Sermon Tone Analysis

Colossians 4:2-6

The Character of the Christian

Walk the walk talk the talk

Part 1

PRAYER

Christian character is shown in the way we live out our lives.

And listen this is not just when we tell others that we go to church, or that we are Christians, most of Americans believe they are Christians because they are Americans, many people profess that they go to church but the reality is that their lives outside of the church has never changed.

Our Christian Character is suppose to shine in every aspect of our lives, through our relationships with our friends, our loved ones, our spouses, when we are at work, when we are at home even when we are at the grocery store.

In every part of our lives we should be showing others our Christian Character.

You know you it is when you think people are not watching you, that is when your Christian Character comes out the most.

I remember some years back that a person told me that maybe you will be the only Bible that someone will see.

What that means is this, if you are living in the way that Jesus speaks of, the way God intends us to live, then a person can and will see God through your life, through your character.

What if the way you acted towards someone was their defining moment to come to know Jesus and because you treated them un-Christian like they decided not to follow Christ and died and went to hell?

Your character goes along way.

The Apostle Paul has been giving some guidance on this very matter to the new church in Colossae.

You see there were false teachers spreading rumors and getting people to believe that Jesus wasn’t everything people said He was and that if they wanted to be religious enough to get to heaven then they need to have more than just Jesus.

So in a sense the characters of the false teachers were being shown, and Paul writes to the church in Colossae while he was (CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHERE PAUL WAS WHEN HE WROTE THIS LETTER?)

Correct….

He was in prison, and He was placed in prison for being a Christian.

His character, his life, his love of Jesus- his promise of eternity in heaven- the way believed and he lived his life for Jesus Christ is what put him in prison.

If Christianity was outlawed today would you because of your belief be arrested?

Open your Bibles with me to the book of Colossians chapter 4, and let me know when you get there by saying amen, Colossians chapter 4.

In the last few weeks we have been defining Christian character as how we live our lives, has an impact on the people around us, either for the Kingdom of God or for the devil.

And really that is what it is about, are you living every moment of your life for the kingdom of God, and can others see that difference in you?

In the last few weeks we talked about several things to shape our Christian Character.

We talked about verses 2 and 3 on how we as Christians should pray-

We should be praying steadfastly- meaning that we are pray continually, never ceasing- always being in communication with God, and he said that we need to be spiritual awake for the things to come from God.

And to be spiritually awake for things that the enemy is doing.

We also need to be thankful in prayers, to be thankful for Jesus dying on the cross and for what God is doing in our lives in and out of the storms, right now and we are to pray that God opens a door so that while still we are in this prison, in the storms, in the problems we can still advance the gospel, we have an opportunity to share what God is doing right now in our lives and tell others how great even in the trail Jesus is.

Then verse 4 Paul tells us that our speech of the Gospel should be spoken in clarity, because whenever we speak about Jesus, the Gospel and what the King of Kings has done for us it is done in clarity because it is the way we ought to speak meaning we should be speaking with clarity and boldness with every breath that God has given us.

The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 14:33 that:

“For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints”.

Then last week we spoke of verse 5.

We are to walk through the character of our lives in a manner that is worthy to the Lord.

Showing our Character through the way we walk in our Christian lives and how we engage people who are outside of God.

Remember when walk in such a way honoring to God.

When we walk the walk

(1) It is Pleasing to God,

(2) You are fruitful for God …John 15:8 Jesus tells us…”By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples”.

(3) There is Growth in the knowledge of God.

When Paul says make the best use of your time, he is telling us that we have opportunities and that we are to seize the moment.

Wisdom is the ability to properly apply the knowledge to each situation.

Outsiders are those who are outside of the family of God, those who are outside the doors.

Those who are without God

Making the best use of your time means to Seize the moment.

Last week our Big idea was Walk the Walk, This week our Big Idea is to Talk the Talk.

PAUL is saying now that you are walking the walk now you have to talk the talk.

If you are there in Colossians 4 read with me verses 2-6

2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

Verse 5: Walk the walk

5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

Here is our verse for today, verse 6 talk the talk.

6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

So what Paul is saying is that we must pray for the opportunity to spread the Gospel, and the God opens the door for us, to those who are outside of the gospel, we must use everything about what we believe to show them who Christ Jesus is, and when we show them, we are walking the walk, then talk the talk.

So if our walk is that way we live our lives through Jesus Christ, and as we live our lives people can see Christ through our walk, then what do you think talk the talk is all about?

Exactly it is about living out our lives in such a way that our walk is honoring to God and talk is also honoring to God.

Paul is talking about our everyday speech toward others.

Because what Paul is saying is when you walk the walk you must talk the talk- because if you walk the walk and then don’t talk the talk you will turn people off from the true Gospel.

Look with at verse 6 with me again.

6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Folks, The question is does that convict us?

Are we talking the talk?

Sometimes we become complacent.

Complacent is a feeling of being satisfied with how things are and not wanting to try to make them better.

Sometimes we find ourselves in this complacency and what happens is we begin to slip up, this is the place were the enemy does his greatest damage to us.

Because we think that we are ok and that is when the enemy sneaks in and begins to affect our lives.

And the easiest place to do that is in our speech.

When we become complacent in our spiritual life, we stop telling people about Jesus.

When you feel comfortable with something you don’t try to improve on it, you OK with Just status quo.

So Paul is saying don’t be complacent, but also don’t act like your better than others, and certainly don’t look down on outsiders, those who are without God.

And He gives three steps in the art of conversation, in the art of talking the talk.

The first step in talking the talk is found in the beginning of verse 6,

“Let your speech always be gracious”

Say that with me….

The first step in talking the talk is conversations are always to be graceful.

This means more than just being nice

Do you know what the word Grace means?

Grace means favor, undeserved favor

We are not just to have grace or speak of grace, but we are to speak with grace.

We are to speak giving the other person undeserved favor.

It is treating one with Great HONOR when they don’t deserve it:

You were a sinner sentenced to death, in the form of physical death and spiritual death that means that your body will give out on you and it will die, that also means spiritually that we all go to hell.

But God,,,,,

Sent His one and only Son to die upon the cross for the forgiveness of sin, that is undeserved favor.

We are not doing anything to receive this favor from God.

We did not anything to deserve Him to forgive us the sin in our lives.

But God… sent Jesus and His blood, we are now wrapped in the perfect lambs blood, where God no longer sees our unrighteousness against Him, he only see the Righteousness of His Son Christ Jesus.

And there is nothing that you or I can do in life to deserve Our God sacrificing Himself for us.

That is undeserved favor, that is Grace, that is How our conversations are suppose to be like, treating the other person with honor.

How do we have a graceful conversation?

1.

We listen to them; we look them in the eye and give them our attention.

2. We care and empathize with what they are telling us.

“Empathy is the ability to share someone else’s feelings”.

3. We absorb their hurt.

I can’t tell you how many times that I hear of something happening and my heart aches for them.

This isn’t the standard of I am sorry, and I will pray for you.

But they can feel it in your speech.

The cross says the pain stops here.

It can only happen when you have grace and know it.