Working for the Lord

 Read Colossians 3

We need only focus on one verse today.

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.  I think that covers everything important.  Now let’s put those words into practice.

OK, there’s something more.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

We get that.  We have received this counsel before.  There is also guidance for slaves.  Obey our earthly masters.  That had to stink if you were a slave, but it is indicative of the counsel that follows.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

You may love your job.  You may hate your job, but whatever your job is, work at it as if Christ Jesus himself were your immediate supervisor and the CEO.  Work at it as if the last thing you would ever want to do would be to disappoint your boss.

It’s a lot easier to work at something that you love.  It’s easier to work with all of your heart when you love what you are working at—that can be a life-changing experience when you finally get to do what God has designed you to do.

Sometimes, you don’t know what that is.  Not to worry, work at what you are working at now and do it as if Jesus himself were the boss.  When you work for someone who cares about you, somehow, the work seems easier, more important, and more rewarding.

Getting the perfect job may be less about the job and more about your attitude towards that job.  If you are just working to put bread on the table and keep a roof over your head, then there are days when it will be a grind.  There will be days that your job stinks.

But when your job is less about your job and more about living this life to the fullest extent possible and bringing glory to God, the job just gets easier to do.  The job may not get easier, but doing it does.

You are working for the Lord.

It’s the old Martin Luther quote.  You can milk cows to the glory of God.

You can.  You can change tires to the glory of God.  You can bake cookies to the glory of God.  You can Walk A Block for Jesus to the glory of God.

You don’t have to be a pastor, teacher, apostle, worship leader, deacon or elder to bring glory to God by what you do.

This one is all on us.  Remember that salvation is a gift from God.  It is 100% gift so that nobody can boast and brag that they had anything to do with their salvation.

Working for the Lord, well, that’s on us.  What is our attitude? Is our heart in it?  Do we have a passion for our work—a passion that would reflect we are in fact working for God himself?

The promise is that our reward lies with the Lord, but part of that reward is delivered to us right away when we work as if we are working for the Lord in whatever we do. The work can be self-rewarding.

We have read the Proverbs and even counsel from Paul, so if your job is a thief, yes you need to change jobs before you expect godly satisfaction from your job.

But if your job is changing oil, cleaning sewers, washing cars, or changing diapers, you can do all of those to the glory of God.

Here is your thought for the day.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Work at it as if you are working for the Lord.

Amen.

Do it all in the Name of the Lord

 Read Colossians 3

Let’s keep it simple this morning.  How much is the tithe?

That’s right, it’s ten percent.  Tithe means tenth.  That’s an easy one.

How much did God’s people give of their income over the course of a year?  If you count all of the feasts and other gatherings, it was probably over twenty-five percent.

Some of these offerings were enjoyed by the people as they gave them.  Some blessed others.  Some opened the floodgates of heaven.

How much should the New Testament believer—the born-again Christian—give to the Lord?

That’s easy and you don’t even have to be good at math.  You just have to remember the song.  Jesus paid it all.  All to him I owe.

Yes, it’s one hundred percent.  We are to give everything to the Lord.  Our life truly belongs to him now.

The logistics don’t involve a complete monetary and property transfer.  It is a transfer of the heart and mind.  It is a wholesale exchange of the ways of the world for the ways of God that we know in Christ Jesus.

It is a continuation of what brought us to Jesus—repentance.  Repentance is more than just turning around and going the other way, though that’s a part of it.  It is turning away from the evil of this world and turning to God.

It is leaving behind the old thinking, habits, and passions that anchored us to the world and seeking God and his kingdom and his righteousness.  OBTW—when we leave our old thinking, habits, and passions behind, we don’t get a claim check for them like at a pawn shop thinking, maybe one day I will be back for them.

Paul says it well as he began this chapter.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

You remember the warm-up drill that we do most Sundays, right?  I am crucified with Christ.  Christ lives in me.  Paul tells us that is more than a few catchy words.  It is how we are to live.

We seek God, his kingdom, and his righteousness by taking on the yoke of our Master, Jesus Christ.

If anything pulls us away from following him, we disconnect from that temptation or habit or earthly desire and refocus on our Master.

Actually, Paul tells us to put these sinful ways to death. We see one of the forms that Paul used to describe this.  Take off the old self and put on the new self.

Take off your dirty clothes and put on clean clothes.

Take off that which defiles you and put on that which cleanses you.

Take off your sinful human nature and put on God’s loving nature.

