Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Colossians chapter 4 as we look at The Christian Witness. Back in 1980 a Gallup poll indicated that among all Evangelical, American believers, “only two percent had introduced another person to Christ.” Have things improved since then? Not at all for in 1998 Bill Bright did a survey of people from all over the world, Christians, and found that approximately 98 percent of Christians do not regularly introduce others to Jesus!
If you think about it, this makes not sense as this story illustrates for us. We are told:
Now it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen. And lo, there were fish in the waters all around. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish. And the fish were hungry.
Week after week, month after month, and year after year, these who called themselves fishermen met in meetings and talked about their call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing. Year after year they carefully defined what fishing means, defended fishing as an occupation, and declared that fishing is always to be a primary task of fishermen.
Continually, they searched for new and better methods of fishing and for new and better definitions of fishing. Further they said, “The fishing industry exists by fishing as fire exists by burning.” They loved slogans such as “Fishing is the task of every fisherman.” They sponsored special meetings called “Fishermen’s Campaigns” and “The Month for Fishermen to Fish.” They sponsored costly nationwide and worldwide congresses to discuss fishing and to promote fishing and hear about all the ways of fishing such as the new fishing equipment, fish calls, and whether any new bait had been discovered.
These fishermen built large, beautiful buildings called “Fishing Headquarters.” The plea was that everyone should be a fisherman and every fisherman should fish. One thing they didn’t do, however: They didn’t fish.
In addition to meeting regularly, they organized a board to send out fishermen to other places where there were many fish. The board hired staffs and appointed committees and held many meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing, and to decide what new streams should be thought about. But the staff and committee members did not fish.
Large, elaborate, and expensive training centers were built whose original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish, the nature of fish, where to find fish, the psychological reactions of fish, and how to approach and feed fish. Those who taught had doctorates in fishology, but the teachers did not fish. They only taught fishing. Year after year, after tedious training, many were graduated and were given fishing licenses. They were sent to do full-time fishing, some to distant waters which were filled with fish.
Many who felt the call to be fishermen responded. They were commissioned and sent to fish. But like the fishermen back home, they engaged in all kinds of other occupations. They built power plants to pump water for fish and tractors to plow new waterways. They made all kinds of equipment to travel here and there to look at fish hatcheries. Some also said that they wanted to be part of the fishing party, but they felt called to furnish fishing equipment. Others felt their job was to relate to the fish in a good way so the fish would know the difference between good and bad fishermen. Others felt that simply letting the fish know they were nice, land-loving neighbors and how loving and kind they were was enough.
After one stirring meeting on “The Necessity for Fishing,” one young fellow left the meeting and went fishing. The next day he reported that he had caught two outstanding fish. He was honored for his excellent catch and scheduled to visit all the big meetings possible to tell how he did it. So he quit his fishing in order to have time to tell about the experience to the other fishermen. He was also placed on the Fishermen’s General Board as a person having considerable experience.
Now it’s true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day. They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen’s clubs and the fact that they claimed to be fishermen yet never fished. They wondered about those who felt it was of little use to attend the weekly meetings to talk about fishing. After all, were they not following the Master who said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”?
Imagine how hurt some were when one day a person suggested that those who don’t catch fish were really not fishermen, no matter how much they claimed to be. Yet it did not sound correct. Is a person a fisherman if, year after year he never catches a fish? Is one following if he isn’t fishing?
- Source Unknown
That story truly drives home the point, that Folks, we are all fishermen for Jesus said to us, “‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” Matthew 28:19-20. Thus, this morning we are going to be looking at our witness that begins inwardly and from that we overflow outwardly with the nature of Jesus. So with that said, let’s begin reading in Colossians chapter 4, starting in verse 2, and see what the Lord has for us this morning.
As we have seen in our study in Colossians, Paul lays out correct doctrine in chapters 1 and 2. He is coming against those who denied the deity of Jesus; the sufficiency of Christ in our lives by showing us that He is Lord over all! He then shows us the emptiness of all other things when compared to what we have in Christ. It is as Paul said, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” Colossians 2:9-10.
Then in Colossians chapters 3 and 4 Paul deals with our Christian walk. Since we have the right doctrine, the right information, now we are to walk accordingly. The thought is like this, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.” Colossians 3:23. Now part of our walk is to BE witnesses of Christ not necessarily TO witness, which we should do, but we are to BE witnesses as we live, as we go through life. It is as Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The Holy Spirit empowers us to be a witness of Jesus Christ, to move the Gospel message forward!
Here in Colossians chapter 4 Paul shows us what it takes to be a witness of Jesus Christ, and there are three main points that he makes. First, The Inward Relationship – Colossians 4:2-3. Then The Outward Relationship – Colossians 4:4-6a. And lastly, The End Result – Colossians 4:6b. And so with the remainder of our time this morning we are going to be looking at these three areas to see how we can BE a witness of Jesus!
