Do Everything as Unto the Lord
The entire Book of Colossians (as well as Paul's other epistles) is a guideline for Christian living. However, in the final verses of chapters three and four, Paul particularly covers a lost of territory concerning the victorious Christian lifestyle.
He told the Colossians briefly but concisely about worship services. He wrote about relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children and masters and servants (or as we say today, "bosses and employees"). And he wrote about prayer, right speech and make time count.
Colossians 3:16:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
This verse means that if the Word of Christ is not "dwelling in you richly," it is because you are not letting the Word take authority in your life.
You must understand that you are in control. That means you can go as far as you want to go and as fast as you want to go. If God were making all this work, we would all be at the same level of spiritual maturity -- and we would all be maturing at the same time.
Have you wondered why some people seem to be more spiritually advanced than others? That is because they are controlling their advancement. They are hungry for God and for His Word, and the hungrier they are, the more they feed on it. What you get out of anything is in direct proportion to what you put into it. This is true of spiritual things as well as worldly things.
For example, if you take fifteen to sixteen units for academic credit every semester, it will not take long to get a college degree. By the same token, if you take only three or four units, it will take you five to six times as long to get a degree. You may finally get there, but it is going to take you much longer.
In addition to teaching and helping one another with hymns and spiritual songs, Paul said we should be... "singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." He is talking about singing in the spirit.
Many songs today are not the type of songs the Bible talks about. These songs will not help you. Because they are too full of unbelief. They are not consistent with the Word, and they do not give you what you need to know in order to operate in wisdom.
You can hear things subconsciously without purposely listening to them. Perhaps you have the radio on a music station as you drive home from work, and you are concentrating on traffic and thinking about other things. You do not consciously listen to a song and decide to memorise it. Yet, after you get home, you may find yourself whistling that melody.
That is why you need to be careful about what you hear, so that when you sing a song, it will be one that inspires you, encourages you and lifts you up. You should make sure the words are consistent with the Word of God. Some songs are beautiful, musically speaking; yet, they do not contain the Word of God. Listening to them will not bring out the peace of God in you.
The word dwell means to "live in and take up residence in." Literally, verse sixteen means to let the Word of Christ live inside of you. Again, the word let implies that you have the responsibility to do this.
Colossians 3:17:
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.
"Whatever" means the same thing as "all." Paul wrote that whatever we do, whether it is speaking or doing things, we are to do them in the name of Jesus.
How could you commit adultery in the name of Jesus? How could you lie in the name of Jesus? How could you bear false witness in the name of Jesus? How could you marry someone who is not a Christian and be "unequally yoked" in the name of Jesus?
This verse probably answers ninety-nine percent of all the questions Christians asks concerning what is lawful for Christians to do. The Bible is not a book on a lot of "do's and don'ts." But there are many basic principles that can be applied in just about every situation. Anything you want to do that you cannot do "as unto the Lord," obviously is something you should not do.
This Scripture answers such questions as, "Can I, in Jesus' name, as a Christian, smoke pot, or get drunk, or shoot up with heroin, or get involved in an illicit sexual situation?" Can you do those things in the name of Jesus? If you cannot, then you should not be doing them! AMEN.