Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Colossians chapter 3 and reading
for our text verse 4. Colossians chapter 3 and verse
4. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3 verse 4. In the first chapter, in the
opening words of this epistle, the apostle makes it very clear
that those that he is writing to are converted. He writes to the saints and faithful
brethren in Christ which are at Colossae. He also gives thanks
for them, and specifically because he has heard of their faith in
Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,
for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. So he speaks
to them as that are truly God's children, they are truly converted. And yet when we go on in this
epistle, and this pattern is you find in Corinthians, in the
Thessalonians, He will always begin and establish those he
is writing to, he establishes them as true Christians, they're
true churches, and then he goes on to exhort them and warn them
and direct them as to how they should live and how they should
act in this life. It is not an automatic thing. If a person is born again of
the Spirit, that they will automatically do everything right, think everything
right, shun things that are evil, and embrace those things that
are good. There are a lot of things that
are done straight away, and we would remember that the new birth
is a holy birth. In Psalm 110, we have that it
is holiness from the womb of the morning. The new birth is
a spiritual birth. It is not just building upon
our old nature. It is not turning over a new
leaf. It is a new nature from above,
which is pure. And that will be in conflict
with our old nature and there'll be that conflict, one with another,
right through life. But one thing that God does give
in the new birth, he gives life, spiritual life. With our first
parents, in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely
die. A man died naturally in due time,
eternally he has eternal death, but immediately spiritual death.
And so the natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And so the first thing that we
need is spiritual life. I pass by thee when thou wast
in thy blood, and when thou wast in thy blood, I bid thee live. That is the work of God. He which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. I give unto them, our Lord says,
eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of mine hand. And they also given
faith, because our Lord is the author and finisher of faith,
and without faith it is impossible to please him, He that cometh
to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. So we have life, we have faith. We also have a hearing ear, a
ear that hears what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Our
Lord used this in each of his parables. When he spoke the parable,
he that hath an ear let him hear. and then with the churches in
the Revelation, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches. So that being given them at the
new birth, then we find these chapters that follow on afterwards,
the Apostle is bringing the Word, and the Word of God, the inspired,
infallible Word of God is brought to us to instruct and teach us
how we are to walk and what we are to do. And you can look at
some of those things that we've read here and you think, how
is the apostle, why is the apostle writing to those that are believers
and he's exhorting them in the way that he is? Telling them
how they are to deal with sin in their members. that they're
not to be walking after the flesh, that they are to put on a new
man and not go in the ways of the old man, lying one to another. Wouldn't it be just a natural
thing that those that are born again will do all of these things
right? No, very evidently it is not. And the people of God need instructing. They shall all be taught of God.
And it is through the Word that they are made true disciples. Our Lord says in John 8, of those,
the Jews, that believed on him, if ye continue in my word, ye
shall be my disciples indeed. Ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. And we have that word before
us here, that a believer, a true believer, born again, that he
continue in the word, And as they hear it preached, as they
read it, that will instruct them. And the difference between those
that are just learning how to live, or learning the things
of God without life, is that there is a very legal element
to it. There is an idea that if we do
these things we shall be rewarded of it, or that we shall merit
heaven by what we do. But for those that are called
again, their hope is in Christ, what Christ has done, his finished
work. And now they want to know, what
shall I do that is pleasing to God? How shall I walk in a way
that is consistent with the faith that they have? And so it is
in this passage and in others that this is set forth. In the beginning of this chapter
it begins with an if, if ye then be risen with Christ. When we
compare that with what the Apostle has already said to them, this
is not questioning whether they are really risen with Christ,
it is stating If this is the case, as this is the case, then
do these things, then walk in this way. So it's speaking again
to those that are born again, those that are risen with Christ. So I want to look this morning
at three points. Firstly, Christ. Christ, his
person, who is our life. Our text says when Christ who
is our life. So I want to look at Christ first. Who is this person who is to
be our life? And then secondly, Christ with
whom we shall appear. Our text says when Christ who
is our life shall appear, then shall we ye also appear with
