Dress to Impress

Dress to Impress

Good morning. So our church merry christmas, you guys awake this morning? Good, good. You’re awake, You’re awake. Glad you’re here. Name’s dan, if I haven’t met you, um we’re gonna continue looking at Paul’s letter to the colossians Church. So go ahead and open your bible, your bibles to colossians. Chapter three, We’re gonna finish the whole rest of chapter three, verses 12 through 25 then we’re going to read the first verse of chapter four. You might be thinking that’s strange that you would read just one verse in the first chapter as a portion of the passage that you’re teaching from. But I’ll have, you know that paul did not write this letter with chapters and verses described to them. He wrote it with ideas, thoughts And he wanted to convey those thoughts. And as we look at the out laying of the passage, the thought continues on into verse one of Chapter four. So that’s why we’re beginning there while you’re turning there. Let me give you a little bit of context for where we’re going this morning. Um It has been said that when the Gospel came to the Greeks, they turned it into a philosophy, Paul addresses that a little bit here in this letter to the colossians, there’s also been said that when the Gospel came to the Europeans, they turned it into a culture and it has been said that when the Gospel took root in America, we turned it into a business. But what we will read this morning is Paul reminding us that the Gospel shows the seeds of the new creation in christ, that it is about proclaiming a new creation, a new humanity in christ, it is about his kingdom being revealed in a people who have been born again, made a new in christ. And so he’s gonna talk repeatedly in this passage about putting on last week, Pastor mike covered verses one through 11 of chapter three and he talked about putting on christ and so this morning I’ve entitled this teaching, dressed to impress not in a superficial way, not in an attempt to impress this world but with a heavenly mindset. What christ on your mind in christ? That’s so important because In Chapter 3: verse one the verse begins with paul saying that if you have been raised with christ, this is speaking to his resurrection, this is the hope that Christianity offers the world that you will die someday. We will all die, but we will not all remain dead in that way, we shall be, we shall be raised to life again in christ and made like him, the new creation being seen in and through our faith here and now. If you have been raised with christ and then he goes on to say that you are to set your minds on the things above, meaning that you have this new creation in mind that you’re thinking about the rule and reign of christ and what he has done for you for giving your sin, bringing you back to the father and establishing this new creation, this new order, That is no longer under the Dominion of sin and satan, but is under the righteousness of our God and the peace and love of our God thrives within the context of this new creation. So he says put on this mindset and then he goes on to say that you if you have died with him, that your life is hidden in Christ. In verse three notice, he says that you were to have this mindset, this heavenly mindset, but then he says from heaven’s mindset, you you look like christ to God that you look like christ to heaven, that on this planet and all of the Brokenness and all of the sin around us. You look like christ. If you are in christ, if you have been raised with christ, you are to be dressed to impress your heavenly father, that’s what your faith in christ looks like to him. It’s impressive. It is the righteousness of christ, it is his beloved son that he sees, and then he says, when christ returns that you will also be with him in glory, in verse four, He ends that whole section in Verse 11, saying that Christ is all and in all christ is the focal point of all of creation is the focal point of all of life, that he is to be glorified and exalted in every aspect of life. So when he says put on christ, we’re gonna be looking at that from the context of you putting on christ in your relationships, in the church, in the home and in the workplace, you need to be dressed to impress. Put on christ in every single aspect of your life, representing him. I know some of you when I said dress to impress, you thought, man this what are you trying to do? You’re trying to be catching up here. That’s really superficial. Why would you say that? Look at you, you’re wearing a t shirt? Yes, indeed, I am wearing a t shirt is one that my kids got me and today we’re gonna talk about the home and I’m gonna be talking about kids and so I want them to know that I love them. Look at the shirt, you got me kids love you guys. Well, some of you singles who desire to be married, you do need to take the heart dress to impress, groom yourself a little bit. You never know who’s watching. Nobody wants to marry a sloppy joe get a haircut man, groom yourself dress nice show that you’ve got some discipline, that you you live with us into purpose, that you’re a responsible person. If you want someone to feel like they can trust you and build their lives with you. And the reason I say that is because we will be talking about marriage as well today. And so I think that’s a helpful little tidbit for you if you’re desiring to be married. And it’s not there yet, maybe you should dress to impress. Have you guys found the passage? If you haven’t by now, I’m gonna pray for you. Let me begin reading the text. This is verse beginning in verse 12. Again, I’m gonna read into the first verse of Chapter four. So it’s put on then as God’s chosen ones Holy and beloved. Compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you. So