OUR COMMUNION OF THANKSGIVING
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 19, 2023 under 2023 |
Bethany Bible Church Thanksgiving Sunday Sermon Message, November 19, 2023 from Colossians 3:15-17
Theme: Our thanksgiving in Christ is to show itself in our church life together.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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The theme of Thanksgiving has been on my mind a lot lately.
I don’t mean just the holiday, though—although that’s been on my mind a lot too. Rather, I mean the whole practice of thanksgiving itself. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about the value of a continual, truly ‘thankful’ attitude in my daily walk with the Lord Jesus.
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I’ve been thinking about it because of something that happened a few weeks ago. Marilyn and I went up to Bellingham, Washington, to meet with some dear friends from my old church youth group. It was a great reunion time. And just like we all used to do as young people, we all sat around in a circle and talked about the Lord.
In the course of our time together, one of the members of our group brought up a great question. She directed this question to the two pastors in the group—myself and another dear brother. She explained that, earlier that day—as she was getting ready for the day—she was enjoying the luxury of ‘hot water’. She thought about how wonderful it was to have clean, hot water any time she wanted it. But she said that, as she was enjoying it, she began to think of all the people in the world who don’t have that luxury. It made her feel a little guilty that she was enjoying it so much … while others could not. “So, what should I do?” she asked. “How should I respond to the fact that I can enjoy something like ‘clean hot water’ while other people cannot?”
It was a great question. It was also a tough one. I politely tried to defer the question to the other pastor; and he kept politely deferring it back. And so, we both ended up doing the best we could. I said that, when we are given something like ‘clean hot water’ to enjoy—so long as it wasn’t something that we’d taken from someone else in order to have it for ourselves—then we should indeed count it a gracious blessing from God and thank Him for it. I suggested that we would dishonor His goodness to us if we didn’t acknowledge Him and thank Him. And then, the other pastor wisely added that, while we thank God for such blessings, we should also remember the story of ‘the Good Samaritan’, love our neighbor as ourselves, and—if we are able—make it possible for someone else to enjoy the blessing from God that we ourselves have been given. It seemed to me that the two answers fit together very well … and everyone else seemed to nod in agreement.
I have been thinking of that whole discussion ever since … and especially in the light of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. And my response has been to consciously and sincerely thank God more and more for the simple, everyday blessings He has given me personally. I’m certainly not worthy of any of those blessings from Him. But I’m truly very grateful for them. And I suspect that He is more inclined to pour such blessings upon people who acknowledge Him and thank Him for them than upon those who ignore Him and withhold the thanks that He is due. And what’s more, I believe that He is very pleased when—in an attitude of genuine, humble thanks—we share those blessings with others and spread the thanks even further.
All of this has led me to the third chapter of the New Testament book of Colossians.
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‘Thanksgiving’ is a significant theme in the letter to the Colossians. It’s a letter that Paul wrote—along with his ministry partner Timothy—about the wonderful, glorious sufficiency of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. It’s a letter that teaches us to glorify and worship Him together as His redeemed people. And so, it would make sense that ‘thanksgiving’ would be a predominant theme within this letter.
There are, in fact, seven specific references to thanksgiving in this little letter. For example, Paul and Timothy began the letter with this greeting:
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you (Colossians 1:3).
Paul had never met the Christians who received this letter. But he and Timothy nevertheless rejoiced in the news they had heard of their faith in Jesus. They were thankful for what God had done for those believers. As it says in verse 12, they were all
giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light (1:12).
Paul rejoiced—along with those believers—in the sufficiency of Jesus as our Savior. As this letter affirms, we need nothing else but faith in Jesus. But part of Paul’s motive in writing to them was to protect their precious faith. False teachers were trying to turn them to other things than to Jesus. And so, in 2:7, he urged them to stay true to Jesus and walk faithfully in Him;
rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving (2:7).
One great way for the people of God to affirm the sufficiency of Jesus—and not be taken in by false doctrine—is to make sure that they thank Him together for what He has done for them. And so; near the end of the letter—in 4:2—he urged them;
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving (4:2).
And this brings us to the passage I would like for us to consider this morning. It’s in 3:15-17; and in it, we find three more references to thanksgiving. Those three references concern our life together as brothers and sisters through faith in Jesus; and how we are united together in a bond of love as the church—the body of Christ. Paul wrote;
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace [or as it is in some translations, 'with thanksgiving'] in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (3:15-17).
This is a passage about being all together in one church as the body of Christ. We all together celebrate our salvation in Jesus—through faith in His blood; and we all together strive to maintain our trust in Him as our all-sufficient Redeemer, Master, and Friend. And, as one of the things that we’re to do together, we’re taught to keep ‘thanksgiving’ as a major characteristic of our life together.
