Dear friends, I encourage you to turn in your Bibles with me to Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4, I'll be reading from verse 2 to verse 6. Let us now hear God's Word. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us that, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. And I encourage you, brothers and sisters, to keep your Bibles open as we look at God's word together. Our verses that we'll be looking at this morning will be verses five to six. Five and six will constitute our text for our sermon this morning. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as I was preparing for this sermon, I read an article on how the early church made use of the opportunities they had in their day. And I came across an article that talked about the plagues that occurred during the first couple centuries of the early church. Pagan Rome, this author writes, was completely ill-prepared to help the sick or deal with mass deaths, plagues that killed thousands of people. The doctors, the pagan priests, and nobles fled infected areas in droves, this author writes. He continues on and says, the best of the Greco-Roman scientists knew of no way to treat epidemics other than to avoid all contact with those who had the disease. And this they did, often evacuating entire towns, being afraid to visit one another. The author continues, in stark contrast to such hopelessness and fear, The Christians showed how their faith made this life, and even death, meaningful. Cyprian, for example, an early church father, almost welcomed the great epidemic of his time, knowing that it was an opportunity for the church to give witness to the hope that was within them. He was so overwhelmed by a sense of confidence that the members of the Alexandrian church were accused of thinking of the plague as a time of festival. They saw it as opportunity. This love took on practical and concrete forms, the author writes. In Rome, the Christians buried not just their own dead, but pagans who had died without funds for a proper burial. They also supplied food for 1,500 poor on a daily basis. In Antioch and Syria, the number of destitute persons being fed by the church had reached 3,000. Church funds were used in special cases to buy the emancipation of Christian slaves. They put feet to their faith. They made the most of every and all opportunities that came their way. In our passage in verse five of chapter four of Colossians, the apostle Paul teaches us how to make the most of every opportunity. Christians must seize the opportunity to walk wisely and to speak graciously to all. The Apostle Paul says at verse 5, that if we are to make the most of every opportunity, we are to walk wisely. He says at verse 5, be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Literally in the Greek language, it reads as follows, in wisdom, walk. In wisdom, walk. and walk this way towards outsiders. The verb to walk can mean to walk around or to walk about. In the Gospels, it's used to talk about Jesus walking around different villages, healing the sick and diseased, preaching the kingdom of God. Jesus walked around. Peter uses it in 1 Peter 5, where the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Same word used, prowling around. In our context, in the Apostle Paul's writings, however, Paul uses the word to refer to the moral life, the Christian's walk of life. For example, at Colossians chapter 1, if you turn with me to Colossians chapter 1, beginning at verse 9. The Apostle says, for this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life that you may walk, is the literal, worthy of the Lord. and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Walk in a manner worthy of the calling. Walk wisely, the apostle says. Live as citizens of his kingdom and not citizens of the kingdom of this world. What is this kingdom? This kingdom of the world. He talks about it in chapter three of Colossians. Promoting sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, things contrary to that which God reveals in his word, things that are contrary to the nature and person of God. The apostle says that the use of this word walk is not something that we take for granted. It is something that we need to do in our everyday Christian living, that we walk by faith and not by sight, and we walk according to his ways and not our ways. We walk in his word and in the faith that we profess in Jesus Christ. This use of the word walk is not new to the Apostle Paul. In fact, it is in the Old Testament scriptures. It is used in the Old Testament in the context of covenant relationship, a relationship between God and his people. You may recall in Genesis chapter 17, verse 1, perhaps, where Abraham is called out of a pagan nation. nation that worships false gods and he is called out by the grace of God and God says to him at Genesis chapter 17 verse 1, I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers. Abraham had faith in God. He believed in the Lord and he was saved by faith alone. He was called out of a pagan land to serve and love the true God. And at Genesis 17, he is given the sign of the covenant of circumcision. The covenant of circumcision, which set Abraham and his descendants apart from every other religion, every other nation in the world. Now that Abraham is in a covenant relationship with God, he is called by God to walk, or to conduct himself, or to live in a manner worthy of God's calling, in a manner that pleases