Wherever, Whatever, Whenever, However . . . Christ!, Part 1

Today on Insight for living from Chuck Swindoll. The Bible is not written to people just those going to seminary is written to individuals who love God who want to put Christ in first place who desire to walk with make him a part of everyday life is why Paul writes what he does. Christ, who is your life is not writing to seminary student is writing to all believers for the last few weeks Chuck Swindoll has guided us through verse by verse study of eloquent letter to the Colossians today on Insight for living will present message number eight in a brand-new 10 part series that concludes next week. The title of Chuck study was inspired by the overarching theme of Paul's letter Jesus Christ are all in all in Colossians chapter 3 we find Paul's helpful tutorial allowing the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts while keeping peace with those around us. Chuck titled today's message wherever whatever whenever.

However, Christ you Colossians it would give you an outline in your worship folder which will help guide us today, especially it's important because of the categories that the apostle Paul covers in verses 15, chapter 3 through one of chapter 4 is a perfect case in point, which we mentioned before, when Paul first wrote the letters your course did not write in chapters and verses. He simply sat down and began to scroll and wrote it start to finish without any break back when you read it in the original, you don't find breaks you just simply runs together from one Greek word to another. Thankfully we have had those scholars come along in years that followed, and broken up the books and the letters into chapters and verses, but you'll notice a misplaced chapter break here is an example. Since they are not inspired but the word of God is the chapter break and chapter 4 should really begin in verse two. Since verse one continues the same subject all the way down through the third chapter and includes the words addressed to the Masters in verse one chapter for you see what I mean is I read it for you.

Colossians 315 through chapter 4 verse one and let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.

For as members of one body you were called to live in peace and always be thankful. Let the message about Christ in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts and what ever you do or say do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the father. Wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harsh children always obey your parents for this pleases the Lord. Father not aggravate your children or they will become discouraged slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward and that the master you are serving is Christ's. But if you do what is wrong will be payback for the wrong you have done for God has no favorites Masters be just and fair to your sleeves. Remember that you also have a master in heaven to download his searching the Scriptures.

Studies by going to Insight world.org/studies and now the message from Chuck called wherever, whatever, whenever, however, Christ, all of us are good at show one thing, especially in fact it becomes our passion and our drive the force that gets us up in the morning and keeps us going through life. It may not be what we do for a living, but is what we feel most deeply about we find that in one another. We call that someone's life. For example, you may be a person who truly loves music and you are trained in it and you have become proficient in it. We could say for you that music is your life is everything right about that but that is true for you but it may not be true for another who may feel that way about some other of the arts, architecture, painting, or a design of some kind that that becomes your life if you if you love the leading athletes on the team and you like the, the challenge of a contest and helping the team find their way to success you would say your life is coaching. I watched an interview with Bill Belichick who was the coach of the New England Patriots at the present time, and he was interviewed because of the number of winning teams that he is turned out up in that area that for the longest time did not have winning teams and's and and the interviewer asked what is it what is it that has turned the corner for the team and he said all my maternity when you coach.

You gotta love it. What is describing is the life of a coach. He lives to coach Lombardi live coach. Another example Tom Landry was a coach. Par Exelon's but your area of interest may not be that it all. It may be your work. My mother used to say of my dad that his life was his work.

He loved his word if he had time to do more, you get a second job he loved to work that you answer back. Probably that's not my life.

It's not what I love. We happen to have a granddaughter who who loves four-footed creatures and actually live for the day when she can go to NAM and got major in veterinary medicine and become a veterinarian.

I you know when she was little and all of her friends will be playing in the late should be digging around for snakes and frogs in the linked attempt to bring them in and shown to all of us. I took her on a date. One time we finished our meal lesson. Now what would you really like Ashley was doing to get and submitted some movie gzip can we go to a pet store so I went to a pet store and she put her hand in every one of those blessed cages. Everyone I'm standing back like don't make me do that leads little parents if I stuck my hand in there.

I have a finger missing right now but not her. She was her. Her life is animals. She lives for that. Your passions are dry. For the longest time I admired and studied undoing head is my mentor and Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost Dallas seminary was his life. Same would be true for calling his name John F12's life you lived in LA back in the 70s and 80s.

You know the Dodgers were in their heyday.

Tommy Lasorda was the manager Lasorda would say when I bleed and I cut myself. It bleeds blue dodger blue wood doesn't bleed red he love the game of baseball. It was his life.

