Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1205
“You serve the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:24.
The Gospel does not merely supply us with directions for holy living but furnishes us with reasons for obedience and tells us where to find the power to obey. Hence in the commencement of this chapter, before the Apostle comes to any practical exhortation, he reminds us of our position and privileges. He bids us remember who and what we are as Believers in Christ, that we may act accordingly. We are risen with Christ and, therefore, our affection should not be set on earthly things. We are dead to the world and, therefore, we must not, cannot live in sin. Christ is our life and, therefore, we must walk after His example.
The Apostle knew right well that the conditions of Believers here below are various and, therefore, he laid down distinct precepts for each position. Some are masters and others servants. Some parents and others children—and in each case the requirements differ. But while he suited the exhortation to each one, he proposed a common motive for all. He reminded all Believers, whether wives or husbands, children or fathers, servants or masters, that there is another and a better life which rewards are worthy of our ambition, which service should engross all our strength. He bade them have respect to that higher life, for they had been representatively lifted up into the highest Heaven in the Person of Jesus Christ and with Him their hearts and desires should always be.
He bade them live the life of Heaven here below and order their footsteps, not in accordance with the fleeting things of time, but the enduring realities of eternity. He knew that in so doing, the inconveniences of the present would be forgotten in the glories of the future—and the trials of today would be more than counterbalanced by the joys of the hereafter. Our authorized translation is in the indicative and states the fact, “You serve the Lord Christ.” Is it the fact with each of you? To how many in this place can it be truly said, “You serve the Lord Christ”? I find it might also, and not incorrectly, be translated in the imperative. “Serve you the Lord Christ.” In this sense it may be directed to those who have no share in it as a statement of fact.
Let us take it in both senses. If we dare to hope that we serve the Lord Christ, let us listen to further exhortation and serve Him better, still. Let us thank God for the measure of service which He has worked in us, and let us earnestly ask Him to work in us still further to will and to do. But if any of you are not yet included in the sacred band who call Jesus, “Master and Lord,” then when you have trusted in His blood, come and yield your whole selves unto Him. If, indeed, you are redeemed from wrath through Him, I charge you to not be disloyal to the obligations under which you are laid, but from this time forth make it your joy to “serve the Lord Christ.”
To me, my text is one of the most joyful sentences from which I have ever preached. “You serve the Lord Christ.” What an exaltation for a slave of Satan to become a servant of Christ! With what exultation do I hail permission to do anything for my Lord! To be blessed by Him, to be enriched with priceless gifts from His bounteous hand—this is lovingkindness! But to be allowed to render tokens of gratitude in return is sweetest of all! Truly, we may say of this condescension, “Your gentleness has made me great.” By receiving anything from us, the Lord has lifted us as beggars from the dunghill and set us among princes, even the princes of His people! It is a greater honor to serve Christ in the most menial capacity than to occupy the throne of the Caesars!
I speak of honor. I may also dilate upon the happiness of the service of Jesus! It is the purest of pleasures. We long to express our affection for Jesus by acts of zeal. Love pants for expression and is not obedience the tongue of Love? That love is counterfeit which does not declare itself in some practical form or other by deeds of kindness, or gifts, or sacrifices, or patient endurance, or hearty praise. Beloved, let us count it an unrivalled honor and an unsurpassed delight
to do anything for Jesus! For this service let us be insatiably ambitious, resolved at all costs to show our loyalty to our Prince.
To serve us He laid aside His glorious array and girt about Him the garments of a servant! For us He took a basin and towel and stooped to wash His disciples’ feet! For us He became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross! Now, therefore, in our turn, by all the shame He bore, by all the labor He endured, by all the agonies He suffered, let us serve Him and Him, alone, forever!
In handling the subject of Christian service, I shall note three things—first, we serve the Lord Christ in the common acts of life. Secondly, we serve Him in what are usually called religious acts. And thirdly, we have learned to serve Him, and, I trust, we may do it more and more, in special acts of direct homage to Himself.