you also must forgive and above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another and all wisdom, singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 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, wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord 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 provoke your Children unless they become discouraged. Bond servants obey in everything, those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but when sincerity of heart fearing the Lord, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord christ for the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done. And there is no partiality. Masters tree your bond servants justly and fairly knowing that you also have a master in Heaven Church. That is the word of the Lord Father. Thank you That your word reveals to us that we are your chosen ones in christ, that you are our Lord. And so we wish to honor you in that way today by giving attention to your word on how it might be applied in our lives. I pray that your spirit would give me the grace to communicate this with clarity. I pray that your spirit would give us the grace to receive it with faith and humility and conviction how we are to live as representatives of your son and the new humanity that you are revealing a broken dying world. I pray this in christ’s name amen. So from verses 12 through 17, believe the focus is on the church and our relationships in the church that we are to put on christ in the context of the church, that we are to be mindful of how we interact with one another when we gather when we come together throughout the week, that we are to put on christ that he is the goal, he is the focal point of our gathering and that our interaction, our behavior towards one another ought to honor and please him always. And I believe that this is the case because in verse 12, there is an illusion to Deuteronomy chapter seven When moses says to the Israelites that you are God’s chosen people, not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples on the planet, but because God chose to set his love upon you, because God chose to set his love upon you and Paul here in colossians 3 12 says that God has chosen us, that we are holy, set apart and beloved by God. God has chosen to set his love upon a people and those people are to represent him and they are to show to the rest of the world the hope of Glory. That’s what chapter one talks about, right, christ in you the hope of glory. And one of the ways we do this is how we interact with one another. We show that we have been chosen by God. We have received by faith the gospel. We have become a people special treasured before our God in his heart, we are his his possession and we show to the rest of the world that we are his possession by how we treat one another. So we put on christ in the context of the church as we’ll see here in this passage, paul is after A love for one another and a thankfulness for one another. And we’ll see that theme work its way through the end of the whole text that I read to you this morning all the way into verse one of Chapter four, we’ll see that theme working its way through trying to accomplish one goal. What is the goal is trying to accomplish? It is in verse 15 that the peace of Christ would rule in your hearts. The peace of christ would rule in your heart, that the peace of christ would rule in your hearts. It’s not that hey, I have peace, right? You know, like peace, love and happiness right? Like a hippie, no peace with God and a sense of peace with your brothers and sisters with the people. God has called you to walk with with the people God has placed in your life. There is a sense that you are committed to that, that that is the attitude of your heart that you want to be at peace with your brothers and sisters because you know what christ has done for them. You know how treasured and how special they are to him. And so you want to be at peace with them. He talks about the key to this piece being love and thankfulness. Why do I say that well? And verse 12, he highlights five virtues, right? Compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Now paul likes to give categories of various virtues throughout scripture, there maybe there’s five year, there may be 79, and then some of the other apostles will give us some categories. They all essentially go back back to the concept of love loving one another. In fact, if you were to read first Corinthians 13, the marriage or wedding ceremony love passage, right, Love is kind, Love is patient, love bears with one another. What is he talking about here, bearing with one another, if you have a complaint for giving each other, it is a theme of love, working itself out, demonstrating that the peace of christ is ruling in your hearts. So love is important if we are to put on christ in the context of the church and then secondly, Being thankful for one another three times, he says, be thankful or give thanks to God for one another and for the Lord, he says it in verse 15 and says that you were called in one body and be thankful. And then again in verse 16 after he talks about being letting the word of christ richly dwell in you teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing songs, hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And then again in verse 17 and whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord, jesus, giving thanks to God love for one another and thankful for one another that really disarms us. If there is a commitment to these disarms us from having a sense of being um At odds or at enmity towards one another. It really does. If that is the posture of our heart, if that is the