INTRO.- eHarmony.com. Have you ever heard of it? They advertise on TV all the time. Here is what their website says: eHarmony is America’s #1 trusted relationship service.
That may be but where does the Lord come in? Don’t people realize that the Lord knows more about relationships than anybody else? Why not consult Him?
ILL.- Over 10 years ago this article appeared in the Southern Illinoisan newspaper. The article was about a 60 year-old man named Rob who was looking for love. He was a retired police officer, who said, “I’m 60 years old, feel like 35 and act like 15.” No wonder he couldn’t find love!
Rob spent an estimated $2,000 over two years on personal ads, voice mail singles greetings, ads in a Christian singles magazine and some Matchmaker publication.
His ads drew replies from all over the country and all over the world. He had a long-term phone courtship with one Christian woman who seemed to be his ideal woman. When she flew in from out of state to meet him, she wanted to spend the entire weekend reading Scripture to him. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THAT?
Rob said, “I couldn’t wait to take her back to the plane.” He also said, “I’m physically fit, active, work out three times a week at a gym, own my own home, am financially secure, don’t drink or smoke, an am extremely honest with people.” SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD CATCH FOR SOME WOMAN. But here’s a part of the problem. HE’S PICKY. He wants an extremely pretty, petite woman between the ages of 30 and 45. He said, “I learn more from what they don’t tell me from what they do tell me.”
He said, “If they say, ‘I’ve never been married’ and they’re older than 30, I run like the devil!”
Or, “If you ask when they ended their last serious relationship and they say ‘Monday last week,’ I put on my Nikes!”
After a couple years’ practice Rob has modified his playing style. He said, “I don’t meet someone for dinner on a first date. I’ve bought too many dinners for too many women who have absolutely no interest in what I want out of life. Now I just meet them for coffee.”
What a guy! It sounds like he’s too picky and I wonder if he ever found a woman to marry!
Everybody needs to love and be loved. And hopefully, we realize that the love of our life should be the Lord Jesus. When we consider what He’s done for us and what He will do for us eternally, how can we not love Him?
Matt. 22:36-38 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”
The greatest thing we can do in life is to love the Lord with our whole being and serve Him. Because of who He is and what’s He done for us we should let Him reign supreme in our lives.
PROP.- Our text in Col. 3:15-17 is all about letting Christ reign supreme in our lives. Here is what we should do/must do:
1- Let the peace of Christ rule
2- Let the word of Christ dwell
3- Let the name of Christ live
I. LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE
Col. 3:15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”
ILL.- Stan Mikita, a 1960’s Canadian professional hockey star, used to get into a lot of fights during games. He stopped when his eight-year-old daughter asked a very grown-up question: "How can you score goals when you’re always in the penalty box, Daddy?
And how can the church grow and win souls if she is always fighting? Could this be one reason why the Lord’s church doesn’t seem to be growing in America?
ILL.- A Baptist preacher friend told me recently about a church in southern IL who just fired their preacher. The congregation voted 350 to fire him and 150 to keep him. I assume that he left the church and he may have tried to start another church.
My friend told me about another church in southern IL where the janitor told the pastor that it was evident that he did not love the people in his church. Wow and ouch! Ouch for that preacher! As far as I’m concerned if this is true, he shouldn’t be in the preaching ministry!
ILL.- A Methodist preacher friend in Ohio has been writing me recently, telling me there are some people in his church who are trying to split the church over an associate minister in his church.
He said the young man has done nothing wrong but some ultra-conservative, legalistic critics want to shoot him down and it’s causing a split in the church.
He has asked me for prayer many times. He is 62 years old and has never seen anything like this in any of the churches he’s served. In fact, in the past all of them have grown, even this church. But the future of this church is debatable.
ILL.- John J. Harrington, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police and a 27-year veteran of the Philadelphia police force, said one time, “There is hatred today in this country that’s growing and growing….”
Hatred is growing our world and our country but it must NOT be in the Lord’s church! If we are ever going to be the light of the world, reflecting the light of Christ, then we must be at peace in the church!
Rom. 12:18 “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
Rom. 14:19 “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
Heb. 12:14 “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
James 3:17 “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
ILL.- Argentina and Chile had been at war with each other for many years. Then they saw the light. Melting down the cannons, they used the metal to erect a colossal statue of Christ on the mountain boundary between the two countries. Underneath was placed the inscription: “Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than the peoples of Argentina and Chile break the peace, which at the feet of Christ, the Redeemer, they have sworn to maintain.”
And so on the lonely peaks in the Andes, the huge statue of Christ still stands. They call it: Christ the Redeemer of the Andes. Christ is also the redeemer of our lives. Therefore, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since we were called to peace.
II. LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL
Col. 3:16 “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.”
