Colossians 3:23-24

Colossians is a prison epistle, Paul wrote it from a Roman prison, and he wrote it to the believers in the church at Colossae. The first two chapters are oriented towards doctrinal instruction and warnings about false teaching, but then in chapter three, where we're gonna be tonight, Paul shifts to very practical exhortations pertaining to how we are to conduct ourselves as Christians. In the classic Pauline writing style, Paul starts with an admonition to put off our immoral and impure desires from our old sinful selves.

And then, of course, he follows up with exhortations to put on the character of the new creation that we become when we're saved. He speaks of kindness, humility, patience, forgiveness, and love. Paul then continues by giving instruction on the proper conduct within Christian homes. And he specifically addresses wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters.

And that's where we find ourselves tonight. Some might ask why are there verses on slaves and masters and work in a passage that's about the home? I just think it's important to mention or to understand that in the day of Paul's writing, slavery was a part of everyday life, for good or for bad, and slaves were a part of the household. So it actually would make sense to speak about that here. So it is in this context that we find ourselves in the passage that we're gonna examine tonight. Let me read for you from God's word. Colossians 3, 23, and 24.

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.

So, I would characterize the big picture on this in the following way. Believers are called to work diligently and with gratitude for our coming inheritance, accountable to the gracious Lord who has granted it to us. I'll repeat that. Believers are called to work diligently with gratitude for our coming inheritance, accountable to the gracious Lord who has granted it to us. And we'll cover that in three points. One is work heartily. Number two is inheritance surely awaits, inheritance surely awaits. And three, we are in the Lord's service. So starting with point one, work heartily.

Work heartily

Verse 23 starts with the phrase,

whatever you do.

Now given the context of the verse that immediately precedes our passage tonight, speaking of slaves and masters, one might assume that verse 23 refers simply to work in the modern context of our jobs.

And it does, but it actually means much more than that. So we should start by asking ourselves a very basic question. What does whatever mean here in this context? You know, today we have diluted the word whatever. It means lots of different things. You know, it might even be an expression that we would expect from a bored adult or a disagreeable teenager answering some kind of a question or assertion with a sarcastic whatever, right, with an eye roll or a sarcastic smirk. But that is obviously not not what we're talking about here. The word whatever that's being used here is being used in a very specific way.

And looking from the original Greek, it literally means anything that you do, anything that you do, with a connotation of totality or all things. In our common English, we might equate it to something like the expression anything you put your hand to. So it literally means everything.

Now verse 23 continues,

whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men.

This indicates much more than just showing up and putting in some hours when we do our work, right? The original Greek word for heartily means from the soul or out of the soul. You know, we have an English expression that says to put your heart and soul into something.

And, you know, that means like you're giving everything you have if you put your heart and soul into something. And, you know, I think that's an appropriate modern equivalent to that here. But this concept of, you know, the heart and soul and working heartily does not originate here.

If you can, if I could trouble you, turn back to the Old Testament to page 151 on your pew Bible, Deuteronomy six. Starting with verse five, Deuteronomy six, starting with verse five, which tells us,

you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

And that word might, there's a connotation of work, of effort, of physical doing.

But let's continue on in this passage because listen to the importance that's put on that phrase, that sentence that I just gave you about how we are to love the Lord. Listen to how it's emphasized.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

So this passage in Deuteronomy that is talking about the manner in which we are to love God and how we are to use our full heart and soul and might is in the context of the home. like Paul is saying here in Colossians. Now let me also mention, and you don't need to turn there, is 1 Chronicles 28, King David charges his son Solomon by saying,

know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought.

And I am gonna ask you to just go one more place. Page 979 in the Pew Bible, Ephesians 6, starting in verse 5. Ephesians 6, starting in verse 5 through verse 8.

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ. not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a goodwill as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.

