"IN THE LORD"
F.C.Mutton
Colossians 3: 16-25 ; 4: 1, 17; Romans 16: 1, 2; 11 -13
I feel led, dear brethren, to seek to speak of this sphere of things which is spoken of in the scriptures we have read as "in the Lord". It is a very blessed sphere, no doubt linking with what is said in the first chapter of Colossians: "Giving thanks to the Father... who has delivered us from the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love" (v 13). What we are seeking to speak of - what is "in the Lord" - would relate to that kingdom. Clearly it is an exceedingly blessed and attractive place to be in, and manifestly a blessed kind of authority to be under - "the kingdom of the Son of his love". It is very attractive to reflect on this in a day such as that in which we live, when responsible men are profoundly concerned about the whole trend of things in the world - anarchy, lawlessness, greed, selfishness, the defiance of authority in almost every sense of the word. Thinking men are increasingly concerned as to whether this tide of lawlessness and evil can be contained, whether the present system can cope with it. How wonderful to turn from that (though we need constantly to pray for government and authority and for its maintenance) and to think of the kingdom of the Son of His love and that there is such an area where things are under control and regulation. It is not the legal authoritarian thing of which we have had experience. It is divine authority, in that sense inflexible authority, for divine principles do not change, cannot be modified; but this authority is wielded by, and vested in, the Son of His love. God places us in this sphere for our protection and for our benefit so that we might be protected from what is around us and what is in us, and thus be free to be engaged with Christ of whom this first chapter speaks in so wonderful a way.
There were dangers at Colosse, dangers of philosophy and vain deceit, and so Paul brings in, as the epistle proceeds, many admonitions, and then comes to these two verses where we began in chapter 3. They show the richness which is normal in Christian experience. The word, received in faith, dwells in us richly and produces this happy, contented, prosperous condition of things described here - a system of mutual encouragement, help and admonition: "Teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God". I think singing people are safe people. I know there are many and constant pressures, but I think if you find people singing with grace in their hearts to God they are those who are going along in the path of faith and who, despite the difficulties, discouragements, opposition and sorrows, have their own inward, happy, responsible link with God. And, though we would often have to confess that we are not normal, this is normal Christianity, and there is no reason on the divine side why I should not be in the experience of it. Then Paul adds this remarkable word: "And everything, whatever ye may do in word or in deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by him". We might say this is a simple regulator of everything we say or do. Maybe a good many words would not find utterance if we always remembered this, and perhaps there are deeds that would not be done if we remembered this. What cannot be said or done in the name of the Lord Jesus is best not said or done because it would be outside the range of that expression "the kingdom of the Son of his love". So it is a position of regulation and control, but manifestly a region of very great joy and of communion and of singing. Now this must extend to every sphere in which we move. One feels tested and sobered in seeking to speak of this but, dear brethren, there manifestly can be no department of our lives and no relationship excluded from what relates to the rights of the Lord. Every part of the believer's life is to be "in the Lord"; the literal expression is "in Lord".
So Paul is led by the Lord, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, to touch in some detail on specific relationships. The very fact that he does so shows that Paul's ministry in this regard is needed. It is preservative for us, and I think every one of us who has part in these relationships would have to say that we need this ministry of Paul's. He begins with wives - "Be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord". So that relationship relates to the authority of the Lord Jesus, and a wife can only rightly be in it as she relates it to the Lord. The Lord has been over the establishment of that relationship. We remember Paul's word as to marriage: "She is free to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord", 1 Cor 7: 39. Thank God, I do not think there is much need to speak of the danger and the evil of mixed marriages, a matter which greatly burdened beloved Mr Taylor sen, though it is a matter that is not entirely unknown. This is one of the greatest matters in our lives, the matter of marriage, one of the greatest questions that faces young people. Paul would say "only in the Lord". That is, His rights, His name, are to govern every such matter. Where human feelings and affections at their strongest might take charge, the rights of the Lord are to take charge. A union not "in the Lord" can only lead to disaster but a union "in the Lord" will lead to blessing, divine confirmation and prosperity. The Lord would have His own reward for those who accept limitation, who say no to natural inclinations in these matters because of His supreme claims and rights.
So here subjection is related to wives: "Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord". Again, it is not a legal or arbitrary relation; it is a state of subjection, because headship as under the Lord will be represented in the husband. Then there is a word to husbands: "Husbands, love your wives". That is, the whole thing is made workable in an atmosphere, in an environment, of love. It is not an arbitrary, harsh assertion of authority but headship exercised in love. Paul adds "and be not bitter against them". Paul was not married but he had great insight into these matters. And it is an extraordinary thing - perhaps it is not extraordinary as we know our own hearts - that a man who would not show bitterness against his neighbour or his brother may in his secret relations with his wife be bitter; that is not to be. If there was not a danger of it Paul would not have been led to say "and be not bitter against them". How much, dear brethren, depends and hinges on these relations. Paul is going on to speak of children, and we often speak of households as the bulwark of the assembly. Clearly if they are to be bulwarks, if they are to be a source of strength and not of weakness, and if the children are to be rightly held and to grow up in a right environment, these relationships between husband and wife "in the Lord" must be maintained rightly.
Then Paul has a word for the children: "Children, obey your parents in all things". He does not stop there; that would have been right, that would have been the truth, but he adds "for this is well-pleasing in the Lord". So we find that this relationship, too, is in the Lord. I think this is something that needs to enter into our minds when we are young, that parental authority is a department of the Lord's authority. My parents, if I am a child, are an arrangement under the Lord's hand for my protection, for my training, for my discipline. Obedience, I suppose, is the very hardest thing naturally. We can all look back to childhood and find plenty of disobedience, but I think this would help us to be obedient as children, to know that the authority our parents have over us is "in the Lord". It is a basic arrangement in the divine ordering of our lives from our earliest days; and what a privilege this is, that we are under the control and influence and discipline of godly parents. Paul immediately goes on to say, "Fathers, do not vex your children, to the end that they be not disheartened". Again, what an insight Paul had, I was going to say, into human nature , and I do not think any of us who have been fathers could escape the edge of this word. For me as a father to exercise my discipline other than in the Lord means that I am giving way to my own natural feelings; and how easily that is done. How easy it is to explode, to lose control. So not only is there the part of the children "obey your parents... for this is well-pleasing in the Lord", but children are to see in their fathers an expression of the kind of dignified authority, restrained authority, which will be recognised, at least in measure, as flowing from the supreme authority of the Lord Him self. So in all these relationships and departments of life the authority of the Lord, may I say, is filtering through, and everything in the Christian home is thus deriving from Him, regulated by Him and held for Him.
Then Paul comes down to our employment, to bondmen, and these bondmen I suppose would largely be slaves - about the most difficult kind of employment that anyone could possibly be in, a position where it would be easy to labour under a sense of resentment in justice and frustration. "Bondmen, obey in all things your masters according to flesh; not with eyeservices, as men pleasers, but in simplicity of heart, fearing the Lord". Now this is a very different situation because the master would probably not be converted at all; but my exercise as a bondman would be to hold myself, in that position in which in the ways of God I am, as in relation to the Lord. This would apply to all our employments. Paul says "Whatsoever ye do, labour at it heartily, as doing it to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance". I think I can see the importance of this because a very large part of our lives is spent in our vocations, and that part is not to be wasted nor to be unfruitful. It is quite definite that it is not part of the ways of God that those hours from nine to five, whatever it may be, should be wasted, without result and without yield; they are an essential part of Christian experience and an essential part of what is working out in the lives of believers for divine pleasure. "Whatsoever ye do, labour at it heartily, as doing it to the Lord". What a simple statement. I think it throws some light and cheer on what the poet called 'The daily round, the common task'. It may be humdrum. I remember thinking of this in the fire service, when it was a matter of clearing brass on fire engines and scrubbing floors, that the most menial task can be done as to the Lord. It puts a certain glory and a lustre on the most menial and perhaps the most uncongenial work or occupation; it can be done to the Lord. Thus those hours from nine to five can yield something. When your mind is on your responsibilities, and rightly so, all the time the Lord can be receiving something out of it as you are labouring at it heartily, not to men but as to Him. So we can be serving Him day by day even though doing our responsible duties which we might think merely relate to men or to school. It would apply to school. I must admit very freely I did not always observe this at school. But here it is: "Whatsoever ye do, labour at it heartily, as doing it to the Lord" - even the subject you like least, and the master or mistress you find it hardest to put up with. Paul adds, "knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance"; and then this fine phrase "ye serve the Lord Christ". Whatever other people are doing ye "serve the Lord Christ". What a dignity it puts on the believer's life! It makes the day complete; those are not wasted hours, in them we serve the Lord Christ.
Then there is a word to masters: "Masters, give to bondmen what is just and fair". A Christian master, a Christian who has men or women under him, is not to be unjust; he is not to be a tyrant; he is to be just and fair, "knowing that ye also have a Master in the heavens".
Then in the verse that we read at the end of the chapter we have another aspect of what is in the Lord: "And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, to the end that thou fulfil it". The footnote indicates that the word "fulfil" relates to what is complete, an important word in Colossians. Now we come to another aspect of responsibility, the ministry we receive. This was a special word to Archippus. You just wonder about the reaction of Archippus when this letter was being read. So many words of injunction and counsel, references to one and another, commendations of some, salutations, he might have seen that the reader was almost at the very end of the epistle, and then Archippus would sit up as he heard his name mentioned: "Say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry".
So this would come to you and me. We have received certain ministry in the Lord. It comes with attractiveness but it comes with authority. It is the word of the Lord and the voice of the Lord. I do not know what we can say about Archippus; evidently he needed a little stimulation, a word of counsel, almost maybe a word of warning. Let us receive such a word, dear brethren, because ministry is not haphazard; it is divinely timed, divinely directed, and comes with divine authority. "Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received". Is what I have received working out, am I subject to it, or does it leave me unaffected? What I heard last week - have I taken it to the Lord? You cannot retain everything, none of us can; but I think in every meeting something would register that I know is for me, and that is to be taken to the Lord. The Lord said that word, said it because I needed it, said it for my blessing and benefit. Have I heeded it? The ministry has come and it has been received in the sense of having been heard, but now it is to be fulfilled, worked out to a complete result. May we heed this Pauline injunction: "Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received". The Lord directs ministry to localities and to individuals; directs it with care and with love and with skill, to meet us where we are, to adjust us to warn us. Am I taking heed to the end that I fulfil it? Is it working out to a result? Is it running off me, as we say, like water off a duck's back? What is the benefit? What is the gain? What object is reached? It is to be received; but then it is to be fulfilled, worked out to a result. Light comes, faith receives it, and in the obedience of faith we would go over it in the presence of God and find grace that it might be worked out to the intended result, it may be in adjustment, formation, direction, or acceleration in the steps of faith.
