“And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”
In the last article I wrote about letting “the peace of God rule in your hearts,” being thankful, and letting “the word of Christ dwell in you.” I called it “Three Good Rules for Christian living.” Notice that this text begins with the conjunction “and.” This means that Colossians 3:17 is a continuation of the theme of Christian service and fellowship given in verses 15-16. When we are equipped with peace, thankfulness and the word of Christ, we are ready to serve the Lord effectively. This verse tells us how to serve the Lord. Notice the word “whatsoever.” (It is translated “whatever” in NIV.) “Whatever,” tells us that no matter what the service we are to render we are to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. This suggests to me that there is no service that we can render for the Lord that will be of little consequence. One might think that being an usher is not as important as teaching a Sunday School class, leading the singing or preaching. (We could say that about any number of services that go on at a church.) Ushering would fall under “whatever.” If you are going to be a church usher, don’t just give out bulletins, but make it a ministry of hospitality so that people will not just feel welcome but will realize that what is going on in this church service is important. The usher is the first person that a new visitor meets at a worship service, and they make a good or bad impression according to how they greet people. Whatever you have been gifted to do, whether it seems like a big job or a small job, it is to be done in the name of the Lord and it will definitely not be a small job. “Whatever you do in word” is important and should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. In other words, we need to be careful what we say to people so that what we say is worthy of the name of Jesus. I have heard some words at church that did not seem like service to the Lord. In fact, I have probably said a few words to people that were not worthy of the name of Jesus. We should make sure that the words we use will have a positive effect on people. This does not mean that we should never speak negatively, because sometimes a negative word will have a positive outcome. We should just make sure that what we say is the truth and that it will help the person that we speak to in a positive way. In the third chapter of James we find a scathing denunciation of misuse of our words. James 3:6 is an example: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell.” We should make sure that the words that we use are not “set on fire of hell” if you get my drift! We should make sure that our words will serve the Lord Jesus. “Whatever you do in…deed” is important and should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. I think that we should be careful that our words match our deeds, or vice-versa. You know the old saying: “What you do speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you are saying." We have been saved to work and to do deeds for the Savior. Our works cannot save us, but they can make us effective and can serve as a witness for the Lord. We need to ask ourselves if what we are doing can be done in the name of Jesus. In other words, we should make sure that our deeds are good deeds. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” If our works are done in the name of Jesus, they will glorify the Father. Make sure that whatever you say or do can be said or done in the name of Jesus. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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