That was my fault. I waited too long to turn
my microphone on. We'll get it adjusted here
in a minute. I invite you to open your Bibles,
please, to Colossians chapter 4, verses 5 and
6. I had two conversations recently that I want
to introduce this message with. One of them was
by email, another was face -to -face. A friend
of mine who was a missionary in Eastern Europe
wrote me by email a few weeks ago telling me
of the stress his family has been under because
of several years now in that place. And he said
that he had before him the option of coming back
to the United States and getting involved in
business here in the Twin Cities or staying in
another part of Eastern Europe in ministry. Where
the pressure is not so extreme as in the country
where he is now And he said what would you advise
me to do? Well, of course my first thought was
for his ministry and the fact that he has learned
the language and knows the culture to be good
to stay in that part of the world But my second
thought and the one that I mentioned to him first
was this My counsel to you is not to bring your
children back into the American culture. Just
last week I had a conversation with a pastor
friend of mine here in the Twin Cities, and he
said to me, Galen, I have had the privilege of
traveling in 50 countries now around the world.
And he said, I can say to you without any hesitation
that this culture is the most difficult in the
world in which to be a leader, whether in the
home, in the church, or in society at large.
Those are interesting commentaries, aren't they,
on the culture in which you and I are immersed
and in which we must live. The pop culture of
this nation seems to be geared toward anarchy
and destruction. It is living out the philosophy
of Nietzsche. Everyone, in the terms of the book
of Judges, seems to want to do what is right
in his own eyes. And so we have an America that
is drowning in the sewage of its popular culture.
Chuck Colson was talking about this a few months
ago on his broadcast, Breakpoint. and had this
to say as he is referring to pop culture and
talking about a book that he was particularly
interested in at that point. He says, in All
God's Children and Blue Slave Shoes, written
by Ken Myers, the author says, the challenge
of living with popular culture may well be the
most serious challenge facing Christians today.
In some ways, it is even more difficult than
the persecution Christians faced in earlier centuries.
Of course, being thrown to the lions is pretty
gruesome, but at least it was an easily recognized
threat. Popular culture, on the other hand, is
a very subtle threat. It can cause a gradual
erosion of character that many Christians don't
even recognize. What do you mean, we don't recognize
it, you may ask, writes Colton. Any Christian
can tell you that the level of sex and violence
has risen sharply in movies, rap music, and dime
store novels. True enough, Myers says, but these
are concerns about content. What is often overlooked
is the form. The form of popular culture can
shape the way we respond, regardless of the message.
For comparison, consider the music and art of
high culture. A classical poem or symphony has
a complex structure that takes some effort to
understand. It challenges the mind. You have
to work to appreciate it. But Harlequin romances,
soap operas, and rock music don't require any
intellectual discipline. They're easy to understand.
They offer immediate gratification. Colson goes
on to say, over time these things affect us.
By focusing on immediate experience, pop culture
discourages sustained attention. Pop culture
is a bit like junk food. There's nothing inherently
sinful about it, but too much of it can spoil
our appetite for healthy food. And then he poses
this question, how can Christians survive in
a junk food culture. You and I are living in
a culture today that is shaping us, and I'm talking
to those of us who are Christians. We Christians
are being molded by the values, the addictions,
the mindsets, and the expectations of life that
are essentially pagan. And the reality is, as
Myers points out, that most of us don't even
recognize that this process of conforming to
culture is happening. That's why the text in
Colossians is so important today. We are not
here to be conformed to the world, but we are
here to be transformed and to be transformers,
God calls us as those who are alive from the
dead in Jesus Christ to live in the midst of
a post -Christian, perhaps neo -pagan, culture.
And he calls us to live in this culture so distinctively
that we will stand out from it. and make a difference.
Until I asked the question that Francis Schaefer
posed years ago, how should we then live? What
should characterize us as those who are alive
from the dead in the midst of a culture like
we're living in? The Apostle Paul in our text
points to two important areas of life. and he
gives us a starting place for the answer to that
question. Conduct yourselves, he says, verse
5, conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders,
making the most of the opportunity. Let your
speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt,
so that you may know how you should respond to
each person. Notice he talks about conduct and
conversation. With regard to conduct, he says,
be wise. Notice that he mentions those who are
outsiders in verse 5. This is not a term that
Paul uses only here. He uses the same idea in
1 Thessalonians 4 .12, 1 Timothy 3 .7, and in
some other places. But when you use the term
outsiders, there is an implication. And that
is that there are insiders. I don't mean insiders
in some elite aristocratic sense, but I'm talking
here about biblical insiders in a spiritual sense.
What this word outsiders does is remind us that
God discriminates. God discriminates. Not on
the basis of skin color or some superficial thing,
but God discriminates between persons based upon
their relation to Jesus Christ. God discriminates
at a fundamental level of one's spiritual identity.