God. And how do we do that? We trust Him and we follow His ways. And that's what Abraham did. That's what we are called to do as Christians. That's what we are called to do. And so when Abraham and his descendants saw the sign of circumcision, they remembered God's promising covenant to them. They would remember the mark of the covenant, that they belong to God. And now God has given us the sign of baptism. And what does baptism signify? The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The cleansing away of sin. And so, we in faith, we look at the baptism that we received by God. And we remember that we've been cleansed from our sins through faith in Him. We remember that we died with Him. And that we put to death our sins. And that we've been raised to new life spiritually in Him. And so now we look at baptism and we say, we need to walk that way. We need to walk as those who have new life in Jesus Christ, not the way in which we used to walk. And Paul says, walk wisely, be wise, walk before outsiders. To the Jew, any non-Jew was considered an outsider. Well, similarly, to the Christian, any non-Christian is an outsider that is outside of the covenant community. But we are called and commanded by God in our text to make the most of every opportunity, to call outsiders to come into the kingdom of his beloved son, through repentance and faith. In Paul's day, non-Christians believed that Christians were atheists. They believed that. The pagans. Because Christians in that day didn't worship stone idols, idols made out of wood, things that were visible and created by man. They worshiped the invisible God. And so they couldn't understand that, and so they thought that Christians were atheists. So gave his people faith to believe in his word that they walked in a manner worthy of the calling. They walked in faith in God's word and in God's son to be a witness and to make use of every opportunity that they had. These pagan nations also thought that Christians were anti-government because they wouldn't pay tribute to Caesar. And how did the Christians respond? Well, they made use of that opportunity. They said, Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. We will pay taxes to the government, but we worship the Lord, not Caesar. And so even in that context, that culture, Christians were being counter-cultural, just like we are called to be counter-cultural and to walk wisely according to the word and ways of God. Boys and girls, young people, wisdom is making good and godly decisions based upon the knowledge and the understanding of what God has revealed to us in his word. For example, earlier we read from the Ten Commandments and God says, children, honor your father and your mother. Is that wise advice from the Lord God Himself? Absolutely. For things will go well with you. There's a promise attached to that commandment. Young people, when God's Word says things like we find in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 33, do not be misled, the Apostle Paul says. Do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. Bad company corrupts good character. So young people, when you find yourself in a situation where sin is creeping at the door, seeking to draw you in through various people you know, what do you do? How do you walk wisely in those situations? You have an opportunity in those moments to be a witness for Jesus Christ and His word by saying no. because God so loved me, he wants me to walk in his ways, to walk wisely before him. And in doing so, you make the most of every opportunity by walking wisely. Wisdom knows and applies the word of God when it comes to who you should date or court, if you do that, or marry. Who are you gonna marry? Who are you gonna date? Who are you gonna court? What kind of wisdom will you receive from that? Where are you going to find wisdom? Seek biblical wisdom and walk in the wisdom of God's word. Because we are a people of the book. That's how they used to refer to Christians back in the early church, in the early centuries. They were people of the book because they drew their wisdom and spiritual strength from the word of God. Christian can have a wealth of biblical knowledge and understanding, but fail to walk in wisdom. They can be scholars and have all the theological points laid out and fail in wisdom, fail to apply God's word and God's ways. Men, are you walking wisely in the workplace? How do you apply wisdom in your daily lives, in your daily situations? Are you walking wisely and being a witness and testimony in the workplace in the way you do business? Are you walking wisely when you're doing your taxes and using that as an opportunity to show the world that we're honest? Christians are supposed to be honest people. that we walk wisely in our family relationships, using those as opportunities to show the world what a Christian family looks like biblically. I remember when I was doing an internship in Phoenix, Arizona. I may have told you this story, but it applies here. A young man got to know the pastor of the church, and this young man was a dance instructor for Arthur Murray. And the pastor invited him over to meet the family and have dinner. And this young man, this was the first time he ever saw an entire family unit sit down together for dinner. The first time in his life we saw a mom and a dad and children eating dinner together. And not only that, but they prayed before dinner and then they had devotions. They read from the Bible after dinner and then they prayed together after their devotions. The pastor and his family made every opportunity here to walk wisely before this person to show them Christ. And this so moved that person to Go to church, hear the word. He repented, believed, and now he's a member of this church, and him and I are good friends now. But praise be to God. Praise be to God. Seize every opportunity to walk wisely before a watching world. One Bible commentator says, these opportunities are to be tirelessly snapped up and used at the expense of effort. See, literally, this phrase, make the most of every opportunity, it literally reads, redeem the time. Redeem the time. Time offers us many opportunities to witness. In fact, you don't need to pray that God gives you opportunities. You need to pray that you're obedient and faithful in doing that which God has called you to do. Because you need his spirit. Without his spirit, we can do nothing. And so we need his grace and mercy to do that, which he's called us to do. These opportunities are not by chance. In fact, the Greek word for time or opportunity implies God's sovereign hand of creating this opportunity for the Christian. Nothing is by chance or fate. It is appointed by the living God, and it is appointed by Him so that you and I would exercise and put feet to our faith and make every opportunity, make the most of every opportunity. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Galatians 6, beginning at verse 9. Galatians 6, verse 9. I'll begin at verse 7 of chapter 6 of Galatians. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, that is, walk in a manner of a sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction. The one who sows to please the Spirit, walks in the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." This is not moralism, congregation. This is not moralism. Be good for goodness sake. Be good that you can be accepted by God and go to heaven. That's not what's being talked about here. He's talking about a faith that saves only faith, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the life everlasting, repenting and turning to Him. But this faith works. This faith works. It does good to the glory of God and not to the glory of self. And so the apostle says at Ephesians chapter 5, verses 15 to 16, he says, be very careful then how you live, how you walk. not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, redeeming the time because the days are evil. We're challenged to walk wisely and make the most of every opportunity. Well, there's more to our Christian witness than walking wisely before outsiders. If we want to make the most of every opportunity, We must speak graciously. Verse six, the Apostle Paul says, let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Our speech should always, not sometimes, not when it's convenient, but always reflect the grace that we've known in our hearts from God. We must speak words of grace. reflecting what God has done in our hearts. God graciously spoke his life-giving word into the lives of his people. We, in turn, must speak gracious words to others, words that promote life, words that promote life. In Paul's day, the same thing was said in the non-Christian world, in the pagan world. The Greeks and Romans gloried in public discourse. They gloried in public speaking. And they often used the same phrase that the Apostle Paul uses here, speaking graciously. Speaking graciously. However, they understood it differently. And Paul puts a twist, a major twist on their understanding. These non-Christians, these pagan Christians, often thought of speaking graciously as something that was witty, something that appealed to the ear, no substance, but it was very, you often hear the phrase, wow, he was very articulate. See, they were all into the articulation of words, not into the substance. They were into being witty. One author says this, by gracious speech, they meant sparkling conversations, speech dotted with witty and clever remarks. We go to 1 Corinthians 2. How did Paul preach the gospel? In fear and trembling. In fact, when he went to churches, he said, I didn't come to you with eloquence of words, with this fancy speech, I didn't come to you like that. In fact, the churches were unimpressed with Paul. They saw his stature. He was unattractive. He wasn't articulate. He wasn't the man that they thought he was. But Paul says, that's a good thing because the power is in God and his word and not in man. The power is in God, lest no man should boast. to speak graciously is explained further by the Apostle Paul when he uses the phrase seasoned with salt, seasoned with salt. In the ancient world, and in Old Testament times, salt was used for a variety of reasons. It was very costly, very valuable. The most common use was for taste, but it also took on symbolic meanings. Today we use it for taste, and if you had a winter like ours, you used it for other reasons. Salt was first used in the Old Testament during these sacrifices and offerings. As I was doing a bit of research on this, in Leviticus chapter 2, we read of the grain offering that the people presented before God. This was an act of worship, of devotion by the people to God. And God says, when you have it prepared, season it with salt, the Lord says. And he does the same with the burnt offering. As you prepare the burnt offering, as you come before me voluntarily and in devotion to me, season it with salt. And in