Reading: Sermon by Adrian Rogers "The Tragedy of Sunday Morning Religion"

The Tragedy of Sunday Morning Religion

Adrian Rogers

Scripture: Colossians 3:16-25

Introduction

All right, turn please, if you would, with me tonight, to Colossians, chapter 3. And, I want to

begin reading, for devotion tonight, Colossians 3, beginning in verse 16. And, it speaks of

worship—and that’s what we’ve been doing tonight: “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. And whatsoever ye do in word

or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love

your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things: for this

is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be

discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with

eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; and whatsoever ye do,

do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive

the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ, but he that doeth wrong shall

receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons” (Colossians

3:16–25).

I want to talk to you about the tragedy of Sunday morning religion. Now, this passage of

Scripture that I’ve just read to you talks about praising the Lord, and it talks about our

communal—our common—praise, in verse 16, where it says: “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” (Colossians 3:16). Now,

that’s what we have done as we have worshiped the Lord here on Sunday. But, the real

proof of our worship is not primarily here tonight on Sunday, but it is tomorrow morning. I

want you to notice the bridge that verse 17 makes here: “And whatsoever ye do in word or

deed…” Now, Paul’s been talking about our words up here in verse 16. And now, he begins

to talk about our deeds, in verse 17: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the

name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Colossians 3:17).

Again, I want to say that the curse of 20th-century Christianity is Sunday morning religion.

Somebody wrote these words: “They’re praising God on Sunday; they’ll be all right on

Monday—it’s just a little habit they’ve acquired.” And, people don’t expect us to be any

different, really, on Monday morning. The real proof of what I preach, and the real proof of

what we’ve sung tonight will show up tomorrow morning, when you go to work, when you

go to school, when you do your housework, or during whatever you do—that’s the test of

what we believe. You see, this thing of worship doesn’t stop when we leave church. As I said

last Sunday, which I want to continue to say this Sunday, we don’t come to church to

worship—we’re to bring our worship with us when we come to church. We don’t stop

worship when we leave church—we’re to take our worship with us when we leave church.

Now, let me give you a definition of worship. It’s found here, in verse 17: “And whatsoever

ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the

Father by him” (Colossians 3:17). Here’s a definition of worship: Worship is doing everything

in the name of Jesus, and giving God thanks for it—that’s worship. Worship is doing

everything in the name of Jesus and giving God thanks for it.

So, let’s look at this list here: Verse 18—Wives, tomorrow morning, when you submit to

your husband, you’ll be worshiping the Lord—thank God that you can submit to him.

Husbands, tomorrow, when you love your wives—they are not the bitter half, but the

better half—you will be worshiping God—give God thanks for that. Children, tomorrow

morning, when you obey your parents in all things, and give God thanks for it, you will be

worshiping the Lord. Fathers—verse 21—when you deal with your children with such

understanding and tenderness that you encourage them, rather than discourage them,

you’ll be worshiping the Lord. Employees, when you go to your job tomorrow, and you

work for your boss as if he were Jesus Christ—not being a clock-watcher—then you will be

worshiping the Lord, and give God thanks for it (Colossians 3:18–22).

Notice again, in verse 23: “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto

men” (Colossians 3:23). Now, why do I say that this is worship? Because, worship is the

glorification of God. Now, let me give you another verse here that points out the same

thing—1 Peter 4, verse 11: “That God in all things may be glorified” (1 Peter 4:11). In all

things, God is to be glorified. Don’t get the idea that we’ve just met here tonight to glorify

God, and that, tomorrow morning, you’re going to go out and do something else.

Everything that you do is done to glorify God. And again, let me give you another verse—1

Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 31: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do,

do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Ladies and gentlemen, I have no right to do

anything that doesn’t glorify God. Do you agree with that? Nod your head—”Everything I do

is to glorify God.”

