Walking in Wisdom and in the Word

So as usual let's lead up to the days verses 5 and 6 in Colossians 4 by reading 1 through 6. Roger please. Masters grant to your slaves justice and fairness knowing that you too have a master in heaven. Devote yourselves to prayer keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the Word, so that we may speak for the mysteries of Christ, for which I have been made a foot which I am in prison. In order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak, conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of opportunity, let your speech be great season as it were with salt so that you may know how to how you should respond to each person. I'm always in the New King James, so bear with me, but I think in Roger's version I'm going to be dealing with how we might better understand this. I still like the King James in the way it reads, but this is the New King James, so all the EFTs and some of the spellings have been modified.

First verse, walking wisdom towards those who are outside redeeming the time. How are we doing there? First, what's wisdom? Nobody has any wise answer here? The knowledge of everything that we have in Christ. The understanding of that. Okay, I like that answer. Other thoughts here? I like that answer too. Paul addresses the wisdom of the world versus the wisdom of us as believers. Let's begin by comparing the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of the Lord using scripture to address this. First, Paul distinguished two types of wisdom.

1 Corinthians 1.20, where is the wise, where is the scribe, where is the disputer of this world?

Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? And we can go on there, the wisdom of man is foolishness under God. 1 Corinthians 25, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. I mean that's in response to the previous verse. This whole section of 1 Corinthians 1 deals with the wisdom of men, the wisdom of the world, and the wisdom of God. So, the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Do you think of God being foolish? I don't. But, nevertheless, scripture says, if he's ever foolish, which we know he's not, that's more than man's wisdom.

And at the end of that section, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus. So the answer Regan gave is perfect and right on. Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. JFB, which is one of the commentators I kind of like among many, but this is one I particularly like. What do you think about practical Christian prudence?

How's that for a definition? Does that stop short? Practical, okay. What's practical? Putting into everyday use. Okay, practical. We hang out in this world system. To be practical is to be taking into consideration circumstances, right? Common sense is good, Bonnie, thank you. Christian, that's a life, isn't it? What about prudence? Define being prudent. Paying attention to the important circumstances and following along with them. All right, we're going to come back to that in terms of how we walk relates to the circumstances.

Could you say that's how you use your wisdom? Kind of the application then, the implementation of that wisdom? But thinking about the wisdom of man, he knows about the universe. That's what he does. Puts on there billions of years and a whole bunch of other stuff that leaves God out of it. That's the difference of wisdom, I think. That's knowledge, maybe. That surely isn't wisdom.

And I try always to kind of, whenever I raise a question to everyone, I try to go to the scripture to see what we can find out there. I just chose one verse here. 1 Thessalonians 4.13, that you may walk honestly towards them that are without. We're going to come back to them that are without. That's part of the verse. Those who are on the outside. And that we, ye may know, you may have lack of nothing. So I guess it's kind of, It's circumstantial, I think it's appropriate in terms of the nature of the ability to walk in wisdom towards those who are on the outside.

We face this every day. This new nature deals with circumstances that are pretty adverse in a different way than the flesh does. And unfortunately, we still have the flesh. Often the spirit corrects you if you're suddenly provoked by something, something's pejorative and you respond in that way. Ultimately the flesh shows up many times when we don't want it to.

So this walking in wisdom is I think very circumstantial and very dependent on the individual or individuals with whom we're dealing. So what's walking in wisdom? So we've tried to define what wisdom is. What's walking in wisdom? Don't you think it's appreciating and understanding who we are in Christ and allowing that to play out as opposed to being reactionary? How would you translate walking? walk. Conditioned.

To regulate one's life or to conduct oneself according to Wiest, I think that's his definition. Actually I think that's there. Doesn't make any difference. To regulate one's life, to conduct oneself. Obviously this is walking, right? But that's not what we're talking about here. The same Greek word could be interpreted to walk, literally walk, in some circumstances. Here we're talking about conducting one's life. And again, as several people have indicated, Margaret included, this is a life, not law.

