In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines Colossians 4:5-6 and explains more of how a truly Word-filled and Spirit-filled person is transformed to walk in greater Christlikeness.
1. Gospel transformation changes what we are devoted to (v. 2-4)
2. Gospel transformation changes the way we think and act (v. 5)
3. Gospel transformation changes the way we speak (v. 6)
Auto Transcript
Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.
Summary
We are reminded that the gospel transforms every area of a believer’s life — not just inwardly, but visibly in conduct, devotion, and speech. The Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God, produces a lifestyle that is markedly different from the world’s wisdom, and this transformation is observable by both believers and outsiders.
Key Lessons:
- Gospel transformation changes what we are devoted to — prayer becomes a priority, marked by alertness, thanksgiving, and intercession for open doors for the gospel.
- Gospel transformation changes how we think and act — believers move from foolish, self-centered conduct to wise, considerate living that is observable by those outside the faith.
- Gospel transformation changes how we use time — believers recognize the preciousness of time and seize every opportunity to live and do good, rather than wasting life on empty pursuits.
- Gospel transformation changes how we speak — gracious, seasoned, and well-timed speech replaces corrupt, reckless, or hurtful language, reflecting the Spirit’s work within.
Application: We are called to examine our lives for evidence of genuine transformation — in our prayer life, our conduct toward unbelievers, our use of time, and the words we speak. If no change is visible, we are urged to come to Christ in repentance and faith, trusting that the Holy Spirit and the Word will produce this fruit.
Discussion Questions:
- In what areas of your life is the gospel’s transforming power most visible to others — your devotion to prayer, your conduct, your use of time, or your speech?
- How does the biblical concept of wisdom as ‘skillful living’ (hokah) challenge the world’s idea of ‘following your heart’? Where have you seen this contrast play out?
- Knowing that every careless word will be accounted for (Matthew 12:36-37), what practical steps can you take this week to make your speech more gracious, seasoned, and well-timed?
Scripture Focus: Colossians 4:1-6 is the central passage, teaching that believers are to be devoted to prayer, walk wisely toward outsiders, redeem the time, and speak with grace and seasoning. Supporting passages include Ephesians 4-5, Proverbs 6, 9, 20, and 25, 1 Peter 4:2-5, and Matthew 12:36-37.
Outline
- Introduction
- The Gospel Transforms What We Are Devoted To
- The Gospel Transforms How We Think and Act
- From Foolish Conduct to Wise Conduct
- Wisdom as Skillful Living
- Wisdom in Proverbs: Guiding Every Movement of Life
- From Self-Centered to Considerate Conduct
- Walking as Children of Light
- From Careless to Careful Use of Time
- Redeeming the Time in an Evil Age
- The Gospel Transforms How We Speak
- Call to Examine Your Transformation
Introduction
And I was under the weather, so it may be in my voice. Colossians 4:1-6.
Masters, grant your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a master in heaven. Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thankfulness or thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned.
>
That I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. And let your speech always be with grace, as those seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
Let’s pray. Lord, this morning, as we again come to your word, we want to humble ourselves, because your word is available to us, and I pray we would take full advantage of it.
As we do, Lord, I pray the word of God would change and transform our mind and move our wills to actually examine ourselves with it, so we can practice what it says until we get good at being a Christian.
Lord, thank you for the Holy Spirit, who enables us to do it, who gives us the insight and illumines the word to us so we can understand it. It’s no longer foreign to us, and reading the word of God becomes like breathing. We have to have it or we die.
Lord, today teach us your word again and encourage our hearts with it. I pray in Christ’s name, amen.
In our membership class, we asked people who attended to give a testimony about their life before they became a Christian, the actual conversion event, and what has happened since they’ve been saved.
I asked them to give one word that described their life before Christ and one word that describes their life now after Christ. When I became a Christian, one of the words that described my life before was restless. I had everything I wanted, I was on top of the world, and my heart was restless.
The one word that would describe me after becoming a believer is peaceful. I was no longer restless; I was peaceful.
Because I met the prince of peace and I understood the gospel and the Holy Spirit of God made it clear to me, the Lord is going to do for you and me a transformation, and that’s what we’ve been looking at in scripture here.
A spirit-filled, word-filled Christian will begin to see transformational power of the gospel in each part of their experience as they journey through this complicated world. As a believer grows in the knowledge of the word and in their knowledge of Christ, and are led by the Holy Spirit of God, transformation surely does take place.
