And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:32-24)

This section of Paul’s letter to the Colossians reads almost like the book of Proverbs. It is filled with lots of practical, easy to understand instruction about a wisdom-filled life that glorifies God. In this part, the apostle wrote to bondservants – people obligated in employment to others. It’s not a perfect analogy, but the ancient bondservant-master relationship was something like the modern employee-employer relationship.

In that context, Paul told the Colossians (and us today) to do everything heartily, as to the Lord. The “do” in this context mainly has in mind the work we do, but it really can be extended to everything we do.

Whatever you do, do it heartily. Put some passion and effort into what you do. Don’t work or play like a robot, doing a job but with no heart. It’s been said that there are no boring days, only boring people. Whether at work or play, living life heartily reflects the glory of God and it gives Him glory.

Whatever you do, do it as to the Lord. Realize that in work your real boss is God. In recreation your real partner is God. He is Master and Lord over all, so all should be done as to Him. If God directly asked you to clean a window, you would do a great job. Doing everything as to Him makes a big difference in attitude and performance. No Christian should be a dishonest, lazy, or unreliable worker.

Whatever you do, do it not to men. It is likely that a flesh and blood human being is your supervisor or customer. Like all humans, they have their faults. This usually affects your attitude toward what you do for them. Yet the Christian does not ultimately serve men, but God. Lift your service to heaven; elevate it from earth.

Whatever you do, realize you will receive the reward. Sometimes hard work does not get rewarded on earth. But God knows how to take care of His people, and for them none of what they have done as to the Lord will go unrewarded. Do your work heartily and as to the Lord and you will always come out ahead.

At the end of verse 24 Paul repeated an idea when he wrote, for you serve the Lord Christ. According to Wright, this is an unusual phrase. Elsewhere in his letters Paul wrote the Lord Jesus Christ. It may be that Paul’s idea was that our true master, our true boss is Jesus. So remember whom you work for—you serve the Lord Christ.

If we think of Jesus as our true boss, remember that He was and is the greatest “undercover boss” of all time. He came to live, serve, and suffer among us. Jesus knew what hard work was like in all His years as a carpenter or builder. He did all His work heartily, as unto His Father. He can sympathize with you in the difficulties you have to doing whatever you do heartily as unto the Lord, and He can strengthen you to do it better. Then, at the end of it all, He rewards you for what He strengthened you to do! You’ll never find a better boss than Jesus.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:17)

We are made new men (or new women) in Jesus Christ out of the free gift of His grace. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead works in the believer, bringing new life and a new heart. The changes of the new life don’t happen all at once, and the changing isn’t complete until we are glorified in heaven.

The new man needs instruction. He is ready to learn and instinctively wants to obey God, so he wants to be taught. That’s why the Bible gives new men and new women practical instruction on how to live – what to do and what not to do.

Every once in a while we read a wonderful summary statement, something that is easily remembered as a solid guide to how we should live as new men and women in Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:17 is one of those statements.

It first speaks to whatever you do in word or deed. That covers just about everything; every word spoken, every deed done. God cares about them all.

Here is what God wants us to do with every word and every deed: do them all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Simply said, the new man (or woman) lives his life, all his life, for Jesus. They are only interested in doing the things that can be done according to the character of Jesus, consistent with the honor of Jesus, and with the heart of Jesus. The new man only wants to do things that Jesus could put His name on, that Jesus would endorse.

This gives a wonderful guide for the tough choices we sometimes face. We wonder if something should be permitted or denied in our life. Ask the question: “Could Jesus put His name to this? Can I do this in the name of the Lord Jesus?” If you apply that to every word you speak and every deed you do, you will have a good guide.

You can only know that if you know something of Jesus, and the only truly reliable place to learn Jesus is from God’s word, especially the four gospels. The better you know Jesus through His word, the better you will be able to do everything in word and deed in His name.

For certain, sometimes you will get it wrong. Yet even in those times God will see and honor your heart, if the true goal was to say and do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

The last aspect of this to think about is that we also do everything giving thanks to God the Father through Him. We say and do all things with an attitude of gratitude to God, remembering all He has done in the past and all He promises for the future. In the past, present, and future we all have reasons to be thankful.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. (Colossians 3:15)

What rules in your heart?

For some people anger rules in their heart. For others it is passion. Some have comfort ruling in their heart.

In Colossians 3:15 the Apostle Paul told believers in Jesus that the peace of God should rule in their hearts. It’s a wonderful and remarkable statement.

First, it is the peace of God – not the peace of man, not the peace of surrender, not the peace of compromise. God’s peace is both the peace He has and the peace He gives. God lives in perfect peace. He isn’t anxious or troubled about anything. Jesus gave us the gift of God’s perfect peace (John 14:27), and by faith this peace can be ours and can rule in our hearts.

When peace rules in my heart, I can let God’s peace guide me regarding decisions and issues. One path may have God’s peace upon it and the other may be disturbed and conflicted. If I have no sense of God’s peace in any direction, perhaps it is time to wait altogether.