him in glory. And then thirdly, How Christ
is our life. How is it so that the Lord Jesus
Christ is our life? But firstly, Christ is person. This was the question that was
asked so often when our Lord Jesus was upon the earth. Jesus of Nazareth, who are thou? One of the most remarkable passages
where he is set forth is in John 4, immediately after the Lord
had insisted upon the new birth in John 3. In John 4 we have
four examples of the new birth, what it looks like. And the woman
upon the well of Samaria that our Lord met with, he very clearly
told her that I am the Christ. He that speaketh unto thee am
he. She knew one thing about Christ,
about the Messiah. When he cometh, he will tell
us all things. And what the Lord had done with
her, he'd drawn out from her the desire for the living water
that he had to give. And the way he began to give
her the living water was to tell her about her life that only
a prophet would know. He says, go and call thy husband
and come hither. And she said, I have no husband. And he said to her, thou hast
said well that thou hast no husband, for he whom thou hast is not
thy husband. but thou hast had five husbands. And she said, I perceive that
thou art a prophet. And the one thing she knew, that
Messiahs would tell them all things, he'd done just that. He told her things that only
she would have known about. And so when she goes to those
in Samaria, she says, come see a man that told me all things
that ever I did is not this. the Christ. Is not this Emmanuel? Is not this the one, the Messiah
that should come? And so right through our Lord's
life here below, he testified that the works that I do in my
Father's name, they are they which testify of me. The miracles he did, the works
that he did, The words that he spoke, my father gave me a commandment,
what I should say, what I should speak in his person of the Son
of Man. And this is where we must be
very clear who is Christ, who is his person. He is the eternal
Son of God from everlasting, ever with the Father. God the
Father is God, God the Son is God, God the Holy Spirit is God,
not three gods but one God, all equal in power, divinity, in
eternity, in their knowing, in their being. But in time the
eternal Son of God was made flesh and dwelt among us. And as much
as he was begotten of God, that he truly is the eternal God. So when he came upon this earth,
he was born of the Virgin Mary. And so he became a real man of
the lineage and line of David, of the seed of the woman that
should bruise the serpent's head. But because I was shadowed by
the Holy Ghost, it was that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God. It is important for us
to clearly see those two natures in the one person. We mustn't
think, well, because he was God as well as man, that his sufferings
were not so intense as what we would have. We must not think
that he was some different than us, But the Jews themselves,
they saw no difference when he worked the miracles, when he
spoke his words. And they said, never man spake
like this man. But then they said, but this
is Jesus, the son of Joseph, the carpenter's son. They were
offended at him because they saw him but a man. The disciples
in the ship, they saw him as a man asleep, In the ship, the
woman of the well of Samaria saw him wearied of the well. But then when the disciples awake
him, when they feared for their lives, Master, we perish. And he arose and rebuked the
winds and the waves and the great calm. And they again said, what
manner of man is this, that even the winds and the waves obey
him? and they get a little glimpse
of His Godhead, His power, His might. And so you see Him as
man, and you see Him as God, and it is vital for us to really
know who our Lord and Savior is. One amongst a thousand, the
altogether lovely, the chiefest that there could be, described
in the Word of God, as the pearl of great price, that when one
found it, he sold everything that he might have that pearl.
Or the treasure in the field, that when one found that treasure,
he sold everything that he could buy that field and have that
field. The Lord Jesus Christ is set
forth before us as the highest and greatest and most blessed
of the Father. This is my beloved Son. in whom
I am well pleased. And our Lord testifies, if ye
believe not that I am he, that I am the Christ, ye shall perish
in your sins. There is none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. It is this Christ He that
appeared in the Old Testament several times as in the appearance
of a man. When he appeared to Jacob, there
wrestled a man with him to the breaking of the day. He said,
let me go, for the day breaketh. He said, I will not let thee
go, except thou bless me. And he blessed him there. And
we read, because thou hast wrestled with God and with man, and hast
prevailed." His name was called Israel, given a new name. But that was one of the pre-incarnation
appearances of this Christ. The same one that appeared to
Abraham, and later stayed with him while the angels went to
Sodom and Gomorrah, and Sodom was destroyed. The Lord stayed
with Abraham, the same one that appeared to Gideon, the same
one that appeared to Manoah and his wife Samson's parents. Manoah
said, we have seen an angel of God face to face, therefore we
shall die. But his wife said that if he
meant to slay us, he would not have told us such things as these,
nor shown us these things at this time. But these are times
when this same Jesus, the Christ of God, did appear upon this
earth. Other times, too, with his sword
drawn, appearing to Joshua as they went into the promised land.
