COLOSSIANS (27) Be Ready to Answer!

​“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col 4:5-6)
 
Review
We’ve been talking about the second part of the book of Colossians in which Paul explains how Christians should live out their faith in Jesus, especially in five types of relationships. Last Sunday, we focused on the fifth type—the relationship with outsiders.
 
Paul urges Christians to be wise in how they act toward outsiders because Christians can bring non-believers closer to God by showing them who God is or alienate them from God by causing them to misunderstand Him.
 
So, we should be careful how we treat people outside of the church, keeping in mind that they see who Jesus is through us in our facial expressions, what we say or do, the way we deal with difficulties, and more.
 
We should learn to be wise when we interact with outsiders. Here, wisdom doesn’t refer to interpersonal skills based on human wisdom, but to wisdom from the Holy Spirit based on the knowledge of God, which makes us live lives worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way and bearing fruit in every good work.
 
Therefore, to be wise in the way we act toward outsiders is another example of a Christ-centered life. As Christians, we need to learn to put Christ at the center of every relationship we have so that in everything we say or do, He can be revealed and glorified.
 
We need to learn how to shine the light of Jesus unto others through our good deeds that reflect who He is. That’s the main principle we should keep in mind in all of our relationships. If we continue to adhere to this principle in our relationships with others, we will be filled with wisdom from the Holy Spirit and be able to live lives worthy of the calling we received, pleasing God in every way.
 
We’re to live in a way that wins the respect of outsiders to glorify Christ, not to lift ourselves up.
 
We also talked about the meaning of us “[making] the most of every opportunity” (Col 4:5b). Here, the original Greek words used in this sentence are
 
℗“καιρὸν ἐξαγοραζόμενοι. (Col 4:5 BGT), which literally translates to ‘redeem or buy up all decisive moments’.
 
This gives us important insight into how we should treat outsiders. We should see every moment we spend with them as “decisive moments” through which we can show them who God is. And, we should try to make every possible moment meaningful and pleasing to God.
 
That’s the way to live a wise life in God, especially in our relationships with those around us who don’t believe in Jesus. We find a similar instruction in Ephesians, in which Paul said,
 
Be Wise
“Be very 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 Lord’s will is” (Eph 5:15-17).
 
The same words used in Colossians are also used in Ephesians. You might remember I’ve quoted from Ephesians many times when talking about Colossians.
 
They are often called “twin epistles” because they are so much alike in many ways. It’s not only because they were both written around the same time when Paul was under house arrest in Rome, but because they reflect the same important problems or matters in the church at that time.
 
Here, again, living wisely is closely related to understanding what the Lord’s will is. If there’s just one standard in how we treat others, it must be the Lord’s will, not ours.
 
When we interact with others, it’s easier to follow our own emotions or thoughts. But, if we do that, we’ll never be able to live the kind of life Jesus wants us to live as His people. Jesus said in Matthew 5,
 
“I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:39-44)
 
These instructions seem too ideal or impossible for us to apply in our lives. If someone slaps us on the right cheek, our natural response would be to slap them back. If someone takes something from us, it’s natural to take more valuable things from them. It’s so hard to forgive, love, and pray for those who are against us and rude to us. It goes against our grain.
 
But still, Jesus says that that’s the kind of life we’re to live as believers and as His disciples. Jesus adds,
 
“That you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45)
 
The reason we’re to live such lives is because that’s how we reflect who our heavenly Father is. He loves good and evil people equally and takes care of the righteous and the unrighteous the same. No matter who they are, we’re to treat them the way our Father in heaven does.
 
This is only possible when we put God’s will first in our relationships with others, not our own thoughts or feelings. We’re to seek the best way to display God’s holiness and love to those around us and try to do so. That’s how we live as His children on earth.
 
To live such lives, we’re to understand and be filled with God’s unconditional love, which was most clearly and beautifully revealed on the cross.
 
Paul says that Christ died for us when we didn’t deserve it at all. We were sinners, powerless, ungodly, and enemies of God. Yet, God sacrificed His most precious One to save us, and Jesus willingly came into the world and laid down His life for the most undeserving sinners like us.
 
