To the half-hearted by unknown (part 1)
Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord [Col 3:23]
A command to slaves - I want you to note how our text is introduced; it has a very suggestive and illuminating context. "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh," that is verse twenty-two; and then, "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord," that is verse twenty-three. Now the servants of whom Paul speaks in verse twenty-two are not domestic servants in our sense. They were slaves, bought for a little money; the property and the chattels of their masters. Yet even to slaves who got no wages and who had no rights, clear and imperious comes the command of God, "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily".
Now I think that is very suggestive for today. I can hardly talk to a master-painter or a master-baker, but I hear complaints about the degeneracy of labour. Men and not faithful,they have to be watched like children; the loyal service of an older day is dead. So say the masters; and on the other hand the men say that had they a more direct interest in their work and a more immediate concern it its prosperity, they would throw themselves into it with double zeal. Now all that may be true. But the point is that if the Bible holds and if this text be really the Word of God, nothing on earth, not even the worst relationship of capital and labour, can ever excuse half-hearted work. Your hours are long? - so were those of the Colossians slaves. Your pay is poor? - the Colossian slave had none. Your mistress is tyrannical and mean? - but the Colossians mistress lashed her servants. Yet whatsoever ye do,ye slaves, cries Paul, do it all heartily as to the Lord.
Paul practiced what he preached - I want you to note, too, that this text was never better illustrated than in the life of the man who was inspired to pen it. There was an enthusiasm and a concentration about Paul which have won the admiration of men of all time. "One thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind, I press towards the mark," says the apostle; and whatsoever he did, he did it heartily as unto the Lord who loved him so. It is so easy to preach and never intend to practice. It is so hard to practice first and then to preach. It gives a wonderful power to our text and charges its mandate with redoubled urgency when we remember who the writer was. Men have brought many charges against Paul, but I don't think his bitterest enemy has ever charged him with half-heartedness. There is a glow and fervour in the man that marks in an instant the divine enthusiast. Others might waver, Paul battled to his goal. Others might yield, Paul was invincible. And had you seen him working at his tent making in the late night when the city was asleep, you would have found him plying the tent maker's needle and singing, I doubt not, as in the prison in Philippi, with the heartiness and zeal that filled his preaching of Christ crucified.
Faithful work is enthusiastic but not necessarily noisy - It is then of this whole-heartedness, of this fine concentration or enthusiasm, that I want to speak. And I should like to say by way of caution, that true enthusiasm is not a noisy thing. Whenever we think of an enthusiastic crowd, we think of uproar, tumult, wild excitement. And I grant you that in the life of congregated thousands, touched into unity by some great emotion, there seems to be some call for loud expression. But just as there is a sorrow that lies too deep for tears, there is an enthusiasm far too deep for words; and the intense purpose of the whole-hearted man is never noisy. When the children of Israel defeated by the Philistines, sent for the ark of God into the camp, do you remember how,when the ark appeared they shouted till the earth rang and rent? Yet in spite of the effervescence of emotion, they were defeated and the ark of God was captured. But Jesus in the enthusiasm of His kingly heart, set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem; and yet He would not strive nor cry nor lift up His voice in the streets. The noisiest are generally shallow. There is a certain silence, as of an under current, wherever a man is working heartily.
Prune thou thy words, thy thoughts control
that o'er thee swell and throng;
They shall condense within thy soul
And change to purpose strong.