We read of Paul saying that the children of Israel, the church
in the wilderness, they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ. He was with them. He was with
them in the times and in the shadows. He was with them in
person. Moses says, accept thy presents. Go not with me, carry us not
up hence. And when they'd sinned in making
the golden calf and the Lord said that he'd send an angel
and not himself with them, they called it an evil day. And Moses
pleaded that he might not just send an angel, but his presence. And he had that assurance, my
presence shall go with thee. And this, of course, then should
be our desire in our lifetime, in our pilgrimage, that his presence
should go with us and that we should know who it is, not be
strangers to him. Our Lord was once asking the
disciples, what do men? Whom do men say I, the Son of
Man, am? Some were saying, was John the
Baptist risen from the dead, or one of the prophets? Our Lord
says, but whom say ye that I am? And it was Peter that said, thou
art the Christ, the Son of God. Our Lord said, blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto
thee, But my Father which is in heaven is vital for us that we have
a clear believing view of our Lord Jesus Christ. The doctrine
of Christ be very clear to us. We go back to the early fathers,
we go back to the Apostles' Creed, and those of you here be very
familiar with that. the Athanasian Creed, the Nicene
Creed, which is 1700 years ago to this year, all of them, they
majorly emphasize on the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, his
divinity and who he is, the most essential doctrine and teaching
of the Church of God. If he was not God, then his Sacrifice
would not avail. He could not have atoned for
any other sin. If he was not man, he could not
have laid down his life. He needed to be made like unto
his brethren, be a near kinsman like Boaz was to Ruth. We need that knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. If he is to be our life, Who
is our life? What is Christ to us? When we
read in Isaiah 53, he is a root out of dry ground. There is no
form nor comeliness that we should desire him. But when we are called,
when we are given the new birth, we read unto you which believe,
he is precious. Christ is precious. a preciousness
that eclipses everything else in this world, that makes everything
else to be of dull, and to give us that clear desire and one
aim, to know Him, to know Christ, to be found in Him. I want to
look then, secondly, at Christ with whom we shall appear. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Of course, the apostle here is
looking back and looking forward. Christ is not on earth. What
had happened? Our Lord, having lived a perfect
life, then he was obedient unto death, the death of the cross.
And the Apostle Paul, determined to know nothing among men, saved
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The sacrifice for sin, the blood
that was shed, the redemption that was wrought, the empty tomb,
a risen Saviour, and then ascended up into heaven. And when He ascended,
the disciples were standing looking up into heaven. There appeared
next to them Those men in shining garments and saying, why look
ye up into heaven? He that did ascend will come
again, descend with clouds. Every eye shall see him. It shall
be with power and with great glory. There shall be an end
of this world and the Lord shall come at the end of that world.
Every eye shall see him. We are told, In Paul's epistle
to the Thessalonians, how that when the Lord comes, the dead
in Christ shall rise first. Their bodies shall be raised
and joined with their souls, the souls of those that shall
come with Christ. At death, the soul departs the
body and it returns to God that gave it. And so when we of the
appearing with Christ shall appear. Those that have died, their souls
immediately are with Christ. Those that shall be alive and
remain on the earth, when the Lord appears, then they shall
be caught up with Him and with them in the air. But the whole
aim that is set before us here, if Christ is our life here, We
have glory set before us. This world is not your rest,
it is polluted. The Apostle Paul says, let us
run the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. Looking unto him who endured
the cross, despising the shame set down at the right hand of
the throne of God on high. The first Mark to Stephen as
he is being stoned, he looks up and testifies of the Lord
standing at the right hand of the Father. The presence of the Lord in heaven.
