Colossians Lesson 19

We are on lesson 19. We got through, I think, question 4 last week. And we should be on question 5. Again, going through the section of scripture, Colossians 3.21 and going through 4.1. So, we started out, and again, started out on the fathers, now we're on the masters and servants. Again, what we looked at last week is did Paul, in his teaching, did he ever go after slavery and masters? Did he ever say that was a horrible thing? No. So, what did we learn from that?

He's in control of all these things. Just what he said in the beginning. He's in control. He's the one who holds all things together. What did we begin in Colossians 3? 1, where is our focus supposed to be? On things above. And who have we learned that we work for?

As unto the Lord. Okay, so he didn't eradicate or he didn't say to eradicate slavery. He didn't say positive or negative. He just said Your motivation is to work as under the Lord, you slaves or you masters. And we're getting into a little bit of that when we get into 4.1. Talking to Mike afterwards, last week, what is the one book that really kind of shows Paul's specific and intimate dealings with slaves and masters? You know which book deals directly with that?

Philemon. Remember Philemon? What was Philemon? Philemon was a master. He owned a slave named Onesimus, and Onesimus ran away and stole from him. And then, I think it was Paul when he was in Rome in his confinement, Matt Onesimus converted him, or the Lord converted him. And so he and Paul developed a relationship, and then he basically sent him back to Philemon.

And it's a very intimate letter in Philemon where he basically says, he doesn't say, you know, let this guy go, he's now a brother in Christ, we'll let him go because that's, you know. He basically says, you can do whatever you, as a master, you can do as you desire. But it is Paul's desire that you see him as a brother in Christ now. And he goes on so far as to say, if he owes anything, put it to my account. So, Paul doesn't say get rid of slavery in that. He says, you know, you have every right to do what you want with Onesimus, but he's now brother in the Lord, and see him as that, and understand. And he really, in an intimate way, deals with it. So, again, the slavery aspect, you know, we think it's horrible and it's a bad... system, but Paul doesn't deal with it.

He says, wherever you're at, your motivation is as unto the Lord, even in any situation. We now translate that to working, bosses and employees, and that's what we're dealing with in this section of scripture. We talked about that in question four, should a servant employee, public servant, perform better after they know Christ than before? We went into that now. What is the motivation, question five, what is the motivation for doing a good job for your employer? And it gave Ephesians 6, 6 and 7. I'll read 5 through 7 to give a little bit more context. Ephesians 6, 5 through 7.

Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not by way of eye service as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ. Doing the will of God from the heart with good will render service as to the Lord and not to men.

So, what is the motivation? You do it as a gift to God. A gift? I don't know, gift, but as unto the Lord. Well, if you're doing it for the Lord, you can call it your service or your gift or whatever, but that's the attitude you need to do a good job.

In here, what does the verse say? In the sincerity of your heart as to Christ. That's the motivation. In sincerity of your heart as to Christ. And then he goes on in verse 6, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will render services of the Lord not to men. So again, in sincerity of heart. So remember we dealt with these verses before about eye pleasers and all those different things that you do it, you know, as to please men and everything. This one deals back to, and I think Joanne said it last week, the word, it's as the soul That's from your soul. It's from your heart. This one says, in sincerity from your heart. So this isn't just on the outside. This is the motivation. In sincerity of heart.

And, you know, we've been looking at other verses in Colossians about dealing with wives and husbands and children, and it still goes on in the same thing. Every one of them has the same theme. If you look in verse 18, for wise, as fitting in the Lord. Verse 19, this is for children, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Verse 22, but with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord. That's for the slaves.

So again, what is the motivation? It's in sincerity of heart as to the Lord. So, is it just to get ahead when you get in work? That's all you want to do is get ahead? become the president of the company, make lots of money? Is it to impress people? Is that your motivation for work? That may happen, but what is your motivation? It's as unto the Lord.

So we're dealing in kind of some interesting things when you get down to, you know, yeah, but you don't know my boss. You don't know my boss. You don't know my situation at work. You don't know what I'm going through. This guy, the guy in the corner office, you don't know him. You don't know my circumstance.

We'll deal with that. I think that's just reverence and respect. I don't think it's... I think it's just fear. The fear and trembling is respect of who you're working for, who you're dealing with. I don't think it's... I'm afraid because that's the thing when we look at it. It's not like... I think I've talked about this before. It's not like God's there with a big stick just going to walk you all the time, that you're afraid of Him. We can't be separated from His love. His love.