When we come to Romans 16 it relates largely to service, holy activity in the Lord. This is not feverish, uncontrolled, competitive activity; it is a lovely suggestion of controlled variety in personality and activity which you would expect at the end of Romans which is such a subduing epistle. Lawless elements have been subdued and persons secured, their bodies presented, the Spirit indwelling, and thus they are available for the will and the service of God. So chapter 16 begins with a distinguished sister. We love to speak of Phoebe. What a fine commendation! "I commend to you Phoebe, our sister". Paul loved her and valued her, "who is minister of the assembly which is in Cenchrea". That was her dignity. She was available to do what needed to be done and she was related to the assembly. I think this would be an encouragement to us, and a particular encouragement to sisters, that this sister heads the list of commendations and salutations. Then she was to be received "in the Lord worthily of saints, and that ye may assist her in whatever matter she has need of you; for she also has been a helper of many". The footnote to the word "helper" indicates that it is an expression of great distinction – Mr Darby speaks of a 'complimentary touch of heart in which the apostle never fails'. These are 'in Lord' relationships and we are to be generous in our appreciation of one another. Paul was generous in his outlook on the brethren as these commendations show. So let us be appreciative, dear brethren, of every feature of the work of God and His service. There is room for all; I think that is one lesson that this chapter teaches, the need of all, and here are many persons active and committed in love to the service of the assembly and the service of the Lord. This expression "that ye may receive her in the Lord" indicates the dignity with which we are to receive one another. She was not a freelance, she was not a busybody, all her activities were "in the Lord", and therefore she could be commended to Rome to be received "worthily of saints". She was such a person that she was worthy to be assisted "in whatever matter she has need of you". What confidence Paul reposed in her!
Then we come to other names. Very interesting is the variety and the gradation. "Salute those who belong to Narcissus who are in the Lord". Nothing more; just that. Perhaps they had not developed so far as others but they were "in the Lord". That is, they were persons secured by the gospel, subject to the Lord and available to Him. They were not insubject, they were not lawless, they would not be a trouble in the local meeting; they were subdued persons and therefore available, I am assured, for every good work, to do whatever needed to be done and to take on whatever the Lord would commit to them. Then "Salute Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord". I think these are feminine names and it is not just 'in the Lord' but "who labour in the Lord". 'Labourers' is a term that perhaps used to be much more current that it is now, but let us all be labourers. We can labour in prayer, we can take on responsibility; there is much work to be done, not casual work, not stop-go work, but consistent acceptance of responsibility for the maintenance of all that relates to the name of the Lord. These two sisters were labouring in the Lord. You wonder what they were doing. We do not know. It might have been practical care and comfort; but whatever it was they were labouring in the Lord. The Lord could trust them to do things on His behalf, and to do them as He would have them done, for the strengthening, upbuilding and encouragement of His beloved people.
Then Paul says "Salute Persis, the beloved, who has laboured much in the Lord". I think the very fact that these salutations are so varied shows what a healthy state there would be in Rome. I do not think that after the meeting at which this letter was read someone would say 'Well, Paul only said I was in the Lord but Persis was described as the beloved', or, 'Paul only said I laboured in the Lord but Persis was described as labouring much in the Lord'. I am sure nobody would complain; there would be the thankful acceptance of the different measures and the different capacities, all happily working together in the local company. How great the advantages are, dear brethren, of this sphere "in the Lord", where natural feelings such as rivalry are outside and where there is simple joy in seeing the varying measure of the work of the Lord in one another all working toward s one common end. So Persis is spoken of as "the beloved, who has laboured much in the Lord". Has laboured much; perhaps she was old, perhaps not physically capable of much more, I do not know; but it is put in the past tense as a tribute to this beloved woman's past service.
Well, dear brethren, may we be labourers, may we devote ourselves to the work; that is our first priority, transcending every other matter. Our supreme responsibility is the work of the Lord and to see that what needs to be done is done, and that there are those available to do it as "in the Lord". I trust the Lord may be pleased to confirm these thoughts to us. One feels tested in speaking of them but I believe they are of basic importance. So many disturbances that have come in in assembly history trace back to our lack of subjection in relation to the Lord; relate to defects on the line of the kingdom. I believe that subjection to the Lord in every relationship and every setting provides what is subdued, controlled and available, so that we can proceed together into what is spiritual, what relates to the excellence of all that expands in the light and experience of the assembly. May the Lord help us in these things for His Name's sake.
Maidstone
29 June 1974