He intercedes for us. He is our advocate with the Father. His intercession on earth as
we read it in John 17. Father, I will that they whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. And so the Apostle says, when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear
with him in glory. Dear Job, in his affliction,
he says, I know that my Redeemer liveth, that he shall stand at
the latter day upon the earth. The New Testament saints like
those in Thessalonians, they were called and to wait for his
son from heaven. The apostle in writing to the
Corinthians on the great chapter of the resurrection from the
dead, 1 Corinthians 15, he says, if in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we've all been most miserable. So in this chapter
and in our verse here, we're pointing beyond this world, we're
looking to that which is above. And yet that which we have and
how we walk here below is a great link to what we may expect above. If we're living as this world
was our rest, our home, it gives little evidence that we are looking
for an eternal home. If we have nothing to do with
Christ here, then it doesn't look at all like being with Christ
forever in heaven. It cannot be that we walk with
the world here and yet then we hope to be with Christ and his
people above. The disciples, when they were
let go, they went to their own company. And the great token
of being a child of God is that we know that we pass from death
unto life because we love the brethren. And John tells us in
his epistles that they whom love God love also those that are
begotten of him. How can a man say he loved God
whom he has not seen if he does not love his brother whom he
has seen? But there is this link in our
text, a linking with Christ, who is our life, and Christ with
whom we shall appear in glory. And all the way through our time
here, we're not to lose that aim. You know, many of you will
be in business, you'll have things that you do in your lives, and
all the time there is an aim that is in view. The aim and
desire of the preacher is to set Christ before his hearers,
and to set them upon a solid foundation of a good hope beyond
the grave, to feed the sheep, feed the lambs, and to strengthen
the brethren. When I was working in engineering,
giving a machine to design, the customer would say, this is a
machine, we need to do this. And whatever I made, whatever
I designed, however beautiful, whatever it looked like, if when
it was installed, it didn't do what that customer wanted, it
was no good. You couldn't say, but look at
it. It's beautiful. It's shiny. And it's got wonderful
working parts. And the customers say, yes, but
it doesn't do what I wanted it to do. And so the aim all the
time was to make this machine do what it was to do within budget,
on time, and keep going year after year. And those aims were
crucial, job after job, design after design. And so it is in
the things of God, much more so, that we do not lose sight
of the aim. If we think of a runner running
a race, and if they forget that their aim is to reach the end
and they get sidetracked off to the side, They don't reach
the end. That's why the apostle says,
run the race set before us looking unto Christ. Our Lord did not
remain here at some city or some place on earth. He ascended up
into heaven for good reason, that we have our sights set there
and we're looking there. And that's where our aim is.
Dear friend, if this is the aim of scripture, and it is, be very
aware that Satan will try and turn you away from that aim,
that the world will try and turn you away from that aim. And it
comes very close even in religious things. You think of the household
in Bethany of Mary and Martha, and the Lord is in the house.
And Mary, she is sitting at the feet of the Lord and she is hearing
his word. But Martha, she is covered about
with much serving. She cannot sit there. She is
busy doing all the sorts of other things when the Lord is in the
house. And it's a great concern for
us, those of us that are office bearers or in a church, whether
we are a pastor or an elder or a deacon, you can be so taken
up with the actual things that have been done, the services,
the format of them, that we don't actually have communion and fellowship
with the Lord, time with the Lord. Mary, as she sat and heard
his word, she knew, she knew more than the disciples that
the Lord's sufferings was coming. She knew that he was to be anointed
for the death, for the burial, and is a lesser thing, living
close to the Lord. We then discern and understand
what others will not. But may we be really aware of
this, that Satan will feel all sorts of other things to take
our aim away from heaven, to take us away from Christ, to
make him not attractive, to put something else that is more attractive
and that takes up our attention more. And if it has a semblance
of being religious or worthy of our attention, then all the
more the better, because it lulls us into thinking, well, this
is all right, it is praiseworthy, and we may find some texts that
support it, but all in all, it is bringing us away from Christ
away from our hope to heaven. And instead of like those in
Hebrews 11, embracing the promises and testifying, confessing that
there are strangers and pilgrims in the earth, we're forgetting
the promises. And if people look at our life,
we think they're not a stranger in the earth. They're actually
living as if this world was going to be their eternal home. as
if they're managing this world, and this world really is all
what they care about, all their language. It's a blessed thing,
where all our prayer, all our praise, all our life, those that
live with us, those that know us, that they're able to say,
that person, that they have heaven in their sights, and Christ is
precious to them. to have that witness. They took
knowledge of them. It was said of the disciples
that they had been with Jesus. I want to look lastly at how
Christ is our life. If we have that prospect beyond
the grave, how is it? What is the instruction, the
teaching that Paul is teaching these Colossians as to how they
should live and how, especially in this, is Christ actually our
life? He is forming our life. I don't want to put to mean an
illustration, but many people have things that we might say
are their life. Some people that they might have
their job, their employment, and that is their life. They
spend so much time with it, perhaps their family gets neglected,
the children gets neglected. All they live for is their job.
Others will have a hobby. They might have a hobby with
cars. Certainly when I was growing
up as a teenager and that, and it was all cars. What you could
get and work on the car and make, hot it up and make it sound good
and look nice or so we thought anyway. And every waking thought,
that was all about that. And we're used to that. We're used to people having things
that they do, whether it's hobbies of trains or whatever, and their
life just surrounds around this thing. Well, here it is Christ. Christ is our life. Our life
surrounds Him. And we think of how it is set
before us In this very chapter, we could bring many things, but
I want to confine our thoughts to this chapter. And the first
things, the first things that are mentioned is that basis on
which we have life, why we live. You know, the Apostle Paul, when
he came in Acts 17 to those at Athens, he says to those that
were worshipping an unknown God, had an altar to an unknown God,
He says, I declare unto you the true God, in him we live and
move and have our being. And he was pointing that their
very lives were dependent upon Christ, and especially in a spiritual
way. The Lord says, because I live,
you shall live also. So the very way this chapter
begins, if ye then be risen with Christ. When our Lord rose from
the dead, his people are in union with him, and they also rose
from the dead. The connection between the Lord
and his people is that as he rose, so they also rose with
him. If ye be risen with Christ, a
statement really for every believer, they are risen with Christ. Christ
has then given them eternal life. I give unto them eternal life,
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of mine hand. Our life is bound up with the
Lord, and the Lord's life, the Lord's presence in heaven, the
Lord's ascension is a certain assurance that we also shall
live. eternally. Because I live, you
shall live also. Then the Lord has given us a
hearing ear to His Word. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Living Word. In John 6 He says, Except ye
eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no
life in you. no life in you. They said, how
can this man give us his flesh to eat? Many were offended, they
walked back, went no more with him. But our Lord said, the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Man shall not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And
so Christ is our life He is our food. He is the manna, the true
manna from heaven. The Lord says, labour not for
the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto
eternal life. We may ask ourselves, is Christ
our life? What is our daily diet? What
is our daily food? What does our soul crave for? What appetite do we have for
the Word of God? And remember, this is written
to those that are born again. When we think of the churches
in Asia, recorded in Revelation 2 and 3, were those churches
that had left their first love, had gone away from Christ, had
taken up with other things. Some had a name to live, but
they were dead. And so these exhortations and
these ways that Christ is our life is very important. If the
Lord has given us a hearing ear and a new life, then there'll
be that longing for spiritual food and a real test of how lively
we are, how much Christ is with us, is how much we relish. how much we desire it. Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall
be filled. Now if we have someone and they're
sick, got a tummy ache, you set a beautiful meal before them,
I say I don't want to eat it. Got no appetite. Why? Because they're healthy? No.
Because they're sick. And so it is in the spiritual
way. We haven't got an appetite for the Word, and don't love
it, and drink into it, and feed upon it. It's not a sign of a
healthy soul, but a sick soul. And the Lord also, if Christ
is our life, you think of the union that Christ had with his
Father. He spent nights in prayer, times
as a man, as we need to do, He spent whole nights in prayer
with his father, voluntary, subjecting himself as made like unto his
brethren. And it was that that he lived
upon his father. And so the people of God are
to live that life of faith and prayer as well. We mentioned
of the Lord in heaven as our intercessor. That is our life. To have one that speaks for us
in heaven's high court for good. You think of Joseph being sent
before into Egypt. What was it that he said? God
sent me before you to preserve life. Preserve life. And when they came into Egypt,
what was his purpose? What was he doing for them? He
gave them the best part of the land, He fed them, I will nourish
you, I will feed you. Now, of course, this is the commandment
with our Lord to Peter, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. But the intercession, the intercession
of Joseph with Pharaoh for his father, for his brethren, And
all that He did for them, we have several types of this. We
have it in the Book of Esther as well, with Mordecai next to
the king, speaking peace to all his seed. Our Lord next to His
Father, speaking peace for all His seed. We have the first instance
of it, I will pray the Father He will give you another Comforter
that shall abide with you forever. Tarry in the city of Jerusalem
until you be endued with power from on high and the giving of
the Holy Spirit. The first evidence, this is what
is coming forth from Christ. This comes from His life, because
He is alive, He has given us of His Spirit. We worship a living
Christ, not a dead Christ. a living Christ that lives in
his people, though I am with you always, even unto the end
of the world, with them by his Spirit and by his grace. He is also our life in this,
that as the aim is to appear with him in glory, so we know
this, because in John 14, he says, I go to prepare a place
for you And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you unto myself, that where I am ye may be also. The Lord is preparing that place. A prepared people for a prepared
place. How vital those two are in Psalm
84. He shall give grace and glory. No good things shall he withhold
from them that walk uprightly and you'll find. The instruction,
the teaching in these epistles is teaching a people how they
are to walk uprightly, how they are to have the assurance and
fellowship and comfort of knowing that they are the people of God.
So then we come in the second way of the apostle setting this
before them, is to how we are to act in a body of death, We're
still in our sinful mortal body. We have sin dwelling in us. We're
in a world that is full of sin, full of iniquity, full of darkness. How is a Christian, how is a
believer in Christ? How is Christ to be? What was
Christ upon this earth? Who lived on this earth? Well, we are told here that we
need that grace, and this is what is given us in verse five.
as in the provision of the covenant, that grace to mortify or put
to death your members which are upon earth. And mortify is not,
as it were, turning aside to deal with the sin, it's shunning
it, turning aside and brushing past it and looking towards the
things of God. We'll either be filled with the
world or filled with the spirit. We cannot serve God and mammon,
and so the direction is given concerning our old nature is
to mortify. If ye, Paul says in Romans 8,
if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall
live. Then we have a putting off, a
putting off of the old man, and a putting on of the new man. And those things that we are
told here that we are to put off is all things like the anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. This, if Christ is in us, how
can two walk together except they be agreed? And the grace,
the help that is given to the people of God The Apostle says,
the good I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that
I do. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? His answer is, I thank
God through Jesus Christ, my Lord. That is his answer. No wonder he's saying to the
Colossians that Christ is alive. No wonder he says, I am what
I am, by the grace of God. It was the grace of God that
had called him. It was by grace that he was able
to cope with the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan. It was by grace that he endured
the persecutions and afflictions and all he went through. And
so, Christ who is our life, the people of God realize If they
are to endure the tribulations and troubles, it will only be
through Christ. You think of our Lord at the
end of John 16, in me ye shall have peace, in the world ye shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. And there in the Lord Jesus Christ,
in the midst of this world, in all its conflicts and troubles,
the child of God, has peace in Christ. They breathe a different
air. They have him to walk through
who trod this earth before them and with whom they shall be in
heaven above. We have also the exhortation
in verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in
all wisdom. The whole message of that verse
is is a teaching, whether it is in song, whether it is ministry
or reading, it is to be taught of the Lord. The Lord says, I've
many things to say unto thee, but ye cannot bear them now. And the Lord does teach line
upon line, here a little and there a little. And is it his
name then, in all that we do? Verse 17, whatsoever ye do, in
word or in deed, to all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him. And in every station
of life, in all our work for our employers, secular works,
what we do is working as unto God, not as unto men. And it
puts a very different picture on all that we are doing. We
are Christ's servants. We are redeemed by him. We are
not at home, we are bought with a price. We are his inheritance
and he'll have us in heaven at last. And he is our inheritance
and we shall be with him at last. And all our hopes and all of
our expectations, it is all centering upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And
from day by day, He is our life. He really fashions our life to
be what it is. And how we live gives this impression,
gives this message. Christ is my life. This world
is not. My job is not. My family is not. My hobbies are not. But Christ
is my life. You'll see in a moment, in him
I live. upon him cast my care. It's a blessed thing to have
that walking with the Lord. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. I am meek and lowly in heart
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. May we truly be able to
say with the Apostle that Christ is our life and that when he
shall appear we shall also appear with him. The greatest assurance
and comfort that we can have of being with the Lord forever
is that Christ is our life here below, and that is what we seek
after and desire. The object of my first desire,
says the hymn writer, Jesus crucified for me. May we have this blessed
Union with Christ and a difference that will make a difference between
just a superficial professor is very different than just naming
Christ. Coming to and fro perhaps for
a few services in the house of God, very different to have one
living day by day. And he is never far from our
thoughts. The word is never far from us.
His word dwells richly in us. Christ is. our life. May he add his blessing. Amen.