We repent before we receive Jesus as Lord and we continue to repent as we strive to live as this new creature that we have become in Christ.

It’s a process.  It’s work.  It’s worth it.

It is where our blessings and peace and fulness reside.

These are big blue arrows.  How about some specifics?

OK, get rid of anger, rage, malice, slander, foul language, lying, lust, greed, idolatry, and all evil desires.

In its place take on the things that you have learned from Christ.  Take on the image of Christ.  Become his image and likeness in all that you do.

That’s good imagery, now how about some specifics.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

That sounds a bit like the fruit of the Spirit. Listen further.

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 message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 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.

Thankfulness, peace, wisdom, gratitude, admonishing each other not by our human nature but by God’s word and his hymns and spiritual songs.  That’s not a chewing-out.  It’s restoration, redemption, and reconciliation.

We have gone from general to specific in Paul’s instructions.  Now let’s go from these specifics to the most general approach to responding to God’s grace that we knew in Christ Jesus.

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.

In every breath we take, in every thought we think, in every action, we are to do it in the name of the Lord.  Our response to this gift of salvation that came completely from God is to give our lives completely to him.

Realize that in so doing, God fills our lives with so many good things.  God takes everything and uses it for the good of those who love him.  God has always looked out for what is best for us even when we didn’t have a clue.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Let everything you do be done for God and for God’s glory.  Once you have given up your life to him, you will see how full your life become.

Amen.

What about making plans?

Read James 4

If I don’t want to spend three times more than I wanted, I make a list before I go to the grocery store.  Sometimes I remember to read it while I’m in the store.

If I want to graduate college in 15 years or less, I make a plan as to what I will take and when I will take it.

If I want to get to my destination without too many stops for directions, I Google it.  Don’t ask Siri.  That girl will give you attitude, but Google is generally reliable.

If I want things to have a chance of going smoothly, I produce an order of worship.  There is not much variation from week to week.  Sometimes on Wednesday nights, I will change things up a bit more.  I even send a draft bulletin out to worship leaders and people who have an active role in the service.

Before we dived into Good News 2012, I wrote and published a plan.  Some of you might remember it.  It had worksheets for all of our outreach events.  It had reporting forms.  It had a prayer printed into the plan.

Over a decade ago, before I could be ordained, I had to be observed moderating a session meeting.  Reverend Dale Nease came over to watch me conduct a meeting.

Now realize by this point in my life I already had my Million Meeting Medal, Third award.  Running a meeting was not a huge challenge.  I had been producing an agenda, collating handouts, and all the other preliminary things needed for a meeting to go smoothly for the past 2 years.

But I was going to be evaluated on this meeting.  So, I made sure that the margins of the handouts were perfect.  The agenda had just enough detail to prompt the discussion but not so much as to preempt it.  I even spelled some of the big words right.

I was ready.  The session knew what was going on so they were extra nice during the meeting.  Dale was an easy-going guy and I didn’t expect him to throw a wrench into the works to see how I would handle it. 

Realize, I have been to training in which there are planned disturbances to what you are trying to teach or the meeting you are trying to lead.  Part of the training was how you address the disturbance and stay on course.  Dale didn’t bring any such fun to my meeting.

By meeting’s end, I knew that I had aced that sucker.  It might not have been the best run meeting in the history of the universe, but at least in the history of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 

Dale pronounced his evaluation:  Tolerably Legal.

What!  It had to have been the best meeting ever.  I put some planning into that sucker.  Tolerably legal?  Give me a break!

Plans are a part of life.

Plans seldom go as planned.

There is a military axiom that a simple plan executed aggressively now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.

There is another military truism that the plan never survives contact with the enemy.

So, we come to counsel from James on plans and planning.  On the surface, it might seem that James doesn’t think that we should plan at all, but that’s not what he is saying.  He said, don’t boast in your plans.  Don’t think that your plan is invincible.  The only invincibility, the only certainty, the only plan you can trust comes from the Lord.

If the Lord wills it, then he will bless our plan.

If it is the Lord’s will, our plan will fall apart before it has a chance to fall into place, then we can dive into his plan.

Are plans bad?  No, boasting about our plans is bad.  Putting too much hope in our plans mocks God and God is not good with that.

God sent people out to subdue the earth.  They made plans and began executing them to build a tower to heaven.  They wanted to make a name for themselves.  They were showing off what they could do with their own plans.