So whatever He's doing to you, in trials or blessings, it's to draw you to Him. And what ultimately is the goal? It's to manifest Christ, to conform us to the image of Christ. So that's what I say in my prayer. When you tie the sovereignty of God, which we learned in Colossians 1 and 2, in Him, all things hold together, all those things, and then you see that you can't be separated from His love.

If you understand those two things, I think, you can get through any circumstances. Because he's in control of whatever you're going through, and he loves you. He's only trying to draw you to himself in that intimate relationship. We're dealing with bosses now, but it's the same thing. Same thing.

I also said, remember what we were just told in verse 17, whatever you do in word or deed, whatever you're doing, do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Also in verse 23, whatever you do, do your work heartily, and that was the word, I think Joran said heartily, what it meant, out of your soul. So, whatever you do, do your work out of your soul, as for the Lord, rather than men. So, we also get a direction at the end of verse 24 even. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. So, my question is, does this characterize your motive for how you work? If not, why? Or why not? I mean, if not, why not?

Is this how you work every day? No. I mean, but this is where, you know, I think we get into what's going to be in our next class is faith. Do you believe what he's saying here? Do you believe this? If you do, you know, I think the end of that one, it'll render, with good will render service as in Lord and not to men. So, again, do we believe this? Are we to work as unto the Lord?

We'll touch on some of these things as we go down a little bit. Again, the boss in the corner office, he's pretty crazy. How are we supposed to deal with him? I don't think it exempts us if we have an opportunity to have better conditions to speak to the person in charge instead of just accepting what's given if you can benefit not only yourself but other people under certain conditions. Yes, you can always talk, and two different things. If you don't like the situation, you can leave. Is it your responsibility to change everything about the company you work for?

No. You know, it was kind of interesting. I thought I was probably going to tape this. I'll have to have Nick edit this out. No. It was pretty hard. I was listening to Chester McCauley on this, and he basically, which was kind of shocking, he basically said, you know, unions are evil. I was like, whoa.

But he went on to say that, you know, unions or should you strike as an employee? Well, it depends. On what? If you're being mistreated, you don't have to just, I don't know, my son hates unions. But he makes a good point in this. And that's what I said, is it your responsibility to change everything about the company? when we strike and say we're not going to take it. Is that what these verses say to do? Definitely not. No. So, you know, he basically put it pretty hard.

You know, it's like a union. The union is basically out there and we're going to strike and we're going to change the company. It's our... Is that what it says in these verses? No. So he came out, I was kind of shocked. I was kind of, wow, okay, that hit pretty hard. But it is, if you look at these verses, it's not our responsibility to change, because who are you ultimately working for? The Lord. And I get into a question, it was kind of interesting, I'll move down on that later about if you're working for, what does that mean? So... Hey, Gordon. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think it's important to recognize in these verses that we're talking about slaves.

They don't have options. They don't live under the Constitution. They're the property of the owner. Striking is not something they would do. Having a conversation with the master about treating them better is something they wouldn't do. So you have to understand the environment that they're in, they're not Americans.

The second thing is that in verse 10, 11, and 12 of chapter 3, 13, is the motivation. We put on the new man, and this is what we're getting here is how the new man functions in whatever environment he finds himself in on the earth. And it isn't that I pump this up because I'm a good Christian guy, it's that this new life that I have in Christ, this is exactly how it functions. If I live under grace it isn't an effort here. This is the way the life of Christ would function in this environment. Whether I was a slave or a master or a husband, a child, this is how it is. This is how the life is. And it's not, it's actually by grace it's effortless.

He's just describing what it looks like. That's why I want to go back either into this class or next week and read from the beginning, because this is the result of everything that was told to us that's true about us in 1, 2, and the beginning of 3. It's all telling us what's true, and then if that's true, then this is the manifestation of that life. So that's really why I want to go back on that. Yeah, the other thing... I'm just curious.

I know there's, in my career, there's been a lot of people who would, they would do really well in a job and someone would offer them a 20% raise and they'd be going, see you later. Goes to the next company and he's just really going gangbusters and gets another 20% raise, he's off to another company. And it just seems odd that, like, if you have this particular boss, you're working as under the warden and all of a sudden you're saying, I got a person to raise. Bye, buddy. I still think it's the motivation. If it's only chasing the dollar for your own gain. You know, I don't think there's any... This was a slave and there were no rights. We're not under that. We can freely leave and change jobs.

