Well, come with me to our text
this morning, which is Colossians 3 and verse 17. The title of the message is,
All in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Whatsoever ye do, in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God and the Father by Him. So we've been thinking recently
about how God's people, who are God's people? They're a people
chosen before time began. The elect of God, the innumerable
multitude from every tongue and tribe and kindred. And they were
loved everlastingly, for God says in his word, I have loved
you with an everlasting love. And they're born as people, as
we all are, but we're born as the offspring of Adam. We're
born in sin, we're born with a sinful nature, yet as God's
people, destined for eternal inheritance. But how? How? How are we going to get there?
We who are sinners and God cannot bear sin, God cannot abide sin,
God cannot tolerate it, God hates sin. How are we going to get
to be with God forever? It's by accomplished redemption,
the payment of the price of that sin. And having heard and believed
the gospel, we've been thinking about, well, how then should
we live this life in this world? How does the Lord instruct his
people, us, if we believe, how does he instruct us to live now
in this world? And we've seen clearly, he doesn't
instruct us to live by law, for he says, you are not under law,
but under grace. There are many, many people under
a Christian banner, so-called, who would say, you are under
law, but no, the word of God. What does the scripture say?
What sayeth the scripture? The word of God says you are
free from the law. You are free in Christ. You are not under law, but you're
under grace. And he says to his people in
Ephesians chapter 2, just turn back there just a couple of pages,
Ephesians chapter 2. And verse 8, he says how it is
that you've become the people of God. He says, by grace are
you saved. It's by what God has done. By
what God and God alone has done. By grace are you saved. But how do you know about it?
Through faith. The gift that he's given is faith
to see. And he tells us that, that not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God. God gives faith to see
what by grace he has done for his people. And how are you saved? Not of works. Not of works. It
isn't your works that will save you. Not of works. Why? Because
being what we are, people would boast about it. But look, this
is the verse, verse 10. For we, his people, his believing
people, who've got nothing to boast about other than God has
done this for me, for no reason that's in me. God has done this
for me. We are his workmanship, the workmanship
of God, created in Christ Jesus, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. The people of God in this world should walk in good
works, which God himself has before ordained that we should
walk in them. What does it mean? What will
constrain our behavior to produce the good works that the gospel
precepts call for? Most Christian religion, as I've
said often, says it does this by subjecting the people of God
to Mosaic law, putting bounds around us about what we're allowed
to do and what we're not allowed to do. But what does the scripture
say? By what rule ought God's believing
people live? And there it is in our text in
Colossians 3 and verse 17. Whatsoever you do, how should
you live? Whatsoever you do, in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Do all in the name
of the Lord Jesus. In a spirit of thankfulness to
God the Father. So let's think for a moment or
two about that phrase. all in the name of the Lord Jesus. It's a practical instruction
and it's set in the context of the truth of accomplished salvation. That's it. the gospel reveals
the salvation that God has accomplished. Let's just remind ourselves,
so that we don't forget, it's several weeks since we started
this epistle, but so that we don't forget, let's go back to
chapter one for a moment or two, just to remind ourselves that
this is the context of this exhortation. The practical instruction to
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus is set in the context of
the truth of accomplished salvation. In chapter 1 verse 5, For the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye have heard
before in the word of the truth of the gospel. The word of the
truth of the gospel is what God has revealed in the scriptures
to us. The word of the truth of the
gospel. It's the faith of God's elect. It's the faith once delivered
to the saints. It is that one clear faith. People say, oh, you can be a
Christian, you can have the label Christian, and you can believe
all sorts of different things. Not if you subject yourself to
this. It's all in the word of the truth
of the gospel, as it's been revealed in this book and nowhere else.
