Colossians 1:1-14 Thank God
because the Gospel grows and bears fruit.
How often do you take time to give thanks to God? The fact is we probably find it easier to
complain than to give thanks. Despite
all that the Lord has blessed us with, contentment is hard for us to
learn. When you do give thanks, what do
you give thanks for? So often doesn’t
our thanksgiving focus on physical things – perhaps health, family and friends,
house, job, possessions, recreation. All
wonderful blessings from the Lord, but they are really the lesser blessings
that we receive from his loving hand. The greater blessings, the spiritual blessings – grace and peace, God’s
word, faith, hope, redemption and forgiveness – the blessings that Paul focuses
our attention on in our text; those blessings often get overlooked in
thanksgiving. But those are the things
that make us truly blessed, infinitely rich. Those are the blessings that most deserve our attention and our
appreciation.
So the apostle Paul is a wonderful
example for us. Thankfulness was an
attitude that characterized the apostle Paul. Despite the fact that physically Paul didn’t have much by our standards –
he was beaten and imprisoned, suffered from a “thorn in the flesh,” in addition
to his ministry at times he had to work as a tentmaker to support himself – and
yet Paul’s letters are filled with thanksgiving. And not just some shallow thankfulness that
acknowledge that God had blessed him, but great joy in the true and eternal
blessing that Christ had secured for him and all believers. That’s why Paul could even rejoice in
suffering. Thanksgiving is very natural
for a Christian. When Paul considered
what great things God had done – how God had accomplished salvation for sinful
mankind through Jesus perfect life and innocent death; how God had prepared a
home in the glories of heaven for all believers, when Paul remembered his own
conversion; or when Paul considered the results that he had seen the gospel
work in the hearts and lives of others – there was nothing that Paul could do
but to give thanks and praise to God for his grace and mercy.
We are in no different position than
Paul. The Lord has prepared for us a
home in heaven. He has brought us to
faith in Jesus as our Savior. What an
amazing thing – the power of the gospel in the lives of sinners. A tiny seed placed in the ground, sprouts and
can grow to produce a large tree that bears great fruit. In a similar way, the gospel, planted in our
hearts, grows and bears fruit. Thank God
because the gospel grows and bears fruit. It produces faith in our hearts. It produces love in our lives.
Paul gives thanks to God for the
faith which the Holy Spirit had worked in the hearts of the Colossians. That was something God had accomplished. It wasn’t the result of the goodness of the
Colossians. It was by God’s grace. Paul reminds the Colossians and us what our
nature spiritual condition was. Paul
tells us that God “rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into
the kingdom of the Son.” By nature, we
were lost in the darkness of sin. We
couldn’t see the way to eternal life. Sin and the devil had control over us. What a terrible situation.
To be lost in total darkness is a frightening,
hopeless situation. Little children are
often afraid of the dark. But even for
an adult, the darkness can be a bit disconcerting. You are uncertain about yourself. You don’t know what dangers might be
there. If you have ever taken a tour of
any of the caves and caverns in the country – and had them turn the lights out
for a moment. What an uncomfortable
feeling. You literally can’t see your
hand in front of your face because it is complete darkness. You don’t know which way anything is. You are helpless.
That was our condition
spiritually. We were completely helpless
sinners, doomed to eternal death. There
was nothing good in us that could get us going in the right direction. We are completely rotten by nature. We were without hope.
But God worked faith in our
hearts. He brings to faith. He changes us and our condition. He gives salvation as a free gift of his
grace. Paul refers to the Colossians as
holy and faithful. To be sure, it was
God who had made them holy and faithful. Someone who is holy is morally and spiritually pure and perfect. Certainly, the Colossians were not
perfect. They couldn’t claim to be
faithful to all of God’s word. Even as
Paul wrote to them, they were in danger of being led astray by false
teachers. That faithfulness didn’t come
from something within them. God had
brought them to faith and kept them in the faith. God had made them holy and faithful. And the same is true for us. We are far from perfect. Our actions aren’t always pure, let alone our
thoughts. We fail to faithfully follow
God’s word. But God has provided
salvation for us through Jesus. He has
brought us to faith in that Savior.
That comes through the gospel. The gospel message is God’s word. It isn’t something that man made up. The Bible is God’s word. Paul reminds us of that fact when he points
to the fact that he was an apostle – “by the will of God.” Paul hadn’t decided on his own to preach the
gospel. God had chosen Paul to be his
missionary to the Gentile world. The
fact was that Paul had once tried to wipe out the gospel message and left to
himself he would never have served as a missionary for that gospel. But God wanted Paul to be a missionary. So by God’s will, Paul was preaching God’s
word. That gospel was the message that
God used to bring the Colossians into his family by faith and it is the message
that God used to bring us into his family by faith.
