24. In Missions – Send the Light! (2)

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Hymns: RHC 467 Bringing in the Sheaves 470 Work, for the Night Is Coming 418 O Jesus I Have Promised

Colossians 4:2-5

2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; 3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: 4 That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. 

In Missions – Send the Light! (2)

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In Missions – Send the Light! (Col. 4:2-18)

  • Pray for Open Door (v2-4)
  • Spirit-Led and Urgency (v5)
  • Equipping (v6)
  • Fellow Labourers (v7-18)

Continued…

(2) Spirit-led and Urgency (v5)

5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

“Walk” in the Present Active Imperative is a command to continually be led by the Holy Spirit – Galatians 5:16 (KJV) This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Walk (Gal. 5:16-17) – Make Progress  – Regulate One’s Life; Conduct One’s Self

A command – It appeals to the will! Do our part!

Do so continuously, all the time without letting up!

Let us take the step of walking with God!

When we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfil the lust of the flesh. “Will not fulfil” not only forbids the occurrence of the action but it does not allow it even to begin.

This word to “walk” has the sense of submission and yielding ourselves to God’s truth is to not count the evil that others have done to us but to forgive. It is a choice that we have to make to submit ourselves to God’s truth. It is a command to choose correctly continually.

Walking in wisdom refers in the realm of godliness that befits a child of God. Finding wisdom with God begins with His fear. Obedience to God’s Word is wisdom. This is the best witness for Him to those outside Christ that they may see Christ in us.

Spurgeon said well, “The fear of God is the corner-stone of all blessedness.” What is the fear of God? The fear of God is disposition to give utmost reverence and regard to God in one’s life. This is a man who lives a life of holiness.

Psalm 111:10 (KJV) 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.

Proverbs 1:7 (KJV) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10 (KJV) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Proverbs 8:13 (KJV) The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

King Solomon lived this earthly life to the fullest. He summed up the godly life, the blessed life as this in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Psalm 128:4 Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.

Psalm 128 describes for us the quintessential of the godly man. Blessed according to God’s Word. This man “gever” used in verse 4, is the purest and most perfect example of a Spirit-filled Christian. This man is fully described for us in Psalm 37 and in verse 23 the King James translator called him the “good man”. Psalms 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.”

A man’s spiritual life undergirds all other aspect of his life. When it is well, it permeates to all the other areas of life and it begins with a regard for God, to put Him first, when we fear God, we will walk in His ways, do His will.

The fear of God enables man to honour God and honour our fellow men. Thus, there will be peace in the home, in the nation. 

Jesus tells us what is the fear of God when He said in Matthew 5:3-4 (KJV) Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

The God fearer knows he needs God at all times and in all circumstances and will resort to Him. And He also understands he is a sinner and needs the blood of Jesus Christ to wash away his sins.

Indeed, the genuine fear of God, is not taught by human authority, nor enforced by human but only by the laws and ways of the LORD. The fear of the LORD has no torment in it, its outworking is a godly life, a holy life, walking according to God’s requirements.

There is an urgency in our witness – redeeming the time. We may not meet that person again or this may be the last opportunity for witness. Let us not be detracted from our may work for Him on earth to bring glory to His Name by winning souls.

Proverbs 11:30 (KJV) The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

Jesus says we are to be salt and light – Matthew 5:13 (KJV) Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Matthew 5:16 (KJV) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The urgency of the work is indeed the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer to understand the work before us.

John 17:9 (KJV) I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

Martyn-Lloyd Jones observed well the work that the church is being entrusted by Christ – to evangelized. Why does our Lord pray for His people? He was going to the cross, yet He pauses to pray for them. He did so because of His concern for the glory of God. He has come to glorify the Father and this is that one thing He wants to do above everything else. He prays for them because they are the people to whom He has manifested the Name of God, the people who have been given to Him. Most of all, He prays for them because of their task and their calling. He is going away, and He is leaving them in the world to do something; they have work to do, exactly as He had been given work to do. God sent Him, He sends them and thus He sents us, and He prays for His disciples especially in the light of their calling and their task – the work of evangelizing. There are other people who are going to believe on Him through their word, and so they must be enabled to do this work. He also prays for them because of their circumstances, the circumstances in which they were placed in the world. He says that they are going to have trouble in the world.

John 17:14 (KJV) I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.


Octavius Winslow said well, “TIME is a solemn and priceless gift and involves a responsibility and an account of a most tremendous character. It is the preface to eternity—brief, it is true. Yet, as the preface indicates the character of the volume, so the present is the foreshadowing in each one’s history of the future. Time is a feather falling from the pinion (bird’s wing) of eternity, as it sweeps on in its boundless, endless course, hurrying us with rapid flight to that eternity from where it came. What sin, what madness, then, to abuse a privilege so solemn, to mis- use a blessing so precious. To employ it in vain pleasures and frivolous pursuits; to use it in senseless puerilities (childish and immature behaviours) and sinful engagements; to devote it too absorbingly even to literary and elegant pursuits—the studies of the antiquarian, the researches of the historian, the fascination of art, the discoveries of science—may verge upon the crime of robbing God of one of His most costly loans. 

We ought to esteem time very precious because we are uncertain of its continuance. We know that it is very short, but we know not how short. We know not how little of it remains—whether a year, or several years, or only a month, a week, or a day. We are every day uncer- tain whether that day will not be the last, or whether we are to have the whole day. There is nothing that experience doth more verify than this…How much more would many men prize their time if they knew that they had but a few months or a few days more to live! And certainly, a wise man will prize his time the more, since he knows not but that it will be so with himself. 

Time is very precious because when it is past, it cannot be recovered. There are many things that men possess, which if they part with, they can obtain them again.”

 The word “redeem” means “to buy up, to buy up for one’s self, for one’s use.” Redemption therefore is a purchase. When the Lord Jesus redeemed us with His precious blood, He made a down payment on His purchase of our souls. [Waite]

“To redeem” the time is to make the most use of our time. It means “to make sacred use of every opportunity to doing good.” It is as if our zeal for doing well is the purchase money by which we buy back the time and make it our own. To buy back the time is to “redeem” it. It is to make good use of our time.

Solomon said well in Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

Recall the hymn by Mary A. Kidder – Did You Think to Pray?

  1. Ere you left your room this morning,
    Did you think to pray?
    In the name of Christ our Saviour,
    Did you sue for loving favour,
    As a shield today?
    • Refrain:
      Oh, how praying rests the weary!
      Prayer will change the night to day;
      So when life seems dark and dreary,
      Don’t forget to pray.
  2. When you met with great temptation,
    Did you think to pray?
    By His dying love and merit,
    Did you claim the Holy Spirit
    As your guide and stay?
  3. When your heart was filled with anger,
    Did you think to pray?
    Did you plead for grace, my brother,
    That you might forgive another
    Who had crossed your way?
  4. When sore trials came upon you,
    Did you think to pray?
    When your soul was bowed in sorrow,
    Balm of Gilead did you borrow
    At the gates of day?

To be continued…