Seeking for the help of the Lord I direct your prayerful attention to Colossians chapter 3 and reading for our text verse 17. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 17. And 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. Colossians 3 verse 17

The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Colossians, he seeks to have Christ exalted in all things. If we were to go to the first chapter, we see how that in verse 15 he starts a section there giving the preeminence of Christ. He says who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, and He sets forth how in verse 17 there, that in all things He might have the preeminence, that is the highest position possible, none could ever come as high as He, none could ever come to the position that He is in.

And it is in this vein that then He continues in verse 28 of chapter 1. He seeks that everyone might be made perfect or complete in Christ, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." So their preaching was aiming at a real practical effect in the hearts and lives of the believers that they might be complete, not lacking anything in the Lord Jesus Christ.

then going on to the second chapter we have in verse six a walking in him as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him and in fact in this chapter in this chapter he is emphasizing again and again a union of being in Christ. Verse 7, rooted and built up in Him. Verse 9, for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And verse 10, and ye are complete in Him.

And this is Paul's emphasis, he is bringing these believers, these at Colossae, and presenting them in Christ so that they can clearly see their interest in Him, what He is to them, and that in their lives they would reflect His honour and His glory as being His children. And so then we have the beginning of the third chapter where our text is, If ye then be risen with Christ, Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. bringing them to look at how they have been quickened together with Christ and exhorting them to seek those things above not just those things above but where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God and you see his emphasis right through is pointing them unto Christ

Our believers should acknowledge Christ in all their life, not just religious, not just in our services, not just in our worship. When we think about it, we gather together as we do this evening and then on the Lord's Day a couple of times. But for most of our lives, we have got other callings. There's that which you do for the rest of the week. You're schooling your lawful callings. You're mixing with the world. You're mixing with those for whom Christ means nothing at all. But the apostle would have the people of God to remember that they are risen with Christ.

And so in the words of our text, it is not just the theory of it but it is in whatsoever you do in word or in deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by Him and so this is what is upon my spirit this evening that's Christ in all of our lives that he might have the preeminence and that we might acknowledge him in all that we do.

I want to look at three points. Firstly, a vital prerequisite to our text. And that is to be risen with Christ. Then we have doing all in the name of Christ. And the emphasis there predominantly is what men see and men hear. And then lastly, giving thanks to God by Jesus Christ and in that we are coming before God and predominantly in prayer giving thanks by Him.

But firstly I want to look at this vital prerequisite. I don't believe the Apostle is questioning the Colossians. He has spoken of them in the first chapter as the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae. He also commends their faith, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have to all the saints, and the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.

He's not, as it were, questioning, are you really, are you really risen with Christ? Are you really born again? Have you died to self and risen again in newness of life? But he's saying, if this is the case, if indeed ye have risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.

But it does bring that real question, doesn't it? We are exhorted that we should make our calling and election sure. For those of us who have made profession, it is a reminder that that profession requires of us a walk answerable to that profession. But for those who as yet do not know, then it brings this searching question. Do we have an interest in Christ's death and in His resurrection? Has He died to put away our sins and risen again for our justification?

It is not enough to imitate God's people. However praiseworthy and however good a person might fashion their lives around the instructions given to God's people, it doesn't make them God's people. And we need to be very careful that while we are setting forth that we are saved by grace, we don't subtly change it and say, well, these epistles are not just those to Colossae, but they give us the instructions and to how to live. And we pay attention to that, and we seek to fashion our lives according to that. but without first really knowing the Lord for ourselves.

And in that sense we can substitute the new birth with the works of fruits of the new birth, imitating them. We do not want an imitation faith. Paul is very clear that this is writing to those that already are saved.

You know, there's many times in the Word of God that the emphasis is put on looking at the root, looking at the foundation, We think of David in 2 Samuel chapter 23. He's coming to the end of his life. The last words of David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. And he says, although my house be not so with God. He looks at his house, he looks at himself, his sins, his failings, and he looks at his sons and all what they have done, and he says, my house is far from perfect. And then he says, yet God hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure, this is all my salvation and all my desire.