This may work in an individual way, where a person is guided and confirmed in direction by their sense of the peace of God. But the idea here is much bigger than the individual. Notice first that Paul wrote about hearts in the plural, not in the singular. It has the idea of hearts gathered together, not in isolation.

Even more, Paul added the thought to which also you were called in one body. When God called us together in one body, He called us together in peace. When peace rules among us, it means that peace should characterize the community of God’s people. If as a group of people we are characterized by anger and arguing, or by conflict and confusion, then it isn’t God’s peace.

When people look at our churches and our Christian communities, they should be able to say, “Look at the peace among those people. The peace of God certainly rules here.”

So if anything else has taken the rule over your heart, tell it to step aside. No longer should anger or passion or comfort rule in your heart. As the power of the crucified and risen Jesus fills your life, the peace of God will reign. And as Paul wrote at the end of Colossians 3:15, that’s something to be thankful for.

Forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Colossians 3:12-13)

It’s one of the hardest things to do in life – to truly forgive someone who has wronged you. It may be especially difficult when the one who harmed you is a brother or sister in Jesus Christ. Yet, God commands His people to forgive, and especially to forgive one another.

To help us know how we should forgive, God gave us an example, a pattern: even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do. Understanding the way Jesus forgave us will always make us more generous with forgiveness, and never less generous.

Jesus told a parable with that exact point, found in Matthew 18:21-35. The point of the parable is that those who have been forgiven have a special obligation to forgive those who sin against them. To say it simply, Jesus forgave us, so we have a special obligation to forgive others.

When one thinks of how Christ forgave you it should make us much more generous with forgiveness.

God reaches out to bad people to bring them forgiveness; the habit of man is to not forgive if the offending person is a person of bad character.

God makes the first move towards us in forgiveness; the habit of man is to only forgive if the offending party really wants it and makes the first move.

God forgives often knowing that we will sin again, sometimes in the exact same way. It is the habit of man to forgive only if the offending party solemnly promises to never do the wrong again.

God’s forgiveness is so complete and glorious that He grants adoption to those former offenders. In the habit of man, even when forgiveness is offered, he will not lift again the former offender to a place of high status and partnership.

God bore all of the penalty for the wrong we did against Him. In the habit of man, when he is wronged, he will not forgive unless the offender agrees to bear all or most of the penalty for the wrong done.

God keeps reaching out to man to forgive him even when man refuses Him again and again. In the habit of man, one will not continue to offer forgiveness if it is rejected even once.

God requires no probationary period to receive His forgiveness; in the habit of man, one will not restore an offender without a period of probation.

God’s forgiveness offers complete restoration and honor; in the habit of man, we feel we should be complimented when we merely tolerate those who sin against us.

This is a depth of forgiveness that we can only practice if the power of Jesus flows in us and through us. Is there someone you haven’t forgiven, especially a brother or sister in Jesus? Receive the forgiveness of Jesus, receive His strength and love, and forgive them in the mighty name of Jesus. Not only is it the best for them; it’s the best for you.

And have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. (Colossians 3:10-11)

In the previous few verses Paul told Christians about things to put off – the ungodly and sinful conduct that marked our old life. We were supposed to put those things off like an old, stained, ruined suit of clothes.

But putting off is incomplete without putting on. That’s why Paul told us, “put on the new man.” Again, the phrase Paul used was commonly used for changing a set of clothes. We can almost picture a person taking off the old and putting on the new man in Jesus. So when we put on the “suit” of the new man, what does he look like?

First, the new man is renewed in knowledge. This means the new man is hungry to know what God says in His Word.

Next, the new man is according to the image of Him who created him. Paul clearly had in mind Genesis 1:27, where it is said that God created Adam in His own image. Nevertheless, now the first Adam is regarded as the old man who should be put off and discarded, because now we are created after the image of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.

Because everyone in the family of God is a new man (or woman) according to the image of Him who created him, then in a sense we are all the same. That’s why Paul wrote, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free. The new man is part of a family, which favors no race, nationality, class, culture or ethnicity. It only favors Jesus, because in this new family, Christ is all and in all.

The wonderful truth is that this work of the new creation not only deals with the old man and gives us the new man patterned after Jesus Christ; it also breaks down the barriers that separate people in society. Among new creation people it doesn’t matter if one is Greek or Jew or circumcised or uncircumcised or a Scythian or a slave or a free man. All those barriers are broken down.

All of these were strong barriers in the ancient Roman world; and the power of God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ broke them all down. In that, Christianity brought something truly wonderful into the world—as new men and new women, we all belong to the same family.

We could say it is a four-step process:

1. By faith in Jesus, put off the old man with the image of rebellious Adam.
2. By faith in Jesus, put on the new man with the image of obedient Jesus.
3. Renew yourself in knowledge by reading and thinking about God’s word.
4. Consciously live as part of the “new man family.”

Doing those four things could make this the best week you’ve had in a long time!