SPEAKER_00: Well, we are in our last week of going through this letter that Paul wrote on the New Testament, is this letter called the Book of Colossians.
SPEAKER_00: So it's our last week, our last message on it, which means it's going to be our last review about it.
SPEAKER_00: So it's your last chance to participate in the review, which some of you have refused to participate for many weeks at this point, and it's your last chance.
SPEAKER_00: So what we've been saying, what we've been learning in the book of Colossians is that there's a structure over these four chapters, and the structure teaches us a lot.
SPEAKER_00: And what we see in chapters one and two of Colossians is Paul launches out and he just writes all these promises to us of what we have in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus is for us.
SPEAKER_00: Though we are broken and sinful in our condition, Jesus is our righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: He is the Redeemer and the Savior, and you are redeemed and saved by His work alone, not your work, and His promise after promise after promise after promise about your security in Him.
SPEAKER_00: And so you don't have to be so worried constantly that the security could go away.
SPEAKER_00: Chapters one and two, tons of promises.
SPEAKER_00: These promises are called the indicatives.
SPEAKER_00: There's like three more added on.
SPEAKER_00: That was your last chance.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even going to do it again.
SPEAKER_00: So the indicatives, chapters one and two, there's a shift at the end of chapter two, right?
SPEAKER_00: And we go into chapter three.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter three and four, we see all the what does the Christian life look like?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, because of this, how do I live?
SPEAKER_00: What does this look like?
SPEAKER_00: And so we see in chapters three and four, we see application, and we see this is called the imperatives.
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
SPEAKER_00: So this is how Colossians is structured.
SPEAKER_00: And what we see is we see that God's grace rescues us, his grace alone rescues us, saves us, and transforms us to live out the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: When I was 15 years old, I was playing JV basketball as a sophomore in high school.
SPEAKER_00: And if you grew up playing sports, as you grew up, you looked at high school and you looked at those coaches, and they were everything.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, to have their favor, to get into that, get on that team, to play under them.
SPEAKER_00: This was everything.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm playing JV basketball.
SPEAKER_00: We had a bad game on Saturday night.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't do too well and we didn't play well.
SPEAKER_00: And then Sunday, you know, we're all hoping the coach goes to church and has some comfort there, but apparently he didn't.
SPEAKER_00: And we get to practice on Monday.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't have a good practice on Monday.
SPEAKER_00: And then in the practice, he sits us down, and he was not an incredibly peaceful gentleman to start with, but he sits us down, and he, I can remember it.
SPEAKER_00: I remember it clearly, he's sort of a big guy, he's kind of like reigning over us, and we're all these little skinny boys sitting down there.
SPEAKER_00: And uh he starts over here, and he starts with my friend John, and he says, John, you would be a great player if you weren't such a screw up.
SPEAKER_00: You are a screw up.
SPEAKER_00: And then he comes to Brent.
SPEAKER_00: Brent's next to him.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Brent, we had such hope for you.
SPEAKER_00: Past tense.
SPEAKER_00: We thought you had so much potential.
SPEAKER_00: And it it's just quiet.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's not saying you missed a few shots.
SPEAKER_00: He he's hitting some core uh some core issues here.
SPEAKER_00: And and it's just it's just quiet little hearts breaking, hardening, uh, for more distrust of authority, more distrust of your coach.
SPEAKER_00: And I I'm next.
SPEAKER_00: And it had not been a good couple years specifically with basketball.
SPEAKER_00: I'd broken this little bone in my back, and so I had to rehab and I couldn't practice for a while.
SPEAKER_00: And and he gets to me, but I had an arsenal.
SPEAKER_00: I had a bit of a mouth back then, and so I had an arsenal I could fight back with, um, and I'm I'm preparing for it, and he gets to me and he looks at me, and I can I can remember it like yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Russ, you would be a good player if you weren't injury prone.
SPEAKER_00: Now you think, that's not a big deal.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is, is you think I'm skinny now.
SPEAKER_00: Like I was really skinny then.
SPEAKER_00: I was paranoid, I was insecure about, you know, the fact that if I get hurt and I couldn't, you know, I was too weak.
SPEAKER_00: And when he said that, when he said that, what I heard was you are weak.
SPEAKER_00: You don't measure up.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the strange thing about it.
