Rev. David Holwick S Baptism service
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 23, 2002
Colossians 3:15-17
DO IT FOR JESUS
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I. THE HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE.
A. My friend Glenn Gunderson likes this kind of motivational book.
1) How can I be as rich as Bill Gates?
2) How can I be as "crafty" as Martha Stewart?
3) There is a book out there that will tell you.
B. Traits of Successful Christians.
1) Paul needs only a few verses to give his insight.
2) As is his style, he doesn't give a lot of nuts and bolts
but stresses some key principles.
II. CHRISTIANS ARE PEACEABLE.
A. Inner peace or interpersonal?
1) Can be taken both ways.
a) Peace "in your hearts" may emphasize inner peace.
1> Or, it could mean the peace is sincere.
b) The context emphasizes our relationships.
2) Maybe it should be taken both ways - if you have inner
peace, the surest sign is how you relate to others.
B. Christians should be peaceable people.
1) Our motivation:
a) Because we are members of one body.
1> Corporate focus; we tend to emphasize individualism.
2> Does the peace of this church matter to you?
A> What are you doing about it?
B> Tensions between any, should be concern to all.
b) Because we are called to peace.
1> Jesus says peacemakers are blessed. (Matthew 5:9)
2> Peace starts with us.
2) Christians should try to get along.
According to the National Geographic, Argentine ants
invaded Europe in 1920.
They liked what they found, and today one enormous "super-
colony" extends across 3,728 miles of Southern Europe.
All the ants within this supercolony, even those from
different nests, seem to be friendly toward each other.
Hundreds of billions of individual ants are involved.
This is the largest cooperative biological unit ever
discovered.
By contrast, in Argentina, ants from different nests are
particularly belligerent and fight to the death.
One researcher captured about 5,000 ants from 33 separate
nests in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal and
transported the insects back to his laboratory.
Once in the lab, the scientists arranged ant fights -
pitting ants from one nest against ants from the other
32 nests.
Over the span of a year, the scientists conducted almost
1,100 ant fights.
What is extraordinary is that ants from nests separated by
thousands of miles did not show any aggressive tendencies
towards each other.
Ants from Portugal, Spain, Italy and France all got along.
#5177
III. CHRISTIANS ARE THANKFUL.
A. Gratitude is often a rare quality, but shouldn't be.
B. Thanksgiving is an evidence of faith.
1) Lone leper gives thanks. Luke 17:11-1
2) Lack of faith and spirit of ingratitude go together. Rom1:21
C. Thanksgiving reveals the depth of our fellowship.
1) NT word for thanks implies intimacy with person thanked.
a) Used at last supper.
b) Root meaning is "grace." (as in, table grace)
2) We must have God's grace in hearts to properly thank Him.
IV. CHRISTIANS ARE WORD-FUL.
A. Let Christ's Word dwell in you richly.
1) Internalize the Word.
2) Two approaches to the Bible:
a) Be familiar with main stories only.
b) Read it to seek God's voice.
B. Teach and admonish with all wisdom.
1) The word "teaching" here is the same word used in the great
commission: "teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you ..." (Matthew 28:20).
Jesus knew that discipling the nations would require
instruction in obedience.
But just imparting positive Biblical information is not
enough.
There are things Christians should watch out for.
This is where admonishing comes in.
2) The word "admonish" (literally "to put in mind") focuses on
negative thoughts and behavior the believer should avoid.
Admonishing may require pointing out an ungodly habit or
altitude that should be forsaken.
But when we admonish we should do it in such a way that no
one becomes discouraged.
3) Teaching and admonishing are beneficial only when
practically applied to life.
This is why the phrase, "in all wisdom" is added to the
command.
V. CHRISTIANS ARE MUSICAL.
A. Obviously, some are more musical than others.
1) I am on the lower end, and I am not alone.
According to PARADE magazine, William Linkhaw, a North
Carolina man, was convicted in 1873 of disrupting church
services with his singing.
His Methodist brethren said they had put up with him for
years.