1. THE INWARD RELATIONSHIP – COLOSSIANS
4:2-3
Paul is speaking of prayer here. What is prayer? Simply, it is communication with God. We speak with Him and He speaks to us. Now, without communication with God we will become dry, misguided, unfruitful. Thus, Paul tells us to “continue earnestly in prayer.” The word “continue” is from the Greek word PROSKARTEREO (pros-kar-ter-eh’-o) and it means, “to be courageously persistent” or “to hold fast and not let go.”
Now, if Christ called us to go slay a lion it would be much easier for us to follow through than if He called us to pray, communicating with God, why is that? It is because we live in a nation that wants things right now, instantly. We have instant coffee, fast food, instant hot cereal, microwave popcorn, instant text messaging and-so-on. And when it comes to prayer, we may not see results instantly, it may take days, or weeks, or even years of prayer regarding something before we see the results come to pass. For my eldest son, it was some 5 years of praying for him to return to the Lord and he did! The thing is this, prayer is selfless, it focuses on others many times, and we must take the time to come before the Lord.
Remember on the night before His crucifixion, as Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying, He brought Peter, James and John with Him and He told them, “ . . . ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.’” Mark 14:34. What happened? They fell asleep and Jesus said, “ . . . ‘Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’” Mark 14:38.
We desire so much to pray, and yet, like these men we come up far short, why? Because it truly is a spiritual battle and the enemy wants to keep us off our knees because that is where the power of God is released. And so we become distracted, we lose interest, we don’t pray and Paul is admonishing us to “watch” which is the Greek word GREGOREUO (gray-gor-yoo’-o) which means to keep awake, to be aware of things, to pay attention, don’t miss the opportunities that are before you to pray for.
Now what does this have to do with us being witnesses of Jesus? It is everything, you see, if you are not filled up on the inside, then that which flows from your life is going to be empty, it is not going to be effective. Let me give you an example of what I mean. When I ran the marathon, 26.2 miles, I not only had to train by putting in the miles, 6-10 miles a day, but I also had to eat well. I couldn’t eat all junk food for months before the race and then the night before the marathon carbo-load, eat healthy! If I did, I might not even finish the race. You see, before I could perform well outwardly, I had to take into my body nourishment. The same is true for us as Christians; we must fill up the tank with the things of God before we can move the Gospel message forward, before we can live for Him, have His nature flow from our lives! Thus, “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it . . .” Colossians 4:2.
2. THE OUTWARD RELATIONSHIP – COLOSSIANS
4:4-6a
In this section dealing with the outward relationship, there are two aspects to it. First of all we are to Walk In Wisdom or how we do things, our actions. The second point is our speech, it should be Godly Speech, it should reflect the nature of Jesus. Thus, let’s look at what should flow from our lives if we are to be witnesses of Jesus!
A. WALK IN WISDOM
Like it or not, if our walk does not match up with our words, what we say, then our words are empty, they are meaningless. Why is that? Because it shows that even though we may talk about Jesus and the need to receive Him as Lord and Savior, to be forgiven of your sins, if our actions don’t show that relationship with Him, it shows that He is not important to us, it shows that our faith is not real!
Let me show you what I mean with this example of a man who was willing to die for what he believed so that others might be saved. His faith was real and because his faith was real, because he lived what he believed, his words were received because they had the backing of a life committed to Christ. We are told:
The most famous ship of all time is possibly the Titanic, the supposedly unsinkable ship that went down on its maiden voyage. Many movies have been made and many books written about the fateful journey. Few will include the story of Scottish evangelist John Harper. Harper was a passenger on the Titanic.
In 1912 Harper was traveling to Chicago to take up his new appointment as Pastor of Moody Church. He had his daughter Nana on board with him. His wife had died a few years earlier. When the Titanic struck the iceberg and began to sink he put Nana into a lifeboat and then ran throughout the ship yelling “Women, children, and unsaved into the lifeboats!” When the ship finally went down he had already given his lifejacket to another passenger. Survivors report that to the very end Harper was witnessing to anyone who would listen. One survivor recalls clinging to one of the ships spars when Harper floated near him. “Man, are you saved?” cried Harper. “No, I’m not” replied the man. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” pleaded Harper.
The waves carried Harper away and brought him back a little later. “Are you saved now?” asked Harper. “No, I cannot honestly say that I am” says the man. Again Harper pleads with him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Shortly afterward Harper went down. The man who survived was . . . in a public meeting four years later, recounting this episode [and] he said “There, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper’s last convert.”
- Christianity Today, August 7, 2000
You see, what we are, what we do for others, how we live our Christian faith, gives credibility to what we say as we saw in the life of John Harper. Paul admonishes us in I Thessalonians 4:7-12, “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.”
