This Thursday our nation celebrates Thanksgiving. I really like Thanksgiving, because it's the least commercialized of all the national holidays. The stores cash in on Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter, but there's not much of a Thanksgiving windfall for retailers. As a result, we don't suffer from Thanksgiving overkill. We're not expected to buy Thanksgiving candy, or send Thanksgiving cards, or pass out Thanksgiving gifts. Thanksgiving is probably the most biblically based holiday that we celebrate in America because being thankful is a major theme in the Bible. So, for our study this morning, I want to look at Colossians 1:9-14, because it focuses on the subject of thanksgiving.
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to 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; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; Colossians 1:9-11 ESV
According to Scripture, the knowledge we truly understand and take into our lives is meant to control us. It is to shape our lives, our walk, our behavior. Paul prays that the Colossians will be filled with the knowledge of His will, "so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord."
Paul elaborates on what it means to walk in a manner worthy of God with four participles. The first is "bearing fruit" in verse 10. The character of God is produced in the life of one who has been born into His family and is now seeking to live as a disciple of Christ. The fruit he is bearing is the fruit of the Spirit set forth in Galatians 5:22-23.
The second participial phrase proclaims that we are "increasing" in the knowledge of God. Again, that word knowledge comes into play. There is to be growth in our knowledge of God, and we grow by knowing God. So, the Christian life is not a stagnant life. There is growth and development.
The third phrase is "being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might." It takes a power beyond our own for us to walk in a manner worthy of God, to be pleasing to Him in all respects. We are not able to live lives that are pleasing to God in our own strength. We are not able to live lives that accomplish God's purposes in our own strength. We must be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might.
Paul is praying that they will be strengthened with all power according to God's glorious might "for all endurance and patience with joy." When we are walking according to the strength that God provides, we are able to endure the trials and difficulties that come our way.
"With joy"—is literally a prepositional phrase. It can go either with what goes before or what goes after. Therefore, it can be rendered "for all endurance and patience with joy" or "with joy giving thanks." Both are true biblically. But it's a unique quality of a believer to have "endurance and patience with joy." There is actual joy in the heart and life of that person during the most intense and unpleasant trials because God is empowering him.
We see this fleshed out in Paul's life. Paul and Silas are at Philippi. They've been beaten. They've been cast into prison.
And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. Acts 16:23-24 ESV
They have been put in the stocks in the inner prison. It's midnight. They're in pain. Humanly speaking, everything has gone wrong. What are they doing?
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, Acts 16:25 ESV
Why at midnight? Is there any significance to that?
At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules. Psalms 119:62 ESV
They're being biblical. They are singing hymns of praise to God. They're showing "endurance and patience with joy." Notice also:
I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. 2 Corinthians 7:4 ESV
That's remarkable! But this wasn't just the response of apostles. Look over in 2 Corinthians 8 where Paul is talking about the churches of Macedonia.
for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 2 Corinthians 8:2 ESV
The Apostle Paul was no stranger to affliction. When he said they were having a great trial of affliction, you can believe it was intense. But they still had an abundance of joy.
For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Hebrews 10:34 ESV
Their houses were taken from them; their earthy possessions were taken. Yet they accepted it with joy. Now I wonder how we would respond if we went home and found out the government took our homes because we were practicing Christians.
Paul is praying that they will be strengthened with all power according to God's glorious might for "endurance and patience with joy." Believers, when we are joyfully patient and longsuffering, God is honored by our life. But this is only possible as we depend upon His power. The dependent life is a joyful life.
The fourth participle and quality that pleases the Lord is "giving thanks to the Father."
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Colossians 1:12 ESV
While grammatically co-ordinate with the other three, "giving thanks to the Father" is the crowning virtue of these four qualities. "Giving thanks" is the fourth product of a life that is growing by the knowledge of God in spiritual wisdom and understanding. Thankfulness is one of the outstanding characteristics of a disciple of Christ. There is nothing so contradictory as an unthankful Christian.
