The Umpire

"And let the peace of God rule in your hears, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
Colossians 3:15-17

Many people come to me seeking my counsel about what the will of God is for their life. And I tell them the same thing. What they have on their hearts must line up with Scripture, and do they have peace about it. The word in v. 15 there is "rule." Let the peace of God rule.... The word for "rule" there means umpire. The peace of God is to be the umpire in your hearts and minds about whether or not something is God's will or not. If you don't have peace about it, then you shouldn't do it. God will give you peace about it if it is from Him. But don't be like some people I know. They want to do something so badly, that they don't have peace about it, but they want to do it so bad that their "want to" supersedes God's peace. So they do it anyway, then have to suppress the guilt that the conviction of the Holy Spirit brings. Let the peace of God umpire in your hearts.

Secondly, Paul writes to us here about letting the Word of Christ dwell in us. At our church, and you can ask anyone who attends, I am forever encouraging people to get into the Word, and to let the Word get into us. The peace of God is an umpire about God's will in your heart, and so is His Word. As we get into the word, and the word gets into us, then the Word will give us wisdom, and teach us, as well as admonish us. And we are to do that for each other, by psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with grace...God's grace, in our hearts. We all need lots of God's grace. We get that from Jesus Christ, and as we grow closer to Him, by spending more time in His Word, and letting His Word dwell in our hearts.

Finally, Paul writes encouragement to us, to let everything that we do, whether it is the words we speak, or the very actions of our lives, whatever we do, we are to do in the name of Jesus Christ. And we are give thanks to God the Father through Him. So beloved, let us live our lives worthy of the walk to which we have been called. Let us let our sound doctrine effect our conduct, so that it is good, and brings glory to God the Father. And let the peace of God be the umpire in our hearts. Amen.