I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Colossians. We consider from Colossians chapter 4 this evening. If you're using the Pew Bible, that can be found on page 1170. 1170. Colossians 4, we're going to consider verses 2 down to verse 6, but for the sake of context, I'm going to begin our reading up at verse 9 of chapter 3. I'll read from 9 down to 17, and then we'll jump over to 4.2. So Colossians, beginning our reading at chapter 3, verse 9. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave-free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the lord has forgiven you so you also must forgive and above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony and let the peace of christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful let the word of christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God and whatever you do in word or deed do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him and now chapter 4 verse 2 continue steadfastly in prayer being watchful in it with thanksgiving at the same time pray also for us that god may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of christ on account of which i am in prison that i may make it clear which is how i ought to speak walk in wisdom toward outsiders making the best use of the time let your speech always be gracious seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. I think it's easy in life to get caught up in our own personal situations. Those situations are immediate to us and so it's easy to be consumed by those situations. But it's good to often take a step back, to stop and think about what it is the lord is doing around us prayer is one way of doing that prayer gives us an opportunity to focus on the significant matters of life spirituality the lord and others not that our prayers don't also include ourselves we we pray for ourselves but prayer for ourselves comes so easy doesn't it come so natural to pray for ourselves and that's why we often need to consciously not only pray for ourselves but pray in addition for others and that's what paul is calling this church to do here to not just be internally focused which could easily be the case given the situation in this church if you remember the challenges that this church faced they were facing false teachers who had come into this church were trying to undermine the sufficiency of christ trying to teach that these christians needed to add to christ if we were dealing with a heresy like that i think we would admit it would be easy to to to focus on that to be consumed by that in fact it would make a lot of sense if we were to read what Paul says here and if he would have included some kind of request for prayer for them and what they were up against. In fact, if you look down at chapter 4, verse 12, you'll see that the man Epaphras, who was traveling with Paul, the minister who brought the gospel to these Christians at Colossae, was praying for that very thing. It says there in verse 12 that Epaphras was praying that they may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. I think the prayer of Epaphras related to them standing mature and fully assured in what they had in Jesus Christ. And I'm sure Paul desired for them to pray for such things. But it's just not what Paul primarily calls them to pray for here in this text. Paul calls these Christians to do more than that. caused them to step back in their prayers and really to focus on christ which is what prayer does for us remember what paul calls these christians to do over and over in this book is indeed to focus on christ he doesn't so much call them to focus on the false teachers or the false teachings but he says to them over and over focus on christ chapter 3 verse 1 he says seek the things that are above where christ is focus on christ chapter 3 verse 2 set your mind on the things above not on the things of this earth focus on christ chapter 3 verse 10 having put on the new self which has been renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. Focus on Christ. Paul calls these Christians at Colossae to focus on Christ and by extension that means pray. Pray. Engage in prayer. Engage in prayer for the message of christ and be wise when engaging outsiders with that message and so those points will serve tonight as our three points prayer praying for the message of christ and being wise when engaging outsiders with that message paul begins these verses by saying continue steadfastly in prayer Paul saying this indicates that likely there was a kind of lapse in the practice of prayer among these Christians in Colossae. We all know how such a thing can happen, right? I'll admit to you, I know that in my own spiritual life, it's easy at times to break away from my practice of regularly setting apart a time for prayer. But you see, prayer is so critical to our Christian lives, isn't it? it's critical that's why our catechism says that the most important that prayer is the most important part of our thankfulness it's also why john calvin titled his section on prayer in his institutes as as calling it the chief exercise of faith prayer is the chief exercise of faith calvin goes on in that section to compare prayer to digging for treasure he says prayer is like digging for treasure as we contemplate on all that the lord has done for us in the gospel now i've maybe said this before to you but my children love treasure they love to talk about treasure i think they've read too many pirate books or something like that but many of you know that we were on vacation a few weeks ago and so we were in utah going to various national parks we found ourselves in zion national park and they