Does anyone notice the striking similarity of that passage in Ephesians to our passage in Colossians? It's practically, it's not verbatim, but it says exactly the same thing. So Paul is giving the Ephesians the same exhortation that he gave to the Colossians. Now I'll ask you, what does it mean in scripture when an imperative instruction is repeated in multiple places in scripture?

It's important. Thank you. You got it. It's very important. Keith, I thought I was getting an amen on that. Sorry, I couldn't resist. But I do encourage you to read all of Ephesians 5 and 6 and compare it to Colossians 3, and I think you'll be struck by the similarities between them.

So how do we apply this passage in our lives? We are to do everything that we do with our whole heart and soul, diligently pursuing excellence. and we dedicate everything we do to our Lord in heaven. Although we may work for other people in our life, we are to work in a manner that is worthy of our Lord. Our work is ministry, our work is witness, and our work is an act of worship.

You know, maybe there's somebody here who doesn't really like their job. Do it with excellence anyway. Be excellent. Maybe there's somebody here who has a tendency to get a little lazy at work. Maybe doesn't always work their hardest. Maybe works a little harder when they're being watched by others. Stop doing that. Don't do that. God knows how hard you're working. He knows every thought in your mind. And all of us will have to account for those actions in the day of judgment. So take that seriously every day when you do your work.

Inheritance surely awaits

Let me move on to our second point. Inheritance surely awaits. In verse 24, Paul continues by saying,

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.

Now knowing that in this context is indicative of certainty, of assurance. Paul uses the same phrasing in other passages.

Ephesians 6.8, there is Ephesians 6 again.

Romans 6.9, 1 Peter 1.18. Paul does this multiple times. There's probably more that I missed.

Paul has absolutely no uncertainty about the fact that the Lord will give us something. But what is it that we will receive? Well, the passage says we will receive the inheritance as our reward. So what is this inheritance? Is it salvation? Well, Paul's letter is written to believers. And so while salvation is surely a reward for believers, salvation is granted by grace alone and not by works. So no, I would suggest that this is an inheritance from the full manifest blessings of heaven.

Blessing stored up from our diligent and faithful service to the Lord, who is our master and for whom we work. I don't have time to go through all these passages, but I recommend you read 1 Corinthians 3, 13 to 15, 2 Corinthians 5 to 10, and the parable of the 10 minas in Luke 19 for reinforcement of this. So in our everyday lives we must not lose sight of the fact that regardless of what rewards we receive for our work here on earth that our work will be rewarded by the Lord.

We are in the Lord's service

Let's move on to our third point which is we are in the Lord's service. Verse 24 finishes with one final sentence that makes it very clear who our work truly serves.

You are serving the Lord Christ.

That's very clear. Now we should not be surprised to hear this from Paul. Paul starts out Romans and Philippians by referring to himself as a bondservant of Christ. And he starts out Titus by declaring himself a bondservant of God. Paul fully understands that he is a slave to Jesus Christ. who by extension is his master. So fellow Christians, we are bond servants to our master, and our master is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Everything we do in our life should reflect this. So in conclusion, we are image bearers of God, designed for worship and to glorify God. We were set apart from all other creation to fill the earth and to subdue it. But we corrupted ourselves in the fall, falling into sin and failing to do what we were set apart to do. But by the grace of God, we were saved through the atoning blood of Jesus on the cross.

And because of the unmerited grace shown to us, we are to dedicate ourselves to working with our whole heart and soul in the service of our master and redeemer, Jesus Christ, through whom we are reckoned as righteous. and in faithfully serving our master, we will receive the manifold blessings of God as our inheritance. Will you pray with me? Lord, we thank you for revealing to us through your holy scriptures how we were created, your purpose for creating us, for showing us grace despite our sin, and granting us salvation and a heavenly inheritance. Lord, please stir the hearts of everyone in this church to serve you heartily in everything that we put our hands to and that our lives will be a witness that glorifies you through our work and that we will have hearts to share your gospel with others. And we ask this in the name of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.