All in the Name

All in the Name Colossians 3:15-4:1 Me – Appropriate Spheres of Activity There is a difficult lesson one must learn in life. About when something is appropriate and when it is not. This is something which is shaped by our culture, by our families, by our time honored tradition. As you can probably guess, the key lesson regards when it is appropriate, and hilarious, to “moon” someone and when it is not. Now, forgive me if the whole subject grosses you out, but I learned early on that this is just hilarious. My kids, somehow, I don’t know how, also learned that this is hilarious. And then, I got to experience as they learned, by trial and error, when it is and isn’t appropriate. At home, walking up the stairs, just family, someone dropping trow, yelling “feast your eyes!!!” is hilarious. Starting to do so in Costco… not so much. Friends’ houses. Again, not great. At home… good, but not during a dinner party. There are appropriate times, appropriate places, what I like to call “seasons” of mooning. Mooning someone is exactly like bringing out “Jesus” anywhere outside your private, personal religious practice. Your faith is all well and good, but keep it inside. Keep it private. Just like your backside… please keep it silent. We – In a World of Privatized Faith “Jesus” is rapidly becoming an embarrassing topic in our culture. The name of Jesus has been used and abused. It has gained a reputation, and more and more in my daily life, it isn’t a good one. Which is part of why this “silent, private” Christianity thing looks really appealing. It is about me and God, isn’t it? My faith is my faith, my belief is my belief, and what I do in the privacy of my heart, and maybe with some like-minded people, it doesn’t have to impact you. So I don’t have to bother anyone. And maybe, and I really resonate here, part of me is embarrassed at the name of Jesus. Not actual Jesus, what He was and is, what He said, what He has done… but I am embarrassed by many of the things done in His name. And I don’t want to be associated with them. I have friends who say things like “I’m not a ‘Christian’, but I like Jesus…” and I know what they mean. Which leads to the question: What is the place of “Jesus” in my life. Not so much the person of Jesus, the name of Jesus, declared publicly. Can I be a “closet” Christian? Now we can jump to an answer… but consider for a bit. We will be encouraged in our silence. Friends will applaud how we “never talk about Jesus.” “You aren’t like other Christians…” and we feel special. And we all know or have seen “Christians” who are so obnoxious in the way they “share their faith” that no one wants to stand nearby. We don’t want to be that, we don’t want to be associated with that. So we all at least have the temptation to go for privatized Christianity, closet Christianity, just me and God and maybe church. God – Everything You Do There is a problem here, however. What is the appropriate sphere of Christianity? If you walk into a Christian bookstore, 94% of the resources there apply to your personal relationship with God. I made that number up. Daily devotionals, prayer journals, Christian self-help books, books to educate you theologically, books to help you grow in your personal walk with God. And those are great things. Wonderful things. We should be growing in our personal faith. But the New Testament presents a very different picture. A far less personal picture. The New Testament, starting with Jesus’ teaching ministry, continuing through the rest, presents a faith that is radically relational and pervades the everyday aspects of life. We see this in our passage in Colossians. Having just completed this powerful metaphor, taking off sin as it gets in the way of us seeking and setting our eyes on Christ. Seek up. Think up. And then Dress up. Putting on the clothes of heaven, of Jesus. All these beautiful things: Colossians 3:12-14 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Beautiful virtues… and he is going to go on. But all of this sounds perfect for the improvement of my individual faith. It is my own personal attributes, my own growth, my own development, my own clothes. But as we do so often, we miss the 2nd person plural here. Y’all do these things. Because, of course, Paul is writing to the whole church and commanding them to do these together. We see it sneak in in forgiving one another, which of course is relational. And from there it gets more and more relational. Life in the Church Colossians 3:15-17 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 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. 17 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. So Paul, writing to the church in Colossians, comes from this powerful gospel message in Colossians 2. Shows how it can transform our lives, death to life, old and busted clothes, to new hotness. And then he applies it immediately to three domains, three spheres of life. And the picture of the first becomes so clear in verses 15 and 16. Members of one body… called to peace, then teaching and admonishing… singing psalms and hymns. That’s what we call CHURCH! This is what we are doing right now! This is so assumed, the relational domain of the body of Christ is so assumed that it flows without break right out of Paul’s list of virtues of life in Christ. They are synonymous. To be in Christ is to then have life and this fruit and that fruit expresses itself as love and peace and unity in the church as you teach and sing together. Breath. The appropriate expression of our Christian life is in the church. Wow! Aren’t you glad you came today to learn that. Not a surprise. Moving on. Life in the Home There is no break here, no change of subject. Paul takes these exact same principles, these virtues, and starts applying them to the major domains of life: Colossians 3:18-21 18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. This is great stuff, challenging for all of us, and we could (and have) mined these verses for powerful life lessons about how to be wives and husbands, children and