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COLOSSIANS - Christ in you, the hope of glory!
Studies in the Letter of Paul to the Colossians

Part 3 - What Does Your Resurrection Life Look like? (Colossians 3:1-17)

19. What are you doing for Christ? (Colossians 3:17)


Paul closes this introduction into his church-ethics section with a comprehensive sentence, one that ultimately crushes our self-satisfaction and complacency. At the same time, it binds us fully to Jesus:

Colossians 3:17
17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.

What is it that occupies you every day and every night? What are you hoping to do during the summer vacation or later in your life? What do you talk about during the course of a week? How would you react if all your words from the past month were openly played out for all to hear and discuss?

With this demand - that all of our words and every one of our deeds should, in the end, be seen and done as service to God - Paul laid upon us a nearly unthinkable and unobtainable duty. Yet that is exactly the mystery of the Christian, in the event he lives “in Christ”: he no longer lives and works for self, but for his beloved Lord, whom he serves with all of his words and deeds.

What does this mean for the housewife in the kitchen, in the bathroom or in the garden? She no longer just serves her husband and her children in her daily work, but Jesus. She raises her children not just to have them attain a high standard of life, but to draw them to Jesus.

What do these words mean for the young student in grammar school, or for the university student sitting in the lecture-room? What about when he comes home or when he goes on vacation? He no longer learns only for himself and for his future family, but for Jesus. By the Spirit of Jesus, he will be led to overcome godless and materialistic teaching. The Bible will lead him to develop a spiritual world-view, one that has value for eternity. The word of his Lord is especially important to him: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (that are left) shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).

What does this tremendous apostolic demand mean for every worker, employee or company boss? It means his fellow men and co-workers are to be more important for him than the machines or the product they make. The work should still be exact, solid, and done in a correct manner. It is, however, not to destroy the creation, but to maintain it. Health, place of work, moneybag and health insurance are, in the end, gifts of Jesus.

Everyone should consider the thought: if I am to continually serve Jesus in deed and word, how do I need to change my speech and work, my participation in the church and my free-time activities? Do we want to do this at all, or do we want to limit our church service to just Sunday and a few other occasions. Shouldn´t we repent and ask the Lord to help us to live for Him? Don´t we need His help to tell others about Him, how He lived, died and rose from the dead? Paul calls all of us, especially those he calls “saints and beloved”, to a fundamental repentance, so that from now on we might be engaged no longer only for self, but for the Lamb of God who offered Himself for us.

Jesus gets to the very bottom of all our social and evangelistic service. He tells us, in advance, how He will examine us on the Day of Judgment, which will include both what we did – and what we didn´t do for “HIM” (Matt. 25:31-46)! In so doing, He mentions the hungry, who we either fed or didn´t feed. He cites the thirsty, whose thirst we either helped to quench or didn´t help to quench. He reminds us of the foreigners and the guest-workers, who we either took in or didn´t take in. He speaks of those deficiently clothed, who we either clothed properly or didn´t cloth properly. He mentions the sick that were waiting for a person to come to talk and pray with them. When was the last time you set aside time to love and pray for someone sick? Jesus even talks about the criminals in prison, who have been locked away from the rest of mankind. Who is it that loves them enough to visit them and take them the gospel? Have you ever thought about them? Jesus identifies Himself with those in distress, the sick, the despised, the guilty and the despairing. If you want to serve HIM, then serve them!

Do not, however, try and begin such a ministry merely out of enthusiasm or personal incentive. Rather, ask your Lord and Saviour for the leading of the Spirit toward every person who awaits your words and service. In and of yourself, you cannot properly serve God, and, in truth, it is He that first serves you, so that you can then serve Him. Service to God first means that God saves and sanctifies you. Because of that you can be to others, whose lost condition He has pity on, a wise and merciful servant, just as He had pity on you in your situation.

With this command it may also be that Paul wanted to call into remembrance, that not only are our deeds and words to be directed toward Jesus, but that our head, too, is to be involved – in its battle against sin, as well as in the purity of our words. His apostolic command includes the demand for us to show mercy, compassion and mutual forgiveness in the church. All of this happens that the bond of perfection might be completed in the church assembly, and that a unity in peace might be maintained. What are we actually doing for Jesus in our church? It can most obviously be seen in the intercession that we offer, as well as in the giving of thanks for all the church members. Whoever asks Jesus for service, to him He will give it.

The apostle to the nations knew that Christians, with all their good intentions, often quickly grow cold, fail, or become proud. Therefore, he wrote them that they were to do all their activities in the name of the Lord Jesus. The name of Jesus is the decisive great power in the battle with the occult world. This name is the “air-raid shelter” in which we can survive and be victorious. It is, however, not that we might have success in life, but rather, the victory of Jesus at Golgotha that moved the Father to give Him all power in heaven and on earth. For that reason, demons tremble before the name of the Lord Jesus!

Some Christians testify that in His name they have experienced breakthroughs in the kingdom of God. Some have even commanded powerful and seductive forces to retreat, to be removed and never come back – all “in the name of the Lord Jesus”. The name of Jesus is found 975 times in the New Testament and is the most important word in all of its 27 books. Do we really know Jesus?

Paul had not yet finished offering his life-changing words before he went on to summon the Colossians to offer thanksgiving to God the Father, through Jesus His Son. Here, once again, the Father name of God shines through in his words. Just as at the beginning of this book, we want to again point to the fact that Jesus, in His words in the New Testament, mentions the Father 200 times. The Son called Him “My Father” (59 times), or respectfully “the Father” (80 times). In His prayers He addressed Him as “Father” (ten times) and, in view of His disciples, described Him as “your (pl) Father” (21 times) or as “your (sing) Father (five times). In the Lord´s Prayer He joined, together with us questionable creatures, in instructing us to call His own Father, who is the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, “our Father”.

Our heavenly Father, through the judicial justification brought about by the atoning death of Jesus, adopted us and legally recognized us as His children. Since the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual second-birth of the followers of Jesus, we have all existentially become children of God. Through the legacy of our heavenly Father we are being sanctified and kept, as well as motivated for service. This mystery, however, finds its completion only in our total dependence upon the Lord Jesus. Only with HIM and in HIM do we become children of our Father in heaven.

Whoever attains insight into the depth of the love of God begins to thank Him. The one who does not thank Him has not yet been overcome by the height, width, depth and length of His love. How often do you thank Him? Has your life become an offering of thanksgiving for the love in the Holy Trinity? How far have you come in your resurrection life? Learn many of the verses quoted in this chapter by heart, so that they will lead your heart to offer thanksgiving and worship to the Father and the Son in the discipline of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Father in heaven, we worship and thank You, because You have also testified to being our Father through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Forgive us when we do not continuously live in this conscious awareness. Help us, so that all that we do, think and speak will be directed toward You and Your Son in the leading of Your Spirit. Let many who are still not Christians enter into this privilege. Amen.

Question 46: How can we do everything unto Jesus? How can we show thanksgiving to our Father?

And
whatever you do
in word or deed,
do all
in the name
of the
Lord Jesus Christ,
Giving thanks
To
God the Father
Through Him.

(Col. 3:17)

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