Paul did say somewhere else, I can't remember where, that as a slave, if you get the opportunity to get free, take it. And that's actually what Paul is saying in Philemon. He says the same thing. He says, you know, treat him as a brother now and basically give him his freedom. And I'll pay the debts, I'll do this.

And I think even after that, I thought I read in one of the commentaries that Onesimus became one of the leaders of the church at Ephesus later. One of the accounts. I was thinking too, didn't Paul use his Roman citizenship? That's what actually got him hauled to Rome, was his claiming of citizenship.

And again, that was under that system. We do have freedoms now to be able to move. But again, if it's just for the almighty dollar and that's your idol, your master, then there's issues I think. But I don't see, you can change jobs and go. I think it still goes to the motivation. It may kind of actually do this one too. That's evil to go and want to do this.

But if I'm a Christian missionary, Or if I'm working for the Lord, I'm a pastor at a church. Is that different than if I was an engineer? How does it impact if you're a car mechanic, trash collector, or whatever occupation versus a missionary or Christian worker?

Who is serving the Lord and who isn't? All of them. So do we put that perspective out there that, you know, We see the Christian worker or the missionary or the pastor or all that who's doing it. Oh yeah, they're working for the Lord. I'm a car mechanic. Which one is working for the Lord? Both of them. Interesting perspective. Do you feel that way? That you are working for the Lord every bit as much as the missionary is?

I know sometimes people have talked about, well I have an opportunity to, I have an offer to move to Cincinnati for a lot more money. And the issue is, is it the money? Or is it the spiritual environment that you're in now? So would you stay in the spiritual environment that's beneficial to you now and forego the rays and the moon? We seldom ever even consider that in our society, but I think it's huge. I think it's absolute. Because if you have a family, And they're being raised not only by you, but in an environment that's spiritually healthy. Why would you move to a place you didn't know there was going to be a spiritual environment for them? I wouldn't do it. Absolutely.

Or, on the flip side of that, we had some Brian that moved and is using what he's learned here to teach and work in a different area. So it can be either or. And again, it goes back to motivation. If it's only for the dollar, we'll go to some happy church that's soft and pretty and whatever, not learn. Or I'm going to go, I'm going to move, but I want a church that's going to feed me. Or I will help establish a church that will feed me. So I think there's two different motivations there. You can go, as some have, to be planted. They've taken what they've learned and are going to use that to impact another area.

Again, the thought being is, you're a computer tech. You're a car mechanic. You're a missionary worker. We're all working for the Lord. Put that in perspective. That's why you're working, is to work as unto the Lord. Your work is every bit as much unto the Lord as a missionary worker. So, that put a real kink in my thinking. I'm working for the Lord every bit as much as the missionary in Africa.

Miles Stanford used to say, the most fertile missionary ground in the world is the local church. I wholeheartedly agree with that. I'm going to go to Africa. What about the 10 million people around you? But if the Lord puts that on your heart, I don't deny that either. That you have a burden to go and serve somebody in some area. Absolutely.

But a lot of us, and that's why I think this perspective is unto the Lord. Our missionary field is right here too. And that's why my point is, we're every bit as much working for the Lord as the missionary out there, as the pastor out there. We are his ambassador, in our work, as unto the Lord.

Wow, that's a different perspective. I was just going to say the same thing. Where I worked, I considered it a mission field. Oh yeah, and that's really the perspective, as unto the Lord. I go back to the fact, and this is why I really went on the Colossians 1, in him all things hold together. He's the one who's sovereign and in control. He has you there for a purpose.

I don't think, you know, I go back to my ism. God never says, oops. God never goes, oops, how did I get you there? How did I put you in that position? Oh boy, I missed that. I blinked. Does God ever do that? Never. So He has you in that position for, and I always think about pointing. You think you're for that. Well, three of them are pointing back at you. So you're there to be working as a Lord, but He's also working on you there. He's in control of all these things. And you start to just, by faith, understand this, it changes you. It begins to understand how this life is manifest in Christ. I've been reminded this week and last, over and over, as we talk about this, that when I was in college, which is over 50 years ago, so I may not remember everything correctly. That may be a good thing.

I worked at J.C. Penney's in their air credit office downtown Los Angeles. which means that we approved whether or not somebody could charge on their charge card and when somebody wanted to use a card the checker would call our office and so we had to pull the file on this person and say yes they can have it or no keep the card don't give it back to them anyway there was a lot of going from this drawer to that one and we had X number of gals along that strip of bins.

