Zambia Hunt

A Sermon Preached at Kitwe Church on 9 February 2025 on Colossians 4:5-6

Introduction

Imagine what it would be like if you were seen at the tavern drinking heavily on Saturday night, and then on Sunday morning, standing to lead worship at the church. Or picture yourself failing to pay your uncle the money that he loaned you, but then trying to tell him and witness to him about God’s generosity and love. Or gossiping about your workmate at the office and then inviting them to church.

Would anyone in those scenarios take our words about Jesus seriously? Do you think they would? Do you think those people affected by our choices, our lifestyle, and our speech would be at all inclined to listen to us when we tell them of our faith in Jesus? I think the answer to that is quite obvious.

You see, what we believe matters because how we live matters. Our daily conduct as Christians creates the path that allows others to hear and consider our words about Christ.

The Flow of Paul’s Letter

The Zambezi River is one of the four largest rivers in Africa. It begins at an elevation of 1,500 meters from a spring in Mwinilunga, right on the border of Zambia, Angola, and DRC. The Zambezi then flows from that spring, 2,574 kilometers, and empties on the shore of the Indian Ocean.

Paul’s letter to the Colossians is like that. It builds like a mighty river flowing from the headwaters of Christ’s supremacy down to the practical shores of everyday life. Paul begins by painting a magnificent portrait of Jesus in chapter one, who is the image of the invisible God, the creator of all things, head of the church, and the one in whom all the fullness of God dwells. This supreme Christ has reconciled us to God through his death and brings us from darkness into the kingdom of light.

Then in chapter two, because Christ is supreme, Paul warns the Colossians against being deceived by empty philosophies, human tradition, or religious rules that claim to offer spiritual fulfillment. He proves that none of these things can compare to Christ, in whom we have been made complete (2:10), and through our union in Christ with his death and resurrection, we have been raised to a new life.

Then, in chapter three, we see that this new life in Christ changes everything. It transforms everything – how we think, what we value, how we treat others. Paul shows this in chapter three by addressing our personal character (verses 5-17), our family relationships (verses 18-21), and even our work life (3:22-4:1). And, in this text, he concludes these practical instructions by showing the ultimate outcome of Christ’s supremacy at work in and through our lives. Christ’s supremacy changes how we relate to those outside the faith.

It’s almost like a crescendo that begins small and begins roaring as a mighty river and finally thunders out onto the shores of the ocean. These verses, the final verses before Paul gives his final greetings to his friends and coworkers and then signs off on the letter – it’s as though we have been building to verse five and six as a conclusion to this discussion about the supremacy of Christ.

Colossians 4:5-6 “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, always seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

These verses aren’t just an afterthought about evangelism. They show us that when Christ truly reigns supreme in our lives, it affects how we live before non-believers and how we share His truth with them. Our daily conduct and conversations should flow naturally from our new identity in Christ. Here is how we are to live before outsiders:

1. Walk in Wisdom

In the context of what Paul has already said about Christ in this letter to the Colossians, what is he referencing when he says to walk in wisdom? First of all, these Colossian believers would have, in the context of what he has written, understood that Christ is our wisdom. When he says “walk in wisdom,” he is referring to our walk in Jesus Christ. Christ is our wisdom. He is the true source of wisdom.

Look back at chapter 1 verse 15: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.” Notice verse 17: “And he is before all things and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile himself to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.”

You see, Jesus is the source of wisdom. He is the place where the wisdom of God resides. It is in Jesus that the wisdom of God was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Chapter 2 and verse 3, Paul says to us that “in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” And then in verse nine and 10 of chapter two, because we are complete in him, we therefore have access to this wisdom: “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily and you have been filled in him who is the head of all.”

