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Guest (Female): This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, we’re passionate about helping you understand God’s word and apply it to your everyday life through clear, practical Bible teaching. That’s why we invite you to sign up for Pastor Skip’s free weekly devotional. You’ll receive biblical encouragement, ministry updates, and exclusive ministry content, all delivered right to your inbox. Signing up is quick, easy, and completely free. Visit connectwithskip.com today. That’s connectwithskip.com. Now, let’s dive into today’s teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: There was slavery in the Roman Empire. And some people in reading the New Testament have wondered and faulted Paul or the other apostles for not standing out against it. Why didn't they seek to abolish slavery? Why didn't they organize petitions to sign against the Roman government or tell slaves to rebel and revolt like our modern civil rights movement?

And there is never in the New Testament a time where Paul says that they should do that. In fact, I'm going to show you a case, hopefully we're going to finish the chapter tonight, and I'll show you a case where that is so. But they didn't seek to abolish it. Why?

Let me give you a few quick reasons. Number one, it was part of the social fabric of the Roman Empire that predated Christianity by a long shot. It was such a part of the fabric of the Roman Empire that it is estimated one out of every three people in the Roman Empire were slaves. And in some estimates, as many as 40 percent of the entire population of the Roman Empire were slaves.

Reason number two, the early church had no political power whatsoever. They were in minority. They had no power. You couldn't vote one Caesar out and another Caesar in. For them to push the slaves to rebel and form an insurrection would have reduced Christianity to a mere social gospel and would have robbed it of the impact it had in changing people's lives.

And by the way, it did change people's lives. Some masters, some people who owned slaves themselves came to Christ. One of them is mentioned in the Bible, a man by the name of Philemon. And his slave Onesimus, who is going to be mentioned in this chapter.

There's a third reason why Paul doesn't tell them to rebel nor does he seek to abolish slavery: because I think Paul knew that the problem is never with the system, it's always with the people. Yes, people make up the system, but the problem is not with the system, it's with the hearts of the people. So you can have the right system in place but the wrong people running that system, even in a democracy or a constitutional republic like ours. You can also have a wrong system, but you can have the right people. It makes all the difference.

So the problem is never with the system, it's always with the people themselves. So he tells the slaves basically, the bondservants, "Be the best servant you possibly can in the name of Christ as if you are serving Christ. Because after all, we are all slaves of Christ," Romans chapter six. "Whatever you do," verse 23, "do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of inheritance." Slaves never got an inheritance, but they would get an eternal inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. But if you do wrong, you'll be repaid for what you have done, and there is no partiality.

Now, you are not slaves. If you have employment, you work for an employer. So let's take the principle and apply it in that regard. Obey your employers. Work hard at your job. The best witness as a worker is to be the best worker in the company.

I remember when I went to apply for a job and this verse was in my mind. I was a Christian, a young Christian. I was getting a job at a radiology department in Westminster, California. I was hoping to. I applied for the job, I had an interview, gave them my resume, and I could tell that I was going to be passed over. Because the one who interviewed me smiled very politely, "Thank you very much, we'll let you know."

And I was about to walk out and I turned around and said, "Last word. If you hire me, I'll be the best worker in this entire department." You know, I thought, it's worth a shot. And I was thinking of this verse. And he looked at me and he said, "You got the job."

Then I walked away going, "Oh man, now I have to perform, right? I have to indeed be the best worker they have in this department." I've got to show up on time, I can't leave early, I have to be very responsible, go out of the way to show that I'm worthy of that.

But I've discovered that when you have a job, whatever job, whatever employment you have, that can become your pulpit. You can reach people in such a way that the unbelieving world thinks there's something to the Christian faith because of this worker that I've hired or because of the way he or she interacts with the public.

Now he continues in verse one of chapter four. And by the way, chapter three should have ended with verse one of chapter four. This is one of those mistakes. Now you're saying, "Are you saying the Bible is not inerrant?" No, the Bible never had chapters and verses until around the mid 1200s, when the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, decided, "Let's give it chapters and verses so people can find their way around the books." And so that was put in. This, in all due respect to the Archbishop of Canterbury, this was a mistake.

Chapter three should have ended with verse one of chapter four. "Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a master in heaven." If a slave owner came to Christ, he didn't see this as morally wrong. He would also have to understand that even though he has authority over this bondservant, he himself is under the authority of a master in heaven. Again, Romans chapter six, "You were set free from your sin, you have become slaves of God."

So the master who owned the bondservant was himself in a subservient position under Christ, which would change the way he handles his employees or bondservants. "Give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you have a master in heaven." You should know this, too: because of the infiltration of Christianity in the Roman Empire, it spread and it grew so quickly. Over time in the New Testament era and shortly thereafter, Roman policy towards slavery began to change. So much so that masters would teach their slaves a trade so they would get gainful employment, and they became close friends, the master and the servant together. It wasn't just a relationship of subservience, but of friendship. And they really took care of them.