And then he's got another, although. He starts the verse with an although, he finishes it, he says, although he make it not to grow. So in one sense, at the beginning, his house, himself, his family, were not what he wanted. And at the end, even his profession, even his calling, Even those things that the Lord had wrought in him, he viewed them not to increase as he would like, or grow as he would like.

You know, the picture is, we are not perfect at all by nature. Our lives, our families are not perfect. And even when called by grace, our witness, our profession is not perfect. But in between in that verse was what was all David's salvation and desire. And that was a covenant. That was a covenant of grace, of mercy, made with him in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. Our Lord says, Thine they were and Thou gavest them me. Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. If the beginning is right, the foundation is right, if God is in the beginning, in choosing, electing, in providing a covenant and putting us in that covenant, then whatever our house, whatever our life, it will be well.

How is that covenant realized that we're in it? How do we know our election? How do we know that we have been risen with Christ? Because He has called us. He's called us by His grace. And in that there's a slaying and then there's a reviving.

David rather the Apostle Paul he says concerning his own call he says I was alive without the law once he was a Pharisee doing just these things to merit eternal life being very religious man but not knowing if he had risen with Christ he was strangers stranger to the Lord. But then when the Lord began, He said, When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And that which was ordained unto life, I found to be unto death. He was brought, as it were, dead, buried, buried with Christ. No hope in self, no hope in the Lord, no hope in His own works,

Later on, he says in Romans 10, how he longed for his own countrymen to be saved, but he saw them that they were zealous. They were very religious, but without knowledge. They were going about to establish their own righteousness. And this is the danger, if we come straight to such a passage as this, that is very practical and is speaking of how a Christian should walk as being in Christ, that we don't change and make that to be our hope. No, that is not our hope, because it will never be perfect, however much we are unable to walk in. Sin is mixed with everything, but the Lord knows that, but the danger is with us. If we look upon it, we say like the Pharisee in prayer, I thank God that I'm not like other men. And our focus is on our works rather than Christ and his blood and what he has done in putting away our sin and rising again for our justification.

All that are slain by the law, and that is what the law does, takes away our hope. They are quickened again in Christ. The hope that they have is in Christ, in what He has done, His death, His sufferings, that He has put away their sin. That is our hope, that Christ has died for us and risen again. And so we know that by then calling, being quickened, being given a new nature. And when Paul writes to the Ephesians, he tells them that the power that has been wrought in them is the same power that Christ wrought when He, or God wrought when He raised up Christ from the dead and set Him at His own right hand.

So I want to ask this question, how is it with us? Have we clearly been called? Has the Lord changed our heart, made the word different, given us hearing ears and seeing eyes? All things passed away, all things become new. Has he done that? Maybe gently, maybe over a period of time, possibly suddenly, but has he done it? Say, I am not now what I once was. And there is that desire, not to gain heaven or God's approval, but that desire for a love to Christ, to do that which is pleasing in His sight,

When the Lord appeared to Saul, Paul, the Apostle Paul, the immediate response was, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And it was not, What wilt thou have me to do to gain thy favour, to merit salvation? But it was as the Lord said while He was on earth, He called me Lord, and ye say, Well, for so I am, but ye do not the things that I say. Those that call our Lord, Lord, we ought to be esteeming Him, our Lord. in all things and obeying Him and serving Him and this is what the Apostle is aiming at here that Christ might have the preeminence in the lives of His people that whatever they do not just religious things but whatever they do whether it be in word or whether it be in deed, they might do all things, all things to the glory of God.

Whatever you do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. If we do not have the Spirit's witness with our spirit that we are born of God, Ask the Lord for it. Ask the Father for the Holy Spirit. If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?

The Lord said, Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life. He said at another time that He is the Light and men will not come unto the light, because their deeds are evil. But if we are mindful of our sinfulness, we will still seek to bring that, not hide it, but bring it before the Lord, asking to be washed and cleansed and renewed.

But the most important thing is that we do have a union with Christ. We do believe in Him, and to you which believe He is precious, the Lord Jesus Christ is set forth before us. If ever, says the hymn writer, my poor soul be saved, tis Christ must be the way. Well, if we do truly then come under this word, being risen with Christ, a beautiful description of the new birth of God's people, a people that have been raised with Christ in union with Him as Christ raised from the dead so they have been quickened and our mortal bodies in due time also will be quickened as well.