SPEAKER_00: I can still hear those words.
SPEAKER_00: It's been twenty years.
SPEAKER_00: Twenty years.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're here and you still hear that word that was spoken to you.
SPEAKER_00: By that coach or that person, that father, that mother that you are weak or unworthy or not okay, or you're unseen, or you are you, or you'll never fit in.
SPEAKER_00: And see, what happens is, and this is what I've been learning lately, is that in our sin, which is in us, we hear a lie from outside, and a belief forms around that lie.
SPEAKER_00: Our sin turns it and it messes with us, and a life starts to form around that belief.
SPEAKER_00: And a life formed around lies is a life of destruction and decay.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the power of words.
SPEAKER_00: This is the power of words.
SPEAKER_00: These things that come out of our mouth, they're not just words, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, James says that it's like a rudder on a ship.
SPEAKER_00: They're powerful forces that shape our hearts and guide our histories.
SPEAKER_00: Remember last week I talked about how I went out into my yard and I burned the grass in my yard.
SPEAKER_00: I went out there with that little garden hose and a little match.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and it's just one, you know, just one little flame, right?
SPEAKER_00: It causes all that destruction.
SPEAKER_00: And James says, James says that's words.
SPEAKER_00: That words can do that.
SPEAKER_00: Destruction can begin.
SPEAKER_00: James says that that can come out of our mouth.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's a bit bleak, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's true.
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
SPEAKER_00: But it is bleak.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul says in our passage this morning, some good news.
SPEAKER_00: The converse is true.
SPEAKER_00: Amazingly true.
SPEAKER_00: That words have the power to destroy, but other words, there are some other words.
SPEAKER_00: And these words can create life.
SPEAKER_00: They can create life in us and create life in other people.
SPEAKER_00: They can give relief to people, they can give healing to people.
SPEAKER_00: They can create a new idea, a new beginning.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul, so Paul takes this.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, we've been delivered out of darkness, and we are called to speak words of grace to those who are still in darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to the passage, Colossians 4, 5 and 6.
SPEAKER_00: Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders.
SPEAKER_00: So outsiders, outsiders mean those who have yet to have placed faith and believe that Jesus is Savior and Redeemer.
SPEAKER_00: So they are an outsider in that regard.
SPEAKER_00: Make the most of every opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: Let your conversation be always full of grace.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's, if you hear those words always, it's like, oh my gosh, that's going to be difficult.
SPEAKER_00: Always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer every one.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's saying, don't be trivial.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be transactional.
SPEAKER_00: Be relational.
SPEAKER_00: Take opportunities.
SPEAKER_00: And he gives us, he gives us this image of salt, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like James gives us that image of fire for destruction.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul gives us this image of salt.
SPEAKER_00: And what they would do back in the ancient times is they would they would take salt.
SPEAKER_00: They would just take this little stuff, right?
SPEAKER_00: Just little, you think, how much, how much effect could this have?
SPEAKER_00: Well, just like one little spark can have a lot of effect.
SPEAKER_00: One, you know, one grain of salt, just a little bit of salt.
SPEAKER_00: And they would take salt and they would rub it, they rub it on the meat to preserve the meat.
SPEAKER_00: So it so if we want to transition, if we want to transition the imagery, Paul is saying to us, you're refrigerators.
SPEAKER_00: Now don't be offended, you be some skinny, sleek refrigerator, you know, cool as you want to be.
SPEAKER_00: But you are called to be a refrigerator.
SPEAKER_00: Because we are supposed to be speaking words of preservation to people that wrap people up.
SPEAKER_00: And the decay that's going on in their lives, that salt can come into it and help preserve.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul elaborates, he gives us elaboration here.
SPEAKER_00: So and he elaborates, he says, that so the words, the words of preservation are words of grace.
SPEAKER_00: So grace is love that is unearned but given in full, and we know this in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And these are words that heal.
SPEAKER_00: They speak value to the depleted.
SPEAKER_00: They say that wasn't your fault.
SPEAKER_00: Or they say that was your fault.
SPEAKER_00: And it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to carry that shame anymore.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to carry that guilt anymore.
SPEAKER_00: You are okay.
SPEAKER_00: These words can say, I'm sorry that happened.
SPEAKER_00: How can I help you?
SPEAKER_00: These words can say, they may not love you.