Insiders are those who come to Him, to Jesus
Christ, kneeling at His cross in repentance and
faith. And in trusting Him, they become insiders.
The Colossians that are being written to here
were insiders. Go back to chapter one and verse
two, where Paul addresses them as, to the saints
and faithful brethren, what's the next phrase?
In Christ. They are the insiders. That is, they
are in Jesus Christ because they have trusted
Him. Conversely, the outsiders are those who
are not in Jesus Christ, who have not placed
their faith in Him, who have spurned His cross
as a means of salvation. They're outside the
family of God. They're outside the provision
that God has made for forgiveness of sin. They're
outside the place of protection from God's wrath
upon sin. They are fundamentally the outsiders.
I don't know about you, but I sang a children's
chorus as a little boy that says, only one door
and only one. Remember that one? And yet its
sides are two. Inside and outside. On which side
are you? You see, in that little chorus it says
the same thing. There are those who are inside
the door of salvation and then there are those
who are outside Paul writes to insiders and he
says you live in a world where there are many
outsiders With regard to your conduct among them
be wise as a habit of life Behave according to
wisdom Wisdom is insight that God gives us as
to the true nature of things. Wisdom means to
see life and all of its issues with a Christian
worldview. And he says that you and I are to
live in a world of outsiders With the kind of
insight that God would give us because we belong
to him Now in Ephesians chapter 5 verses 15 16
and 17 There's a parallel text that further elaborates
upon what Paul means here. I invite you to turn
back there For he says in verse 15 therefore
be careful how you walk same word is conduct
or conduct in Colossians Be careful how you walk
or conduct yourselves, not as unwise men, but
as wise, making the most of your time because
the days are evil. So then do not be foolish,
but understand what the will of the Lord is.
We are to walk in this world wisely. That means
to walk carefully. It means accurately, due to
being careful. It's a word that might describe
how some of the boys and girls in school do their
homework. It's possible to get homework done,
but not to do it accurately. That is to go through
the problems in a hurry and put down something
on the paper, and yet not to be careful to be
accurate. The apostle says to you and me here
that we are to conduct ourselves in this world
being careful about how we live, not just living
through the day, not just going through the motions
of life, but accurately living according to the
wisdom that God gives. And why? Because he says
the days are evil. That word evil means malignant
evil. It doesn't mean benign evil. It means it's
evil like a cancer That is out to kill and to
destroy He says that our culture the day in which
we live is evil Actively evil and therefore we
need to live wisely and Avoid the evil of our
age We're to show wisdom with how we deal with
this pagan culture. And we are to be very, very
careful of it. And yet, many of us listen to
the same music lyrics. We attend the same concerts
and shows. We watch the same videos. We spend
money the same way. We use Sunday the Lord's
Day the same way. We make certain moral choices
the same way as our pagan culture. And when we
do that, we are not living according to the Word
of God, for God says we are to conduct ourselves
with wisdom. Being very careful of this evil
culture. That is destructive to us as persons
to our families and as we see sadly also to our
nation And so if you think about your lifestyle
and the choices that you make and the way that
you live day in and day out It behooves you to
carefully Make those choices now he says with
regard to conversation were to be winsome. The
point that he's making in Colossians 4 -6 is
that we need to know how to answer or to respond
to outsiders in what they say. And whether it
be something that is written or something that
is verbally communicated, he wants us to be filled
with winsomeness. in the way that we relate to
outsiders. Peter comes alongside of Paul here,
and he says, My impression of the Promise Keepers
Conference this weekend is that it met with much
less controversy and confrontation here in the
Twin Cities than last year. Maybe that's only
my limited and improper perspective, but that
would be my view and what I have read and seen
on television about it. And I think the reason
for that is that people who have answered for
that movement, and men who have been interviewed,
as I heard some people interviewed yesterday
by the media, have answered with winsomeness.
They have been ready to give an answer about
the things that they're being flandered about,
and because of that winsome answer, Those who
would attack them have been forced to keep quiet,
being put to shame. That's what Peter said here.
There are two descriptive phrases to embellish
this standard that Paul gives. When he says,
let your speech be winsome, he says, let it be
with grace always. This is the same word in chapter
3, verse 16, translated Thanksgiving. always
with Thanksgiving or always with grace. He's
talking about, let your speech be that which
causes delight, that which is beautiful, that
which is pleasing. He's talking about more than
just being charming, but he's talking about imparting
to others through your speech the grace that
God has given you in your life. As it says of
Jesus in Luke chapter 4 verse 22, all were speaking
well of him and wondering at the greatest words
which were falling from his lips. Now it quickly
changed. Not the words from his lips, but the
attitude that they had toward him in that chapter.
But the fact is that as Jesus ministered to people,
he ministered with grace. upon his lips. That's
how we want to minister to our wives, men. Children,
that's how you want to be ministering to your
mothers on this Mother's Day, to your fathers.
