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Prayer That Advances the Gospel · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking. I'm really glad you could join
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us for this deep dive. It's good to be here.
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Today we're looking at a passage of Scripture and really a
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concept that I think creates a a very uncomfortable friction for
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a lot of us. It's that friction between what
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we say we believe, you know, on a Sunday about God being
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completely sovereign, totally in control, and how we actually
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function on a Monday morning. That's a good way to put it, the
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gap between our stated theology and our, well, our functional
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theology, what we actually live out.
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We're going to be looking at what you could call the Engine
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Room of Christian Missions, and we're using some source material
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from Mark Tatlock and Chris Burnett.
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It's a chapter from their book Biblical Missions, Principles,
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Priorities, and Practices. And they really just zero in on
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a tiny slice of the Bible. Colossians chapter 4, verses 2
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through 6. Just a few verses, but they make
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a claim in their analysis that I've got to be honest, it was a
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bit startling when I first read. It Oh yeah.
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What was the claim? They argue that for the
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Christian, working for God without praying to God isn't
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just a neutral activity. It's not just a waste of time.
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They say it's anti productive, meaning it actually does damage.
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It works against the goal. And that really hit me because I
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think so many of us deep down operate on a kind of God helps
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those who help themselves. Yeah, framework.
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It's a very Western, individualistic idea.
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Right. We think, OK, I'll do all the
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hard work, I'll make the plans, I'll execute the strategy.
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And then God can, you know, sprinkle some divine blessing on
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top if he feels like. It that whole mentality is
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precisely what this text just completely dismantles.
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I mean, we are about to see the Apostle Paul, who is by any
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measure the most brilliant, most competent, most successful
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missionary in the history of the world.
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No question. And he is on his knees, begging
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the church at Coliseum for their prayers.
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And if a man with his resume couldn't rely on his own
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strength or his own credentials, well, we certainly can't.
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So that's the plan for our time together.
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We're going to scrutinize Paul's instructions in Colossians 4.
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We want to see how prayer isn't just this, you know, shopping
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list of needs we present to God. It's actually the primary work
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of the ministry. And the authors, Patlock and
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Burnett, they hopefully categorize this short passage
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into four specific opportunities that our praying creates.
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They call them delighting in Christ, declaring Christ,
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demonstrating Christ, and defending Christ.
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It's a great framework, but before we can even get to the
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how to of prayer, we have to deal with The Who.
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I mean, you can't possibly understand from the prayer
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request in chapter 4 if you haven't wrestled with the
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massive theology of chapter 1. Oh, context is absolute king
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here. It's everything.
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You have to remember what's going on in the city of Colisea
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at this time. It's a total melting pot of
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ideas. It's a spiritual marketplace.
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It really is. You've got strains of Jewish
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legalism saying you need to follow certain rules.
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You have Pagan mysticism with its Angel worship and
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asceticism. You have the beginnings of what
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would become Gnosticism, this idea that you need some kind of
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secret higher knowledge to truly connect with God.
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It's a buffet of idols, really. Yeah.
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Everyone's selling their own path to enlightenment or
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salvation. Exactly.
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And into that chaotic marketplace of ideas, Paul drops
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what can only be described as a theological atomic bomb.
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He doesn't just suggest that Jesus is another good option for
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you. He presents the absolute,
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all-encompassing supremacy of Christ.
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The source material we're looking at really anchors this
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in Colossians one verse 16 for by him, all things are created.
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All things have been created through him and for him.
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And we can't just read past those prepositions.
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They are packed with meaning. Think about that last one.
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For him, that is a totalizing claim.
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It means the very air you are breathing right now, the
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political systems that govern nations, the artistic
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masterpieces in museums, the code that runs the Internet, the
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very neurons firing in your brain as you listen to this.
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All of it exists for the glory of Jesus Christ.
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So when we talk about missions, we're not just trying to get
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people to switch their religious affiliation as if they're
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changing, you know, their favorite sports team.
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We are inviting them to align with the fundamental core
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reality of the entire universe. That is it precisely.
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There's that famous quote from the Dutch theologian Abraham
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Kuiper. He said there is not a square
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inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which
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Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry mine.