I mean, you know, what's the law there for in terms of conducting ourselves or walking in wisdom to the world or actually to the body? How does law apply to that? Wasn't the Old Testament scripture really kind of expecting the Jew to walk under the law? And what's the law there for? What do we learn in Galatians? That we're teaching from the pulpit, right?

How to mess up and not do it. And what's the result of trying to walk in wisdom to the world outside when we put that under law? What's the result of that? Well, in some sense, we're trying to outdo the world. I can keep regulations better than you can keep, and that's not the life that the Lord would have us lead. He wants us to lead His life.

But we can get caught up in saying, my neighbor does X, Y, and Z. I'll do X, Y, Z every day, and I'll one-up him, because I'm Christian. Okay, but what's the purpose of the law? What's it there for? All right, good. So it's schoolmaster, if you will, in Galatians 4. But what else?

What's the law there for? Why was there law for the entire millennia of the Old Testament? Does anybody keep the law? The law is there to convict because we all fall short. There's none righteous, no not one. So when we try to live this life by law, I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have done that, we're totally thinking about that.

What do we think about when we fall short of what we're called to by God in the flesh? What's the circumstances of that? It's all about yourself. Yes, and remember to be, as Ms. Newell says in Romans 6, to be disappointed with yourself is to have trusted yourself. So we're going to fall short and we're never going to measure up. Unfortunately the flesh shows up too often and when the flesh shows up we're in fact put under law and we've fallen short because we've not relied on that new life we have in Christ Jesus. Okay, the best example is the cross, isn't it?

Ephesians 4.17, This I say therefore and testify unto the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, those outside, in the vanity of their mind.

Define the vanity of the mind of the unbeliever or even ourselves in the flesh. What's the vanity of our minds? Self-pleasure. Yeah, really. I mean, what's vanity? What's a good term for vanity? and emptiness has no merit. If we walk like the Gentiles walk, we have no merit and fall short of God's glory. 2 Corinthians 4, 2, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Big task. And I love 3 John. For I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as you walk in the truth. I've shared this before. I have the opinion that love is of the greatest of gifts in 1 Corinthians 13. But truth is really the foundation of where love is sourced, isn't it?

How are we all doing in the flesh loving our brother and sister? And are we called to love this world system that are without? Not really. That Christ-like love is not what we're called to. We're called for that for one another. But anyway, the truth is really what puts this all in perspective. The truth is all wrapped up in Jesus Christ and who He is and what He's done and what He's doing in our lives each and every day.

Alright, who's on the outside? In other words, them that are without. Who are these people? Well, very simply, they're unbelievers. Scripture is very clear in distinguishing this group of people from us, those of us who are part of the body. 1 Corinthians 5, 12, For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? So how do we interpret that verse? How often, at least I'll admit, I fall into this position of judging the unbeliever.

Is that our job? Why not? Isn't that God's job? Yeah, we're going to come to that. It's the right answer, Regan. It's not our job, it's the Lord's job. I think we can summarize kind of the world view when we see our interactions with other people in terms of what their lack of perspective is in terms of the truth. Remember the truth. But it's not our job to judge. And that's what this whole verse is about because when we have an opportunity, at least in the next verse clearly, we have this opportunity, we want to avail ourselves of it as the Spirit leads. What does this walking wisdom look like and how do those that are outside or out or without, how do they respond?

Some examples. We've got a quiet group here today. Examples. To the world system, what's this look like? Foolishness. I think about you as a scientist and what people in the science community think when they find out you're a believer. How can that be? Well, I have many, many examples to share there, but I won't bore you with them. But the thing is, all of us in our workplace or in our neighborhoods, in fact, if in fact we're looked at from the world's perspective as credible for whatever that space is, then we have a message to share and there might be questions to follow.

But in general, what's walking in wisdom look like to the world? That's already said in Scripture, foolishness. All right. Remember, to the Jew, Christ is a stumbling block. To the Gentile, we're foolish. But what else does, first of all, what would be the perception of what walking in wisdom is other than foolishness? How about self-righteousness? Prudent? I mean prudent, we're back to that term again.