You know, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; church is really the very best place on earth to grow in an attitude of thanksgiving. Everywhere we look right now, of course, we see reminders of the holiday. The stores are all gearing up for the food shopping that will occur this coming week. And many people are thinking about things that they’re thankful for. But it isn’t always a ‘thanks’ that’s directed intentionally to God our Provider. The church family, however, is the greatest place in which to grow in and celebrate an attitude of genuine thanksgiving; because we truly have the greatest reason together for thanks to God. God has saved us through Jesus! Our Savior Jesus abides in our midst. The Holy Spirit indwells us, and empowers us, and reminds us—through the Scriptures—of all that God our Father has in store for us. We see our Father’s gracious provision for us every day; and we rejoice in His many answers to our prayers.
The church family truly is the very best place of all in which to grow in a spirit of true thanksgiving. And these three verses in particular—with three specific references to thanksgiving in the context of the body of Christ—help to remind us of this fact.
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Now; if we were to look backward just a little—to the verses that precede these three—we’d discover a very important spiritual reality about thanksgiving. We’d discover that active and deliberate ‘thankfulness’ was intended by God to be a key aspect of our new life in Christ. Our ongoing thankfulness is to be evidence that we have been redeemed by faith in Jesus.
Paul talked, at the beginning of Chapter 3, about how—by faith—we have died on the cross with Jesus to the old habits and sinful patterns of our former life. We’re now to consider ourselves to have been raised with Him to new life … and so, we’re to have a whole new set of habits and patterns. Paul’s way of describing this was to say that we’re to ‘put off’ the old sinful practices, and ‘put on’ the new man. In verses 8-11, he wrote;
But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:8-11).
And the reality of our salvation in Christ is to show itself in how we now live—and specifically, how we now live together as a church. Paul went on to write;
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection (vv. 12-14).
We’re to learn how to get along with one another in the body of Christ. And that’s when we come to our passage this morning—and to these three verses that highlight the ways that true ‘thanksgiving’ is to characterize our life together as followers of Jesus. They make it plain that church really is the best place in the world to learn about and practice true thanksgiving; because thankfulness is a key aspect of what it means to put on the ‘new man’ in Christ.
As these three verses show us, our thanksgiving in Christ is to show itself in our church life together.
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So then; first, notice that it’s to show itself …
1. WITH THANKSGIVING FOR ONE ANOTHER.
In verse 15, Paul wrote; “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”
There’s a very common and familiar way that people have interpreted this verse. When Paul wrote that we’re to let ‘the peace of God rule in our hearts’, people have often taken that to mean that a feeling of ‘peace’ is to be a principle upon which we make decisions in life, and the way in which we are to seek God’s guidance. Believers will sometimes find themselves faced with important decisions or choices; and after they had prayed and asked for God’s guidance, they make a decision and validate it by saying, “I had peace in my heart about this decision.” Now; I can agree with that idea to a limited degree. But I’m a bit uncomfortable with that particular interpretation of this passage. After all, a subjective ‘feeling of peace’ is a very unreliable moral guide. People can ‘manufacture’ feelings of peace in their hearts if they want to. Feelings are never a trustworthy principle to look to as a ‘rule’ for our lives.
But if we look at the larger context of this verse, we can see that it isn’t really talking about a personal, inward, subjective feeling of peace deep within ourselves. The apostle Paul was talking instead about our life together in the body of Christ. In verse 14, he wrote about how—above all else—we’re to “put on love, which is the bond of perfection”; or as it’s translated in the New American Standard version, “the perfect bond of unity”. It’s talking about how—when I make a decision in life about what I have the freedom in Christ to do—I must not just think about myself. Instead, I must remember that I am a part of the same body with you, and you are part of the same body with me, and that we are to now love each other in Christ. I must not ever harm your conscience by what I choose to do, and you must not harm my conscience by what you choose to do. We’re to look out for and care for one another; because we’ve been united together in one body … and the ‘bond of perfection’ is our sacrificial, agape love for each other. And so; we are not to disturb the peace of the body by our actions, but rather to “let the peace of God rule” in our hearts”. We’re to—quite literally—let whatever it may be that will preserve the peace between one another serve as our “umpire” when it comes to how our decisions and actions affect each other. We’re to do what it says in 2 Timothy 2:22; and
pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with all those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:22).
Paul says, in Colossians 3:15, that this is something “to which also you were called in one body”. God has so bound us together in unity in Jesus that I am now a part of you, and you are now a part of me, and we are—together—now a part of the Lord Jesus. God ‘chose us’ from before time for that very reason … that is, to redeem us by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and to unite us together in Him forever. So; it’s no wonder that peace is to be our rule with one another.
And do you notice how this peaceful fellowship is to be characterized? Paul said, at the end of it all, “and be thankful.” Thankful for what? In this context, it means that we’re to be thankful for each other.
