Turning Relationships to Gold

Well, so good to see you this morning. If you'll allow me for just a second, I wanna take you to the medieval period for just a moment. Just relax. Everything's gonna be fine. This is the period after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and before the period that we know as the Renaissance. Some people call it the Middle Ages, so maybe you're familiar with that if you studied in school. When you think of the medieval period, you might think about knights at a round table or you might think about The Crusades, or you might think about the Black Plague which happened during that timeframe. That's not what I wanna talk about. I wanna remind you of something that came to be somewhat popularized in the medieval period, and it's called alchemy. Now, some of you're going, "Hey, thanks Professor, I really appreciate this." If you're not familiar with the word, what alchemy is is the forerunner to modern chemistry. It was... It goes back earlier than the medieval period. It goes back to kind of the Arab period a long, long time ago, where alchemists would actually tinker with various substances and they would try to produce something unique. Most specifically what they did is alchemists worked with base metals like iron or zinc or copper, and they would try, somehow, some way, they would try to figure out a way to turn base metals into gold. Now, this was what alchemists did, and it was kind of a unique thing and not everybody took them seriously. It was kind of a unique scenario. But what they always said that they needed was something called an elixir. Has anyone ever heard the word elixir before? Yeah! When you think of that word, you probably think of like a potion that's being made at a carnival and they're like, "Hey, come get this elixir. It'll help whatever. It'll regrow your hair, it'll make you stronger. I took it and you can see it worked." Right? So, like, that's kind of, but the word elixir actually comes from the Arabic language, , in the Arabic language, and it refers to what's called the Philosopher Stone. Now, let me see if I can pull this together for just a second, all right? 'Cause you're wondering, "Why are we getting this medieval history lesson?" The stone was what was needed, the elixir was what was needed by the alchemists, in their mind, it may be mythical, whatever, but that's what was needed to turn the base metals into gold. "Now, why the lesson," you ask? Well, because without it, we might not understand the poem that I'm about to reference. Because the poem, even though it's not from the medieval period, it's not long after that. The medieval period was about 500 AD to about 1500 AD, and this poem was written in 1633 by a man named George Herbert. Now, George Herbert was an Anglican parish priest who died at the age of 39, but was a very famous poet. Those that have read English literature have probably run into George Herbert before. And he wrote a poem called, "The Elixir." And now remember, he's coming from a Christian perspective when he writes this, and here's what he wrote. "Teach me, my God and King, in all things thee to see. And what I do in anything to do it as for thee. Not rudely, as a beast, to run into an action, but still to make thee prepossessed and give it his perfection. A man that looks on glass, on it may stay his eye. Or if he pleaseth, through it pass, and then the heaven espy. All may of thee partake, nothing can be so mean, which with his tincture, 'For thy sake,' will not grow bright and clean. A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine. Who sweeps a room as for thy laws, makes that and thy action fine. This is the famous stone that turneth all to gold. For that which God doth touch and own cannot for less be told." It's really a beautiful, beautiful poem. Some of you're still stuck on the word tincture or the word prepossessest, or whatever. Like, you're kind of freaked out by that. But Herbert, here's what he was doing. He was making the case that it doesn't matter what we're doing, whether we're working, whether we're weeping, whether we're sweeping, whether we're watching, whatever we're doing, if we're doing it for His sake, if we're doing it in the presence of God, God can sanctify that moment. He wrote actually that the phrase, "For thy sake" was the stone that turned everything to gold. So what he's basically saying, I can't imagine because this man was informed by the scriptures, and I can't help but think that in his mind when he was writing this poem that Colossians 3 was not ringing in his ear. In fact, he probably wrote it built out from what we read in Colossians. Edwin talked about it last week, but I wanna bring us back to verse number 17 before I start in verse number 18 and following. And it says this: Colossians 3:18, "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." You see, this is what I think was influencing George Herbert's entire premise is that whatever we do, whether we're working or sweeping or looking through a window, whatever we do, if we do it to the glory of God, if we do it for Christ's sake, if we do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, God will get in it and He will sanctify it. And we see this thought from verse 17. It appears in verse 18, it appears in verse 22, it appears in verse 23. We see the words, "In the Lord," or "For the Lord," so that this is being sanctified. Now, what Paul is doing here as we're making our way through Colossians, is he's getting specific about the kind of life that those who have put on Christ should actually lead. And he makes it clear that the lens that we want to be looking through in our everyday relationships should be this one: Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. That's what Paul's trying to get at here! Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. And then he's gonna walk through really interesting stuff about how that's going to affect us. Now, why do I tell you that this is what Paul's getting at? Maybe I could give it to you in a way that may help you remember based on what I've already done in setting it up with this poem. Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. If you do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, it's gonna create a ripple effect that will turn our relationships to gold. Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. When you do that, there's gonna be a ripple effect, and it's gonna help bring our relationships to a place that we might refer to as gold. And so Paul gets really specific with the Colossians about the kind of relationships that he's talking about. And for our purposes, I'm gonna group them in three different categories, personal or family relationships, work relationships, and then ultimately outside relationships. All right? So that's what I wanna do, and I'm gonna walk through each of those because this is a really, really practical message today. The fact is, is that what Paul's about to give us is instruction on how we should be living, what we should do, and sometimes what we shouldn't be doing. And it's all application. Literally, Paul's gonna have something for all of us if we just pay attention. It's instruction that is application and needs to be applied in our lives immediately. So let's start with personal relationships, all right? What Paul is about to describe when we start in verse 18 and following through into the end of the chapter into chapter four, Paul's describing what are called the Household Codes. Now, the Household Codes were ethical instructions about how families are supposed to operate. And these ethical, you know, codes, these Household Codes, they existed before Christianity did. They were just kind of around in the ancient world. But what Paul does is he actually baptizes those, so to speak. He takes them and he brings them into the Christian world so that, in other words, if believers have put off the old life and have put on Christ, he's saying their lives should look a certain way. We often say, don't we, that those closest to us sometimes receive the harshest treatment? Well, what Paul's arguing here? He's suggesting that daily living among the most familiar relationships will be the testing ground for the authenticity of our faith. So that the people that know us best actually ought to see truest how authentic our faith really is. So he's gonna start with some different people, and the first place that he's gonna start is with wives. Listen to his instruction in verse number 18. "Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." Now remember in verse 17, he said, "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." That's what kind of is the pretext for what we're now seeing. Then he says, "Wives, here's how you do that. Submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." Now, Paul's brief here. That's a pretty... Just like that, right? This is what he says to wives. He simply tells wives to submit or be subject to their husbands. The Greek word for that word submit or be subject to is a military term, and it means to follow after a leader. That's the picture that Paul is giving us. This isn't any surprise, by the way, in Paul's writings because Paul actually writes elsewhere that there's a headship of a husband in a relationship. Whether that's in 1 Corinthians 11, where he marks that out very clearly, or that's in Ephesians 5, where he marks that out very clearly. And in both places, by the way, that I just referenced, Paul is basing what he's saying, in relationship to the husband and wife, he's basing it in the creation order. He's saying, "This is a part of the beautiful design that God has, and so He orders it that way." But Paul's not arguing here in Colossians 3:18. He's not arguing here that wives are unequal or that they, you know, in worth or in dignity. He's not doing any of that. In fact, the same guy who wrote 1 Corinthians 11 also wrote 1 Corinthians 7. And in 1 Corinthians 7, he's talking about the sexual intimacy of a husband and wife. And he says, "Husbands, your body's not your own. Your wife has authority over your body. Wives, your body's not yours. Your husband has authority over it." Whoa! Paul said this! That was revolutionary in that time that there would be this mutuality in a marriage relationship, which is beautiful. What Paul's arguing for here in verse number 18 is he's arguing here for a wife to be a wife in the name of the Lord Jesus. To do that, to do her wife-ing for the