Well, I think the believer is often misunderstood because his view should be God's view. So he's going to look at a situation and say, well, this is right. And they say, well, who are you to judge? Who gave you the, you know, So when you put on Christ, what's the worldly perception? What should it be? Anybody read The Hungry Heart this morning?

It's all about humility. You know, and self-imposed humility is a very different thing than the Christ life ducting out within us. And that's not something we work on. It's getting to know Him and knowing our position and how our condition is transformed into that position. So I think walking in wisdom, the world may perceive as foolishness, but how they should perceive it is our humble you know, walk in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You don't have any what? You don't have any fun. Yeah, no fun, that's right. And you know, in a sense that I've just shared this personally, I mean, being at this church and being uplifted in position first and realizing the principle of grace gives me a tremendous freedom That freedom is not to sin. Should I continue in sin that God may have? Heavens, no. God forbid. No. The freedom we have to live a life that's joyful, or the freedom to be free of sin, that's the freedom Christ talked about. I'm going to make you free indeed. That's free to live a life that ultimately we're positioned above, we're totally saved, and now that life is fun to live rather than living under a legal system. Okay, you're having no fun. That's a good answer.

Any other thoughts about the response of the world system to us walking in wisdom? I think that we are offensive to them. Okay. And is that purposeful? No, we're not trying to be offensive to other people, but I feel like underlying people are offended that we believe in God and we choose to live our life this way. Don't you think sometimes it's because In reality, they feel guilty. Right. Because what they're doing, they know is wrong. I mean, they know. Deep down, they know it's wrong. So I think you're right. I think it's like this affront to their lifestyle.

Alright, it's a perfect lead. And Regan, thank you. And to where we're going now, what does this redeeming the time mean? Making the most Making the most of your time. That doesn't help me. Basically it's sharing the Lord. It's buying up the opportunity and sharing the gospel. How to and not how to. Let's think out loud here a little bit.

We were in Cincinnati last weekend and we had people before the Bearcats came on Saturday. I was back home. I was there for a meeting. Margaret joined me for the weekend. Jesus saves. Talking about people and their sin and calling them to Christ. We saw posters before both games. People standing on the street. Is that the way to share the gospel? It's a way. It is a way. Okay. I'm not sure how productive it is but you know if the Lord's calling somebody to have a sign up to say Jesus saves.

Well they both had microphones and they were blasting their microphone as people walk into the games and we didn't see anyone stop and talk to them. that people were making a wide swath around. So what's the Gentile view of that? It's foolishness, isn't it? What's this person doing out here, just putting up a sign or yelling about Christ saves? Are you saved?

But it's one way, and perhaps the Lord calls people themselves through that mechanism. So how do we share the gospel with people? By the way, buying up the opportunity is what redeeming the time means. This isn't redeeming the time that's up to the Lord. This is redeeming the time as us as members of the body of Christ.

One of the things I've observed, Bob, is that as time goes by, there's an increase in opposition to the good news. And that opposition takes and then people will actually come out with anti-christian sayings and news and whatever, lies, or it can be positive, it can be a counterfeit of what is true. So in the church we've got counterfeits, and out of the church we've got people that the grace message really, really is, because at least nothing for us to do.

God's done it all. And so that's this redeeming their time. Let me just put it this way. I looked at radio stations, Christian radio. And in the 50s, it was going home around the world. It was great. It was working. Today, those same radio stations either were attacked by those who have another religion, or the people that run them are running them in a way that the gospel is hidden. It's not clear.

So those are the things I think that we're talking about here at the university. Effectively, sharing the gospel how to or not to is conditionally This redeeming process or having an opportunity to share the Lord relates to our walking in wisdom, doesn't it? As we walk in wisdom, who's leading that walk? The Holy Spirit directs our walk, right? Now, each one of us may have an idea about the best way to share the Gospel, and I've kind of come to my own conclusion, and let's see how it bounces off the class.

