Living Life on Purpose - Colossians 4:2-6 - Mercy Hill

Hey, everyone. Happy New Year.

My name is Pastor Jason. I'm one of the pastors here at Mercy Hill Church, really excited to be able to be with you guys here on New Year's Day. And I absolutely love New Year's.

I kind of love everything about it. But I think one of the things that I really love about the whole kind of global reset of New Year's is that it has a lot of power to be able to bring some alignment or at least some awareness. It doesn't always bring alignment, but it always does bring an awareness of things that we naturally want to be able to look back on and say, man, these aren't necessarily things that I'm proud of or necessarily things that I was really hoping to do with my life last year.

And thank God for grace. We have a new year to be able to kind of look into that. Man, as we step into 2023, I wonder if you guys would just take some time to be able to look back and to look forward at this kind of the same time and say, man, what are the things in my life or maybe what are the areas in my life where I would like to see some alignment? Maybe we've gotten off track with some of our values and some of the ways that we're kind of like living our lives and to be able to bring some alignment to it. And this kind of goes, I mean, even though we're all in different areas of our life or phases of our life, I think whether you're a child and a student or a college student or, you know, just kind of an adult in our church living your life, I think that there's always an area where we can kind of look back and assess some areas that might need some some realignment. So as pastors, we do this. You know, we sit we talk about the people always in a positive light to be able to say, hey, what are some ways that we can kind of to bring alignment to our church?

And I think that one of the areas where we commonly would discuss is like, man, we we want to help our people live with this sense of intentionality, like living my life on purpose. And I understand that there's always going to be some some push back to this idea because we're like, well, God is sovereign. And that's absolutely true. That's that's biblical. And if God is sovereign, then that means God is in control and I can just trust him.

And man, all of that is actually true. But it's also true that the opposite of intentionality is just drift and kind of nothing good happens when we just allow our lives to be able to kind of float down the lazy river. I mean, honestly, the only thing that happens is is demise. You know, you're going to hit the rapids, you're going to hit the cliff, whatever it might be.

It doesn't come. There's there's nothing in scripture that kind of gives us this sense of don't don't you know, you don't have to make any direction or any plan. Yes, I believe the truth of, you know, don't worry about tomorrow.

Matthew six. Don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow does a really good job of worrying about itself. And that's kind of not what we're talking about. But being able to to truly kind of say, hey, this is the purpose that God has given me. And we want to live on purpose. Man, I think we what we'll find in our passage of scripture today is that this is a really, really good way to live as a disciple.

In fact, that is the big idea, is that disciples of Jesus live on purpose. We're going to jump right into a passage of scripture in the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter number four.

So if you have it digitally or I think it is going to show up on the screen as well, you could open up your paper Bible here. And Colossians chapter number four, we're really jumping into the conclusion. It's literally further instructions from the apostle Paul.

But it was written to people that he had actually never met and even a city that he had never even been to. But yet he here he is writing this letter to them. And basically the context of it is, is that Epaphras, who is part of the church in Colossae, goes and he visits Paul.

He tells Paul, man, things are going really, really well. But there's actually some threats that are that are coming up against our church and our young believers. And we need your help. We want to know what we should be able to do about this. And so Paul writes this letter in response to those threats.

I don't really have time to dive into what those threats are, but I would say this is an awesome way to use your time. Go back and read the three chapters before this and get a good understanding of kind of the layout for the letter here. And I think, you know, using that 15, 20 minutes will really help you to understand kind of where we're going, where Paul's going. But I can just say this, that the whole letter, the first three chapters, Paul is grounding them in the good news, grounding them in the gospel that Jesus, he says, for whom and from whom all things were created, all things were made. He's done everything necessary for them, the Colossians and us to be able to be brought into a relationship with God. So they weren't to add to this gospel. They weren't to add to this truth.

They weren't to alter the message in any way, shape or form. Instead, the message of Jesus is actually intended to be the rock that motivates us and allows us to kind of chart the course. And I think that's still true today. It's not just true 2,000 years ago when this letter was written.

It's still true today. Jesus is still the rock that we build our lives on. And the gospel, the Spirit is the fuel that we run our lives on. So as a disciple who really lives their life on purpose, what instructions does Paul give for doing this? And I think we can start in verse number 2 of Colossians 4 where he says, Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. And then he says, Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. So the first thing that Paul says is, we've got to be a people who are praying continuously.

And I think at first, this doesn't really sound super helpful. Like, okay, yep, that's a very Sunday school type answer is, well, you just got to pray more. But I think that sometimes when we ignore that, that there's actually more to it than that. Another translation reads, Be devoted to prayer. Be devoted to prayer.