This is a contrast with the worldly wisdom that he has been exposing in chapter two. The wisdom of the world is syncretic. It’s pagan. It rejects the wisdom of God. And we’ve seen that Colossae was filled with this kind of human wisdom. In chapter two verse eight, he warned them of the philosophy and empty deceit of those who claimed to have special wisdom. In chapter two, verse 16 and 17, he warned them of the religious practices of the Jews who told the people that they would somehow be in a better standing with God if they remembered holy days and circumcised themselves and kept the sacrifices.

Paul warned them of the philosophy of mystical experiences and angel worship in chapter two verse 18. There were those within the church at Colossae suggesting that yes, you needed to believe in Jesus, and you needed your Bible, and you needed to have faith – and they would say amen to the church doctrinal statement. But then they would say if you want to be especially close to God, you need a prophet who has a special word. A special word from God. Mysticism.

These examples of false wisdom are powerless substitutes for Christ. We might not have the exact same scenario as the Colossians, but categorically we do the same thing. We’re looking for a spiritual experience that’s beyond what we are experiencing in the moment or beyond what we find in the Scriptures.

Notice what he says in the beginning of verse five – “walk in wisdom toward outsiders.” What is the focus of this walk that Paul is instructing us in? Where’s our focus? He uses the word “outsider,” and I think he does that because he’s bringing into sharp focus the contrast in identities, primarily.

There are the insiders. Who are the insiders? Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ and they have become part of the local church at Colossae. They have a credible testimony of salvation. They have obeyed Christ by submitting to believers’ baptism. They are living in fellowship within the community of Christ at Colossae. And if you go back to chapter two or the beginning of chapter three, Paul put it, “you are in Christ.” You are in Him, right? So you have those who are in Christ, they’re in the church, and then you have everybody else. You have those in Christ and you have those outside Christ.

So what is Paul doing? He’s contrasting identities. There are the insiders, you’re in Christ, and there are the outsiders, you’re not in Christ. People have said this to me in the past: “Oh, so you think that you’re the only one who has truth, eh?” And the answer to that is yes. Those who are in Christ have truth. I’m not saying only our church. There are other good churches in our city who are in Christ. But you’re either in Christ this morning or you are outside of Christ. Your sins are forgiven this morning because you are in Christ or you are under the condemnation of your sins against the holy God because you are outside of Christ.

Think about the contrast in this way. The outsider is not walking in Christ, does not know Christ, does not share the identity or the values of Christ. The Christian, on the other hand, is to walk in alignment with his new life in Christ. Go back to chapter 2, verse 6 and 7, and the whole first 17 verses of chapter 3 talk about this. Our walk as a Christian flows from the nature and the character of Christ. Chapter 2 verse 6 says: “as you have received him, so walk in him.”

Here’s a second contrast. The outsider walks in alignment to the values and priorities of the world, and Paul calls this worldly wisdom. The outsider walks in accordance to the values and priorities of his culture, or according to the values and priorities of his own opinions, his own wisdom. But the Christian, on the other hand – the walk of the Christian flows from how we understand and think about Christ. Therefore, our mind is to be filled with Christ, and therefore, our mind conforms to his mind. (Philippians 2:5-8)

2. Redeem the Time

Notice what he says in the second half of verse five: “Making the best use of time.” There are two thoughts here that I think are implicit in the text. Number one, time is limited. Number two, seize the opportunity. Redeeming the time, many versions instead of “making the best use of time” translate this in English as “redeeming the time.” It simply means to buy out of and to purchase in the marketplace. To redeem the time refers to a specific time or season or opportunity rather than chronological time. It’s not talking about the clock.

Ephesians 5:15, Paul writes about it this way: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.” There’s a sense of urgency about this, redeeming the time.

Let me share with you an amazing story shared by Mark Dever in his book The Gospel & Personal Evangelism, that illustrates this urgency. John Harper was born in a Christian home in Glasgow, Scotland in 1872. When he was about 14 years old, he became a Christian himself and from that time on, began to tell others about Christ. At 17 years of age, he began to preach, going down the streets of his village and pouring out his soul in passionate pleading for men to be reconciled to God.

