Why are we here?  Specifically, why after receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior are you here?  An outside observer might shock you with what he thinks your priorities are.  From looking at how you spend your time, he might say, “You’re here for entertainment” or “you’re here for work.”  In many cases, especially in new romantic relationships he would say, “You’re here for the relationship you are in” because it drives all priorities and motivates all decisions.

How are you spending your life?

Of recent notoriety is a young American hero who died for our freedom in Afghanistan named Robert J. Miller.  His life ended on this earth in January of 2008.  Yesterday would have been his 27th birthday.  A young man of only twenty-five, Staff Sergeant Miller spent his life quickly and valiantly by killing dozens of enemy combatants in a successful bid to save his team members.  You can see his profile http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/miller/profile.html.  He won our nation’s highest military honor by giving all of himself for his friends.

Sergeant Miller was in the Army for less than five years, yet he died defending his team members in a brief, hell-on-earth engagement that lasted only a few minutes.  The men he saved will live on.  The story rarely goes this way.  A few men ambushed by a vastly superior force (the report says the attack was somewhere near 140 insurgents) rarely survive the encounter, and in this case the whole team lived because one man drew the withering fire of the enemy mass.

Rare men like Robert Miller, who selflessly sacrifice in an instant all the time they have left for all the time left to their companions, remind us that life is made up of our minutes, hours, and days.  We should “redeem the time.”

The Command

“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. ” (Colossians 4:5, KJV)

This is the second installment in a complex of three commands from Paul concerning the Colossians’ fellowship in his Gospel ministry. The Mission of the Church for 2000 years has been the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the God-Man, His death on the Cross as a substitute for sinners, and His resurrection on the third day.

Not only should we “pray without ceasing” regarding this ongoing mission (Col 4:2-4), we should “walk in wisdom.”

Paul on Walking

This is one of Paul’s favorite words for the believer’s spiritual life after first believing in Christ.  The word in Greek is PERIPATEO (περιπατέω), and it means to walk, as translated.  I opted for the KJV this time over the NAS because the latter translated it “conduct yourselves.” That translation misses the continuity with the other places Paul commands the believer’s worthy walk.  The verb occurs 96 times in the NT; Paul uses it exactly a third of those, 32 times.  Some favorite examples of Paul’s description of your life as a “walk” are 1 Thes 2:12, 4:1, and Gal 5:16.  “How’s your walk?” gets to the whole panorama of a believer’s spiritual life.  The word is a vivid description of life because it accounts for the fact of progression.  We really never stop walking; the question is what kind of walk is it?  Why are you walking?  Where are you walking?  For whom are you walking?  In what power are you walking?  In what way are you walking towards outsiders?  All of these different dimensions of your walk or spiritual life add up to the summary portrait of you, the believer in Jesus Christ.  In your walk are all your decisions, desires, and actions as you live out your days in eternal relationship to God.

The specific facet of your walk being enjoined here is the way it addresses outsiders.  You walk or live somehow in relationship to “those outside.”  You can do it in folly or with wisdom, but your life is expressing some orientation to the outsider.  Many in our busy society think they have nothing to do with “outsiders.”  That itself is an orientation.  Paul does not say “reject those outside,” he says, “walk in wisdom toward them.”

Wisdom

In the Bible, wisdom could be summarized as skill for living in God’s presence.  The idea is applied know-how to accomplish a task, and the ultimate “task” is relating to your Creator.  God has a Mission, and it targets “them that are without” or “outsiders.”  “Without” never meant “have-nots;” it means “those outside” the circle.  The circle, in context, is the household of Faith, the Church.  The wisdom is in dealing with unbelievers.   How do you get wisdom?  Ask God for it.  God is the only source of wisdom, according to Solomon and James, among others. See Proverbs 1:7 and James 1:5.

Walking with wisdom towards unbelievers is the second essential in the ministry of the Gospel as Paul develops it in Colossians 4.  It means that we have to provide the proper context in our walk for the Message of Jesus Christ.  The walk is not sufficient unless it is accompanied by speech, according to v6, but we probably should not be so quick to give the message if our conduct is at odds with it!  Wisdom involves humility and love, selflessness and truth.  Wisdom is so often the holding of the tongue until its use will actually be useful.  Wisdom is most evident when you see intentional thinking before impulsive action.

Redeeming the Time

This favorite phrase in the KJV suggests many applications, yet the meaning in the context is unique:  wisdom in your walk towards outsiders is how you spend your life well.  Most heroism is not conducted in the singular, spectacular event, yet a pattern of consistency and good priorities in selfless service to others bears a tight correspondence with the all-at-once heroism we rightly and tearfully celebrate.  God knows how fast your fuse will burn (Eccl 3).  He requires you to choose whether your light is going to accomplish anything He values.

Three Thoughts

1.  Personal Evangelism:  The conduct of our lives is the context of our message.  Consistency is paramount as we live-out the One we seek to communicate, namely Jesus Christ.

2.  God’s Plan:  If you get your walk with God right, which will be according to His Word, then the context will be in place for sharing His message.   The two facets of your walk are different, but the cause-effect relationship between the two requirements cannot be denied.  God is first.

3.  Priorities:  Getting to the fullness of God’s blessings for your life involves a whole-life orientation.  This walk is not for part-timers.

Passage to Pray

Psalm 19

Memory Verse

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. ” (Colossians 4:2–5, NKJV)