parents… but in the larger picture, Paul’s point is this. Your new Christian life transforms your family. It transforms the way you interact in your family. The place you have. It changes the kinds of things you do in your family and it changes the way you do the things you do in your family. It changes the way you love your spouse. It changes the way you talk to kids. Life in the Workplace And, again, without pause, Paul carries the theme through another sphere of life. Colossians 3:22-4:1 22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism. 4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven. Now slavery in the Bible is a difficult topic. The economy was so radically different from ours, it is difficult to get our heads around. If you want to dive further into this let’s talk after. I had some fun studying the topic. There were only really two employment categories. Either you owned land, in which case you were in the market to buy slaves or servants. Sometimes these were indentured servants, serving for a contracted period of time. Sometimes these were lifelong servants. There wasn’t a “middle class”. So Paul applies this radical new life to the sphere of work and captures the reality of his audience. You either “worked” as a master, as an employer, in which case your Christian life should radically affect the way you work. Or, if you are a servant, an employee, your Christian life should radically affect the way you work. Christ offers hope to those in a hopeless situation, and demands responsibility from those who would be tempted to be irresponsible… but the overall message is the same. Your life in Christ affects your whole life, in every sphere. For example, let me list the top 3: church, home and work. They didn’t have a softball league then, this was it. And to make it absolutely clear, in summary, let’s pick up back in 3:17 In Summary 17 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. The name – carrying the reputation, the honor, the character of a person. Traveling overseas as an American… you represent America. Walking around in a Next Step shirt, you represent us. Being a follower of Christ is an all-the-time, all-the-where kind of thing. You have a giant tattoo on your forehead that says “I belong to Jesus.” And you are to speak and act, in word or deed, in light of that. You – Doing Relationship in the Name You need to understand how to do everything you do, everything you say, all in the name of Jesus. You are carrying the banner, the bumper sticker, the reputation and character of Jesus. Not just in a “how others see you” kind of way, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within you, you are the image of God! How do you do what you do in the Name? It changes some of what you do. It changes how you do everything. I want you to try this. Out loud as often as you can, in your head if you have to, for this coming week, whenever you finish an activity, tack on “in the name of Jesus.” Try it now. You can cover it with a cough if you need to. “HMMGMGMGMPH in the name of Jesus”. This is acknowledging reality. Everything we do is already in the name of Jesus. Have fun with it, but let it sink in. In The Name Of Jesus… ITNOJ. You can just say that. The way that you interact with others, the way that you treat others here in the church, is in the name of Jesus. The way that you treat your wife, your husband, your mother, your father, your children, your best friend, your significant others of any kind. The way you do family… is in the name of Jesus. The way that you work for others and treat others who work for you. The way you work moment by moment at work is in the name of Jesus. I code in the name of Jesus. I write email, I sit through meetings in the name of Jesus. That is the truth, I am only learning to recognize it. Now some might react like you just dropped your pants in public and mooned them. “Keep it private!” Keep it secret. Keep it safe. We can do this without being obnoxious. More about this next week. Being obnoxious is not the point. Being loud and offensive is not the point. Screaming the name of Jesus is also not the point. That is silly, I get that. Living and speaking in the name of Jesus, however, consistent with the character and reputation of the perfect man, the Son of God, who loved us enough to die for us. Living and speaking in his name… I know it can be embarrassing to be associated with the name of Jesus, it is being dragged through the mud right now. But when you live and act in the name of Jesus, and you are actually living and speaking like Jesus, because He has given you a new life and the fruit of His Holy Spirit, you redeem the name of Jesus. We – Doing Everything in the Name So, ultimately, private secret Christianity is not an option left open to us. Our faith is radically relational. It is not private. What are the primary spheres of the expression of our faith? Our church community, our family and our workplace. Our daily relationships. Our faith is radically relational. We talk about our personal faith. We should talk a lot more about our interpersonal relationship. Even if I was on an island, just me and God, there are already 4 persons involved: me, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God himself is eternally internally relational. It is no surprise then that our faith would be relational and interpersonal. We act and speak in the name of Jesus. If we really do that, in our church, in our families, in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, those become places where the name of Jesus starts to mean something different. As you start to look more like Jesus, as we together encourage and teach one another to live and love like Jesus, the people around us get glimpses of the real name of Jesus. Our life is in Him and His life is breaking out among us and through us. His Life. His Truth. His Way. That is His Kingdom. Private secret faith is not an option left to us… especially in our church, in our families, and in our workplace. In our relationships, we act and speak in the name of Jesus.