Be gracious to them. Remember that idea. And I read Acts 17. I think it's a really good example. Paul is a sinner. Okay? Not everything he did was right. But I think in Acts 17 we have a great example of this. This balance between truth and passion. This happy medium, if you will. Notice in Acts 17 verse 16. While Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. He was bothered. And this is a very dark area. But when He spoke to them, He didn't say, you wicked idolaters, repent and turn to Jesus. He actually had that nice gentle balance, very difficult balance, of truth. He didn't speak anything wrong. He wasn't deceptive. That happy balance. He was gracious to them. Listen, this unknown God that you worship, ignorantly, not knowing. Let me tell you about Him. And He presents the gospel to them. Very gracious way of speaking. Is this the way you interact with unbelievers? I struggle with this. I think it's quick. I'm quick to think that I am what I am because I've done it myself. Be gracious with unbelievers, especially the annoying ones. Identify with their slavery, their slaves to Satan. be gracious to them." And again modifying this idea he says, seasoned with salt. This is helpful. Continues to modify our gracious speech. He's using a metaphor. Now I'm not an expert on ancient forms of refrigeration. But this is what he's getting at. Meat They would put salt on meat and it would, as it is today, it would make it taste better. Okay, what do you put on French fries, kids? Besides ketchup? You put salt on French fries. It makes it tastier. Okay? More savory. It also preserved from a corruption the meat. And he's using that metaphor to our speech. Our speech should be tasty. It should be without corruption. Okay? There's a verse in Colossians and Ephesians, as I've done, there's a lot of parallel. with these epistles. Ephesians 4.29 we have the precept, just straightly put. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. There's the corruption part. Okay, you don't have to just speak a four-letter word. You don't have to just speak a four-letter word to go wrong here. Okay, around unbelievers. Certainly not among Christians. Vain speech, just useless speech. I mean there's a place for joking of course. The Bible has jokes in it and satire and things like that. Just fluff. What's the purpose of speaking? Am I trying to have a spiritual conversation with them? I guess I'm bleeding into a little bit the savory aspect, but our speech should be Christian speech. Is your speech seasoned with salt? Do people know you're Christians from the way you talk? The way you talk. You don't have to share the gospel with them for them to know that he's probably a Christian. Does it have a certain taste to it? Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. And again, Paul is continuing to build this idea of gracious speech. What is gracious speech? Well, gracious speech enables you to answer each one. There's two ideas here. The idea of a personalized response. And this is where we see a gospel theme, an evangelistic theme, an apologetic theme here. That you may know how you ought to answer each one. A personalized response. There are certain truths... and even manner of speaking that you should present to some people... as opposed to others. Think about it. Jesus spoke to the religious leaders of the visible church... in a certain way, didn't he? But he spoke to the woman at the well... in a different manner. Because they had different needs. There was a personalized response. Some people are... So stubborn and far off. I think of cults. People come into my door. You're humble and you're never sinful, but at some point you've got to say, listen, you believe a lie. Wake up. But someone else who's more ignorant. more simple. Just explain the gospel to them. Be gentle to them. There is a personalized response. There is also a personalized response in the sense of content. This is part of what it means to be gracious and to know how to answer each one. If I am speaking to a Roman Catholic, there is a lot of things I could talk about. I am not going to get at creation and get very apologetic with them. They get that. They believe in creation. They believe in a God, one God. They don't understand faith. They don't understand works. They don't understand the work of Christ. That's where I'm going to go. If I'm speaking to an atheist or agnostic, I might be more apologetic. I might ask them, why is it wrong to do anything? We're just a bunch of animals. It's a different way of speaking. Perhaps you're thinking to yourself, well Sam, I'm not a pastor. I haven't read a book on apologetics. Part of what this means is maybe you should read a book on apologetics. Maybe you should as a Christian. That you may know how to answer... how you ought to answer each one. He is speaking to the church. And I want to say that you are not under the same obligation... to know the Scriptures and to defend the Scriptures as I am or the other elders. And I want you to know that. But this is... this is an exhortation to the whole church. I want you to think about it. Second Corinthians 8, 7. But as you abound in everything... This is Paul speaking to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 8, 7. But as you abound in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge. I have said many times, and our session has promoted, the reading of scripture. And we encourage you to grow in your knowledge of your faith. You are saved. You may think to yourself, I'm saved. and whether this is a conscious thought or subconscious thought and I'm good to go. But you have need to grow because you're an ambassador and to some degree you need to be able to know how to answer each one. I would say that we live as far as the Christian community goes we live in an age and a time where doctrines kind of frowned upon. Doctrine can be overemphasized but don't be anti-doctrine You want to know doctrine because it anchors you and enables you to think on your feet, interact with the world around you. It helps you to siphon all the errors of the devil. Don't study falsehoods, study the truth to enable you to siphon out the falsehood and enable you to know, have a knowledgeable response, personalized response, and a knowledgeable response. This passage of Scripture is getting at how we live around unbelievers. When Christians interact with unbelievers they ought to take special care that their conduct be wise and their speech gracious. What type of report are people giving of you? When they come and they interact with you, like I interacted with the dealership here in Fresno. Are they giving a good report? Are you representing your Savior well? Is your speech pleasing to Him? Christ, your Savior, He came into this world. He endured all the trials, all the types of trials that you endure, the pain and suffering, that you might be saved. And may we, may we as His people strive, strive to honor Him and to glorify Him with all of our might. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would enable us to be ambassadors for you that are wise in all that we do. and how we conduct ourselves, that we would remember grace and mercy and gentleness as we speak with those who are outside. Father, we pray that you would enable us by your Spirit to be faithful ambassadors for you. God, we ask that you would forgive us to the degree that we have made a dichotomy in our life, that you would forgive us to the degree that we have made Sunday the holy day in how we act, but in other days we can be profane. Father, we ask that you forgive us to the degree that we have a certain vocabulary around unbelievers and a different vocabulary around believers. Enable us to turn from this, to represent you that you may be praised, that your son may be glorified among the nations, that he would not be blasphemed. For we ask in his name and for his glory. Amen.