_______________________________________________________________________

As most of you know, I usually play golf on Mondays with a neighboring pastor and, in the past, conversation on those days has often been centered around the rules of golf which are as convoluted and as complex in some areas as the tax code! Because local bragging rights are on the line, we have often had somewhat "lively" discussions about what the rules say can or can't be done in a certain situation, especially when the game is on the line. And because the rules are so difficult and complex, we have not always been able to come to an agreement.

Until now. I found a book in a bookstore that took the zillion complex rules of golf and broke them down into several basic concepts and presented them with pictures and "potato-head style." I am now becoming an expert on the rules of golf. In fact, just the other night, I called my fellow golf partner rather late at night just to read him a rule that if we would have known, would have helped me beat him the week before by even more strokes than I had already! He was "thrilled." I tried to give him a copy of the book, and he wouldn't take it. Was it something that I said?

It is beneficial to have something complex and intricate broken down into simple to understand concepts. How many of you would like the tax code to be as simple as tithing where you just take a percentage of you income and they withhold it and you never have to file or worry about anything? I heard of a guy who one time refused to pay over ten percent of his income to the federal government because he said something like "if ten percent is good enough for Jesus, then it ought to be good enough for Uncle Sam." I haven't heard anymore from that guy in a while. . .

I bring all of this up, because many people view the scriptures in the same way that they view the tax code -- it's a big, thick book with lots of things that you must get absolutely right and it's somewhat hard to read and even more difficult to understand. Sometimes people over exaggerate the difficulty of the scripture. The "hard-to-understand" mentality towards the scriptures is a by-product of people trying to understand it without the Holy Spirit, or listening to ministers who don't have the Holy Spirit, explain it and a lack of time devoted to trying to understand it. If some people would give as much attention to the Word of God as they do to their entertainment, then they would know what it said!

Still, the Bible is a fairly large book with little print, and so it would be nice if you could break it down "potato head" style into a few simple concepts to make it easier to understand and -- more importantly -- to follow. And people have tried to do just that many times. Unfortunately most efforts to sum up the Bible or the most important parts of the Bible result in gross oversimplification to the point that they leave out important parts. When people try to just point to one verse and say "emphasize this over all others" then they tend to overdo the verse and disobey other passages that they are ignoring.

We find that when Jesus was tempted, the devil quoted a scripture to Him and tried to get Him so focused on one verse which said that God would give His angels guard over those that fear Him, and through that the devil tried to get Jesus to throw Himself off of the top of the temple and test God. But Jesus responded by quoting another verse, "thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." The lesson is clear: we cannot cling to one verse so diligently and doggedly that we ignore other passages of what the Word of God has to say on a subject. Only when we take everything that the Word of God has to say on a subject and let our belief be subject to all of them, do we stay balanced and on track living in truth. Had Jesus not known what all of the scriptures had to say on the subject, then He would have allowed the devil to overdo and over apply that one scripture until they acted against the teachings of the Word of God and the verse.

In our long text, Peter was writing about Paul's letters and said this:

The "ignorant" and "unstable" twist the scriptures to their own destruction! "Ignorant" means unlearned or not knowing. They do not balance a verse with other verses on the same subject, and so they "overdo" the scripture and draw meanings and conclusions from it that was never intended by God. Likewise, the term "unstable" refers to something not resting on a solid foundation. Think of a stool with only one leg or two legs. It isn't very stable which is why the Bible says that "in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established." The more verses you can find about a subject, then the better your understanding of that matter will be and the closer to what God intended for it to be that your belief will be. It is dangerous, foolish, and unstable to take one verse of scripture and build a whole belief system on that one verse, if you ignore other verses on the subject or refuse to look at other verses on the subject.