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I love that. And Missions at its heart, is
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just us agreeing with Jesus about what already belongs to
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him. It's a reclamation project.
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And then you have another verse that notes point out as being
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just crucial for our identity as believers.
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Colossians 3 verse 3 For you died, and your life is hidden
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with Christ and God. That is the death of our
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autonomy. And in the West we worship
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autonomy, don't we? I am the master of my fate.
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I am the captain of my soul. Right, the self-made man.
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And Paul says, no, you're not. You died.
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That old autonomous you is gone. It was crucified with Christ.
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Your new life, your real life, is completely wrapped up, hidden
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and secured in Jesus and. What I love about the Reformed
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worldview and what these authors do such a good job highlighting
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is that this isn't just, you know, abstract theology for the
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ivory tower. This high altitude Christology
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immediately hits the pavement of daily life.
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Look at the flow of the letter itself.
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It's brilliant. Chapters 1 and 2 are the
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soaring, massive vision of who Jesus is.
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And then bam, chapter 3. Paul pivots.
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He says, OK, if Jesus is supreme over all creation, then what?
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Then how do you treat your wife? If Jesus is the Lord who holds
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the cosmos together, how do you raise your children?
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How do you submit to your husband?
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And even gets into the most difficult social structures of
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the day. He talks to slaves and masters.
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He does, and notice how he grounds his instructions.
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He tells slaves to work diligently, As for the Lord and
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not for men, and he tells masters to be just and fair.
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Why? Because you also have a master
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in heaven. It's all connected.
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The supremacy of Christ changes how you wash the dishes, how you
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treat your employees, how you speak to your spouse.
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So we have this massive universe encompassing picture of Jesus.
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He is Lord over everything, Creator, Sustainer, the
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beginning and the end. And then, right after telling
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masters how to treat their slaves, Paul pivots again.
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He. Pivots to the mechanism of
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operation. How does this grand cosmic
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reality actually function on the ground?
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And that brings us to Colossians 4, verse 2.
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Devote yourself to prayer. At first it might seem like a
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sudden shift in topic, but it's not.
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It's the only logical conclusion if Jesus is the Supreme Lord of
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the universe and I am a small, limited, finite human being
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trying to do his work in the world.
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You'd better be talking to him a lot constantly.
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And this really brings us to the core of our topic, the absolute
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necessity of prayer and evangelism.
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The authors quote Mark Tatlock with a statement that is just.
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It's so sharp and clear. He says evangelism is impotent
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apart from divine intervention. Impotent.
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Powerless. That just flies in the face of
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so many of our modern church growth strategies, doesn't it?
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Oh, completely. We spend millions of dollars on
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demographic research, on marketing campaigns, on getting
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the lighting in the smoke machines just right.
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And look, some of that might not be bad in itself, but none of
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it, not a single bit of it, can raise a spiritually dead person
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to life. And that is the consistent
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biblical diagnosis of the lost. They aren't just uninformed or
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misguided. They are, as Ephesians 2 says,
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dead in trespasses and sins. So we have this tension.
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There's the human perspective, which Paul himself talks about
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in Ephesians 6.9. He asks for prayer that he might
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open his mouth. We have to speak.
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We have to proclaim the message. God usually doesn't just write
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the gospel in the clouds for people.
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Right, that's Romans 10. How shall they hear without a
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preacher? We are the delivery system.
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That is our non negotiable responsibility.
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But the divine perspective is that the delivery system itself
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cannot create life. The story of Lydia in Acts 16
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just keeps coming to my mind. It's the perfect illustration of
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this. It's the perfect case study.
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You have Paul the apostle there in Philippi.
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He's preaching. He's doing his job faithfully.
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You have Lydia, a seller of purple goods.
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She's there. She's listening.
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She's doing her part. But what does Luke, the author
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of Acts, make sure to tell us? The Lord opened her heart to pay
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attention to what was said by Paul.
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The Lord opened her heart. If God didn't do that
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miraculous, supernatural heart surgery, then Paul's words, as
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eloquent as they may have been, just bounce off.
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They're just noise. Without that effectual calling
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of the Holy Spirit, the gospel is, as Paul says elsewhere,
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foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews.