attitude of our heart, if we are as paul wrote to the roman church, trying to be at peace at all with all men, doing everything that is within our power to be at peace with all men. If that is our desire, then the best way to cultivate that right is with thanksgiving towards one another. Be thankful for one another in your prayers, giving thanks for one another, choosing to sing with one another, side by side praising God and giving thanks for one another. Because you’ve been raised with christ heaven’s perspective, God sees one body, he sees Christ, he sees his people, he sees his beloved community, so act like it. So says, let the word of christ dwell in you richly Teaching and admonishing one another and the wisdom to do this singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs. Some people think that he’s being repetitive there, but I don’t think that he’s being repetitive. Their songs referencing the book of psalms. Many of them were the songs of jesus and the early church and then hymns, which I believe colossians, 1 18 through 20 I believe that that became a him 15 through 20 that became a hymn that the early church sing and then spiritual songs, the kind of songs that we are find most prominently in the church today. Songs that we write about under you know, being inspired our hearts being awakened to the glory of God, being in all the glory of God. We we write songs, we sing something like that today. So you’re saying all of that is to teach us it is to teach us about christ. It is to teach us that we are his people, that we are his beloved people that we represent the new humanity. It is to help us put on christ is to help us to dress to impress for heaven’s approval all of it. And that’s why he ends that passage by saying whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord jesus. Some people like to think of the phrase, you know the name of christ or doing things in the name of christ as if that is some kind of special incantation that you add on to your prayers that somehow that gets things done for God. But no, it has to do with the authority, the representation the presence all of that. There’s a there’s a deep Crystal logical component to what Paul is unpacking here about Jesus and what he means. That’s why in verse 11, he says he is all and in all, there’s so much more to him than you even know. So we had to put on christ in the church and the peace of christ is to rule in our hearts. The best way to get there is with thankfulness in our hearts, with love for one another and allowing the word to stir us up and to spur us on towards loving one another. Then he moves on in verse 18 to begin addressing, putting on christ in the home. And when I want to start by saying that from here on, from verses 18 onto the verse the first verse of chapter four, there’s a principle of reciprocity that we’ll see that paul doesn’t just address one party, but he addresses both and he addresses them in the context of how they fit together in the Lord as a loving people, a loving body that adequately represents who christ is. And so he he ascribes roles and he addresses those roles and he addresses them with the mindset and the understanding that if this is your desire to please the Lord and everything that you do, this is the area that you need to be aware of sin is going to fight against. You prevent you from glorifying the God glorifying God in these areas, these are the areas you need to be on guard against. And so he begins by addressing the households And so in verse 18 he says, wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Now marriage the bible does not allow or make space for any concept of a same sex marriage. There’s just no space for in scripture. There’s no space for in the design of God. I love one of the lines we sang this morning, how we’ve submitted to God’s design and when he made the male and female, they needed to be complementary beings in the image of God so that they could carry out the purpose of God, which was to be fruitful multiply as they took Dominion over the earth. You have no future humanity. If it is not one man and one woman in covenant tal union together, you don’t have a future marriage by nature is a sexual relationship. Let that hang a little bit for you singles a little worried about that little skirmish, about that. Pastors talking about that in church, don’t be uncomfortable. You wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t a reality. But it is a sexual relationship. It is a partnership for the purpose of glorifying God in the earth and God saw fit that it could only be accomplished if one man and one woman were to come together and covenant to union to glorify him. That’s the only way they would accomplish it. It is the primary building block of society, husband and wife. That is the new family is what God begins to build culture and civilization upon that relationship. A very real sense that the family is the first, it’s the first church, the first business, the first school it is where kids learn how to be human beings that represent God in life. Now it doesn’t replace those institutions, but it is the place where kids get a one on one experience on what it means to be a human being in this world. So it’s important until but paul begins here by addressing wives again. He wants to come at this from the angle of where are we most likely to sin in our relationship against the Lord and with the people that God has placed in our lives in this case, wives and husbands. And so he says, wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord, that is proper as is proper in the Lord. If you were to put on christ in your marriage relationship, wives submit to your husbands. What are you saying genesis? Three