A Good Reputation - Colossians - Weekend Edition

0:00We're glad you've joined us for Walk With the King Weekend Edition, Saturday morning extended broadcasts from Dr. Robert A. Cook. To help us reach more radio friends with daily encouragement from the Gospel, please visit WalkWithTheKing.org slash donate. Thank you for listening and thank you for your support. All right, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? Don't okay? Well, I cherish and treasure these opportunities of being with you from time to time and sharing with you from the Word of God. On these weekly broadcasts, we've been going through Colossians, verse by verse. We've come now to chapter 4, verse 7. Speech with grace will never be abrasive. It will never be self-centered. It will never be mean. It will never be sarcastic. It will never be sharp cuttings to let whole like speech with grace will always reflect

1:06the love of God at Calvary. He said, let your speech be always with grace. Is there ever a time when I can indulge myself in the kind of talk that cuts figuratively speaking, cuts the other person to ribbons, the answers no? While that might give you some momentary satisfaction to tell, as we say, tell the other person off, the damage that is done and the scar tissue that is left in people's hearts is certainly not worth the momentary satisfaction that you and I might get in indulging in that bit of verbal swordplay. It isn't worth a dear friend. So partay is a dangerous, too-edged sword, and you and I better be careful that whatever we say, whether it be in seriousness or in fun, has on it the touch of God's love and God's grace. Oh, I want that for myself.

2:06I speak quickly oftentimes and then wish that I hadn't said some things. Let's pray for each other that our words might have the touch of God's love on them, rather than the trademark of old sinful, fallen human nature, right? Buddy says you don't have to be impractical in order to have gracious, Christ-filled words because he said seasoned with salt, and that's the idea of being practical. You don't have to be an ivory tower thinker in order to be spiritual. You don't have to be chronically gullible and naïve in order to be spiritual. You don't have to be a poor businessman or woman in order to be spiritual. You can have good sense and be gracious and spirit-filled at the same time, aren't you glad? You know, that's a popular misconception. It seems to me that people who live close to God lack good sense.

3:07One of the fact is that some folk who seem quite spiritual do seem to lack good horse sense. But I don't believe that's God's fault. I don't believe that's the fault of spiritual living. I think they may be, as we say in Brooklyn, not too tightly wrapped in the beginning. But when you come right down to it, what God wants is a combination of thoroughness and diligence and business-like procedure on one hand and graciousness, Christ-filled, love-saturated attitudes on the other. The two of them combined in a blessed, godly combination of grace and practicality. Oh, may God grant that to you and to me for His own glory. That you may know He said how to answer every man. There is a proper rejoinder to everything that is said. Sometimes it's silence.

4:08You don't always have to answer back. Have you found that out? You don't have to talk back. You don't even have to answer every letter. I found that out years ago when I was reading with complete dismay, a letter that I had received from another Christian brother. Quite critical. In fact, it was so hot that it seemed to the sushinger a little around the edges. And I was dismayed. I didn't know what to do about it. Just at that point, Colonel Paul Maddox, who joined our organization upon his retirement from the military as chief of chaplains in the European theater of operations at that time. He came into my office and I said, Paul, look at this. What in the world am I going to say to the man? I was dismayed. He looked at the letter, read it carefully, and then before my very eyes, he tormented the tiny pieces and tossed them in the waste basket. I said, why did you do that? He laughed and he said, Bob, hasn't anybody ever told you that you don't have to answer every letter?

5:09Well, that hadn't occurred to me, you know? And so I learned a valuable lesson. You don't have to talk back. You don't have to answer everything that's said. Sometimes the best rejoinder is just to keep your mouth wide shut. You remember the old adage, open mouth, insert both feet? Well, you don't have to do that, you see? But sometimes you do need to speak up. What then? Then you can depend upon the blessed Holy Spirit of God to guide you. For our Lord Jesus said, take no thought, how or what thing He shall answer. For it shall be given you in that same hour what He shall say, for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. Oh, what a precious promise that is. Most of our arguments are based upon a misapprehension of or lack of the facts. Isn't that true?

