Living on Mission

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:59

Today we're looking at living on mission. Let's read Colossians chapter 4, verse 2 to 6 from the New International Version of the Bible. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, and pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so 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 toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. We see four things in this passage of Scripture about living on mission. Number one, devote yourself to prayer. Colossians chapter 4, verse 2 says, Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. The word devote means to give most of one's time and attention to something. And here Paul is urging the church in Colossi to devote themselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Prayer is a powerful thing. It's communication with God. It's not just talking to God, but it's also listening to God. In Acts chapter 2, verse 42, talking of the early church, it says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. There are spiritual disciplines that we have a responsibility to devote ourselves to. No one else can make you do it. It's something that you have to decide to do yourself. And he urged them to give their time and attention to prayer, being watchful in prayer, being thankful in prayer. Someone once said that prayer is like breathing to the Christian. Let's devote ourselves to prayer. Secondly, we see that we should pray for opportunities to share the gospel with others. Let's read verse 3 and 4 again. And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. Let's read verse 4 from the message Bible. It says, Pray that every time I open my mouth, I'll be able to make Christ plain as day to them. The power of the gospel lies in its profound simplicity. It sets people free with a message of love, hope, and redemption through Jesus Christ. We shouldn't try and embellish the gospel or make it something that it's not. It's simply sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with an attitude of love and grace that can change people's lives. Paul said in Romans chapter 1, verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe. We should be praying for opportunities for ourselves and for others to share the gospel with people. We have good news, and the good news needs to be heard so that it can be responded to. Let's pray for opportunities as we live on mission to share the gospel with others. Number three, be wise with people and with opportunities. Colossians chapter 4, verse 5 says, Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity. We have a responsibility to be wise in the way that we act towards others. Our actions need to speak louder than our words, and our actions need to not contradict our words. We should make the most of every opportunity, and we need wisdom in order to do that. We should be praying that God will give us opportunities, but then we need to be wise on how we seize those opportunities. Let's read Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15 to 17. And I'm reading from the New International Version. It says, Be careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And for us to live a life that pleases God, a life that's fruitful and effective, we need to be asking God to reveal His will for our time. We need to ask God to show us what He wants us to do. And we need to be wise, making the most of every opportunity. Friends, let's be wise with people and the opportunities that God affords us in life. Number four, be gracious and informed with your words. Colossians 4, verse 6 says, Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. We need to ensure that when we speak to people, our words represent Jesus Christ. Our words need to be full of grace, they need to be seasoned with salt, and we need to know how to answer everyone. This talks to me about being gracious and informed with our words. I love that analogy. Seasoned with salt. You know, when you get a meal, you you will put salt on that meal in order to enhance the flavor and so that it's your taste. And we need to put the right amount of truth and grace and love in our conversations so that we're able to reach people's hearts with the good news of Jesus Christ. I also love the way this verse says we should know how to answer everyone. We need to be informed, but we need to have truth shared with grace. Listen to 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 15, reading from the New International Version. It says, But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. We need to be able to give an answer to questions, but we need to do it in such a way that represents the heart of God, his love for people. Once I was given a book that uh that had questions and comments that people had as opposition to the gospel and then answers that you could give. And I think many of them were sound answers biblically and full of truth. But you know, sometimes you can share a truth with someone without gentleness and respect, and as a result, it's not received but rejected. So today we've seen that we need to live on mission, and living on mission as Christians involves four things. Number one, devoting ourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful in our prayers. Number two, praying for opportunity to share the gospel with others. We should be praying that God will give us as individuals opportunities, those that we work with and we serve with opportunities, and for us as a local church to have opportunities to share the good news with others, both locally and globally. Number three, be wise with people and with opportunities. Let's ask God to reveal his will to us on what he wants to do with our time and the opportunities that he affords to us. And finally, we saw that we need to be gracious and informed with our words. We need to be able to give a clear explanation of truth, but we need to do it with a spirit of grace and humility. Let's pray. And as we do, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what he wants you to do as a result of what you've heard in today's sermon. Let's pray. Father God, thank you for the good news. And we ask, Lord, that you would help us to live the good news, that we would devote ourselves to prayer, we would be watchful and thankful. That we would internalize the gospel, that we can have a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, and that we would live that as essential as breathing is. Help us to devote ourselves to these things in Jesus' name. We pray for opportunities to share the gospel with others, and we ask that every time we open our mouths, we'll be able to make Christ and the gospel as plain as day to others. Help us to be wise with people and with opportunities. Help us to walk in your will, to understand it, and not be foolish, but to walk in wisdom. And help us to be gracious and informed with our words, to educate ourselves, to communicate truth in a spirit of humility, full of grace, seasoned with salt. Holy Spirit, speak to us now and show us what you want us to do or what adjustments you want us to make so that we can live effectively on mission for you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.