And then you’re different. I didn’t want to be around God’s people before; now I do. I didn’t want to read the word of God; now I do, and I want to know what it says and put it into practice.
I didn’t really know who Christ was, but now I do. I didn’t really know much about God, and the things I didn’t know about God were wrong. Now I want to know about them and be correct.
Who does that? The flesh doesn’t do that. The world doesn’t help you do that, and Satan surely will not encourage you to do that.
It’s the Holy Spirit of God who does that, using the word of God to make visible in your life the very practical things that are going to take place. The first thing that takes place is justification, that you are pronounced just by God.
You’re indwelt with the Holy Spirit, and you begin this gradual process of sanctification. That process goes on until the day you die, and when you are taken up into glory, then that process will be complete.
How is this all revealed? It’s revealed in our conduct, in our behavior, and in our character.
According to Colossians, we’re putting off sin, those sin-stained garments, and we’re putting on new clean clothes. It’s also revealed in our relationships as a result of being word-filled and being controlled by the Spirit of God.
Submitting now to Christ and doing what the will of the Lord is, we see transformation in our everyday walk, in our marriages between wives and husbands and families, between children and parents and fathers and children. We see it in our conduct and in our speech.
We notice that what we were once devoted to, we are not devoted to anymore. The use of our time and opportunities changes, and we begin to see it. Other people begin to see it, and then we know that something has happened to us, that we truly are Christians, and we are so glad we are.
I don’t know of a real Christian who regretted becoming a Christian. I never met one.
“A spirit-filled, word-filled Christian will begin to see transformational power of the gospel in each part of their experience.”
This Lord’s day, we’ll continue to see the transformation of the gospel in the Christian, the change in lifestyle. What is very interesting is that part of that change in lifestyle, as I began to look at it last week, is that of our speech, the way we communicate, the way we act.
As a Christian grows, their language is transformed. I heard one preacher say that a bunch of bikers got saved, and they started talking with each other, and there was an older woman there. He says that her bun started unraveling as they started communicating, because they weren’t using language that these ladies were used to.
But they did start growing. They started recognizing that those things are not proper for Christians. One of the highest forms of speech a Christian could have is that of being devoted to prayer.
The Gospel Transforms What We Are Devoted To
The first thing I mentioned, the first major area of gospel transformation, changes in a believer’s life, is the gospel transformation changes what we are devoted to. All right, and what are we devoted to?
Devoted to Prayer
In verse two of chapter 4, it says this: we are to devote yourselves to prayer, to keeping alert in an attitude of thanksgiving. We are devoted to having talks with God, speech that is focused on the character of God.
The believer is transformed and has their dependence on God. They feel this and know this real need to communicate with the living God about everything that’s going on in their life. Life is hard and complicated, with many twists and turns in it, and it’s hard to find out what is right. That’s why you seek God’s face out.
Regular and continual prayer shows where someone’s priorities and concerns and passions are placed. I want to implore you as believers to make prayer always first. It should always be regular, and it should always be taking place, especially prayer together as a church body.
As we meet together on Wednesday to pray, if you haven’t gotten on that Zoom prayer time, it is time. We have a new year coming up, and it’s time to get on that prayer call and pray with each other.
You don’t have to drive anywhere. All you need is a computer, a cell phone, and to sit behind a desk. You meet with one other person and you pray. We have a prayer list, so we follow the prayers.
If you’ve never done it before, that’s what you ought to be doing. Make it a practice, a habit, make it where if you miss it you feel guilty. We want to be praying as a church.
“Regular and continual prayer shows where someone’s priorities and concerns and passions are placed.”
That’s what he says here in scripture. There are two actions when we’re connected to devoted prayer. The first one is we’re keeping alert, we’re not falling asleep at the switch.
The second action is we have an attitude of thanksgiving. We’re coming to prayer with a very thankful heart. We know what God has done for us, we know we never would have deserved salvation, but that’s the way we’re coming, and that’s what pleases the Lord.
Praying for Open Doors and Clarity
And then also the direction of our prayer is that we are asking God, in verse 3, praying for us, praying for other people, in this case Paul, Timothy, Epaphras, to open a door wide for the word of God. That’s what we ought to be doing.
