Blessed To Be A Blessing: Surprise Our World

We’ve been blessed us to be a blessing. And the way God would have us be a blessing is to surprise our world with grace. According to the passage we are going to look at today, blessing others with acts of grace or words of grace will awaken those around us to a reality they are not accustomed to experiencing. So much so, that they will be intrigued not just by what they see, but by what they hear in our lives, and their curiosity will eventually bear fruit when they ask us why we are so different.

In Colossians 4:5-6 we are going to see how God calls us to surprise our world with His grace! This is what it looks like for ordinary Christ followers to be a blessing in our world today.

1. God would have us surprise our world through our everyday actions                                   Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Colossians 4:5    What God wants us to grasp is this: It is in the midst of the ordinary, day to day actions of our lives where we have the best opportunities to show our world what it looks like to follow Jesus. So live wisely. Be aware that others are observing how you conduct you life, how you treat others, how you make decisions, how you react to adversity. They want to see if following Jesus actually makes a difference in how you live!

People are looking at your actions to see if there really is another way to live. So your conduct and my conduct matters to them. For some, they are looking for a reason to discount your faith. They are looking for a reason to cry out, “hypocrite.”   That’s why we are commended to “walk wisely.” But for others, they are looking for a reason to believe. Is God really real? And of course, this is our opportunity to show them that not only is He real, but that He is very much alive in our lives.

One thing they are looking at is our ordinary, everyday conduct. Let me give you an example. My friends Scott recently told me of a time in his early 20’s when he was struggling in his faith. At that time he wasn’t really sure if he wanted others to know that he was a Christian. He was attending flight attendant school and as part of their training, the group of students he was with had to go from one building to another a couple of times a day. And during those times Scott got into a habit of always being first to the door so he could hold it open for the other students. Then one day, one of his fellow students finally asked him, “Why do you do that?” “Why are you constantly opening the door for us?” Well, that started a conversation. And this fellow student shared with Scott how he almost drowned in a fishing accident the previous summer, and ever since surviving, he’d been seeking God. And here was Scott, struggling with his own faith, but because of an ordinary act of kindness God opened a door for him to share how God had changed him. That conversation led to more conversations and eventually this young man put his trust in Jesus.  Ordinary, everyday kindness… grace. God uses simple acts of ordinary grace to open the hearts of unbelievers. You never know who you might impact with your kindness. You never know who might be seeking. You never know who God may be drawing to faith through your actions. Ordinary, everyday acts of grace can surprise our world.

But then there are those intentional acts of grace. God’s Word tells us very clearly that we are to seize the opportunities before us to surprise our world. Literally, “to redeem the time.” Here’s where God calls us to actually live as vessels of grace: To surprise our world with grace…   By using the everyday ordinary activities and relationships around us to pour out the goodness and generosity of Jesus to others. Or to say it another way, start living as a servant of those around us. And as we look for ways to serve them, we will create in them a curiosity as to why we are so different.

We forget that people are looking for an alternative way of life. The way of life that our culture presents often leaves us weary and empty. So they are looking at those who follow Jesus. You may be the only real Christ follower your neighbor has ever met. So what are they seeing? Do they see patience in the face of adversity? Do they see goodness and generosity in your actions? Are they experiencing grace? The idea is that God doesn’t want us to live our faith in isolation, but in public.  In this sense we get to be missionaries right where we live, in the everyday ordinary stuff of life. Then, our neighbors who would never darken a Church door can observe the lives of those who do, and can form their judgment accordingly.

It’s like a fellow church planter, Hugh Halter says:  “If people find a chapter in your life they can identify with or find help from, they will move toward you… and toward God.”  God would have us surprise our world through our everyday actions.  Sometimes all it takes is opening a door to open a door to a heart.   This is our potential to surprise our world.   Now let’s look at a second way God would have us surprise our world:

2. God would have us surprise our world through our gracious words   Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6   What I love about this is that Paul assumes we are living and sharing our lives with people who don’t know Jesus. He assumes we are sharing our lives with our neighbors because he is encouraging us to make sure that when we are telling our stories or sharing our opinions about life, that our conversations are full of grace, seasoned with salt.

