Colossians: A Letter from Jail
Wise, Gracious Evangelism
Colossians 4:5-6
Let’s start by turning to Paul’s letter to the Colossians 4. If you need a Bible, raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring one to you. Colossians 4 is on page 985 in the Bibles we are passing out.
To set the stage for this passage let me remind you of what Paul has told us so far. Paul has told us that if we are trusting Jesus – if we are trusting Jesus as Savior, and Lord, and all-satisfying Treasure -- then we have received five infinitely valuable gifts:
Forgiveness: we are forgiven for all of our sins, so we no longer face God’s wrath (2:13; 3:6), and will only experience God’s love and care forever (3:14).
Freedom: we are freed from the dominating power of sin, so we now can turn from sin, to Jesus, love God, and love each other (2:13,20; 3:3).
Heart-satisfaction: we are rooted in Jesus Christ, gaining from Him all the joy and peace and security that our hearts need (2:7).
Love for others: we have such heart fullness in Christ that we can love and forgive everyone around us (1:4-5; 3:11-13).
Hope: we have Christ living in us, giving us such an experience of His glory that we are filled with hope in being with him forever (1:27; 3:4).
But this raises the obvious question: what about your next door neighbor who is not trusting Jesus? What about your manager who does not know Jesus? They have received none of these gifts, and they face the wrath of God forever. So if you know Jesus, if you really know Jesus, then you feel deep love and concern for those around you who don’t know Jesus.
And because we love them, we want to know what we can do to help them. And that’s what Paul tells us in Colossians 4:5-6. Look at what he says:
5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
What can we do? Paul tells us in v.5 – because you love your neighbors and care about your neighbors, you can walk in wisdom towards them, making the best use of your time. That means understanding how much they need Jesus, and doing all you can to help them come to know Jesus.
And what can we do to help them come to know Jesus? Paul tells us in v.6 – we tell them the truth of Jesus, graciously, saltily – which means with words that connect, and with sensitivity – understanding each person individually. Because we love our neighbors and work associates we will talk to them about Jesus.
But what should we say? How do we explain the truth of Jesus? That’s something I think we need to work on – and it’s what I want us to work on for the rest of our time this morning, and talk about how to share the gospel.
A few months back I read an article in Christianity Today about a young man who is involved in evangelism at UC San Diego, who shares the gospel as a story using easy-to-draw pictures. This intrigued me, so I checked out a YouTube of his presentation. And I loved his overall framework, and the idea of telling the gospel as a story with easy-to-draw pictures.
So I took his overall framework, and his idea of telling the gospel as a story with pictures, but changed it some to add more biblical truth. And Joe Garcia helped me make a video of this, which I want to show this morning.
But a couple of thoughts before we look at the video.
One is that some of you already have an effective way of sharing the gospel that’s working for you; if that’s the case, keep doing what you are doing. But if you don’t, then I would encourage you to start by learning this approach.
Another thought is that this video is going to be a monologue. But when you actually share the gospel with someone, you want it to be a dialogue. You want to have a conversation. So keep that in mind as you are watching it.
And one other thought is that right now Satan is doing all he can to tell you why this is not a good idea. You are thinking – I could never share the gospel with someone. Or this is for someone else. But in Colossians 4 Paul says that we all get to do this, which means that Jesus will enable us to do it.
Or maybe you are thinking – this is not what we’re supposed to do on a Sunday morning. But it is. We are all called to be missionaries to San Jose. So Sunday morning is a gathering of missionaries, and this morning we are having missionary-training.
So here it is -- The Video
“Let’s start with the problem. Here’s the world, here’s some people.
Remember the U2 song “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”? That’s us. We haven’t found the peace, the meaning, the joy we’ve been looking for. And so we’re empty, and frustrated, and disappointed. And this affects our relationships: instead of loving each other as we should, we are impatient, angry, and jealous. And this is true on a global scale, so the whole world is full of racism, oppression, greed, poverty, divorce, environmental problems, and abuse.
But deep down inside we all feel: “that’s not how the world is supposed to be.” And we’re right.
Because the Bible says God created the world to be perfect. Here’s Adam and Eve. From the very beginning they trusted God, depended on God, worshiped God, obeyed God. Psalm 16:11 says that it’s in God’s presence that we have fullness of joy. Because they trusted and worshiped God, their hearts were full of God’s love and peace and joy. And because their hearts were full, they loved each other, cared for each other, experienced perfect community together centered on God. The world was perfect.
So what happened? How did we get from perfection to the problem? Adam and Eve, and all of us, turned away from God. That’s what the Bible calls sin. Romans 3:23 says that we have all sinned and so now we lack the glory of God – we no longer have God filling our hearts. And the result is emptiness in our hearts, friction in relationships, and a world full of pain and heartache.
So how did God respond? God is holy, just and righteous, and so God has to punish all sin. So all of us face God’s punishment forever.