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It is. It makes no sense to the natural
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mind. The source material includes a
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quote from Hudson Taylor that I think just summarizes this
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entire principle perfectly. For those who might not know,
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Hudson Taylor was the pioneer missionary to inland China in
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the 19th century, a true giant of the faith.
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A man who really took the supremacy of Christ seriously.
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I mean, he adopted Chinese dress, he lived among the
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people, and he founded a mission that relied entirely on God
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through prayer for all its financial support.
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No fundraising, no appeals, just prayer.
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And he said this, you can work without praying, though it is a
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bad plan. But you cannot pray in earnest
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without working. And then he adds, the part that
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connects back to our authors work without prayer will be
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frustrated, even anti productive.
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There's that phrase again. Anti productive.
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It's essentially practical atheism, isn't it?
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When we plan our mission trips or church outreach events or
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even just our weekly services without agonizing and prayer
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first, we are functionally telling God we've got this one
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covered. You can sit this one out.
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We'll call you if we need you. And that's a terrifying thought
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because if we are doing it all on our own strength, then we get
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the glory if it seems to succeed, which is idolatry.
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And we get all the anxiety if it seems to fail.
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Yes, that's the crushing burden of a prayerless life.
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It's all on your shoulders. If the eternal salvation of my
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neighbor depends on my eloquence or my perfect timing or my
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ability to answer all his questions, I am going to be a
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nervous wreck. But if it ultimately depends on
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the sovereign God opening his heart, and my job is simply to
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be faithful in prayer and in my speech, that's freedom.
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That's liberating. So.
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Prayer is the mechanism. It's how we entrust our small,
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weak human work to God's massive, unstoppable, sovereign
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plan. It's how we align our efforts
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with His will. It's the coupling link that
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connects our train car to his locomotive.
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Without it, we're just sitting on the tracks going nowhere.
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OK, so with that theological foundation laid that we are
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utterly, really helpless without him, let's look at the text
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itself. Colossians 4.
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Paul gives us these four opportunities or so maybe better
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4 priorities for our very life. The first one is in verse 2.
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Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an
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attitude of Thanksgiving. And the authors categorize this
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as delighting in Christ. Let's break down that first
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command, devote. The Greek word is posteriori.
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What does that actually mean? It's a very strong word.
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It's a compound word in the Greek, and it carries the idea
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of being strong towards something, to be courageously
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persistent, to hold fast to it. It implies A struggle, a fight.
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So it's not casually drift into prayer when you feel like it,
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no. Absolutely not.
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You drift away from prayer. You have to intentionally,
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forcefully devote yourself to it.
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The word implies that there is resistance.
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Resistance from what we're pushing back against a life of
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prayer. Oh, from everywhere.
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First, from our own flesh, which is lazy and would much rather
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scroll through social media for an hour than spend 10 minutes in
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focus prayer from the world, which is constantly shouting for
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our attention with its deadlines and distractions.
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And of course, from the enemy. I think it was Samuel's Weimer,
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another great missionary, who said something like the devil is
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not afraid of our machinery, our plans, or our programs, but he
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trembles when we pray. Satan doesn't mind if you do a
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lot of good charitable work. He minds if you connect with the
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source of all power. So devote implies a battle.
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Paul uses similar language in other places, praying at all
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times in Ephesians, praying without ceasing at first
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Thessalonians, and Jesus himself told parables about this kind of
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persistence. Two very famous ones.
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Yeah, you have the neighbor in Luke 11 who comes banging on his
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friend's door at midnight because he needs bread for an
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unexpected guest. And he's very annoying about.
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It very annoying. And then you have the persistent
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widow in Luke 18 who keeps bothering a corrupt judge day
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after day until he finally gives her justice just to get get her
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off his back. I'll admit, I've always found
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those parables a little bit tricky.
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Is Jesus really saying that God is like a grumpy neighbor who
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doesn't want to be bothered? Or like a crooked judge who has
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to be worn down. That's a very common
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misunderstanding of those stories, but it's an argument
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from the lesser to the greater. It's a how much more argument.
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Jesus's point is this. If even a grumpy neighbor who
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just wants to sleep will eventually get up and give you
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what you need because of your sheer persistence, and if even a
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wicked, unjust judge will finally grant justice just
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because he's annoyed, how much more will your loving, gracious
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Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him?
