And so, we come to the end of our time exploring this short excerpt from Paul’s letter to the Christians living in Colossae. Well, I say the end, it’s the end of the sermon series, but I hope that it’s not the end, but a step in the journey of us being a people who are chosen, forgiving, loving, peaceful, and grateful. If you’ve missed any of these, then do go back and have a look on YT or FB or listen to them on the podcast. Last week Peter focussed our minds and hearts on being a grateful people, and so this week I’m going to concentrate on the first line of that final verse.
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
I wonder what your week has looked like. I wonder what you have done and said this week.
Looking back at my week I’ve had a number of meetings – some church business meetings, some 1 on 1 pastoral conversations. I prepared this sermon, and another one for this evening. I took a funeral. They might look like things that it’s obvious that they are things done “in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
I did some other things as well. I watched some TV. I read a book or two. I cooked meals. I put some curtain rails up. Just the normal stuff of life. I wonder if I did them “in the name of the Lord Jesus”.
What about you. What did you do this week?
Paul sets the bar pretty high, doesn’t he. He doesn’t say, “Some of the things you do.” or “The things you do in church.” or “The things you do on a Sunday.” He says, “Whatever you do.” And not just what you do, but also what you say. All the words that come out of our mouths.
All of it – “in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
So, it seems to me that it’s pretty important for us to know what it means to do something “in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
The first clue is that it is not just “in the name of Jesus” but “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Think about it for a minute – if Jesus is the Lord, then we are the servants. So when a servant does something in the name of their master, then they are doing it on their behalf, they represent their master in that situation. There might be a sense of it being done with the authority of the Lord. I’m just picturing some guardsmen pounding on the door of some miscreant, shouting, “Open up in the name of the King.”
So when someone does something in someone else’s name they represent them, so we represent Jesus in all that we do and say. The question is, do we represent him well?
There’s another shade of meaning to this that helps us to answer this question. If we see a portrait of someone, we might ask if it is a good representation of the person, meaning is it a good likeness, does it look like them?
In Jesus we have been adopted as God’s children, we are part of God’s family, we carry the family name. When we do things in that name, we represent the family. We are the portrait of God, of Jesus, that the world sees. Are we a good likeness, do we look like Jesus?
We will if we truly do things, say things, in his name, as his faithful representatives, with his love, his peace, his forgiveness, with gratitude in our hearts. Are any of these sounding familiar?
This instruction is at the end of this passage because Paul is summarising all that he has said so far – live as I have just been encouraging you to, and you will act and speak in the name of the Lord Jesus because you will represent him well and you will bear his likeness. You will be Jesus people.
In our reading from Matthew’s eye witness account of Jesus’ life on earth, we heard Jesus teaching about this same thing. He used the image of good trees that bear good fruit and bad trees that bear bad fruit. It’s common sense isn’t it – do grapes grow on thorn bushes? Do figs grow on thistles? No – you can tell what’s going on in someone’s heart by the evidence of what they do and say.
In Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia he describes this fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Again a lot of overlap with what we’ve been looking at over the last few weeks. This is the fruit that is seen in the lives of those who truly act and speak in Jesus’ name, as Jesus people.
So, actually, it’s not just about what we do, it’s about how we do it. Let’s think back to my little list of activities from the past week.
It would be quite possible for me to do all the “Christian” “churchy” ones in a way which didn’t demonstrate the family likeness, that didn’t represent Jesus well, that weren’t done in Jesus’ name. If I’d approached them with bitterness, been mean to people while I was doing them, hadn’t listened to the people I’d met, if I hadn’t shown any kindness or love, then I wouldn’t have been doing them in Jesus’ name, however worthy they might look written in my diary.
And all those ordinary things of life? Those things that might not look so Christian. They can all be done in Jesus’ name, if they are done with generosity, care, encouragement, hope, love, joy, and faith.
Now, back to our reading from Matthew, there is warning here. Another aspect to doing things “in the Lord Jesus’ name.”
I read a novel recently, a “Master and Commander” type naval battle type stories. One of the story lines was based around a member of the aristocracy trying to manufacture a conflict with England, on “behalf” of their King, but without that King’s knowledge, and actually going against what their King had said they wanted to happen. The aristocrat thought he knew better than the King what should be done, and that the King would get in line once the war had begun. The English hero uncovered the plot, delivered the evidence to the King, who was furious and the aristocrat came to a short and unpleasant end.
Jesus says that it is not just what we say with our lips, “Lord, Lord”, or do – even if that is miracles and driving out demons, that show whether we are his – but whether or not we do the will of Father God.
This is the third aspect of saying and doing in the Lord Jesus’ name. We are only true servants if we are being obedient to our Lord – doing his will and not our own.
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Or, do expand a bit:
Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in obedience to God’s will, as a representative of Jesus, who shows the good fruit of the family likeness.
Now, I don’t want us to get all tied up in knots here, unable to move for fear that something might not be in God’s will.
There are some things that is fairly clear are ruled out. Murder, adultery, theft, gossip, envy. None of those are God’s will. Some things are definitely God’s will, for instance the two heart commandants to love God and to love each other. Sometimes God will call us to specific tasks at specific times, or steer us away from things. Quite a lot of the time I believe that God says, “You choose – I gave you free will for a reason – it is my will that you use it.” As long as we do this within the restrictions set for us, in line with those commands to love, and with a heart that wants to bear good fruit, it seems to me that we will be living as Jesus people.
If we don’t really know how what we do can be done in Jesus’ name, then we can ask him. We can say, “Lord will you send your Holy Spirit to show me how these things can be done in a way which brings honour to your name, which shows our family likeness? Will you give me opportunities to do this?”
There is a prayer written by Thomas Merton that I find very helpful, and I’m going to finish with it. As I do, I encourage you to hold your week, either the one past, or the one to come in your mind’s eye, and pray this over it.
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen.
No Comments