“We Always Thank God”
[Colossians 1:3-14 ]
November 15, 2009
Paul opens his letter to the Christians at Colossae by telling them, “we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.” Do you find that true of yourself? Do you find yourself always giving thanks to God for the people of this church? This morning as we celebrate Thanksgiving Sunday, I would like us to look at Paul’s thanks for the Colossians and have us find four reasons we ought to be giving thanks for each other in prayer and three things that we ought to be praying for each other.
Paul begins by telling the Colossian Christians that they always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for them because they have faith in Jesus Christ. Why would Paul do that? For two reasons – because faith in Jesus Christ comes from God and because we, like the angels, ought to rejoice in the salvation of a brother of a sister.
Paul tells us in that well-known passage, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV). Anyone who believes in Jesus – anyone who has faith in Jesus – was given that faith and belief by God. It was a gift of God, not something that they – or you or I – could come up with ourselves. So, we ought to give thanks for that gift of faith, not just for ourselves, but for all those who believe – even those in this church.
And Jesus reminds us, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7, ESV). We ought to rejoice and give thanks when a person comes to faith in Christ, and, therefore, we ought to rejoice and give thanks for a person who is a Christian.
That leads to the second reason Paul and his companions always give thanks to God for them: the Christians at Colossae had “love for all of the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.” They loved their fellow Christians. Because a person was a Christian, they had love for them. Because we have the same One Savior and the same One Hope in Him for our salvation and our future, they loved them. And we ought to love one another in Christ and give thanks for each other in love as Christians.
Now, I understand that not everyone is the same. Some people “get along” with each other better than other people. Some people we really like, and some people we don’t particularly care for. That is ok. We don’t have to want to spend every hour of our lives with every single person in the Church – in fact, it would be impossible to do so. But we must all love each other – and as we saw last week, love involves action.
As we’ve seen when we have looked at the command to love our neighbor as ourselves, which is the broader idea, when we love our fellow Christians, we are to do everything within our power to make their lives better. That mean that we don’t sin against them. We don’t do things that will hinder them in doing God’s Will. It may mean, if it’s a person we don’t care for, that we stay out of their way.
There are pastors in Classis that I don’t particularly care for as people, and there are pastors in Classis that don’t particularly care for me, but we love each other in Christ – as fellow Christians, and we are civil towards each other and work for the good together, but we don’t go out of our way to be together otherwise. That’s ok. We don’t have to be best friends with every Christian. But we do have to love them and thank God for them. Each one is a person for whom Christ died. For that reason, we are obliged to love them and thank God for them. And for most people that will not be an issue.
Third, Paul and his companions always gave thanks to God for the Colossian Christians because they were bearing fruit. They were living out the Gospel. They were doing the good works that they were called to do in Christ Jesus. People knew that they were Christians and the things they did – the good they did – was done and done in a way that people knew they were Christians. They did good work – honest work – they were fair and didn’t cheat.
The Colossian Christians were known to have the fruit of the Spirit “... love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Galatians 5:22b-23a, ESV). Their character was different from the people around them, which showed that they were Jesus’.
Do you work as for God and not merely for men? Do you do the best work you can possibly do and do it in a way that shows the character of Jesus in you? Do we show those we interact with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. And do we thank God when we see these things in our brothers and sisters? We should always be thankful to God when we see such fruit in our fellow Christians.
And fourth, Paul and his companions always gave thanks to God because the Colossians were growing. They were maturing. They were becoming more Christ-like. They were sinning less and living in the way that they had been called to live in Christ all the more. When we notice that someone has matured in the faith, we ought to always give thanks to God.
That is why they always gave thanks to God for them: because of their faith in Christ Jesus, because of their love for all Christians, because they were bearing fruit, and because they were growing. Can the same be said about you and me? I hope so. We ought to have faith in Jesus Christ (and so we are Christians). We ought to love our fellow Christians. We ought to be bearing fruit. And we ought to be growing. And we ought to be thanking God always as we see these things in others.
What, specifically, was Paul praying for these Christians, and what ought we to be praying for each other and all Christians?
First, Paul said that they pray for the Colossian Christians to be “filled with the knowledge of [God’s] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
How do we know God’s Will? There are mountains of books on how to determine God’s Will – most of them bad – but we only need one book to determine God’s Will – the Bible. In Paul’s day, they had the scrolls being passed from church to church and copied down, but we now have easy access to everything God has said.
“But the Bible doesn’t tell me who to marry or what job I should pursue,” some will argue.
