Col No.27 Three Vital Instructions

Verse 24, He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you.

If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

And our Saviour was off on his journey into the garden of Gethsemane, where ultimately he would be arrested. When looking at this chapter on the plane coming back from Africa, I thought that we'd just be inquiring into the 15th verse this morning, but further consideration has led me to suggest that we'll be looking at the 15th through to the 17th verses, and therefore I change the title of the meditation that I'll be bringing to you in a little while to Three Vital Instructions. But let me first of all read from Colossians 3 and the 15th verse, and I'm using the New International Version of the Bible.

Let the peace of Christ, which actually is a more accurate translation than the A.V. of the 15th verse there, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

You may care to have your Bibles open at Colossians chapter 3, and as I mentioned a moment or so ago, I want to speak to you on Three Vital Instructions, which are found in the 15th through to the 17th verses of this passage. But as a couple of Lord's Days have elapsed since last we were together in this epistle, let me just remind you of the thread of our study so far in the opening four verses of this mighty chapter. The Apostle has brought to the attention of the Colossians and therefore of ourselves the fact of the return of the Lord Jesus.

What a stupendous thing this will be. Ever at the forefront of the mind of the Christian should be the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ shall appear in glory, and he is coming back to do some most remarkable things. And we are involved in the tremendous program that God has in store for the redeemed community.

So says the Apostle, working out the practical implications of this, seek those things which are above, set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Always live as though Jesus Christ was going to return within the next few hours. Now, if you've got the glory of the advent very much in your mind, then says the Apostle developing his practical application, it's going to affect the way that you live.

You people in Colossae, you people in Worthing, you say that you belong to Jesus, that you've been raised with him to newness of life, that your eyes are affixed on his coming. Right. Well, if that is the case, then let's examine together your pattern of behavior, your style of conduct in the way that you're living here on this earth.

And you recall how from the fifth through to the eleventh verse, we ran an analogy from Paul's teaching here to a Christian college in which I suggested Jesus Christ is president. The last part of verse eleven, Christ is all and in all. In that college, in that academy, in that community made up of Christians, there are certain things that mark them out over against non-members and that we carefully examine together.

Then, on another occasion, taking our starting point from the ninth verse and coming through to the fourteenth, we ran the analogy of Christian people standing before, if you like, a wardrobe full of spiritual clothes. And we discovered those things which they take off, those aspects of personality which are not compatible with the name of the Lord Jesus. Those things which the apostle says in the ninth verse and subsequent ones have been stripped from us.

And then, positively, we go into the wardrobe and we see there the very garments that we are to put on. Verse twelve, therefore, as the elect of God put on holy and beloved bowels of mercies, kindness, humility of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and so on and so forth. And I say that the apostle is giving these practical instructions simply because he is working out the consequences of the great doctrine of the return of Jesus Christ.

You must have doctrine in your mind so that it affects your lifestyle, so that it gives you a buoyancy of spirit. When environmental pressures are squeezing in on you, you are able to triumph over your circumstances and realize that you are not bound for this earth, you are bound for a new world, for an eternity which is yet to be. And therefore your attitude to certain pressures, certain problems, your attitude to many temptations will be completely different from that of the non-Christian.

Well here we come to the verses that I quoted a moment or so back, the fifteenth through to the seventeenth, where once more the apostle is giving practical instructions to people such as we are, and telling us how we are to live our lives. And in the fifteenth verse he makes reference to the peace of God. Here's an injunction, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

Then the sixteenth, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And the seventeenth, whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Three vital instructions.

The peace of Christ, which is to arbitrate, to rule in your hearts. The word of Christ, which is to infiltrate, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. The name of Christ, which is to dominate, whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

So you see our scheme of study, so very easy for you to memorize today. The peace of Christ, which is to arbitrate in the heart of the Christian. The Lord Jesus, you remember, shortly before his death, in the passage of scripture we were referring to from John's gospel, after admitting that he'd been troubled, that he'd been a little bit agitated.

Then he goes on to tell the disciples that despite the external pressures and his reaction to them, deep down within his heart there is a peace of unique quality. And Jesus says, that peace, my dear friends, I give to you. There are going to be moments after my death when you too will be troubled, when you'll be agitated, when your life will perhaps be in the balance and you'll be wondering just what's going to happen to you at that moment.

Well, says Jesus, my peace, I give it unto you. Let my peace be umpire. That's what the word means here.

Let my peace rule over your disposition. Let it be the referee. You ever tried a football match without a referee? One of the things I had to do in Tartnum when I was a teacher was to try to referee football matches, and our children in Tartnum were not disposed to doing what the referee told them to do.

And to blow your whistle was almost like taking your life in your hands, particularly if you dared to award a penalty. But without a referee, there would be anarchy on the playing field. And without the peace of God, my dear Christian friend, arbitrating, acting as referee, as an umpire in your life.