Even when everyone else had stopped singing Linkhaw kept on.
When Linkhaw was asked to be quiet, he refused, saying that
singing was part of his duty to God.
But the courts found him guilty of a misdemeanor and ordered
him to keep quiet.
However, when he appealed the conviction to the state
supreme court it was overturned.
#2206
2) But even people like me can appreciate music.
a) It is one of the most powerful ways to praise God.
b) It "sticks" with us and reminds us of God's presence.
B. Responding to God.
1) This verse has only one main verb, the word "dwell."
All the other activities-teaching, admonishing, and singing
- flow from God's Word dwelling in the heart.
But it is not enough to have the Word inside us.
We need to respond aloud to God in thanksgiving.
2) To help us do this Paul lists several types of Christian
praise songs.
The first kind of song is a "psalm."
A psalm is an Old Testament "scripturesong" often reflecting
on the character of God and His Word and usually
accompanied with a musical instrument.
This particular kind of song has the distinction of being
Scripture itself.
3) A second kind of song is a "hymn."
This refers to a song with a Christian theme that is
addressed to God.
Here the emphasis is on communicating to God directly in
song.
Hymns often reflect on the character of God.
4) A third musical category is a "spiritual song."
This is any song that has genuine spiritual content.
Some spiritual songs may be old favorites like "A Mighty
Fortress is Our God" or "The Old Rugged Cross."
Yet we have the freedom to use contemporary choruses like
"God is So Good" and "The Family of God."
The key is not musical style but spiritual content.
We need to ask the question, "Does the song say something
spiritually that is meaningful and true?"
C. Our singing should lead to praise.
1) Pastor Jack Hinton from New Bern, NC, was leading worship
music at a leper colony in Tobago.
There was enough time for one more congregational selection.
A woman in the congregation, who'd been turned away from
him, turned to face Hinton, revealing a face he had
to describe as "hideous."
The lady's nose and ears were gone; most of her lips had
worn away as well.
She lifted a hand, more stub than hand, and asked, "Can we
sing 'Count Your Blessings'"?
Overcome by the situation, Hinton fled the room, followed
by another team member.
The man tried to comfort the distraught song leader by
saying, "I guess you'll never be able to sing that song
again."
"Oh, yes I will," he responded, "but never the same way."
#4897
D. It's ironic that music often divides Christians.
1) "Praise music" like we use in early service is sweeping U.S.
a) Many congregations have split over it.
b) Issue is really personal preference, not theology.
2) Churches of Christ limits church music to "a cappella."
a) A long time ago, Baptists agreed.
b) But the Bible is full of songs and instruments.
3) Paul's three terms for music may indicate a variety of
music is possible (and acceptable).
VI. DO IT ALL IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
A. Whatever you do.
1) Christianity is not just for Sunday morning.
2) Conversation with two Jews at yesterday's wedding: "What
matters most is being a good person."
a) A Baptist bristles at this - our goodness always falls
short.
b) But this is also the ultimate test of genuineness.
3) Questions to ask yourself:
a) Does my faith influence everything I do, so that others
could notice?
b) Does my life bring glory to Jesus and God?
B. In the name of Jesus.
1) This means we do it as followers of the Lord Jesus.
2) It reflects the thought that to act in the name of a person
is to act as his representative.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#2206 "A New Look For A New Year," Dynamic Preaching (www.sermons.com),
Seven Worlds Publishing, Winter 1992 "A", Jan 2 92 a.
#4897 "Blessings Too Numerous!" from Rev. John Gillmartin's
Sermon-illustrations-each-week (SIEW), October 8, 1999,
originally from Pastor's Update; Fmb Of The Southern Baptist
Convention; Richmond, Virginia, May 1996, page 4.
#5177 "Why Can't We Get Along? Ants Do!" by Bijal P. Trivedi, National
National Geographic Today (internet), April 18, 2002.
"Springboard To Praise," by H. Dennis Fisher, in Discipleship Journal
#22, July/August 1984, was especially helpful for this sermon.
These and 20,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://illust.holwick.com
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