read that account. You’ll see the story of how the serpent came into the garden and tempted eve and sin entered the world. And from there, God goes to settle accounts, right? He he addresses the serpent, the man and the woman. And from there we get this idea of the curse of sin upon humanity. And so one of the things he says to the woman is that a part of the curse of sin upon women, he says, your desire will be for your husband. Now we ought to think about that first moment, is he saying that if a woman wants to be married, that that is a reflection of sin’s curse. No, that is not what he is saying. Now, I’ve heard some people untrained teachers say that it is flat out wrong. Marriage is a good thing. Season five says that it is a mystery, but it points to the relationship between God and his people because there is a lifelong commitment, there’s uh denying all else and forsaking all others for one, it’s a powerful gospel witness it. It is a powerful gospel picture, marriage is a good thing. What does he mean? When he says part of the out working of sin’s curse, that your desire will be for your husband. I think we see the same hebrew word used in Chapter four of Genesis. When we get to the Children of Adam and Eve, when we get to cain and Abel Kane, you’re not familiar with that story, committed the first murder in history. He murders his brother Abel, but before he murders Abel God says to him, God warns him, God says cain, sin is crouching at your doorstep. Listen, it’s desire for you. What does he mean? It is competing for leadership and dominance over you. So, and paul says, wives submit to your husbands area, where you are most likely to send in your marriage is in competing with him over who is the boss? The leader who is an authority in this marriage. And so if we were to put on christ in our marriages, wives, if you were to put on christ, you have to submit to your husbands. A practical way of thinking about this when it comes to submission. Think of our relationship to the head of state over this country, intentionally using that phrase because the bible says that the husband is the head of the wife, think of the head of the state. Do not agree with the head of the state of this country and a lot of things, but he is God’s delegated and appointed authority over this nation. I must respect the office. I respect the office. I can have a disagreement. I can disagree with what the man may be pushing or saying or doing. But ultimately there is a respect for the office. So if the President were to come into his room and were to ask me to do something that directly contradicts what God word says, I would say to him. No, sir, I’m sorry you are lawful point ahead of the state, but God is over you and if you’re asking me to obey to disobey God to obey you, I cannot do that. Another example would be that if you were to be pulled over by a police officer, he says you were speeding you say no, I wasn’t. You still show respect to the man in that position of authority honor, even though you disagree. So when it says wives submit to their husbands, it is not saying that wives won’t ever disagree with their husbands won’t ever have a dispute of rightful dispute with their husbands about what is right or what is wrong. But there’s a principle. There’s an attitude of heart that says, I’m not trying to compete with you over dominance in this relationship. I’m committed to the truth. I want us to be committed to the truth. There’s a couple of ditches we need to avoid. And when we think about this subject, I mean, 11 hand you have where if you an extreme would be the wife can’t say anything, can’t ever have an opinion. Can’t ever do anything, has no permission from her husband to even get herself dressed in the morning. Although I think you guys should be on the same page about you know, dress seriously. But the wife is not a child. The wife is not a slave. The wife is help meet you position a li you are the head husband, but you do not have absolute sovereignty over her and unconditional authority over her. So she can’t have an opinion. She can’t disagree. And if you have to say as a husband, wife submit to me, you’re probably failing in your leadership. So husbands ought to see their wives as Gods. Help me. His appointed counselor and helper and bring forth the kingdom of God on the earth. And so you should be able to receive counsel from your wife. To hear counsel from your wife to you. There you are no less of a leader. If if if your wife has more knowledge or experience in an area and you and you lean on that and you and you ask for feedback and and and and and seek wisdom from that. You’re not a you’re you’re not less of a man for for relying on that. Now the other ditch if if one ditches wife can’t say anything and she’s treated like a child. The other dishes that the husband says nothing to the wife and whatever the wife says goes and whatever the wife wants goes, you know the phrase happy wife, happy life and some of you men cranes not not exactly happy christ. Happy life, whatever pleases christ is what is right? Yeah, I mean you never push back, you never help her to grow in christ. You never call her to greater faithfulness in christ because you’re afraid, you’re afraid of losing out on the intimacy part of the relationship. You’re afraid of, you know that things won’t be the way that you want it in the home. And so you don’t help her to grow in christ. God put you two together marriages, the great sanctification process and tool for revealing christ hold up your end. So he says wives submit to your husbands. But then again it’s reciprocal it goes in verse 19 he says, husbands love your wives, husbands love your wives. It should be your desire to to treasure