Now that seems to kind of raise the bar to me. Like, okay, so we as a people living on purpose should be devoted to prayer. Here's the question that I think we need to ask ourselves is like, man, first of all, are we devoted? Do we have a devotion to a life of praying? But then also, man, how can we be devoted to prayer when we're so often distracted from prayer? I'll be the first to admit on a busy day, on a late morning, the first thing to go usually is my prayer life. It's a lot easier to just pick up the scripture. It's less work for me to kind of read something or maybe to listen to a spiritual podcast, but to actually get into a devotedness towards prayer is tough. So a key here to a life that's lived on purpose is having this devotion to prayer.

And the reality is, I don't think we need to be reminded in word that we should have a prayer life. Now, maybe if you're newer to the faith, maybe if you're newer to Mercy Hill, you're going like, I didn't know that. Well, congratulations. You're welcome.

Happy New Year. You can start the new year kind of seeing that, man, having a devoted prayer life is a part of being an intentional disciple. But I think really what Paul kind of needs us to get to is that no matter what we're facing in life, it's not just a devotion to prayer, but really it's an understanding of the power of prayer. The prayer is not just something that we do before we eat a meal, but prayer is actually something that kind of guides our lives.

And it should be the first thing we go to, not kind of the last resort. We don't need to pray just when we find a crisis in our lives, but actually we need to be on the front end of praying for God's wisdom, for God's grace and mercy. Another layer deeper, I think is true as well, is that the Apostle Paul wants him not only to know that they should have a devoted prayer life, and that there is, I think that his next piece is that there's actually an incredible amount of power in prayer. And it's not just because prayer is not a spell, but it's actually it's directed toward a person.

So we're actually praying, it's the person behind the prayer that matters the most. Think of it this way, back when I was about 10, 11 years old, my sister, she had cancer. And I remember we went through that whole process of her having chemotherapy and radiation. But one thing happened in that time, and that was that we got to experience Make-A-Wish Foundation. And I remember the Make-A-Wish Foundation coming over and being a representative for it and saying, hey, there's a ton of things that we would love to be able to do for your family. And she gave several examples.

And then she stopped at this most recent example. And it was getting to meet somebody who we admired. His name was Michael Jordan. And she said this one kid a few weeks ago, he got to meet Michael Jordan. He got to go to a Bulls game. He got to be able to talk with him afterwards. And then Michael Jordan actually gave him the shoes that he wore for that game, and he signed them. And me and my brothers were out of our minds thinking, we have to choose this. My sister chose Disney World, but that's okay.

That was awesome too. But the point I'm making is that, you know, obviously as a kid, we have this like, wow, we look at these professional athletes as incredible people that we'd love to be able to get an audience with. I'd love to just be in their presence. You know, you think today of billionaires and people who are, you know, gurus at different things and, you know, businessmen and, you know, all of these things, you know, we would pay money to be able to sit in front of somebody for 30 minutes and have them talk to us and even more money to have some sort of a backstage pass.

But guys, think about this. The person who made every person that we look up to, we have absolute all-day, every-day access to his presence. And there is an enormous amount of power.

In fact, C.H. Spurgeon said it this way, prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence. We can't underestimate the power that is in a devoted prayer life. Several months ago, Pastor Andrew preached a message from Joshua, you might remember it, about big, bold prayers.

That was a reset that I desperately needed in my life. And one of the things that he said that has kind of stuck with me is this. If God were to answer all the prayers that you've been circling and all the prayers that you've been praying, what in the world would change? What about in the kingdom of God? What would change?

Or would we just be kind of healthier and wealthier people? Guys, the beautiful thing about being a follower of Jesus is today doesn't need to look like yesterday, and 2023 doesn't need to look like 2022. In fact, the Bible tells us that there are mercies that are new every single morning. And I want this to help propel us to be thinking about, you know, maybe I have been lax in my devotion towards prayer.

I'm not talking about you missed a day. I'm talking about, do you have a mindset that the starting place for having an intentional life is a devoted prayer life? And in typical Pauline fashion, this is so cool, he actually follows up verse number three with a model of kind of what he's getting at in the form of a prayer request.

Is this in line with the situation that the Colossians find themselves in? Listen to what his prayer request is, verse number three. He says, at the same time, pray for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I'm in prison, that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak. I don't know about you, but it kind of sounds like the Apostle Paul might have missed a big prayer request. Paul's in prison here. This isn't just like Paul is at some other church or he's on vacation. Paul is literally chained 18 inches from a Roman soldier in prison. But what his prayer request is, and it's not to say that he didn't ask, he didn't ever pray this that God would release him. But what he wanted to do is he wanted to help guide the Colossian believers understanding that it didn't matter what circumstance you find yourself in, that our prayer life and our devotion to that prayer life shouldn't actually change.