Now, what is worship? It’s glorifying God. Therefore, when you go to work tomorrow and

pick up your tools, you’re worshiping. When you go to the office and sit behind your

typewriter, you’re worshiping. When you’re doing dishes, you’re worshiping. You say, “Now,

give me that again.” All right, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God, right? Whether

you eat or drink. All right, when you sit down to a meal tonight, after the service, or when

you go out and get something to eat, you’re worshiping. You say, “That makes worship

bigger than I thought it was.” I hope it does. I hope that you see that whatever you do, in

word or deed, is worship. Worship is not just what we say—it is what we do. We are to do

all to the glory of God.

I heard of a woman that had this sign put over her kitchen sink: “Divine services held here

three times a day.” While she washed dishes, she was praising the Lord. Well, you

kids—this will be hard to swallow—when you go to school tomorrow, you’re going to be

worshiping the Lord, if you understand about what the Bible is talking. You see, folks, in the

New Testament, there’s a very wonderful principle, and here’s what it is: Not one day out of

seven is a holy day, but all seven are holy days. And, light for us cannot be divided into the

secular and the sacred. It could be so for other people, but not for us. There’s no area of

your life that your faith ought not to reach.

People say, “Well, I don’t believe in mixing politics and religion.” Brother, I do. Somebody

says, “I don’t believe in mixing business and religion.” I do. I believe in putting our faith in

everything we do. And, dear friend, if you cannot do something for the glory of God, then

you have no business doing it. I don’t care what it is. And, if you do something, it should be

done for the glory of God.

Now, as a Christian, I’m talking to you about what you are to do on Monday morning. The

secular becomes sanctified. The everyday becomes edified. And, therefore, God becomes

glorified. To me, as a Christian, there is no ground that is not holy ground and no time that

is not sacred time. One of the greatest pieces of advice that I’ve ever heard—and I don’t

know who first said it, but God has certainly taught this in the Bible, though somebody’s

made a proverb out of it—is this: “In all natural things we’re to be spiritual. And, in all

spiritual things we are to be natural.” Now, you think about that. “In all natural things we’re

to be spiritual.” When you go out tomorrow to pump gasoline or you go out tomorrow to

type a letter—those are natural things—but be spiritual. Bring God into it. Whatever you

do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, and give God thanks for it. But then, in spiritual

things, be natural.

Have you ever seen a person who kind of gets religious when they come to church? That

bothers me; it makes me itch a little bit when people get religious. I mean, they’re normal

people out in the hallway, but all of a sudden they come in, and they begin to speak like

they’ve swallowed a steeple. And, they get this stained-glass appearance on their

eyeballs—all of a sudden they just turn it on. And, while they’re in church, they’re very

religious. And then, they go outside, and they turn it off again.

Sometimes, I’ll be in a service with a brother preacher—I’ll be sitting there with a guy who’s

going to preach and/or make announcements or something. We’ll be sitting up there doing

what preachers ought not to do sometimes—talking in the song service or something. We’ll

be kind of having a good time, and he’ll seem like such a wonderful guy. And then, all of a

sudden, he stands up and says, “Dearly beloved.” I wonder what happened to the guy from

when he was there till he got up here. There’s something that happens—he begins to act

spiritual. Hey folks, that turns people off. Did you know that? Listen, I like a guy who’s the

same in a motel room as he is in a pulpit—I mean, he’s just an ordinary guy. “In all natural

things, be spiritual. And, in all spiritual things, be natural.” Be yourself.

A Christian is naturally supernatural and supernaturally natural. And, every place is holy

ground, and every day is spiritual. Oh, if we could only get our people to see that. If we

could only get them to understand that we don’t just come to church to worship—we bring

our worship with us. We don’t leave our worship at church—we take our worship with us.

Again, look at verse 17: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the

Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Colossians 3:17). Wives, husbands,

children, fathers, servants, employees—whatever you do now, do all in the name of the

Lord Jesus. Let me just wrap this all up by telling you what it means to do something in the

name of the Lord Jesus. Now that’s the key—right here, in verse 17— “Do all in the name of

the Lord Jesus.”