glory of God. In other words, many of these people have now come to faith in Jesus Christ and he's saying, "Hey, if you're a wife who's got a new life in Christ, it doesn't mean that you now can operate independently. It doesn't mean that you do whatever you want with no regard for your husband." Instead, Paul says, "The wife's willingness to be subject to her husband is fitting in the Lord." That's the phrase that Paul uses. That phrase, by the way, "As is fitting," was a stoic term. You remember the stoics? I mentioned them a little bit earlier on. Paul had to deal with these philosophies in Colossae. Remember? Like, the legalists and the mystics and the aesthetics? The aesthetics were like the stoics. And when they use this phrase, "As is fitting," they were talking about something being in conformity with nature. But Paul takes that statement that the stoics used in Colossae, and he Christianizes it. He says, "As is fitting in the Lord." In other words, he tells wives that their willing desire to follow the loving leadership of their husbands is fitting in the Lord. Paul's not trying to uproot or deconstruct the family structure of that time, he's trying to sanctify it. So wives were to lovingly and willingly follow the leadership of their Christian husbands as they followed after Christ. Now, let me say a couple things here. First, I realize that there's some wives who have been through very, very difficult and maybe even abusive scenarios. And I want you to understand something. This passage is not teaching that husbands have a right to abuse. They never do! Never! That is a misuse. So I wanna make sure that we don't get this twisted to justify evil behavior. But as a wife, though Paul speaks of submitting yourself in a comprehensive way to your Christian husband, it doesn't mean that you're to follow him into sin. That doesn't mean that. Because Paul actually tells us earlier in Colossians about the life that we should be leading as the people of God. Male or female, it doesn't matter, this is the life that we should be leading. But I don't wanna apologize for what Paul has said. Too often preachers come up and they apologize for what the Word of God says. This is beautiful instruction! This is godly and good and beautiful! Submission is beautiful and good! In fact, here's why I point this out to you. In 1 Corinthians 15, when Paul is writing about Jesus, he uses the exact same Greek language to talk about Jesus' submission to the Father. Why? Because it's beautiful and good. And here it's beautiful and it's good. And so, we need not apologize for this. We need to understand that this submission has a point that when you as a wife are doing what you do as a wife to the glory of God and you are submitting yourself to your husband, it actually has a point. It's showing the world that as a new person in Christ, there's a new kingdom that's happening in our home. So wives, let me ask you this. Have you asked this question of yourselves lately? "Is how I'm acting as a wife fitting in the Lord? Am I doing what I do as a wife in the name of the Lord Jesus?" Because this is instruction from the apostle of Jesus who is being led by the Spirit of God, and so we don't get to just make justifications. You have a responsibility to live into this, into the name of the Lord Jesus, because here's what it'll do. It'll help turn your marriage into gold. But he doesn't just talk to wives. Gentlemen, he talks to husbands as well. Also pretty brief. Here's what he says in verse number 19. "Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them." Isn't it interesting that Paul gives an active command to husbands and then he follows that active command with what it shouldn't look like? It's kinda funny how Paul did that. The active command is to love your wives. The Greek word there, , is where we get our word agape. You've heard that word before, right? Agape love? Many times we talk about agape love as the unconditional love of God that God gives, right? And that's true most of the time. It's not true all the time that word is used. It depends on its context. In fact, sometimes that word can be used in a context that's not a good context. Because the word itself, , means to give oneself completely over to another. So for instance, when we see John 3:19, it says, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world. But people darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." You see, that's the wrong kind right there. But what they did is they gave themselves over to darkness and loved darkness instead of light. But what Paul's doing here in verse number 19, when he says, "Husbands, love your wives," he's saying to husbands, "Give yourself over to your wives, not holding anything back but showing them the beautiful, sacrificial love of Jesus." And then he says, "And don't be harsh to them." Wow! What an instruction. Why did Paul throw that in there? Why didn't he just say, "Husbands love your wives?" Why did he throw in, "Don't be harsh with them?" Why'd he say that? Well, first, because in that culture, Paul was acting in his instruction to protect wives. 