That’s how God demonstrated His beautiful, unconditional, never-failing, and never-ending love for us.
 
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16).
 
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1Jn 4:9).
 
That’s God’s love revealed to us on the cross, which we’re also to show to those around us, including our enemies. So, to Christians, the wisdom we must have when interacting with others comes from one principle—to put God and His will first in every relationship we have. When we seek to please God and not our own feelings, we will know what to say and do to glorify God and show His love to those around us.
 
Again, understanding what God’s will is and placing it first in our relationships with others is the way we live as God’s wise children.
 
Be Ready to Answer Everyone
Now, let’s talk about one more important principle that Paul discusses regarding Christians’ relationships with non-believers. Paul said in Colossians 4:6,
 
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col 4:6)
 
Paul addresses an important question about how to treat outsiders as Christians: What can believers do to make sure that outsiders hear about Christ?
 
Paul reminds the Colossian Christians that they have a responsibility to make the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ known to those who are outside of the church. Paul continuously emphasizes that Christians are called to proclaim the message of salvation through not only what they say but also how they live.
 
From this verse, we may define Christians as those who are ready to answer everyone about their faith. Then, an important question we need to ask ourselves is how to prepare answers when non-believers ask us about the faith we have in Christ.
 
But, before we prepare our answers, we first need to think about how to get non-believers to wonder about what we believe. In other words, we should think about how we can stimulate their curiosity about what we believe in, because even if we’re ready to give the answers about our faith, it means nothing if there’s no one willing to listen.
 
When we compare verse 6 to the previous passage, we see a meaningful difference between Paul’s role and the role of believers in general when it comes to proclaiming the gospel.
 
Paul said in verses 3-4,
“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should” (Col 4:3-4).
 
Here, Paul’s role regarding the mystery of Christ is to proclaim it clearly. Paul said that’s what he ‘should’ do as an apostle of Christ. When Paul wrote this he was under house arrest in Rome. But he didn’t ask the original readers to pray that God would help him so that he could be released from house arrest.
 
Instead, Paul asked them to pray that God would continuously strengthen him and create opportunities for him to boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
To Paul, it didn’t really matter where he was. He did his best to proclaim the gospel in all circumstances. Even when he stood before King Agrippa and Bernice at Caesarea to defend himself against a false charge from some Jews, Paul used the opportunity to proclaim the gospel to those in the court.
 
He said,
“That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying… that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles… I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” (Acts 26:21-23, 29).
 
That was Paul’s role in regard to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He believed that he was called to proclaim the gospel, especially to the Gentiles. So in every situation, Paul made every effort to spread the gospel.
 
But it seems that Paul didn’t require all believers to do the same thing he did. Paul didn’t ask them to proclaim the gospel with their words in every situation like he did. Rather, what Paul constantly emphasized in his letters was how they should live out their faith wherever they were so that they could reflect Jesus in their lives.
 
We can put the difference in this way. As an apostle, Paul’s role was to find opportunities to actively proclaim the gospel by word of mouth. But general role of Christians is to try to find more opportunities to proclaim the gospel by passively ‘answering’ non-believers.
 
It doesn’t mean that we don’t need to try to proclaim the gospel with our mouths at all. But we should consider what would be the most efficient or possible way to allow others to know the gospel. It’s important to proclaim the gospel but what’s more important is to find appropriate moments to do so.
 
The moments don’t come easily. Therefore, as Christians, we must try to create those moments. And in order to do so, we should be able to make the faith we have in Christ seem appealing to others so that they may have questions about our faith, which gives us chances to talk about what we believe in—the gospel of Jesus Christ—along with our personal testimony of faith. I think that’s the best way to proclaim the gospel.
 
I told you before how I came to know Jesus during Discipleship Training School. After finishing the program, I went back to Korea and returned to college. Because I had finished two years of college before I joined the military, I still had two years left.
 
But, the way l lived in the last two years of college was very different from the way I had lived in the first two years. Before I met Jesus, I lived a very messed up life. I was addicted to video games and was put on academic probation twice. My GPA was around 2.2 out of 4.5. I had many more serious problems besides that. My college friends always looked at me with concern. At that time I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have a purpose in life.
 