your wives, your wives. The most important relationship that you that you have in life the moment you become married, it is no longer mom or dad or your best buds here. But this is the most important relationship that you have even above the Children. We love the Children. They’re precious. They’re God’s gift to us. But someday they will grow up and leave and some of you can’t wait for that to happen. And some of you, your parents are like, I can’t wait till you’re off the check off the bank account and off the road. Well, no, the most important relationship. So value her in that way. How are you hurting that way? It says that christ sacrifice, he died for his church. And if you are to draw your cues from him, think about what that means for you and your leadership in your relationship in the way in which you deal with your wife. That’s why he says don’t be harsh with her. God made me the head woman submit, do what I say, you are a sinner and you’re an idiot loving your wives. Being thankful for your wives. Being wanting the two of you accurately portrayed the gospel image of christ and his church, that peace ruling in your hearts. That’s what God is after you have to put on christ to do this. You have to rely on the power of christ to work in you to accomplish this. Both wives and husbands sometimes men know more about their hobbies, their favorite fantasy teams, their favorite, you know things they like to do in their leisure times and they know about their wives and I know that women on average have thousands more words to say in a day than we do. And it can be hard but listen, try to understand her. Pay attention and listen. No, just pretend like you’re listening, you’re checking scores and replying to text message. You’re thinking about all the things you want to do but listen. And if you’re not at a place to listen, then you need to as a leader carve out some time to where you can say, Hey honey, let’s let’s table this and let’s commit to this time right here. If it works for you for us to have this combo But love your wives and do not be harsh with them. And then in verse 20 he addresses Children. These Children obey your parents and everything for this pleases the Lord. Now he’s not speaking about adult Children who moved out who started families on their own. He’s speaking of every child who is dependent upon their parents, especially those living in their parents homes. No, that’s important because there’s two people, there are two types of Children who will radically test that authority. You have the toddlers who think they run the world. Hey man, your diaper needs to be changed. I’m good. Yeah you you are, your aroma is filling the home and and we shall not have that and then there are teenagers, we are independent. Everyone owes us everything and we know more than you do. But if we are to raise up Children in the Lord, if we have to carry forth this calling to fill the earth with the glory of God, then Children need to learn the joy of obedience to the Lord. Their obedience to their parents primarily about them obeying the Lord. The whole work of the gospel is about turning the hearts of the Children back to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers back to the Children. And paul is addressing that Children. Your hearts to your fathers, your your parents, your people who are in authority over your life, who are trying to bring you up in the faith, trying to prepare you for this world, trust them. They aren’t perfect. And parents, if you if you know your you’ve not done it right, be honest about that. But also let your Children know that your desires for them to grow up in the world and you’re doing your best and pray for them. But he says Children, you’ve got to obey the Lord. You’ve got to put on christ and obey the Lord. You’ve got to make it your desire to please the Lord. If you’ve been raised with him, put on christ and obey by honoring and obeying and then he says, fathers do not provoke your Children unless they become discouraged. That’s an important one. We and it’s especially geared towards fathers. Moms can do this as well. I mean, but mostly fathers when you see that your child is not doing something the way in which you think they ought to be doing it or haven’t shown the progress that you would like for them to show in a particular area. We can as fathers have the tendency to ride the child in that area and totally lose sight of their growth in other areas and so in doing so we can discourage the child. We can break the child’s will, we can harden cause them to have a heart and heart towards authority towards the Lord all warrants against that. Another way of doing this is by not doing anything as a father, never, ever bringing loving discipline to your child. Just letting your child just do whatever he or she wants to do and thinking that man, I just want to create an environment for my kid to always feel blessed and happy and joyful. Guess what? Because you never give them the proper feedback. They know they need in discipline and in righteousness, the horn in their hearts and they’ll become a terror to everyone else. Starting you know, from this high all the way to you know, they’re teenagers and adults out of the home. He says you’re in activity can provoke them and your harshness can provoke them. We need to learn his father’s gotta be loving, grace filled fathers who disciplined our Children. Well who encouraged them a lot. Love on them a lot. Also bring loving discipline. So that’s paul’s instructions to the family. And you guys are like man, when are you gonna end when you gonna bring this home? Well, we gotta put on christ, I told you there’s a lot there. Um We are on the last point we want to put on christ in the