Anything that I do tomorrow, I have to ask it to pass three tests, and all of these have to

deal with the name of the Lord Jesus. And, if it will not pass these three tests, then I cannot

do it. I have no business doing it. It is wrong for me.

I. Test One: Is it Consistent with the Character of Christ?

Number one: is this thing that I’m about to do consistent with the character of Christ? Now,

the word name means, “character,” in the Bible. The name of God and the character of God

are inseparably linked. The name of Jesus has a meaning to it—it speaks of the character of

Jesus. It literally means, “Jehovah saves.” And so, I’m to do something in the name of

Jehovah saves.

Now, that’s very interesting to me, because you see, tomorrow, there’ll be a lot of things

that I can’t find anything in the Bible about which has been written. I can’t find anything in

the Bible, for example, that says, “Thou shalt not drive through a school zone at 110 miles

an hour.” It’s just not in here. I can’t find anything here in the Bible that says, “Thou shalt

not smoke pot.” I don’t find anything in the Bible that says not to go to an X-rated movie.

And, I don’t even find anything in the Bible that says I should not “match for cokes,” or look

at dirty pictures, as such. I can find some principles, but I cannot find those things spelled

out.

Now learn this about the Bible: Christianity is not a rulebook religion; the Bible is not,

primarily, a list of dos and don’ts. The Bible is not a book of minute laws; the Bible is a book

of great principles. Now, the younger that a child is, the more dos and don’ts you have to

give that child. Remember when your children just got old enough to stay home by

themselves, and you and mama went off and left them, but you wondered if you really

should? Remember that being kind of a gray area? Remember when you walked out the

door—what you kept on saying? “Don’t do this.” You know: “Don’t play with matches. Don’t

let strangers into the house. Don’t go off. Don’t…” And you know, you kept saying, “Don’t do

this, do this, and don’t do this,” because you were just not certain that they were mature

enough, so you kept giving them rules. But, as they get older and older, you find out that

the more mature they have become, the less rules you have to give them. And, if they are

mature children, if they are good children, and if they have been observing you, then there

are just certain things that they do and that they don’t do, because they know you, and they

know your character. And, whether or not it had ever come up before, they would say, “You

know, Daddy, I just don’t think you’d want me to do that. That wouldn’t be consistent with

your character.”

Now you see, the word name stands for character. And, all I have to do in anything

tomorrow is just ask myself, “Does this fit with the character of Jesus?” The Bible’s not a

rulebook, and I ’m glad it’s not. If it were a rulebook, you’d have to have a boxcar to

transport it. And, you know, you can find loopholes in rules. Give a guy a lawyer and

enough time and he’ll find a loophole in almost any law or rule; but you can’t find a

loophole in the character of Jesus Christ. And so, you can just say, “I’ll do this in the name of

Jesus.” “To do something in the name of Jesus” means that Jesus would approve of it.

Who is it—Ted Williams—that puts his name, or used to do so, on the baseball bats for

Sears? Is it Ted Williams? All right, you see ole’ Ted Williams name on that bat, so what does

that mean? Ted Williams thinks that it’s a good bat. He’s put his name on it. He approves of

it. You see, name stands for character; it stands for approval. Now, what this literally means

is that, when you do everything in the name of Jesus, don’t do anything to which Jesus

couldn’t sign his name. Don’t do anything to which Jesus could not respond, “This is

consistent with my character—something of which I approve.” That’s a good test, isn’t it?

Everything that we do tomorrow—Lord, could you sign your name to it? All right, so I must

ask myself tomorrow morning—when my Monday morning religion is what I’m about to do,

what I’m endeavoring to do—is this: “Is it consistent with the character of Jesus? Could

Jesus sign his name of approval to this?”

