Daily Meditations from John N. N. Ng'ang'a: Week of 8-14th Nov 10 market place Christianity
Day 1
Col 3:24- since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Christ’s reward and not man’s reward should be our motivator since he will be fair and never fail to reward our efforts. This includes what you do for your non Christian boss and what you do in church.
You are Christs slave and you are to work for him but he also promises he will reward you. It may not be in earthly terms although at times it is visible with earthly eyes ,but be sure he will reward. The faithful 'slave' of Christ receives a son's portion-the inheritance. The real reward is the father's approval; the ice cream is mere trimming-but quite proper trimming.
Although motivation is necessary; mercenary-mindedness excludes one from true Christian reward (cf. Acts 8:18 ff.)
Remember it is the lord Christ you are serving not your boss. So lack of reward from an earthly boss is not adequate reason to slow down your hard work. But He cannot be God and you start giving him conditions under which you will agree to serve him. You cannot be his slave and tell him what you can or cannot do
Day 2
Col 3:25 anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.
If you chose not to be motivated by the reward, then think of the punishment for those who fail to serve him well.
This ‘get back’ is sure to come whether in the present life or at the day of Judgment. God is here viewed as the guarantor of justice (cf. Rom 12:19; 2 Cor 5:10. On 'just desert' as a proper measuring stick in criminal punishment, No respect of persons refers to both slave and master, and provides a transition to the next section (cf. Eph 6:9; Lev 19:15).
Also remember there is no favoritism and hence the fact you are an Evangelist does not exclude you from his punishment.He does not use a weighing machine so that if obedience is heavier than disobedience you go to purgatory. No disobedience will go to heaven.
Here the context is work place behavior. We are talking not of immorality but laziness and bad work habits at work. Christ is said to reward you not just for what you did in church but how you served your employer, since he says serving your employer is actually serving him…for he is your real boss
Day 3
Col 4:1- Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
Whatever your work remember even if you are a boss or employer, God is still your boss in turn. Supervise as God supervises you.
His admonition brings to mind the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount:
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors"; "With what judgment ye judge Ye shall be judged" (Matt 6:12; 7:2. See on Col 3:11)
If you keep remembering that your boss will reward you on how well you supervise your employees then you will supervise them well but also as you remember how many times he has to forgive your work, will make it easy for you to forgive your employees.
When you think how well he rewards you, you will want to reward your employees well and not to exploit them
Day 4
Col 4:2-4 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should
To be a good spouse or employee, or employer, or witness for Christ as seen in previous verses requires prayerfulness. Prayer is a declaration of how needy you are. Pride and prayer never go together since when you feel capable you do not feel the need to pray.
Christian prayer (proseuche; cf. Trench) should be characterized by a spirit of thankfulness (see on Col 1:11). And watch (gregoreo, "watchful") adds the thought of awareness or alertness (cf. Mark 14:37-38). Thankfulness is also a way of declaring how dependent you are on the one you are praying to. That is why you thank him for what others think you accomplished…for you are aware it is really his help that got you the achievement.
Christian prayer is to be marked neither by ceremonial stupor nor intoxicating verbosity, but by concern and sobriety (cf. 1 Peter 5:8). Watch (gregoreo) is used frequently with reference to the Christian's attitude toward Christ's return (e.g., Mark 13:33 ff.; 1 Thess 5:6; Rev 16:15). We are to pray for ‘a door for our message ‘.Door of utterance. An opportunity or, more probably, an ability to declare the mystery clearly (cf. Col 1:26; Eph 6:19-20)
That tells you that even to do what you think you are called to do will need constant prayer.
Day 5
Col 4:5-6 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Live your life to attract outsiders to Christ.
Someone says you should fellowship or socialize with Christians but with non Christians you must always evangelize. That means your non Christian friends need to constantly know of their need of Christ. It therefore means they are not the people you share your needs with. Once you are dependent on them they soon start calling the tunes for whoever pays the piper calls the tune.
You should not be unequally yoked with non believers. Of course we must have non Christian friends this is what we call friendship evangelism but as we relate with them we must always use our friendship to reach them with the gospel. How can we claim to be friends with them and be comfortable knowing each advancing day is bringing them to hell.
Wisdom includes not only the apprehension of and ability to communicate the mystery (Col 1:9) but also the knowledge of how to communicate it successfully. Only thus will the redemptive purpose of this time, which God has designated "the opportune season" (kairos; cf. O. Cullman, Christ and Time, p. 39 ff., 225), be used effectively. An offensive or insipid manner is not likely to accomplish much. So we must be friendly as we try to reach the world but we must not be of the world
Day 6
Col 4:5-6 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Live your life to attract outsiders to Christ.
Wisdom includes not only the apprehension of and ability to communicate the mystery (Col 1:9) but also the knowledge of how to communicate it successfully. Only thus will the redemptive purpose of this time, which God has designated "the opportune season" (kairos; cf. O. Cullman, Christ and Time, p. 39 ff., 225), be used effectively. An offensive or insipid manner is not likely to accomplish much.
An outsider is a person who is not in Christ. He is not yet born again. We are to treat them in such a way that we attract them to Christ. That is why we must not make non Christians our associates but rather friends we are trying to win to the Lord. Paul advises us to be strategic in the way we deal with them.
We are to make use of every opportunity. That is why you cannot go to play golf with a non Christian and tell yourself you are there to relax and hence not seek to use the opportunity to win him to the Lord.
Day 7
Col 4:5-14-7 Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. 9 He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here
Bring out the best in others –show true friendship.
The bearers of the letter, Tychicus and Onesimus, would convey information not contained in it and doubtless would interpret it to the recipients, answering any questions they might have. Onesimus, subject of the Philemon correspondence, has been suggested as the collector of the Pauline corpus of letters (cf. John Knox, Philemon Among the Letters of Paul, p. 98 ff.). Paul's commendation of him here served to ease the return of this runaway slave and to remind the readers that he was now a brother in Christ.
Do you say things about others that help build their esteem or do you seek to destroy their character?
Paul talks highly of Tychcus, whoever he was!
You can help mentor people to realize their potential just by what you tell them and what you tell others about them. Of course you must not lie, but if you look for it you will always find something true and good about your subject.
Friendship requires that you tell people how you are doing and seek to know how they are doing. There is no way our friendship will grow if I sense you are not interested in my story.