SPEAKER_00: But I love you.
SPEAKER_00: These words say, you're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_00: These words say the work doesn't have to define you, your body doesn't have to define you, your children don't have to define you, your friends don't have to define you.
SPEAKER_00: These words say, I see you, you are beautiful, you are loved by me, you are loved by God.
SPEAKER_00: These words say, your sin, the weight and the shame, the guilt of it, it doesn't have to be on your shoulders.
SPEAKER_00: That God is waiting to take that from you.
SPEAKER_00: These words say, Jesus is enough for you.
SPEAKER_00: See, these words, these words of grace, they unravel misunderstandings and lies that have created wounds and hounded people for too long.
SPEAKER_00: I could not think, I've told this story before, and maybe you've heard it, forgive me, but I can't think about words of grace being spoken without thinking about my friend James.
SPEAKER_00: My friend James, he's a pastor, he's older than me.
SPEAKER_00: And years ago, we went to Boston together to attend a conference.
SPEAKER_00: And James is one of the most disarming people I know.
SPEAKER_00: He can love anybody, and he can just work his way in, and all of a sudden they are sharing their life story, and he is speaking words of grace into their life.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm we get into Boston, we're on the train, it's like hour one, and I'm just figuring I'm gonna sit back and watch this guy operate for a few days.
SPEAKER_00: And we're sitting on the train, and there's a lady sitting next to us, and um, she's a black lady, and he says, How are he said, Where are you where are you headed?
SPEAKER_00: And she speaks, and you could tell right away she's from Haiti.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Oh, where are you from?
SPEAKER_00: And she says, Haiti, and he says, Oh, are you headed to work?
SPEAKER_00: Are you headed to um you're headed somewhere else?
SPEAKER_00: And she says, Well, I'm I'm headed to work right now, but I also go to school, and she's about 45, and he's like, Wow, that's a load for you, that's a lot to do.
SPEAKER_00: And this was right after the earthquakes in Haiti, and so he says, Do you sell family in Haiti?
SPEAKER_00: And she says, Yes, I said I have family in Haiti, and so um I see him sort of he's talking to her and he kind of maneuvers a little.
SPEAKER_00: He gets his wallet out when she's not looking, and he he kind of he just pulls out all the cash, puts his wallet back, and they keep talking, and he's just man, I bet that's been hard on you, and you know, I'm gonna pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he just keeps speaking life to her, and we get up and we're getting off at the same exit as her, and we get a few steps off the train, and and and he said he hands over this just bunch of cash to her, and he says, I want you to send this to your family and just tell them it comes in the love of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And we get about five steps away, and he looks at me and he says, Hey, do you have any cash?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks, appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00: Um I mean, just a couple hours later, we're at lunch, and the waitress comes up, and she comes up, and he just says, Hey, um, do you know the church like across the street?
SPEAKER_00: We're going to this conference over there.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you ever seen that church?
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Yeah, I've seen it.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, You ever been there?
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's just like disarming her to speak words of grace to her, and she didn't even know what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: And he's and she's like, I've never been there.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, We're going to a conference.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, uh, can I tell you about the conference?
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Yeah, you can tell me about the conference.
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden he's telling her about this conference, you know, of what we're learning.
SPEAKER_00: And she starts to talk about what she thinks, and he's listening, not just preaching at her, he's listening to her.
SPEAKER_00: And he just at the end of the conversation, at the end of our meal, he just says, Hey, I know the pastor there.
SPEAKER_00: He would love for you to come anytime.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, thanks for serving us.
SPEAKER_00: That was the end of that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we go to the conference, we get on a plane to come home.
SPEAKER_00: Uh he's sitting, I get on a plane, you get on a plane, you're going, just leave me alone, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I just want to sleep, I want to read a book.
SPEAKER_00: And he sits down and he's sort of like measuring out the lady next to him, like her openness to talk or not.
SPEAKER_00: He's not being pushy.
SPEAKER_00: And he, over the course of two hours, she lets it rip about her life.
SPEAKER_00: And it looks like maybe she became a Christian when she was a teenager, and then she uh she became pregnant, she had a child, and her and her boyfriend moved in together, and then they had another child, and they've been living together for 15 years, and they have two children, they operate as a married couple, and when it comes down to it, and he's digging in and he's asking questions, and when it comes down to it, uh she's ashamed.