'Cause wives didn't have a lot of legal recourse when their husbands were doing what they were doing. They didn't really even have legal standing at that time in the ancient world. So Paul's saying something that's helping protect wives, but mostly what Paul's doing is he's saying, "Don't be harsh to them because Jesus isn't harsh." And he wants husbands to do what they do in the name of the Lord Jesus. Husbands, have you asked that question of yourself lately? "Am I acting in a way as a husband that would be consistent with being a husband in the name of the Lord Jesus? Is my love for my wife like Jesus' love? Is it faithful? Is it constant? Is it caring? Is it sacrificial? Is it selfless?" See, friends, listen to me. Husbands, listen carefully to this. Sometimes the greatest danger for a husband is not that he will love another woman more than his wife, it's that he will love himself more than his wife. Let's ask a question of ourselves, husbands: Are my actions consistent with the loving leadership of Jesus in my life? Or! Or, watch this. Am I harsher with my wife than Jesus is with me? Wives have their own accountability. We've already looked at that, right? For how they wife. Can I say it that way? Wives are gonna wife and they've got an accountability for how they wife. But husbands, I wanna tell you something. When you give yourself over to Jesus in love and obedience and you give yourself over to and for your wife, her ability to honor her role becomes so much more natural when you do that. It'll be a relationship, when you start acting that way, it'll be a relationship and a marriage that's on its way to gold status. Now, husbands, like you, I have to keep this at the forefront of my own thick skull because I can be quick to take for granted how awesome a wife that I have. So I have to keep learning how to love her well. Now, as a pastor, I see it often, like when I'm talking to people sometimes, I can just tell. Not perfectly, I don't have a perfect radar, but generally speaking, I've got a pretty good one. And oftentimes when I'm talking to couples, I can tell when a wife is well loved and when she's not. Husbands, we've got a responsibility to live out this accountability. So he talks to wives in personal relationships, he talks to husbands, and then he gives instruction to children. So if you're here and you're a teenager still living in your parents' house or you're a kid still living in your parents' house, this is for you. Listen carefully. He says in verse number 20, "Children, obey your parents in everything. For this pleases the Lord." So if you live in the care of your parents, listen to me, here's the instruction: Obey them. Some of you are like, "Pastor Jerry coming for everybody today." Not me! I didn't write this. Not my book! Obviously, this means, "Obey them as long as what they ask of you doesn't contradict Jesus." Right? But your obedience to your parents pleases the Lord. Kids, teenagers, let me ask you a question. Ask yourself, "Am I pleasing the Lord with how I willingly obey my parents?" Let me ask you a question specifically, kids, teenagers, you're still living within the parameters of your parents' house. Let me ask you this. Do you want the best version of your parents? Do you want the absolute best version of your parents? You know how you get it? Obey them in the Lord. That's how you get the best version of your parents. Everything might not be perfect as you do this, but I promise you this, it starts to move your relationship with your parents to gold status. 'Cause that's what God wants to do, right? If we do everything that we do for the glory of God, everything that we do in the name of the Lord Jesus, He starts turning those relationships into gold because it's the stone that does it, right? He doesn't just talk to children though. He talks to parents. There's instruction for everybody here, if you're paying close attention. Verse 21, here's what he says! "Fathers," that can also be parents, plural. "Fathers, do not embitter your children or they will be become discouraged." Now, that word translated embitter can also mean irritate or provoke or antagonize. Some of you parents are going, "Uh-oh." I hear you. We've all been parents. You can't all be me as a parent. Perfect, never failing, ever once. It was a joke in case anybody was confused. Children were looked at in the ancient world as potential economic producers. In the pagan world, they weren't looked at as little image-bearers of God who are worthy of dignity and respect, they were looked at as potential economic producers because that's what had to happen in the ancient family to continue the family line. So oftentimes they were treated in a transactional way. They were treated in a way to better the family's economic position. And so sometimes the parents would be so unreasonable with the kids that there was no way they could fulfill the parents' expectations, and they would become embittered, discouraged. They would lose heart. Here's what Paul's saying to those of us that are in Christ as parents: Jesus doesn't do that to you, don't do it to them. That's what he's saying. Jesus doesn't act that way with you, don't do it to them! Maybe here's a way I could say this to you, parents, listen carefully. Don't put on your kids what Jesus doesn't put on them. Don't put on them what Jesus doesn't put