“Standing on Business”

Introduction

This is a term that we have heard throughout our school, communities, and on social media. I believe that it was that boy Druskii, who started this saying and then had the whole world saying it. This is a dope term, but can I tell you that it also has a biblical meaning. There are people in the Bible who stood on business. Even though Joseph was robbed of his coat, sold into slavery, and put in jail because of false accusations, he remained faithful and the Lord was with him……he stood on business. Even though the three Hebrew teenagers, Shadrach, Meeshach, and Abendego were faced with death by a very hot fire, they told the most powerful king in the land, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us.” They stood on business. Let me give you the one that I’m preaching tomorrow: In the story of David and Goliath, Goliath challenges the Israelites to send one that would fight him, and when he heard this, David runs down to King Saul and tells him not to worry because he’ll fight him. And even though Saul doubts David because he is a kid, David has so much faith that he says “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” He stood on business. All of these people in the Bible stood on business, but they didn’t stand on any kind of business, they stood on God’s business. Sometimes we may hear other people saying that they stand on business, but sometimes it seems like they aren’t on the right business. There are teens and other people who go out and do the wrong things because they don’t stand on the right business. So that means that we as teens and children of God have a right and a responsibility to stand on God’s business. And here in this text, we are going to see what it means, from a biblical perspective to stand on business.

Text Context

Although there are 66 books in the Bible, I like the book of Colossians. In this book, Paul writes to the church of Colossae (Cu-Lo-See). There were false teachings and practices in Colossae and they were starting to influence the people there and hurting their faith. Paul wrote to warn against this false teaching and to encourage the believers in their growth toward Christian maturity. He emphasizes Christ’s authority over all dark powers. Christians are united with the risen Christ, and therefore they share in his power and authority. Paul also encourages these believers to fight against sin, pursue holiness, and live as true Christians.

In this awesome and inspiring third chapter, which Paul writes to the christians in Colossae about living a new life in Jesus Christ. Paul tells them that since they have been raised to new life with Christ, then they should focus their hearts on the things of Heaven and not on the things of this world. Paul says that they have died with sin and have died to the things of this world, but their new life is hidden with Jesus. This basically means that what is hidden for them is their eternal life, but don’t let this confuse you. Paul goes on to write in verse 4 “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.” This means that we have a future with Jesus Christ and our eternal life is with him, and we will be with him when he appears to the world. So since these believers have been raised up into a new life, Paul advises them in verses 5-11 to put to death all of the earthly things that are within them. Now see, Paul says a list of things in verse 5 and verse 8. It was common in Paul's day for religious groups to make lists of earthly things. This list of things symbolized a new way of life. But those who have “taken off their old self” and “have put on the new self” no longer live in sin because Christ has changed all that and is in them all. Paul picks up in verse 12 to tell these Christians that since God has chosen them to be the holy people he loves, they have to clothe themselves with compassion, mercy, kindness, gentleness, humility, and patience. And the same thing goes for us. Since God has chosen us to be his children and the people he loves, we have to take off the things of the world, and put on the things of God.

Paul ends this chapter with instructions for a christian household.

Message

In this verse that we are in today, Paul gives the believers a specific instruction of what they have to do since they have been raised to new life. And I feel like this is a meaning of standing on God’s business.

Body of Message

Since the business that we stand on is God’s business, we have a responsibility. So let’s see what standing on business looks like from a biblical perspective.

Let the message of Christ live within us.

With this, we might ask the question: “What is the message of Christ.” Well, Jesus’ main message is told to us in Mark 1:15, which says “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” And since Jesus taught this main message, we have to let the main message live within us. All of the message and sermons that Jesus preached and the miracles he did all pointed to his main message, which was to repent and believe. So we have to let the words and the teachings of Jesus Christ live within us. But in order to let the message of Christ live within us, we cannot have hearts and minds full of sinful things. Now see, let's be honest here, sometimes we can fall back into sin and the reason why we keep falling back into sin is because of our sinful nature that is in us, and that sinful nature can cause us to live a life against God and against doing the right thing, but if we are going to let the message of Christ live within us, we cannot fall back into sin and have hearts full of it. We have to let go of selfishness, meanness, and hate, and other things so that the message of Christ can live richly within us. Notice how this verse uses the word “richly”. That word means abundantly, but it also means fully. That means that the Word should live both abundantly and fully within us. In order to let the message live within us, we not only need to let go of some things, but we need to spend time in the Bible learning about God and spend time talking to him in prayer. And your prayers don’t need to sound like the old preacher’s prayers. Your prayer can be simple like “God, I need you.” God, I don’t really know how to pray, but I believe in you and I want to trust you.” That is how we let the message of Christ live richly in us.