Thankfulness is an important subject to the apostle Paul and in the Word of God as a whole. Paul uses the concept over 40 times in his epistles and seven times in Colossians alone (cf. 1:2, 3, 12; 2:7; 3:15, 17; 4:2).
Thankfulness is very important to our lives and especially to our lives in the home. Thankfulness enhances a marriage and relationships on the job. This is true because a thankful heart provides something within that enables people to more effectively live together, love one another, and fulfill their responsibilities to their mate, to their children, and to their friends on and off the job. This will become evident as we study the nature and essence of thanksgiving. Christians should be the most thankful people in the world. Our lives should be full of praise, thanksgiving, and joy.
We have so many reasons to be full of thanksgiving, even in the midst of adversity, but because of the world around and the attitudes of most and because of our own bent toward self-centeredness, we are prone to be very unthankful.
Thanksgiving is an expression of an inner recognition and acknowledgment of the grace of God in every area of one's life. The Principle is this: True thankfulness is something that proceeds out of the inner person, from the heart through the lips. If the heart is evil— filled with greed, with preoccupation with the details of life, with problems such as unresolved feelings of anger and resentment, then thankfulness is basically impossible.
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Hebrews 13:15 ESV
The words "offer" and "sacrifice" are both priestly terms. This shows us that true thanksgiving is also a priestly response and act. It is a priestly sacrifice, an act of worship through which we offer up praise to God. "A sacrifice of praise" is explained by the words, "the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name." Thanksgiving is an act of adoration and praise that calls attention to the grace of God.
Note the relationship in Psalm 100 between the command to give thanks and the reason:
A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Psalms 100:1-5 ESV
We are to give thanks because "Yahweh is good." Thanksgiving is a matter of response to facts of revelation
William Law, in his Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life writes, "Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice, but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who received everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it."
HOW CAN WE GROW IN THANKFULNESS?
1. BIBLE STUDY. Thanksgiving is motivated by Bible doctrine:
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. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:16-17 ESV
As you come to know God through His Word, you can always have a thankful heart.
2. COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS!
Focus on what you have. If you want to grow in gratitude, count your blessings. That is excellent counsel, but sometimes we have to recognize them first! A man who owned a small estate wished to sell it. Sending for a real estate agent, he asked him to write an advertisement describing the house and land. When the ad was ready, the agent took it to the owner and read it to him. "Read that again," said the owner. The agent read the description of the estate once more. "I don't think I will sell after all," said the owner. "I have been looking for an estate like that all my life, and I did not know that I owned it!"
Count your blessings, yes, but start by asking God to open your eyes to see your possessions in Christ. Begin by recognizing all that you have in Christ. That will change your entire perspective and enable you to praise God for what you have. Consumer culture would have us feel constantly unsatisfied. In response, we should practice gratitude as a kind of spiritual discipline. In difficult times, or times of temptation due to dissatisfaction, we should list simple, basic things we have enjoyed that day but have easily taken for granted: " Thank you for my wife. Thank you for the roof over my head. Thank you for the warm bed I slept in last night. Thank you for the cup of coffee I had this morning." As the list lengthens, we will find ourselves less desperately in need of things.
I believe that Paul teaches us in Philippians 4:6 that when we go to God in prayer we should always start with thanksgiving. He is saying that we should start by counting our blessings.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6 ESV
The words "with thanksgiving" in the Greek are meta eucharistia. Meta with the genitive means "with" but this is meta with the accusative and it never means with, it means "after." After thanksgiving make your request. What Paul is saying is instead of crying out to God in your difficulty with doubt, questioning, dissatisfaction, discontentment, blaming God, cry out to God after a time of thanksgiving. Why? If you have a thankful heart your prayers will be right.
Being thankful requires a proper comprehension of the reasons why we should be thankful. Thankfulness cannot occur in a vacuum of ignorance. So, Paul does not just tell his readers to be thankful but points them to four awesome blessings that they possess through the mighty acts that the Father has accomplished in the person and work of His Beloved Son.