on them. And Paul, he actually adds positive instruction when he writes to the Church at Ephesus because here he says, "Don't embitter your children or they'll be discouraged." But then he gives the positive of what you're supposed to do when he writes in Ephesians. He says this, "Fathers, don't exasperate your children. Instead bring them up in the training and the instruction of the Lord." In other words, "Fathers and parents together, you've got a responsibility to think about." Listen to this! "To think first about your kids' formation in Christ!" See, too much of what happens in parenting in this day and age is that parents make their relationship with their kids about themselves. Some of you are going, "Uh-oh, he's talking, he's meddling." Sometimes we make it about ourselves and then we push and we push. We push them to get straight A's because we need them to get a scholarship. We push them in athletics because we need them to succeed so that we look good and maybe it improves our economic options. But what if what we were first looking for, doing what we were doing as parents in the name of Jesus, is if we treated them like Jesus treats us? Patiently and lovingly instructing them and modeling for them the beauty of a life in God. Moms and Dads, that's the job. That's literally the job! Model for your kids the beauty of life in Christ and patiently and lovingly instruct them like Jesus does for you. So Paul, he's saying, "Listen, if you've been changed by Jesus, your life oughta look like it." And he says, "Here's the thing. If you do everything that you do to the glory of God, if you do everything you do in the name of the Lord Jesus, all the sudden your relationships are gonna start transmuting into gold." And it happens in personal relationships, family relationships, but it also happens in work relationships. See, Paul goes on to talk about this. And he's specific, he talks about slaves and masters. We'll look at slaves first, but I'm putting in parentheses employees. I'll help you understand what I mean when I say that in just a moment. So Paul, he's saying, "Listen, if you've been changed by Jesus, your life oughta look like it." And he says, "Here's the thing. If you do everything that you do to the glory of God, if you do everything you do in the name of the Lord Jesus, all the sudden your relationships are gonna start transmuting into gold." And it happens in personal relationships, family relationships, but it also happens in work relationships. See, Paul goes on to talk about this. And he's specific, he talks about slaves and masters. We'll look at slaves first, but I'm putting in parentheses employees. I'll help you understand what I mean when I say that in just a moment. The instruction Paul's giving to slaves, that he's about to in verse number 22, is significant because there were a number of slaves that were making up the Church of Colossae. Now, keep in mind this is not exactly the type of slavery we hear of when we hear that word. In our culture, we hear the word slavery and we think of the awful ethnicity-based slavery that was true of the United States and in Europe. Which we just celebrated Juneteenth, right, to celebrate freedom along that line. But in many of these cases, in Colossae, these slaves were of the same ethnicity as their masters were. They were enslaving their own people. And in some cases, they were treated much more like an employee than they were a slave as we understand it in our context. Though, indeed, they were not free and they weren't of a social status that everybody was crawling to try and get to, okay? It wasn't a good scenario. And in case you're confused, Paul, 'cause you're like, "Why didn't Paul say something right there about, 'This shouldn't be the case?'" Paul has said something when he wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1. Listen to what he said. "We also know that the law is made not for the righteous, but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality." Watch this. "For slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the Gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me." Paul did indeed condemn this idea of one human owning or trading another human in other parts of his writing. But for this purpose in Colossae, Paul's not trying to upend the entire social structure. He's trying to say, "Those of you that are slaves that have now put your faith in Jesus, how do you demonstrate Jesus to your pagan masters?" That's what he's doing. And so here's what he says, here's the instruction in verse 22. "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything and do it not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving! Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs and there is no favoritism." Friends, listen! Imagine for just a moment, all of us that are employees, wherever it is we may work, but we're an employee. What if we worked this way? Not just when the boss is around! You've seen that, haven't you? You know, you're just, you're playing Candy Crush on your phone, boss turns the corner, and all of a sudden you're just like, "Yeah, yeah, no, I'll be right on that. Yeah, 20 barrels going out tomorrow." Right? 