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Ah, I see. So the persistence isn't about
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overcoming God's reluctance, it's about laying hold of his
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eagerness. That is a beautiful way to put
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it. It's not about changing God's
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mind. It's about aligning our hearts
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with His already revealed will. The persistence changes us.
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OK, that helps a lot. Now Paul adds A modifier here.
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Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful in it.
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The Greek means to be awake, to be alert, to stay on watch.
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It sounds like military language, like a sentry on the
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night watch. It is.
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It's the language of a soldier on guard duty in hostile
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territory. And this is where I think so
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many of our prayer lives fail. We treat prayer like a lullaby.
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We do it right before we fall asleep.
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Our eyes are heavy, our minds are foggy, and we drift off mid
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sentence. God bless the world and.
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I have definitely woken up the next morning realizing I never
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quite finished that sentence. We all have, but Paul's
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instruction here is a command Stay awake.
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Why? Because you are in a war zone.
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If you are involved in missions, you are, by definition, storming
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the gates of hell. You need to be alert to the
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specific needs of the missionaries on the field, alert
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to the specific attacks of the enemy against them, and alert to
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the specific opportunities for the gospel that are arising.
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So it's a call for specific, intentional, wide awake praying,
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and then he gives the attitude that should flavor all of it
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with Thanksgiving. And this is the core of what the
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authors called the delight aspect.
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Why is Thanksgiving so critical here?
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The source material makes this point that persistence and
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prayer is characterized not by what is needed, but by what has
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been provided already. That's a huge pivot in
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perspective. We are not praying for God to
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love us or to earn his favor. We are praying from a position
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of already being loved and favored.
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Go back to Colossians chapter one, verse 12.
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Paul starts by giving thanks to the Father who has past tense
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qualified you to share in the inheritance of the Saints in
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light. He has delivered us from the
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domain of darkness. He has transferred us to the
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Kingdom of His beloved Son. That's all done deal.
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It's finished work. It is absolutely finished.
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So. But when we come to God in
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prayer for missions or for anything else, we start with
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gratitude. We start by saying God thank you
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that you saved a Wretch like me. Thank you that the tomb is empty
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and that my life is hidden with Christ.
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If you skip the Thanksgiving and go straight to the list of
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requests, your prayer life just becomes a heavy burden of
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anxiety. It just becomes, Oh no, the
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world is falling apart, everything's a mess.
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God, please fix it. Fix it.
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Fix it. Versus an approach that says
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God, you have already won the decisive victory over sin and
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death through the cross. So in light of that unshakable
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reality, I am now asking you to apply that victory to this
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specific situation that is praying with delight.
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You are enjoying the grace of God you've already received
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before you even ask for the next thing.
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That completely changes the emotional tone of prayer,
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doesn't it? It moves it from being a
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desperate chore to being a joyful celebration of the
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gospel. OK, so that's opportunity #1
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delighting. We're watchful, we're devoted,
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we're thankful. Now we move to the second
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opportunity, declaring Christ. This is in Colossians 4 verses 3
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and 4. Paul writes, praying at the same
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time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for
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the Word. Open doors.
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This is a phrase we use all the time in Christian circles,
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right? Oh, God really opened a door for
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me to get this new job, Or God closed the door on that
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relationship. But what does Paul mean by it
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here, specifically in the context of missions?
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This takes us right back to that Reformed theological focus on
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God's sovereignty. The source we're using mentions
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a helpful grammatical concept that appears often in the Bible.
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It's called the Divine Passive. OK, let's unpack that.
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The divine passive. What is that?
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It's a literary device where a biblical author uses a passive
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verb, like a door was opened or it was said to them as a
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reverent way of implying that God is the one doing the action,
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without explicitly naming him every time.
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So when Paul says in First Corinthians 16 a wide and
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effective door has opened to me, he's not saying I successfully
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kicked the door. We're down with my amazing
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strategy. Exactly.
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He's saying God opened it. He's acknowledging that he is
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not the one holding the keys. God is who opened the door.
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God did. Revelation Chapter 3 makes this
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completely explicit, doesn't it? It's a message to the church in
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Philadelphia. Yes, Jesus says of himself that
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he is the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will
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shut, who shuts and no one opens.