These four objects of thanksgiving are only a partial listing of the blessings God gives us in Christ, but these four do give us a wonderful illustration of what God has done in the person of His Son and of what all believers possess in Christ. Through Christ, the Father has:
1. Qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
2. Delivered us from the domain of darkness.
3. Transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.
4. Redeemed us, providing the forgiveness of sins.
God's saving act on the behalf of mankind is spoken of here in terms of the Exodus of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt and into the promised land of Canaan. Yeshua's dying as a fulfilment of the Passover (1 Cor 5:7) is necessarily imagery of a new Exodus, a fulfilment of the old which can be seen as a picture of the greater deliverance of all men and women by the blood of a better and more lasting sacrifice in Yeshua.
So the reader can follow Paul's thought of being considered acceptable to receive the inheritance of all God's people (Col 1:12a) and of being brought out of the former place of residence and into the new (Col 1:13) by receiving redemption from the house of bondage (Col 1:14). Each of these are paralleled in the original Exodus and in God's great work in taking a people out of slavery and into the freedom of serving the one true God.
In passing, note how this entire passage is reminiscent of Paul's words to Agrippa, where he quotes the commission that Paul received from the Savior Himself:
delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' Acts 26:17-18 ESV
Why is it that we are to be thankful to God? Well, He "has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light."
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Colossians 1:12 ESV
"Qualified" is the Greek word hikanoo which means "to make sufficient, qualify, enable, make fit." It does not mean "to make deserving." The blessings believers have in Christ are totally by the amazing grace and power of God. Only God, the Almighty Himself, is the Sufficient One who has the resources needed to qualify sinful man for an eternal relationship with Himself.
Jamison, Fausset, and Brown in their commentary on Colossians, write "'Which hath made us meet' - Greek, 'who made us meet.' Not 'is making us meet' by progressive growth in holiness; but once for all made us meet. It is not primarily the Spirit's work that is meant here, as the text is often used; but the Father's work in putting us by adoption, once for all, in a new standing, namely, that of children."
What exactly are we qualified for? We are qualified "to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." The term "share" is the noun meris, which means "a part, share, or portion of that which has been divided or apportioned." Then, the words "in the inheritance" point us to what has been divided out to the saints. "Inheritance" is the Greek kleros which literally meant "a lot, that which is cast or drawn, or obtained by casting lots"
Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. Hebrews 9:15 ESV
Notice that it is the "called" who "receive the promised eternal inheritance." "Promise" is a key word in Hebrews and is inseparably related to the authors concept of inheritance (9:15 and 4:1). Rest equals inheritance, and Hebrews constantly uses the idea of inheritance of something yet unrealized (to the first century believers). What is the promised inheritance? It is the New Covenant, the New Jerusalem. The inheritance of the land in the Old Covenant was temporary; it was but a type and picture of the believer's inheritance in the new age. So, the blessing which flows from the death of Christ is an eternal inheritance.
"To share in the inheritance of the saints in light" —the Light refers to God:
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5 ESV
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. 1 Timothy 6:16 ESV
Yeshua's public ministry ended in chapter 12 of John. Chapter 13 begins with Yeshua's last supper with His disciples. In verse 34 of chapter 12, Yeshua speaks of His coming crucifixion, and the people are in confusion. They want to know how the Son of Man can be lifted up:
So Yeshua said to them, "The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." When Yeshua had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. John 12:35-36 ESV
"The light is among you for a little while longer"—is a reference to Him. He is God. He is the One who reveals perfectly the Triune God. So, we have the inheritance in the Light because we are sons of Light. He has qualified us by the salvation He has provided.