go off about some treasure hunt that was going on in that area i don't even know how they came across that there was a treasure hunt going but they were all worked up and excited about it now well how would we respond if we knew where treasure was buried we'd go and dig that treasure up wouldn't we we certainly would if we knew where treasure was buried we would be fools not to go and dig that treasure up well calvin tells us that prayer is a way of digging up the treasure that the lord has given to us in the gospel so prayer is critical to our christian lives if you recall prayer is almost always something that the apostle paul mentions in his letters to the churches he did that here in the letter to the church at colossi back in chapter 1 verse 3 he says we always thank god the father our lord jesus for the god the father of the lord jesus christ when we pray for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints. And so he says, from the day that we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you. Now, there were false teachers and teachings being circulated among this church in Colossae. Paul gives us something of a list of those false teachings back in chapter 2, verse 16, when he speaks of them questioning food and drink, festivals, special moon celebration, new moon celebration, Sabbath, ascetic practices, worship of angels, and visions. Well, notice what's missing from that list. Prayer. Prayer was not a practice that was being promoted by the false teachers there in Colossae. And so it's easy to gather that prayer was probably not something being promoted generally within that church so paul calls these christians to pray but notice he doesn't just call them to pray he calls them to continue steadfastly in prayer steadfastly or as another translation puts it devote yourself to prayer see the term that paul uses here has the idea of persistence and perseverance our prayer lives must be something that we are persistent about something that we persevere in and what this tells us is that a regular practice of prayer doesn't come easy to us yes prayer is a great blessing yes prayer is a great privilege through prayer, we get to commune with the God of all glory and grace. And yet the simple reality is prayer doesn't come easy to us. It takes persistence. It takes perseverance. It takes practice. It takes discipline. And why? Well, I think there's a number of reasons why prayer doesn't come easy to us spiritual laziness spiritual apathy being preoccupied with the things and the affairs of this world not realizing our dependence but persistently being independent minded not realizing that every second of our lives we are in need of our heavenly father's care and provisions so there's a number of reasons maybe the single greatest reason today is that we just aren't disciplined enough to set apart a time for regular prayer prayer is a discipline and so it takes discipline and that's why we must continue steadfastly in it you see brothers and sisters prayer will be difficult it will be difficult to cultivate a practice of it but when we do it will be so sweet so rich so good for our souls and for our spiritual maturity and vitality we spiritually thrive when we engage in regular prayer i know some of you here can testify to that very fact your prayer warriors you've cultivated you've developed you've disciplined yourself to have a a regular time of setting apart yourself and to the lord with prayer and in prayer and that's been a great blessing to you well maybe you're here tonight and you're on the other end of that spectrum maybe you're here tonight and you feel like you're spiritually struggling you feel spiritually dry and barren i'd encourage you pray go to your loving heavenly father bring the affairs of your life before him meditate upon all that he has done for you in jesus christ and be lifted up be encouraged be strengthened you need only to pray to go to him and here's the beautiful thing about prayer through it god not only hears our prayers and is ready to answer them but he uses the exercise of prayer itself to bless us and strengthen us spiritually god has ordained prayer too as a means of grace that's why our catechism after saying that prayer is the most important part of our thankfulness goes on to say that we should pray because god gives his grace and holy spirit only to those who ask so brothers and sisters ask pray cultivate a life of prayer secondly in this text paul gives these christians something to pray about now there are many things to pray for aren't there one tool that maybe many of us use to remind us what to pray for is the acronym ACTS. Maybe you're familiar with that acronym where the word ACTS spelled A-C-T-S. Each of those letters stands for the kind of prayer or types of prayers that we should be incorporating in our prayer time. If you notice, I use that acronym tonight while praying during the congregational prayer. A stands for adoration, adoring God for who He is. Not what He has done for us but simply because of who he is he is god almighty that's who he is adore him c stands for confession confess our sins before the almighty god t stands for thanksgiving giving thanks for what he has done for us all the many provisions particularly and specifically what he's done for us in jesus christ and s stands for supplication bringing our requests our needs our cares our desires for him what paul calls this church to pray for easily falls under the category of thanksgiving and supplication paul says in the second half of verse two being watchful in prayer with thanksgiving and so paul impresses upon these christians that they should be giving thanks through