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He is the divine key holder. That is simultaneously so
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comforting and so humbling. It's comforting because our
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success doesn't depend on us, but it's humbling because it
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means a missionary cannot force a door open.
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You cannot. You can bang on it.
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You can study the language and the culture.
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You can try to pick the lock with clever programs.
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But if Jesus has sovereignly shut the door to a certain
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region or a certain people group for a particular time, that door
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stays shut. Think about Acts 16 when Paul
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and his team tried to go into Asia and the text says the Holy
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Spirit forbade them. That was a closed door.
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But then, right after that, God gave Paul the vision of the man
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from Macedonia, and that door swung wide open.
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Precisely so. The application for us is clear.
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We must be people who pray for God to do the opening.
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We pray for open doors because we believe in God's sovereign
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election. We believe that God has chosen a
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people for Himself from every tribe, tongue and nation, and He
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masterfully arranges history to get the gospel message to them
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at the appointed time. There's a fantastic quote from
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Stephen Go Kroger in our notes on this point.
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He says prayer needs no passport, visa or work permit.
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There's no such thing as a closed country as far as prayer
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is concerned. Isn't that brilliant?
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We get so anxious about geopolitical situations, about
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nations that are openly hostile to the gospel, about visa
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restrictions for missionaries. And those are real, practical
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challenges, sure, But Pryor just flies right past the border
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guards. Prayer goes into the
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presidential palaces. It goes into the deepest,
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darkest prison cells. It crosses every barrier on
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impeded. So we pray for the opportunity.
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We ask God to open the door. But then Paul's request doesn't
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stop there. Once the door is open, he asks
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for something else. He asks for Grace to speak.
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He says that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ.
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And what is he supposed to speak?
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I think the notes are very specific and helpful about what
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he's not asking for prayer for. Right.
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He is not asking them to pray that he would come up with a
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slick marketing slogan. He's not asking for prayer to
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design A clever bait and hook program that will trick people
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into the Kingdom. He's not asking for prayer that
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he would have a more charismatic personality that naturally draws
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crowds. Come see the amazing Paul show.
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No, He is asking for grace to speak the word, to speak the
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truth, because going back to our theological foundation, it is
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the Spirit of God using the word of God that pierces the hearts
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of men and women. Hebrews 4.1111.
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The word is living and active, sharper than any 2 edged sword.
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It's interesting that he calls the gospel the mystery of
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Christ. The Greek word is mysterion.
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That's a technical term for Paul.
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In our modern English, when we hear mystery, we think of a
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hoodoo knit novel. It's a puzzle you have to solve.
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But in the New Testament, a mystery is a truth that was
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hidden or only dimly seen in the Old Testament, but has now been
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fully and clearly revealed in the New.
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So it's like a secret that been shouted from the rooftops.
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That's a great way to put it. And for Paul, the core of that
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mystery is what he says in Colossians 1.27.
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Christ in you the hope of glory. Mind blowing idea that the
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Messiah would not just be a political king for the Jewish
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people, but that he would actually come to indwell
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believers, both Jew and Gentile, and save them from the inside
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out. That was the explosive world
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changing truth that Paul was commissioned to carry.
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And this is where the source. Material highlights the
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incredible irony of Paul's situation.
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I think this is where it gets really powerful.
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Paul is in prison as he writes this letter.
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He is physically. In chains he is bound and what
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does he ask the? Colossians to pray for.
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He doesn't say pray that these chains fall off.
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He doesn't say pray that I get a fair trial and I'm acquitted.
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No his request. Is pray that I may make it clear
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in the way I ought to speak. He is praying for boldness and
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clarity inside the prison. That just floors me.
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Every time I read it, my first prayer, my only prayer, would be
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for bail. I'll be praying for a divinely
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orchestrated prison break. We all would.
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It's our. Natural human impulse.
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But Paul sees his location as second to his vocation.
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He is an ambassador in chains. He has reframed his
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circumstances and realizes that the open door God has
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sovereignly given him might actually be this prison.
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He suddenly has a captive audience with the elite
21:37
Praetorian Guard. Talk about leveraging.
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Your circumstances for the gospel.