And I remember that I liked the job. It was kind of fun. I was moving around, walking from one bin to another. But two other gals who were friends and had been there longer than I had, gradually let up on their responsibility. And it was kind of like, oh yeah, she's doing a good job. You know, give me that. Don't worry, that phone, she'll get that phone. And I did. It's just, you know, the phones ringing, I got to get that.

And it took me a while to realize what was happening, but I wonder if sometimes even back in those days with the slaves, you can get a reputation for you're a good worker, you know, or you're a sucker, one or the other, and they'll just let you do it. But again, what is your perspective? And that's where I look at.

If it's as I'm to the Lord, does it matter what they say or do? It doesn't really. It doesn't? My wife, when she was in college, she worked at a place and she worked hard. And the other workers said, what are you doing? You make us look bad. Hey, I'm working as unto the Lord, you know, and had the opportunity and all that, you know. And so, I don't pick the perspective of other people because your focus is, who am I working for? It's unto the Lord. And I'm going to work as hard as I can because I'm working for Him, not for anybody else. And if that puts you in a position where other people think, hey, that's fine. Guess what? That gives you opportunity. Why do you work so hard? Hey, I'm working as unto the Lord. That's my boss. My ultimate master is the Lord. And then they think that you think they're better than they are. That you think you're the best and you're serving the Lord and so forth.

And so it can become not a persecution as such, but a rejection. And it's really the rejection of the Lord. That's the point. It's not the rejection of you. If you're working as unto the Lord, did the world open arms to Christ? No, they rejected Him. And He said in John 17, they're going to reject you too. So, again, but the motivation is you're working as under the Lord. Okay? All right. Now, well, maybe this is the question. Question six.

Does the Lord take notice of how we perform our work? No. I have a no and a yes. You know what that means? You have to explain. He takes notice of everything. Good, that's true. Well, when you're performing work, is it through you or is it through him? So, I think the notice is that you're growing in him. That's what he's noticing, is that you're drawing towards him and growing in him. That's the notice. And you work hard through that, only through his effort through you.

So, it's a lot of these questions that are somewhat a trick question for a believer and a non-believer. So, in this case... I think you're saying that. Yeah. It certainly doesn't. The Bible doesn't approve of tidalness and saltfulness. And it says we're told to study to show ourselves approvable to the God of work when it needed not to. Yes, excellent.

So, okay, Jeff. When Jesus told the parable of you know, the minas, the tares, whatever, you know, he said, you know, when they when they came back with the double their profits, two of them, one buried him. Yeah, one buried him. But he said, you know, well, good, well done, good and faithful. So I think I think there will be rewards, you know, for our good deeds, good works, whatever. It's just a personal opinion. Alright. Others? Any others? I'm curious on Mike's on this one. I have my answers. I'm curious.

Romans 8.28 says that God works all things together for good to those who love him, to those who are called according to his purpose, and his purpose is to conform us to the image of Christ. So he takes the all things of you, whatever you're doing, and he utilizes them for conformity. So yeah.

He's probably paying more attention than you are. Yeah, I had it that he was paying attention. I said, remember, we're told in verse 17, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Also in verse 23, whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men. I think he takes note of that.

Again, the motivation. Because I think he'll put you in situations that are going to Test your motivation. You know, there's instances, for instance, doing your housework or mowing the lawn, where you're not working for, you know, a master, so to speak, but you still want to do your best. You know, this goes back to the beginning in chapter 3.

This is Monique's poopy diaper. You know, remember that she... What do you mean? Am I thinking about the Lord when I'm changing poopy diapers? What did it say at the beginning in Colossians 3? 1? Or not 1, but it's right at the beginning? Where's our focus supposed to be?

On things above. And then, this fits, that we're doing things, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for man. All our focus is on Him, even in getting her hair done, or a poopy diaper, or lawn mowing, or plumbing, or whatever.

Your focus is still, you know, when you slam your finger with a hammer. I hate this job, I hate what I'm doing. Yeah, I mean, it hurts and all this, but is your focus still, I'm working as unto the Lord. And these challenges, when I hate plumbing projects, I start plumbing projects with a minimum of two hours left to shop for plumbing parts. Because invariably whatever I do, there's one thing that leaks and I need one more part.

But my attitude has got to be as unto the Lord, even in those situations. I'm not getting angry. I'm not getting irate. The Lord knows about this, that there's a drip that I have after I finish my plumbing project. He knows about that. Am I angry about it? Am I frustrated? Or am I doing this as in, Lord, He's in control of all things? Yeah. I think most of us, you know, I've had these times when we just didn't know how we were going to work something out. And these so-called divine coincidences, you know, seem to happen.