context of work. But before we get to work, you’ll notice verse 22 all the way into chapter four, he’s addressing slaves and slave owners in the bible doesn’t shy away from this subject. The bible doesn’t really shy away from a lot of subjects, Its pastors who will shy away from subjects. But the bible doesn’t, that’s something to keep in mind, but he addresses the subject of slavery. And even as an african american here in America, knowing our history, I have no problems with what the bible is doing here and addressing the subject of slavery. Do you know why? Because he undermines the entire institution. Beginning in verse 11 when he says here, there is not greek and jew, circumcised and uncircumcised. Barbarian by the way. Barbarian greek Georgia for people who didn’t speak greek. The Greeks, they said sounded like bar bar, bar, bar bar bar barbarians. Anyway, paul says it doesn’t matter ethnicity, social status four in christ, same dignity seem value to God, undermines. The entire system says that God prefers the Godly slave who is not esteemed in this life over the wealthy slave owner was godless. Both sides with him status doesn’t mean anything to God that doesn’t impress God. What impresses God is faith in christ And so he undermines the institution. He does it subtly keeping in mind that he is also a prisoner in confinement by the romans writing a letter that they probably are looking over, but he’s undermining the institution. And so verse 11 is one example and verse one of chapter four is another example when he says to the masters, knowing that your master is in heaven, you’re accountable to God, you will be accountable to God. And he addresses this subject possibly because as he’s sending the letter to the colossians, a runaway slave is a part of the party that is carrying it an isthmus And probably carrying a letter to Philemon, the slave owner, one who owned. So he’s instructing them on how God sees this institution that was being carried out in the roman empire. Now, the slavery that took place in America should tell slavery. It was actually influenced heavily by ancient pagan cultures, like the romans like the Greeks, like the babylonians. Um like the Syrians, those are the people that perform a very harsh form of slavery. Now, the jews were given a form of slavery that looked more like what we called indentured servitude in America. They try to begin to go down that route. But when you think about indentured servitude, okay, someone is, you know, contracting themselves out to pay off a debt or to earn some money to start their own business. At the end of that contract, you become a competitor who wants that. If you’re a business owner, you’re thinking, well if I let this person come and they acquired this wealth for me and then they’re gonna be released and then compete with me. I can’t I can’t deal with that. So they got tired of cheating people on their contracts and they went to a completely different market and went and bought people who were stolen and sold into slavery and said, this is a much cheaper market. This is the one where we can make slavery perpetual And that’s the form of slavery that took place in the bible. And that’s likely the form of slavery that people are dealing with a mixture of the two in the context of the colosseum Church. And yet paul undermines both. And then he gives dignity to the slave by telling him that you are to do everything, not with I service our people pleasing as the motivation of your heart, but with the desire to please the Lord that you have put on christ that you are to trust that christ will Not only receive your labors, but he will serve as the judge over those who do you wrong. That’s what he says in verse 25 for the wrong door will be paid back, undermining the entire system. He’s not afraid to say that jesus is lord over everyone and then me challenges the masters to live with humility by saying christ is your master, here’s your mask, be careful how you exercise your authority. Now we don’t live in that context anymore. Thank God. The the wisdom and the truth and the grace of God has led our country out of that kind of darkness and oppression of people. I love the songs we sang this morning, emphasizing just that fact how the light of the truth of the gospel. Let’s move this forward, is moving us forward continually fighting against that And how in the new humanity. Again, verse 11, there is no distinction. Black, white, wealthy poor, that we if we are in Christ, we are more treasured, more prized than any other being on the planet. Christ is what matters to God. But in the context of our lives, we do have to work. We have to pay bills and so some of us are bosses or employers, we have others who work under us. We need to take the heart what he’s saying here, God is your boss. God is your employer, how you lead, how you govern in the workplace, matters to God. And then if you are an employee, how you work in the workplace, God is watching it matters to him. You’re someone who likes to steal time. You’re someone who likes to cut corners thinking about this in the context of all the technology that we rely upon. If people did crappy work, we would be in big trouble, we would hate it. Let me think about it. You put your money in the bank. What if people were bad at counting money or didn’t take that seriously or gave but they do give your money away. I don’t want to go there right now, when you think about that, you want trustworthy people working hard, doing the right thing, you need to be that kind of person. You take your car to the mechanic, right? You don’t want him to to go and Loosen up a few things under the hood and then come back and say, you got this problem and it’s gonna cost you $1200 to