II. Test Two: Can it be Done in the Authority of Christ?

All right, the second question I must ask is, not only, Can it be done with the approval of

Christ? not only, Is it consistent with the character of Christ? but, secondly—Can this thing

be done in the authority of Christ? Because, not only does name stand for character, name

also stands for authority. When a person puts his name on something, he’s actually putting

his authority behind it.

For example, if some stranger were to walk into a store around here, in Memphis,

Tennessee, and say, “I want to buy 50 pizzas for Bellevue Baptist Church,” well, the

person—if he’s behind the counter—would say, “Now who are you?” “Well, I’m so and so.”

“Do you have a purchase order?” “Yes. Here’s a purchase order.” It is signed by Phil

Weatherwax, or Phil Newberry, or something like that—their name is on there. And, their

name says to the person—who is behind the counter or whatever—that there is an

authorization to buy these pizzas.

When I put my name on a check and give that check to you, that means that the teller in

the bank is authorized to take some of my money and give it to the bearer of that check,

because my name is on that check, and that name stands for me. It has my authority

behind it. Now, if I write a bad check, they don’t put the check in jail—they put me in jail.

Okay, because my name on that check stands for me, it stands for my authority. So,

tomorrow, not only am I to do those things that fit in with the character of Jesus Christ, but

tomorrow, when I go out to live, I am to do all that is consistent with His character, and with

His authority. Now, I try to model my life after Jesus—that is, the character of Jesus, for

that’s what name stands for. But, that’s not enough. I need power. I need authority.

Listen—tomorrow morning, you are to live your life in the authority of Jesus Christ. Now,

you wives—submit to your husbands in the authority of Jesus. You husbands—love your

wives with the authority of Jesus. You children—obey your parents in the authority of Jesus.

You employees—when you go to work—do that in the authority of Jesus. School

kids—when you do your homework, do your homework in the authority of Jesus.

Jesus said, in John, chapter 14, verse 14: “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it”

(John 14:14). You see, when you bring His name into it, then He does it. God never expected

you to do anything for Him, but He wants you to do something through Him. You bring His

name into it—you do it in the name of Jesus. Now, you might not be consciously saying, “In

the name of Jesus…” But, before you leave your room tomorrow morning, you are saying,

“Lord, I’m going to live my life in You, and You’re going to live Your life through me. And, if I

do something in Your name, that means that Your power—Your authority—is in my life.”

Every one of us is to live tomorrow authoritatively. We’re to say, “It’s not I who lives, but

Christ who lives in me, because I take the name of Jesus—the authority of Jesus— and

whatever I do, if I do it in the name of Jesus, that Jesus power and that Jesus authority is in

me. And, I keep yielding more and more to him.” E. N. Thomas has a way of saying it, that, “I

just vacate and He occupies, and I vacate and He occupies, and I vacate and He occupies,

and the first thing you know, my life is just one great big vacation, because He has come

into me, and He has begun to live His life through me.” Now, tomorrow, don’t do anything

that Jesus couldn’t sign His name to. And tomorrow, don’t attempt anything in your own

strength, but do it in the name of Jesus—in the authority of Jesus.

III. Test Three: Will What I Do Result in Glory to Jesus?

Now the third thing I want to say before we have our Lord’s Supper—I want to ask this third

question: Will what I do result in glory to Jesus? Because, that’s the third thing that “in the

name” means. “In the name” means, ”for that person’s praise” or “for that person’s glory.”

Let me illustrate what I’m talking about. Awhile back, our Jewish community here wrote me

a letter, and they said to me, “Adrian Rogers, we respect you and love you, and we want

you to know that we have planted a grove of trees in the land of Israel in your name”—“In

your name.” So somewhere—I’ve never seen that grove of trees—but somewhere, if they’re

still living—I hope the things didn’t die—but somewhere, over there in the Holy Land, is a

grove of trees.