That’s true: there are lots of things the Bible doesn’t tell us – what shampoo to use, what car to buy, which church to attend, what color clothes look best on us – don’t misunderstand, God does know everything and all that He wants for us, but God has given us what is contained in His Word, with enough commands and principles that we should get along fine if we follow them in spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Where do we get spiritual wisdom and understanding of God’s Word? From God the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26, ESV).
But again, understand, the Holy Spirit will not bring to remembrance things that you have never heard or read. If you never read the Bible, you won’t have anything for the Holy Spirit to bring to your memory. Likewise, the Holy Spirit will not give you wisdom and understanding of God’s Word if you never read it. When we read the Bible, it sinks into our hearts and minds and the Holy Spirit will help us to understand to us remember it and to apply it with spiritual wisdom.
So, I would ask that you would pray for me – that I would keep reading the Bible – every day. And I would ask that you would pray that the Holy Spirit would help me to understand with spiritual wisdom so I can better serve as your pastor. I make a point of getting up, taking my medications, and then reading my Bible. Please pray that I would keep doing that. There are mornings that I am running late and think about putting it off, but I need to get up and read first, as my priority for my soul and for my service
And so do we all. Let us all pray for each other that we would keep in the Bible, reading every day, so we would better know our God and Savior and what He wants us to know and be and do.
Second, Paul tells them that they are praying that they would then “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
The Bible tells us everything we need to know for life and salvation, and as we read it, the Holy Spirit helps us to understand it and remember it and practically apply it, and this is Paul’s second prayer – for them and for us – that they and we actually live out what God has said in His Word. As we have seen – even last week – it is not enough to know what the Bible says. It’s not enough to know what God has said to do and be. We have to also live it out. We have to do and be what and who God has called us to be – through Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit – and when we do that, we will bear fruit – people will be able to see that what we are doing is for God and according to His Will and Ways.
And again, I would ask you to pray for me – that I would conscientiously and systematically put into practice all those things I learn from the Scripture. I want to know God better, and I want to be more and more obedient, having greater joy, and, accordingly, become more holy – until that final day when I am fully changed into the Image of the Son – fully glorified with Him forever.
And we should pray that for each other. If we are truly Christians, we should want to live out everything we come to know about God and His Will for us. So, let us pray that we will learn more of Who God is and what He would have for us, and that through the grace and power that He gives us through the reading and preaching of His Word and through the sacraments, we all will be able to live fruitful and pleasing lives before God, increasing in the knowledge of Him.
And third, Paul tells the Colossian Christians that they were praying that they would be “strengthened according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father.”
Similarly, Paul wrote, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19, ESV).
God desires that we be filled with Him, strengthened by His Grace through the sacraments and the reading and preaching of His Word, that we might accomplish what He has planned for us. As Paul wrote, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV).
With God, we can endure whatever happens and persevere until the end of this race called life. Through Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can do all that He puts before us, if we trust Him, if we follow Him. And as we rely on Him, we will find we are more patient – with each other – with all people, and we will be filled with the joy that cannot be comprehended by the non-Christian, and we will become a people of thanks, especially of the salvation that we have been given.
Would you pray for me, that I would be strengthened for the work God has given me in this place? That I would follow Him and receive grace from Him here and in other places that I go to worship? That I would become a more patient pastor – trusting all the more on God and His Will rather than merely what my eyes see? That I would be evermore filled with the joy of Christ and never come short of reasons to be thankful to God?
Let us pray these things for each other. We are a church, part of the Body of Christ – a Body that is designed to work together for the glory of our Triune God. Let us all submit ourselves to Him, relying on His strength that we might all endure in patience with joy and have reason after reason to give thanks to our God and Savior.
Do you find yourself always giving thanks to God for the people of this church? May it be so for every one of us, because every Christian in this sanctuary has been saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Every Christian in this sanctuary shows loves to their fellow Christians. Every Christian in this sanctuary is bearing fruit and growing.
But let us not be content: not one of us is perfect. We are still flawed, still sinners, still in need of growing up and mature in the faith. So, let us pray that we all would spend daily time in God’s Word to know Him and His Will, being guided by the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. Let us pray that we would each become doers of the Word and not just hearers – let us live out what we learn in the Scripture. And let us pray that we would each be strengthened through the means that God has given us that we might endure, and become patient, and be filled with joy and thanksgiving.
We above all people have a Reason to be thankful.
Let us pray:
Almighty God and Savior, Jesus Christ the Son, and Holy Spirit, we come before the One God to lift up our voices in thanksgiving, because You have chosen to save us for Yourself by Yourself and for Your Own Reasons – may your receive all the glory. Help us to be thankful and prayerful according to the example of Paul and all of your Scripture, and may the Holy Spirit reminds us and instruct us in all these things that we would have Your Joy. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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