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He just wants to speak as one ought, boldly, clearly, without
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compromise, The source notes that.
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Every missionary and really every one of us faces constant
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temptations to be timid, to be confusing or ambiguous, to be
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indifferent, to be just plain tired and give 1/2 hearted
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presentation. Paul knew he was human.
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He knew he was susceptible to fear and could shrink back.
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So he asked the church, hold up my arms.
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Pray that I do this right. Pray that I don't water down the
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message to make it more palatable.
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So that's opportunity number. Two, declaring Christ, we pray
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for the sovereign God to open the door, and then we pray for
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the supernatural grace to walk through through it and speak the
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full unvarnished truth and notice.
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The partnership Paul is the superstar apostle, but he sees
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the little house church in Colisei as his vital supply line
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of prayer. They are in the battle with him
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through their intercession. OK, now we have a.
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Significant shift in the text we move to opportunity #3 and this
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one moves the focus from Paul's ministry out there to the
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Colossians own lives right here. This is demonstrating Christ.
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Colossians 4 verse 5. Paul writes walk.
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In wisdom toward outsiders making the best use of the time,
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let's define our terms. Outsiders.
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That's a pretty clear reference to non believers, right?
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Correct. Those who are.
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Outside the covenant community of the Church and the command.
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To them is to walk in wisdom, to find that for us.
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What does biblical wisdom actually look like in this
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context? Wisdom in the.
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Bible is never just about having a high IQ or knowing a lot of
23:09
facts. It's not abstract theoretical
23:11
knowledge. Biblical wisdom is knowledge
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applied to life. It's skill in living.
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It's truth put into practice in a way that is beautiful and
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compelling. So to walk in.
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Wisdom toward outsiders would mean living your life in such a
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way that it makes sense of the gospel message you profess.
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Yes, it means. Living in a way that confirms
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the message you speak rather than contradicting it.
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The source material uses a very strong word here.
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It warns about hypocrisy, and it says how Christians live either
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affirms or invalidates the message.
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That's the heavyweight. And the great privilege of being
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a Christian in public. If you have a fish symbol on the
23:49
back of your car but you're cutting people off in traffic
23:52
and screaming at them, you are actively.
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Invalidating the message You are giving unbelievers a perfectly
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good reason to reject the gospel.
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They can look at you and say, well, if that's what being a
24:02
Christian does to a person, I want no part of it.
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It obviously doesn't work. Paul says something.
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Similar in Titus 2.5 that younger women should live in a
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certain way so that the word of God may not be reviled.
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Our lives are on display. We are the demonstration.
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We're the visual aid for the sermon.
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If the gospel message is the audio, our life is the video.
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And if the audio and the video don't match up, people will
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bleep the video every single time and then?
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Paul adds. This urgent phrase at the end of
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the verse, making the best use of the time.
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The old King James says redeeming the time.
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This injects a. Sense of urgency into
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everything. Why do we need to redeem the
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time Paul tells us in Ephesians 5.1 C?
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Because the days are evil, and because we don't know.
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When Christ will return the time is short.
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Time is a limited. Resource.
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It is a non renewable commodity. You get a certain amount and
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then it's gone. Paul is saying don't waste your
24:54
life on trivialities, don't get distracted and it's so easy to
24:57
waste. Time isn't it.
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Even within the church, we can waste years on internal politics
25:02
or arguing about the color of the sanctuary carpet while an
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entire world outside our doors is perishing.
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That is a fundamental. Failure to walk in wisdom toward
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outsiders. If we truly believe that the
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time was short and that people's eternal destinies were hanging
25:16
in the balance, we would live very differently.
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We would prioritize our time and our energy very differently.
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OK, so this is building. We delight in Christ through
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thankful, watchful prayer. We declare Christ by praying for
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open doors and boldness. We demonstrate Christ by living
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wise, consistent, urgent lives. And that leads us to the final
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piece of the puzzle opportunity #4 defending Christ.
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Colossians 4. Verse 6 Let your speech always
25:43
be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you
25:46
ought to answer each person seasoned with salt.
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I just love that imagery, it's so rich.
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What does salt do? What would that have meant to a
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1st century reader? Well, in the ancient.
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World salt had two primary well known functions.
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The 1st and most obvious 1 is that it makes things taste
26:02
better. It adds flavor, right?
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It enhances. Things the Book of Job.
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Asks A rhetorical question. Can that which is tasteless be
26:09
eaten without salt? Of course not.
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So our speech, especially when talking about our faith, should
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be attractive. It should be palatable.
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It shouldn't be boring or dry or needlessly repulsive.
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Who shouldn't be? The Perpetual.
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Debbie Downers of the world always complaining No.
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The Gospel is the best news in the history of the world.
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It should sound like it when we talk about it, but there's a
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second major function of salt in the ancient world, and that's
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preservation. It's an antiseptic.
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It stops decay and rot. It purifies.
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Exactly. The prophet Ezekiel in chapter
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16 refers to the practice of salting a newborn baby.
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It was a cleansing and purifying ritual.
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So in the same way, our speech should have a purifying effect
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on the conversations we're in. It should act as a preservative
26:51
against the rot of gossip or cynicism or filthy language.
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It should challenge the moral and spiritual decay of the world
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by bringing the truth of God to bear on it.
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And that is a very. Delicate balance to strike,
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isn't it? To be gracious and tasty and
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appealing on the one hand, but also to be purifying and
27:08
truthful and preservative on the other.
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It is an incredibly. Difficult balance, and I think
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that's why Paul prefaces the whole command with.
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Let your speech always be with with grace, because when we get
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into situations where we are defending the faith, the primary
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temptation for many of us is to get aggressive and
27:23
argumentative. Oh, absolutely.
27:25
Especially if you feel like your core beliefs are being attacked.
27:28
The instinct is to fight back, to win the argument at all
27:31
costs, to crush your opponent with logic.
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But the moment you crush. The person you've lost the war.
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Paul tells Timothy in Second Timothy 2.24 that the Lords
27:40
servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to
27:43
teach patiently, enduring evil, correcting his opponents with
27:46
gentleness. So.
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Apologetics, which is really what we're talking about here,
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the defense of the faith. It's not about being a jerk for
27:53
Jesus, not at all. The word for answer here in
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Colossians 4.6 is directly connected to the Greek word
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apologia, which we see in first Peter 3.
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Point me 5 Always being prepared to make a defense Apologia to
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anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
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But notice what Peter immediately adds.
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You do it with gentleness and respect.
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The source notes are. Clear that apologetics is still
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useful and necessary for showing the error of false world views.
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We aren't saying truth is relative or that all paths lead
28:22
to God. We are standing firm on the
28:24
truth, right we are. Lovingly showing people why the
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world doesn't make sense without God.
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We're exposing the logical and existential cracks in their non
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Christian worldview. But we do it graciously.
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And this is where the author's point out what they call the
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full circle moment in the passage.
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You can only answer each person well.
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You can only have that perfectly balanced, gracious, salty speech
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if you have been faithfully doing the other three things.
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If you have been delighting in Christ in prayer, your heart
28:55
will be filled with gratitude and joy and not anger and
28:58
defensiveness. If you've been praying for God
29:00
to open doors, you'll recognize that this challenging
29:03
conversation is the very open door you've been praying for.
29:07
And if you have been demonstrating Christ with a wise
29:09
and consistent life, your words will carry weight and
29:12
credibility. Well, it really.
29:14
All does fit together, doesn't it?
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You can't just isolate the apologetics part and try to
29:18
become a good debater. It has to flow out of a life of
29:21
prayer and holiness. Precisely.
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If you are living like a hypocrite six days a week, your
29:27
brilliant apologetic argument on the 7th day is worse than
29:30
worthless. If you haven't been praying,
29:33
you're perfectly crafted arguments are powerless.
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This is. This is incredibly
29:38
comprehensive. It's not just a simple command
29:41
to go pass out gospel tracts. It is a whole life integrated
29:45
approach to being a witness for Christ.
29:48
It is and it is. All centered on and flows from
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the supremacy of Christ we talked about at the beginning.
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OK, so let's try. To summarize this for everyone,
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we've seen 4 interconnected opportunities that gospel
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centered prayer creates for missions number one delight,
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which is our personal gratitude for the gospel focusing on all
30:05
that we already have in Christ. That's the fuel.