All errors and disagreements come about because people, in
their human frailty, misinterpret, or they do not submit to what
it plainly says. I always remember Don Faulkner
saying many years ago, very clearly, and listening to what he said
and taking note, that he said, when you read the scriptures,
generally speaking, nearly always, it means what it first looks
like it means. And yet, loads of so-called theologians
go out of their way to bend it and twist it and mold it into
a different shape to make it say something else. To say, well,
when it says this, it does. So when the scripture says, Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness, you know, I've heard people try
and twist and bend that always round so that it doesn't really
say that. But it does. It does. It means what it says
when you first read it. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. And in that gospel,
there's fruit. of that gospel. It says in verse
5, well, verses 4 and 5, faith, hope, and love is the fruit of
that gospel. The people who believe that gospel,
the people of God, exhibit the faith of God's elect. They exhibit
a hope of eternal glory that They have no confidence in the
flesh, that they rejoice in Christ Jesus, that their hopes are set
in heaven, and they have love for one another and for God.
And there's growth in gospel knowledge because in verse 10,
Paul's prayer was that the people he was writing to, and he includes
us, might walk worthy, that we might live worthy of the Lord,
and to all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing
in the knowledge of God. Meaning that we live a life which
is compatible with the Lord's revelation of salvation. Just
as we were driving through the forest yesterday, and it's amazing,
the number of trees that you pass where there's loads of apples
on the floor, little tiny crab apples, loads of them, absolutely
loads of them. And you look up and the trees are filled with
these golden fruits. Why are they Apples, why are
they like that? Why is the ground covered with
it? Why are they producing all that fruit? Because of the apple
sap that's flowing up from the rootstock. It's producing that
fruit, and so it is with the people of God. God's Spirit within
produces the fruit of the Spirit, and you know Galatians 5 tells
us the fruit of the Spirit, as opposed, different from the works
of the flesh, all of the evil works of the flesh, that the
fruit of the Spirit is love. joy, peace, patience, and so
he goes on. And it's watered and fed by the
growing apprehension of the facts of salvation. Let me say that
again. The fruit bearing of the believer
is watered and fed by growing apprehension of the facts of
the gospel. So, verse 12, giving thanks unto
the Father. We're still in chapter one. Giving
thanks unto the Father. Why? What for? Because he's made
us meet. He's made us fitted. He's qualified
us. Qualified us for what? to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, to be
joined heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, to have a kingdom to
inherit. Come ye blessed of my Father
is the message that Jesus said his people will hear on that
day. Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Verse 13, what has
he done in his work of saving grace? He's delivered us. He's
delivered us from the power of darkness. The world is in bondage
to the powers of darkness, to Satan. The world is in bondage
to sin. The world is in thrall to the
devil. But Christ has delivered us by
his saving grace, by his death on the cross for the sins of
his people. He's delivered us from the power
of darkness. And what has that done? It's
translated us. It's translated us from the kingdom
of this world, from the kingdom of this realm, from the life
philosophy of this world, into the kingdom of his dear Son.
How has he done it? In whom? His dear son. This is
the kingdom of the son of his love. He's translated us into
God's kingdom. And how has he done it? In whom?
In his son. We have redemption. What's paid
the price? Redemption's about buying something.
It's about buying goods with money. It's about paying a price.
In whom we have redemption? He has paid a price to deliver
us from the kingdom of Satan and translate us. into the kingdom
of the son of his love. What has paid that price? His
precious blood. Why blood? Why blood? Why blood? Because the Old Testament scriptures
tell us the life is in the blood. He gave his life. The soul that
sins, it shall die. You and I as sinners under the
justice of God strictly are destined for death. And we know that in
these mortal bodies we do die. But he has died in the place
of his people. He has died as the substitute
of his people. He has purchased by giving his
life, and the life is in the blood, and he shed his blood,
and he poured out that precious blood. And what did he accomplish?
Even the forgiveness of sins. Peace through the cross. Look
down at verse 20. having made peace. That blood
of that cross, that giving up of his life, paying with his
life in the place of his people, he has made peace. Peace with
what? Peace between those who are sinners
by nature and God who is holy. God who cannot tolerate sin.