I mean, you can hold up signs, you can knock on doors, you can go into unsaved congregations, like certain forms of Protestantism, if you will, and start telling people the truth. You may be into all that. I'm not, but after many years, I went to a very neo-evangelical church first of all when Sharon and I moved to Denver, and then we went to a Baptist church. Sharing the gospel was an altar call every morning in the Baptist church. Ultimately, we were part of this evangelistic program at the church we went to when we first came, and I was knocking on doors. I ultimately concluded that that wasn't a very effective way to share the gospel. penny for my thoughts.

So here's my thought. If you have an opportunity to share who you are in a conversation with a group or an individual and if that comes up, like Margaret said, when I'm with scientists, ultimately, how did you meet Margaret? I met her at a Bible study and suddenly the door is shut. I'm serious. We'll talk privately a little later.

I mean, on that hill, I was in Washington, on the hill, in offices of our congresspeople and our senators last week, just lobbying for NIH funding, which funds biomedical research. And even, no matter what your political persuasion is, 85% of Americans are in favor of their tax dollars supporting biomedical research. We live healthier lives because of the science that's gone into that. So I'm there as president-elect of the American Diabetes Association. So the woman I was with, who was from the ADA, who was taking me from office to office, said, well, you know, we talked personally about her life and my life.

And she said, well, how did you meet a woman who would marry you with five children? I said, well, I met her at a Bible study. And that was the end of the conversation. But I can tell you maybe one out of five times when I'm met at a Bible study, there will be questions to follow and there you have an open door.

I think the Spirit allows you how quickly to move and how profound to be. Sometimes there will be multiple questions. Occasionally somebody really would want to know how it relates to them, but often you reach an impasse and you don't force it at that point. But at least you've planted a seed. You know, that's where I'm at right now. I mean, the knocking on the doors and putting up signs, people have the freedom to do that if the Spirit leads them to do that. But I sense when somebody's asking a question based on information they have about you, it's a time of opportunity to really share. That goes well with the verse. It says, be ready to give an answer. If you looked ahead at the handout today... I'm going to quit passing this hand. No, he hasn't looked at it. It's actually concluding today's lesson.

Be ready always to share the Lord with people. So other thoughts about this. This isn't the only one. I'm just saying for me, if somebody's asking a question, we've got plenty of examples of this. It gives you a piece about it. For me to go, gee Phil, it's good to know how you're doing in the workplace.

Are you saved by the way? I think that gospel sharing can be offensive. and when we offend people with the truth of the word of God we're doing no favors for the Lord and his ultimate body of Christ to follow. Anyway that's my opinion. Other thoughts about this?

A lot of times also the questions come because people are watching. If they know you're a believer they're watching how you deal with all kinds of things that come through. Walking wisdom is what we're talking about here. They're watching and when you have a different whether it's in the workplace or on the road with drivers that drive you crazy. Let's not go there. I'm driving in non-wisdom there. I'm really glad you're in this class. That's wisdom for sure here. Anyway, it relates to where we're going here.

Ephesians 5.15, redeeming the time. That means the opportunity may be there for us because the days are evil. The world system, like it or not, is evil. By the way, there are very nice people in the world system. I mean, in fact, if we're law-oriented, we look at works, often the world system outperforms us in certain circumstances. So we can't, remember, we're not there to judge the world.

That's God's responsibility. But yet we're there to be ready for that opportunity when it occurs. And that's what it means, redeeming the time. There may be an opportunity yet today we can share the Lord. Is this quid pro quo? That means something's happened to benefit you. And the answer is kind of yes.

Galatians 3.13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, curses is everyone who hangs upon a tree. So pro-quit, pro-quit, pro-quit, quid pro quo. Anyway, that's come up in the news recently with the whole Trump kind of Ukraine scenario.

But anyway, all that aside, we won't go there. We're going to stay in the Word of God. And it's kind of out of our hands. It's this judgment of the world system, this evil system. And in 1 Corinthians 5.13, but them that are without God, them that are without pause, God judges them and ultimately will. It's not our job. It's his job, ultimately. Alright, let's go ahead. Let's go to verse 6. Any other thoughts about this? We got this wrapped up, don't we? Walking in wisdom, redeeming the time. Okay. Dan, right? Just a thought here. It's God who draws us to himself. I'm sorry? It's God who draws us to himself.