You see, people are watching you, what you do in various situations; how you respond to things and by your actions they will decide if your faith is real or not. God wants us to walk in love, to walk properly, to work hard, to be a shinning example to people of what Jesus has done in our lives! It is as James tells us, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” May we “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside . . .” Colossians 4:5.
B. GODLY SPEECH
When I was a kid I use to say to kids who made fun of me, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me!” That is not really true. Bones can heal over time and become even stronger than they were before they were broken while names, what people say to us can leave scares that will never heal. Paul, in Ephesians 4:29 tells us, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” In other words, use your speech to build people up, not to tear them down!
Let me share with you how the words we say can have devastating consequences upon others, it can destroy them spiritually speaking. We are told:
Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most respected leaders of modern history. A Hindu, Gandhi nevertheless admired Jesus and often quoted from the Sermon on the Mount. Once when the missionary E. Stanley Jones met with Gandhi he asked him, “Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?”
Gandhi replied, “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It’s just that so many of your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Apparently Gandhi’s rejection of Christianity grew out of an incident that happened when he was a young man practicing law in South Africa. He had become attracted to the Christian faith, had studied the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, and was seriously exploring becoming a Christian. And so he decided to attend a church service. As he came up the steps of the large church where he intended to go, a white South African elder of the church barred his way at the door. “Where do you think you are going, kaffir?” the man asked Gandhi in a belligerent tone of voice.
Gandhi replied, “I’d like to attend worship here.”
The church elder snarled at him, “There’s no room for kaffirs in this church. Get out of here or I’ll have my assistants throw you down the steps.”
From that moment, Gandhi said, he decided to adopt what good he found in Christianity, but would never again consider becoming a Christian if it meant being part of the church.
- pursuingchrist.com
You see, those words built a wall up so Gandhi could not see Christ. May we never do that, may our speech not be the barrier that is built hindering a person from coming to Christ!
Paul tells us that our speech is to be filled with grace or unmerited favor. “But they don’t deserve it!” That is exactly the point, it is grace, we didn’t deserve the free gift of God but He gave it to us, He was gracious towards us and thus, as we have received the grace of God into our lives, may we also extend the grace of God to others, may we speak as Jesus would speak for we are His representative to the lost. Our words should be wholesome, they should be kind, they should be gentle, they should be loving, they should be sensitive. I think you get the point, more of Jesus in our lives and less of self!
Also, Paul says that our words are to be seasoned with salt and what happens when you eat a bag of potato chips? You get thirsty! Our speech should cause people to thirst after Jesus, to partake of what we have, the living waters of Jesus Christ. Not only that but our speech should preserve conversations, they should stop them from going down the toilet if you know what I mean! If they start to deteriorate you can say, “I’m sorry, but I am uncomfortable talking like that, can we change the subject.” Now they can say to you, “Drop dead meatball! What are you, a goody-two-shoes? Do you think you are some holy roller?” If they say that or they don’t change the conversation, you can walk away from it, you don’t have to partake of it. Also, salt does burn when it is placed upon a wound and when the truth of God is spoken in love, as sin is exposed, it may burn for a time but that needs to occur before the healing can take place!
So our walk and our speech need to live up with what we believe, who we are in Christ, who is in control of our life, who is guiding us, and that, of course is Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God working in us we can live a life that is pleasing to God and glorifying to God. Paul put it this way in Galatians as he said, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh . . . If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16, 25.
3. THE END RESULT – COLOSSIANS 4:6b
The end result of having an intimate relationship with God, of walking in the will of God, of having godly speech, is that you will know how to share your faith with people; you will be a witness of Jesus wherever you go! Peter tells us in I Peter 3:15-17, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”
Folks, we need to redeem the time we are living in, to buy it up is the idea, don’t waste it because each day that passes us by is gone, you can’t get it back. Thus, shine brightly for Jesus, have a passion for the lost. When you see people pass you by look at them with the backdrop of eternity in mind because if they don’t know Christ they will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire apart from Him!
You can invite people to church. “But what if they say ‘no!’” Then they say no, but at least you have taken the time to invite them. You can ask people if you can pray for them. If they say no, that’s fine, at least they know who they can go to when they want prayer and believe me, when things get tough, they will come to you and ask you to pray for them. Don’t look at the negative but look at the positive. Yes, with our ability, with our strength it may be impossible, but with God, all things are possible. He saved you and me, didn’t he?
David Brainerd, a great missionary said, “I care not where I go or how I live or what I endure so that I may save souls. When I sleep, I dream of them; when I awake, they are first in my thoughts.”
May we have a heart like that, that kind of passion for the lost and that passion will start as we “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it . . .” Colossians 4:2. As I close this morning, let me leave you with these words from Paul as he tells us in Romans 13:11-14, “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” May we awake from our sleep, may we put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and may we shine brightly for Him in our deeds and in our words, knowing how we are to answer people to give them the reason for the hope that is in us and it all begins with our time with Jesus!