There may be some things between us that—at times—’rub us the wrong way’ with each other. There might be something within our fellowship with each other that irritates us a bit. But as it says in verse 13, we’re to be “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another”. And more; we’re to even be thankful to God for one another. We’re to recognize that God put us together—with all our faults and failings—in one body, so that we will learn from each other and grow with each other in Christ.
When I think of this, I think of what the apostle Paul wrote at the beginning of his first letter to the Corinthians. I don’t believe there had been a church family that gave Paul more trouble and heartache than the believers at Corinth. He had to work very hard to resolve all their many problems with each other. But at the beginning of his letter to them, he wrote this:
I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus … (1 Corinthians 1:4).
Dear brothers and sisters; let’s learn to recognize that God has graciously put us together in the same body for a wonderful reason. Let’s protect one another. Let’s learn to recognize the giftedness of one another, and to appreciate the ways God uses us in one another’s lives to perfect the image of Jesus in us. Let’s actively thank God for one another—even in times when we may struggle with each other a bit.
And let’s also be sure to say thank you to one another!
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So; that’s one way that thanksgiving is to characterize our church life … by thankfulness for one another. And another way is …
2. WITH THANKSGIVING IN OUR WORSHIP TOGETHER.
In verse 16, Paul wrote; “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
If you’ve been following along with us in our study of the Book of Ephesians lately, those words might seem familiar to you. They sound very much like the words that Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:19. He was talking there about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives; and said that, when we’re filled with the Holy Spirit—that is, when we are yielded to the Holy Spirit’s rule over us in a prevailing and pervasive way—then it will show itself in how we will be
speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19).
And here, in Colossians 3:16, we see the same kind of results. But this time, the same effects are said to have come from allowing the “word of Christ” to dwell in us “richly in all wisdom”. That can be translated to mean that we’re to let the word of our Lord and Master—as it is preserved for us in the teaching of the whole Bible—be abundant amid our fellowship together. We’re to speak God’s word, teach God’s word, edify one another with God’s word, and apply God’s word to our life together rightly and properly “with all wisdom”. That’s the same thing as making sure that ‘the filling of the Holy Spirit’ characterizes our personal lives and the life of our church family together; because the Holy Spirit works in us through His holy word.
And do you notice that, at the end of verse 16—at the end of this call to let Christ’s word dwell in us ‘richly’ in this way—that we’re told to be “singing with grace” in our hearts to the Lord? That word “grace” in the original language is the Greek word charis. In the New American Standard version, it’s translated as “thankfulness”; and in the English Standard Version and the New International Version, it’s translated as “gratitude”. And so; verse 16—like the others—is also telling us how thanksgiving is to characterize our fellowship together as a church family. A grateful attitude of thanksgiving is to characterize our worship of God together.
When we draw near to our Father in worship, He wants it to be thankful worship. He wants us—together—to offer up sincere thanks to Him. Think of what it says in Psalm 100;
Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations (Psalm 100:1-5).
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; let’s make sure that our worship to our heavenly Father together is characterized by joyful, corporate thanksgiving offered to Him!
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And one more way that thanksgiving is to characterize our church life together is …
3. WITH THANKSGIVING IN ALL WE DO IN JESUS’ NAME.
In verse 17, the apostle Paul wrote, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
When I read that verse, I almost chuckle a little. I wonder if there could have been a way for Paul to have made his point more clear than he did! “Whatever you do …” That seems pretty universal. “In word or deed …” Can you think of any other kind of ‘doing’ than through those two things? “Do all …” That pretty much covers it all; doesn’t it? We’re to do it all “in the name of the Lord Jesus”. That is, we’re to do whatever we do—certainly as individual believers; but especially as believers united together in one body in the church—as if we are doing it together for the Lord Jesus and in a way that He would want for those things to be done.
In this context, this is meant to be understood especially with regard to the work we do together as a church family. We’ve been joined together to serve His kingdom and to spread His glory in this world. We’re to do what He would want to be done as our Lord and Master. We’re to rely on His enabling power and grace in the doing of it. We’re to do it for the advancement of His cause, and for the furtherance of His kingdom. We’re to use our spiritual gifts together for His glory. That is to be our purpose and calling as a church—to do all things with one another, for one another, and in fellowship with one another … all in the name of the Lord Jesus. It’s to define how we are to speak to one another, and how we are to minister to one another, and how we are to bear witness to Him together in this world.
And do you notice what’s to accompany it all? Do you notice—if you will—the ‘spice’ that’s meant to flavor all our work together? It’s to be done with “giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
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Dear brothers and sisters; church really is the best place to grow in an attitude of thankfulness. Jesus our Savior is here in our midst—working in and through us by His Holy Spirit. The Father has chosen us for eternal life in Him, and united us together in one body. We—as the redeemed people of God through Jesus—have the most of anyone to be thankful for!
So; through our fellowship, through our worship, and through our labors together in His name, let’s let our thanksgiving in Christ show itself plainly in our church life!
AE