Now, when they said, “We did that in your name,” what did they mean? They meant, “We

did that for your honor—for your honor.” In this place, they weren’t saying, “We’re doing it

to be consistent with your character,” or “We’re doing it with your authority,” but they were

saying, “We are doing it for your honor.” And, that’s the third thing—it means to do

something in Jesus’ name. Now, remember we’re to do everything we do in the name of

Jesus. And so, here’s the third test that I can put to anything that I can do—or should do:

Will it bring glory to Jesus? Can I do it in His name so that it will it bring Him glory? Now, if it

brings Him glory, then I can do it. If it doesn’t bring Him glory, then I can’t do it.

Now, again, I want to remind you—we’re not just talking about church work. Look, if you

will, in verses 22, and following: “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the

flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; and

whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:22–23).

Now, suppose you have a job: Suppose you work in an automobile shop and you straighten

bent fenders. Now, the Bible says, in verse 23: “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the

Lord” (Colossians 3:23). Now, you ought to straighten fenders to give Jesus glory, and if you

can’t straighten fenders to give Jesus glory, then you ought not to straighten fenders. If you

cannot be a lawyer or a dentist to give Jesus glory—or a physician, or a businessman—then

you ought not to do it. The Bible says that everything you do, you are to do in the name of

Jesus. Nothing is excluded out of that.

Nothing. That is, everything that I am to do, I am to do with His approval, with His authority,

and for His acclaim. Do you understand that—with His approval, in His authority, and for

His acclaim? It is to bring glory to Him—everything I do. So, therefore, if you have a

secular—a so-called secular job—how should you serve your employer?

Well, look again, if you will, in verse 24 of this same chapter here. It’s so clear: “Knowing

that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ”

(Colossians 3:24). Now, that’s interesting. When you work at a secular job—what the world

calls a secular job—Paul says that you’re serving Jesus. How many businessmen have there

been who have said, “Boy I’d just like to quit this job and serve the Lord”? Friend, you’ve got

a skewed idea of what Christianity is.

You are serving the Lord, on your job, if you do it in the name of Jesus. And, God puts you

right there, and that job that you have is to be your temple of devotion and your lampstand

of witness, and all that you do, you are to do as to the Lord. So, verse 22 says that you are

to work honestly. Look at verse 22: “According…not with eyeservice, as menpleasers”

(Colossians 3:22)—that means that you’re not to be a clock-watcher, just getting by. You are

to serve the Lord heartily. In verse 23: “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily” (Colossians 3:23).

That is, it’s a sin for you not to do your best. The reputation of Jesus is at stake.

Let me say to you something about you kids and your homework. I wish somebody had

told me this when I was in school: You ought to do your homework for Jesus—not for the

teacher, and not even for Mom or Dad. You’ve been witnessing to your teacher. You say,

“Well, my teacher just doesn’t know God. I’ve been witnessing to my teacher.” Well, I’m

going to tell you that you’re going to do a poor job witnessing to your teacher, if you’re not

a good student.

Some of you kids have unsaved parents, and you’re praying for your parents to be saved.

Well, why should your parents believe in your Christianity, if you can’t even keep your room

clean? Or, is that too much conviction? Some of you kids—If you took a vacuum cleaner in

your room, then it would throw up. And yet, you’re praying for Mom and Dad to be saved.

Now, this is really practical, because look—what we do, we’re to do for the glory of God. It is

a sin for a Christian to do less than his best. When we go out to work tomorrow—whether

we’re moms, dads, kids, or employees—we’re to do it honestly, and we’re to do it heartily,

as to the Lord.

Conclusion

What is worship? We’ve had praise worship here tonight, but I want to tell you what else

worship is: Worship is doing everything in the name of Jesus, and giving God thanks for it.

Let’s pray.

Thank you, Lord, for your Word tonight, and, Lord, how it’s convicted me. And Lord, help

me to put this three-fold test to all that I do. And help us, Lord, tomorrow morning, when

we go from this place, that people might see the continuing worship in our lives. For we

pray in Jesus’ name. Amen, amen.