doing so, they're making a permanent covenant with God. There is a covenant between God and his people, seasoned with salt. Well, scripture also has another purpose for salt. It signifies something else. Salt signifies barrenness or desolation, or judgment, or judgment. There are several verses in the Old Testament that refer to this. At Deuteronomy 29, verse 23, Moses writes, the whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It signified desolation and destruction. Boys and girls, when Lot's wife looked back at Sodom and Gomorrah, what happened? She turned into a pillar of salt. She experienced judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah was laid waste for the iniquity of the people. And it was turned into a wasteland of salt and sulfur. Well, Scripture also uses salt in another way. Eating salt with somebody, in relationship with somebody at a table, meant that there was loyalty or friendship between the two parties. Ezra talks about this, where there's loyalty between God's people and the palace of the pagan nation. There's a loyalty between parties. There's a covenant. And in the New Testament, we see this. When Jesus says to his disciples, And you may have heard this before. You've probably heard this, boys and girls. Have salt in yourselves. Christians, have salt in yourselves and be at peace with each other. Be loyal to one another and you will know the peace of God among each other. Have peace among each other. Well, finally, salt signifies life-giving or preserving qualities, life-giving or preserving qualities. Please turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Kings 2 in the Old Testament, 2 Kings 2, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, then 1 and 2 Chronicles. We're going to 2 Chronicles 2 beginning at verse 19. This is from Elisha's narrative. Passage reads, the men of the city said to Elisha, look, our Lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive. Bring me a new bowl, he said, and put salt in it. So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, This is what the Lord says. I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive. And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken. The salt didn't make the water good. God made it good. But the salt symbolized life and preservation. Life and preservation. Christians have the life-giving spirit and the life-giving word, the gospel in them. If you are a Christian in this day, you have the gospel in you, that life-giving message in you through the power of the Holy Spirit, through faith in Jesus Christ. These are preserving qualities given to us by God in His grace. We've been given spiritual food from above, Jesus Christ, the true wisdom of God. And that grace is seasoned with salt. It's given us life. It's given us flavor to something that's bland and flavorless. He's given us new life. And so when we bring this information to bear on Colossians chapter four, verse six, let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt. We are saying, let your words be preserving and flavorful. May our speech become tasteful rather than bitter. May our speech reflect that which God is doing in our hearts by grace alone through faith alone. The Apostle says in Ephesians 4 verse 29, do not let unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen. Dear friends, make the most of every opportunity by speaking graciously to all using words that build up and do not tear down. You know, when I was a child, I remember hearing the words and saying the words, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. I don't know if children still say that nowadays. They may, I don't know. But that statement isn't true. Words do hurt, can hurt. In fact, they hurt more than sticks and stones, boys and girls. They hurt more. They pierce the very soul of the human being and have the potential of crushing the spirit of another. I think of children who grow up in broken homes, abusive parents perhaps. A father who demeans his son and bitters his son, speaks ill at his son. How is that son going to grow up? bitter, angry, rebellious, unless the grace of God intervenes, the mercy of God. Paul talks about this because it starts in the home. Speaking graciously starts in the home. And we use the opportunities we have as families to show the world what a Christian family looks like. Turn with me to Colossians 3, beginning at verse 19. Colossians 3, beginning at verse 19. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh to them. Children, obey your parents in everything for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children or they will become discouraged. That's the consequence of not speaking graciously in the home to those you come in contact with and the various opportunities you have. Speaking graciously by speaking the truth in love. One pastor once said, and I'm paraphrasing, Men, why do we call our wives honey or sweetie when we use words like lemons or limes? When we're spitting out bitter words, sour words, we're not speaking graciously. And this should not happen as we're given opportunities in this world to speak graciously to others. Paul continues, he says, let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. In regards to this section, this last part, so that you may know how to answer everyone, one Bible commentator says, use the right words at the right time to the right individual. And this is wise advice. For example, I think about the relationship