He's made peace through the blood of his cross. And it's all done
by the Lord Jesus Christ to reconcile all things unto himself, all
things. So he has accomplished all of
these things. It's in the light of that knowledge
of the gospel of grace. It's in the light of growing
in grace and knowledge. It's in the light of that that
we live these lives. God chose his church to inherit
his kingdom in Christ. and translated that church, that
people, that body, from Satan's power into the kingdom of the
son of his love. Think what you were before you
believed the gospel. Think what you were, as Ephesians
tells us, children of wrath, even as others. And think what
you are now, not by what you have done, or the good things
that you have sort of lifted yourself higher than everybody
else around, Think what God has done for you. Think what you
are now by God's grace, by God's love, because it was his love
for his people before the beginning of time that drove him, if I
can put it that way, to save them from their sins. And that's
the motive to walk worthy of the Lord. Just to take an example,
just imagine a young army recruit, and this young army recruit has
come from a bad background, a very ill-disciplined background, a
rebellious background, I might even say a criminally inclined
background. And it would be regarded as the
sort of young person that people would want to avoid because they
wouldn't find any good in them. And he joins the army. and is
subject to the discipline of the army. I hope it's still like
this. It used to be like this. But
he's subject to the discipline of the army. And he's turned
from that undesirable character into a smart soldier, into a
disciplined soldier, into one who loves to live for the honor
of the regiment. And when it comes to the parade
day, if they're chosen to be the regiment trooping the color. It's not the fear of military
discipline that makes him polish his boots and iron his shirt
and all the rest of it. It's the honor of the regiment.
Now, do you see what I'm saying? It's a poor example, but that's
the way it is with the people of God living the life that God
calls us to live. So then, back to Colossians 3
and verse 17. All that you do in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks. Our conduct and behavior, one
to another, should always be framed in the light of the possession. It's something that the believer
possesses. Accomplished redemption. It should always be framed in
the light of accomplished redemption. the love of God in Christ which
conceived redemption, which accomplished salvation. It's that that constrains. Is that not what the scripture
says? What constrains the behavior of believers? It's the love of
Christ that constrains us. It isn't law. The love of Christ,
that love of God which accomplished salvation is what constrains
and directs and steers the believers' conduct. So then I want to look
at verses 18 down to verse 1, I don't know why they put the
division where they did, but to verse 1 of chapter 4, to give
instruction regarding family life, marriage and children,
and business life. But not in a vacuum, not in a
kind of a do this because I say so, rather do this because it
reflects the character and nature of God. In Matthew's Gospel,
chapter 5, in the Sermon on the Mount, verse 16, Jesus said,
let your light so shine before men that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. As moonlight
is no light of its own, the moon doesn't have any light of its
own, all it does is reflects the sun's light. In that way,
don't hinder, don't hinder God's light from shining in what you
do, for what we do is the reflection of the light of God. So then,
in verses 18 and 19 we read this, and this is in, clearly it's
the very practical part of the epistle, it's the gospel precepts
part of the epistle concerning these things of marriage and
children and Business life. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your
wives and be not bitter against them. Why should wives be submissive
and husbands loving? Why should that be? Ah, because
it says so and you just do it that way. No, verse 18, as it
is fit in the Lord. It's as it is fit in the Lord.
Marriage is ordained of God. We read in Ephesians chapter
five, and it was quoting Genesis chapter two, therefore shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife, and they shall be one flesh. It pictures Christ and
his bride. Turn back to those verses that
Peter read for us earlier. Ephesians five verse 22 down
to 32. In verse 22 of Ephesians 5, wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Do it as if you're doing it as
unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of
the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is
the savior of the body. This is quite radically different,
isn't it, to the philosophy of this world that's around us today,
that has thrown all these ideas of biblical Christian truth out
and has tried to reinvent the the sociology of interactions
between male and female, husbands and wives, that's all been thrown
out. But this is what the word of
God says. Therefore, verse 24, as the church, why, why subject? Well, it's like the church being
subject to Christ. As the church is subject unto
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands. Would anybody
argue that the church is greater than Christ? No, the church is
subject to Christ. So let the wives be to their
own husbands in everything. And then how do we counter that?