Check recently.

Spring of the 70s and I found that back in August 1974 the talk of the nation was a little guy the name of Philippe Petit member Petit some of you where people like me. He was a guy that walked on high wire. He strung a cable between the twin towers. Anyone across the cable laid down on the cable knelt down on the cable yet is saying to tolerance. I walk as I watch them. I thought to towers I would vomit.

I am not going up there are not getting out on the cable why because it is in my life is life is life on the high wire that's why you live is what made a movie once you and I lived in the first century had a chance to interview a man named Saul whose name was later changed to Paul Saul of Tarsus would tell you if you ask, what is your life. He would say without hesitation. Christ. Christ is my life. He wrote to the Philippians for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. He wrote to the Galatians about being crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless I live yet not I but here it Christ lives in me and the life that I now live a live by faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. My life is Christ it's all about Christ.

No, my concern today is not Philippe Petit or Tommy Lasorda or some coach or some artist.

My concern today. As you maybe when we were there earlier in Colossians chapter 3 you missed the little lion that appears in the sort of drops off from the page of the Scriptures. Look at Chapter 3 of Colossians were Paul tells us in verse two to think about things that are above and not on things of the earth because your life is hidden with Christ in God.

In fact, he says, verse four and when Christ look at this. Who is your life there.

It or is he this word of these words are written to people who know the Lord Jesus Christ. The entire letter of the Colossians was written to people who love Jesus and walked with him there in the midst of the.

The influx of particular teaching that was taking over in some parts of the church called the Gnostics, Paul writes to the people and reminds them that your life is not some philosophy is not some religion. Your life is Christ. It can be boiled down into the person of the Lord Jesus Christ of the thing I love about Paul is his logic. He makes a statement like that and it may look as though he drops off and leaves it. From then on he comes back to it in another direction. When you get to verse 15. In fact, if you have your outline ready. I want you to do, track it with me here as we look at the verses overall that will look more in detail as we work our 3 Our Way through the exposition look at 15, but the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts explained that the moment but the peace of Christ. Here we are. The outline is to rule in my heart.

He said, let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your heart. So the peace of Christ is to rule in my heart. In verse 16. Let the word of Christ or the message about Christ feel your life. So the second point of the outline and the Paul's writing is the message of Christ is to fill my life. The word of Christ is to fill me to the full know when you get to verse 18, without announcing it. He goes from the inner person in the life of the individual to the first circle that surrounds us.

That's our homes and families. How I know that literature by verse 15 verse 18 wives verse 19 husbands verse 20 children. Verse 21 fathers so clearly it's a domestic scene, so he has in mind the home and family.

The presence of Christ is to be seen in my home and with my family. The presence of Christ is to pervade's to permeate my home, my family, verse 22 in the first century.

The issue was slaves and masters. I'm not here today to solve that conflict and that problem. Paul doesn't set out to change it so I don't intend to. I'm going to apply it to employees and employers so you get to verse 22 we now have the life of Christ is to be on display in my work or at my workplace words to the employee. 22 through 25 words to the employer.

Verse one.

Chapter 4 the good time for me to say for you who love the Bible and are studying it seriously. Look for clues as you're reading through it. Put your brain in gear and look for the flow of thought. Notice the progress verse 15 the heart.

Verse 16 the life and 70 verses 18 through 21. The home 22 through 41 the work occupation, people have made the Bible out to be this complicated riddle. This difficult book that no very very few can understand. Certainly, if you don't go to seminary you can understand the Bible is not written to people just those going to seminary is written to individuals who love God who want to put Christ in first place you desire to walk with make him a part of everyday life is why Paul writes what he does. Christ who is your life is not writing to seminary students is not writing to bishops of the church or some religious leader is writing to all believers happens to be those in closet. Here in verse so for now let's move ahead and let's see what he has to say. First of all about peace in our heart's verse 50 because it is an automatic. He begins with the word let this happen. You have a hand in this letter occur.