Just remember, he's in control of all things. That's where, like I said, that's where you get the peace. No matter what you're going through, he is in control. He never says, oops. Just remember that. And like I said, I was just saying, if you understand he is sovereignly in control and you can't be separated from his love, that's all those other things about the peace, the rest, the joy, all those things we talk about. It's because you know he's in control and he loves you.

And whatever circumstances he's bringing you through, it's to draw him to himself and to manifest his life through you. If you have that perspective, it changes things. notice the works or notice your faith? I believe it's your faith and your motivation. All he's doing is trying to manifest his life through you. I don't think whether you had $500 or $1,000 at the end of it or whatever, I think his purpose is to conform you to the image. That's his purpose.

Back to the rewards question. judgment way more than we even are aware of. He recognizes though that if it isn't Christ doing the work through us, that's the rewardable work. So he's always working to increase our capacity for Christ to live his life through us so he can reward us more. And so there's never a time where he's not on the job, so to everything we do to accomplish his purpose so he can reward us, because he loves us. That doesn't seem fair. It isn't fair. It's not fair, it's all grace.

The answer to your question, there might be in these verses here, Verse 20 says, children obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. So certainly he's observing that. And of course the verse that we're coming up to also says you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. Right, which we'll get to and what that means. And I don't know if that helps or not, but that word for sincerity is really singleness.

Your focus is on the Lord in all that you are in your heart. I think of Joseph, I think of Daniel as examples of that. Under the Old Testament law, yes, but still they were focused on the glory. Yes, and think about Daniel didn't even have the resurrected life of Christ. Oh, yeah. You do. Oh, yeah. Wow, what a difference. You know, I go also, one of mine is always Joseph. Joseph is one of my best, you know.

Did he understand when his brothers were throwing him in the pit going, see ya, buddy. What God was going to use him for, you know, Potiphar's wife and all the different things. Is he going, oh, I know, I got the plan, I understand it, you know. And he's going, what? But he's faithful. He still trusted God. And in the end, he realized where he'd put him in the position. But did he understand when he's thrown in the pit and he's done all that and taken him through all this? That's why I say, when you go through things, God has the eternal perspective on you. We have a very temporal view of ourselves. God has an eternal one. So he's using all these things.

How many times have you done, I went through this, five years later, oh, that's why. To get you to this point. Yes, Donna. So if my conscious thought is, I'm going to do this heartily unto the Lord, am I? Again, the motivation of your heart, it goes to your heart. It seems like it's pretty easy to turn that inward and Make it about me again. If I do this, God's going to smile on me just a little bit more. Or to go through the day thinking, well I just want to do this for the Lord. I think it's when you get the perspective of what we've gone through here, as you focus on the Lord, It's a manifestation.

It's not you're thinking about it all the day. I'm really going to please the Lord today. I'm going to work heartily as I'm... I think that's... It's as you... I wonder if you're even really aware. If your eyes are on the Lord, if you're even aware of... That's it. I think once you start thinking about it. Or, like I said, if I do this, I'm going to be... I'm going to please the Lord today because I'm really good. But that's what we do. Yeah, I know.

No, we don't. Who does that? The old man. The old man. And that's what you recognize. And that's, I think, why he takes you through these things, is to help you identify what's of the old man and what's of the new man. Because if you start doing that, you know, I'm going to please the Lord, you know, I'm going to really do it today because He's going to, I'm going to please Him because I'm going to do this today and He's going to just think a little bit better of me. So Christ's death and placing me in Him wasn't enough. I have to please Him by doing some thing. No. were complete in Him.

So, you know, I went also, you know, back to that sheet that I have, you know, we're talking about the rewards and the Bema Seat. You know, I went through this thing at the beginning in Colossians 1 about all the things we go down to, but what the benefits to us now here, peace, joy, and rest. That's our rewards here today. You forgot the most important one. Intimacy with Christ. Yeah, I mean that's up at the very top of this one, yes.

Yeah, and as you have the intimacy, you don't think about pleasing Him. It's who you are. So you don't think, I'm going to please Him today. No, you just do it because that's... I go back to Christ. Did Christ wake up every morning and go, here's my refrigerator list of what God wants me to do today? and I'm going to accomplish A, B, C, and D. No, it's who he was, or he is. He just did it because that's who he is. It wasn't because he had a list to do. And are we supposed to manifest him? Not a list, it's who we are. I like that verse, having done all to stand. So stand. Yeah, so stand. You know, do all. Yeah.