Well if that is the case then our second point is for you. And if not, then listen to this second point and desire that you might be put amongst those that do these things not for earning salvation, but because they love the Lord. And the Lord has said, In this word, this inspired word, whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. So I want to look secondly, doing all in the name of Christ, in the name of the Lord Jesus.

now the emphasis here is put on word and deed these are things that men see when we go to work when we mix with the world we speak to them when we're with them we're doing things nehemiah says that so did not i because of the fear of the lord world we are told we should give a reason of the hope that is within us to everyone that asketh a reason. Why do they ask? Because they see that we do things that they don't do, and we don't do things that they do, that we are like Peter, thy speech betrayeth thee, We actually speak as those that are sober, those that are not of this world.

And so this point here is pointing to what men observe in us. And the emphasis as well is that when they see, when they hear, that from time to time it is our privilege to testify that what we say and what we do is because the Lord is our Lord, because we obey Him, because we love Him and not hiding the spring, the reason why we act and do as we do. So I want to notice a few points. The first thing is that our lives will be governed by the Word of God, to the law and to the testimony, to the Word of God. We read in verse 16, just above our text, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. It would be a solemn thing if the Lord's quickened people did not take with them the Word of God in all that they do, and whatever they do, and whatever they say, their concern is, is what I am going to do in conflict with the Word of God, or is it in agreement with the Word of God, is how I speak according to the Word of God, or is it contrary, or is it like the language of the world?

This should be our thought, perhaps subconscious, but if the Word is dwelling richly in us, then whatever we do, and it embraces all things in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. So if someone was to ask us, well, why? Why are you doing such things? You would say, I am doing this because of the word of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That is why I am doing this. That is why I'm acting as I am.

When we think of the apostles in the early church, And when they worked miracles, they were very careful to say that it was not them, it's not in us to do these things. These things are done through the name of Jesus Christ. And they put the crown on his head. They didn't take any of the glory, any of the praise to themselves, but they let it be known whose they were, who they served.

One thing I was grieved over in some of the debates quite a while ago now, I think it was probably the assisted dying bill going through the House of Commons. And there was never a Christian that got up and said, now this is what I feel we should do, because this is the teaching of my Lord and Savior, this is the Word of God. But there was a humanist that got up and said, this is what we should do, this and this and this, and this is because I'm a humanist, and this is what I believe should be done. Now, in effect, she gave all the credit to her doctrine, her teaching. But those that were Christians, and supposedly there's 170 of them in our Parliament, you didn't hear any of them say that what they were speaking was because it was the Word of their God, and they loved their God, and wanted to see His Word and His glory extolled in the laws of this land.

It's one thing to govern our lives by the Word of God, what we speak and what we do. Another thing to actually let people know that is what we are doing. Not leave them to think, well, maybe there are some other religion, maybe they've got some other notions. We shouldn't be ashamed of testifying that we are following the Lord Jesus, we are obeying Him.

But secondly, in the right spirit we are to do things. Earlier on in this chapter, we read from verse 12 through to 15, of really the spirit that we should be in. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. One that is walking in that way, they couldn't help but be noticed, surely. Wouldn't that be a mark of their character, Forbearing one another and forgiving one another? If any man have a quarrel against any, Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Above all these things put on charity, that practical outworking of love, which is the bond of perfectness. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. This is not just the things that are done in word and deed, but it is the spirit in which they are done. We are exhorted to try the spirits, whether they are of God. and often someone might not understand our arguments but they can understand what spirit that we are betraying but then we have to do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Paul says this to the Philippians, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. We are not to be looking for our own strength or wisdom, but looking for that in Christ. And that also is to be evident where we are deriving our strength and our help from.

Another thing we are to do is to follow His example. Again we are told, leaving us, and Peter does this, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps. He says, As the good shepherd, when the shepherd puts forth his sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep they follow him. If we are followers of the Lord, we will follow Him in word, we will follow Him in and we'll make it known who we are following.

Now people in this world, they follow all sorts of things. Some will say, well I know my star sign, I'm following my star sign. Another one will say, I'm following my feelings. All sorts of things. The Lord Jesus Christ said to believers, if you continue in my word you shall be my disciples indeed, or a follower of the Lord. Continuing in the word. Whose faith follow, that is again Paul he says, be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ.

