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The Believer And His Conduct (Colossians 4:5)
I. Walk In Wisdom
II. Redeem The Time
A believer is a new creature in Christ. And Colossians 4:2-6 is about the life of this new man.
Basically, there are four parts. The believer and prayers; the believer and the gospel; the believer and his conduct, the way he live his life; and the believer and his speech. We have since considered the first two parts and today we will focus on the third part, which is the believer and his conduct.
Our text is taken from Colossians 4:5. "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time."
I. Walk In Wisdom
Our first point is to walk in wisdom.
The word walk is a reference to the actions and behaviours of the believer. And the word “without” means outside - people who are unbelievers living in this world. The idea is that just as a person would physically walk, he has to take one step at a time. It is a very natural and spontaneous thing.
The same way the believer should live his life amongst the unbelievers in this world. He may face different people, circumstances and situations. And the way he relates and responds to those people, circumstances and situations, the way he makes decisions, the way he faces challenges and issues of life, he must be wise and exemplary in his conduct, especially to the unbelieving world.
In life, many people will despise the Christians. They will find the Christians boring. They will find the Christians embarrassing and they will try to exclude the Christians from their friendship. Yet the irony is that the unbelievers themselves are outside the only community that really matters, the only family that really matters. They are outside the kingdom of God.
We don't want to join them out there in the world in the way they live their lives. At the same time, we do not want them to remain there in sin. We want them to come in.
Only when the believers live wisely, then the unbelieving world would see the transforming power and work of God in their lives. So before the unbelievers would consider attending the worship service or the gospel rallies or they would take time to listen to the gospel we preach to them, they will be watching the way we live our lives. Whether we are wise or we are fools, whether we are different or we are no different from how they live their lives.
What is wisdom?
As we have learned in the past, wisdom is not just knowledge. Wisdom is far more than the accumulation of information and intellectual understanding. Precisely, wisdom is the application of biblical knowledge.
The Bible tells us that wisdom is rooted in the fear of the Lord. Job asked this vital question in Job 28:12, “But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?”
Job 28:13-15: “Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.”
And then he said [in verse 23-24], "God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven.”
Finally, he concluded in verse 28, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”
Someone once said, ‘If you fear the Lord, you fear nothing else. But if you do not fear the Lord, you fear everything else.’
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom has been repeatedly being recorded in the Holy Scriptures. The psalmist said, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever" (Psalm 111:10).
So not only must you have this understanding that cometh from the Word of God, you must also do what has been commanded of you and that is wisdom.
Proverbs 1:7 said, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Essentially, wisdom is found in the Word of God and the source of wisdom is God Himself.
That is why James 1:5 said, "If any of you lack wisdom” - surely we will lack wisdom, none of us can say that I have all wisdom or I am all wise. If we lack wisdom then – “let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally” - which means bountifully, generously – “and upbraideth not” - without reproach, it shall be given him.
In other words, if we humble ourselves and acknowledge that we need wisdom, God will give it to us generously. He will not reproach the one who seeks His wisdom.
Wisdom has to do with how we live our lives. It has to do with the application of knowledge into the situations we face in life and it has to be articulated through the way we live, our behaviours, our conduct.
Most parents will teach their children what they should do and what they should not do. We warn them against going to places they should not visit, people they should not associate with, and certain professions they should avoid.
They may have this knowledge. They may know what to do and what not to do. But they are wise only if they pay attention and live out what they know.
Dear friend, you may have good Bible knowledge. You may be able to bring to mind all the memory verses and doctrines that you have learned at the tip of your fingers. You are able to explain those truth.
We need God to know how to apply of knowledge!
But you need to ask God how that knowledge is going to be applied into the situations of life. You need to ask God because He is the source of wisdom.
How is God going to communicate to us His wisdom? Sometimes God communicates wisdom directly through His Word. So as we are going through a particular situation, we do not know what to do. We search the Scriptures and God commands us what we ought to do and the principles we draw from His Word that are relevant to our situation.
So God may take a passage that we know very clearly, that you know by memory, that you have heard through a message, and let that particular passage be applied into your given situation. So that is how He communicates His wisdom.