SPEAKER_00: And so she won't go to church, and she doesn't even know she can interact with faith because of her shame.
SPEAKER_00: And he breaks down what Christian faith is to her, and it is like relief coming over her as he speaks.
SPEAKER_00: And then I remember he says, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: He says, uh, I think you should marry him.
SPEAKER_00: It would really honor God, and I think it would give so much security to your children.
SPEAKER_00: She's like, I've never thought about it that way.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Can I get your email and check back with you?
SPEAKER_00: That's just the end of the conversation.
SPEAKER_00: But it was like a weekend of watching somebody who was so fantastic at speaking grace and just any situation, every situation looked different.
SPEAKER_00: There was no cookie cutter, you know, like, you know, layout here or formula.
SPEAKER_00: It was just looking and seeing people and then speaking life into their lives.
SPEAKER_00: Now, he doesn't always do that perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: I don't always do that perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: You you don't always do that perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: We know that we don't do this perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, in fact, we can replay all the opportunities that we met messed up.
SPEAKER_00: We missed them, we just pushed them aside, we went on with our day, we didn't care.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you can even replay when you spoke the words of fire instead of words of salt.
SPEAKER_00: And what it is, is easy, it's so easy for us to use words to self-protect or self-project.
SPEAKER_00: And so self-protection words is we use words to be closed off to people.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's still so many lies in us forming our beliefs and our lives, we just can't risk giving any words away.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We actually don't even think about it when we're self-protecting.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're using all of your words to wrap yourself up, like a shield of armor, just more and more protection.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you don't burn people, but you don't speak life into people.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you're more like me and self-project, and you use words to create affirmation back toward you.
SPEAKER_00: This is what I do.
SPEAKER_00: So you can't see someone.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's that moment where you say, Hi, my name is Russ, and they say their name back, but I don't hear their name because I'm already thinking about the next thing to say, because I want to say the next thing so that they like me and then they affirm me, right?
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And it's because we're using our words to self-project and then create affirmation back from them back to us.
SPEAKER_00: And so we can't see beyond ourselves when we're trying to use them for self-projection to see the need that they might have, to see them, to listen to them, to care about them.
SPEAKER_00: We're just too busy being needy.
SPEAKER_00: And we do this.
SPEAKER_00: We do this because of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: We do this because we have a condition that wants to create the self and redeem the self on our own, apart from God's help.
SPEAKER_00: We use other people's words or we use our own words to become righteous instead of using and receiving his word given to us.
SPEAKER_00: Chapters 1 and 2 of Colossians.
SPEAKER_00: That out of darkness he rescued us.
SPEAKER_00: His word given to us, you are secure, you are righteous, you are affirmed, you are accepted.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to use Cindy Joe and Jojo and Billy Bob's words for affirmation.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Colossians teaches us, that there's a Savior for us.
SPEAKER_00: It teaches us that the grace of God rescues us from our penalty of sin.
SPEAKER_00: And it begins to heal us and it grows us up into the desire to learn to speak words of grace to other people.
SPEAKER_00: And then we can begin to see people because we're not as preoccupied with ourselves, self-protecting ourselves or self-projecting ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: And we begin to be able to spot when other people are doing this, and it's not like a judgment thing, it's just a thing where we see it and we can speak life to them.
SPEAKER_00: Help them slowly to see that we do the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, I do that.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying not to do it.
SPEAKER_00: There's a story in John 4, you probably remember we we we taught through it last year at some point.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is headed through Samaria.
SPEAKER_00: This is the woman at the well story.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of Jews didn't even go through this area because they hated Samaritans.
SPEAKER_00: They were outsiders.
SPEAKER_00: They were the outsiders.
SPEAKER_00: Don't talk to them, they're different than us, right?
SPEAKER_00: We love to create these categories, and the Jews did it, and they would not even go, but Jesus heads to this area and he goes to the well, and it's midday.
SPEAKER_00: This lady shows up.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that she's there midday sort of shows up right away.
SPEAKER_00: She probably has some shame in her life.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't want to be there in the early morning when all the other ladies would be there, so she's avoiding people.
SPEAKER_00: She gets there, Jesus is there, Jesus talks to her and says, Hey, will you give me a drink of water?
