This past Sunday I had the opportunity to fill in for a pastor friend of mine who was feeling under the weather. I was happy to help. This Pastor and his wife have done so much for me and my family.
Outside of giving the message, I was unsure how much of the service I would be involved in until I arrived at the church. Upon my arrival I discovered I would be giving the majority of the service. I felt confident the Spirit would guide me through.
I was to give the opening prayer, the statement before and after the offering, the Pastoral prayer, Scripture lesson, the sermon and close with the benediction.
Everything went well until I came to the benediction. In the past I have paraphrased a verse from Colossians (3:15-17). I would say, “May the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which you were called and be thankful. May the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, and whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.”
I have repeated this verse 100’s of times in prayer and thought nothing of it as I began to close the service. I began, “May the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which you were called and be thankful. May the Word of Christ dwell in you richly and then I drew a blank. I could not remember what was next.
After a short pause I continued, “In Jesus name. Amen”. As soon as I jumped in the car to go home I was immediately able to recall the verse. My enthusiasm was dampened a little by the miscue until I thought about it for awhile.
I came to realize the benediction could not have ended with three more appropriate words than “In Jesus name.” After all, when we go to meet our maker He will look at the deeds we did here on earth. The only deeds that matter are those we did ‘in Jesus name’.