Now verse two, which I believe should be verse one of chapter four: "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I also am in chains." Paul began this letter praying for them. Now he tells them to pray for him. Pray, but don't just pray once. Pray continually. Continue earnestly in prayer.

We have prayer every week. Some of you come every week for prayer, maybe for the same item. Good. Keep on praying. Jesus said men ought always to pray and never to faint. And then he gave an illustration of an unrighteous, unjust judge being pestered by a woman who kept coming until the judge gave her what he wanted. Now, he was drawing a negative comparison. If an unjust, unrighteous judge can do that, how much more your father in heaven, whom you depend on. So men ought always to pray and not to faint.

I don't want to pry, but I wonder what your prayer life is like. And I'm guessing, you don't have to say or nod or do anything else, no show of hands, I'm guessing most of us would say that's one area of my life that needs improvement. Because many of us treat prayer like the oxygen mask above us when we fly on an airplane. We know it's there and we will use it if there's an emergency. As soon as the pressure goes down, that thing pops down. "I'm listening to the stewardess now," put it on.

Some of us, that's how we treat prayer. It's an emergency situation when in reality we should always pray and not faint. Pray without ceasing, or on every occasion. It should be as natural to us as breathing. Every little thing that comes in our life, it should be a prayer that goes up, a continual conversation, an intermittent prayer life throughout the day.

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it, and notice this, with thanksgiving. I just stop here for a minute. Go back to verse 17 in chapter three: "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks." You see that there again? Did you know that 32 times this appears in Paul's writings? He's really big on thanking God, being a thankful person.

If you are a negative person by nature, I guarantee you if you made a little journal of things you're thankful for and wrote in it, wrote a few things you're thankful for every day, you'll become a positive person.

Guest (Female): You’re listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day friends like you help connect people around the world to the life-changing truth of God’s word through clear verse-by-verse Bible teaching. Our world constantly tells us we need something more. But the book of Colossians reminds us that everything we truly need is found in Jesus Christ. That’s the heart of Pastor Skip’s resource Expound Colossians. As he walks verse-by-verse through this powerful New Testament book, you’ll discover why Christ is supreme over all things, how to recognize truth in a world full of competing voices, and what it means to live each day firmly rooted in Him. We’ll send Expound Colossians as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/offer. Now let’s return to today’s teaching.

Skip Heitzig: Now Paul didn't just say be thankful, Paul was thankful in the worst situations. Give you an example, quick example: Acts 27, he's on that long boat ride from Caesarea all the way to Rome. The boat is about to go down. They haven't eaten for days because, you know, they're being tossed by the waves, they're seasick. But Paul says to the men aboard, "Look, we've got to eat something. We're going to be fine. God has shown me that we're all going to survive, but we need to eat something." And it says Paul broke bread in the middle of a storm and he gave thanks to God. "God, I want to thank you," whatever it was, but he gave thanks for the provision and the promise and he lived it out.

So continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant 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 also am in chains. Okay, stop right there. Paul had been arrested in Jerusalem. After a riot broke out, he was then conveyed to Caesarea where he stood trial, three separate trials. He stayed in Caesarea as a prisoner for two years, was taken in that boat ride I told you about to Rome where he spent two more years, so he's incarcerated in jail four years.

What on earth kind of an open door could there possibly be for him as a prisoner in Rome? Yet he says, "Pray that an open door would be opened to us so that I'd be speaking the word as I ought to." Did he mean pray that I get released? Maybe.

But let me tell you about the open doors that were afforded to Paul while he was in prison. Number one, he wrote four letters. We're reading one of them. I thank God he was in prison because I thank God for those four New Testament letters.

Number two, Paul was able to speak while he was incarcerated under house arrest in Rome. It says in the book of Acts, to all who came to visit him, including non-believing Jewish leaders, he was able to share his faith with them.

And then third, he's chained to two guards. You know what that would be like if you were chained to Paul the Apostle, do you think you're going to hear the gospel? They heard it, and many of them believed in it. And so Paul at the end of the book of Philippians says, "Those from Caesar's royal praetorian guard, the Caesar's household, want to give you greetings. They've become brothers in Christ."

All of those were open doors to Paul, including the possibility of him being released. So pray that a door would be opened, that I would speak the mystery of Christ for which I also am in chains. What I'm trying to get you to see is that for Paul, prison was not the end of his ministry, it was just a change in his ministry. If you feel like life is narrowing for you, you aren't able to do what you used to do, a disease has come your way, a family situation has come your way, you feel confined to one place, maybe a hospital room, maybe the home, it's not an end of your effectiveness, it's just a change in it. Not the end.

He continues, "for that door that I may make it, that is the gospel, the truth, the word, manifest as I ought to speak." Now he continues, "Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time." What does he mean by those outside? Outside the family, outside the church. Unbelievers, the unbelieving world is watching you and judging you.