Sometimes God may use the counsel of someone to teach us - the council of a pastor, an elder, a deacon, or a spiritually mature brother or sister in Christ.
Proverbs 24:6 said, "In multitude of counsellors there is safety."
Which means if you surround yourself with all these godly counsellors, faithful servants of God, mature believers, and you take counsel from them, you are saved.
But the one who refused to do that and then he keeps company with the ungodly -Proverbs 13:20 said, "a companion of fools shall be destroyed." So if you were to take counsel from fools, fools are people who disbelieve God or do not regard God in their lives, then you will be destroyed.
So you and I must humble ourselves and pray, 'Lord, I want to learn from Your Word. For You will communicate Your wisdom to me directly, and I'm going to seek the counsel of Your faithful servants who will love me enough to tell me whenever I'm wrong.’
We are not talking about worldly wisdom or some wise man's sayings but godly wisdom. So if we want godly wisdom, then we must seek for someone who knows the Bible and is able to live out what he or she knows of the Bible. That particular person will teach us the Word of God.
Sometimes God will communicate His wisdom through His providential hand. By that I mean His providential dealings with us. As believers we know that nothing happens by chance nor coincidence but by His providence.
So God who is sovereign is in control of all things. And so we must trust in Him with all our hearts and lean not onto our own understanding. In all our ways we acknowledge Him and He shall direct our paths.
Though we may not be able to understand the complexities of many things in life, we do not pretend to understand those things. But one thing we absolutely acknowledge is that God is sovereign and if He allows certain things to happen, He has His purpose and will.
Knowing that when we pray for something, for a door to open, that we may have a particular work to do, but then the door is shut, we know that well, we don't have to worry about it because God has closed that door.
But at other times we pray about a particular door to be open and then that door is open, and there we know that by God's providence He has enabled us or will enable us to do that work.
Take a moment and consider the civil war in Myanmar with the political upheavals happening even as we speak. The people are going through a most difficult time. And then God communicates His wisdom by His providence through His servants, the pastors, the preachers, that they should start this orphanage home. And now we have nine children living at Bethel Children Care Ministry. It is a door open to us and it is God who deals with us and communicates His wisdom to us.
So you and I must always trust in Him with all our hearts and lean not onto our own understanding. And in all our ways, whether it be in the church, in our families, in our workplaces, He will direct our paths.
If God wanted to, He could simply pour out His wisdom into our heads without any request at all. But He has ordained wisdom to come to us after we seek for it.
So as believers, we must seek after God's wisdom and then live with His wisdom. So we must study the Bible diligently because it is from the Bible that God will communicate to us. We will take counsel from godly believers who know the Word of God very well. And then we must see the situations of life, whatever they may be, good or bad, as God's providential dealing with us, that we may apply wisdom at every step of the way.
So we have to walk in wisdom.
II. Redeem The Time
And the second point is to redeem the time. Notice the little word “the”, “the time”. It’s a definite article. God did not say ‘redeem a time’ or ‘redeem sometime or most of the time or at times’. He said “redeeming the time”.
What is the “time”?
In other words, God has given to each and every one of us a definite time. Job calls this definite time, an appointed time. Job 14:14 said, "If a man die, shall he live again?"
We all know this rhetorical question. When a man dies, he will never live again. So from the point he lives up to the point he dies, that is the definite time appointed by God. Therefore, Job said, "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee” (Job 14:14-15).
In other words, he acknowledged that his days on this earth were all appointed by God and he would wait until the time God would call him and then he'll be changed, as in one day all of us will be transformed into our glorified state to be with our God forever and ever.
So there is an appointed time to live on this earth. No more, no less. It is a definite time. The Apostle Peter calls it the time of your sojourning.
1 Peter 1:17: "And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear."
We have a set time whereby we sojourn and live on this earth, again no more, no less, a set time of sojourning.
The Apostle Paul calls this definite time a cost, a path, a particular life. And he said, "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course” - my path, my life – “I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7).
So, we have a specific cause to take. We have a specific ministry to accomplish. We have a specific life to live. And they are all ordered by the one living and true God.
So while you and I are living on this earth, we acknowledge that God has given to us a very precise, accurate and determined time, no more, no less, which we do not know. And it is according to His sovereign will and purpose.