And so when we're walking in wisdom, knowing that, when we're talking with somebody, we can detect those questions they have and answer those questions wisely in the scriptures. Yeah, and by the way, we can buy book after book in the Christian bookstore about how to share the Lord, but it's the spirit that leads us in the circumstances we find ourselves. I think on the heels of that, God gives us the platform that he wants us in to draw people to him.

And our walks, when it's in wisdom, should be drawing all people unto ourselves. And Margaret says if our life is a witness to who we are and ultimately what we do is evidence of that, then people will maybe start to be curious about that. But that's not something that, gee, I've had a good day today, I walked in the wind, you know, this is a life. It's not something that we put marks in favor or against as we go forward.

Alright, we could spend a lot of time on this verse just in terms of how we walk in wisdom and ultimately draw others to ourselves. So, let our speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. It's kind of a continuation of what we've just been talking about, isn't it? What speech always or at all times with grace? And should we just stop there? Well, we're going to get to that. You're jumping ahead again. Well, no, that's why we don't stop there. Okay, good. Because sometimes you have to be more, you know, to the point.

And by the way, when it says, let your speech be always with grace, the question I have there, is this speech that is gracious or is it more than that? I think you should interpret the scripture here. Is this just speech that's gracious in nature? Or is it more than that?

People need to learn the Southern way. You know what's going to happen next? We're going to be talking about the Southeastern Conference in NCAA football. That's where it's going. No, I just got back from New Orleans yesterday, in fact. The South does have a little bit different personality. There is a way that you can talk to people and they don't know they're being slapped in the face. No, it's an art. It's an art. So that's what I think they're talking about here. Your speech is gracious, seasoned with salt. Margaret wants us to get into salt here. I think you're going in the right direction.

So what does this look like? A gracious speech? It's hard to define, isn't it? Because I think, again, it needs to be spirit-led and circumstantial. Let's turn to salt now, but it's seasoned with salt. What's salt? What do you think of when you think of salt?

Well, good. I mean, you're on the right track. I'm listening. I'm listing three things. Go ahead. All right. You're up to two of the three have been listed. What's the third thing? This is kind of medical, but it's still. Well, that's what she said. Kind of flavorful, right? Okay. So here's what I'm going to define salt as. Salt, first of all, is body fluid.

I mean, all your cells are bathed in salt. When people are dehydrated and need volume, you just don't give them water. You give them sodium chloride, which is salt. I mean, it expands the plasma space. When we sweat, we lose sodium. I mean, the point is, it's a medical term and a scientific term. Salt's really what we're all about. If they're sufficiently depleted in sodium, people with Addison's disease, they urinate sodium out, they can't take enough in, they're thirsty all the time, they lose weight, they die without cortisol. I mean that's because they're not making it. So the idea is salt is just incredibly important for normal life. Number two, it's a preservative. I'm correct.

Lots of stuff is preserved in salt and we eat it every day probably, most of us. And then Phil Wright, Carolyn Wright, there are six taste receptors in the mouth, in the tongue, in the buccal mucosa, meaning everything in the mouth and tongue. There are taste receptors, there's a specific taste receptor for salt, for sodium chloride.

So in other words, salt is kind of an unnecessary element, isn't it, in terms of just life? It preserves, and also we actually, in terms of the palatability of food, we can taste that sodium receptor, salt receptor. Now, salt to the Greek was an emblem of wit.

Isn't that interesting here in terms of world system stuff? So we're talking about Colossians. Who's it written to? To the Gentile world, isn't it? So if salt is an emblem of wit, this section of scripture, this particular verse, may have particular meaning. Now I'm going to wax a little bit on a rabbit's trail here, and I know the Sermon on the Mount may not be directed to us, but there's plenty there that relates to our life in Christ. I mean, we don't, you know, this is kingdom stuff for the most part. I mean, the Jew is going to be ingrained with the holy nature and ultimately be under law to live the law to its fullest extent. But I like certain parts of the sermon that really relate to the Christ life, and I'm going to pick one.