It's a solemn position. I feel it so as a minister of the gospel. Sometimes we might speak to someone and ask them why they're doing something. And instead of going to the Word of God and saying, this is why I'm doing it, they'll say, well, so-and-so does it, Mr. Wheatley does it, or another minister does it. And without going to the Word of God, they're just following me or following someone else. What if I make a mistake? What if I go wrong? How easy I can lead others astray just because of what I am doing. And I've heard it so many times, people saying their reason or excuse as to why they're doing a certain thing was because an esteemed minister is doing it. And it almost tends to shut down any examination of the Word of God, whether it's right or whether it's wrong. Or how can you go against them? How can you speak against them? How can you bring the Word of God and say that Lord's servant is doing wrong? But we should.

I often think of what he said that's in the law, the Lord visiting the iniquities of the fathers unto the children and the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And you see it quite often in the kings of Judah. and you find the sins of a father is passed on to the children and they pass it on to their children but there comes a generation that breaks that snare they're like the Josiahs they go back to the word of God and there's a reset We tend to just follow on, because a former generation have done things, said things, we just do it blindly, without going back to the Word of God and thinking, well did they do it right, or were they just copying the former generation, who copied the former generation, and have not rediscovered the Word of God.

So just be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and only follow a man as far as he follows Christ. We are to do all things, not in pride, but as towards Christ. No, the Lord said how we are to speak, that we are unprofitable servants. We have only done that which was our duty to do. Now there's a saying, well, you must take pride in your work, and in one sense, it's good. If you see someone that is sloppy and careless in their work, it's not a good testimony for anything at all. But perhaps another way of speaking is that I do all things for Christ, that working as unto the Lord and not as unto men. That is our aim, not for our pride, but to please the Lord, to do the best, to be the best worker, the best servant, the best husband, the best wife, because we serve the Lord. That's why.

You know, if we were to have the King come and visit our home, and we'd race about trying to get it all spruced up and all very nice, Well, hopefully it was, so that it would be acceptable to them when they came in. But I'm sure when we'd finished it, we looked at it, and thinking of who the visitor was going to be, that we'd done a very poor job of that. That it was, there's so many imperfections.

But we should be in our work, aiming not to please men, but to please God. That servant girl that was asked to give an evidence of how the grace of God had changed her life. She said, well, before I was called, I only cleaned where it would be seen. But now I clean everywhere the same, whether it is seen or not. Mindful that the Lord saw her. and she did it as unto the Lord.

And of course this is what the Apostle is speaking of here. What you are doing in word or deed is in the name of the Lord. It's a very high calling, very high standard. But we also to do in word or deed in submission to God's providence and His will. If the Lord will, we will do this or that. Sometimes it is a very big test of us, isn't it, when we have plans and then the Lord stops those plans.

Now one thing that I've had to learn, sometimes in a painful way, You know when we sometimes go away and we stay in a travel lodge or something like that. And you get a much cheaper rate if you pay for it in a way that if you can't go you lose all your money. And you have to pay another 10 or 20 pounds to get it fully flexible so you can cancel on the very day. But there's been some times that we have been ill. We haven't been able to go, and once or so have lost all that money.

But I felt it in this way, if we really believe in submission to the will of God, if we really believe and would be submissive to the providence of God, we would always pay that extra flexibility, thinking, this is not set in stone. Just because I've decided I'm going to be well enough to go away, doesn't mean to say that I will be. And if I make it flexible, I'm in effect saying, Lord, I've made this plan. But as far as I can, I've made it so that you can change it. You can stop it. You can turn it about. And it's submissive unto His providence.

Sometimes people can get very fretful, we can get very fretful, very upset, if things don't go our way. And yet if we are doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, then we must be submissive, that the Lord has that sovereign right to say no, that is not going to happen.

Another thing that should mark our deeds, our words, is the grace of our Lord. Those afflictions, those trials, those difficulties that come upon us, the Apostle Paul with his thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, and he desired at first that it be removed. But the Lord said, no, my grace is sufficient for thee. So Paul says, much rather will I glory in my infirmity when I am weak than when I am strong. My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness.

