For the first five years after I became a Christian at school and then all through university everywhere I went I used to wear two little lapel badges. One was red and said “Jesus lives” and the other was green and said “Jesus saves”. For most of that time I also wore a large wooden cross around my neck. In some ways I was what would have been called a “Jesus freak”. I thought then and I still believe now that it was very important to tell the world that I was a Christian.
Of course, wearing the badges didn’t make me any more holy or any more loving. Just because everything I did was linked by those badges to the name of Jesus didn’t make my words or my actions any more Christ-like. But they were a witness, sometimes a good witness, sometimes a bad witness.
I am sure that the apostle Paul had in mind something much more important than wearing badges or t-shirts showing the name of Jesus when he wrote Colossians 3:17
17 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.
DOING EVERYTHING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS (verse 17)
Saying things and doing things in Jesus’s Name means a lot more than just wearing a “Jesus” label. In Bible times the name of a person was often an expression of the character of the person. Saul means “asked from God”. Paul means “little”. Peter means “rock”. Jesus means “God save us”. Doing things “in the name of Jesus” is not about telling people you are a Christian and then thinking that just because you claim to be a Christian you are actually representing Jesus. Putting a Christian sticker on a car doesn’t seem to make much difference to the way many people drive!
Doing things in Jesus’s name is about living “the Jesus way”. Doing what Jesus wants in the loving way Jesus Himself would do it. We have already seen in Colossians that Christ lives in us and that God is transforming us into the image of Christ. Last week we learned that “our real life is Christ”. If Christ truly lives in us and our real life is indeed Christ, then we will seek to ask and speak, not just “with a Jesus label” but with the nature and character of Christ Himself. Our whole life, everything we do and say, will be like a badge telling the world that Jesus lives and that Jesus saves!
We thought last week about throwing off the dirty tatty rags of the old life we used to live before we were Christians and putting on the spotless new suit of the new life God has given us in Christ, the life of Christ Himself living in us. So we will want to do everything “the Jesus way”, as Jesus Himself would do in our shoes, everything in Jesus’s Name. And Paul explains how we can do this in three important areas of life.
Everything in Jesus’s Name IN OUR WORSHIP (verses 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 word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 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.

Verse 16 definitely refers to Christians meeting together for worship but I believe all three verses apply to worship and give us FIVE different characteristics of worship.
PEACE 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. Christ gives us peace but not as the world gives peace. Christ gives wholeness, an inner calm and serenity which gives us security. Peace should rule in our hearts, especially as we meet together in services and home groups and church meetings. Christ’s peace should characterise the relationships between believers who make up His body, the church.
DIVERSITY (v 16b) and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. There will be variety in our expressions of worship. We Baptists probably don’t use the hymn book of the Bible the Psalms in our worship often enough. “Spiritual songs” doesn’t mean choruses so much as spontaneous spirit-led singing, and we probably don’t have enough of that in our worship either.
There are many similarities between Colossians and Ephesians, and Ephesians 5:19 says this. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speak to one another AND sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. We sing some hymns addressed to each other: Stand up, stand up for Jesus. Others are addressed to God: Make me a channel of your peace. Other hymns are appropriately an exhortation to ourselves: Praise, my soul, the King of heaven. We can sing to each other or to God or even address ourselves. But it isn’t truly worship when people are just singing. Not to each other or to God or to their own hearts but just singing to empty space – that’s not Christian worship.
THE WORD OF CHRIST (v 16a) 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. This means equally the word about Christ and the word Christ speaks. Our worship should be focussed on the word of Christ, the word in Scripture and the prophetic word. We should allow that word to dwell in us richly and permeate our souls as we take time to pray and reflect and respond on God’s word to us.
TEACHING AND ADMONISHING (v 16) 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, Christ’s word can come to us in teaching, but also in admonishing, personally challenging us to become more like Christ. Some Bible versions translate admonishing as instructing, others as counselling, others as advising. Remember what Paul said in Colossians 1:28 So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ. We need all of these, teaching, admonishing, instructing, counselling, advising, and even warning if we want to become like Jesus. That’s where Home Groups and also meeting 1-to-1 with other Christians are so helpful.
In our worship: peace, diversity, the word of Christ, teaching and admonishing. And one more characteristic which is mentioned three times in the three verses.
THANKFULNESS v15 …. And be thankful. v16 … with gratitude in your hearts to God v17…. giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Again the same in Ephesians 5:20 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thankfulness should characterise not only our times of worship but indeed our whole lives. 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.
Every part of our our lives should be a thanksgiving offering to God – all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Worshipping the Jesus way.
Everything in Jesus’s Name IN OUR FAMILIES (verses 18-21)
18 Wives, submit 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.