Matthew 5.13, ye are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its flavor, then how is it going to be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the feet of men. Now again, you can kingdom apply that because it's written to the Jew. But nevertheless, if we think ourselves of salt and we lose our savor, what's salt good for?

And I think that kind of relates to how ultimately this verse means that when we speak graciously or in grace, ultimately there's salt connected to that. Think about this verse from the Sermon on Contacts here to walking in the wisdom of the Lord among those who are without. I mean this really has tremendous application. Again, perhaps a little bit out of context, but nevertheless, I have always thought that we need to have some salt about us. And if we're not salty, we've lost our savor and that message may not get out, right? Cool. Anybody want to raise their hand here? Are you agreeing with this? I'm in the construction industry.

The people I work with, there's a couple Mormons, there's some Catholics. In general, they are good people with some church background and that kind of stuff. And they all say, if somebody tells me they're a Christian, I immediately don't trust them. Because they have found in their own experience that those are the ones that... This goes back to what I was talking about earlier. There's certain Christians that make all of Christianity offensive. They said, if you're really a Christian, then you don't have to tell me. I will know by how you conduct your business. Boy, that's a tremendous insight. It's so true. Isn't that a shame? That's a real shame, isn't it? And you know, what conclusion can you make of that?

What kind of doctrine are these people living under who are spouting out that they're Christians, but yet you're seeing behavior that... By the way, you're in a position to be able to judge them if it's spirit-led. What kind of conclusions can you make about that behavior? Roy's got his hand up. Well, I was just wondering if we might want to classify this as soul-equal. Christians who live by their soul rather than by their spirit. And what's the overall doctrine that they're living under? Law. Law. They're living under law. They don't have a relationship.

Because they're counting on the flesh to ultimately live the Christian life, and the flesh is going to fall short. Sometimes they're going to lie and they're going to steal and everything else. By the way, in each and every one of us, the flesh is capable of anything at any time. But when we're spirit-led, we're going to put that off because we're positioned to put it off. And the Lord Jesus Christ lives that life within us. Good point.

Is salt sometimes pejorative? Kind of what Margaret was saying. Can, as we share the Lord with people, can sometimes we be offensive and that offensiveness is still appropriate for the circumstances? What do you think? Can anybody think of an example? Well, Regan brought it up herself when she said that they're offended. And they're offended because so many people think that Christians have this view of the world and you know as we've heard say to our face you must hate me because this is my life. We have a good example. Yeah and they don't understand because their interaction with Christians has only been people who judge them you know and in a negative way right as opposed to no we love you It's the sin that we don't like.

Just briefly, we were in a meeting where I was, the first meeting I've been to for the Undergraduate Board Writing Examination Committee, and there was a woman across the table who asked Margaret how she met me, and she said at a Bible study. And an hour later, she just spontaneously said, you must hate me. And we said, what? And she said, well, I'm a lesbian. so you must hate me what a chance to share the Lord with her and I I came away from that really feeling that the Spirit had shown up and she really was she never heard anything like this before I mean I take no credit for that I mean the Lord showed up in a very very difficult circumstance to make her see that Christianity isn't what she believed, that we're just out there to wash her lifestyle down the drain.

We talked about the cross is there for all of us. My vanity and pride is equally as problematic in terms of what scripture says than you being a lesbian. I mean, let's face it, we all fall short of God's glory. And you know, again, that's just circumstantial how maybe, I'm not taking, remember, I'm just sharing a story with you in terms of under those circumstances, it seemed to be appropriate.

So, but should we be doormats? And I think that's what Margaret's saying. What's a doormat as believers? It's your feet, right? Yeah, I mean, you can be walked all over, can't you? Now, the flesh isn't to defend our not being a doormat, but the Spirit sometimes will get to the point about something. that may appear to be offensive, but we have to... defending who we are is not really the right way to look at this, but ultimately the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done is what the truth is.