If we don’t carry through and pray for God to kick open doors for speaking the gospel, then it won’t happen. That is where we’re to pray.
We’re also to pray for clarity, clarity in speaking and proclaiming God’s word. In verses 3 and 4 it says, “for so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned, that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”
Paul was definitely writing this from prison. He even ends Colossians in the last verse: “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, remember my imprisonment, grace be with you.”
Paul is in prison, but he’s not praying to be released from prison. He is praying that he would have an open door and clarity of speech so he can witness to those around him.
We found out last week or the week before that in the last verse of Acts, that prayer was answered. Paul was witnessing to people, he had visitors, and every time he had open doors, nobody was preventing him from giving the gospel, not even the soldiers.
I’m sure some of those soldiers got saved from hearing Paul speak. Prayer was answered because the church at Colossians were persistent to keep praying, because they were that necessary thing that is important for prayer to take place—that we actually do pray.
“Paul is not praying to be released from prison. He is praying for an open door and clarity of speech so he can witness.”
The Content of Our Message: Christ
And so what is the content of the message that we do preach? That content from Colossians is we preach Christ. In Colossians 1:27 it says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory”—that is, he is the hope of glory.
Christianity is Christ. He is at the center of it all. Your attitude and my attitude and relationship to this person Jesus Christ is of significant importance.
Christ can bring you to God because he is God. As Corinthians tells us, “We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord.” It’s all about Jesus, his person and the facts concerning him.
In him are all the treasures in wisdom and knowledge. In him the fullness of deity dwells. The Apostle Paul is saying things about Jesus that no one else is saying.
This attack on Jesus—that people say he’s just a good teacher, or just a good example, or just a good man to follow, a distinguished prophet—often concludes that Jesus is not divine and not God. These attacks on Jesus’s deity are nothing new.
This doctrine has been fought for and defended in the past. Arius of Alexandria in 318 AD used Colossians 1:15, which says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” But he used it not from scripture itself, but from a hymn that was written on the supremacy of Christ, to undermine the doctrine of Christ’s deity.
However, it was vigorously defended from scripture as sound doctrine that Christ is God. At the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, they pronounced it to be sound doctrine. Then again at the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD, they pronounced it to be sound doctrine.
People stood up for this doctrine because it was vigorously fought against. Satan has his tentacles in all religious systems, so he will try very hard to convolute and pervert this doctrine of the deity of Christ.
But he can’t do it. Once Christ is known by those who are his, they realize that there is no one else we can go to for salvation, for forgiveness of sins, for being right with God, for a place in heaven, for the promises that he gives us, that where he is we may be also.
That is praying and interceding for the saints in his position as seated at the right hand of God. No one else could do that. There’s nowhere else to go but Jesus Christ.
When it comes to devoted prayer, we have access to the Father through only one person, and that is Jesus Christ.
“There is no one else we can go to for salvation, for forgiveness of sins, for being right with God. There’s nowhere else to go but Jesus Christ.”
The Gospel Transforms How We Think and Act
There is a second major area of gospel transformational change in the believer’s life, and it’s found in verse five. Gospel transformation changes the way we think and act.
I want you to notice in verse five. We’ll pull three things out of this and break it apart a bit. It says: “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.”
I’m going to be looking to Ephesians. You have to go back past Philippians to Ephesians, because Ephesians says very much the same thing. It encourages the Ephesian church that the Holy Spirit is cleaning us up, making changes in our lives, and bringing us into conformity to the will of God.
This conformity happens inside of us and it comes out of us. Conduct is at the center of sanctification, and conduct shows us what is or is not going on in the inside. The Holy Spirit is inside of us to produce good fruit.
How does he do that? By changing our mind, by transforming our mind. The Spirit also uses his convicting power to show us what is wrong and what is evil.
The Holy Spirit also convinces us of the knowledge of what is right and good and pleasing—not just generally, but in the sight of God. How can I live in the sight of God that pleases him once I’m a believer?
The Holy Spirit addresses your mind and informs your understanding with truth. The truth of God’s word brings about transformation and change.
“Conduct is at the center of sanctification, and conduct shows us what is or is not going on in the inside.”
From Foolish Conduct to Wise Conduct
From the text this morning, there are changes in three areas. Notice the first one: in the beginning of verse five, a Christian is transformed from foolish conduct to wise conduct.