their prayer although he impresses this upon these christians what he mainly focuses on in this text is the category of supplication remember paul is trying to get these christians to step back from their specific situation and focus on christ and what he is doing and so paul says in verse 3 at the same time as you pray with thanksgiving pray for us that god may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of christ on account of which i am in prison that i may make it clear which is how i ought to speak paul asks for supplication he asks that prayer be offered for himself and his companions now if we were really cynical we might think paul is calling these christians not to pray for themselves so much as to pray for him and his situation and that's true but it's not true as we might think this request of paul this request for prayer isn't what we would typically think a person would ask for given their situation you see when we ask for prayers from our brothers and sisters in christ we often ask for things that we need things that we want things that we desire and that's okay that's those are prayers that we should ask for prayer for i know some of us uh struggle with asking for prayer at all right that's a that's a humbling thing to do to go to a brother and sister and say i need prayer can you pray for me but that's why we have brothers and sisters in christ to lift each other up to bring our cares our desires our needs even our wants before our gracious god now paul could have done that right paul could have asked for prayers regarding his situation of being in prison here's paul in prison he could have asked for uh prayers for freedom. He could have asked for prayers of being treated fairly, of justice, of being put in a better situation. But he doesn't. What does Paul ask for prayer for? He asks for prayer for the ministry of the Word. See, Paul was so focused on Christ and the mission that Christ had given to him that that's what he asked for prayer for he could have asked for prayer for those other things and those would have been legitimate and fair requests wouldn't have they wouldn't they've been certainly so none of us would have cringed if paul was to ask that as none of us would cringe if any of us were in the situation that paul was in but paul has his mind so focused on christ and the things of Christ. Paul is living out really the exhortation that he gave to these Christians back in chapter 3 to seek the things that are above, to set their minds on the things above and not on earthly things. You see, Paul regarded himself dead to those things in the way of the world and alive in Christ. Paul is simply here expressing what he describes in Philippians 1.21, To live is Christ. To die is gain. And so what's on his heart and mind when he asks for prayer? Christ and the message of Christ. Christ and the mission and ministry which Christ directly gave to him. Now none of us have been given that ministry directly from Christ. And yet we too are called to pray for that ministry, aren't we? Pray for the ministry of the gospel. Pray that it would flourish here among us in our church in Escondido URC that hearts and souls would be lifted up, that people would be encouraged to take their eyes off themselves and to place them squarely upon Christ that they may find salvation in Him and Him alone. Do you know what else we're called to do? We're called to participate in that ministry. Now, we aren't Pauls. We maybe aren't all pastors or even office bearers, elders or deacons or missionaries, but we're all called to generally testify to the wonderful things that God has done for us in Christ. We're called to witness to the glorious good news of Jesus Christ. And I think that's where Paul is going in this text, as we can see. And this would have been near and dear to these Christians at Colossae because that's exactly how they came to know Christ. Someone shared with them. If you remember, it wasn't Paul who planted this church. It wasn't Paul who brought the gospel to these Christians. No, they heard it secondhand. They heard it through the work and witness of someone who heard it from Paul they heard it from the man Epaphras Epaphras a fellow saint and follower with Paul as Paul describes again back in chapter 1 verse 7 when he says just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant he's a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and even back there in chapter 1 Paul is touting the glories of the good news of Christ he says there in verse six that the gospel has come to them and not just to them but to the entire world and it is bearing much fruit and part of that fruit is that it would continue to spread from one person to another and to another and to another and on and on and on and that's exactly what Paul has in mind spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and that's why he asked for prayer for more opportunities you see although the gospel was spreading like wildfire in Paul's day this church at Colossae being an example of that that doesn't lead Paul to sit back and relax no Paul says pray that I might have more opportunities pray that the Lord would open up more doors for the Word to go out to people. And that should be true for us here today as well. See, brothers and sisters, the Gospel has come to us here in Escondido and it has spread here in Escondido. And it's bearing fruit among us. Do we want to see that harvest continue? Sure we do. And pray. Pray for that. I pray we do because people need to hear the good news of the Gospel. They need to hear the good news of salvation. They need to hear the good news that God has a plan of salvation. We need