Thankful Submission (Col. 3:17)

This sermon was preached on 12/5/2011

As we have seen in previous studies, Paul in this section of his letter is dealing with various aspects of the behaviour expected of the members of the new humanity composed of believers in Jesus Christ. The apostle has used the illustration of putting of and on clothes to depict the necessity of disposing of sinful attitudes and replacing them with godly ones. In addition, he has reminded the Colossians that their King provides an environment of peace within their hearts which has to be worked out as they interact with one another. And one way by which they do so is by using psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to teach and admonish one another.

In verse 17, he further clarifies how this new life is worked out and gives two general features that must mark all that the Colossians say and do. The first feature is that all must be done ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus’ and the second feature is that all must be accompanied by ‘giving thanks to God the Father through’ Jesus. Paul is not suggesting that the three examples he has given (putting on graces, enjoying the peace of Christ, and using psalms, hymns and spiritual songs) can be done without his two general features. Yet I suspect he is indicating that they should be done with a conscious awareness of the two general requirements. Christians should have these two aspects of Jesus’ lordship and gratitude to God at the forefront of their minds.

It is clear from Paul’s words in this verse that we cannot compartmentalise our lives and divide them into areas that can be classified as sacred and secular, holy and worldly. The apostle makes a comprehensive statement which says all aspects of a believer’s life must be covered by the name of Jesus and that believer should be able to thank God in every area of life. Paul is not merely talking about our actions – he also covers our attitudes and thoughts, our aspirations and intentions.

In the name of the Lord Jesus

The first detail that the phrase highlights is the supreme position held by Jesus. There is the danger that we can become so familiar with this title and therefore use it in an unthinking way. In addition, we have lost the concept of lordship – we watch the activities of the House of Lords and probably find their titles and interaction irrelevant to us. These individuals don’t look as if they have much power or authority. Yet if we lived in Colosse at the time Paul wrote his letter, or anywhere else in the Roman Empire, we would know that to say Jesus is Lord was to make a public announcement that affirmed he was the supreme ruler, higher, much higher, than Caesar himself.

The distinguishing mark of real authority is that those who possess it have the ability to make laws and have the power to enforce them. They need both – an ability without the power only reveals that the person is wise and weak; the power without the ability will result in cruelty or chaos, or both. We would gladly confess that Jesus has both the ability and the power. He is the wonderful counsellor predicted by Isaiah, able to provide all the laws that are needed in his kingdom (he does not call a parliament every so often in order to discover what to do); he is the supreme Lord who possesses all power in himself (he does not to have an army to protect him or to defeat his opponents because he is always almighty). It gives us great joy to recall that this true of Jesus.

Yet it is also the case that those who acknowledge the position of Jesus may be ignorant of his requirements. We had an election last week and I suspect that the vast majority of those who voted did not pay any attention to the manifestos of the several parties. And I also suspect that even the supporters of the winning party will pay much attention to the various laws it will enact, unless of course these laws have an adverse effect on them. Yet they, and everyone else, is responsible to find out what laws are binding. Whatever we will do or say, there are laws governing our speech and our actions, and if we fall foul of the civil authorities, we cannot plead ignorance. Neither can we plead ignorance when it comes to the requirements of Jesus.

Unlike most human governments, Jesus’ commandments are found in one small volume, the Bible. Further, unlike the laws of human governments, the laws of Jesus do not have to be adjusted because of developments in society – his wisdom is such that the laws he has devised will always be relevant to whatever circumstances his subjects find themselves in. And, again unlike most laws passed by human governments, the laws of Jesus are easy to obey – he told his listeners in Matthew 11:28-30 that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Usually the leaders of human governments cannot be contacted by those under their authority. How different with regard to the kingdom of Jesus – any of his subjects can speak to him all the time and all of them can speak to him at the same time. They can go to him and ask him to teach them his laws and he will be delighted to do so. In fact, when they became members of his kingdom, he wrote his laws on their hearts and since then they want to obey him. But sometimes, spiritual enemies hinder their growth in knowledge and they have to approach King Jesus and confess their failures, and unlike human rulers he does not send his erring subject to prison, instead he restores them to his service.