SPEAKER_00: She says, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing talking to me?
SPEAKER_00: You're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan.
SPEAKER_00: I'm an outsider.
SPEAKER_00: Why would you speak to me?
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Well, if you knew who I was, you would ask me for a drink of water and I would give it to you.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus goes on and he says, Well, go get your husband and come back.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, I don't have a husband.
SPEAKER_00: You're right.
SPEAKER_00: You've had five.
SPEAKER_00: You're living with another man.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't speak this to berate her or make her feel guilty.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks it to begin to for her to see that she's broken.
SPEAKER_00: And that he wants to extend grace to her because then what he says is he tells her, he says, He who drinks of this water will thirst again, but he who drinks of me will never thirst.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what Jesus is saying, he's saying, I know you've messed up.
SPEAKER_00: I know who you are, but I'm for you.
SPEAKER_00: And everything you're looking for, and you continue to look for in this pattern, is in me.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm speaking a word over you.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a word of love and a word of acceptance.
SPEAKER_00: And the word is drink of me.
SPEAKER_00: And then he speaks this other word, and he says, worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
SPEAKER_00: See, we see this over and over and over again with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks a word over someone, a word of grace, and then he gives a call.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You are healed, go and sin no more.
SPEAKER_00: Neither do I condemn you, leave your life of sin.
SPEAKER_00: Same thing Paul is doing.
SPEAKER_00: Chapters 1 and 2, the promises of God, chapters 3 and 4, this is how we live it out.
SPEAKER_00: This passage is so clear for us that God calls us out of his grace to speak words of grace to others.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not judgment, it's not religious snobbery, and it's not thinking that we are better.
SPEAKER_00: It's words of grace to them because we know we need them.
SPEAKER_00: There's one last phrase in Colossians 4, 6, and it says this, so that you may know how to answer every one.
SPEAKER_00: I read that and it's like, ooh.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that feels a bit exaggerated to me.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I thought when I read it.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, really?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean, you think I'm gonna be able to show up at the well and divinely know that this lady has had five husbands, she's with another man, and then all of a sudden be able to speak straight into her heart within a few minutes.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm gonna be able to do that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I can't even answer my kids' questions, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even sure what to do with the intellectual atheist in my office, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, how am I gonna be able to answer everyone?
SPEAKER_00: But it seems a bit more realistic, I think, to our lives when we think about it in the context of this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Because I think what it's talking about is it's saying, you're not gonna have, you're not gonna have the answer everyone wants to hear.
SPEAKER_00: But you you already have the answer everyone needs.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the word of grace.
SPEAKER_00: That's that Jesus is enough.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to self-protect, you don't have to self-project, you don't have to carry your sin, you don't have to carry your shame.
SPEAKER_00: He's enough.
SPEAKER_00: Paul finishes this letter with some greetings from friends, and then there's a closing word, and it's the word that encompasses and bookends the entire letter.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just do it.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not be the change or be more, it's it's a better word, it's a deeper word, it's more profound, it is more life-giving, it's the core, it's the energy, it's the sustenance, it is the force of all obedience, and it's grace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: It's how Paul began the letter in verse 2: Grace and peace to you.
SPEAKER_00: It's how he begins and ends most of his letters.
SPEAKER_00: He's speaking salt over decay, words of grace over people dying.
SPEAKER_00: It's the word of grace that you need to hear today, that I need to hear today.
SPEAKER_00: It's the word of grace you'll need to hear tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: That in Jesus, God speaks absolution and love over us.
SPEAKER_00: It's the ultimate word of love and freedom.
SPEAKER_00: Grace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray to God.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you that we do not have to create our own words for our redemption, and that we don't have to go and seek out other people's words for our redemption, but that you have spoken a word over us.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to root deeper in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to root deeper in you and your ways for us.
SPEAKER_00: Would you help us to see the ways we self-protect?
SPEAKER_00: Would you help us to see the ways that we self-project that we might begin to receive more and more you into places of our hearts that we have closed off?
SPEAKER_00: God, would we be a church that holds no religious snobbery over other people because we know that we're broken?
SPEAKER_00: And we do all of this.
SPEAKER_00: And when we see other people self protecting and self projecting, would we break for our own sin?
SPEAKER_00: And would we be able to speak out of a love of our own experience of your grace to us?
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.