After five or six years of toiling on street corners preaching the gospel and working in the mill during the day, Harper was taken in by the Reverend A.E. Carter of Baptist Pioneer Mission in London. This set Harper free to devote his whole time and energy to the work so dear to his heart, evangelism.

Soon in September 1896, Harper started his own church. This church, which he began with 25 members, numbered over 500 by the time he left 13 years later. During this time, he both married and was widowed. Before he lost his wife, God blessed Harper with a beautiful little girl named Nana.

Harper’s life was an eventful one. He almost drowned several times. When he was two and a half years of age, he fell into a well but was resuscitated by his mother. At the age of 26, he was swept out to sea by a reverse current and barely survived. And at 32, he faced death on a leaking ship in the Mediterranean. If anything, these brushes with death simply seemed to confirm John Harper in his zeal for evangelism, which marked him for the rest of his life.

While pastoring in his church in London, Harper continued his fervent and faithful evangelism. In fact, he was such a zealous evangelist that the Moody Church in Chicago asked him to come to America for a series of meetings. He did, and it went well. A few years later, Moody Church asked him if he’d come back again, and so it was that Harper boarded a ship one day with a second class ticket at Southampton, England for the voyage to America.

Harper’s wife had died a few years before, and he had with him his only child, Nana, age six. What happened after this we know mainly from two sources. One is Nana, who died in 1986 at the age of 80. She remembered being woken up by her father a few nights into their journey. It was about midnight, and he said that the ship that they were on had struck an iceberg. Harper told Nana that another ship was just about there to rescue them, but as a precaution, he was going to put her in a lifeboat with an older cousin who had accompanied them. As for Harper, he would wait until the other ship arrived.

The rest of the story is a tragedy well known. Little Nana and her cousin were saved, but the ship that they were on was the Titanic. The only way we know what happened to John Harper after this is because in a prayer meeting in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, some months later, a young Scotsman stood up in tears and told the extraordinary story of how he was converted.

He explained that he had been on the Titanic that night, the night that it struck the iceberg, and he had clung to a piece of floating debris in the freezing waters. Suddenly, he said, a wave brought a man near, a Mr. John Harper. He was holding a piece of wreckage. He called out, “Man, are you saved?” “No, I’m not,” I replied. He shouted back, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” And the waves bore Harper away, but a little later he was washed back beside me again. “Are you saved now?” he called out. “No,” I answered. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” “And then losing his hold on the wood, Harper sank. And there alone in the night, with two miles of water under me, I trusted Christ as my Savior. I am John Harper’s last convert.”

This is what Paul is referring to. Walk in wisdom towards outsiders, redeeming the time, seizing every opportunity. The psalmist says, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” And in John chapter nine and verse number four, Jesus himself said, “We must work the works of him who sent us while it is day. For night is coming when no man can work.”

Redeem the time because time is limited. And number two, the idea here is to seize the opportunity. Time is a valuable commodity that should be seized and utilized intentionally. And Paul here is not saying get busy being busy. That’s my problem. I’m confessing sin this morning. I’m busy. And it’s all good stuff. But sometimes I am so busy with so much good stuff that I don’t have time to do the main stuff. I’m so busy getting to that shop or meeting that person that I walk right past an opportunity that God has put in my path to share the gospel.

Paul is not saying we’re to be busy, but that we are to be strategic to make use of every opportunity. An awareness to recognize the opportunity when it presents itself and to seize it for the sake of Christ and his coming kingdom. Ecclesiastes chapter three, reminds us there is a time for every purpose under the sun.

And Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter five says, “Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him then we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain for he says “in a favorable time I listen to you and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” And then Paul says this: “Behold now is the favorable time, behold now is the day of salvation.”