Husbands, love your wives. Why? Why? Because Christ loved
the church. Christ loved the church and gave
himself, sacrificed himself for it, that he might make it holy,
sanctify it, that he might cleanse it from its sins with the washing
of water by the word, that he might present it to himself,
for he is God, And this church will be presented to God, that
he might present it to himself, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loveth his wife loveth himself. No man ever hated his own flesh,
but nourisheth and treasure it. Cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the Church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause, the man shall
leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife,
and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery. And
then he tells us what I'm speaking, really, concerning Christ and
the Church. Marriage is just that picture
of the relationship between Christ, the husband, and his Church,
the bride. What a shining of the light of
God in this perverse world is what we've read in these verses.
Married believers constantly look unto Jesus. His marriage
to his church, as you look at his love for his church, at his
sacrifice for his church, at his humility in coming down from
glory to accomplish the redemption of his church, the tenderness
of Christ to his church. Is he not tender with his people?
Is this Great God, who to the unbelieving world is a consuming
fire, into whose hands it is a fearful thing to fall, yet
to his people he's so tender. I call you no longer my servants,
but I call you my friends. He loves his church. You read
about it in the Song of Solomon, pictured in that allegory, but
it's about the love of God for his people. His trustworthiness. We can trust him in a world where
we can trust so little. Look, think of it. That is picturing
what he's calling husbands and wives to be like. His church
is absolute dependence on him. And that light of the way God
is with his church is shined into the lives of believing married
couples in this world. And it will reflect that glory
of God. The same goes, you say, well,
what about situations where one spouse believes and the other
doesn't? We won't go there for the sake of time, but 1 Corinthians
chapter 7 addresses that situation, and basically says the same thing,
that though one might not believe, yet the believing one should
continue to exhibit these characteristics of Christian love and Christian
obedience as far as possible, reflecting the situation between
Christ and his church. And who knows? in the grace of
God the light of the believing one may shine into the one who
doesn't believe. Secondly then, in verse 20 and
21, Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well
pleasing unto the Lord. The marriage union The family
is for the procreation of children. But the kingdom of Satan, this
world in which we live, with its godless philosophy, has done
so much to try to destroy God's pattern. The breakdown of societal
structures that we see all around us is largely due to the destruction
of the family unit, of society saying to itself that they will
not have this man to rule over them, they will not have this
God, this gospel, this Christ, they will not have his edicts
to rule over them. It's largely due to the throwing
of that all overboard that society's in the mess that it is these
days. And government economics have all been adjusted and contrived
to pressurize mothers to work and delegate raising their children
to hirelings and all of these other sorts of things. I know
they're politically very controversial, but I really do believe that
what I'm saying is in accord with what this word says. It
really is, it really is. But let's come down to the level
of real parents and children in families, especially in believing
families. Children, children. Whether you
believe the gospel or not, the Lord, our God, is pleased by
your obedience to your parents. And it even says so, doesn't
it, that in what we read in Ephesians 5 and 6, that there's a commandment
that says it. Even in the law of Moses, there's
a commandment, the fourth commandment says, Honor your father and mother.
It's a commandment with promise. Honor your father and mother.
It's part and parcel how things should be. But it isn't just
one way of children being submissively obedient to parents. He says
over the page in verse 21, fathers, provoke not your children to
anger, lest they be discouraged. You know, we know how easily
that can be done. We know how easily in literature,
the writings of Dickens and the way he portrays many families,
you know, 200 years ago, and the harshness of some of the
fathers that he portrays there. So the scripture puts a balance
in. Fathers, provoke not your children
to anger, lest they be discouraged. You know, Why is this pleasing
unto the Lord? The answer is this. Always, this
is it. This just isn't the scriptures
giving us social science instruction. This is because it reflects the
relationship between God and his children. In the family,
fathers and mothers and your children, it reflects the relationship
between God and his children because God is father to his
believing children. Christ says in Isaiah 8 and verse
18, behold I and the children whom the Lord has given me. He
is the father of his children. In Hebrews chapter two, he calls
his people, he calls them his many sons that he's bringing
to glory. He calls them his brethren. Our
God calls his people his brethren, but he calls them his children.