And so in those things that we do, may we seek not to do them in our own strength, but to be seeking that strength of the Lord. And when the Lord gives that strength and people say, oh, you've done marvelously well, or you have done well, you say, well, I asked to the Lord's strength and he helped me. He enabled me to do it. He answered our prayers.

How easy it is to be like those lepers. Where are the nine? They took their blessing. They took their help. They took their healing. They never returned to give glory to God. And we can be like that. Men can commend us. Well, you've done well. You've got good marks in that exam. You've got this high award. You've got these things. You've got these abilities. You can do these things around the home, around the church. And you never say, but the Lord gave me those skills. He gave me that ability. He's helped me to do it. He prepared me for that role.

Now we need to not take that glory to ourselves, but give it unto the Lord. Beautiful word, really. At the end of verse 24 in our chapter, for ye serve the Lord Christ. And so whatever we do, in word or in deed, if we're mindful, we serve the Lord Christ. We do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. We do it as ascribing all the help, all the guidance, all the grace, all the strength, everything is done in His dear Name.

Sometimes there is great reproach, or put upon the Church of God, when men do in the name of the Lord atrocities, terrible things, walking away so inconsistent, bringing reproach upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle would have these Colossians do the opposite. Instead of reproach, those things that are done have done so consistently and in obedience to the Lord that they glorify His name as done in His name. It's a real test of whether something is right or wrong, isn't it? Can we openly before men do this in the Lord's name? Can we openly before men speak in this way as speaking in the name of the Lord?

I want to look then lastly at the giving thanks to God by Christ. Giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. we've spoken about outwardly before men. But what do we do in prayer? What do we do before God? Of course, God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But it's emphasized here, God and the Father. Our Lord says, the Father himself loveth you. And the emphasis here is the Father, He gave the Son. He gave Him, and in giving Him, He gives to the Church everything. It is pleased the Father that in Him, that is in Christ, should all fullness dwell.

So when we receive of His fullness, when we receive these helps, these blessings, then we are to return to our God. and give thanks where the fountain comes from, where everything flows from, from the love of the Father through the Son to God's honour and glory. And so it is giving thanks in this way, making that acceptable.

In our second point, It was glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ in word and deed towards men or seed of men. In our third point, in the giving thanks, it is glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ before God, before the Father. The Father says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And we in prayer, Thy beloved Son is all that we need. He is everything to us, all that we do and all that we say. Everything comes through His precious blood, comes through His grace, comes through His hand.

Love those words, see? Thou openest thy hand and satisfyest the desire of every living thing. He is good to all, the tender mercies are over all His works. And His people see it and acknowledge it and thanks to God. it's a blessed thing where our prayers reflect our words and deeds in our lives we might say our words and deeds reflect our prayers as well never think that our prayer life Our life in giving thanksgiving to God is separate from our life in word and deed in this world. Those things should go together.

How much do we pray concerning what we do in a day, what we say in a day, and how much do we give thanks at the end of a day, for what strength, what grace, what help, that we have been given is a constant reminder to us, a reminder to ourselves. Though we don't get puffed up, feel we pride and forget where our strength came from.

You know, Samson, the Lord had blessed him with great strength. But he slew a thousand men with the jaw of an ass, and he spake of it as in a way of pride, and he threw away the jawbone. And then he became so faint, so thirsty, and he had to cry to the Lord, and the Lord clave a hollow in the jawbone, and there he had the water that he so needed. In the end, strength all gone, eyes out, captive, crying unto the Lord strengthen me yet this once.

Samson had to acknowledge his strength came from the Lord. And we often have to be reminded of that. When the Lord says without me he can do nothing. is reflected in this. In word, in deed, we can't do anything. It's a good thing that we're reminded and coming before the Lord to give that thanks due unto Him, because we can be sure if it's not unto Him, we'll be taking it to ourselves. Yes, we will. And I feel very much to fail in this. May it be a help to you and a help to me.

This then is the practical part of this chapter, of this passage. This to the Colossians where Paul seeks to magnify and lift up a precious Christ. Well may we find this word to be of a real practical and good help to us. as well, and whatsoever ye do in word or day, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.