This is kind of the ultimate example of somebody who's living on purpose. It's funny because he's not kind of quasi asking for requests and manipulating at the same time. If you own a truck, you probably know exactly what I mean. If you've ever had somebody come up to you and say, hey, you own a truck, right?

Oh, okay, cool, cool. Yeah, I'm just really, would you pray for me? I'm really praying that somebody with a kind heart would let me borrow their truck so that I can move some firewood or whatever it may be. Paul's not doing that. He's not kind of coming at him with a sideways prayer request. He's like, hey, I want you to understand I'm in prison.

Not great circumstances. But more than you need me present with you, what you need to understand is that a life lived on purpose is that I've kind of written a new plan. And within that new plan, the purpose that God has given me to make disciples, that just hasn't changed. In fact, I want you guys to be praying that God would open up a door so that I could share the gospel with clarity. So the next time we find ourselves kind of underneath some pressure of life circumstances, and I know there are some folks in our church who are in some really, really tough circumstances. The first prayer that we pray, may it not necessarily be God get me out of this, but may we follow an example here of praying that perhaps through our poor medical circumstances that the door would be open for a clear opportunity to share the gospel.

Maybe in our bad financial crisis that we could pray that God would you, I don't know how you're going to use this, but would you use this for a way for us to be able to get the word clearly out. All right, so Paul instructs us to pray continually. That's kind of step one for a life on purpose. We've got to be devoted to prayer. Number two follows up with, now you've got to live purposely.

All right, live purposely. He says, walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Then he says, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. So what Paul's getting at here is like the tool for the life of an intentional disciple. It's consistent prayer life, doesn't stop there.

It's also a purposeful, missional life. Again, if you're newer to Mercy Hill or you're newer to the Christian faith, following Jesus is kind of a new thing for you. This is some of the most helpful things that you could hear at the beginning of your walk with Jesus. Our lives should be devoted to prayer. And then secondly, we kind of have to have this very intentional, forward-facing way that we live our lives, so that we may be placed into opportunities to be able to share the gospel. Just a few weeks ago, in 2 Corinthians 5, Pastor Andrew, he kind of helped walk us through the idea that as a people who have been reconciled, we've been sort of, you know, redeemed, we've been bought back, we're invited to be able to be a people who are helping to reconcile others. Now, we don't do the saving, but we get to be a part of what God is doing, what the Spirit is doing. And this is exactly what he's talking about.

This is what he's getting at. We're to walk. That's just another way of saying we've got to kind of live and direct our lives in wisdom. So that's purposefully, that's thoughtfully, that's in a community of other people. But then he says these other two words. Because to be very honest with you, I think once we look at those words, hey, we've got to walk in wisdom. Like, man, I love that.

I love that idea. Because it helps me in business, it helps me in home, it helps me with my finances, it helps me, you know, kind of deal with some, you know, some difficult conflicts. That's great. But the context that he's telling us to walk wisely is very specific. It's toward outsiders.

Now, we don't really use the language of outsiders and insiders, but I think we get it. It's like people who are following Jesus and then people who are not following Jesus. So he says to live or walk wisely toward those outsiders. And I think that the operative word here is that word toward. So often, you know, we become Christians and then we kind of silo ourselves and we're only ever around Christians.

Man, pastors are just as guilty of this as anybody else. We could, you know, become followers of Jesus and we want to get ourselves around a good community. We want to be able to also do business with other very honest people. So we kind of create this little bubble that we get into and we just live wisely towards insiders.

That's good. But the call here is to actually walk wisely toward outsiders. So I just wonder, by way of sort of application, if we were to scroll through our contact list on our phone, how far would we have to go down to be able to find somebody who's actually not a Christian? This is super challenging for me to be able to say, where are the areas in my life where I can go, hey, there's unbelievers in this, you know, this circle of friends and this group of people. So guys, if we're going to live intentionally, which is what I pray we do in 2023, we live with this great intentionality towards outsiders.

We have to be willing to ask kind of some of these harder questions. So Paul doesn't just say, and we should, you know, if you go back and you read the three chapter, Paul doesn't just say, hey, we need to be cautious about false doctrine. He says that. It's truth. We should be cautious about, you know, licentious or like living that is without any sort of like rules or, you know, without thinking of the gospel as a motive. All of that is true.

All of that is 100% true. But he says, I want you to be cautious and I want you to be courageous. So we're cautious in the way, you know, that we design sort of where we go and what we do and who we do it with. But then we're also courageous in stepping into places that might be a little bit risky for the sake of walking towards people who are not in the faith. And when you interact with them, he says, we've got to have this mindset around us of just grace. We've got to have a grace mindset. And this is, man, this is a pretty unpopular hot take here. But I don't think there's any such thing as an unsent Christian.