But after meeting Jesus, I found the purpose of my life in Him. And I started to try my best to correct my past failures. I also spent a lot of time in the church. Even though I was very busy studying to make up for my bad grades, I volunteered with the church almost every week.
 
My college friends were really surprised to see the change in my life. And they wondered what had brought about that kind of change. That was when I realized what had happened to me and how my encounter with Jesus completely changed my life.
 
One of my friends even said, “I don’t like churches but I want to go to the church that you attend.” Another one told me, “I’m not interested in going to church now, but if a time comes when I have an interest in faith, I’ll talk to you.” When I heard that, I was so glad that I was used as God’s tool to give them an interest in Christianity.
 
I think that’s the way God wants His people to live in the world. We should know that we have a responsibility to let those around us become interested in what we believe. But it won’t happen if our lives are no different from non-believers. It will never happen if we fail to reflect who Jesus is in our lives.
 
There will come a time for us to share the good news we believe in—the gospel of Jesus Christ that has changed our lives. And we should know what to say when the time comes.
 
The apostle Peter gives us important insight into this topic. He said in 1 Peter 3:15-16, let’s read it together,
 
“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, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (1Pt 3:15-16)
 
The first step is to try to live with Christ as Lord. There’s nothing that changes our lives and makes them holy other than this. Accepting Christ as Lord will immediately bring about significant changes in our lives. The changes will be so evident that those around you easily notice them. They may wonder how we can be positive, joyful, and full of hope in all circumstances.
 
Then they might ask us about the hope we have in Christ. And, we must be able to give them the reasons for our hope. We should be ready to answer those who have questions about the faith we have in Christ.
 
And that’s why we always need to be careful in what we say, especially when we have conversations with non-believers. Paul said, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt” (Col 4:6).
 
It doesn’t mean that we must always talk about God’s grace. It means that God's grace must always be present in our conversations. We are to show God’s grace through our words. So, rather than talking behind people’s backs, complaining all the time, and speaking sarcastically toward others, we should learn to build others up  by encouraging and strengthening them with our words.
 
What we say reflects the kind of mindset we have. We say what’s in our hearts. As Jesus said,
 
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Lk 6:45).
 
So, we must be very careful when talking to those who don’t believe in God. What we say must reflect how gracious our God is toward us. We should make every effort to let our conversations with non-believers be full of grace. That’s one of the best ways we can reflect the gracious, loving God we believe in to others. That should be how we can be ready to answer everyone around us.
 
I hope and pray that God fills all of us here with His love and grace so that in everything we do, we reflect His holiness and love, and so that we can be used as His vessels through which the gospel of Jesus Christ can be conveyed to them through our words and lives.
 
Let’s pray.
 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for saving us and making us Your children through Jesus Christ and giving us the precious opportunity to join in Your mission to reconcile the world with You.
 
We thank You for the good news of Jesus Christ that saved us. We thank You for the privilege You’ve allowed us to have as Your children.
 
Oh Lord, we want to know how to live wise lives in You. We want to know how to reflect Your goodness and love through our words and actions, especially in our relationships with non-believers You put around us.
 
Allow us to have stronger faith in Jesus Christ so that we can truly acknowledge that He is the Lord of our lives in all circumstances. Let our faith be shown to others who don’t know You yet and please soften their hearts when we speak with them so that we may have chances to speak about Your love and Your wonderful salvation through Jesus Christ.
 
We want all the words that come from our mouths to be full of Your grace. Please be with us always and allow us to live in accordance with Your will.
 
We thank You Lord.
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray, Amen.
 
Reflection Questions
1) What do you think are some good ways you can allow others to know about the gospel of Jesus Christ? When do you think they find Christianity appealing?
 
2) Have you ever had the chance to talk with non-believers about your faith? What made them want to know more about it? How did you answer them?
 
3) What do you think it means for you to “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt?” (Col 4:6) How can we convey God’s grace in our everyday language?