'Cause the boss showed up. He's saying, "Not just when the boss is around because your boss, the Lord Jesus, He's seeing all of it. He's seeing everything. He knows what you're doing. And by the way, know this! That your boss, Jesus, will reward you for your faithfulness to Him and He will deal justly with those who deal unjustly with His people. He's got all of that!" What if we looked at our jobs that way? What if we looked at our jobs as: We work for Jesus by working hard for our bosses? Some of you are going, "You don't know my boss." Well, what if you reframed how you do what you do? I heard somebody say this one time and it stuck to me. What if you reframed what you do by asking this question of your own job: Who do I serve? Because you ask somebody sometimes what they do, you know, I ask a guy, "Hey, what do you do?" "I fix cars." ♪ Wah, wah, wah ♪ It's like, "Okay, you fix cars." You've just told me your life is boring and that you don't even love your job. "I fix cars." ♪ Wah, wah, wah ♪ What if you looked at this completely differently? What if when I asked you, "What do you do for a living? What's your job?" And you said, "I serve the Lord by serving people in order to safely get them to their desired destinations." Hmm! All the sudden, your job feels a little different, doesn't it? Because now you're serving the Lord and you're serving the owner of the automotive shop in order to serve people, to get them safely where they need to go. You see, Christians who've been, who've put off the old and put on the new, who ought to be the best employees because our motivations are different than everyone else's motivations. Are you doing your job in Jesus' name? Because it can turn work, even if it's just sweeping, like George Herbert said, it can turn work into gold. But he also addresses masters or bosses. Here's what he says in 4:1: "Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair because you know that you also have a Master in heaven." So if you are an employer here, not an employee, you're the boss, you're the boss lady, you're the boss man, ask this, "Am I doing what I'm doing in the name of Jesus?" And if you're curious what that looks like, Paul says, "It looks like by doing right by your employees." Being fair, having integrity, encouraging their flourishing. While still holding them accountable, you're certainly free to do that. It doesn't mean you just get to do whatever you want, right? Creating a culture consistent with truth and grace! There's gold in that, bosses. There's gold in that. So he says, "When Jesus changes a life, it changes our family and our personal relationships. It changes our work relationships. But it should also change the way that we interact with those outside of the family of faith, our outside relationships." Listen to what Paul finishes this section in verses two through six. He says this, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I'm in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should." Watch this! "Be wise in the way that you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." You see Paul's telling them, and by extension telling us, that the way to represent Jesus with those that are outside of the family of God is to be wise in our behavior when we're around them, to make the most of every opportunity that we have with them, and to let our words be full of grace and truth and seasoned with salt. Now, some of you are like, "I was so happy that Paul mentioned salt." Because you're like, "My language is a little bit salty, so I'm nailing this one, Jerry!" Not exactly what he was talking about. When Paul says, "Seasoned with salt," the word salt to the ancient pagans meant wit. Not, "Hey, you're funny" wit. But, "Hey, you've got common sense" wit. Right? You have your wits about you. In other words, he's saying, "Your behavior and your words ought to reflect both the grace and truth of Jesus to those that are outside of the family of God." I think too often we don't think about that, friends. We don't think about how our behavior or our words affect those outside of the faith in Jesus. We know how to behave when we're here! When we're at church, we know how to talk. "Hey, brother! Hey, sister. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord!" You know? We got all the language and we can put on all the language and the behavior, we can do all of that stuff. But what do you look like at a Saber's game? I was at a Saber's game years and years ago, and it was between, I think the second and third period, and I was standing in line to get a water. And while I was in line, I knew that my kids, who were very young at the time, I called home to be able to tell them goodnight and talk to them before they went to bed. And so I'm standing in this line, it was a long line, and I'm talking to them and, you know, and tell them I love them, doing all the stuff that I do as a dad. And then got off the phone with them and some guy from a couple of people back, kinda goes, "Is that you Pastor Jerry?" And I went, "Yeah!" He wasn't a part of our church that I'm aware of. I'm not sure if he was a part of a church at all. And he said, "Yeah, I knew who you were. I've heard about you and I figured that was you when I heard how you talked to your children on the