fix. You don’t want to deal with that, right? You want an honest guy to do honest work for you. You gotta be that way as well. It says, God is watching he is observing your work. In fact, paul is saying that what you do is ultimately being offered up to christ It’s a witness to the new humanity in him. That’s why you don’t do it by way of eye service or as people pleasing, but you do with all your heart as unto the Lord? That means that what you know and with all of your ability, you work at it. If you’re a young person, you work at it, your school, your chores, you work at it. If you are someone who’s just beginning your career, you work, you work at it now, you don’t become a slave to it, but you work at it in the sense that you want to honor God and what you do. And there is a promise. There is a promise in this passage. It says that there that you that you will receive a reward, you will receive a reward from the Lord. That there’s an inheritance, a reward for you because you put your heart into honoring christ and everything you did. That’s what he said verse 24. Not only that we know that those who are skilled in their labor, they won’t stand before obscure men, go stand before kings, eventually the king of kings. So we are to put on christ in the church where they put on christ in the home, to put on christ in the workplace. We are to be dressed to impress. Life, puts a lot of pressure on you. God puts christ on you and in him is the power to live a life pleases God in every way. Amen. I want to leave you with five questions and I’m gonna close in prayer. Application questions it comes to putting on christ in the context of community and in our relationships. Am I knowingly disobeying God in any area of life? That’s one way to keep the peace of God from ruling in your life in your relationships. If you are knowingly disobeying, you know that you’ve been clearly pointed to the commandments of God, obey God in a certain area and you ignore, you won’t have the peace of christ and you certainly aren’t putting on christ when you live that way, secondly, do you secretly have an offense towards someone that you refuse to appropriately address? That’ll keep you from being at peace, that will keep you from really experiencing joy in the context of your relationships. And look, you really have only two options when you have this secret offense towards someone, one is to repent to God and get over it, right, repent to God and get over it or to repent to God and humbly go to the person, confess that you’ve been dealing with this thing and seek out a peaceful resolution with them. Now, what if you tried to resolve the conflict and it still remains an open conflict, there hasn’t been a resolution, That’s the third question, maybe you have a relationship like that, that’s impacting how we come together as a community, find someone that you know who’s trustworthy, a spiritually mature person and and asked if they would be willing to be an unbiased mediator in helping you to resolve the conflict. You know what that takes maturity to say, Okay, I could be wrong. My perspective could be completely busted. I need you to be an unbiased mediator that is sold out to seeing us united in christ. Would you help us? Fourthly, are you having trouble with something written in the bible? Something in the bible? You you read it, you say, man, if I’m honest with you dan, it kind of grates my soul a little bit. It makes me a little uncomfortable. Hey, now we’re in the context of the church. The church is a community of Grace. We have the Ministry of Grace. The state has the ministry of the sword, right? We have a Ministry of Grace in the church. And so if that’s your situation, the first thing I would encourage you to do is to make it your preference for the Lord, jesus. You are Lord. My allegiance is to you above all else, including myself. And I need you to help me help me to see if I’m misunderstanding this passage or if I’m missing something about this passage. And then I would invite you to have an honest conversation with someone you trust. If it’s a child with a parent, this young person, someone in your community group or reach out to one of us, elders. Lastly, if you’re battling discouragement because of a spiritual attack. Maybe you didn’t realize it was a spiritual attack. You’ve been trying to obey the Lord. You’ve been trying to work heartily with all your heart before the Lord is unto the Lord. And yet you’re just constantly dealing with a nagging discouragement, Feeling down heavy about your life. That’s possibly a spiritual attack that you’re experiencing. I would invite you to again prayer, but also seek out why spiritual counsel and maybe even consider putting together a group of people to pray for you about that particular area of life that you’re dealing with discouragement. And so church, I want to leave you with those things as we consider how to be dressed to impress our Lord to put on christ how to bring glory to his name. Amen. Let’s pray, jesus. Thank you. You set the example, but you not only set the example. You give the grace and the power to live out what you call us to God. Some of us feel like the father in the gospel accounts who said Lord, I believe help my unbelief. I pray God. If there’ll be people here this morning who feel like that God, I pray that you would indeed help them methane in that place. That your spirit would remind them that you supply the power to live out this life, that if they are to be in union with you, that there is grace, there is supernatural power to do what you’ve called us to do. I pray. They would learn the joy of obedience to you, they would experience it and it would become their strength. I pray this in christ’s name. Amen.