Psalm 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Psalm 1:2 “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
ILL.- Henry Ward Beecher said: “No book has had so important and so high a use as the Bible. It has shined in the minds of past generations to guide the ways of men; to make then strong for duty, patient in suffering, upright in life, resigned in death.
“It is the one book in which righteousness sounds its admonitions from beginning to end; . . . in which divine character is set forth as pure, free from human passion, and centered in love and benevolence. The best thoughts of men are expressed in the Bible, and the best thoughts, best actions, best motives and feelings . . . have been made possible by it.
“It is a living book, shooting out rays of light and heat into all the world. No other book has the power to change human nature, to inspire a desire to be free from sin, to develop righteousness.”
Why is it a living book? Because it’s the Word of God!
Heb. 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
We need to let the word of Christ, word of God dwell in our hearts deeply and strongly. How deep? How strongly?
ILL.- Alexander Campbell of the early 1800’s, said of his mother, “Having a particularly ready and retentive memory, she treasured up the Scriptures early in life, and could quote and apply them with great fluency and pertinency from childhood to old age.”
Alexander Campbell “caught” his mother’s good habit and memorized a great deal of the Bible. He said, “I can but gratefully add, that to my mother, as well as to my father, I am indebted for having memorized in early life almost all the writings of King Solomon – his Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and many of the Psalms of his father David. They have not only been written on the tablet of my memory, but also incorporated with my modes of thinking and speaking.”
WOW! We all need to know scripture better and memorize it and let it dwell in us. It’s powerful and it can change us.
ILL.- Warren Weirsbe said, “There is a danger today that local churches minimize the Word of God. There seems to be a lack of simple Bible teaching in Sunday School classes and pulpits. Far more interest is shown in movies, musical performances, and various entertainments than in God’s Word.” I tend to agree.
I don’t have anything against special programs in the church but faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10:17. We may bring people in with special programs but we must build them up with God’s Word. LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU!
III. LET THE NAME OF CHRIST LIVE
Col. 3:17 “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.”
The words “in word or deed” suggest to me the idea of allowing Christ to live in us.
ILL.- We’ve all heard the phrase, “Like father, like son.” For example: Presidents George Bush and George W Bush. Kirk and Michael Douglas. Martin and Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. Billy Graham and Franklin Graham. And I’m sure there are a host of others.
In a very real sense, each of these sons have walked in the steps of their fathers and at least, in their work and perhaps even in their mannerisms and speech.
Who lives in you? Who is the person that most dominates your thinking and your life? Your mother? Father?
ILL.- The story is told of Gordon Maxwell, missionary to India, that when he asked a Hindu scholar to teach him the language, the Hindu replied: “No, Sahib, I will not teach you my language. You would make me a Christian.”
Gordon Maxwell replied, “You misunderstand me. I am simply asking you to teach me your language.” Again the Hindu responded, “No, Sahib, I will not teach you. No man can live with you and not become a Christian.” Wow!
Would to God this was true for all of us! True for me. True for you. Don’t you honestly wish you had that kind of influence on others? If we did, more people would come to Christ. The name of Christ needs to live in us, on our lips and be strongly evident in our lives as well!
ILL.- Missionary Hudson Taylor said: “If your father and mother, your sister and brother, if the very cat and dog in the house, are not happier for your being Christian, it is a question whether you really are.” The point is: if Christ is living in us the people will be blessed!
ILL.- Rudyard Kipling in his autobiography, Something of Myself, records that he once met General William Booth (of Salvation Army) in New Zealand and reproved the old man for walking up the gangway of the ship backwards, banging a tambourine.
The general’s reply was, “Young man, if I could win men and women for Christ by walking up the gangway on my hands, banging the tambourine with my feet, I would do it.” That’s letting the name of Christ live in a person! It may not be the way most of us would allow Christ to live within, but if it’s genuine then praise the Lord for it!
CONCLUSION----------------------
ILL.- I must say something about the new Billy Graham library that recently opened in Charlotte, NC. The $27 million, 40,000-square-foot library opened recently.
It holds childhood photos of Mr. Graham; his college yearbook, in which he said he wanted to be an evangelist; the tiny engagement ring he gave his wife, Ruth; and footage of his rousing sermons over the decades, from Los Angeles to Moscow, in which he urged people to open their hearts to Christ.
“My father is 88 years old, and he still wants to preach, but his body is just worn out,” Franklin Graham said on a tour of the library before the ceremony. “I hope this library can be an extension of his life. I hope it can be of use long after he’s in heaven.”
Billy Graham said, “I’ve been here at the library once, and my one comment when I toured it was that it is too much Billy Graham. My whole life has been to please the Lord and honor Jesus, not to see me and think of me.”
Brothers and sisters, that’s the attitude and spirit that we all need to have about life and about our own lives. We’re here to honor the Lord, not ourselves. He must reign supreme, not us.