So again, there'd just be spiritual anarchy. But you know, the apostle here is not talking so much about that peace which exists primarily between God and man. He is rather working out the practical implications of relationships within the Christian community.

In other words, the sort of attitude that must exist between one brother and another brother. You Christians in Colossae, let the peace of Christ rule in your fellowship. Why? Well, as I reminded you a week or two ago, because some controversial issue was about to crop up, Tychicus, the one who's bringing this letter, has accompanying him Onesimus, the slave, the runaway slave of Philemon, the rich Christian in whose house the Colossians meet together for worship.

How's Onesimus going to be received by Philemon? The apostle makes a very straight point in the ninth verse of the following chapter when he refers to Onesimus as a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you. And you remember how in the earlier verse, in the third chapter, he has made reference to a quarrel in the thirteenth verse, that is. If any man have a quarrel against any, forgive him.

If there are problems within the Christian community, then let the peace of Christ arbitrate. For the Colossians have got enough problems externally without having breaks of fellowship internally in the church. And of course, that's wise teaching right down the centuries and applies to us here.

A church disputing, says Charles Spurgeon, is a church committing suicide. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body. Or as the NIV puts it a little more plainly, since as members of one body you were called to peace.

I believe that one of the greatest crimes that anyone can engage in is causing a break in fellowship in a local church. So the apostle says, let the peace of Christ arbitrate. And this peace comes as its source, obviously from the Lord Jesus.

But how does this peace flow? Well let the latter part of the fifteenth verse answer the question. And be ye thankful. Peace flows through the pipes of gratitude.

If you notice how Paul makes reference to thanksgiving in both the sixteenth and the seventeenth verse, take the end of the sixteenth verse, singing with gratitude in your heart to the Lord. Again, perhaps a better translation than grace. And in the seventeenth verse, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

If you notice how in the earlier chapters he's concerned about giving thanks, take the first chapter and the third verse, we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Or the twelfth verse, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be bartekers of the inheritance of the saints in light. There are others, but there are enough for us to go on.

Why is the apostle so concerned about emphasizing thankfulness? And why do I say that thankfulness becomes the pipe through which peace flows? Well how did you come into church this morning? Did you come in in a grumpy fashion? Did you come feeling a little peeved? I hope, contrarily, you came in with gratitude, with joy, with enthusiasm. It's Sunday morning, fling back the bedclothes, out at seven o'clock preparing for coming to the tabernacle. Or why were you coming? To meet with one another? A secondary reason, valid as a secondary, not as a primary.

Coming together to praise God, from whom all blessings flow. We're not sort of locked in some liturgical ritual when on a Sunday morning we sing the doxology so regularly. That is the springboard, it's the launching pad for the whole of our worship.

We want to praise this God. Why? Well, because the doxology says, all blessings have come to us from him. My salvation, it's come from the Lord.

And so on the Lord's Day morning in particular, I come here and there's gratitude in my heart. And you know, I can't be enthusiastically thankful to God and have a raging temper towards somebody else. It's psychologically, let alone spiritually impossible.

And with the pipe of thankfulness clear and open, so the peace of God flows through my heart towards other people. It must do. This is the very logic of Paul's teaching here.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts and affect the one body to which you are called. And be ye thankful. You know, ingratitude is the characteristic of the unbeliever.

Romans 1.21, referring to the pagan, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. But Christians, they're thankful people, thankful to the Lord. And when you love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, then it's possible to love your neighbor as yourself.

And to overlook those little annoying things that there may be in the personality of some other brother or sister. Possibly you don't have those, you know, you're so easy to get on with yourself. But it's the rest of the people in the tabernacle, they're the ones who now and again, they really get under my skin.

Well, you know, if you're a Christian, you shouldn't really have a skin to get under. Because you've been forgiven such a lot by the Lord. The idea of being thankful for a brother or sister has this in the original.

This is the notion. It's looking for that which pleases rather than that which displeases. Now, that's not a human tendency.

We go the other way around. It's the annoying things that stand out. Not the things that would cause us to be complimentary.

But the Christian, because he's been born by the Spirit, he looks into the life of another brother and sister. And he deliberately tries to find something for which he can praise God for in the personality of that one. And therefore, thanksgiving becomes the very pipe through which the peace of Christ flows.

The peace of Christ which is to arbitrate, followed by the word of Christ which is to infiltrate. In order to enjoy the peace of Christ, you must be conversant with the word of Christ. And the Bible says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Not in a meagrely fashion. Not in some miserly way. Let the word of Christ dwell in you with all fullness.

What is the word of Christ? Well, it must obviously be the word spoken by Christ. Or possibly the word spoken about Christ. Or as I feel, both.

The word spoken by the Lord. The word spoken by inspired writers and preachers of the Lord. In other words, the whole deposit of the scriptures here.

The peace, the word of Christ. This is what we are to have indwelling us. Where does it reside? Well, I've just informed you.

It resides in you. It resides in me. I've got hundreds of books in my library.

But if it's true to say that the word of Christ is only in my library, then I'm defective in my Christian testimony. The word of Christ is to inhabit me. It's to indwell me.

Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth from the mouth of God. And I take that word, and it comes into my heart. It comes into my life.

The word of Christ which infiltrates, dwells in me richly. In other words, it takes up tenancy. And not just in part of the mansion of my life, but in every room.

The word of Christ drops down to the basement. Where passions reign. Where thoughts and emotions which are difficult to control lie there like some Vesuvius waiting for the opportunity to erupt the word of Christ.

It drops down into the basement. It takes up residency in the attic, in the mind. It has jurisdiction over my thoughts.

And when my ideas are contrary to the word of God, then it is the word of Christ which wins the battle and forms deep convictions within my mind, within my brain. The word of Christ, it dwells in my heart, changing my personality. The word of Christ which infiltrates.

Tell me, have you opened all the doors of your being? Have you opened every window to the word of Christ? Every man should be his own minister to some extent. Every one is to glean from this book for themselves. And the word of God is not hard to come by, it is nigh us.

And when we receive it, when we're indwelt by it, as I shall seek to show you on a subsequent occasion, it is not only for our good, but so that we also in turn can pass on to others, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and so forth. To then of the vital instructions which the Apostle Paul, by the power of the Spirit, brings to our attention this morning, the peace of Christ, which is to preside, which is to arbitrate in our hearts. The word of Christ, which is to infiltrate.

But finally, the name of Christ, which is to dominate. And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. That's what we were singing earlier on.

The Lord is king, I own his power, his right to rule each day and hour. That means dominion. Jesus having dominion over everything that I do.

Whatsoever ye do, in word. Did you ever think about a word doing something? Is this illogical? Do you only do something when you engage in an act? Well, the Bible suggests that even a word in the economy of God is to be evaluated in terms of an action. The word of God endures forever, aye, but so does the word of man.

And every idle word which proceeds from your lips, the Scriptures say, you will have to give an account for. Therefore, because I belong to the Lord Jesus, because I'm in this academy of the redeemed, then everything that I say is to be said in the name of Jesus. Oh, that was easy for me to bring to your attention.

But how difficult the outworking. Everything that I say. Everything that I do.

If as every fresh duty arises, we hear Christ saying, this do in remembrance of me, then all my life will become a memorial to the Lord Jesus. Do you know what this text does? It blows up forever the absurd notion that there is a distinction between the clergy and the laity. It ordains everyone.

It refers not to a Lord's Day, but to every day and calls each day the Lord's Day. In fact, the Lord's Day can be a misnomer if you think that the first day of the week, especially God's and the other six, belong to you. Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, whatever you're doing, in word or deed, do all to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

Praise God that the mundane things of life can still be offered to the Lord as a service. I remember once a businessman coming to me and he was saying, you know, I get so frustrated in my business. And I said, why? He said, well, it's all right for you if you don't mind me saying so.

So, your work is so directly related to the gospel of Jesus Christ. You're a servant of the Lord, whereas I, on a Monday, go to my office and I've got my letters to get through. I've got to attend to the needs of the workmen and the office staff and so on and so forth.

And I tried to show him, to help him, that he'd really got the wrong idea. As I am called to a priestly ministry, so also is he. We are all to minister to the Lord in what we're doing in our daily occupation.

If I'm the managing director of the firm, if I'm running a grocery, if I'm a teacher in a school, if I have the inestimable privilege, and I choose my words carefully, of bringing up a young boy or a young girl as a mother, then I'm a priest exercising a ministry for Jesus. There never was a distinction between the sacred and the secular. For those in the redeemed community, every hour of the day, every conversation in which I indulge, every action that I perform, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

So what have we learned this morning from this epistle? Three vital instructions which are necessary for each one of us to work out. First, let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, so that the very tranquility of the Lord Jesus shall be seen in your personality. And you should be able to display that, because you have known sins forgiven by His death on the cross, and you have received the infilling of the Holy Ghost.

The peace of Christ arbitrating, the word of Christ infiltrating, gathering each day as the ancient Hebrews gathered manna from the word of God to nourish your soul and to enable you to tell others about the great things that God is doing for you. And the word of God, or rather the name of Christ, in which you are called to uphold and to honor, dominating everything, so that all that you do and all that you say brings honor and glory to Him. May the Holy Spirit help us to work out those lessons during this next week.

Now Lord, for that peace, we pray that it may arbitrate in every situation during the days which are yet to come. For that word, we ask that it may infiltrate and dwell in every room of our personalities. And may the name of Jesus be so much at the forefront of our mind, that every action and every word may have His stamp of approval upon it as it leaves our lips, as it is performed by our bodies.

And this we pray for His sake. Amen.