MPC, 4th February 2001.Colossians 4 - Effective Evangelism
Phil Campbell MPC, 4th February 2001.
On Wednesday the 24th of May last year, a serious group of Presbyterians are crowded into the hard pews of Anne St Presbyterian church in the centre of the city. It's the annual state assembly. Hour after hour of notices of motion, points of order, amendments to amendments. As the city crowds go about their usual business outside. The daily grind. Power dressing men in smart suits with red ties; power dressing women in smart suits with red ties as well. Teenagers on skateboards. Street people. Mums heading down to the Myer Centre to go shopping.
And us hammering away inside where nobody's really listening. Talking about stuff that when you think about it, had hardly ANY CONNECTION with ANYTHING in the minds of the people going by outside.
Walk out of Anne Street church and through the Post Office square, and there's a CHRISTIAN ON THE CORNER. At least, I think he's a Christian. Because he's waving a BIG BLACK BIBLE AROUND. Here's a guy who's serious about TAKING THE GOSPEL TO THE PEOPLE. So he's shouting at the top of his voice. He's pacing backwards and forwards in his little patch of footpath. With all the good intentions in the world. And NOBODY... NOBODY... stops to listen. We're all embarrassed. Even the Presbyterian ministers let out for lunch. He's hammering away at the top of his voice, he's waving his bible... and making HARDLY ANY CONNECTION with ANYTHING in the minds of the people going by outside.
As Christians, we're called to be people who TAKE THE GOSPEL OF JESUS to the WORLD. As Christians we're called to SHARE THE HOPE THAT WE HAVE. As Christians, we're called to MAKE CHRIST KNOWN. And yet it seems to me it's so easy to either LOCK OURSELVES AWAY and be irrelevant. Or go to the other extreme. And get in people's faces in a way that doesn't win any friends at all. So the question I want to ask this morning is, IS THERE A BETTER WAY... of taking OUR MESSAGE to the world. Is there a better MODEL... than either locking ourselves in the cupboard and waiting for the world to come to us... or BIBLE BASHING on street corners.
Can I say as I ask that question, that some of the stuff going on inside that Annual Assembly was IMPORTANT. And I was there. And that EVANGELISING ON A STREET CORNER, or on a Uni campus, or anywhere else is way better than NEVER DOING IT AT ALL. Which is where most of us are. But in the end we've got to ask, ARE THERE BETTER WAYS? And in the passage we're looking at today, I think there are. It's some parting advice from the apostle Paul as he winds up his letter to the Colossians. And fixes THEIR FOCUS on the WORK OF THE KINGDOM. Proclaiming Christ to THEIR WORLD. Five things that he asks for. Five pointers for EFFECTIVE EVANGELISM. And whether you're a Christian at school or a Christian at work or a Christian in a retirement village, they're five keys to REPRESENTING JESUS more EFFECTIVELY. Where-ever you are.
The five keys are listed there on your outline. And they're simple.
Be
prayerful.
Be clear... and
Be wise.
Grab opportunities
Be READY.
1. BE PRAYERFUL
John Stott, who's written one of the popular commentaries on Colossians, has a neat little phrase. He says, make sure you TALK TO GOD ABOUT PEOPLE before you TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT GOD. What we're doing when we're looking for ways to share the gospel is GOD'S WORK. So Paul says, DEVOTE YOURSELVES TO PRAYER. Verse 2. "Devote yourselves to prayer, being WATCHFUL and THANKFUL."
Funny, we pray with our eyes closed. Which makes it hard to be watchful at the same time. But I think he's saying, be both PRAYERFUL and WATCHFUL. At the same time as being THANKFUL for the gospel. Be WATCHFUL for the sort of people we've been hearing about over the last few weeks who want to say THE MESSAGE IS SOMETHING ELSE. Don't just pray and DO NOTHING. Pray and BE CAREFUL that you hold on to the truth. Be prayerful and thankful and TAKE CARE you're not being led astray by wrong ideas.
And make sure you're PRAYING, says Paul, for the BIG STUFF. Which we don't often do. We'll pray for a car park when we're driving round in circles in the city. We'll pray when we're sick and when our friends are sick. As we should. But Paul says, are you PRAYING FOR GOSPEL OPPORTUNITIES?
He says, PRAY FOR US TOO - and it's interesting, he's writing this from jail. He's in chains. But do you notice when he says, PRAY FOR OPEN DOORS, he's not talking about the doors of his prison cell. If I was innocent in chains, I'd say PRAY THEY'LL LET ME OUT OF HERE. Paul says, PRAY FOR OPEN DOORS - FOR OUR MESSAGE. So we can proclaim THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST. So we can MAKE KNOWN THE SECRET. Pray not for a ticket to get out of jail free. Pray for a ticket to SPEAK ABOUT JESUS. Verse 3, they're his words. "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."