Now notice what it says. It says conduct yourself with wisdom. That means wisdom came with conversion; it didn’t happen before conversion. People are not wise before they come to Christ, not in the sense that scripture teaches.
We once conducted our lives according to our passions and our desires. If you go back to Colossians 3:5, what were they?
It says: “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked when you were living in them.”
Then it says in verse 8: “And now you also put away anger and wrath and malice and slander and abusive speech from your mouth.” That’s the kind of earthly desires we had, which were not wisdom. We could not please God in that capacity.
We were pagans, and we walked around in hopeless confusion. As Ephesians 4:17 says, in the futility of our mind. Futility means to walk around in moral purposelessness or emptiness, pointlessness.
The mind of a pagan is unable to reach its intended goal. Its mental condition results in a state of moral recklessness and disgrace—a mind saturated with foolishness, that’s all it was.
What is the mantra today? Follow your heart. Even on the Hallmark channels, if you’re watching the Christmas ones, every single one of them says follow your heart. That’s such horrible advice.
Your corrupt, sinful, deceitful, wicked, ungodly heart—follow that? It’s going to lead you to disaster. But that’s the mantra, that’s the good advice they’re giving.
But as for you and me as Christians, it says we are to conduct ourselves in wisdom. This word—actually the Hebrew word translated wisdom—is not similar to the Sophia, the Greek word, which really refers to wisdom more like an intellectual wisdom.
That’s what the false teachers were pursuing in their gnosticism: superior knowledge. Well, superior knowledge doesn’t bring you the lifestyle that you should have.
In fact, all of Colossians is telling us, especially this section, that no false teaching or false belief can produce this conduct in someone’s life. Nothing can produce this conduct. No amount of intellect can produce this conduct that he’s talking about here.
“Wisdom came with conversion — people are not wise before they come to Christ, not in the sense that scripture teaches.”
Wisdom as Skillful Living
Not only being devoted to the right things, but here the second thing is how we act and think is being transformed by the Holy Spirit. This Hebrew word is hokah, which speaks of wisdom as skillful living.
This is the way Paul is actually using it—in a very practical way, like the Old Testament Hebrew word. It’s the ability to navigate life in this world in a God-honoring way. And this is the kind of wisdom that scripture imparts to God’s transformed people.
So that means these false teachers and this secular teaching cannot produce a transformational change in conduct. It just cannot happen.
And why can’t it happen? Well, Colossians answers that question in Colossians 2:23, where it says these are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly desires. It just can’t change who you are unless the spirit of God is doing it.
If we just consider the Book of Proverbs, Proverbs is an appeal to a child, usually a child around teenage years, because they were trying to get young men and women ready to serve in the king’s kingdom. The king wants wise people. And we know this is the kingdom of the King of Kings.
But here, to choose wisdom over folly would be the goal of a young person. Wisdom and folly are portrayed in Proverbs as a woman who is trying to entice a young person to eat at her respective banquet.
In Proverbs 9:1-2, it says wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars, she has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine, she has set her table. In other words, the table is set, and it becomes an enticing picture to a young person to eat there, not at the table of God’s wisdom, but at the table of foolishness, and that’s what happens.
So the young person must choose: where will they dine? His wise parents can counsel him, but they cannot force him to dine at wisdom’s table.
Although the person is young, his choices are very important. And do choices show who a person is?
Well, if you look at Proverbs 20:11, this is a very interesting passage of scripture, because it is showing that reputation is based on decisions. In Proverbs 20:11 it teaches, even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and right.
So here’s a young person known by their acts, known by their conduct. And you can tell very quickly whether the conduct of a young person is pure and upright.
So is the young person going to dine at the table of foolishness, which is always very enticing and is always pictured as something very desirable? Or are they going to dine at the table of wisdom, in which they are making decisions that will show they are growing in skillful conduct on how to live life?
“Hokah — the ability to navigate life in this world in a God-honoring way. This is the kind of wisdom that scripture imparts to God’s transformed people.”
Wisdom in Proverbs: Guiding Every Movement of Life
The call to obedience is really not to forget the comprehensive faithfulness of wisdom once you learn it. That’s in Proverbs 6:22, specifically, because right there it displays three regular movements of life where obedience to the teaching of wisdom becomes paramount.