But at the same time, in great love and mercy, God chose to restore. Here’s God, here’s the world full of pain and heartache, here’s someone like you and me. And 2,000 years ago God came to earth in the person of Jesus. Jesus showed us who God is, and taught us about who God is, and he died on the Cross and rose again.
When Jesus died on the Cross, he was punished for the sin of people like you and me. So this person’s sin was put upon Jesus, and Jesus was punished in his place. And because this person’s sin is paid for by Jesus, God can give this person a new heart, which repents over his sin, and trusts Jesus. So when this person repents of his sin, and trusts Jesus, God comes and fills his heart. It’s just like the Bible says in I Peter 3:18 – Jesus bore our sins in his body so he could bring us to God.
But the story doesn’t end there. Once we have been restored, Jesus calls us on mission. Here’s someone who’s been restored by Jesus, and here’s someone, and here’s someone. And because they trust Jesus and know God their hearts are full, and they are able to love each other and experience community together. That’s what church is supposed to be. The church shows the world what it’s like to have hearts full of God and full of God’s love – as it was all meant to be.
But in John 20:21 Jesus said to his followers – “as the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” The world is full of people who are still separated from God by their rebellion, who face God’s judgment because of their rebellion. And so Jesus calls us on mission to tell them about Jesus, to call them to repent of their sins and trust Jesus and be restored and join us in Jesus’ mission.
Doesn’t this picture fit what you’ve experienced in your own heart, and in your relationships, and the world around you? And notice how it fits the historical truth of Jesus – his life and death and resurrection? Don’t you want to repent of your sin and put your trust in Jesus so you can know God and join in Jesus’ mission?
Drawing it together
OK – now what I want to do is go back through that a step at a time – and have you draw it with me so it can get more deeply into your thinking.
I think it’s helpful to start with the problem. Here’s the world, and here’s someone like you and like me. Remember the U2 song “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for?” That us. We have not found the peace, the meaning, the heart-fullness that we’re looking for. And as a result we feel frustrated and disappointed and empty. And because our hearts are frustrated and angry, we don’t love each other the way we should – we are impatient with each other and angry with each other. And as a result the world is filled with poverty and divorce and war and environmental issues and heartache.
But deep down inside we all know that’s not how the world is supposed to be. And we’re right.
Because the Bible says that God created the world to be perfect. Here’s Adam and Eve. From the very beginning they trusted God, depended on God, worshiped God, obeyed God. Psalm 16:11 says that it’s in God’s presence that we have fullness of joy. Because they trusted and worshiped God, their hearts were full of God’s love and peace and joy. And because their hearts were full, they loved each other, cared for each other, experienced perfect community together –the world was perfect.
So what happened? How did we get from perfection to the problem? Adam and Eve, and all of us, turned away from God. That’s what the Bible calls sin. Romans 3:23 says that we have all sinned and so now we lack the glory of God – we no longer have God filling our hearts. And the result is emptiness in our hearts, friction in relationships, and a world full of pain and heartache.
So how did God respond? God is holy, just and righteous, and so God has to punish all sin. But at the same time, in great love and mercy, God chose to restore. Here’s God, here’s the world full of pain and heartache, here’s someone like you and me. God has to punish all sin, and this person’s sin must be punished, but look at what God did: He came to earth 2,000 years ago in the person of Jesus. Jesus showed us who God is, and taught us about who God is, and he died on the Cross and rose again.
When Jesus died on the Cross, he took upon himself the sin of people like you and me, and was punished for sin. Because this person’s sin is paid for by Jesus, God can restore this person by giving him a repentant heart, and giving him faith in Jesus. So when this person repents of his sin, and trusts Jesus, God comes and fills his heart. It’s just like the Bible says in I Peter 3:18 – Jesus bore our sins in his body so he could bring us to God.
But the story doesn’t end there. Once we have been restored, Jesus calls us on mission. Here’s someone who’s been restored by Jesus, and here’s someone, and here’s someone. And because they trust Jesus and know God their hearts are full, and they are able to love each other and experience community together. That’s what church is supposed to be. The church shows the world what it’s like to have hearts full of God and full of God’s love – as it was all meant to be.
But in John 20:21 Jesus said to his followers – “as the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” The world is full of people who are still separated from God by their rebellion, who face God’s judgment because of their rebellion. And so Jesus calls us on mission to tell them about Jesus, to call them to repent of their sins and trust Jesus and be restored and join us in Jesus’ mission.
Doesn’t this picture fit what you’ve experienced in your own heart, and in your relationships, and the world around you? And notice how it fits the historical truth of Jesus – his life and death and resurrection? Don’t you want to repent of your sin and put your trust in Jesus so you can know God and join in Jesus’ mission?
Questions?
Action Steps
Seek and experience Jesus as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Let your joy in Jesus stir deep love for those who don’t know Jesus.
Let this love motivate you to learn how to share the gospel.
Learn this gospel presentation. Practice it by yourself, or with your home group.
Develop loving relationships with people who don’t know Jesus, and tell them about Jesus.