Our Lord used the Pharisees? Yes. Lighted walls? Light-washed walls? Good point. Alright, circumstances are different and the spirit must lead. I think we've had a couple examples, at least one or two, shared about that. And the alternative may be disastrous. What do I mean by that?

Ephesians 4.29, let no corrupt communication, this is the alternative to having gracious speech, let no communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

We live under grace. Grace is the principle by which we exist. And as Mike Doyle says so often, define grace. There's lots of ways to define it. This class, we could have a whole class for the next six months on grace. But anyway, I think the verse speaks to itself. When we have corrupt communication coming out of our life, out of our mouths, which may not be spirit led, and often is not, it's disastrous to follow. Constable, the Christian speech should mirror the gracious character and conduct of his or her God by demonstrating love, patience, sacrifice, undeserved favor, etc. So I'll just give you somebody else's definition about what this looks like. And the final section of these two verses is that you may know how you ought to answer every man. We've kind of touched on this going through.

So how does grace work in this way? Is grace a formula? Can we study grace and make an equation out of it or what it looks like and scratch out the metrics of grace and what is not grace? No. Grace is this unending principle of benefits that we have in Christ Jesus that would not be coming from any other source, spirit-led of course.

Again, here is where the circumstances and the individual or individuals with whom we are interacting come along and are very, very relevant. Remember, they that are without. A couple verses here. Proverbs 26.4. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest I be like unto him. You know, Proverbs. It's good that Proverbs is there because occasionally we pull verses out of there that relate. But we don't live in Proverbs. But there's a lot of truth. One time when I was trying to find a way to be a better father, I wrote down all the verses in Proverbs that were applicable to bringing up children.

I don't like 45 or 50 verses that I need to follow under law. I mean, well, anyway, they can be applied to us as believers. But nevertheless, I mean, here's a verse that I thought fit. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be like unto him. Boy, that's kind of an interesting proverb. 1 John 4, 5. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them. Okay?

This is a different class, right? And that doesn't make them less or greater. It's just the world system and the unbeliever is not us. Where's our citizenship? Let's hear it in chorus. Very good, I'm pleased with that response. All right, but Jeremiah's wisdom may actually apply here, back to the Old Testament here, as we are conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the qualification there.

Jeremiah 17.8, for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreads out her roots by the river and and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Isn't that kind of... I mean, it's talking to the nation of Israel, but doesn't that have kind of roots in who we are in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Luke 4.22, And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. We're talking about the Lord. And they said, is not this Joseph's son. So the Lord Jesus Christ himself was portraying a speech and a wisdom that ultimately was not recognized as usual.

And remember, that's before his ministry fully began. Alright, and here's a verse that relates to everything we've covered today and provides us with great opportunity, by the way, opportunity and comfort. Roger, please read the verse. Grab the handout from Bonnie, would you please?

1 Peter 3.15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Look at that verse. How powerful is that verse as a concluding statement of what we've been talking about. But sanctify. What's that mean, the Lord God? What's Peter saying when we're going to sanctify the Lord God?

We're going to set Him apart and make Him unique and very different in your hearts. That's position now, becoming condition. And be ready always to give an answer. Notice, remember what I shared before? Again, that's just one application, but be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

Is the question being asked in meekness and fear? No, we're responding. in meekness and fear. How do we want to interpret meekness and fear here? Meekness is not weakness. That's what it's not. Roger, what is meekness? Meekness is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that life lived out in us that Spirit led is meekness. And fear, what's our fear? The fear that we're going to be rejected? No, I think that is that word that's used, fear of God. It's not really truly fear, but it's respect. The reverence. The reverence, right. I think that's best.

Particularly when it says, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. The fear is the reverence that reflects our new nature in Christ Jesus. Alright, two very relevant verses in terms of how we walk and how we ultimately are in a position to accept the opportunity before us and share the Lord with the unbeliever. Thoughts, any ending thoughts or other comments today? Phil, would you close us in prayer please? Thank you Lord for today and thank you for this lesson. Amen. Thank you.