Believers, listen, we are as eternally fit for heaven at the moment of our salvation as we ever will be. No amount of spirituality or self-discipline will make us any more fit for heaven. Fitness for heaven depends upon the finished work of Christ, not on our work for Christ. Because of the incomparable work of Christ on the cross, the believing sinner stands perfect in the sight of God:
so that we would bring him praise commensurate with the glory of the grace he gave us through the Beloved One. Ephesians 1:6 CJB
The split second a believer comes to Christ, God puts into him His own righteousness:
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
We cannot add to or subtract from our exalted, eternal, unalterable position in Christ. This is true of every believer, no matter the quality of his life.
So, we are to be thankful because: 1. God has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 2. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness,
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, Colossians 1:13 ESV
The words "delivered" and "transferred" relate to the themes of the Tanakh. "Delivered," is from the Greek word rhuomai. It is in the aorist tense and suggests an accomplished event. We were delivered at a point in the past—our conversion. This deliverance is absolutely finished. There is no progress in this rescue. It is an event. The Greek word carries the idea of rescue. This is a spiritual rescue which is the anti-type of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
"Domain" is the Greek exousia and means "authority, power, or ruling power." "Darkness" in Scripture is symbolic of ignorance, falsehood, delusion, sin, and Satan. Here darkness is seen as a kingdom which has power over us. This exact expression, domain of darkness, is used another time in the New Testament—Luke, chapter 22. This is when Yeshua was arrested in the garden. He challenged those who came out to arrest him that night and asked, "Why did you come out with swords and clubs? I've been around for a while. I've been in the temple. You could have arrested me at any time."
When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness." Luke 22:53 ESV
They were acting on behalf of the power of darkness, as do all who oppose Christ.
Believers, we have been (past tense) delivered from the power of darkness! I don't think that most believers understand this. The misunderstanding of our day is expressed by one commentator who, writing on Colossians 1:13, says, "Satan's authority over us has been broken. But note that we have not been removed from the realm of darkness."
The Bible seems to say the opposite. We have been transferred into His kingdom:
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, Colossians 1:13 ESV
At the time of the writing of Colossians, Satan was defeated but not destroyed. But his destruction was soon to follow.
This same commentator goes on to say, "Satan is still the ruler of this world. He is still the god of this world, as Paul called him in 2 Corinthians 4:4. The whole world still lies in the power of the evil one. Although we are no longer under his authority, we have not yet been removed from this realm."
Is Satan the "god of this world"?
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV
"World" is a bad translation, it should be "age." Satan was the god of the Old Covenant age. That age ended in A.D. 70 and Satan along with it. Notice what Paul told the Roman believers:
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Christ be with you. Romans 16:20 ESV
The KJV uses the word "bruise" instead of "crush." The Greek word used here is suntribo. It means "to crush completely, i.e. to shatter (lit. or fig.):--break (in pieces)."
When was Satan to be crushed completely? Shortly! Paul said here to the Roman Christians living in the first century that it would happen shortly. Remember, audience relevance. Do you think that the believers at Rome could have conceived of 2,000 plus years as shortly? If it was to be some 2,000 plus years, how could He crush him under "their" feet? The people to whom this was written are dust now. They have no feet.
Most believers don't understand that we live in a different age than Paul and the recipients of the New Testament letters did. They lived in what the Bible calls the "last days"—they were the last days of the Old Covenant. Those "last days" began at Pentecost and ended at A.D. 70 when the Jewish temple was destroyed. We now live in what the Bible calls "the age to come" which is the New Covenant age. This forty-year period from Pentecost to Holocaust was a time of transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. In this transition period, the New Covenant had been inaugurated but not consummated. We now live in the fully consummated New Covenant age.
Look at what the New Testament says Christ accomplished:
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, Hebrews 2:14 ESV
One of the aspects of Christ's earthly mission was to destroy the devil. The Greek word for destroy is katargeo: "to be (render) entirely idle (useless), lit. or fig.:—abolish, cease, destroy, do away, become (make) of no (none, without) effect, bring (come) to nought, put away (down), vanish away, make void." Was Christ a failure in this mission? Most Christians act like He was because they are still all worried about the devil. I think we want him to still be around so that we have someone to blame for our sin.