Let what occurred. Let the peace that comes from Christ. What is this piece will think about when you read your Bible and you come across a word that is deserving of some time and attention spent time on here's a good one. When I think of peace I think of inner quietness, tranquility, feeling of calm secure serenity when I have peace and that E's. I'm at rest, and here he says let that peace be in your heart not talk about the organ that pumps blood not the literal organ of the body, but the inner person get this where you make decisions were motives or hidden secrets are kept. If the deepest part of our being frequently referred to in the Bible as our heart now begins to make sense. Let the sense of calm and serenity flow through your inner being, so that you are at peace and what does that do it is there for what purpose to rule in our heart. Paul had a choice of words, and he chooses rule, the Greek term means to arbitrate, arbitrate and arbitrator is one who takes it upon himself or herself to decide what is right in a given conflict or contents. In James we called them umpire's or referee's. That's why people will sometime paraphrase this. Let the word or let the peace that comes from Christ. Act as umpire deep within your life and what is that important when you're wanting to do the will of God. For example, let's use the situation that is a little bit complex but say you been married and you're now divorced gone through the battle of all of that, the struggle of it and the depth of it that no one else really knows like you do so you have naturally a built-in uneasiness about falling in love again or marrying again. Some simply cannot bring themselves ever to marry after they have been through a divorce.

Others are able to do so. So you find someone that you're attracted to you and that person have things in common and and in you sharing them you you you left freely together you think alike.

Your backgrounds are different, but this person is so different from your former spouse that you and quiet moments start thinking, should I go deeper in this or not you been through what you going through your reluctant but you need you need peace you need to call me inner assurance that this is the right thing to do if you lack that peace you don't want to go further with you don't want to put we've all done this. We've all pushed we even ignored the lack of peace and we run ahead only to regret it later on. So, if Christ is to rule in our lives. He acts as the umpire when I was engaged in the ministry in California for almost 25 years. I got a phone call and you know some of you know the story and it happened to be some of the people in Dallas seminary as they were looking for president and in the call to ask if I would consider that I didn't think about it twice.

I said no.

First of all I thought it was a crank call for think about me as a president of something and in they said no, no, no, this is this isn't really this very serious symbol.

No one verse or I'm not interested.

I'm not your guy and I through a long set of circumstances by way said they had peace about it from the start, so she was there on one side going you go to your really consider this. Get a life thinking whose side are you on shed a great answer God's so after a while they said to me, they called back to us ignored in the Nicole began.

I finally said what what is with you got this and what would you pray about. How can you say no I'm not going to pray about. So guess what, when I really began to pray about it. I was flooded with peace.

I didn't see completes. I didn't ask for peace even peace came when I thought about it and even though I couldn't fit all the pieces together because I'm not your basic seminary president that is the understatement of the year, but I realized after coming they didn't need an intellectual they had enough of those they needed to ship and I'm an God knew that all along and so he gave me peace and let it rule in my heart and against all odds that I could name one after another reason I said yes and the result was a delightful experience for those years I served as he's called us to live in peace and see how the verse and by the UR when the peace of Christ taxes umpire in your life you're always you can't help but say Lord, thank you for giving me this sense of serenity when I was in such unrest whether it applies to our household. The place we work or even the country in which we live.

All of us crave that kind of peace that Paul described in his letter to the Colossians, and there's much more Chuck Swindoll wants to show us in this passage, so please keep listening. To learn more about Chuck in this ministry.

Visit us online@insideworld.org.

We may not realize the Chuck is written of full biography on Paul. The one time Christian hater who was dramatically converted later pulpit right.

The New Testament letter to the Colossians, and he did so while in prison, chained to a guard it's starting to realize that incarcerated man offered such wisdom on things like peace and serenity. Chuck titled this biography Paul a man of grace and grit. You can purchase a copy right now.

When you go to insight.org/offer or call us if you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888 as the eyes of the world have been focused on Eastern Europe and the unthinkable invasion of Ukraine. Let's continue praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ, whose peace and security have been violated, to be pleased to learn that insight for living has a strategic outreach to this part of the world. What we don't fully comprehend the plight we can certainly deliver hope and encouragement. Through this program through the devoted staff that live in the region and through the additional resources we provide. These ministries are all encompassed under the banner of vision 195 as part of vision 195 Chuck's Bible teaching is translated into eight different languages including Polish and Romanian, and these ministries are made possible in part, when you give a much needed donation to insight for living to give a gift today. Call us if you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888 or give online@insight.org/donate again to give a donation today online go to insight.org/on insight for living. The preceding message wherever, whatever, whenever, however, Christ was copyrighted in 2014 and 2022 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. all rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited