Do All in the Name of the Lord Jesus

The Rev’d. Stephen E. Stults
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
Feb. 6, 2011

“Do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus…”

Colossians 3:14 “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness”
And
Colossians 3:17 “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.”

We have some very powerful instruction from the Apostle Paul today in his message to the church at Colossae. Yet, for background, before we consider any of that, let us have a brief review of the historicity of Colossae. According to Dr. James Orr, it was “a city of Phrygia on the Lycus River, one of the branches of the Meander, and 3 miles from Mt. Cadmus, 8,013 ft. high. It stood at the head of a gorge where the two streams unite, and on the great highway traversing the country from Ephesus to the Euphrates valley, 13 miles from Hierapolis and 10 from Laodicea. Its history is chiefly associated with that of these two cities. Early, according to both Herodotus and Xenophon, it was a place of great importance. There Xerxes stopped 481 BC (Herodotus vii.30) and Cyrus the Younger marched 401 BC (Xen. Anab. i.2,6). From Col 2:1 it is not likely that Paul visited the place in person; but its Christianization was due to the efforts of Epaphras and Timothy (Col 1:1,7), and it was the home of Philemon and Epaphras.”

As such, St. Paul’s epistle to Colossae was one of his letters that survived the ravages of time and was considered worthy to be included in the Canon of Holy Scripture. We should be very glad that it did, for in this passage are some very powerful considerations for our personal Christian walk.

According to some commentators, Paul makes a significant shift in this passage from the exhortation to the Colossians to forsake their pagan idol worship and “voluntary humility and worshipping of angels” to a consideration of “the community’s conversion to virtue.”
That is, having taken the better part of Chapter One to teach about the true nature of Christ as Almighty God, co-eternal and co-existent with the Farther, he now turns to a treatment of the moral improvement and spiritual perfection of the Christian community in Colossae.
In so doing, he also gives us day-to-day instruction for our daily walk.

Concerning godly behavior, here is the key instruction, from Colossians 3:12-13: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”

This is what the World mistakes as weakness from a Christian. That is, as we strive to be merciful, kind, meek (not overbearing), not thinking too much of ourselves, as well as patient, the World see these qualities as nice, but perhaps less than successful. Judging by this own preacher’s corporate experience, that often seemed to be the case.

Yet it is what we are called to be. Where cruelty prevails, we are to show mercy. Where mean-spiritedness is evident, we are to show kindness. As the worldly man seeks to embellish his ego as at costs, we are to be humble. Finally, where the world doesn’t suffer fools gladly, we are to bear long with those whom others might find tiresome.

St. Paul sums this up with a very timely phrase, from Colossians 3:14:“And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Without going into a separate sermon on the meaning of “charity”, we all know what he means. Charity encompasses all of the foregoing qualities and virtues just mentioned: mercy, kindness, humility, and patience. It is the acme of good behavior between one person and another. Whereas many modern translations term charity as “love”, to this preacher’s mind that doesn’t quite put a good enough point on it. It may be possible to love somebody and still be rude to them, unfortunately. Look at the relationship some couples have, where they have traded courtesy for complacency; meaning they feel it not necessary any more to offer the usual niceties. Perhaps they have lost their charity one to another.

If so, it is not a good thing. You may share the sentiment that it is especially necessary to engage in excellent behavior, especially courtesy and charity, with those with whom we live. A long-married wife still appreciates it when her husband gets out and opens her car door for her, or seats her in a restaurant. Little things like that still count.

Yet, as important as our behavior is, one to another, St. Paul’s search for our perfection doesn’t simply end with our moral actions. We all know of religions where personal moral actions are seen as the way to salvation; whereas the true fallen-ness of our beings makes that impossible. Instead, St Paul tells us that we must let the “peace of God rule in our hearts”, which he says is our calling. Perfection comes from God, not man. We can never achieve true peace without Him.

To help achieve this peace, we must also “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” , as we teach each other and even admonish each other in the Lord. We should sing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to this end. In short, we need to worship together regularly. This sounds like a call to communal worship and liturgy, doesn’t it? In fact, it is. We know that liturgical and communal prayer is the most powerful prayer possible, as we, with one mind and spirit, pray for the same things. Through liturgy, we offer powerful, condensed praise, petition, intercession, and thanksgiving to Almighty God. God does not benefit from our prayers, although He wants them, for He knows just how much we need Him. Once we realize this too, our worship becomes a joy rather than just a weekly duty.

This brings us to the last and major point of this wonderful lesson from St. Paul. To many Christians, it sums up the thrust of their Christian walk with God on this earth. It is probably one of the most important directives that a Christian can hear. It says: “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.”

This is a powerful directive! Imagine the spiritual energy generated when one does one’s work, one’s play, one’s study, and everything else in the Name of Jesus! This is what we are to do, while giving thanks for everything to the Holy Trinity.
Having this thought in mind while we engage in all of our daily activities could have a transforming effect on everything we do. It gives more power to the good that we attempt, while certainly exorcising the temptation to do other things. As ridiculous as this sounds, can you imagine a bank robber saying, “In the Name of Jesus I rob this bank!”? Certainly not, because we realize the likelihood of its happening is too remote. Yet, for those to whom Jesus is a day-to-day reality, it transforms even the smallest, most mundane job into a glorious duty for Christ.

You’ll recall that some time ago we related our experience with the writings of a writer-turned-monk named Thomas Merton. He once echoed St. Paul’s thought about doing everything for Christ when he talked about “being kicked around the monastery by love.” We think that he meant exactly that his everyday tasks now were glorified by the Name of Jesus. His daily existence basked in the presence of Christ. In so doing this, he felt the peace and love of God.

We all know how difficult this is as we all engage in our struggle against the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Sometimes, it seems that the more we dedicate the day to Christ, the more things tend to go wrong. Yet, this too is ordained, in some mysterious and wonderful way. As hard as it is, God wants us to love Him and thank Him through good times and bad. He wants us to give thanks for all things, as tough as this may be. When we invoke the help of the Holy Spirit to do this, we are on the way to true peace, because we begin to learn that peace is not generated through external events, but through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Only that Presence can guarantee true peace that transcends external happenings.

Thus, when we train ourselves to do all that we do in the Name of the Lord Jesus, an amazing transformation will happen. We will have more purpose, more power, more direction, and more joy than ever before. This is the true freedom and the true joy that living in Christ brings. It also brings the wonderful peace of God. May this be our experience with God, now and forever.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.