Living as a genuinely Christian family is not easy. The key is there in verse 18 – to do whatever “is fitting in the Lord” and in verse 20 – to do what “pleases the Lord” and by the Lord, of course Paul means “the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The first thing is to recognise that in God’s perfect plan for family life, there are different roles and different responsibilities. Complete equality – but different roles. Equal, but not identical. I’m going to leave the difficult task of explaining how that should work out in detail in today’s world for another sermon. For this morning I will just read what Paul says.
Wives, submit to your husbands. The whole Bible, not just the apostle Paul, expects a wife to recognise the ultimate authority of her husband within the family. But the context of that authority is love. 19 Husbands, love your wives
Ephesians 5 spells out the relationship between husbands and wives in more detail. 25 Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it 26 to make it belong to God. Christ used the word to make the church clean by washing it with water. 27 He died so that he could give the church to himself like a bride in all her beauty. He died so that the church could be pure and without fault, with no evil or sin or any other wrong thing in it. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies.
So the standard and pattern for the husband’s love for his wife is Christ’s love for the Church. If a husband truly shows that kind of love for his wife, the wife would not find it hard to submit to her husband.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything. This is not just for goody-goody children. It is God’s pattern for family life. But then there is also there is a requirement for parents: do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

Marriage at its best is God’s visual aid to the world of his love for us in Christ. Family life at its best is a picture of the life of God’s forever family, the church. The challenge for us as Christians is to make sure that in our marriages and our families everything we say and do is indeed in the Name of the Lord Jesus – family life the Jesus way.
Everything in Jesus’s Name IN OUR WORK (verses 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 win 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 men, 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 his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

I know there is no slavery in Britain today – although you wouldn’t believe it when you try to get kids to do the washing up! But these verses have lots to teach us all about any work we have to do, employed or voluntary, schoolwork or housework and even serving in the church. If we want to do our work in the Name of the Lord Jesus, the Jesus way, the key is in verse 22. We should do everything with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Likewise in verse 23 we should do everything as working for the Lord, not for men, and be looking for our reward from God, not from other people. Doing any work in the Name of Jesus involves bringing Jesus into every situation. Jesus was a carpenter – he knew his trade. So how would Jesus do MY job? How would Jesus undertake this responsibility in the church?
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor
“Not as men-pleasers” not just while others are watching, to put on a good show. Not clockwatchers, doing the bare minimum. But doing more than we are asked and better than others are expecting. Jesus calls us to be “extra mile” men and women.
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, Working with all our hearts. Not half-hearted or apathetic, but fully committed to the task whatever it might be. Punctuality and hard work. Giving the job your undivided attention. There is no better Christian witness than wholehearted commitment to one’s work, tacking every task cheerfully and doing it well. And what a poor witness half-hearted apathy and grumbling and moaning can be.
as working for the Lord, not for men … It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
If Jesus was our boss, would he be satisfied with that quality of work? Would you be happy to present that piece of work to Jesus? We would never want Jesus to say to us, “You didn’t really try with that.” “You made a poor job of that.” Surely we want to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Doing our work the Jesus way!
The path to Christian Maturity is to offer every part of our lives to Jesus in thanksgiving for all He has done for us. Serving Christ in our worship, in our family life and in every form of work. Doing everything as Jesus Himself would do it – in the Name of Jesus, the Jesus way. The more we place Christ at the centre of our lives the more we will grow up to be “mature in Christ.”