only to repent and turn to Him. Let me ask you, where did you hear the good news of the Gospel? how did you hear that good news maybe many of us here if not most of us may answer well i heard it from my parents and praise god for that praise god for godly parents who impress upon their children truths from scripture the wonderful things of what christ has done for us i hope and pray that one day my children can say that very same thing. My mom and dad raised us up in the fear and adoration of God and they led us to Christ and they impressed Christ upon our young youthful hearts and we believed. And I pray that their children's children and their children's children's children can state that very same thing. And so we need to pray for that. We need to pray that the truths of the gospel would bear much fruit in the hearts of our children. We need to pray for our parents, our young families who are raising up families in a very chaotic world. Pray for them. But I also think we need to pray that that message would go out to the stranger as well. That we would not only be internally focused. That we would not just be so focused on our immediate situation that we would pause, step back, and look at what the Lord is doing outside of our church, outside of our families, in our neighborhoods, in our town, in our culture. Because the fact of the matter is the Lord is still working, isn't he? He certainly is. And so we pray that the Lord would raise up more epiphrases men and women who have been moved by the gospel and who are willing to then in turn go and share that wonderful news with others we can all be a part of the wonderful harvest that the lord is bringing about that's what this text teaches us to pray for that very thing pray for that harvest pray for conversions pray that the lord would raise up men to preach within his church, but pray that the Lord would raise up men and women within the neighborhoods to bring that good news to those who have never heard it before. Pray for open doors and opportunities for yourselves to share and declare the wonders what God has done for you in Jesus Christ. Now, maybe you're hesitant to pray a prayer like that because it's a bit fearful to do so, right? Pray a prayer like that and that's just the kind of thing that the Lord will answer. He'll provide you with opportunities to declare the wonderful things that he has done for you. And maybe that frightens you. I'm sure it frightened the Christians at Colossae. And I think that's why Paul says what he says next in verse 5 and 6 concerning being wise with outsiders. Look down with me at verse 5 he says walk in wisdom towards outsiders making the best use of the time let your speech always be gracious seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each person i think paul understood that it would be difficult for these christians to pray for opportunities for him without praying for opportunities for themselves that happens doesn't it when we find ourselves praying something for someone we pray that enough and we pray and we find out you know what i need that same prayer i need to pray that for myself in this case paul knew that the colossian christians may pray for opportunities to share the gospel and those prayers would lead to them engaging the world around them and that engagement takes wisdom. It takes wisdom to engage the world. It takes wisdom to engage people on any matter. But to do so on matters of life and death, truth and reality, sin and salvation, that most certainly takes wisdom. And that's what Paul says what he does here. Let's face it, we have an entirely different worldview than those in our culture today maybe that wasn't the case 50 years ago when christianity had more of an influence upon our surrounding culture at that time we could assume that some of our neighbors maybe even most of our neighbors had some foundational truths that were shared by all that's not the case anymore today the the antithesis or the divide that has always existed between Christians and non-Christians is more obvious. Now, to be sure, that doesn't mean that we treat people as anything less than what they are, which is people made in the image of God. They're our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers. It's our responsibility, in light of what God has done for us, to treat those people, our friends our neighbors our co-workers with compassion love and care and concern you see even if there has never been a day of our lives when we did not know jesus as lord and savior there was a day when maybe your parents didn't know that maybe your grandparents or great grandparents you see but for the grace of god we too would be like those strangers outsiders that's a truth that paul reminded the church at ephesus when he said to them remember that at a time you too were separated from christ alienated from the commonwealth of israel and strangers to the covenant promise having no hope and without god in the world but now in christ jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of christ and this is a truth that is really embedded in the old testament where you can find texts over and over where the covenant people of god were were commanded to treat foreigners and strangers and outsiders with love and care and that's why jesus said love your neighbor as yourself and when he was asked well who is my neighbor he gave them a samaritan a samaritan i'm sure none of us live next door to a samaritan but i'm sure the category fits right and so it takes wisdom how do we engage non-christians given the the divide in our worldview, the antithesis that exists in our perspective. It takes wisdom. Wisdom