Colossians 4:5-6

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.

 

God has called us to reach unbelievers with the Gospel.  Evangelism should be a part of everything we do.  It is the only reason believers are left on earth after salvation.  Every other aspect of our Christian walk we will do better in heaven.  However, once we are in heaven our opportunity to evangelize is over.  As we saw in the previous passage, evangelism should mark our prayers.  This passage gives us two important instructions as to how our walk and our talk should be used to engage with the world with the goal of evangelism.

  

HAVE A WISE WALK: As we seek to impact the world around us, it is important that we be wise in the way we live.  Jesus instructed His disciples to be wise like serpents while living as sheep amongst wolves.  As we live in this fallen world, we must understand that we are living in an environment that is hostile to our way of thinking and living.  Since our goal is to reach “outsiders” for Christ, we must learn to be wise in our interactions with them.  We don’t need to enter endless debates or try to argue with unbelievers.  We should not expect unbelievers to live as if they were believers.  The best use of our time is to show this lost world the love of Christ.  Respond to persecution with kindness and openly share about the transformative work of Jesus in our own lives.  We live in difficult days and cannot afford to waste our time fighting with the world.  Our job is to reach the world by living in such a way that attracts people to Christ.

 

HAVE SEASONED SPEECH: Evangelism may start with living exemplary lives, but it is not enough to walk the walk, we must also talk the talk.  At some point in our relationships with the lost world, we must share the Gospel.  When we speak, we must be gracious and kind instead of being combative or condescending.  Our words should communicate the gracious message of the Gospel in a loving and kind way.  We need to warn people of God’s wrath towards sin and help unbelievers understand that they are under condemnation because of their sin.  However, the forgiveness available through faith in Christ should be the focus of our speech.  We must be ready to answer questions people might have.  The Gospel is not an easy concept to understand so we must be patient with those who we are seeking to loving lead to the Lord.

 

APPLICATION: Build relationships with unbelievers in an intentional manner.  Love and serve others out of a joyful and grateful heart.  Avoid debates and arguments with unbelievers and clearly present the Gospel in a loving, kind, and gracious way.  Be patient and allow God’s Spirit to do the work of convincing and convicting.