Christianity today is suffering from the "overdoing" of one or two verses of scripture and the ignorance of many others. A convenient example is Matthew 28:19 in which Jesus commanded the disciples to baptize in the "name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Most churches "overdo" that verse and baptize quoting that verse and ignore, oh, Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:1-6, Acts 22:16, Luke 24:47, Colossians 3:17, James 2:7, and many others that show the Apostles only baptized people "in the name of Jesus." And churches today largely ignore Matthew 1:21 which states that the name of the Son is Jesus, and John 5:43 which states that the name of the Father is Jesus, and John 14:26 which indicates that the name of the Holy Spirit it Jesus, and thus all of these scriptures -- Matthew 28:19 included -- do not contradict each other but all point to that one name: the name of Jesus! Their error is that they focused so much on one scripture that they ignored all others and so twisted that scripture to their destruction.

Let me quickly give you another verse of scripture that is overdone at the expense of ignoring many other scriptures. Try Romans 10:9 with Romans 10:13, which state:

Our church believes this scripture. Confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing the resurrection is absolutely necessary to be saved. Calling on the name of the Lord is also absolutely necessary. But we do not focus on this one scripture to the point that we ignore other scriptures which instruct on salvation. What most churches do is quote this verse and then shut down the search engine and don't want to read about any other verses. This scripture is true, but only when acted upon in obedience with other scriptures about salvation such as:

Hmmm . . . maybe Peter did know what he was talking about when he preached:

Peter was just repeating what Jesus had already preached to Him! And here's some other scriptures about salvation:

Do you understand how foolish it is that some preachers preach only Romans 10:9 and ignore a hundred other scriptures? If you want to be saved, then you must do all that was commanded of you for salvation! Not just one of the many things commanded! It is somewhat dangerous and unbalanced to harp on one verse of scripture if doing so ignores the clear teaching of many!

______________________________________________________________________

And so the question that arose in my mind in studying all of this was "Is there a verse or concept in the Bible that is so clearly supported by hundreds of other scriptures that it would be impossible to over emphasize and overdo?" "Is there a verse in scripture that could be a guideline verse which is so supported by scripture in every application that we would do well to become extremely zealous in every possible way to obey?"

I think that there is such a verse in scripture. I believe that our text was the "verse that cannot be overdone." It is a verse that you can apply every possible way and apply every possible angle to and rather than getting you off course from the rest of the scriptures, it will keep you within the teachings of the other scriptures! Here's the verse to which I refer in several different translations:

This is the verse that cannot be overdone! No matter how you apply it, it always complements and helps you obey all other scripture. That phrase "in the name of the Lord Jesus" implies much and in a very short concise way gives you large amounts of information. For the remainder of this sermon let me show you what obeying this simple verse fully means by stating that we should do and speak "all in the name of the Lord Jesus." To say and do in the name of the Lord Jesus means:

"Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." That term "Lord" indicates ruler and a higher authority. To do something in the name of a king or a higher authority means that you have been sent by his power to do only what He has commanded. So one facet of what this scripture is saying is "to obey all of the Word of God." You cannot disobey the Word of God and still be doing "all in the name of the Lord Jesus." You cannot ignore one command and still be under His authority. Jesus commissioned His disciples to go forth "in His name" doing whatsoever I have commanded you." We would be wise to remember that we only do all things in His name to the extent that we obey."

It would be good for all of us to grab hold of this facet of this verse and apply it to our everyday lives. It would be good for us to have the attitude that "I cannot do that because my kingly commission forbids me to go there." I am living faithful to the authority and commandment of my King and master and doing everything by that authority. Most Christians have heard enough preaching to save the world, if all of them would simply live what they already know, most of them would be much closer to Christ than they currently are!

But we must move on, because to "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus" also instructs us:

This is so simple that a child could understand. Jesus is the one who died for you to purchase your salvation. Only His work can save you, therefore salvation is done only through "His name." That's why Peter told the Jewish authorities when they commanded the disciples to stop preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus:

There is no other name that saves you, but Jesus. Now let's think through what all that means. That means that if we must have faith in someone for salvation, then we must have faith in Jesus. That means that if we must confess a name for salvation, then we must confess the name of Jesus. That means that if we must repent for salvation, then we must repent to Jesus. That means that if we must be baptized to be saved, then we should be baptized in the name of Jesus. That means that if we must receive the Spirit of God in our life to belong to Him, then we must be receiving the spirit of Jesus, and it must come when we yield completely to Jesus! That means that if we must walk uprightly to be saved, then we must walk as Jesus walked. That means if we must endure to the end to be saved, then we will make it to the end only by continuing and following and trusting in the name of Jesus! When it comes to salvation, then everything better be centered around the name of Jesus, because He is the only savior of the world and only through His name can we be saved!

Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. That also means that we are:

The last part of the verse says that when we do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, then we are "giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." Let me have a little fun and read you a few scriptures from the book of John. Just listen:

What all of these scriptures work together to teach us is that we only know the Father to the extent that we know Jesus. And furthermore, to the extent we see, know, honor, believe, and receive Jesus, is the extent to which we see, know, honor, believe, and receive God. And so you only have as much revelation of God as you do of Jesus.

Now you and I in this church know why this is so, because Jesus is the Father incarnate -- come in flesh! We know that Jesus is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and any other title of God that you want to throw out there. But what about those who don't have such a revelation? Obviously their closeness to God and revelation of God is defined and determined by their closeness and revelation of Jesus Christ or should I say their lack thereof. What that means is that there is a bunch of people in the world who are a lot further from God than they think they are. Jesus said this -- a scripture not preached on much in many churches:

The "He" is added by the translators and not in the original Greek text. What Jesus was saying was in effect "unless you believe that I am" you will die in your sins. "I am" was the name of Jehovah God of the Old Testament. Jehovah means "He is" and when God used His own name referring to Himself, He said "I am." According to Jesus, believing that He is Jehovah God, the I am, is necessary for salvation. Why? Because since Jesus "is the image of the invisible God," and since:

"He has declared Him" or as another translation says "He has made Him known." Jesus Christ is the revelation of God to man. If you do not fully understand and grasp who Jesus is, then you do not fully understand grasp the revelation that God has intended for you to have of Him! Therefore we must do everything in light of the truth of the mighty God in Christ. History declares to us that when any plurality in the Godhead is introduced, then the end result is polytheism of a growing number. Furthermore if "all of the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily" (Colossians 2:9) and if He is the head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:10) and if the name of Jesus is "higher than any other name, either in heaven or in earth" (Philippians 2:8-10), then it is impossible to over-exalt Jesus and impossible to lift Him too high and glorify Him too much!

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, also teaches us:

To act and speak in the "name of the Lord" is to do what Jesus would do in your situation. Act only what He would do. Speak only what He would speak. If Jesus would not have told that joke, then don't tell it. If Jesus would not have entered that place, then don't go there. If Jesus would not have partaken of that, then don't do it.

You can see how your revelation of who Jesus is affects everything else about your belief system. Because if you know that Jesus is God and in within Him was no sin, then you can understand what it means to when John wrote that we "ought to walk as Jesus walked." If you deny the deity of Christ and believe that He was just a man, then you are going to walk differently than the believer who knows who He really is!

Whatever you say or do, do it in the name of Jesus. Would Jesus respond like that? Would Jesus act like that? Would Jesus forgive them? Would Jesus be patient? Would Jesus turn the other cheek? Would Jesus reach out in mercy? Would Jesus be faithful to such a thing? Then you go and do likewise. Do it all in His name; do it all with His example in mind.

Furthermore our text that cannot be overdone also means:

The power of Jesus' name is that it calls His presence to manifest itself to us. We are commanded to preach and teach in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:17-18, 5:28) and that means to preach and teach expecting Jesus to show up and show out! We are commanded to pray in the name of Jesus and that means that we expect Him show up and cause something to happen! To preach or to pray in the name of Jesus is not a magic formula that we wave over a sermon, but more of something that you do. I've heard preachers end a sermon by saying "in the name of Jesus" and it was obvious from their sermon they did not expect Him to really do anything in anyone's life. They repeated a phrase, but they did not preach "in the name of Jesus." Likewise, I've heard people end a prayer "in the name of Jesus" and it was obvious that they were just repeating something that they thought they ought to do and were not really "praying in the name of Jesus." Because if you truly pray "in the name of Jesus" then you prayed believing and expecting that Jesus was going to show up and do something!

