So we are all driving down the road on this highway of
life. Some people are going fast, some
slow. Some have fancy sports cars that
cost a lot of money and some of us – well, some of us don’t drive anything
fancy. I’m probably more of a ’67
Volkswagen bus than a Ferrari, know what I mean? But we are all doing the best we can.
While nobody’s trip is particularly easy, some people seem
to be enjoying the trip more than others.
Everybody goes through rain showers and thunderstorms but it seems like
some people can just leave the top down and never get wet. But most of the time you find out later that
you just couldn’t see how wet they were.
They just chose to smile through the storm.
But we are all navigating the best that we can because we
all want to get to the same place at the end of the road. And while some people don’t believe there is
anything at the end of the road, most of us have faith that even when the road
ends that our journey will continue for eternity somewhere. Some of us even have a map on how to get there. And we trust this map and would swear by its
inerrancy even when the signs along the road might say something else.
There are big billboards that say just get on this highway
and it will take you to where you want to go.
But our map says otherwise. Our
map says to take this little Farm to Market road and so we do. Sure, we get lost sometimes and find
ourselves on the main road with lots of other traffic but most of us find our
way back to FM 1 and twist and turn down the road. But today as we look at the map, it tells us
to get off the paved road and go through the rusty gate onto a dirt road.
There is a sign up ahead that says, “Proceed With Caution”.
Another one says, “Bridge May Ice
In Cold Weather”. Even another says,
“Bumps Ahead”. You look and the road is filled with pot
holes and rocks. Is that a tree limb
down in the middle of the road down there?
Surely this isn’t the way. But
the map…
And then you see a friendly face. Somebody you know is encouraging you to
continue on. It’s the Apostle Paul. You know him and you trust him and he is
waving you on through. But it looks so
hard and you are pretty sure that even the cow pasture would be an easier trip
but Paul says to come on this way. What
do you do? It’s time for you to make a
decision because that is where we are today.
We have left the easy highway and we have left the scenic
back roads and we have crossed the cattle guard and now we start down this caliche
corridor that most people wouldn’t drive a tractor through. And it’s found in Colossians 3. It actually
starts out pretty comfortable; pretty peaceful, thankfully. The second part is where we turn the music up
and sing along with the tunes even though some of us have it on the wrong
station. But that’s ok
But when we get to the third part there are lots of places
in the road where you can see that somebody has stopped and made their own path
off the road and went off into that field off to the left. And I don’t know whatever happened to
them. The road was just too rough and
they couldn’t follow it. So, unfold your
map and turn to Colossians 3. I want to read verses 15, 16 and 17. Colossians 3:15-17.
Let
the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were
called to peace. And be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell among you richly as
you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and
songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Now, even over here in my rickety old
Volkswagen bus I can hear what some of you are saying. Some of you are saying you can’t make that
trip. Some of you don’t understand the directions,
you don’t like the scenery, and besides, you just washed your car and don’t
want to get it messy. And how important
could it be anyway? Oh, sure, we all
like the Apostle Paul but what does he know?
Vehicles have changed over the years.
And it’s not like it’s a command or anything, right?
In a couple of weeks we will talk more
about how all scripture is God-breathed and how if Paul or Timothy or Jude or
Moses or any of those guys says to do something in these scriptures that they
are speaking for God. But for now, just
consider it a command from the lips of Jesus Himself as we are told here to do
three things in these three verses.
·
Let the peace of Christ rule
·
Let the word of Christ dwell
·
Let the name of Christ motivate
We continue our focus on Jesus in the 3:16’s of the New
Testament. We have looked at John and
Acts and today we read part of what Paul wrote to the church at Colosse. And the whole book of Colossians is devoted
to teaching that church (and this church) to focus on Jesus. He wanted that church (and this church) to
focus on Jesus because he knew that a focus on Jesus will change the church and
a Jesus-focused church will change the world.
And with his focus on Jesus, Paul tells us in
verse 15 that we are to let the
peace of Christ rule in our hearts. And
right here I hear some of you slam on the brakes. You stop in the middle of the little road and
you look ahead and you think you just can’t do it. You’ve tried and failed. But your car just isn’t made to handle that
kind of terrain, evidently. Well, let me
continue this metaphor for just another minute (even though it’s starting to
get a little annoying) and just say that you can have peace; you can follow
this road because you remember that the car you are in is not your own
anymore. It’s a rental!
1 Corinthians 6:19
says, “You are not your
own; 20 you
were bought at a price.” And that’s good news, my dear family! If God owns you and He says to do something
then you can just do it knowing that the results are up to Him. And that in itself should bring you
peace. He loves you. He owns you.
He will take care of you. Why are
you worried about anything? But not only
that, look at what else Paul says in this verse.
“Let
the peace of Christ rule”. First
off, this isn’t just any peace. This
isn’t just the absence of war kind of peace.
This is the peace of Jesus Himself.
Did Jesus have peace? What did
that peace look like in His life?
Several times in the Gospels Jesus would be teaching and He would
reference to the Pharisees something about being God and they would get all
into a frenzy. One time it says they
even picked up rocks to stone Him right there.
And what does Jesus do? He walks
off.
You know how the action star in a movie
will set the charge to blow up a building and then casually walk off, never
looking back as the blast covers the whole screen behind them? Yea, that’s kind of what Jesus did. He would just say, “No. It’s not my time yet.” And then He would just walk off in perfect
peace. That’s the same kind of peace
that we should have and not only should we have it but Paul says that it should
rule in our hearts.
That word “rule” is an athletic term. It literally means to umpire. Isn’t that interesting? Just nod politely, ok? It is to me.
How can peace be the umpire in our hearts? Well, what does an umpire do? He calls people out. He says some can stay and some have to
go. He gives the rewards. He sets the rules and if you don’t play by
the rules you have to leave, right?
With peace umpiring your heart, “Up to bat
next we have Anger coming to bat. Anger
is on quite a hot streak here lately folks.
He’s batting .1000 in this heart,
but wait…the umpire is talking to Anger…and look at that, the ump has thrown
anger out of the game without him even getting to bat! Haven’t seen that in a while. Up next is Jealousy and I don’t think he
stands a chance with this umpire! I knew
it. The umpire just cited rule
Philippians 4:8 and substituted Jealousy with the up and comer named Lovely. What a great game!”
I have said these things to you, that
in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take
heart; I have overcome the world.”
You keep him in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
How much is peace worth to you? Well you already have it available to you. You just have to let peace umpire your heart and when those feelings of anger, doubt, fear, jealousy or regret come up wanting to play ball, throw the bums out! You can do that!
So, we have seen how to let the peace of Christ rule. Let’s look at the next verse and see how to let the word of Christ dwell. Verse 16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell among you richly…” The word of Christ can be interpreted as anything the Bible says about Christ or anything that Christ says about Christ. I believe Paul would put special emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus found in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. I believe that because he always did do that.
You may have or see a version that says “the word of God” but I understand from reading lots of commentaries that the correct rendering is actually “the word of Christ” specifically. Why would Paul stress the word of Christ over just saying that the whole Bible should dwell in us richly? I hear young Christians or new believers say things pretty often about wanting to study the book of Revelation or wanting to know questions about creation from the book of Genesis and I always want to encourage them to focus on the Gospels first.
Go to the book of John and just roll around in that for a while. Stew in it. Steep yourself in that for a good long while until you have a better picture of Who Jesus is first. I find that for myself, when I get stuck trying to figure out some theological question that if I just go back to one of the Gospels and I remind myself of how Jesus acted, what He said, what He meant and the things He did, then things start to become clearer about everything else.
You can’t fully understand Genesis without knowing Jesus. You can’t be an Old Testament Bible scholar without being a Jesus scholar. When your focus is on Jesus, it will change you. When it says to let the word dwell richly that means it is to feel at home. It should be invited in so often that it has refrigerator privileges. Don’t you love to go to your best friend’s house and know that if you get thirsty you don’t have to ask; that you can just go get a drink out of the fridge?
You have been there so many times you feel comfortable there. That’s how the word of Christ should be in our lives. We should have scripture posted on the mirror, in the car, on your Facebook. We should be quoting it to each other and talking about the change that it has made in our lives. Let those words dwell richly in our lives.
Lastly, we are to let the name of Christ
motivate. We have let the peace of
Christ rule. We have let the word of
Christ dwell. But now in verse 17 we are
to let the name of Christ motivate. Read
verse 17 again. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Now verse 16 is a great picture of a worship service: teaching and singing and gratitude to God. And we would like to read verse 17 in a corporate worship setting, wouldn’t we? We want it to say, “Whatever you do…in church…” or “Whatever you do in Bible study…” or “Whatever you do when the preacher is watching…” But there is no such qualifier.
Paul says that whatever you do, whatever you say, wherever you go, whatever you put in your mouth, whatever comes out of your mouth, every aspect of your life you do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and to give thanks for it. Ouch! I told you this part of the road was gonna get rough. But don’t blame me. I blame that pesky Paul for it. But even then it is God’s word through Paul, so what are ya gonna do?
You know one of the reasons I love this church? I love this church because we don’t have a bunch of rules here. And do you know why we don’t have a bunch of rules here? Because rules are for kids. They are, seriously. When your kids were little you had to tell them everything. Brush your teeth. Go to bed. Don’t watch that. Put that down. Don’t eat that. Don’t say that. Put her down! Right?
But now that your kids have grown up, you don’t say that anymore, do you? You might say to have a safe trip or be careful or something but you don’t give them rules. Paul understands that. He’s not talking to little kids. People all the time ask me about what is legal in God’s eyes and what is not. Can I eat this? Can I drink that? Can I watch such and such?
Right here Paul is answering all those questions. If you can do whatever it is and look God in the eye and say, “I am doing this in your name, God, and I thank you for it.” If you can do that …knock yourself out. The Bible is a guidebook, not a rulebook. It never says, “Thou shalt not drink alcohol” or “Thou shalt not smoke cigarettes” or “Thou shalt not eat bacon at every meal”. And I’m not just picking on that kind of stuff. What about that second piece of pie? God asks did you eat that in my name too? What about that bad word, that movie you watched, that place you like to hang out or that joke you told?
Put these verses in your margin—1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 11: “That God in all things may be glorified” (1 Peter 4:11). Or, here’s a great verse—put this one down: 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31: “Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Eating your lunch today ought to be for the glory of God— anything that you do. And, after lunch today, if you get to do the dishes, doing dishes ought to be for the glory of God. One homemaker had this sign up over her kitchen sink: “Divine services held here three times a day, doing dishes.” That’s what the verse says: Whether you eat, or whether you drink, or whatsoever you do, do it all to the glory of God. (Adrian Rogers)
Adrian Rogers calls that “Monday morning religion” as opposed to just Sunday morning religion. He said “If people would begin to live on Monday what is preached on Sunday, people would begin to believe what is preached on Sunday around the world!” And we say that is what we want but do we want it enough to allow the peace of Christ to rule, the word of Christ to dwell and the name of Christ to motivate?
Do we want to change this church, this county and this country? Then we have to focus on Jesus. Because a focus on Jesus will change this church and a Jesus-focused church will change this world. What are you focused on today?
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