Well, as we come to the end of
this epistle to the Colossians, the third chapter, this evening
we'll speak to you, God willing, on the last three verses. That's
verses 23, 24, and 25. And just to read them again.
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord. and not unto
men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of
the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that
doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done,
and there is no respect of persons. So in these three verses we really
have gracious exhortation from the Apostle, speaking to us how
we should behave and how we should work and how we should do it
heartily. And the Word tells us here, whatsoever
you do, do it heartily. And that means really whatever
there is which is good to do, obviously we shouldn't do bad
things, heartily, but anything which is good, whoever it may
be for, in whatever situation it may be, we should do it heartily. And the Word of God tells us
here the wonderful reason and the standard really as to the
Lord and not unto men. It really directs us to think
that well, the Lord is in every place the Lord knows our heart
the Lord knows what we have to do and whether it is conducive
to our natural side or if it's something we don't want to do
and not very happy because it may be irksome we may think it's
below our station in life yet what a blessing it is to whatever
it is to do it heartily, realizing that the Lord has given it to
us to do. See, whatever we do in our lives,
it's not random. Everything the Lord has set before
us. And we should not therefore think,
well, I don't think I'm going to do this. I'm not going to
like doing this. Because we should do it to the best of our ability,
and we should do it heartily, so that there may be a good example
to the people who are not believers, that they indeed may take knowledge
of us, that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him, and
we've learned of Him, of the gracious example which He sets
before us. You think of all the things the
Saviour did, how He humbled Himself, and did His Father's will, whatever
the cost, whatever the opposition. And so the Lord gives us these
words to encourage us and to walk rightly. And then he follows
on and says, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the
reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. That doesn't mean to say that
you and I will be rewarded for our good works, because we know
that there's sin in everything we do. But if we do these things
that come into our life, that the Lord brings into our life,
we should always realise that everything that comes into our
life is not haphazard, it's ordained by Almighty God. And it is for
a purpose. We should do it heartily and
willingly, knowing that of the Lord he shall receive the reward
of the inheritance. What that really means is if
we are doing God's will, doing that which he sets before us,
we can look forward to having been, by his grace, obedient
children sons and daughters of the Most High God, not going
around pleasing ourselves, but desiring to do that which the
Lord would have us to do, and looking then beyond our life
and how good and how important it is for us to continually look
forward to that glorious place of heaven. It is, as the Word
describes it, the inheritance. And as I'm sure you know, an
inheritance is received by people after someone has died. They've
probably never done anything to merit it at all. Sometimes
people have worked hard and served people and there is an inheritance
left to them. But generally speaking, we don't
have any right to an inheritance and we can't really earn it.
And it's given to us. What a blessing, therefore, to
realise that as we do God's will, as we follow His gracious example
that is laid out for us in glory and inheritance. Let us be looking
forward then to that great and wonderful day when we shall have
left all the things of time, the things which we may have
found difficult to do heartily, What a blessing if God has given
us His Spirit to do it heartily and therefore then to come knowing
that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward no one else, no one
else can give us the great and glorious inheritance of eternal
life. But what a wonderful prospect
it is to look forward to And he says, for ye serve the Lord
Christ. We should remember, if we are
the children of God, that we are called to serve the Lord
Christ. The Lord has set that before
us. And therefore, whatever position
in life we find ourselves, we should realise that the Lord's
placed us there. The Lord has given us a position
and in that position we are to serve the Lord, to show forth
his praise, to show forth his goodness and mercy toward us,
to set a good example before our fellow men and to show that
we are willing to do whatever God desires us to do and not
be rebellious and not be hard-hearted. And so he then says, but he that
doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done. That means that we shouldn't
be left to rebellion. We shouldn't be left to say,
well, I'm not doing that. I don't want to do that and I
don't think I should. You see, we should do everything
as unto the Lord. We should do everything as serving
the Lord. We should do everything heartily. The standard's very high, isn't
it? But God's standard is high. And we should not lower it because
it appears to be a little difficult. Because as God gives us grace,
to carry it out. May it therefore bring honour
and glory to his great and holy name. And people may see the
way we act, the way we work, that we are doing it unto the
Lord. We are doing it because we serve
the Lord Christ. And therefore, not doing it that
we do it in a wrong way, with a very grudging spirit, Sometimes,
you know, we can do things but very grudgingly and not want
to do it. There's no heartiness in it,
is there? Well, that's not in accordance with the Word of God. And so here we're told, but he
that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done.
And then finally, the Word tells us, and there is no respect of
persons. You see with God it doesn't matter
how important we might think we are. How that we think that
people should take notice of us. That people should realise
what we are. My friends before God there's
no respect of persons. And we should treat everybody
as our equal, or at least, perhaps we should say, like the Apostle
Paul said, he was the least of all saints. We should never think
ourselves more important than anybody else, whatever their
position in life. And we should also realize, as
the Apostle Paul said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And that's so true, isn't it?
The Lord has blessed us with His grace, blessed us with newness
of life. It is because of His mercy. It is because of His favour. And it is so that you and I might
show forth His praise. Well, there's much instruction,
isn't there, as we've gone through this third chapter in the Colossians. And may God give us grace to
heed the exhortations and to seek that through these things
the name of our God may be honoured and glorified. Let us remember
that's our whole purpose in life, to honour and glorify our great
and glorious Saviour. Well may the Lord bless us together.