Instructions for Life, for Everyone.

Intro

Who wants to know what they’re supposed to do for the rest of their lives? Life’s greatest mystery. Hard to figure out, seemingly impossible, especially at the youth group age.

Key life principle. The Bible has the answer to every question, ever.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:3 ESV

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

Tonight, I want to show you the beginning of instruction, the beginning of the path of life.

An Instructive Premise

Colossians 3:17 ESV

17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

This verse is prescriptive, which means it has instruction. Instructions are commands that must be obeyed, but these commands are built on a premise.

A premise is an already understood fact or reality. A premise is a statement or idea accepted as true to form the foundation for an argument, theory, or conclusion.

The premise here is that those who read this are already saved, that they have a relationship with Jesus, that the reader trusts Christ to save them from their sins.

The premise here is one of understanding.

God is perfect and holy

Man is imperfect and sinful, and whenever we choose, we choose badly

There is an unpayable debt because of those two things, only covered by Jesus

The reader recognizes all of these things, and has trusted in Christ to save them. It always starts with the Gospel.

Colossians 2:13–14 ESV

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

This is the foundation. From there we can build up.

Whatever you do…

Paul covers every base here. Once you are saved, your instruction is this. We are to do things in Jesus’ name. What does that mean?

To do something in someone’s name is to do the thing as if you were that person.

This is where the emissary comes from. The deliverer of a message or the performance of an action in the place of someone else, someone in higher authority than they.

The reason this is needed is because the person in authority is not physically present to do the thing.

Get this out of fuzzyland here. What does this mean?

It means that, as saved people, those subject to the Great Commission, we are to do things as if Jesus was doing them. We are supposed to do the things Jesus would do, but is not doing because He is not physically here.

We are supposed to do what Jesus would do

Colossians 3:17 “17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

What are the things we do?

What are the things we say?

This is called application. Taking the principles we learn from Scripture and putting them to work in our daily lives. Let’s hear some examples.

The Reason

If you’re anything like me, you don’t like to follow instructions without having a reason. This is not an admirable character quality most of the time, but Paul gives us a reason.

Colossians 3:17 “17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

We are also commanded to “give thanks.” This goes back to the premise we talked about at the beginning.

Colossians 2:13–14 ESV

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

We are commanded to give thanks because of who we were, and who we are now.

It is because of this that we are able to be the emissaries of Jesus, that we can be in communication and harmony with God again.

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

In Conclusion

My parting challenge is this

Consider Identities & Relationships

Think about who God is - holy, just, etc.

Think about who you are in comparison - not any of those things

Think about how Jesus changes us, and the relationship we have with God

Consider Instructions

What am I doing with my life?

Can I say that I’m doing it as if I were Jesus?

Am I doing things that bring Jesus glory?

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.