It shows an all-encompassing nature of God’s wisdom, that it’s going to be with you whatever you’re doing. In Proverbs 6:22, notice what it says.
The first thing has to do with roaming around. It says when you walk about, it will guide you. Wisdom will guide you when you roam around and lead you when you make your way from place to place, traversing through this strange world and finding yourself in different situations.
Wisdom will be there as your map and compass to help you navigate through the most difficult obstacles and circumstances, in order to avoid the path of danger and to take the path more safe.
And then notice secondly in Proverbs 6:22, when you sleep, they will watch over you. In other words, when you go to sleep, wisdom will be in your mind, and when it’s in your mind it will protect you.
It will be a faithful mate at your side, a friend and helper. Wisdom will always be faithful to supply to your mind what is needed to rest in truth, and when you rest in truth you will truly rest.
It’s you and me that will be unfaithful and give up wisdom to foolishness, but wisdom will be constant. It will be in your heart and mind as a referee of what is true and what is false, what is God’s good way and what are the other ways that lead to trouble and destruction.
This is what God imparts to believers once they believe in the gospel and have the spirit of God and the word of God. They will begin to live wisely and recognize very quickly how foolishness looks, and it doesn’t look pretty at all.
Notice again one other thing in Proverbs 6:22. It says when you awake, they will talk to you. When you wake up, wisdom advises you, and it’s already in your mind.
Biblical wisdom is not like a dream in which you cannot recall it. It is a strong, consistent voice that constantly reminds you of what is holy and what is good, and what is right, and what is well pleasing to the Lord.
You see a different kind of conduct than your old lifestyle. Your mind is changed to know the difference between foolish living and wise living.
We really are never at a point where we don’t need to know more wisdom. At the different stages of life we need more wisdom. When your kids are small, you need wisdom there. When they get to be in middle school and then in high school, you really need wisdom.
You need the wisdom that is going to show them what the difference is between foolish decisions and wise decisions. If you ever read through Proverbs, the first chapter is talking about wisdom, when the foolish friends call in the street: “Come with us, let’s put our money together, we’ll have a good time.” And it ends up being a disaster.
Are they going to listen to them, or are they going to listen to the voice of wisdom? Sometimes wisdom is not as enticing as foolishness, but it bears the fruit of a safe and good lifestyle, and a lifestyle that pleases the Lord.
“Biblical wisdom is a strong, consistent voice that constantly reminds you of what is holy, what is good, and what is well pleasing to the Lord.”
From Self-Centered to Considerate Conduct
All right, just to show you wisdom, let’s go back to Colossians. A second thing in Colossians is that not only is the Christian transformed from foolish conduct to wise conduct, but notice in Colossians 4:5, the Christian is transformed from self-centered conduct to considerate conduct.
Notice what it says: “Conduct yourself with all wisdom,” and then it says “toward outsiders.” So living carefully toward those outside the faith.
Wait a minute. Am I responsible for people who don’t believe in the way I live? Is that what a Christian’s responsibility is? Yes, it is.
I’m responsible, you’re responsible. Wherever we find ourselves, as Ephesians 5:15 says, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise.” In other words, look carefully to see if you are conducting yourself properly.
In Ephesians and in this passage of scripture, we are to conduct ourselves carefully. In Ephesians it says look carefully at how you walk. That word, in light, really—if a Christian is light and walking in the light, they will see if they are conducting themselves wisely or foolishly.
The word there actually is “acrobatic” or “acrobatically,” and it means careful, used to have accuracy with care. From this word we get the word today “acrobat,” which brings to mind someone who does difficult and hard moves with precision and accuracy, like a trapeze act or a highwire or a balancing beam.
All those need much practice, or the moves could be fatal to that person. That means believers are to show their obedience by living carefully and walking wisely in their conduct.
As they walk through this world in front of the unsaved, your lifestyle will show the unsaved the difference—not just your verbal speaking of the gospel, but your lifestyle will show the difference.
This is not a new theme in Colossians. In Colossians 1:10 he says, “So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects.” And then in Colossians 2:6, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him.”
And then in Colossians 3:7 it says, “In whom, in them you also once walked when you were living in them.” This is the way you walk now, but once upon a time you walked differently.
“Believers are to show their obedience by living carefully — your lifestyle will show the unsaved the difference.”