to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. To be careful in our conduct and speech. See, that's why Paul says here, walk in wisdom. He's not only speaking of the way we live or what we say. He's really speaking of the attitude of our hearts walking was a figure of speech for all of the way we carry ourselves in life see paul is not just speaking here of us living among non-christians he's talking about engaging them with the intention of bearing witness to the truth of jesus christ when paul says walk in wisdom towards outsiders making the best use of the time he's not simply saying don't waste your time he's saying that there is a particular time that has been given to us a time between the ascension of christ and the return of christ he's speaking of the day of salvation today is that day he's speaking of the urgency of repentance for people that people need to hear this good news of Christ that there is salvation to be found in Jesus Christ you see sadly there will be a day and a time when we won't have that opportunity there'll be a time when Christ's return and the opportunity of speaking and the time of repentance the day of salvation would have passed so we're called to engage our neighbors engage them now of course there are multiple approaches to engaging people i'm of the opinion that when it comes to our neighbors that we should wisely build relationships with them in order to speak the truth to them now that may be different if you come across a stranger and you spark of a conversation with them you might not have the opportunity to build a relationship but the lord may provide an opportunity for you to declare the wonders of what he has done for you in christ but generally i think you're going to be building relationships with your neighbors i've mentioned to you before when living in ripon we had lesbian neighbors and not only were they lesbians, but these neighbors who we came to love dearly would regularly sell drugs out of their house. I could tell you some stories. And then they had this sweet, sweet little girl who wanted to play with my daughters. You think we had to be wise in our conduct and the way that we walked towards them? I'll tell you, Trista and me had conversations many nights about whether just to allow our girls to play with their little daughter as sweet as she was now innocent of what her mothers were engaged in took wisdom we would pray for these people we would engage them in ways that expressed our love and care and you know they came to realize that we indeed did love and care for them. And so the Lord provided opportunities for us to invite them to church. And at one point, one of the girls said, yes, we'll go. I was shocked. I was so thankful. Sadly, they never came. I still pray for those girls. I still pray that the Lord would bring people in their lives to speak truth, to bring them to a place of repentance, so they too may share in the wonderful salvation that we, his people, have. That takes wisdom, doesn't it? It takes wisdom. Wisdom in how we conduct ourselves, wisdom in how we live and speak and act among them be careful christian in that regard because our lives and the way that we conduct ourselves can do great damage in the opposite direction as well can't it when we find ourselves surrounded with guys at work who speak a certain way and we find ourselves participating in that and then we'd in turn try to invite them to church what do you think their response is going to be what you are inviting me to church be careful christian be wise in your conduct that's exactly what paul is speaking here in this text of be careful in your conduct and be careful with your speech i think paul really echoes here what peter says in first peter 3 15 a passage that we've been meditating upon and memorizing in youth group maybe you're familiar with that passage a passage that calls us to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have so Paul says right be ready to give an answer to people who ask you whatever the question may be be ready prepared think about it now of course that takes prayer as well right that kind of brings us full circle tonight see as i said in the beginning of this message there are times when we as christians need to step back a bit from our own immediate context in life and realize the bigger picture of what the lord is doing he's still at work and we need to be people who pray for that work we need to be people who cultivate a life of prayer we need to pray for the message of the gospel, that it would go out and continue to bear much fruit. And we need to be people who are ready to engage the world with that message, to declare the wonderful things that God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we admit tonight that at times we can be so delinquent in our prayer life and yet we know lord we know inherently we need you we need times and moments to be set apart to come before you and we particularly know lord in regards to the ministry of the word lord we need you to send your spirit to do an effectual work in hearts and lives and so we pray for that tonight lord we pray lord for our church and the ministry here that you would continue to bear much fruit through the word that is preached here lord we pray also that you would raise up all of us lord to take the wonderful things that you have done for us in jesus christ and to take that to the streets to be ready as paul says here to wisely engage the world, our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers. And we ask again that You would bless it and that You would bring about fruit of Your harvest from it. We pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.