St. John's Evangelical Lutheran - Mukwonago

IIA1     Paul wrote this letter to the congregation situated in Colosse.  He wrote it in response to a visit from the pastor of the congregation.  Paul had to send a letter back because he couldn’t go himself.  Anybody know why he couldn’t go himself?  He was in prison.  Why was he in prison?  Because he had publicly taught that Jesus was the Savior, the Son of God.  That had stirred up enough opposition that Paul had to be rescued from a lynch mob and held in protective custody.  He had appealed to the imperial court.  He was under house arrest, awaiting his hearing. 

  2 3“Pray for us, 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.   4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”

This sounds a little strange.  To whom could Paul proclaim the message about Christ clearly, if he was a prisoner?    First, to the Roman soldiers guarding him.  These were the elite of the Roman army.  High ranking experienced leaders who would go back out into the active duty army.  People who had great influence in the military.   People who would be in positions to bring Jesus to others, if they themselves were brought to trust that Jesus lived, and died and rose for them. 

  3        Second, to the citizens of Rome.  Paul was under protective custody.  He was under house arrest.  He was not in some dark, dungeon somewhere.   People who wanted to could visit him regularly.      People could bring their friends to visit if they wanted to.  This was the center of the world of its day.  These people would go back out into the other parts of the empire again for a variety of reasons.  People who could bring Jesus to the far reaches of the empire, if they themselves were brought from being strangers to God into God’s family through the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. 

  4        Third.  Paul was going to have a hearing before the imperial court.  We don’t know for sure if the emperor himself presided or if one of his closest representatives actually was the judge at the trial.  But, either way, Paul was going to be given an opportunity to explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people who were in charge of the most powerful empire of the western world of its day.  People who could change the course of history.  People who could clear the way for the Gospel into the empire, if the LORD had cleared a pathway into their hearts through Jesus. 

  B1      Paul was asking for their prayers, but he was interested in a particular mentality for his readers.  Paul always taught people what Jesus taught people.    Christians are responsible for sharing Jesus with others.  Since Jesus isn’t here Himself anymore physically to tell people that He lived and died and rose for them, He has told us we are to inform people of that. 

    2      The problem, of course,  is that we can’t get to the “entire world” and inform “all nations” about Jesus ourselves.  So, at some point in our lives somebody has to teach us what Paul was teaching the Colossian Christians.  We can share Jesus with other people through other people.  The Colossians could share the Gospel with the prison guards, the citizens of Rome and the imperial court through Paul.  Thus Paul’s prayer.  3“Pray for us, 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.   4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”

  C1   How can I share Jesus with my neighbors?  Pray for the Pauls in this world.

 “LORD, my coworker has a good friend who is a Christian.  That friend has much better

 rapport with my coworker than I do.  Please give that friend the wisdom to share Your

forgiveness, holiness and eternal life with my coworker.”  That’s a good prayer.            

    2      How can I share Jesus with my neighbors?  Be actively involved in the ministries of St John’s.  Bring that friend to the Revelation concert on Feb 20 where the friend will hear about Jesus in song.  Bring that friend to Christmas Break Activity Day where that friend will hear that Jesus is the Savior from the devotions.  Give your friends an opportunity to hear about Jesus from your fellow Christians here at St. John’s

   3       How can I share Jesus with my neighbors?   By using 10% of your money to support the sharing of Jesus with people through the ministries of people here at St John’s, the ministries of people in the WELS mission programs throughout the United States and in many other countries in our world. 

  Recap:    What is a wise action you can do for the benefit of your neighbor?  Talk about Jesus to them through others.                    

IIIA1    5 “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders.”   First we need to define who outsiders are. Who are they?  Not family members.   Not Christian family members.  Next we need to define what wise actions are.  I always think of “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” when the Bible uses the word “wise.”  What do you think  wise actions would be?  Actions that God would want His people to do.  What kind of actions does God want His people to do?  Jesus said it: “This is how they will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”

  2        “Make the most of every opportunity.”   How often should we be doing actions that benefit the people around us?  Whenever there is an opportunity.  How do we know when there is an opportunity?  You have to be looking for them.  If you are not looking for opportunities, what is going to happen?  You never find one.  If you are looking for opportunities, what is often going to happen?  You are going to be involved in the creation of the opportunities.  

   B1     6"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  Did anybody notice a quick shift between verses 5 and 6?  Verse five Paul mentioned actions.  And then in 6 he immediately switches over to talking about words. Anybody have any guess as to why?  Because our actions are only preliminary to our carrying out our real purpose in life.  And our real purpose in life has to do with words.  What is it?  Sharing the truth about Jesus with others. 

    2      We are wise in the way we act toward outsiders because in doing so we earn the right to talk to them about Jesus.  You watch your neighbors animals when they are enjoying a vacation so that you have the right to tell them that vacations are just a foretaste of eternal pleasures with the LORD because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.   You take the mail that was delivered to the wrong address over to them to earn the right to tell them that the greatest communication anybody has ever received is the Good News that Jesus lived and died and rose to give us forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life.  

  3        6"Let your conversation be always full of grace.”  What is grace?   God’s

forgiving love that we don’t deserve.  Does that mean that we are always to be talking

 about Jesus?  No.  What does it mean?  That our conversation should be full of God’s

forgiving love in Christ.  It means that our words are the result of the work of God’s

forgiving love in our hearts.  Even if you don’t say so directly, after our conversations are

 over, people ought to know we understand that certain things are sin and we understand

 what forgiveness is.   We can speak with words full of grace because internally we have

 experienced what God’s forgiving love is.

  4        6"Let your conversation be seasoned with salt.”   That refers to the preservative characteristic of salt primarily and maybe secondarily to the fact that it makes food taste better.  Our words are to preserve the truth, not corrupt it.  They are to preserve relationships, not destroy them.  They are to preserve society’s foundations, not undermine them.  Our words are to make the truth attractive to people.  They are to make relationships better.  They are to make society’s foundations work better.  Why?  Because stable relationships, stable societies and a respect for the truth enhance our ability to share Jesus with others.

  5   The section closes with, “so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  Why do we create opportunities to do beneficial actions?  To give people an opportunity to ask us questions.  Meaningful discussions about Jesus usually result, not from artificially manufactured settings, but from questions which people ask us.  They ask us questions because they have received our loving actions and our words of grace seasoned with salt.  We have earned the privilege of being asked questions by our loving actions and our words of grace seasoned with salt.  When our lives our filled with God’s grace, His forgiving love, and we are guided by the Holy Spirit to speak words that are intended to preserve and enhance, then we are going to know how to answer everyone who asks us questions. 

Recap: What is a wise action you can do for the benefit of your neighbor?  Talk to them about Jesus.

LORD, give me love which takes time to carry out wise actions with my neighbors.