Not long ago I wrote an article for my website about praying in Jesus’ name (you can read it here if you like). The starting point of that article was that speaking, or praying, in somebody else’s name means speaking or praying as their representative, with their authority. It’s saying to the Father, “Jesus wants me to ask you this.”
That’s a powerful privilege. But it’s also a serious responsibility because, whenever I claim to be praying in Jesus’ name, I need to be praying for the things I know he wants, even if that’s different from the list of things I want.
It’s with this background that I read in Colossians:
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17).
Jesus gave his disciples the authority to represent him before the Father in prayer; to pray in his name (John 16:23-24). But Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, expands on that, telling the church in Colossae (and, by implication, us as well), to do everything in the name of Jesus. We are not just supposed to pray as Jesus’ agents before the Father, but also speak and act as his agents in the world.
Nor was this just said to the Colossians. To the Corinthian church Paul wrote:
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
Because Jesus died in my place, so that I might live forever as a son of God, I no longer represent myself. Instead, I represent Jesus. I’m his agent. That’s big. It’s also scary. And convicting.
I have the authority to say to people, “whatever you see me doing, whatever you hear me say, count it as if Jesus did it and said it.” More than that, I should be doing that because, whether I like it or not, I’m already showing people who Jesus is, not just when I want to, but all the time. The only question is, am I giving them a true picture or a false one?
This passage isn’t intended to make us feel guilty, however, but to encourage us to live up to the trust Jesus has in us. To act like what he says we are; his agents, acting in his name. And the first step toward acting like an agent of Christ is to recognize that I am one.
So what does acting like an agent of Christ look like? It looks like love. In Philippians 2:20-21 Paul writes regarding Timothy, “I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.”
He makes a clear contrast here between Timothy, who Paul says “will show genuine concern” for the welfare of the Philippians, and everyone else, who were only concerned with themselves. That is, they were not acting like Jesus’ agents. Timothy was motivated by love for his brothers and sisters. The others were motivated by selfishness. It’s that simple. It’s not a matter of being a super-saint, but simply of obeying what Christ commanded to all believers. Acting as an agent of Christ means acting in love, and especially love for other Christians, because if we don’t love the members of our own family, who will believe that we love those who are outside of it? As Jesus himself said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).