Walking as Children of Light
And he is saying to us as believers, as members of the Christian church and members of the general society, Christians are to walk as children of light. As Paul said in Ephesians 5:8, “For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, so walk as children of light.”
Walk is just a word to show how you traverse through this world, how you move through this world. Another word we would use is lifestyle—how you live your life, how you present yourself in your actions and in your demeanor to others who see your life.
The fruit of light consists of three cardinal truths. From Ephesians 5:9, it says in that passage, “For the fruit of light consists of all goodness and righteousness and truth.”
These qualities fill the heart and the mind. They are rays of light which make us children of light, and they shine forth our walk, they shine forth our deeds. Part of our deeds is that we’re not participating in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead we’re discerning those unfruitful works and exposing the darkness for what it really is—and that is evil.
We must stay awake so that spiritual laziness and indifference and sleepiness does not take place in our life. That’s what a Christian is. Just the way you once were, this is the way you are now as a believer.
Part of that is that you not only are conducting yourself toward outsiders with wisdom, but you are actually a person who is conducting yourself not with foolishness but as a wise person, since you came to Christ.
“The fruit of light consists of all goodness and righteousness and truth — they shine forth our walk and our deeds.”
From Careless to Careful Use of Time
And then there’s another thing in Colossians 4:5, and it’s a third area. A Christian is transformed from careless use of time to a careful use of time.
Where it says conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Wise believers know that they are working against the clock, that the time is irreversible, and it marches, it marches on, unwilling to wait for anyone.
What are we to do? Well, in Ephesians 5:16, it tells us that we are to make the most use of time. It’s the same here in Colossians, the most use of opportunity.
Because this old word used for opportunity means toward the port. It suggests the ship taking advantage of the wind and tide and to arrive safely in the port.
Wisdom is specifically manifested in reference to time, that the wisdom of the believer’s walk becomes clear in their careful endeavor to seize upon every fitting season for doing good, and being giving a careful effort to let no opportunity pass unused.
It’s like the passage we read in Psalm this morning. This is the prayer of Moses in the middle of Psalms.
And that prayer of Moses was, “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.” Remember when Moses was in the wilderness, there was a lot of funerals, all right, a whole generation died in the wilderness.
There was a lot of people that died, and I’m sure there was several funerals a day, maybe. We don’t really know the number. But the thing is that he’s writing this and he’s saying, listen, God may give you 70 years, he may give you 80 years, all right. Live those and offer to him a heart of wisdom, a heart that reflected that what he said you believed and you practiced.
That’s the way we want to live. A wise believer is well aware of the preciousness of time and the shortness of this earthly life as compared to eternity.
“The wisdom of the believer’s walk becomes clear in their careful endeavor to seize upon every fitting season for doing good.”
Redeeming the Time in an Evil Age
If we are going to be aware of that, then Ephesians brings out another item: we’re aware of the shortness of time and to redeem the time, because the days are evil.
Believe me, if you don’t recognize that, you ought to. There’s wickedness in high places and the evil one is active and fighting the battle of the mind. He is fighting the battle of the mind today, and he’s winning.
Over every aspect, he’s defeated in generations gone by the breakup of the family. He’s distorted the definition of marriage and what marriage means. He’s distorted the difference between male and female.
He’s distorted, and now children could lop off body parts without even telling their parents, and the state’s going to. He’s got his tentacles in everything. He’s doing that to destroy the fabric of a nation, but to destroy just truth itself. Truth is being put aside.
He’s making a real effort that the real evil that we ought to be concerned about is the evil of ignorance about God. There will be a judgment on people. It does matter the way you talk and the way you act and the way you live.
Satan just wants to continue foolish trends. He wants to put people in there, even in high levels of leadership, to just be morons and have no common sense at all.
He’s also stirring up circumstances to which people succumb to, and just deepens their ignorance and inflames their passions and desires to have substitutes for satisfying their soul, instead of the true and living God. That’s what he does.
The church needs to be the example. When people look at a real believer, when they look at real Christians, that’s not what they see. They actually see wisdom, they see common sense, they see devotions in areas that really do matter in life.
Not only that, but even in our past life, a lot of the things when it came to time, what did we do? We worked all week to party on Friday and Saturday. That’s what a lot of my friends did.
Yet when you come to Christ, you realize partying and all that kind of stuff really doesn’t matter. It’s really not important at all. It finally fades out of your life, and then you start doing the important things.