What does it mean to have your conversations be full of grace? To speak with grace means to say what is spiritual or wholesome, fitting or kind, sensitive or complementary, gentle or truthful, loving or thoughtful. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Our words are to be full of grace!

When I was a Youth Pastor I had very few rules for my students. But one of those rules had to do with how they spoke to one another. Students were the masters of put downs, so I had a rule that whenever we were together, no one could use put-downs. Now to counter that, I also tried to help them learn how to encourage one another; to say kind and affirming words to one another. So I had them learn Ephesians 4:29 and we often did a thing we called “Warm Fuzzies.” We would sit a student in the middle of the room and the rest of the students were to bombard them with encouraging statements about them. They learned how to say simple things like, “I like your smile.” “You’re a good friend”… and then tell them why. They got to be pretty good at this. And recently, I heard from one of my students who became a Youth Pastor, and he told me that this is one thing he’s made a priority in his youth ministry.

Now I tried this once at a dinner party with leaders I was training. I asked them to try and speak affirmations or encouragement during their dinner conversations. Then I sat back and watched. And to my surprise no one did it. They just went ahead and talked about the regular stuff they always did. That taught me something. It taught me that affirming others, building up others with our words, encouraging others is a skill that must be learned. And perhaps the best way we can learn how to surprise others with our words is by looking at Jesus. In Luke 4:22, this was said of Jesus: All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.

So let me give you an example of how Jesus conversation was full of grace. It comes from an encounter between Jesus and an expert in the law, found in Luke 10. Allow me to read this and lets see what Jesus did when an open door was presented to him:  25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

First observation: Jesus didn’t respond as the Bible answer man. Too often we think we need to have all the answers and that if we can give people enough answers they will come to faith. But here we see that instead of Jesus answering, Jesus was interested in this man’s thoughts. By asking him this question, he imparted grace to this man. This question showed that Jesus valued his thoughts. He was engaging the person. Everyone has opinions, thoughts and ideas. Sometimes its better to let them share then it is to win an argument over who’s write or wrong. That’s being gracious.

So what was the man’s answer? He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

Second observation of Jesus’ graciousness: Jesus affirms the man’s answer. There’s great power in affirmation. We all want it, but few give it. When was the last time you encouraged someone by affirming the truth of what they said? Just because people don’t yet know Jesus doesn’t mean they don’t have good desires and truthful answers. When we affirm what someone believes, that often opens the door for them being willing to hear what we believe. We show them we care about what they think. And when we show that we care about what they think, we are showing that we care about them. This is how gracious words open hearts to the gospel.

So what happened next?  But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” in reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”  The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

My Final observation: Jesus did not unpack all the gospel… or did he? What did he do? Here’s were Jesus used salt. He spoke truth in the conversation. Jesus tells a story that spoke to the heart. He told a story that showed what loving your neighbor looks like. And the truth he spoke was this: It doesn’t matter what religion or race you are, what matters is mercy. Loving others is about mercy. So Jesus asks the expert in the law, who had mercy on him?” The lawyer answered correctly. And Jesus told him to go and do likewise.  So what do we learn from Jesus here about surprising our world with our words?

1. When God gives you an open door, you don’t have to have all the answers. You can give grace by asking questions and affirming answers. If the opportunity presents itself, you can speak truth. You don’t even have to give all the gospel.

2. If you truly care about people, God will give you opportunities to share the gospel… but you don’t have to do it all at once. You can share grace and truth in bits in pieces: a little mercy here, a little hope there, a little truth here, a little acceptance there, the brokenness of sin here, the redeeming grace of Jesus there.

This is how God would have us surprise our world with grace; how we can be a blessing: through gracious words and works in the midst of the everyday stuff of life.