That's how we want to minister to each other,
with grace upon our lips. But not only in the
circle. He's saying here out outside, in the
world where we live, in this pagan culture, grief
must be upon our lips. And our speech, he says,
should be seasoned with salt. That is, there
should be a holy pungency about it. He's not
telling us here that we always have to be Minnesota
nice in our speech. There are times when hard
things must be said, or controversial things.
But he says, let your speech be seasoned with
salt. Let it not be dull or insipid, but let
there be potency to it, a sanctified potency.
Salt has at least two purposes, to purify and
to preserve. And so let your speech and mine
be the kind of speech that is wholesome. that
will purify others, not dirty up their minds
or their motives, or cloud the issues in their
lives, but clarify things for them. And let our
speech be that which preserves from corruption.
I tell you, a spirit -filled, gracious, and potent
tongue is an asset to any Christian. Words matter,
don't they? State Senator Ember Young, a DSLR
from New Hope, spent some time this last session
just writing down things that she heard her fellow
legislators say. Listen to some of the things
that she heard in the Senate chamber. There comes
a time to put principle aside and do what's right.
It's a great statement, isn't it? Another man
said, it takes real courage to vote against your
convictions. Anyone can carry a good bill. It's
really hard to get a bad bill passed, though.
These are not my figures I'm quoting they're
the figures of someone who knows what they're
talking about Remember if you conquer yourself
you conquer the greatest evil on earth Someone
else said I misquoted myself that takes some
work doesn't it? Mr. President, before I give
you the benefit of my remarks, I'd like to know
what we're talking about. Good idea. And I think
my favorite one is this. We're caught between
the dog and the fire hydrant. That says it pretty
well. We're saying something, don't we? And what
the apostle says is that as you and I conduct
ourselves among the outsiders, our speech is
to carry the fragrance of Jesus Christ to the
world. It is to be with His grace upon our lips
and our speech having a holy pungency so that
what we say makes a difference. When we talk
about our society being pagan or neo -pagan perhaps,
we're not saying our society is irreligious.
A poll conducted three years ago now said that
90 % of Americans profess belief in God. More
than half of Americans say they pray at least
once a day. And get this one. More than 40 %
claimed to have attended worship services in
any given week. 40 % and yet another survey showed
that half of the 40 % were lying about it. You
see, religion pervades American life, but only
a minority take it very seriously. Hopefully
those of us who are insiders, because we have
trusted Jesus Christ, are among those who take
our faith seriously. And as a result of that,
in our speech and in our conduct in the world,
we make a difference. You know, it's time for
all of us who name the name of Jesus Christ to
put aside the one grain. that we have done in
our culture and the experimentation with this
idea and that value. It's time for us to stop
being conformed to the world. And to come to
Jesus Christ afresh and repent of our waywardness
and our sinfulness, to come home to Him and to
say, Jesus Christ, I seek to be your man and
your woman. in the midst of a world like this.
I want to live my Savior for you in this world.
The apostle reminds us in Ephesians chapter 5
that we only have a brief opportunity to live,
and so to live wisely. I close with the words
of William F. Taylor who writes, we travel through
this world only once, so let us live. to some
purpose. The day that dawned this morning will
never come again. The opportunities it brought
will never return. If we fail to fill our measure
of time with the service it requires of us, there
will be no possibility of returning to this day
to repair the mystery. The wheels of time's chariot
have ratchets on them, and they move only And
so, by God's grace, you and I have tomorrow,
and perhaps another week before we meet again
together like this. As we would gather in seven
days, let us speak by God's grace to have our
speech and our conduct among the outsiders in
the world. be such that they will see Jesus Christ
in us and be drawn to want to know Him and be
drawn by the Spirit of God to trust Him so that
they too can get on the inside of the door. Let's
pray. Father, I pray that you will apply this
message to our hearts and our lives as you see
it needs to be. There's not a husband or a wife.
There's not a father, a mother, a child. There's
not one of us young or old, but who needs to
hear what this text says. Forgive us for where
we have conformed to the culture, and so mightily
work in us that we will be transformers, even
as we are being transformed by the Spirit of
God. Let's stand together as we sing, please.
Friend, ask us to sing without accompaniment,
just a simple chorus, in my life, Lord. be glorified.
And if this morning you would like to have special
prayer regarding a need in your life, or if you
need to come and in coming say today I would
trust the Savior, or come and say I need a new
beginning in my life. I've been away from God
and today I want a new start. I want to invite
you to slip out and come and stand here in the
front. We'll dismiss everyone and I'll have an
opportunity to pray to talk with you briefly.
As we sing the chorus with our heads down, I
invite you to slip out if you desire this special
time of prayer. In my life, Lord, be glorified.
Not only in our life and our conduct, but in
our speech, Lord, be glorified. In our speech,
Lord, be glorified. Lord, hear the prayer of
our hearts, and answer it, we pray, for your
glory and for our good. In Jesus' name, amen.