30:07
Number 2 is declare. That's our intercession for the
30:10
Word to go forth, asking the sovereign God to open the doors
30:12
and to give us and our missionaries boldness to speak
30:15
the number 3. Demonstrate that's walking in
30:18
wisdom, showing the world that the Gospel actually works by
30:21
living consistent, holy, urgent lives.
30:24
And finally #4 defend, answering each person with grace, speaking
30:29
the truth in a way that is seasoned with the salt of both
30:32
flavor and purity. That's the progression.
30:35
And notice it starts in the quiet prayer closet with delight
30:38
and moves all the way out into the public square with defend.
30:42
There's one. Last quote from Samuel Zweemer
30:44
that the authors used to wrap all this up.
30:46
He was known as the apostle to Islam.
30:48
Another absolute heavyweight of missions and he said prayer.
30:52
Is the key to the whole missions problem, the whole problem not.
30:55
Just, you know, a part of the solution, the whole thing.
30:57
If we are lacking funds for missions, the answer is prayer.
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If we are lacking workers willing to go, the answer is
31:04
prayer. If the doors to a nation seem
31:06
closed and locked, the answer is prayer.
31:09
If our new converts are not growing in their faith, the
31:11
answer is prayer. Because prayer is what connects
31:14
our weakness to the sovereign Lord who owns the cattle on 1000
31:16
hills and who holds the hearts of kings in his hand.
31:20
It takes us right back. To that central tension, we
31:22
started with divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
31:25
Paul affirms both without flinching.
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We must go. We must speak.
31:30
We must walk in wisdom. We must answer.
31:32
That is our responsibility. But only God can open the door.
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Only God can open the heart. Only God can give the growth.
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And that is why we pray. We work as if it all depends on
31:42
us, and we pray as if it all depends on God.
31:45
I want to leave you. Our listeners with a final
31:47
thought to chew on this week. It's a question that often gets
31:50
asked, and it's a good one. We get stuck wondering, OK, if
31:54
God is absolutely sovereign and he is already elected from
31:57
eternity past, who will be saved?
31:59
Then why did Paul bother struggling so much in prayer?
32:02
Why all the urgency? It's a fair question.
32:04
It can seem paradoxical and I think the answer.
32:06
Lies in this profound mystery. God in His sovereignty has
32:10
ordained not only the ends, that is, the salvation of His chosen
32:14
people, but He is also sovereignly ordained the means
32:17
to that end. Yes, and the primary.
32:19
Means he has ordained are the prayers of his people and the
32:21
preaching of his word. God didn't just.
32:23
Decree from eternity, these specific people will be saved.
32:27
Period, he decreed. These specific people will be
32:31
saved through the faithful prayers of the Church and
32:34
through the bold preaching of the Gospel.
32:35
That's right. So if we neglect the means, if
32:39
we stop praying, if we stop sending missionaries, we are
32:43
acting presumptuously. We're acting as if the outcome
32:46
is somehow automatic when God himself designed the outcome to
32:49
be brought about through our joyful, prayerful participation.
32:53
That just blows my. Mind, it means our prayers are
32:56
not somehow fighting against God's sovereign plan.
32:59
Our prayers are actually a part of the machinery of God's
33:01
sovereign plan. We are not changing His eternal
33:04
decree. We are fulfilling His ordained
33:06
method. And that gives an.
33:07
Incredible dignity and weight to our prayer life.
33:10
It means that when you kneel down in your room to pray for a
33:13
missionary and a country you'll never visit or for your neighbor
33:15
across the street, you are not doing a small insignificant
33:18
thing. You are participating in the
33:20
eternal plan of God. You are a Co laborer with Christ
33:23
himself. So as we sign.
33:25
Off I just want to challenge you and challenge myself.
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Take a look at your prayer list this week.
33:31
Is it just a list of your own ailments and your financial
33:34
needs, or is it a strategic battle plan for the advancement
33:37
of the Kingdom of God? Are you delighting, declaring,
33:40
demonstrating and defending? Devote yourselves.
33:42
To prayer, stay alert and be thankful.
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Thanks for joining. Us for this deep dive.
33:48
We'll see you next time on reform thinking.