Share the word of God with others.

Notice how the text says “as you teach and admonish one another”. What in the world does that mean?? Well, when we have the Word of God in our hearts, we have the responsibility to teach others and instruct others about his Word. The first part of Psalms 119:11 says “I have hidden your word in my heart”. This means that we have to have the word of God in our hearts, that anytime we need some encouragement, we can go back to his Word that is in our hearts. But we not only need to have the Word of God in our hearts to encourage us, but we need to have it so that we may encourage others. The amazing thing is that you never know who needs a word. You don’t know who’s day you could brighten or who’s life you could change, just by telling them a word. EX: Me and my 9th grade P.E. coach started this things back in late August of 2023. I had his class 3rd period, and everyday, I would walk into the gym and he would be sitting at his table and every time, he would see me, he would get up, dap me up, and ask me “What’s the word?” I would give him a word and we would talk about it and he would tell me “Man thank you so much for that man. I appreciate you.” And I could tell that the word I would give him would be the highlight of his day. And me and him still do this over text. He doesn’t work at Shreve now, but we still talk and everyday, I still give him a word.

You never know who’s day you brighten just by telling them “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” You never know who’s view could change about themselves just by telling them that they are fearfully and wonderfully made. You never know who’s on their last limb of giving up or ending their lives, but because you shared with them a word, their whole world changed, because of a word. Do you know that the shootings and the violence we see today in Shreveport-Bossier could stop by the Word of God. The word of God is a convicting spirit. That word “convicting” means that you’re convinced that you're doing something wrong. It can change someone’s life and someone’s whole perspective. And the Word can get out any way. By show of hands, who in here has the Bible app?? Who in here has Instagram?? You can post the verse of the day on your story. You can send the verse of the day to someone, and you never who’s who’s going to see that verse and their whole life is going to change. Someone’s life could be changed, not by some money, not by a new job, not by something else that is temporary, but by the word of God, which is eternal.

Sing praises to God.

Lastly, Paul says in verse 16 “Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” The kind of music used in the early church included psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Judging by the number of times that the Bible mentions singing, it is obvious that singing was important in the worship of people in Bible times. It is still important now to sing praises to God. The words of the songs that we sing express how we feel about life and about our faith. The authors of so many of the hymns wrote them based on their personal experiences, and through the words of the hymns, so they sing those songs with emotion and feeling. They sang knowing that God was a healer, knowing God is a way-maker, knowing that God is able. In Exodus 15, after the Israelites were freed after years of slavery and bondage, Moses was leading them from the Red Sea, and they were singing a song. They were saying that the Lord is their strength, the Lord is their song, and the Lord is their salvation. When we sing praises to God, we oughta sing with some feeling and emotion. When we sing songs like “How Great is Our God”, we oughta sing it knowing that our God is a great God. When we sing songs like “Every Praise”, we oughta sing knowing that every praise we have goes up to God. And here it is: Worshiping God is not just meant for Sunday morning. You can sing and praise God anywhere and everywhere. I have memories with my friends and I on FaceTime together, and we would just randomly start singing gospel songs. Worshiping God and singing praise is not just meant for Sunday, but it is meant for everywhere. We have to sing praises to God.

Conclusion

As we go back to school, make even more friends, make even more connections, I want to encourage you to stand on business. But not just any business……..GOD’S BUSINESS!! But listen, in order to do that we first have to give our lives to Christ, and I want to invite every young person in this building to come to this altar and pray with me.