I don’t know if they thought they could get to heaven, but they would have something to boast about.  God said, “That dog don’t hunt.”

God has good plans for us.  They are plans to prosper us and give us hope and give us a future.

So, what do we do?

Make your grocery list.

Develop a plan to graduate college in less than a decade.

Produce a budget.

Plan the route for the trip.

Plan your vacation.

Plan for your children’s future.

Plan to leave your children’s children an inheritance.

Plan your day.

For those who have done any sort of work where you’re the boss, the employee, and the janitor, you know this saying:  Plan your work and work your plan.

Salesmen, consultants, and farmers know this.  They also know, that making adjustments to the plan is more likely than the plan going as planned.  Plan on it!

Planning is good.  It is good self-education.  Planning requires research and analysis and composition. 

Planning requires reading and assessment and synthesis of all sorts of input. 

Planning gives us the opportunity to use the gifts, talents, and abilities that God gave us.

Planning requires focus, dedication, and creativity.  Planning always leads you to the recognition of things still not planned. 

Planning is good stuff, but don’t get married to your plan.  Don’t boast in your plan.

Make big plans but don’t boast in your plan.  If you must boast, boast in the Lord.  That is where you find certainty.

We make these plans about what we will do next month or next year or for the next ten years and forget to realize that we are on this earth for only a short time.  James said we are but a mist.  It’s here and it’s gone.

Plan your work and work your plan but know that God has better plans.  The more we seek God and grow close to him, the more our plans will be like his, but we must remember that he alone is sovereign.

We have this wonderful thing called free will but God directs the steps of the believer. 

So, plan without worrying about tomorrow.  Invest yourself fully in your plans—don’t be lukewarm about them.  Work at them as if you are working for the Lord and not for human goals.

Plans are not bad.  Boasting in our plans is bad. 

Make your plan a work of art and science—the best masterpiece it can be in the time allotted—and then humbly place it at the feet of the Lord—ready to execute it or what the Lord gives you in its stead with equal enthusiasm.

And while you are making your plans, plan to do good at every opportunity for opportunities will surely arise. 

James wraps up with an advance admonishment for those who stick to their plans when the Lord has directed them elsewhere.

If you know the good you should do and don’t do it, that’s your sin.

Paul said in similar fashion, that which we do out of anything but faith is our sin.

Henry Kissinger had a style that he used in dealing with subordinate’s plans.  He would receive the plan, let it sit unread for a week or two, and then ask if it was the best that the planner had to offer.

If the answer was no or involved hesitation, he gave it back to be reworked.  If the person said yes, then he read the plan.  

Shouldn’t we always want our plans to be the best that they can be before offering them to the Lord?

If you are going to plan—and you should—make it full of faith, goodness, mercy, love, and a reflection of the good plans that God has for you.  Make it the best plan ever and then place it at the feet of Jesus. 

Thy will be done!

Amen!

With all of your heart...

Read Colossians 3:18-25

If I can just pay off this one bill…

If I can just make it through my senior year…

If I can just get through work today…

If I can just lose 10 more pounds…

If I can just get a better phone…

If I can just make it to retirement…

How many times have we been in the “if only I can” mode of thinking.  I’m not talking about the desperation “if only I can’s.”  You know, if only I can make it to the next exit and there is a gas station with a restroom.

I am talking about the mindset that says, “I can’t really start living until this thing—whatever it is—is done or arrives or is over.” Something is intervening as far as me living to the full goes.  I can’t wait until I can really live.

I don’t need some first things first poster.  I don’t need a better day planner when I have more ball games than kids in more locations that I can physically be, and be only one person. 

I don’t need career counseling when I get called into work unexpectedly three times this week and it looks like next week is go on—stay on, on into the next week.

I don’t need the flavor of the month get your life together program to reorganize my most recently reorganized disorganization.

I just need to get through all of these things that consume my life so that I can really live.  Anyone ever been in that boat?  I just have to get through this, and the next this, and the next…

What if I told you I can’t find that part in the Bible.  What if I told you the Bible said something else.  What if I told you that God’s plan for you included you to live, work, and play as if you were doing it all for him.

What if that one more bill that you need to pay off before you can get to living was something that you could do for the Lord.  What if you could work at it together.

What if making it through your senior year was walking with the Lord more than you ever had before and you lived your senior year like never before.  Maybe it’s your junior year or your fifth-grade year or a year in college or tech school, do it as if the Lord had the same schedule as you.