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8 ESV
The Greek word for destroy is luo: to "loosen (lit. or fig.):—break (up), destroy, dissolve, (un-) loose, melt, put off." Christ is said to have destroyed the devil and his works. Do you believe the Bible? Or does your theology come from empiricism?
So, we are to be thankful because God has:
1. Qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
2. Delivered us from the domain of darkness.
3. Transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, Colossians 1:13 ESV
"Transferred" is from the Greek word methistemi that carries with it a very special significance. Barclay writes:
In the ancient world, when one empire won a victory over another, it was the custom to take the population of the defeated country and transfer it lock, stock and barrel to the conqueror's land. Thus the people of the northern kingdom were taken away to Assyria, and the people of the southern kingdom were taken away to Babylon. So Paul says that God has transferred the Christian to his own kingdom. That was not only a transference but a rescue (William Barclay, New Testament Words, SCM Press LTD, Bloomsbury Street, London, 1964), 133-134.)
Such transference means God's rule and personal care or provision for our lives.
So we are to be thankful because God has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, delivered us from the domain of darkness, transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:14 ESV
"In whom"—points the readers to the sphere in which this redemption occurs. We might render it "in union with whom" or "by whom we have redemption." Either way, the text stresses that it is through the Lord Yeshua and the believer's relationship to Him that this deliverance occurs.
"Redemption" means "deliverance at a cost" or "release by payment of a price." Imbedded in the word "redemption," (in the original language, apolutrosis), is the little word Lutron meaning "ransom." In other words, the idea of redemption is deliverance or release by payment of a ransom. This concept is always in view even when the word redemption is used in passages such as Exodus 6:6; 15:13; Psalm 74:2; and 78:35. Even in these passages in the Tanakh it is clear that redemption is based on some great expenditure of God. The price God paid is always in view. The New Testament terms for redemption always have in mind a price paid. In redemption, someone's release or deliverance is accomplished at the cost of a ransom payment. What's the ransom? What's the payment?
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:45 ESV
The answer is that the life of the Son of Man is the ransom paid in redemption. That's what Paul means when he says, "The redemption which is in Christ Yeshua." The redemption is in Yeshua because Yeshua is the ransom. He gave his life so that there could be release and deliverance.
So, here is the foundation of our justification: Christ gave his life as a ransom for many. He paid the price for our release from sin and guilt and condemnation. This is why God now, as a gift by his grace, justifies the ungodly. Everything is owing to the death of Christ. This is why you cannot pay for it, and you cannot work for it. It is all of Christ. The basis of your justification is not in yourself or anything you do; it is "through the redemption that is in Christ Yeshua."
Here and in Ephesians 1:7, after the word "redemption," Paul adds, "the forgiveness of sins." This is appositional (an explanatory equivalent) to the term "redemption." It tells us what redemption means in terms of its results for the believer. It means their "forgiveness." "Forgiveness" is aphesis, [af'-es-is] which means "release" as from captivity, or "pardon, cancellation of an obligation, a punishment, guilt."
"Forgiveness of sin"—we read a statement like verse 14 that says we have forgiveness of sins, but do you really know what it means to be forgiven and cleansed? Most people do not realize that God forgives sins once for all. All our sins, whether past, present or future are forever forgiven. The slate is wiped clean. Every sin, no matter how vile or ugly, is forgiven. That's how great our God is. That's how wonderful His salvation is. Indeed, we are people who have much for which to thank our God.
Here in Colossians, Paul has given us a brief glimpse of some of the wonderful accomplishments of what the Father has done for us in Christ. We are to be thankful, because God has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, delivered us from the domain of darkness, transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, and He has provided redemption, even the forgiveness of sins. This should cause us to always be thankful!
I am convinced that the greatest singular act of personal worship that you can render to God is to have a thankful heart. Thanksgiving ultimately recognizes God as the source of everything. God created us, and we are to be thankful. Thanksgiving promotes contentment about our possessions, position, and providence by focusing our thoughts on the blessings God has already given to us