Yes, we do not know how much time we have left, how we wish we would know. Some of us may say, but do you realise that if we were to know how much time we have left, we may be paralysed with fear? Can you imagine being told that you have only 20 days more to live? We may not be able to do anything else but to tremble with fear. That is not how faith works.
Though we do not know how long we have on this earth, but we know that God is alone in control of life and death. He knows this definite time.
The word time is very interesting. The Greek language uses different words for time, different words for chronology, hour, day, age, etc. The English language simply translated it as time.
Time can be described as a calendar, one event followed by another event. Time can also be described as a sequence of seconds, minutes, hours, days and so forth. But here the word used is ‘kairos’, which means season or opportunity.
Every opportunity which is given to us is determined by God. He's the one who opens the gospel door for us, for the church. Every opportunity comes from Him. So He who is in control of every opportunity, He says to us, redeeming the time.
We understand to redeem is to buy back something. But it also has the idea of taking ownership of that thing you have bought back. And so it means make the most of your opportunity. The opportunity that God gives to you, make the most out of it. Don't waste it. Redeem it. Take ownership of it.
The greatest fool in this world is the one who says there is no God. Psalm 14:1 said, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." It does not only refer to the atheists but anyone who believes that God has no claim in his life. Anyone who has no regard for the one living and true God. Anyone who lives his life without considering God, they are fools.
The problem is that man always plays the fool. Man plays the fool with time and opportunity more than he plays the fool with any other thing. One of the worst kinds of foolishness is the misuse of time.
Dear friend, we must be wise. We cannot be like fools. We were once fools. We do not believe God. We do not acknowledge Him. We do not consider Him in our lives. But that was before we came to Jesus Christ. Once we come to Him in faith and repentance, receive His salvation and walk in His truth, we become wise.
We must redeem every moment of our lives to glorify the one who died for us. Glorify Him. Honour Him. Every moment of our lives.
Do you really believe that there's a God and that there is a definite time for you? A definite time, a definite season, a definite opportunity. No more, no less, appointed by the Almighty God.
God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son who came into this world, suffered, died, and shed His precious blood to save us from our sins. Do you know how painful it is for God to see this world that has turned to sin and corruption and then to see His children bought by the precious blood of His only begotten Son walking away, wasting all the wonderful opportunities that He has given to us and lingering in days of evil? That would be very tragic.
So if we really love God, we will say, ‘God, if You give me the opportunity to do You service, to honour You, to glorify You, and to serve You, I will take hold of that opportunity.’ That is the meaning of redeeming the time.
So we have to think of it on a daily basis because every day God gives us opportunities. One interesting thing about most people is that they are always going to pray. They are always going to read the Bible. They are always going to serve the Lord. They are always going to tell their neighbours about Jesus Christ. But the problem is that they do not get to really doing it. It is always I am going to do it.
We cannot live in the past. Neither can we live in the future. We can only live in the present right now at this very moment, day by day. So if we have a definite time whether it be 30 years, 20 years or 10 years or even 10 days, that would be the definite opportunity God has given to us. We miss it, that's it. That moment will never come back to us.
Will you be someone who wastes their opportunity?
In the Bible, there are many examples of people who have wasted their opportunities. When Noah and his family built the ark, he preached to the people for 120 years. They mocked him, laughed at him. They did not listen to him. Then the door was shut. Too late.
I read an article that said if ever the ark was ever found, you would see claws outside the ark because people will be screaming and clawing for the door to be open. But too late.
In the parable of the 10 virgins, when the five virgins came with unprepared lambs, the door was shut. Too late. The marriage went on without them.
Our Lord Jesus said to those who were unrepentant. He preached to them, constantly preached to them, and they did not believe in Him. In fact, they attack Him. And Jesus said to them, ye “shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come" (John 8:21). Too late. They had wasted the opportunity.
But I believe all of us would agree that the greatest case of wasted opportunity is the person of Judas, is the one who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. For three years he was with the Son of God. Three years he was with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Three years he was with the one who was called the Saviour of the world.
He heard all the wonderful teachings. He witnessed all the supernatural miracles. He sat at the feet of Jesus. But yet he turned away from Him. He betrayed Jesus and then hanged himself.