And that message of the gospel gives
hope. When we are brought to faith, we
receive the sure hope of an inheritance in heaven. That inheritance is something certain. There is no doubt. It rests on the perfect life of Jesus and on
his sacrifice made on the cross. He took
our sins on himself to pay for them and gives to us the gift of his
righteousness. It is so certain that the
apostle Peter writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that
can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you.” A person doesn’t do anything for an
inheritance. A person receives an
inheritance because of his relationship to the person giving the gift. A person receives and inheritance because of
the love of the giver. By God given
faith in Jesus as our Savior, God is our Father and we are his dear
children. Because of his love and
goodness, he gives us an inheritance in heaven. What a great hope that is.
What great reason we have to give
thanks to God. That is a hope that is
greater than any other hope. It won’t
become a disappointment. That sure hope
of heaven is able to comfort us in any and every situation. The gospel is the only message that is able
to do that.
The Colossians were being troubled by some false
teachers. Together with Christianity,
these false teachers mixed Jewish ceremonial laws and Greek philosophy. According to them, Jesus wasn’t enough. A person had to do certain things – he had to
follow certain ceremonies and philosophies if he was going to have eternal
life. But Jesus is the all-sufficient
Savior which we need. He is the only way
to eternal life. And that inheritance of
heaven is certain. While false teachings
may seem very appealing, it doesn’t give us what we need or what we are looking
for. False teaching robs people of the
certainty of a close relationship with God; it robs them of the desire and
power to do God’s will; and it robs them of the correct guidelines for living
according to God’s will. Only the words
of God can give what we need most.
The gospel produces faith in our hearts and gives us a
certain hope in our inheritance in heaven. That gospel also grows and produces fruit in our lives here on
earth. The gospel produces love in our
lives as we express our faith in what we do. It is a natural result. What a great
change has taken place in us. We have
gone from darkness to light, from sin and death to eternal life, from having no
hope to having the sure hope of an inheritance in heaven. That is a complete and total change – 180
degrees in the opposite direction. That
change calls for thanksgiving. That
change will show itself in our lives and actions.
Paul encourages the Colossians and us to “live a life
worthy of the Lord.” Someone who is born
into a royal family or some other family of power and prestige is expected to
live a certain life. They are expected
to conduct themselves in a certain dignified way. When a child in such a family doesn’t live in
a proper way, his actions bring shame and disgrace – not just to himself but on
his whole family. Everyone sees it and
knows it and it reflects poorly upon that entire family.
We have been made part of God’s family and that means
that we will conduct ourselves and live our lives in a certain way. We will model our lives after our
Savior. We will live our lives according
to God’s word. We don’t live simply to
satisfy our desires. We live to give
thanks to God for the love he has shown us and the blessings he has showered
upon us. As the Holy Spirit works in our
hearts through the gospel to strengthen our faith, he also motivates us and
enables us to do good works in our lives.
A “life worthy of the Lord” will be a life
characterized by love. We will “Be
imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a
life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant
offering and sacrifice to God.” In all
that we do and say, we will show love for God and for others.
Love for others will mean having a concern for their
needs and desires. It means even putting
their needs and desires ahead of our own. It means working to build each other up in the faith. Later in his letter to the Colossians, Paul
encourages, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish
one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
Love for God means living according to his will and
commands. It means “growing in the
knowledge of God.” That means making
regular time to spend with the Lord and his word because it is through his word
that the Holy Spirit works to increase our faith and knowledge and draw us
closer to the Lord. All of our Scripture
readings this morning focused our attention on what a great work of service it
is to listen to God’s word. How easily
other things, even other service to the Lord, gets in our way of simply sitting
and listening to God speak to us.
And we benefit as that happens. Paul points us to yet another benefit that is
ours as we grow in faith through the word – we have great endurance and
patience. We face many temptations, and
many trials and troubles in our lives here on earth. Where do we find the strength to endure? Where do we find the patience to bear up
under trials? While we might be tempted
to trust in our own strength or look to others, in times of trouble we often
realize that we can’t endure ourselves. Others fail. The strength to
endure can only come from the Lord. If a
tree is going to stand for years through storms and strong winds, it needs to
have deep roots. Likewise, if we are
going to stand firm in times of trouble and temptation, we need deep roots in
God’s word.
The apostle Paul at the time he wrote this letter to
the Colossians was in prison, under house arrest in
God has given to us his gospel. It is his power for the eternal salvation of
souls. That gospel, like a seed, does
grow and produce fruit as it works in our hearts and lives and in the hearts
and lives of all those whom God has called to be his own dear children and
share in the eternal inheritance of heaven. Never stop giving thanks to God for all of the blessings that he has
given to you and all believers in the precious gift of the gospel of salvation.
