Demonstrating your Thankfulness
Colossians 4:1-6
Introduction
If you are taking notes, there will be lots of bible references this morning …
Background on our passage this morning:
- Paul writes to the city of Colosse in about 60 AD
- Colosse was located in Asia Minor, which is now modern day Turkey
- This city is located near Laodicea (for personal reading see Rev Ch. 3)
- This church was filled with Gentile converts; established by Epaphras
- Colosse was en route of a major trade route and made it very well traveled
- It was best known for its sales in wool; so many knew of its existence
- This week, our hearts turn towards the celebration of Thanksgiving
- It is a time when we gather together to laugh, to love, perhaps to cry
- But when it comes to demonstrating our thankfulness it shouldn’t need a holiday
- There is never a better time to show how thankful we are than right now
- This morning, I wonder if we could examine our lives and see how we might be encouraged to display more thankfulness every day - verses one day a year
- God’s entire Word challenges us daily to look deeper into our lives in 2 ways
-- To listen and hear the voice of the Lord calling to us for repentance; and
-- To desire to draw closer to Him through the celebration of Christ’s love in us
- This morning, I pray that we would accept this challenge, and seek after Him
- Stand and read Colossians 4:1-6 / Pray
Point 1 – Remember who we belong to (v1-2)
- Verse 1 gives us clear instruction to understand that we are to be servants
- We are never to withhold anything from those who work for us
- If we do, we could very well be asking our Father in heaven to withhold
- Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
- We seek after the Lord on a daily basis to have him pour into our lives
- And thus, Paul reminds those who are ‘in charge of others’ to do this also
- In the Greek the word “render” literally means “afford”; that is, as the slaves owe their duties to you, so you equally owe to them your duties as masters
- It is a direct challenge to those who know what they should do, but don’t
- Paul tells us that we must live with three things in mind:
1. Devote ourselves to prayer
How much time do we spend in prayer per day? (Come back to this …)
-- 1 Thess 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing”
-- 1 Tim 4:13 says, “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching”
-- Ephesians 5:16 reminds us to “redeem the time, for the days are evil”
- APP: If we are not devoted to prayer we are not living the life God calls us to
2. Be watchful in everything that we do
- Will we live lives that obey what the Lord has commanded that we be do?
-- 2 Corinthians 2:9 “Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.”
But, we cannot live blindly and so we must ensure we are following Christ
-- 2 Corinthians 11:14 “… Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
-- 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
- APP: We must live for Christ; but ensure that we check our motives, examine our purpose, and ensure we are following Jesus Christ and His direction
3. Be thankful
- Do we have thankfulness on our faces? Is it on our lips? Is it in our hearts?
-- 1 Thess 5:18 “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
-- What’s God’s will? Remember in Eph 5:10, “… and find out what pleases the Lord.”
- We must spend our days seeking to show others who Jesus is in our lives
We will never (say never) win anyone to Christ with a sour puss on our faces
- APP: Thankfulness requires a heart change; it requires obedience immediately
- Paul asks this church to pray for “us” (verse 3) – this is for Paul and Timothy
- Paul again confesses that he lives his life as a prisoner of Christ
- This life must be something we strive for daily as well; to be captivated …
- But, there is more here – I see it as a challenge to ask who are we praying for?
- Are we praying for our church? For its ministries? For its outreach?
- Without these being bathed in prayer they will never succeed – it’s a fact
- We must be obedient to pray when we can, and to be faithful in it always!
- TRANS: But, we must live our lives so that the salvation of Christ is evident in prayer and in our conduct with those outside of the church
Point 2 – How should we live?
- We should live every day with wisdom; to have practical Christian prudence.
- We must live in the same manner that Christ directs us to, to live above reproach
- Consider for a moment church discipline:
-- 1 Corinthians 5:12, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?”
- Paul tells us not to judge those outside, but we ARE to hold one another accountable that belong to the church and speak the truth to one another in love
- It is not an easy task … but living for Christ never is; nor is dying for Him
- Sin is still sin, but if we will not live like this how can we expect those who do not know Jesus Christ to change their lives?
- APP: Demonstrating thankfulness means that we are even grateful for the rebuke
- We are to let our conversations be filled with grace, seasoned with salt
- When it comes to Thanksgiving, salt is used sometimes a bit more than needed
- But what about using salt when it comes to spiritual matters?
-- Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”
- Salt is good for preserving food, but also for cleaning wounds
- APP: Jesus commanded his disciples to live lives that demonstrated this saltiness
How then can we know how to answer everyone about who Jesus is?
-- Phil 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (ACTS)
We must spend time with the Father; seeking to know more of who He is daily
Then, and only then will we understand what true thanksgiving is about
Conclusion
- How thankful do you think Paul was from day to day? Some, Very, Always?
- Consider his life before Christ, and now consider his life after; transformed
- Think of where you would spend eternity had Christ not come into your life
Now think of where others will spend eternity if we don’t share Him with them
- We must not only display thanksgiving on our faces, but in our lives as well
- God is calling out to us to show thanksgiving for what it truly is
- It has nothing to do with shopping, eating, or decorating … but to live whole-heartedly in complete thanksgiving for what He has done for you
- Can we do that today?
- Pray
-- To be thankful, you must first know who he is – Salvation prayer
-- To show thankfulness, you must be willing to humble yourself – Repentance
-- We must not give up on meeting together – Church membership