Most of us here do not like to be associated with Judas Iscariot. But often times many are just like him. They walk into the sanctuary, listen to the sermon, walk away and they forget. They may have the head knowledge but without application. Remember, wisdom is the ability to apply the knowledge you know into your life. So many of them have wasted that opportunity.
Romans 13:11 said, "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."
Do not sleep. We are getting nearer and nearer to the Lord's coming. You know, with every day we live, we are one day closer to the Lord's return. If we truly believe what Jesus said in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, Revelation, three times, "Behold, I come quickly", then each day will be one day closer to His coming.
We only have a limited time. Redeem that limited time. Preach the gospel. Share with our unbelieving loved ones who are still outside the kingdom with great urgency because we know that our Lord Jesus will return very soon. Even if the Lord Jesus tarries in His return, we will be taken home sooner than we think.
What do you call a person who threw away jewelleries? What do you call a person who threw away his money? You will say he is a fool.
But there's a greater fool, a bigger fool, one who throws away his time, his opportunity. Because when you throw away your jewelleries, you can still buy them back. When you throw away your money, you can still earn them back. But once you throw away your time, you can never turn back the clock.
So there are souls to be saved. There are churches to be built. There's an Almighty God to be glorified. But how have we glorified Him? When we lose that opportunity to glorify Him, that opportunity may never come back because it is definite.
So how can we then redeem the time? Let me end by suggesting certain things we can do.
How? 1. Read the Bible
Firstly, read the Bible. There's a similar passage to Colossians 4:5 and that is found in Ephesians 5:16-17, "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."
A wise man is one who understands the will of God. And he will live his life according to what God has designed for him.
And how can we know the will of God? In this book, the Bible, this is the book that tells us that it is God's will that we be saved. Today we are sitting here worshipping the Almighty God. It is the will of God that we worship Him. It is the will of God that we be holy as He is holy. It is the will of God that we avoid fornication. It is the will of God that we live as children of light and not children of darkness. It is the will of God that we love one another. All these are taught in the Holy Scriptures.
Young men and young women, if you want to know God's will for your lives, if you want to know what kind of partners you should find, read the Bible. If you want to know what friends you should and should not associate with, read the Scriptures.
Older men and older women, if you know, if you want to know how to bring up your children, how to manage your time, how to manage your finances, how to honour God in your life, read the Bible and live your life according to the Scriptures.
That is one way to redeem the time and walk in wisdom.
How? 2. Be Prayerful
Secondly, be prayerful. Pray earnestly. As Christians, we know that apart from God, we can do nothing. He is the only one who is in control of all things. So we must seek Him diligently in prayers.
He who is in control of life and death has a definite time, a definite season, a definite opportunity for us. So we must pray that God will guide and lead us. When He allows something to happen in our lives, He has a sovereign purpose and that purpose fits into our definite time. So we pray, 'Lord, I may not understand why I have to go through this trial, but You are in control. So help me to understand and give me the grace and the strength to go through this trial.'
You know when we pray we are acknowledging that we need God at every moment of our lives. The opposite is also true. When we do not pray, it means that we do not acknowledge that He is in control of our lives.
So believers must pray diligently. Even when you are lying on your deathbed, that part of you lying on that death bed is also a part of your definite time. You may not be able to serve as an usher or to help in a refreshment team in a physical capacity. But you can still pray and you can pray for the missionaries. You can pray for your children and grandchildren. You can pray for God to raise up others to serve as ushers, as leaders, as musicians, preachers, and so forth.
So believers must redeem the time by being prayerful.
How? 3. Worship God
Next, worship the Lord. This is not scare tactics. If we truly have only five hours on this earth, what will we do for the next 5 hours? Think about it. Make a few phone calls. Make more money. Surf the internet. Call up some of our friends to say goodbyes.
If you have only five hours left on this earth, you will be on your knees. You will be on your knees praying to the Almighty God. And if you are sitting here in this sanctuary, you'll be listening to this sermon as it is your last sermon. You'll be singing the hymn as it will be your last hymn to be sung on this earth. You'll be praying as it will be your last prayer.
All of us know this verse by memory. James 4:14. Life is like “vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."
