Thanksgiving (Col. 1:3-6)

This sermon was preached on 12/10/2010

Paul usually has a thanksgiving followed by an intercession at the beginning of his letters. It is a valid assumption that he details the contents of his prayers in order to show his readers how they should pray. So we can learn to pray by listening in to Paul’s method.

Paul’s worshipful manner

The first detail to observe is the manner by which Paul addresses God. He speaks to him as he is at that time in the working out of his purpose. During Old Testament days it was very appropriate for a devout Israelite to address God as ‘the God of Israel’ because that was the highest way in which he had revealed himself. But his purpose has moved on and Paul includes in his title of God features suitable to the New Testament period.

The title that he uses of Jesus is a very comprehensive one. The term ‘Christ’ is the same as Messiah and includes within its meaning that Jesus is one promised throughout the Old Testament as the Deliverer of his people. His name ‘Jesus’ reminds us that he became a real man, that although he was the eternal Son of God, he humbled himself and came into our world, where he was given this divinely-chosen name by Joseph and Mary. The title ‘Lord’ points to his deity (he is the eternal Lord of all) and the exaltation of his glorified humanity to the supreme place in the universe – the throne of God.

If I need to get something done, I will ask the best qualified person to do it. There is no point in my asking a person without building skills to erect a wall. I would have no confidence that he would be able to do so. Yet if I asked someone with all the necessary skills, I would have confidence. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has all the ability needed for answering his prayer. What he did for his own Son reminds us that he has the wisdom, power and love to fulfil his promises. So while initially it might not seem that important how we address God, a little thought tells us otherwise. Using suitable divine titles helps our faith as we pray, and if we are praying vocally in the presence of others, it will help their faith as well.

Paul’s encouragements for prayer

We can summarise Paul’s encouragements by saying he had two – one was what had happened locally in Colosse and the other was what was happening globally throughout the world. Both his encouragements are connected to the gospel.

Regarding the local state of affairs in Colosse, Paul would have been informed of these spiritual developments by Epaphras when he arrived in Rome. Paul summarises their spiritual state by using the common triad of graces – faith, hope and love. This triad occurs several times in the New Testament (in addition to Paul, both Peter and the writer to the Hebrews uses it), which points to it being a common way in the early church of summarising Christian living. Sometimes when the triad is used, the object of the graces change.

The first grace is faith in Christ Jesus. Paul has already described as the faithful in Christ Jesus and now he stresses again the reality of their faith. It is important to observe the object of their faith, namely, Jesus. Sometimes we speak about faith as if the faculty of believing was all that mattered. Yet if the object is wrong, so too is the faith from a biblical point of view.

What is faith in Christ Jesus? It has been defined in many ways. Faith involves dependence on Jesus Christ. Obviously such faith is an intelligent one, based on accurate information about him. These Colossians depended on Jesus alone, which is a crucial aspect of the response to the gospel. Faith also delights in Jesus Christ – he thrills them and they expect great things from him. Because he has done and is doing so much for them, they are also devoted to Jesus – he is their Lord and they serve him. Paul is reminding the Colossians that they are to continue living the Christian life in the way they started it, by continuing to depend wholeheartedly on Jesus.

The second grace is love for all the saints. They now belong to the same family, having been separated to God. This love is a miracle because it transcends all the barriers that usually divide people from one another (the barriers of race, religion, status, and gender have no place in the church). Yet before their conversions, each of them had some form of separation. But now they were together and they showed this love by meeting together and remembering the Lord, by serving one another in a variety of spiritual and practical ways, and by ensuring that they would not be means of sin for one another. Love for the saints would stop them playing with false doctrine, and this was a danger in Colosse. The same requirements are demanded of us.

The third detail is the hope laid up for them in heaven. Paul indicates that this hope affects the other graces. It affected faith because hope reminded them that they would yet meet the One in whom they trusted; it affected love because it reminded them that they would spend eternity with the saints and therefore they loved all God’s people. What is the hope that is preserved securely for them in heaven?

I suppose many answers could be given to this question such as being with Jesus, reunited with Christian friends, enjoying eternal perfection, living in the new heavens and new earth. Of course, the difficulty is that none of them were actually true of the Colossians at the moment Paul was writing to them. Yet he says that there is something laid up for them in heaven. Perhaps the meaning of his description can be illustrated by a young person waiting until he is of age to enter his inheritance. The document entitling him to his inheritance will be in a secure place such as a bank or in a lawyer’s safe. He knows that it will be his, although he cannot yet enjoy it. In a far higher sense, each Christian has in heaven a guarantee that he or she will yet come into a God-promised inheritance.

Paul then says of this hope that it had been part of the gospel message heard by the Colossians. In other words, we can say that we do not preach the gospel fully if we do not include a reference to the assured promise of heavenly glory in the future. The gospel is more than saying that Jesus died so that we could live for him in this world, which is true as far as it goes. In addition, there has to be a focus on heaven, on the beautiful experience that awaits all who trust in Jesus.

The second encouragement for thanksgiving that Paul mentions is the progress of the gospel, which he says has gone through all the world. Is Paul exaggerating when he says this is the case? No doubt he does not mean that every single person has heard the gospel. Yet he says again in verse 24 that the gospel has been proclaimed throughout the whole creation. In the following century, the Christian apologist Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with a Jew called Trypho, said of the spread of the Christian faith: ‘For there is not one single race of men, whether barbarians, or Greeks, or whatever they may be called, nomads, or vagrants, or herdsmen living in tents, among whom prayers and giving of thanks are not offered through the name of the crucified Jesus.’ Paul was encouraged that the gospel spread quickly, and therefore both the global and the local encouragements stimulated him to pray.

As we conclude, we can summarise Paul’s thanksgiving in this way. First, it was genuine thanksgiving: he was not making a false claim when he wrote that he and his friends were praying frequently for the Colossians.

Second, it was grace-focussed thanksgiving: Paul’s gratitude did not focus on how well the Colossians were doing in earthly affairs but on how their faith and love was expressing themselves.

Third, it was gospel-stimulated thanksgiving: Paul received great encouragement from the progress of the gospel throughout the world. As he sent this letter, he was imprisoned in Rome, suffering for the faith. Yet he rejoiced that the gospel that pointed with certainty to a future world was very effective wherever it was declared.

Fourth, his thanksgiving was God-honouring. Paul did not make any effort to exalt the human contribution. True, he mentions Epaphras in verses 7 and 8, but does so in a way that shows he also was a God-honouring man.

We should imitate the apostle in his method of thanksgiving