phone." Like, here's what I was doing in my head. "I'm glad he didn't catch me Tuesday." It matters who we are. When there are people who know that we claim the name of Jesus, it matters! It's easy to misrepresent Jesus to those who are outside of the faith with our behavior and our words, whether that's through personal interaction or online communication. I will stop right there because I will spend a day! You think I don't know. I watch. I'm not on there, but I can see it! The representation of the Gospel is bound up in the people who claim to have been changed by it. Are you using your interactions with those that are outside of the family to demonstrate and put Jesus on display with your words and your behaviors? You see, for Paul, a life that actually put off the old and put on Christ should look dramatically different than the rest of the world. In other words, we should be different as a wife, different as a husband, different as a child, different as a parent, different as an employee, different as an employer, different in the public square with people who are around us. Remember the famous stone that turns all to gold is our willingness to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and to the glory of God? And turning these relationships to gold doesn't mean they'll be perfect, doesn't mean they'll be without trouble. But listen to this! In the eyes of God, how we act in these relationships can be gold because we're acting consistent with the heart of Jesus. You know, Paul wrote in a different place that when we actually do what we do for the glory of God and in the name of Jesus, that it's like gold, silver, and precious stone? Instead of wood, hay, and stubble! That when the fire comes, it refines and beautifies these things and it burns these things up. So this metaphor of gold is a great one to be able to use because we want to do everything we do to the glory of God and in the name of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus, the one who gave His life to save us, the one who freed us from the shackles of the old life, the one who rose from the dead, the one who gives life and breath to everyone, the one who's worthy of our obedience in everything, everywhere, all the time! This is the famous stone that turneth all to gold. For that which God doth touch and own cannot for less be told. Let's bow our heads together. Some of us may be here, having never stepped into what is the ultimate golden relationship. And that is to be reconciled to the Father through the Son by the power of the Spirit. The Bible says that God demonstrated His love to us in this: While we were sinners, Christ died for us. Here's the thing. God took upon Himself the payment for our sin in the person of Jesus because we could never pay for our sin. The wages of our sin is death. Not only physical death, but spiritual separation from God. But God so loved us and so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him wouldn't perish, but instead would have everlasting life. And if you've never put your faith or your trust in Jesus, in just a moment, there'll be some men and women standing down front. They would love to take a moment and talk to you about what it means to put your faith and your trust in Christ. Or maybe you're here and you're a follower of Jesus, but you realize that your life has kind of gotten astray of living out your relationships and living out your life for the glory of God and in the name of the Lord Jesus. And you might just say, "I want somebody to pray with me about who I am as a wife or who I am as a husband, or who I am as an employer or an employee, or a child, or a parent." Or whatever it may be! Well, they'd love to take a moment and just take you by the hand and spend a moment praying with you. You're already here. Why wouldn't you do that? We've seen God do wonderful things through people who are willing to surrender themselves to the Lord Jesus and to bring things to the Lord in prayer. So Father, would you do your good pleasure among us as your people? Would you help us to be people who look to you? We realize we can't do all of these things in our own strength or in our own power. It is Christ in us, it is the power of your Spirit in us that enables us to live in these ways. So Lord, would the first move we make be a submission to you? And being filled with you, we can now be the husband or be the wife or the son or the daughter or the parent or the employee or the employer or the messenger ambassador of the Gospel that you've called us to be. But God, would you help us to take that seriously? Because this is what you actually desire. Whatever we do, whether in word or deed, we do it all to the glory of God in the name of the Lord Jesus. Would you help us to be those kinda people so that the world around us would see and would smell the aroma of Christ? In who we are as parents and who we are as children and who we are as husbands and wives, and who we are as workers or who we are as bosses! Whatever it looks like, God, would you help to diffuse the aroma of Jesus through your people that are surrendered to you and filled with you, for your glory? So that you would draw people to yourself as a result. We pray this now in Jesus' name. Amen.