You know, I'm not thinking that waving a bible around on a street corner is a great way to tell people about THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST. And Paul at this point doesn't seem to be planning any street corner stuff, because he's in jail. But he says, pray there'll be ways I can get out the message. Even from here. And you'll say, but I never get the chance to say anything about my faith. There's never the opportunity. I'm too busy at work. Or there's no-one who'll listen.
Can I suggest we try PRAYING for OPEN DOORS for the GOSPEL. Not just for some missionary we know on the other side of the world. But for US in our ordinary living. And see what happens.
But there's another part of the prayer as well, that Paul's asking the Colossians to be praying. And it's worth taking note of. Because it's one of those prayers where I think where we ask God to play a part - but where we play a part. It's something Paul says HE SHOULD BE DOING. And that he wants GOD TO HELP HIM DOING. It's a prayer that God would help him do what he SHOULD BE DOING ANYWAY. And that is, to be CLEAR in the way he proclaims the gospel.
I'm not sure when it was we Christians decided it would be good to STOP PRAYING THAT PRAYER. But sometime in the last 2000 years or so, we decided BEING CLEAR didn't count for too much. So we started making up big theological words. Words that SHUT PEOPLE OUT instead of drawing them in. Words with seventeen syllables; concepts that are impossible to get your head around. Someone says, what's Christianity all about anyway, and you go into a two hour essay where they just glaze over in the first ten seconds.
Paul prays that he'll be able to make his message as plain as the nose on your face. He's not out to be impressive or clever. Just CLEAR. He's not even out to be RELEVANT. Just CLEAR. And that needs to be OUR AMBITION AS WELL. It's actually written into the core values of our church. Because we need to keep working at it.
You know, when I was growing up in a Presbyterian church, I used to bring one of my non-Christian mates along. And he'd laugh. Because apart from the bloke up the front wearing a black dress, there were all the words. Like INTIMATIONS. And DOXOLOGIES. And INTERCESSIONS. That were just the LABELS for bits of the service that didn't make any sense to him either. We need to work hard to be CLEAR WITH OUR MESSAGE.
Clear in other ways too. Clear about what our message actually IS. That it's a clear call to put aside other things and follow Jesus. Rather than a system, or a religion, or a denomination. Paul asks the Colossians to PRAY FOR HIM. That he'd be clear. Like he ought to be. And we ought to be as well. Maybe you could pray that for ME... as I teach the Bible week to week. And for one another. That what you say to people about Jesus would be said in a way that's CLEAR. And doesn't muddy the waters.
Well, they're connected, but I've called them points one and two. Prayer. And being CLEAR. And PRAYING that we'll be CLEAR.
WISE TOWARDS OUTSIDERS
So if you're following the outline, the next key to effective evangelism comes in verse 5. Be WISE in the way you act towards outsiders. And can I say that this is the thing that really marks out us Christians from almost any other group I can think of.
Do you realise that the PEOPLE WE'RE HERE FOR... are the PEOPLE WHO AREN'T HERE? And so in almost every other area of life you can think of, there are IN GROUPS and there are OUT GROUPS. And the IN GROUP huddles together being IN, quite happy that the OUT GROUP keeps on being OUT.
The sad thing is, I've heard Christians who are quite happy to play those same sort of games. WHO CARES if non-Christians don't feel welcome with us. WHO CARES if they don't understand. And you get this idea that the way we relate to the non-Christian world is just to CRITICISE IT. And AVOID IT.
I used to work in the same office as a guy called KEN. Ken and I were the two OFFICE CHRISTIANS. But Ken's strategy for being an office Christian was very different to mine. Because Ken's strategy was this. Have NOTHING to do with ANYONE. Bob from the next desk is leaving. Ken, do you want to come to the FAREWELL DINNER at the Pub. And Ken says NO WAY. I'm a CHRISTIAN. No... to EVERYTHING. Now can I ask you, is that the way to be WISE TOWARDS OUTSIDERS? Is that the way to do what the next half of verse 5 says as well?
Here's where we're looking. Verse 5. "BE WISE in the way you act towards outsiders; MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY."
MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY...
I think most of the time if you're a Christian in the workplace, it's easy to work up some good safe strategies to make sure you NEVER have to go public with your faith. Duck for cover. Paul's idea is to do the opposite. Be WISE in what you do and say; so you'll spot the opportunities to TALK ABOUT GOSPEL ISSUES. Taking the natural openings that are going to be there as you share life. As you're REAL. As you get the chances to talk in a deep way about what REALLY COUNTS.
And if you're doing that in a natural way, let me tell you, it beats the STREET CORNER METHOD hands down. I'll bet you if you're a person who just acts wisely towards outsiders and looks for opportunities, by the end of a year there'll be more people who have actually LISTENED to the gospel that there would be in a YEAR of STREET CORNER BIBLE WAVING. And it's going to apply to us as a church as well. As we work at ways of making the gospel CLEAR to OUTSIDERS. The people who haven't heard it. But need it. Being WISE. Grabbing opportunities with both hands.