between a parent and child again. So many examples and illustrations come out of the family unit. Having more than one child, you may relate. You have to use the right word to the right, or a right word at the right time to the right child. In other words, you speak graciously to all your children, but you use different words for each individual child. And we use opportunities to do this, not only to our family, to our children, to our family members, but also, and as Paul talks about here in our passage, to answer everyone, to answer everyone. Our speech must become attractive and build up begin walking wisely and speaking graciously in our homes and then to everyone outside of our homes, outside of our homes. This makes me think of another passage in scripture which may have come to your mind as well, 1 Peter 3, verse 15. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. In other words, make Christ Lord of your life and heart first and foremost. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have. But we stop there. The text goes on to say, but do this with gentleness and respect. Do this with gentleness and respect. Pastor John Piper challenged his congregation. He asked, why doesn't the world ask Christians to give a reason for the hope that is within them? He goes on to say, because we trust and hope in the same things that they hope for. In our walking wise, in our speaking graciously, are we different in our walk where it's noticeable? And we use those opportunities that God has given to us to bring the gospel, this life giving gospel to people. God uses jars of clay, broken vessels to proclaim this world with this word of God. And if people do not repent and turn to faith in Christ, then the unbeliever, those who do not confess Jesus as Lord and repent and turn to him, they too will be seasoned with salt, will they not? They too will be seasoned with salt. But sadly, it will be a season of judgment. As I mentioned earlier, that signification of salt as desolation and judgment. And so if you are sitting in a pew and you do not know Christ as Lord and Savior, if you have not repented and turned to Him in faith, you will be seasoned with the salt of God's judgment. These are not my words. These are not Christians' words. These are God's words. These are God's words. And God, as He says, will not be mocked. A number of years ago, Sister Ethel went home to be with the Lord. At that time, I was a young Christian and I observed her faith closely. She was very mindful of her Christian obligation to love from the heart and to make the most of every opportunity. Every week, two ladies came to her home to try and convert her to Jehovah's Witness. Ethel spoke to them every week and would eventually invite them in for coffee and snacks, and they would talk about the Bible, about the Word of God. She used wisdom. She waited, got to know them a little bit. Her husband was home at the time, and so she invited them in. So they spoke for weeks, then months. They suddenly stopped coming to her house, and she was curious as to what happened. All of a sudden, a different group of Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on her door. Ethel spoke to them and was curious and asked them, whatever happened to those two ladies who used to come around this neighborhood doing what you're doing? And this group of Jehovah's Witnesses said to her, oh, they're no longer with us. Some old crazy lady converted them to Christianity. Ethel seized every moment to walk wisely toward outsiders and to speak graciously so that she would be able to answer everyone. When we walk wisely before outsiders and speak graciously to all people, we witness with our walk and our words. Brothers and sisters in the Lord, make the most of every opportunity. Make the most, be wise in your walk, in grace speak, so that Christ may be seen in you, the hope of glory. And remember, it's not about you and it's not about me. It's about the glory of God. It's about the work of Jesus Christ. So transforming your walk and mine to the point that people see us and they see Jesus. because it's all about him. It's all about the glory, grace, and love of God flowing out of us. And we want others to know what we know about the Savior. And you know what? These opportunities are certainly times well spent. They are times well spent. And may God give us the grace and mercy to do that which he calls us and commands us to do. now and all the days that he has given us to serve him and love him while we still remain on this earth until he calls us home in glory. Amen. Let's pray. Oh, Father in heaven, we pray that by your grace and your mercy, you would revive us and instill in us, Lord, a passion and desire to make the most of every opportunity to share, to give our lives like the early Christians gave their lives, even to the point of death so that others may know life in Christ. Oh, Lord, forgive us of our apathy, of our laziness, and not seeing the world the way that you see it. And help us, Lord, to move forward, to repent, but move forward in your grace and mercy, to walk by faith and not by sight, to put feet to our faith, to be a people who look differently than what the world looks like. Oh, Lord, apart from you, we can do nothing. And so we ask and plea before your holy throne of grace that you would give us the grace and mercy to do that which you have called us to do as your people. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.