What if getting through work today was working as if you were working directly for the Lord, not for that knucklehead who is your boss.  This includes the self-employed.

What if your weight loss or health regimen was not something you did to hit a magic number but you did it to take care of the temple that God gave you.  What if you got a little Levitical about it.

What if you did the best you could with the phone you have until the Lord’s Spirit affirmed, it’s time to get a new one.

What if instead of waiting until retirement to live, you started living now and retirement became only a word attached to you job and not your life.

What if we traded our frustration for forgiveness.

What if we kicked our anger to the curb and replaced it with love.

What if we replaced the foul words in our lexicon with words more descriptive but less vulgar.

What if we traded living by the patterns of the world for living with the mind of Christ.

What if, everything became about living for the Lord.  Sometimes we affirm, “It’s not all about me,” but we do it in our best Eeyore voice.  What if we turned those words around and said, “It’s all about God!” and did it with the enthusiasm that we support the Sooners of the Cowboys.

What if we really made it all about God?  Make what about God?

The diaper change, the dentist appointment, the grocery shopping, going back for the one thing we went for and didn’t get, the heat of the day, the cool of the evening, the ball games, the snacks for the team, the hip replacement, rotating the tires, weed eating the sidewalk, loading cattle, the sunrise and the sunset, the thunderstorm, and summer reruns—what if these were all about God.

What if we never went through the motions or operated solely out of human motivation in anything.

What if God was in the big picture and in the minuteness of every detail of our lives.  What if nothing was ever ordinary.  What if everything became a holy thing!

Paul is writing about a wholesale exchange of one way of life for another.  The old died with Christ.  The new lives with him in everything.

Old ways were of the world.  New ways as a new creation are of God, rooted in love, seeking his approval in all things.

God’s peace rules in our hearts.  Think about what Jesus said about our hearts and our treasure.  Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  What if one of our greatest treasures is God’s peace. 

It is a peace that goes beyond our understanding.  It is a peace that can grant us rest in the middle of the world’s turmoil.  How can I rest in the midst of turmoil?  Don’t let turmoil into your heart.  Love and peace govern there.

Consider these words once again.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

What are the verbs here?  Clothe, bear with, forgive, put on are the action words.  Salvation is a gift all from God.  Discipleship comes with verbs.

Dress with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  We need to understand that when we profess Jesus is Lord and we are saved, compassion doesn’t always come instantly.  As disciples, we must take action.

Be patient with each other.

Forgive—that’s a verb that should count as a hundred simple verbs.  Forgive as Christ forgave us.

Put on love.  Understand that love is a powerful verb all by itself, but to put on love means that we have to break away from who we used to be and take action to be this person that God has called us to be.  Love is the binding agent for everything we are and everything we do.

These are action words for us.  They are a key part of our discipleship.  They help us live out our salvation.

Salvation is all from God.  Discipleship is walking with God and learning his ways.  This is typically not debilitating work.  Jesus said that his yoke was easy and his burden was light.  Take his yoke and learn from him.  There is action in our learning.

Husbands, wives, children, parents, even slaves are told to do everything they do not for human favor but to please the Lord.  We live in reverence for the Lord.  We work at whatever we do as if we are working for the Lord not for human masters or favor or status. 

We belong to the Lord.  We are his.  Our identity is completely in the Christ.  I think I might have noted once or twice that I was stubborn about this.

We are known by this identity—that we belong to the Christ.  Christ is all and he is in all.

In all that we are now—a new creation, people belonging completely to the Christ, Spirit-filled people—we give thanks to God the Father.

But there is a catch…

Are we to trust in the Lord?  No!  We are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.  There is no half-measure or partial trust.  It’s an all or nothing sort of deal when it comes to trust, especially with God.  You trust him, or you don’t.  Well, I sort of trust him…

Are we to love the Lord our God?  No!  We are to Love the Lord, our God, with all of our heart and mind and soul and strength.  It’s an everything that we are sort of commitment.

Are we to put on God’s armor?  No!  We are to put on the full armor of God!

God does want half-hearted, lukewarm commitments.  We are not known by our Christian tee shirts and membership cards.  We are known by our love.  It is not a casual love.  It is an unconditional love.

As you go into your week, consider memorizing and bringing this verse to your heart and mind and across your lips for the days to come.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

It is the Lord Christ whom we serve!

Let’s not wait on anything before we live.  Let’s live this life with God and for God and seeking God’s approval in all that we do.

It is the Lord Christ whom we serve!

Amen.