6:09When you get the fact before people, the argument is defused, as they say, and there isn't really so much basis for disagreement when everybody understands what the truth is, what the facts are about a given situation. Always get the facts. Always look at things from the other person's point of view, and always ask the question, what can we do about this right now? If you can take one step of action, you can take away worry, you can take away resentment, you can take away fear. Take one step of constructive action. It means so much in answering any problem. Well, that's all review, and it took seven minutes, but then maybe it was a good idea, right? Now, you said, all my states shall ticchicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that he might know your state and comfort your hearts. With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, they shall make known unto

7:13you all things which are done here. What is the profile of this man who is bringing now the letter? He is the messenger, he and Onesimus, bringing the letter to the Folket Kalasi, kind of a person is he. First of all, Paul says he is a beloved brother. Now whenever you are going to profile people, start where God starts with love, not performance. You want to remember that? Whenever you are going to profile people or evaluate them, start where God starts with love. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, believe within him should not perish but have everlasting life. If you have never trusted Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, do so.

8:18Do so today. Open your life by faith to him and say, Lord, come in and be my Lord and be my Savior from sin. Forgive me and make me a child of God. You start with the saving love of God always, don't you? Then you continue in consideration of what went on to do. The same truth is presented, I think, in Ephesians 2.8-10. For by grace are you saved through faith and that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, not based on anything you can do, in other words. Less than a man should boast. For we are his workmanship created, there is your miracle of regeneration, you see, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Now, the creation, part of it, that has to do with salvation, regeneration we call it, the new birth, created in Christ Jesus.

9:20That's God's miracle of salvation based on his redeeming love. Then what is the purpose of it? Created in Christ Jesus, unto good works. God has before ordained, so God had it planned, your performance in living for Christ and doing the will of God, what we call good works, your performance in doing the will of God, good works. That has been planned beforehand for you, but it always has to follow the miracle of God saving work, God's redeeming love in your life. By grace are you saved through faith. That, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not based on works, not of work, let's say, man should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, unto good work. You do good things not to be saved, but because you are saved. There is the difference, you see. And so when you are profiling anybody, when you are describing or evaluating anybody around

10:24you, you start with the love of God. A brother, be loved. He belongs to the same family, and you love him because Jesus loves him. I will tell you something. It is going to help you to deal with many situations where human nature enters into the formula, and oftentimes there is a good deal of abrasiveness involved. You know there are some people who, before they give you the time of day, will say to you, you are not going to like this, but I have to tell you. And then they will say something which is inevitably calculated to make you feel defensive. Now there is some people who just live in that kind of an atmosphere, and they will never be any different. Some people are always chronically melancholy and negative in their thinking. You know? And they are like the person who was watching the airplane, seeing an airplane for the first time, and as he looked at it, he said, it will never fly.

11:24Never fly. Well, it did fly. He got off the ground and started on up into the sky. He said, well, it will never get down. It will never get down. There are some people who are chronically pessimistic and find something wrong in everything that happens. You know, if the sun is shining, you say, well, it is a nice day. Yes, but it may rain. Now, what do you do about that? You love them. What do you do about the person who is critical? You love them. What do you do about the person who always can find something to tell you that is wrong with your performance? You love them. A brother belongs. You belong to them and you love them, and when love aders into the mix, somehow or other, it makes all the difference in the world. In one church that Mrs. Cook and I served many years ago, I had a lady in her house, a lady who would always, without fail, provide a freshly baked loaf of delicious bread on

12:27Monday morning. She would come to the door of the parsnitz, ring the doorbell. I would come to the door. She always greeted me with the same question. Did I get you up? We've got to be a little game, finally, because my answer would always be, no, I had to answer the doorbell anyway. And then she would proceed. After having given me this freshly baked, still warm loaf of delicious bread, she must have gotten up at two in the morning to set the door and get it ready to bake and then to bring it to me at an early hour. Then after she had given me this freshly baked loaf of bread, she would tell me what had been wrong with the services the day before. Well, you get to anticipate things, and as a matter of fact, I became very fond of this lady and learned it to appreciate many of her sterling qualities. She was, as a matter of fact, the key to the salvation of many of the rest of her family. And so I learned to appreciate many things about her. But she would always tell you what you should have done the day before. Now, there are some people like that.

13:30What are you going to do? You're going to resent them? You're going to fight back at them? You're going to drop them out of your circle of friendship? No, don't do that. Love them. Why? Because you belong to them. Come to think of it. You and I may have a few faults of our own. Had you thought about that recently? You and I may have some faults of our own. We may have something that we say and do that bother people and that upset them or that irritate them. To this day I can't tolerate without the feeling extremely uncomfortable. Anyone around me who is what my father used to call snoozing, sniffing, inhaling through your nose when you ought to give it a good blow. Oh, I've had spankings because of having snoozed. Well, I am conditioned to bristle. If anyone around me insists on sniffing and snoozing when they ought to blow that nose and be able to breathe more clearly.

14:31Well, that's ridiculous, after all. What difference does it make if somebody else is sniffing and snoozing and inhaling violently through his or her nose? What difference does it make? I can keep on breathing, can't I? Right. You and I have certain faults, don't we? Yes, we do. We have certain peculiarity. Yes, we do. Well, then, we better be a little more charitable, hadn't we? We better look at people through calvary eyes. We better realize that God loves them, like He loves us, and that they have to put up with faults and foibles on our part. Right. And so, as you deal with people, let's start where God starts with His love. Here in His love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the proficiation for our sins. We love Him, says John, because He first loved us.

15:39God says to His ancient people, the Jews, back in the book of Vardutrava, I think it is, God did not choose you because He were more or greater than other people, but because the Lord loved you, He chose you. Oh, the love of God. Let it show in our relationships with each other. Brother be loved. The next time you are tempted to be impatient with the shortcomings of some brother or sister in the community of saints where you happen to be fellowshiping. Just remember, you belong to them. They are part of your life and your family in Jesus. God loves them and He loves you. You have the unspeakable privilege of dealing with them, not only with their faults and foibles, but also with the immense potential there is in their lives. You have the privilege of dealing with them on the basis of God's love.

16:40A brother be loved. Then He said, a faithful minister, in the word ministers, are word deacon deaconos, a faithful minister, a person who helps to meet other people's needs. The basic reason for appointing the deacons was that some folk were hungry. And the disciples was multiplied and there arose a murmuring of the greetians against the Hebrews because some of them were neglected in the daily administration. And so the apostles called the Maltzud said, now it doesn't stand to reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables where, for it says, brethren, you choose seven men of honest report full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business. And they chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and Philip and Procress and Nikinaar and Taiman and Parminas and Nicholas, a profflight of Antioch, and they sent before the apostles and when they had prayed they laid their hands on them.

17:41And Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders in America among the people and so on. A minister is a person chosen to help meet the needs of people. What kind of a person ought he to be? You ought to have a good reputation, seven men of honest report, ought to have a good reputation. Garge your reputation. Young people say to me sometimes, well, it's my business. It doesn't affect anybody but me. Why should you be picking on me about? Well, see the point is your reputation determines your usefulness under God. Your reputation determines your usefulness oftentimes in God's work. Seven men of honest report, guard your reputation. Don't do foolish things and then wish afterwards that you hadn't. Then full of the Holy Ghost, a person who has a working relationship with the blessed Holy Spirit of God. This is part of being what Paul calls a minister.

18:43And then full of wisdom. Full of wisdom. You see, if you want to help other people, you have to have some sense yourself and God can give you the wisdom that you need, of course. James 1.5 says, so if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God that give us to all men liberally enough, pray that it's not and it shall be given him. Let him ask in faith, nothing waving, braving. So you've got a good reputation, the fullness of the Holy Spirit and then good sense with them. So Stephen was full of faith and full of the Holy Ghost. So the element of faith comes in there. The element of faith comes in there. A person who knows how to believe God for things. I've been greatly encouraged in the past couple of years to pray toward the answer, not toward the problem. Well, God what's wrong in 17 words or less. But after that, you can pray toward the answer. You can believe God for the outpouring of his power in answer to your prayers, person full

19:46of faith. And then it said later on that Stephen was full of faith and power, the evidence, the evidence of God's presence in your life. Now this is the description of what the Bible means by the word deacon. And the same Greek word deaconos is translated minister in in Colossians 4.7. A faithful minister, a faithful deaconos, a faithful deacon if you want to put it that way. What kind of a person, good reputation, full of the Holy Ghost, has good sense, knows how to pray and get results. That's pretty good person, isn't it? Well that's exactly the standard that is set for you and for me if we want to be used of God. Let's just make sure, and by the way, every one of these descriptive terms can be achieved

20:46by you. It's not an exclusive club that is reserved for the very holy. Every one of these terms that I've mentioned can be achieved by you. Honestly, poor, you can have a good reputation. Full of the Holy Spirit, you can be, thank God, filled with the Spirit of God. Open every room in your heart house by faith to the Holy Spirit and let Him fill your life. Wisdom, yes, you can have wisdom. God can give you wisdom and answer to prayer. Some people don't seem to have much practical good sense naturally, but as they wait on God, He can guide them. I've known some very naive and gullible people who turned out to be very wise. Why? Because they sought the Lord. I wonder if you could learn that, you and I? Wonder if we could learn that even though we may not be endowed with great wisdom, but my father used to call horse sense, you know, we may not be endowed with great wisdom

21:47by nature. As we can tap into the immense and incalculably vast font of divine wisdom by faith, simply by prayer, by asking for God's guidance, moment by moment. It can be done. This is achievable by you and by me and answer to prayer. And full of faith, full of faith. You and I can develop faith just like you can develop your muscles. The exercise of faith brings more faith. From faith to faith, we read in Romans 1. Therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. What does that mean? The just shall live. That means go on living every day by faith. How do you live from one experience to the next? That's all you can say. From faith, trusting God in one experience to faith, trusting God in the next experience.

22:48The more you trust God, the more you'll be enabled to trust God. Yes, you can achieve that. Power, of course you can. Why? Because God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that work in us. Yes, your life can be filled with His power. These are achievable goals. You can be a good minister in this sense. You can be a good minister of Jesus Christ, just as Pitchicus was. Then he said, Fellow Servant. Now that word servant is our word slave, Goulot is the Greek word slave. A fellow slave in the Lord. One of the most precious relationships you can ever sustain with another believer is to serve together as slaves to the Lord. I mean to say both of you, the two of you, giving your all, everything you can put out at

23:53a given point, you're giving it for the Lord Jesus. Sometimes ladies, you serve at a church supper. Until you've done this, I think the average man and some of the ladies even who have never done it, don't realize the sheer workload there is in serving at a church dinner. Because you've got a planet, you've got to bring a lot of the utensils in because the ordinary small church isn't equipped for large groups to serve them. So you have to scrounge around and get enough China and silver and all of that. I was at a church supper not long ago where they suddenly discovered that someone had made off with all the spoons. And so they had to go ask what they did. They went to different hardware stores and bought a couple of hundred stainless steel spoons. Then when they got the back, they found that each spoon had on it the price tag with a stubbornly adhesive tag that had to be scrubbed off with steel wool. What a mess.

24:53I'll tell you, when you get through doing that, you're tired. And so there's a lot of things to be to then prepare the food and then put it out and then serve it to the people and then clean the thing up. And by the time you're through, you are so tired, you don't know which foot to put first. I'll tell you something. There is nothing so precious as getting good and tired, giving every last ounce of strength you can, together with somebody else who also is slaving at the same task. If you look at each other, you smile, you say, well, praise the Lord anyway. Is that true? Salos slave. If you want to appreciate somebody work with Him a while in the Lord's work. If you want to appreciate somebody work with Him a while in the Lord's work, I used to have a deacon. And this would be, this would be 40 years ago. My goodness, the years go by, don't they?

25:54I used to have a deacon who, in deacons meetings, would invariably vote no on any new issue. Anything that was new, he would vote no on it. And I used to get so impatient with him. I thought, oh, dear, why did he always have to vote no? But then I began to work with the man and I began to appreciate some things about him. Aside from the fact that an issue was new to him, he was negative on it. And the answer to that, of course, was the go see him before the deacon's meeting, which I learned to do. You go see him and tell him what you're going to bring up. Because he then had what the psychologist called ownership of the idea. He could vote affirmatively on it. So that worked all right. But I began to realize that here was a faithful man. Here was a dedicated man. Here was a man with a tender heart for God. Here was a man who loved God and loved people. Here was a man who very quietly spent many hours in the church helping with menial tasks

26:59and fixing things and constructing little things that would be helpful to those who were working in the church. A man who loved God and loved people and gave himself to the work, I began to appreciate him when I worked with him a while. Right? Now, you try that out on folk around you. Just get with him in the work. Fellow slaves. Get with him in a job that demands all you've got and then more. And together you can look up and say, thank you Jesus, we're doing this for you. Fellow servant. Well, teaching are supposed to have been quite a fellow. A beloved brother, a faithful minister and a fellow servant in the Lord. And besides that, he was capable, false set of comforting other folk. This was an extra quality that he had. You know, some people cheer you up just by being with you and teaching is evidently

28:01with that kind of a person. He was going to comfort it, says, their hearts. And I can specialize in that as well. Be the kind of person, so full of God's love and grace that when you come into a situation, people will say, thank God you're here. Dear Lord, keep your hand on us and make us good ministers of Jesus Christ. I ask in His name, amen. That's all for now till I meet you once again by way of radio. Walk with the King today and be a blessing.