Furthermore, Jesus will enable his subjects to practise his laws. I am sure that all human governments would love to have a means by which they could cause their subjects to obey laws from the heart in a glad manner. Sadly they do not have such a means, indeed it would probably be abused by them if they had it. But in the kingdom of Jesus, there is such a means and he achieves it in the lives of his subjects by the work of the Holy Spirit. Of course, the presence of the Spirit is not an encouragement to laziness, as if the disciples of Jesus can leave it all to the Spirit. The way the Spirit usually works is by enlightening their minds regarding the teaching of Jesus, causing them to love it, and then guides them to obey it. In reality, they obey Jesus in his strength.

Therefore we can see how important it is to know the teachings of Jesus, what his requirements are, and what his encouragements are. Leaders in human governments make great promises to their subjects, and these subjects know that it is very likely that their leaders don’t have the power to fulfil their promises. In contrast, Jesus does, so when he gives encouraging promises about the future to his subjects, they all know that he can keep them.

So we can see that Paul’s instruction to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus is designed for our spiritual safety. The danger that Christians usually face is doing or saying something in the name of another authority, and there are several such authorities around. Sometimes when we listen to alternative authorities, the outcome will be similar to what Jesus requires. Yet if we are doing it because these authorities say so, we will not be doing it in the name of Jesus.

What are some of these alternative authorities? There is the authority of tradition, which has a strong grip on some people. There is the authority of novelty, which also has a strong grasp of some persons. There is the authority of human reason, which can be very powerful. There is the authority of claimed experiences, which can be very impressive.

The common feature of submitting to such authorities is usually the desire not to think for oneself about what Jesus says in his Word. Doing so results in missing out on the experience of spiritual liberty. Imagine the existence of a castle in a neighbourhood. People around it have their opinions about the owner and whether or not he allows people to walk round the castle grounds. The only way to discover his requirements is for a person to go and read what the owner has put on the notice board beside the entrance to his grounds. One person goes and finds out that all are welcome to walk round the castle grounds on Tuesdays between 2pm and 4pm. Sitting beside the notice board, however, is an individual who advises the visitor not to believe a word the owner says, that he does not mean it, and he will not let anyone in. Nevertheless the visitor decides that on the following Tuesday he will walk in the grounds and he discovers that the owner had truly revealed his will. However, the visitor’s neighbours, because they have not read the notice board, imagine he is very forward or very foolish, that he is going to be in trouble for trespassing. They cannot understand the calmness and pleasure he has. But he only has it because he is doing what the owner said could be done.

Spiritual liberty is only given to those who live according to the instructions of the King and ignore the assertions of the devil not to believe them. The calmest Christians are those who are sure they are walking in the paths that the Bible enjoins for them. They are marked by gratitude to the King for giving to them such instructions and they delight to obey them. In contrast, those who base their practices on other authorities are marked by uncertainty and often swing from one authority to another. That is not the spiritual freedom that Paul expects the members of the new humanity to enjoy.

Thankfulness to the Father

Paul also reminds the Colossians that they should be thankful to God the Father through Jesus. The apostle has already mentioned gratitude several times in this passage, so indicating that the new humanity is composed of those who are grateful to God for giving them a new wardrobe, a peaceful environment, and joyful interaction with one another.

All these blessings come to believers through Jesus, but they can also be traced to the eternal purpose of the heavenly Father. It is good for us to take stock and ask ourselves where all our blessings came from. The answer is that they came from the loving heart of God. Every time we wear the beautiful garments of holiness we should thank the Father (we can look at some items of clothing and say to ourselves, ‘I am grateful to so-and-so for giving me that as a present). Every time, we sense the beautiful inner peace of the Christian life, we should thank the Father, the God of peace. Every time we interact with another, we should thank the Father that he has brought us into a community where the truth is spoken.

Yet Paul reminds us that expressions of gratitude must have a Christ-awareness as well as an appreciation that God is our Father and we are members of his family. We are accepted in Christ alone, not because of our dedication to his rule. No matter how lucid our understanding of his instructions are, no matter how insightful our grasp is of his sovereign position, we do not gain access to God’s presence based on our knowledge. There is only one name that opens the door for believers into the presence of God and that is the name of Jesus.

The members of the new humanity depend upon the person of their covenant head, the Mediator between them and God, the one who conveys to them all that the Father has planned, the only Saviour, Jesus Christ. And because that is the case, they will ‘do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.’