Right? I mean, the scripture seems to indicate we're saved and then we're sent. But there's not like an in-between and there's not like, you know, and I think I know the pushback on some of this is, well, you don't know my personality type. I'm extremely introverted. So therefore it's really hard for me to meet new people when I get really drained by that. I do understand. I do understand that. My problem is, is that when it comes to the commands of scripture, it doesn't seem like there's an asterisk or a caveat in any of those places in scripture, which would kind of indicate that maybe we're allowing our personality to determine our purpose. But while we should allow our purpose to be informed by our personality and by our giftings, we should never let it determine our purpose.

So let me put it another way. We all do this. We talk about what we love. I mean, I love burritos from La Costeña in Mountain View, California. I love donuts from Stan's Donuts. When these two food, major food groups are brought up, I have no problem putting in my opinion and my perspective on these burritos and donuts. Everybody has opinions about them, though, right? So when you think about it, it's like, here's an opinion. Why in the world would you put a salad inside of a burrito? Don't do that.

Don't be a psychopath. But people might be thinking like, well, I've never tried it because the lines are too long. Or maybe there's a misunderstanding around why they're this big. There's all kinds of reasons why people might push back on certain things.

I know I'm being a little silly with this, but the point is, we all kind of have no problem showing photographs of our newborn baby to people because we love to talk about what we love. And burritos and donuts are not life or death issues. Mostly, they're not life or death issues at all. When we talk about Jesus, we're talking about life or death. And however uncomfortable it is to talk to people about Jesus, not talking about theological issues that won't be decided upon this side of heaven. Yeah, this side of heaven. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the person and work of Jesus.

That's a life or death issue. And here's what might surprise us, especially if you've never just talked about the goodness of God, never just talked about who Jesus is, is that even though we live in a society that is less tolerant towards Christians than probably ever in the history of American society, when we actively pursue relationships with others, and we're willing to put ourselves out there and ask the good questions and share the good news and be patient and be gracious, people are actually generally very receptive. And this is what Paul is getting at.

He's like, walk in wisdom, seasoned with salt. Your word should be kind of, you know, basically the goodness and grace of God should drip from our lives. Okay, so the whole passage, I'm kind of closing it down here, the whole passage is application for the Colossian church. So I know I just preached the whole application of several application points. But for some of us who, maybe we've never actually taken a step in sharing the gospel or being missional and intentional with our time, with our resources, you know, with just our presence, if we've never started, this is the best time to start. Okay, so I'm going to give you a few ideas and then we'll close it down. But don't stop with these ideas. I hope that wherever you're sitting and watching this, whether you're in your home or whether you're with some friends or roommates, community group, wherever it might be, maybe you're listening to this, talk about it with some other people. Pray about, God, how do you want me to live intentionally?

What relationships can I foster to be able to be a missional disciple of Jesus? I would say, number one, start by thinking about where you work, where you play, and where you live. Okay, we already do those things, so why not start there? You know, if you're a student, start with your school. Start with your sports teams. Start with your neighborhood, the people in your neighborhood. So we've got to be thinking about it this way.

I think one of our sent-out ones, they decided back when they were still living in the States that they were going to actually stop paying for gas at the pump. These are just ideas. They said we want to be able to go inside so we can actually talk with people.

Another one of our friends said that she actually went to a new hairstylist when she realized she didn't have very many unbelieving friends, so she went to a new hairstylist so that she could start building a relationship with an unbeliever. This might mean that we need to take off our earbuds at the gym every once in a while and actually look at people and actually make a gracious smile. Those are the types of ideas. Maybe it's that we're not going to eat lunch alone, but we're going to go to the cafeteria and we're going to kind of find the people that we can actually talk with or the break room where we can actually have conversations with other people. So the second thing is not just should we start with where we work and where we play and where we live, but we actually have specific days designed throughout the year for you to actually invite people in.

That's not the end goal. The end goal is for us to be able to teach and share the gospel, but this is a great first step. We had somebody who grabbed like 140 Inviter cards to the Tanger Center Christmas Services.

That's a great first step. We have Sundays called Who's Your One? So once we've kind of prayed through and identified somebody that God has kind of put in our path, man, let's be praying for that person and then invite them to the Easter Sunday, to the Christmas service, those types of bigger days. In closing, one last thing is that on January 8th, every one of our campuses is having an open house.

Now, I know the timing of this is you've got one week, but I think this is a great way to exercise in the very first week is to exercise this amongst those kind of three groups. Who do we work with? Who do we kind of play with? Who do we live around that we could invite to come to a campus open house? And then just Google the campus closest to you and go there on Sunday and sort of live and worship and serve where you live. Guys, I hope that this has been an encouragement for us today, that we can kind of just start thinking about living on purpose, being intentional to not just be a people who are saved, but actually a people who are sent.