Dear friend, if you have been in church for one Sunday or years of Sundays and you continue to float on the debris of this world, the question to you man, woman, are you saved? And if your answer this morning is, “Noo, I’m not,” then on behalf of Christ – and in the words of Paul, I want to say to you, “behold, now is the accepted time.” Behold, today, the 9th of February, 2025, is the day of salvation. Believe in Jesus, please believe in Jesus! Don’t be damned. Don’t walk from the halls of this church to the halls of hell for all eternity. Believe in Jesus!

Seize the opportunity. So make the best use of your time, Christian friend. Every opportunity that God provides, speak to outsiders. Share with them the truth. And that leads me to my final comment.

3. Speak the Truth

Notice what he says in verse six: “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Do you see the three things there? I’m just going to comment just very briefly. Speak it graciously, speak it truthfully, and speak it wisely.

Look at it. “Let your speech always be gracious.” Oh, how I fail. Why? Because you have been a recipient of God’s grace. Without exception, then, our speech is to be controlled and filled by the grace of God. You see that in chapter 1 and verse 6, it began with this very thought. Gracious speech should characterize all of our interactions, reflecting God’s grace that is active within us and reflecting our roles as his ambassadors.

Paul puts it this way to the Christians in Ephesus in chapter four verse 29: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.” Does your speech, Christian, minister grace to everybody who hears it?

Let your speech always be gracious, he says, in conflict. We are to respond to opposition graciously. We don’t fight fire with fire. We defend the truth with gentleness, Paul says. In witness, we present the gospel with grace, answering questions gently, being patient with doubts and objections. In our daily life, in our regular conversations, in our business dealings, in our daily relationships, and on social media, our speech should be bathed in the grace of God.

Number two, speak it truthfully. And I think that’s really what he means when he says, “let it be seasoned with salt.” Proverbs that Solomon writes in 23:23, “Buy the truth and do not sell it. Buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” Seasoned with salt speaks of speech that preserves truth. Salt is a preservative and a flavoring. And Jesus said that his disciples in Matthew chapter 13, “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It’s no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”

Jesus said that we as his disciples are to be the salt of the earth and through our lives we are to flavor the environments where we live and work and minister and associate with the grace of the gospel. Speak it truthfully. Speech that preserves truth motivated by God, by a love for God and others. It is speech that does not want to destroy or see something decay. It is speech that aims to preserve flavor and serve for the good of God and others. In fact, the church is about this. Ephesians 4:15 says, “Rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”

And thirdly, speak it wisely. Look at the end of verse six: “so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” You see, this is the goal of gracious, salted speech, that you may know the right timing, know when to speak, and be ready to give an answer. First Peter writes in chapter three verse 14: “Have no fear of them or be troubled, but in your hearts, honor Christ as Lord, the Lord as holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect.”

Conclusion

So what’s the point? Our lives speak before our lips do. That’s the point. Our lives speak before our lips do. As Christians, our daily conduct isn’t about keeping a religious rule book. It’s about showing that Jesus Christ rules in our hearts. And when outsiders look at us, they should see lives so shaped by our understanding of the supremacy of Christ that our words about him ring true.

Living wisely, using our time purposely, and speaking graciously aren’t just good habits. They’re living proof that Jesus is who we say He is, Lord of all.

Let me suggest three things you can do, Christian friend, this week, that will enable you to live wisely before outsiders:

1. Examine your daily walk. Does your conduct before non-believers reflect the wisdom of Christ? Or the wisdom of the world, which one?

2. Evaluate your sense of urgency. Are you conscious of the limited time and limited opportunities that you have to share Christ with others? I pray that God would allow us to begin to see each interaction as a potential divine appointment.

3. Consider your speech. Are your words consistently gracious and truthful? Let’s ask the Holy Spirit this week to help us to speak in ways that preserve truth while showing God’s grace to others.

Remember, our effectiveness in sharing Christ with outsiders isn’t just about having the right words. It’s about living lives that demonstrate his transforming power. As we leave today and walk out into this coming week, may God help us to commit to walking in wisdom, recognizing that how we live this week matters as much as what we say in pointing others to Christ.