All right, we ought to move on on some of these so I can try and get through these. So I also have this, what I talked about. What if you have an unreasonable boss? Are we to be submissive to them and still work as unto the Lord? Yes. As long as it's not illegal or against God's law. What if you were a slave and your master was illegal and against God's law?

And if you didn't do it, he was going to take your head off. You had to stand up to your master and say it. Or you were going to get whipped. Or maybe killed. It's a graduation diploma. An unreasonable boss? Are you supposed to rebel? Strike? No, because...

You're not serving that man, you're serving the position that that man is in. And that position was authorized by God. Yeah, you're serving the Lord in this. And he's got you in that, that's what I said. He didn't say, oops. He knows where you're at. He knows what circumstances you're in.

I thought it was interesting, there was actually a verse, 2 Peter 18 and 19. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect. With all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also those who are unreasonable. Wowzer! For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience towards God a person bears up on her sorrows when suffering unjustly.

This kind of gave us an example of saying, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. And the way I had answered one of these questions back here was about being children of the light, and we knew that we once were in darkness. And those people are in darkness regarding some of their actions.

And that's what I say, I think a lot of it is the missionary field we're in. It could be work, how you respond. You know, I don't know, I've said this several times, when I'm out on the druid, very rough crowd, you know, how you respond to their language, what they're doing, and they know. that I don't respond to that. I don't give them a big moral, I just don't respond.

And they know that there's something different about me, which is giving me opportunity. Because, why aren't you joining in with all this crude humor? You know, why aren't you? This is not me. And it's allowed me to talk about the Lord. I don't overtly go after them. They come to me because something's different. And that's where I think as you work as unto the Lord, people will, hey, what's different about you? Hey, well, the difference is, I'm in Christ. Opportunity. You're working as unto the Lord.

Okay, let's try and get a couple more. Okay, question seven. No person becomes obedient by good rules. What is it then produces it? within and our sincere love and appreciation towards them. Christ in us. You know, I'll blow through a bunch. I had a whole bunch of verses here. 2 Corinthians 5 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. You're a new creature. And my favorite.

2 Corinthians 3.18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit." We're being transformed. We are manifesting Him. We're being conformed.

Romans 12.2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Again, 1 Corinthians 2.16, but this one floors me, we have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. Again, so it's by that producing our obedience. It's not good rules.

I also had John 16.13-15.

But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak. And He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All the things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you."

It's the Holy Spirit convicting, convincing, the One who is drawing you in to Christ, into that intimate relationship with Him. Okay? Other thoughts, otherwise I'll quickly get on to eight. What do you think the reward of inheritance will be for the service to the Lord? And it says in this Colossians 3, 24, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. What is that?

Eternal life. Eternal life. Any others? Thoughts? Versus the back that up. 1 Peter 1, 3 through 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away and reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. An inheritance that is imperishable. And then also in Acts 20, 32, Paul speaking, and now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Again, the eternal, our sanctification are being placed into Him.

It's eternal in Him. It's not a thing, it's a who. It's a who, yes. Thank you. And I'm the one who would always talk about intimacy. Thank you. Thank you. Christ is the inheritance. Christ, it's our placement in Him. It's our life in Him. It's a life. It's not a thing. Okay.

I don't know if we're second bell. We'll start next week. I don't know if I'll even get these two. The last two, question 9 and 10, we may touch on them. If not, I really want to go through and I'll read at the beginning of class. We'll go from beginning to end. And just, I encourage you to do that this week yourselves. Start Colossians 1, read through the end. Just sit down and do it in one whole pass and see how this all fits together. So, all right, let's close. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for this time. We thank you again just for who you are. We thank you for that intimacy. We thank you, again, the inheritance we have is not a thing.

It's a person. It is your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who willingly went to the cross and paid the price for all of our sin, and who we've been baptized into his death, burial, and resurrection. We thank you that we've been placed into him, and that is eternal. We thank you that it is a life in him.

And we thank you that you've given us the opportunity to manifest that life here. We thank you for the Holy Spirit who is the one who convinces us and convicts us of these truths and again is the one directing us to you. And we just thank you for your intimate knowledge with each and every one of us. We thank you also just that you're in control and that we can't be separated from your love. what great truths we have that give us that peace, joy, and comfort that only can come from You. So we thank You again for this time in Your Word and we thank You and just pray in Jesus' name. Amen.