He calls them his children and he leaves glory to partake of
the same flesh as the children. Why? So that he can redeem them
from their sin, so that he can save them from their sin, so
that he can justly forgive them their sins. His elect people
are called in Romans chapter nine and verse eight, the children
of promise, the children of promise. He's making a difference between
all of the Israelites who didn't believe and the ones that did.
He's saying they're not all Israel which are of Israel, but he calls
the ones that are true the children of promise. His spirit tells
his people, the spirit witnesses with our spirits in Romans chapter
8 and verse 16. Let me turn to that. Romans chapter 8 and verse 16,
the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit. That's an internal
conversation, as it were. The Spirit beareth witness with
our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then
heirs and joint heirs with Christ. We're children of God. In Romans
8 verse 21, he delivers us from the bondage of sin into the glorious
liberty of who? The children of God, of God's
children. Being his children by grace,
experiencing his forgiveness, experiencing his providential
care and guidance and his discipline, it's all in the context of his
thoughts towards his people. Jeremiah 29 verse 11, what does
God think towards his people? What does God think towards his
children? He tells us, these are the thoughts
that I think to you, thoughts of peace and not of evil. Thoughts
of peace, why? To give you an expected end.
What's the expected end? A glorious end, an end in heaven. So, Christian parents, should
that not be reflected in your relationship with your children?
And seeing and experiencing loving, gracious, empathetic parental
care, children will find it much easier to submit to what the
scripture calls for, to obey them. Then servants and masters
in Colossians 3 verse 22. Obey in all things your masters
according to the flesh, not with eye-servers as men-pleasers,
but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Whatsoever you do, do it
heartily, as unto 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 that he's done. There's no respect of persons,
masters, Give to your servants that which is just and equal,
knowing that ye also have a master in heaven. The precept is clear. Servants, employees, as we might
say today, do what is asked of you as if it were God himself
that was doing the asking. Masters, employers, managers,
be fair, be reasonable, be empathetic, recognizing that you're subject
to a master and ultimately to your master in heaven, who is
always fair and just. The world of work is so often
subject to strife, the world of business to strife, and it's
driven by selfish interests, unjust employers putting greed
before fairness, and unreasonable workers holding employers to
ransom. But not so for God's people.
For God's people are called to reflect what he's calling for
us to do here. Do all as unto the Lord. Obey as if it's the
Lord that you're obeying. The precept is to obey in all
things as unto the Lord and trust Him. You say, well, what about
this situation that's not fair? Does the scripture not say that
God causes all things to work together for good to those who
love God, who are called according to His purpose? And so therefore,
is the right thing to do not Not to fight, but to trust him,
to trust him that he orders all things. He'll order all things.
Remember the willing bondservant. You know, there was the law in
the Old Testament, in the books of Moses, there was the law about
the bondservant and they were to serve for six years and then
the seventh year they were to be let free that was that was
the the the jubilee well for seven sevens was the jubilee
but it was the the freedom they were to go out free after six
years but there's the one that doesn't want to go out why because
he loves his master because his master's kind and fair and reasonable
his master loves him and he loves his master and so he binds himself
he's the bond servant he binds himself to that master he says
i don't want to go out I'm happy to serve this master and commit
to him for my life. Well, is that not how it is with
the people of God and their Lord and master? Willing bond servants. These precepts of Christian conduct,
they're not just laws to be obeyed, but they're principles to be
followed in the light of the relationship of God with his
people. fathers to children, parents
to children, husbands to wives, masters to servants. But we're
servants who are the friends of God. I call you no longer
my servants, but my friends. And what is the thing that marks
the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ calls his servants his
friends? When I was working, I only got
to know so much. I was told to do certain things,
but the company didn't tell me why it was doing most of the
things it did. It didn't tell me its secrets.
It didn't tell me the secrets of the boardroom. I was its servant,
but not its friend. But Jesus says, I've told you
the secrets of my Father in heaven. He's revealed the gospel. He's
revealed the truth of salvation to his friends. That's why he
calls us his friends. Remember the verse that I quoted
at the start from Ephesians 2 and verse 10. We are his workmanship,
the workmanship of God. created in Christ Jesus and to
good works which God has before ordained that we should walk
in them.