Now, I'll grant that the judgment they make about us is usually not accurate, but they are observing nonetheless, and they are judging us nonetheless. So what does he say? Because of that, walk in wisdom. Be wise about what you do and say and where you go and how you conduct yourself.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, and I love this, "redeeming the time." Buy up every opportunity. Look for an opportunity to in wisdom use their observation and their judgment of you as a testimony. You see? Okay, they're watching you, you have an audience. They're judging you, maybe right or maybe wrong, buy up the opportunity, man. Show them by how you live that your faith is worth something. Show them that your faith is real.

By the way, this church does that in spades: Thanksgiving pickup party, how you serve the community, what we do the week of love that we've had in the summertime, you guys do that. You step up to the plate. You are showing the community we are Christians and we love people.

And so that's the idea of this: "walk in wisdom toward those who are outside." I agree, I'm applauding with you for these fine folks redeeming the time, or buying back the time, looking for the opportunity.

Let your speech, along the same vein, "let your speech, what you say, how you talk, always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." Now let's just camp on that for a moment. Walk in wisdom, that's your lifestyle. But now, when it comes to what you tell the unbeliever, what should you tell them? What should your speech be like? Well, it should be gracious, right? If you've experienced God's grace, then you shouldn't be feisty or angry or mean. I mean, you should reflect that which you have experienced. If you've experienced a touch of God's grace, then let your speech always be with grace, but notice this, seasoned with salt.

Salt was a preservative. Salt stopped corruption, stopped decay. They would rub it in meat to preserve it. They would rub it in wounds to cleanse the wound. When you rub salt in a wound, what does it do? Yeah, ouch, big time ouch. It hurts. It cleanses, but it hurts.

It also creates a thirst, makes you want to drink water. You want unbelievers to drink living water by your lifestyle and by your words, by your speech. You want to make them thirsty for what God can quench their thirst with.

So let your speech be gracious, be with grace, but seasoned with salt. Now, that's the balance. You always want to be nice and respectful and courteous and winsome, right? You know, I always say if you want to win some, you need to be winsome. You need to be winsome in order to win some.

So you want to be nice, you want to be courteous, you want to be sweet, you want to be respectful. But you also want to be honest and pure and even convicting. You want to speak truth to the filth and rot of this world and it might sting. You can do it in love, but it should be honest and pure and right. So be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you might know how you ought to answer each one. Every conversation you have, they're watching, they're observing, they're judging, and they're listening. So let your activity walk in wisdom, let your speech be with grace, seasoned with salt.

Now we have final greetings as we close this book out and who knows, we might even close before our time. What we have as he closes this letter, and we don't have this in all of Paul's letters, we certainly have it at the end of the book of Romans in chapter 16, there's a list of 26 names, perhaps 28 people, but 26 by name in Romans 16. Here we have, I'm going to call it a verbal photograph of Paul's friends, some of Paul's friends.

Some of us don't even picture Paul as having friends. You know, he's Paul the Apostle, man, he's kind of aloof, maybe a little cranky, speaking truth to power. But he had friends. You know why he had friends? Because he was friendly. That's what Proverbs says, a man who has friends must himself be friendly. And there was a lot of people on his team that he relied on and he collaborated with.

Verse seven mentions one of them, Tychicus. Who is he? Well, he says he's a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, who will tell you all the news about me. "I'm sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts."

We read about this guy named Tychicus five times in the New Testament. He was with Paul in the city of Ephesus in the book of Acts. Remember when Paul lived in Ephesus for like three years and he taught there? And while he was there toward the end of his stay, a big riot broke out. And there was this huge amphitheater that seats—I've been to this amphitheater, a theater, Roman theater, seated 25,000 people. And it was crowded with the people in Ephesus who were rioting against Paul because he was preaching Christ and the worship of Diana was being they thought attacked by Paul. And so this big riot broke out. Paul was delivered from their hand. And among that group that was with Paul in Ephesus was this guy named Tychicus.

When Paul leaves Ephesus to go to Macedonia, there are seven people that went with him, one of them was this guy named Tychicus. So he was a beloved brother, he was a part of Paul's team, and he becomes that team that collected money for Gentile congregations. Remember the money that he was collecting for the poor saints in Jerusalem who were under persecution? He was part of that team.

Guest (Female): Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Now, here’s how to pre-order an exciting resource from Pastor Skip that’s coming next month.

Guest (Male): The Bible is one unified story of God’s love and redemption, but sometimes it can be difficult to see how all the pieces fit together. In Soaring Above It All, Pastor Skip Heitzig takes you on a one-year devotional journey through the entire Bible, highlighting the key people, events, themes, and truths of scripture in a way that’s approachable, encouraging, and easy to follow. Pre-order your copy of Soaring Above It All today wherever you buy books.

Guest (Female): Before we go, remember your generosity helps share God’s word with people around the world through clear verse-by-verse Bible teaching. And this month when you give $50 or more, we’ll send you Expound Colossians as our thanks. In this five-message study, Pastor Skip explores one of the Bible’s clearest pictures of the supremacy of Jesus Christ and shows how being rooted in Him changes the way you live every day. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.