Our lives are described like a vapor. And when it appears like the puff of smoke that comes out from our mouths during winter time or the steam that comes up from a hot cup of coffee, it will only stay there for a definite time, no more, no less, and then simply vanish away. That is the purity of our lives.
So we must redeem the time by being prayerful. 'Lord, if You give me one more day, I will worship You in the beauty of holiness. If You give me a voice, I will sing and glorify You with that opportunity.' That should be our attitude.
So every time we worship God, we must always have this perspective in our minds. This could be our last worship. And we sing as if it is the last hymn we will sing. We pray as if it will be the last time we are going to utter prayers. We listen as if it will be the last message we will hear on this earth.
Redeem the time.
How? 2. Serve Him
Fourthly, serve the Lord. Maybe you have been a believer for many years - 40, 50 years. You understand what it means? When Jesus came into this world and died on the cross, shedding His precious blood to save you. You are eternally grateful for that wonderful salvation. But what have you done for Him?
When you look back at all the days of your life, that definite time that you have, those opportunities God had given to you, what have you done? This is a question every one of us would have to answer one day when we stand before the Almighty God.
I believe we are familiar with this story, the true story of the hymnwriter named Nicholas Zinzendorf, great composer and writer. And one day he visited a museum, saw this picture titled ‘Behold the Man’. It was a picture that depicts Christ on the cross with a crown on His head, with blood streaming all over Him, hands stretched out, nails driven through His hands and feet. It was a picture of agony and tremendous pain.
And at the bottom of that picture, there was a very small inscription which says, ‘I did this for you, but what hast thou done for me?’ Nicholas Zinzendorf said to himself, 'I thought I have always loved Him for a very long time, but I realized that I had never actually done anything for Him. From now onwards, I will do whatever He leads me to do.'
What about us? Yes, we may say, 'I want to serve the Lord. I want to be worshipful. I want to be God-honoring.' But it is always I want to, maybe next month, next year, but tomorrow may never come. Only God knows.
Redeem the time. Serve the Lord with all faithfulness and with all humility.
Conclusion
Dear friend, this is about the believer and his conduct, his life, his understanding about the definite time he has on this earth with definite opportunities.
And the Bible tells us, "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without." Be a testimony to those who are still outside the kingdom of God. Whether they be our grandparents, our parents, or people whom God would bring into our lives.
Be wise and apply God's knowledge given to you in the Holy Scriptures so that the world will see the transforming power and work of God in you, and redeem the time.
So do not say that ‘I am going to’, but rather say ‘I'm doing it now’. ‘I'm serving the Lord now. I'm worshipping Him now. I'm praying to Him urgently now. I'm honouring Him today because tomorrow may never come.’
Once we miss the time, they will never come back. So may the Lord help us. Whether we be a church, a family, or an individual, we all acknowledge this important truth. We only have a definite time, a definite season, a definite opportunity.
And we want to take ownership, take hold, grab that opportunity. If this particular thing that God has opened His door for us, then we want to glorify Him. And when He meets us face to face, He will say to us, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant…enter thou into the joy of thy lord." So this is the believer and his conduct.
Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we give Thee thanks for this reminder that as new creatures in Christ, as a new man in Him, we ought to be living a life that is not callously or foolishly, but a life with the wisdom that Thou hast given to us. Thou has commanded us, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not" (James 1:5)
Thou will give it to us generously, bountifully. Thou will not reproach us, but Thou will give us Thy wisdom.
And Thou will communicate Thy wisdom through Thy Word, through godly counsellors, faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. Thou would also communicate Thy wisdom to us through Thy providential dealings.
So as we see the situations of life, we understand that those are situations that Thou has allowed into our lives for a sovereign purpose and we must exercise wisdom to respond to that given situation.
So we must walk with Thy wisdom and we must also redeem the time for indeed we are living in a dark and sinful world. The days are evil and we want to redeem the time by reading Thy Word to know Thy will, by being prayerful, by being worshipful and also by serving thee.
Our Lord Jesus died for us, but what have we done for Him? In this definite time we have on this earth, we want to take every opportunity Thou has given to us to serve and glorify Him, all to Thy glory. So help us to live such a life through the wonder working of Thy Spirit.
We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.