I really love that passage of scripture in 1 Peter 4:2-5, where Peter is writing there in almost a similar vein.
In 1 Peter 4:2: “So as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lust of men but for the will of God.” And then verse 3: “For the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desires of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.”
In all this they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you. They’re surprised: “Hey, you used to party with us, we used to have a good time together, what happened?”
Well, what happened is that you went from becoming foolish to becoming wise, from not being a Christian to being a real Christian. That’s what happened, and that’s a good thing that happened.
“A wise believer is well aware of the preciousness of time and the shortness of this earthly life as compared to eternity.”
The Christian is to let your life unfold before outsiders, that is those who are outside the Christian faith, those who are non-Christian. Why are you to do that?
Because Christians are able to be salt and light and have the wisdom that comes from their Lord, from the word of God, from above. That makes the advice and counsel you give them much different than they’ll get anywhere else in the world, because the wisdom is in Christ Jesus. Let the word of Christ richly dwell with you, with all wisdom.
False teachers only have apparent wisdom with no substance. They cannot produce this kind of lifestyle. False belief cannot produce this kind of lifestyle.
“When people look at real Christians, they see wisdom, common sense, and devotion in areas that really do matter in life.”
The Gospel Transforms How We Speak
There is a third major area of gospel transformational changes in a believer’s life, and it’s found in Colossians 4:6. The gospel transformation changes the way we speak.
It will be revealed in our language. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
Brethren, this is where being word-filled and spirit-filled brings us. It is a strong indicator that one is maturing in the word and growing in Christlikeness, to be in control of your thoughts before they get out of your mouth.
That is the power of the spirit of God, and James mentions that often.
Gracious Speech
And what kind of speech are we to have? Well, we’re to have, in verse six, “Let your speech always be gracious, or with grace.” Gracious speech is a quality that adds delight and pleasure and attractiveness and charm to what you say.
It means that our speech is controlled by love, and the purpose of our words is to benefit people and help them, not to hurt them or speak down to them. This kind of speech is not vindictive or abusive, but truthful and loving.
Proverbs puts it another way: gentle words. A gentle answer turns away wrath. This kind of gracious words doesn’t raise its voice, doesn’t use harsh words, doesn’t use manipulative words, doesn’t bring insult or mock or lie, but brings tones of gentleness.
It listens with patience and speaks and listens respectfully to others. It speaks kindly and even with appreciation, with courtesy, and being considerate of people. That’s what the spirit of God does with our language.
Do we fail here? Do we fail at this point? We all fail at this point. We all have our bad moments, don’t we?
We all have our down days where we said things we shouldn’t have said. But you said it. Where did it come from? It didn’t come from anywhere else except your own heart.
Don’t fool yourself that the devil made you do it. It came from your heart. That’s what we have to face: our speech needs to be gracious.
“It is a strong indicator of maturity to be in control of your thoughts before they get out of your mouth — that is the power of the Spirit of God.”
Seasoned Speech
But another thing it says here in Colossians about our speech—it needs to be seasoned speech. It says, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt.”
Salt does several things. Salt preserves against corruption; it’s a preservative that keeps back decay. It also provides to a situation something that is helpful and long-lasting. And salt adds flavor, doesn’t it? It provides zest to taste.
In other words, Christians are to grow in speech which gives flavor to the discourse, as well as speech which preserves from corruption. That’s the kind of speech we should have.
Why are we to do that? Well, verse six gives us the reason. Christians are to mature in gracious and seasoned speech.
Look what it says in verse six, the last part of it: “so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” This says something to us, and what it says is that we must speak with self-control.
Actually, we must speak under the control of the Holy Spirit. When we do, we will have well-timed speech. Well-timed speech also means you’re a good listener, and that you gather the facts before you speak. Then you speak to that particular person, each person, in the way that you believe they would respond to, in a way that would be pleasing to them and pleasing to the Lord. That’s how we’re to speak to one another.
Our sister passage of scripture in Ephesians says something similar, but it expresses it differently. Ephesians 5:4 says, “There must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which is not fitting, but rather the giving of thanks.”
This word for coarse jesting is a word we would call innuendo. Literally, it carries the idea of turning. It is a person who can cleverly twist language in order to have a double meaning or in order to slander or belittle someone else, and they don’t even know it’s happening.
That people are that skilled sometimes with language, to be able to slice someone and dice them to pieces by their words. That is not to be someone who’s a believer.
“Our speech is controlled by love, and the purpose of our words is to benefit people and help them, not to hurt them.”
So it is saying that Christians in their social life are to actually avoid laughing and joking and thoughtlessness and recklessness that is apparent in the age in which they live. Instead, they are to live as people who have uncommon wisdom in an age that is perishing.
Again, if we draw the wisdom of Proverbs, it says this: “One who speaks rashly is like the thrust of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
One person put a little ditty out there, and it went like this: “A gracious word may soothe the way, a joyous word may light the day, a timely word may lessen stress, and a loving word may heal and bless.”
“Christians are to grow in speech which gives flavor to the discourse, as well as speech which preserves from corruption.”
The Weight of Our Words
And for your information and mine, how many words do you speak a day? Well, astronaut Michael Collins was speaking at a banquet one time, and he did his homework. He found out that the average man speaks 25,000 words a day and the average woman speaks 30,000 words a day. That’s a lot of words.
He said to his audience back then, “The problem that I have with that is that by the time I get home from work I spoke my 25,000 and my wife just started her 30,000.”
If I do my math correct, men in one year will speak approximately 9,125,000 words, and women will speak approximately 10 million 950,000 words. That’s a lot of words.
Now if we put that up against what the Bible says about judgment, Matthew 12:36-37 says, “Every careless word that people speak, they shall give an account for it on the day of judgment. By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.”
See, that’s for us to take more seriously everything that comes out of our mouth. After the sermon you may be speaking less, that’s what I’m saying, right? Because really our words do matter.
You feel terrible as a believer when you use words incorrectly because you’re having a bad day, and you have to repent of that, because that is sin.
Our words should be like Proverbs says, in Proverbs 25:11, like apples of gold in settings of silver. A word spoken in right circumstances, that’s how it looks.
Can you say that your words look like apples of gold in settings of silver? That’s pleasant to look on as a visual picture, but it’s also pleasant to hear, that you’re able to speak a word at the right time in the right circumstances.
Matthew 12:36-37: “Every careless word that people speak, they shall give an account for it on the day of judgment. — Matthew 12:36”
We have a long way to go on this one, we really do. But it is part of what God is doing to comprehensively transform you and me into images of Christ, right? That’s what he is doing.
Call to Examine Your Transformation
Which transformational changes can be readily apparent in your lifestyle and observed by others today? Which are they?
Do people know what you’re devoted to—prayer and evangelism? If those two areas are given from the page, do people see clear change in the way you think and conduct yourself?
Is it foolish or is it wise? Are you more concerned about yourself or more concerned about others? Is there a noticeable difference in your speech?
Is it gracious? Is it flavorful? Does it preserve and hold back corruption? Is it well timed?
These are the things that we all look for in our life to say how are we maturing, how are we growing. I just pray that you see them.
If you don’t see any of it, that’s a real problem, because it may be that you are not a believer at all. That’s probably the most important thing—if you don’t see that and you say I believe these things but I don’t see those things, well then you may have to come believe in Jesus Christ.
You’ll need to come believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, and repent of your sin of unbelief, and trust in Christ. Then things will change, as the spirit of God will fill you and the word of God will fill you, and you will bear this kind of fruit.
That’s what the scripture says. No false system, no religious system, no false thinking can produce this in someone’s life, but the Holy Spirit through the word of God. That’s it—you’re not going to find it anywhere else.
“No false system, no religious system can produce this in someone’s life — only the Holy Spirit through the word of God.”
Let’s pray. Lord, this morning we thank you again for your word. We thank you that we find in it the practical everyday things that we go through and what to look for.
Lord, we want to submit to you. We want your will to be done. We want these transformational things to take place in our own life.
And Lord, when we do fail, and we will, and we fall on our face and we say the wrong things in the wrong way at the wrong time, Lord, make us aware of it quickly, that we may repent and turn from it.
But Lord, I pray the spirit of God would help us to think before we speak, so when we do speak it and we do practice speaking the right way, that it would be in a way that honors you and honors the people who are young in the Lord, to come alongside them and show them some of the things that need to change in their lives so they can honor you in these things.
And we can give you praise and just give you thanks for all the good things that you bestow upon us. I just thank you this morning, Lord. Sanctify us.