There is a difference between repeating the phrase "in the name of Jesus" and actually doing or saying something in the name of Jesus. Because if you really do or say something in the name of Jesus, then you expect Him to show up. Jesus said:

Most Christian churches may say that they are meeting "in the name of Jesus" but only the ones where His Spirit shows up and ministers really met "in the name of Jesus" because Jesus said that He would be among those who met in His name. What I'm trying to get across to you is that "Jesus" is not a magic word like abracadabra or presto or something. It's power only lies in the faith in whom it represents. And your faith in who it represents will only be as large as your revelation of who it represents. All of these points work together and complement each other. Let me read you another scripture:

How many have ever asked something and you did not receive it even though you said "in Jesus name?" There are several reasons for why you didn't get what you asked for: One is that we rip out this scripture from the context of the next scripture which says something like "if you love me you will keep my commandments" and some people's disobedience keeps them from receiving all that they need from God. Another is that saying the name of Jesus means nothing unless you truly believe and expect Him to show up and do the work! It's not just a magical phrase! But you must have faith that He can and will do it! And this works with another point that you can only believe to receive from God, to the extent that you know Him in revelation and many people pray "in Jesus' name" with a very limited revelation of who He is. And a final thought is that we must remember that if we are truly praying "in the name of Jesus" then we are saying "as my master and Lord would want." And so we are as James commanded, praying according to His will in our lives and it could be that what we asked was not the will of our master for us to receive -- like when you prayed for a new jaguar sports car-- or else God's timing is different than ours. We must pray "in the name of Jesus!"

But let me also say this: if it is a promise in the Word of God that you prayed for and did not receive, then the issue is not God but your unbelief and doubt and lack of expectancy that God would show up and do what He had said. According to Mark 16:17-18, we cast out devils, speak in tongues, receive supernatural power and protection, and pray for the sick all "in the name of Jesus." But only we only truly pray "in the name of Jesus" when we truly expect Him to show up and show out!

And to do all in the name of Jesus means:

I will not spend a lot of time on this, but just suffice it to say ask yourself "does this glorify God and lift Him up, or hurt Him and destroy His witness in me?" Paul said this:

Ask yourself "does me partaking of this bring glory to God?" "Can I honestly do this in His name and for His glory?" If the answer is no, the don't do it. Does this movie give glory or shame to Jesus? Does this book please Him or go against His principles? Does this place or action or habit bring glory or reproach to the name of Christ? "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God!"

_______________________________________________________________________

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. And I close this message by pointing out that some people disobey the commandment of this verse in two other ways:

"I don't care what the Bible says, preacher, so and so said that this was okay." Or "I'm going to believe as this other person believes because I like them or they tell me what I want to hear." And so rather than doing as the Lord Jesus had commanded, they act and say in another's name. And most frequently that other name is their own. "I'm going to do what I'm going to do and ain't no God or book or preacher or church going to tell me how to live." Such people are living in their own name. But we are to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus!

And, sadly, some people violate this commandment simply because:

To do everything in word or deed in the name of Jesus, means that you must speak for Him and act for Him. And too many Christians do initial salvation in His name and then proceed to do nothing else! To fully obey the Word of God, you are going to have to act and get off the seat of complacency and off of the pew of "do nothing."

_______________________________________________________________________

It's the verse that cannot be overdone. It's the simplest way to express what living for God is all about. It's the shortest way to represent the commandments of thousands of scriptures in perfect harmony with each other. Such a verse is valuable; such a verse ought to become our life theme. And so I repeat it once more:

Let's do more than just hear it preached, but let's do what this verse has commanded -- and let's obey it in the name of the Lord Jesus by asking Him to help us. We are about to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus to help us do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus! It truly is the verse that cannot be overdone or over obeyed! Whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus!