Church On Mission | Share

What this episode covers

About the Talk: There’s a logical progression here: as we regularly pray for our friends and family who are not following Jesus, God will warm our hearts to them and their need of salvation (Prayer) ➝ As our hearts are warmed, we will want to be more involved in being a blessing in their lives (Care) ➝ As we increasingly share life with people, intentionally looking for ways to be good news to them, we will look for opportunities, 1 Peter 3:15, to “give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (Share). A famous quote attributed to (though probably never said by) Francis of Assisi is, ‘Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.’ The point being made is that the whole of our lives should speak to people of what we stand for, hope for, trust in. But the weakness of the quote is that there comes a point when part of sharing life with people must involve speaking about that which matters to us. As we get to know people, it’s natural to explain where we come from, what we do as an occupation, what our interests are, who our family is, etc. To include our relationship with God, our involvement in the church and our faith-based stance on certain things would also seem to be an entirely natural part of building healthy relationships. Perhaps the quote should be adjusted to, ‘Preach the gospel at all times and when opportunity allows talk about the gospel.’ Here in Colossians 4, Paul is in a seemingly very unpromising situation for having any opportunity to share his hope in Jesus with anyone - “I am in chains” (v 3). And yet he is undaunted and asks, much as the believers in Acts 4 did, that God will enable him to “proclaim [the mystery of Christ] clearly, as I should” (v 4). He is asking the Colossians to pray that God would open a door for the gospel, confident that God has plans to work at ‘the other end’ too. When the Channel Tunnel was being constructed in the early 1990s, two teams of engineers worked from different ends. Both teams continued their dangerous and difficult work until, with great precision, they met beneath The English Channel. The investment that each team put in had been met by another team working from the other end, meaning that the task was completed. This is our great confidence as we invest our time and attention in those who do not know Jesus yet - that he is working too, often in ways we have no idea about. As the Bible says, “God our saviour…wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4) - we are partnering with him to see his great goal accomplished. It is, after all, his mission. In vs 5-6 he then turns from his own witness to theirs and gives three instructions: - That they should be wise in how they behave with those who are not believers. - That they should make the most of the time they have to be a gospel influence. That their conversation with unbelievers should always be gracious and carefully presented so as to be well received. If we were to summarise vs 2-6, we might say that our interactions with those who are not followers of Jesus, particularly how we speak to them about Jesus, must be soaked in prayer, from a lifestyle that is consistent with the message and graciously presented. Beyond that, what God does with our attempts to speak for him is up to him. Our role is to be obedient and leave the outcome to him.

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