On Being Thanksgivers (manuscript)
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Title: On Being Thanksgivers
Text: Colossians 3:15-17
Series: Insider Thankfulness
Introduction:
Illustration: Death apart from the root.
What’s the message?
Be A Thanksgiver!
Why do we need it?
Our thanksgiving is dead because it’s disconnected from the root.
You have to decide whether you will be a thanksgiver that is scriptural or will you simply attempt to live comfortably with a thanksgiving defined by conservative values?
Colossians background:
Prison epistle
Cultic error (Jewish, angel worship, pagan)
Key verse: Colossians 2:6-7.
Through Union with Himself, Jesus Christ has begun a New Creation. Those who have exercised faith in Christ alone are to strive to mature by continuing to rely in Christ alone and refusing to add anything to the object of their faith.
Prop: Be a Thanksgiver!
What kind of Thanksgiver will you be?
(I) Thanksgivers are a Community of Unity Colossians 3:15
“15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
Union is the root. The discipline of thanksgiving is the fruit.
You cannot understand this verse without understanding the doctrine of union with Christ.
John Owen, Union with Christ is the principle and measure of all spiritual enjoyments and expectations [Beeke, A Puritan Theology, p. 483]
Thomas Goodwin, Being in Christ, and united to him, is the fundamental constitution of the Christian.” [Ibid, 483].
Beeke, Union is the basis and great means by which God applies all blessings...”
Doctrine of Union with Christ (Colossians 3:1-4)
Union with Christ is a phrase used to summarize several different relationships between believers and Christ, through which Christians receive every benefit of salvation. These relationships include the fact that we are in Christ, Christ is in us, we are like Christ, and we are with Christ.1
1 Grudem,
This union happens through a call to peace - Colossians 3:15 “15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
This call to peace is two-fold.
First, you were called into this union of peace with God by the Holy Spirit. The possibility of peace is because Jesus has won the war against sin, Satan, and death. Colossians 2:12-15 “12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”
Second, you’ve been called into peace with one another. Colossians 3:15 “15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” Blessed are the peacemakers. Colossians 3:8-9 “8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices”
This second aspect of peace is how oneness is practically accomplished. As we practice peaceful living with one another, we are showing the peace of God that rules our hearts. People who who lack peace in their practices show that they lack peace in their thoughts and affections. When you don’t truly understand the peace of God in your heart, you cannot and will not exercise peace of God towards other brothers and sisters in Christ.
App:
Recap:
(II) Thanksgivers are a Throng of Song Colossians 3:16
“16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Thanksgivers are jointly the blessed habitation of God.
The pronoun you is plural, and this is a common usage in Paul’s epistles. He teaches that the community of believers, the church, is to be the place where the word of Christ is to dwell. By word of Christ, Paul is not merely speaking about the communications of Christ but He intends this to include the presence of Christ. How do I know this? First, when Paul says the same thing to the church at Ephesus, he does not say the word of Christ but the control of the Holy Spirit. Second, when Paul speaks to the church at Corinth, he again uses the plural you to say that they are the Temple of the Holy Ghost.
That is to say that when God’s living Word is dwelling among his people, He is present. This is not in some mystical or magical way, but truly. God’s people are the habitation of God, and we allow God’s presence into this assembly as we allow Christ’s Word to take up residence in our midst. Through preaching, singing, praying, and reading the Word we are hosting the Lord in our midst.
Thanksgivers are jointly the propagators of mutually edifying psalms.
The particular words of Christ that are to dwell in us are psalms as they are being sung in the assembly. While there have been distinction made of the three words used by Paul, Greg Beale (Psalm 65, 76) seems to make a compelling case that these three words were actually used for Psalms from the Old Testament. [Ex: Psalm 131 @ GBC]
Thanksgivers sing psalms in the context of thankfulness.
Illustration: The fish - the water is the thanksgiving or the environment or what is inside and outside the fish.
App:
Recap:
(III) Thanksgivers are a Congregation of Invocation - Colossians 3:17
“17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Thanksgivers live as ambassadors.
Notice the phrase do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. In the Old Testament the name of the Lord was established in a place and among a people, but now the name of the Lord is to be seen in the church. The church is an embassy full of ambassadors who are the body of Christ in the community, but this ambassadorship is to be done while giving thanks to God.
Giving thanks to God should be seen as a kind of invocation or prayer. Why? Notice the phrase through him. The thought here is that Jesus has now opened a means whereby we can bring thanksgiving to God. The implication here is that without Jesus we could NOT even offer thanksgiving to God. This is somewhat perspective shifting because to give thanksgiving is a good thing and seems to be a kind response on the part of the giver, but in this verse we learn that giving thanks is the privilege afforded those who have access through Jesus Christ.
Thanksgivers exercise their thanksgiving privileges together.
This collective thanksgiving is the context here in Colossians. To let others hear your thanksgiving (1) encourages them to do so and (2) confirms that no one is above the kindnesses received in Christ from the Father.
App:
Recap:
Conclusion:
(IV) Response:
How is it that Christ became the one through whom we can now offer thanksgiving?
He was the perfect ThanksGiver [When He fed thousands, when the Father hid spiritual truths from wise and made them known to babes, when the Father heard him at the tomb of Lazarus, and AT THE LAST SUPPER - Matthew 26:27].
Jesus went to the Cross with Thanksgiving on his lips. For what kind of people did Jesus go to the Cross? [II Timothy 3:1-2, Romans 1:21].
True thankfulness is impossible without Jesus Christ.
True thankfulness is a mere sentiment without Jesus Christ.
When you die and spend eternity in Hell, people will not praise you for how good of a thanksgiver you were because in that moment, you will see how hollow your “attitude of gratitude” was.
But for those who have Christ, you are in such a Union with Christ that the discipline of giving thanks to God is a fruit that will continue for all eternity.
Only two kinds of ThanksGivers: one who sees it as a good moral activity, a mere “attitude of gratitude” and the other who is a “Thanksgiver” by union with Christ, whose heart has been transformed and has the discipline of Thanksgiving as a fruit from the root.
Gospelize the community through Thanksgiving. Ask, “Why are you thankful?” “What makes the thanksgiving of a true Christian different from a non-Christian?”
“Is it possible to be truly thankful to the one true God while simultaneously refusing God’s Son?”
Evangelistic Applications:
Discussion Questions:
(1) Read Colossians 3:15. Where is the peace of God to be ruling? Is Paul talking to isolated individuals or the the church in this passage? What does a church who is allowing this kind of peace to rule their hearts look like?
(2) Read Colossians 3:16. What is meant by the word of Christ? Is this just talking about verbal communication? In this verse, what is the specific way that the word of Christ is to dwell among God’s people (i.e. reading, praying, or…etc)? There are different views on what the words psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs mean; but what would be a good way to understand these terms and why?
(3) Read Colossians 3:17. What does it mean that we are to do all in the name of the Lord? Pastor used the word invocation in the sermon. What does this word mean and where do we see this idea in this verse? How are God’s people even able to give thanksgiving to God according to this verse?
(4) Jesus Christ gave thanks multiple times throughout his life. The Bible records several of these instances. When one seemed to be the most shocking time when Jesus gave thanks? See Matthew 26:27.
(5) In your own words, what is the difference between the two kinds of Thanksgiver’s presented in the sermon? How can you use the true thanksgiving as a way to share the gospel with others?
Pastoral Prayer:
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