GRACEFUL CONVERSATIONS WITH READY ANSWERS
The final point's connected. And can you see Paul's model here, it's not the street corner, it's not even the big stadium Billy Graham Crusade. Which none of us are cut out for. It's everyday life.
Let your conversation, he says... verse 6... be always FULL OF GRACE. Gracious words and attitudes. Which will make YOUR CONVERSATION different, won't it. Charitable. When other people want to be scathing. Gossiping PRAISE instead of criticism. Words of encouragement instead of criticism. Listening... instead of talking your head off about YOU. Here's an easy test to see if your conversations are full of grace. Because if they're FULL OF YOU... there's not going to be room for much else, is there. Try making the change. And see if there's suddenly a whole lot more opportunities to be talking about the LORD JESUS. And HIS GRACE. And finally, make sure you're READY WITH ANSWERS. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW HOW TO ANSWER EVERYONE.
Which you might say is a very big ASK. And yet you know, John Chapman says, I think, that when it boils down to it, after 50 years or so experience as an evangelist, there are only about 11 major questions that get asked again and again and again. Objections people have to the gospel. Not that hard to research some answers.
Can you be bothered? Takes a bit of work. A bit of thinking. A bit of courage to maybe face up to the sort of questions you've got in your OWN MIND. If you've got stuff you want to talk through, GRAB ME and ask. Make sure when we're running seminars like the ones we had with John Chapman a couple of months back, make sure you're THERE.
Let me tell you, if you're a serious Christian, you don't have to be out on street corners waving a bible, but YOU DO NEED TO BE PREPARED WHEN YOU'RE ASKED. Prepared at the very least with a CLEAR EXPLANATION of what it means to be a Christian. And better still, with some answers for the sort of questions that will probably come next. It's not that hard.
GOSPEL TEAM WORK...
Well, that brings us to Paul's final words to the Colossians. Verse 7 to 18. Words full of personal greetings that paint a real picture of life. Say g'day to Bruce, how's your mum, that sort of stuff. And as we finish up, there's just one point in the midst of it all I want you to notice. That is, GOSPEL WORK is TEAM WORK.
I saw in the newspaper yesterday, David Campesie wants to give some advice to the next coach of the Wallabies. He says AUSTRALIAN RUGBY has been getting DULL. He says, there needs to be MORE TEAM WORK. And the new coach has to fix it. He says, "the thing that really frustrates me is that we've got one of the worlds great BACKLINES, and it's NOT BEING USED." It's not just a game for a few forwards up the front. There's a WHOLE TEAM TO BE USED.
Which is reassuring when it comes to being EFFECTIVE EVANGELISTS, isn't it. That we're not called to be Billy Graham. We're called to be a team. Doing it together. Front rowers, backline, where-ever you fit.
And it's like that here in the last few verses. There's a TEAM. Tychicus, verse 7, Paul says he's a FELLOW SERVANT in the LORD. Onesimus. A DEAR BROTHER. Aristarchus... Paul's cellmate. FELLOW PRISONER. There's MARK. And Jesus Justus. Paul calls them FELLOW WORKERS FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD. All members of the TEAM.
Epaphras, verse 12, a SERVANT OF CHRIST JESUS. Sends his greetings; always PRAYING FOR THEM. Wrestling in prayer. Praying they'll stand firm and not be swayed by the idea that they need something more than their trust in Jesus. Working hard for them. There's Luke; there's Demas. Nympha has a church meeting in her house. And Archippus, verse 17; tell him to keep going. "Tell Archippus, "See to it that you COMPLETE the work you have received IN THE LORD." Everyone with a part to play, whether it's praying or encouraging, or delivering a message half way across Turkey. It's a TEAM of FELLOW WORKERS. FELLOW SERVANTS. Working together, says Paul, for the SPREAD OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
And we're part of it as well. Which is a great thought to finish with as we head into the serious part of the year, isn't it. That we're called to be part of that SAME TEAM... with a goal of growing the Kingdom. We've got some core commitments as a church that REFLECT exactly what we've seen here in the passage. Working together to BE CLEAR with the message. With an ambition of being a church that's WELCOME and OPEN and UNDERSTANDABLE to OUTSIDERS. Praying together; that God's going to OPEN DOORS for OUR MESSAGE. The same message of Christ crucified. Not closed in like a HOLY HUDDLE connecting with nobody. And not waving our big black bibles under peoples noses on Blackwood Street either. But being WISE in the way we act towards outsiders. And taking EVERY OPPORTUNITY GOD GIVES US.
Can I urge you, BE PART OF IT. Whether it's in the forwards or the backline. Because there's plenty to do. Plenty of ways you can be involved; we've mentioned some ideas already as we looked through the church calendar. To be fellow workers; servants of Jesus... working for the Kingdom of God.