Introduction
We are studying the letter of Paul to the Colossians in a sermon series I am calling, “The Peerless Christ.”
A man by the name of Epaphras had most likely been converted under Paul’s ministry during his three years in Ephesus from 52 to 55 AD.
Epaphras returned to his home in Colossae, which was 100 miles east of Ephesus, and shared the gospel with family, friends, and strangers.
It was not long before a church was established in Colossae, and Epaphras continued serving as their pastor.
After some years, false teachers began teaching Christians that Christ was not enough for continued growth. They needed more.
Epaphras then visited Paul in Rome to inform him about what was happening in Colossae and to enlist his help in teaching the believers the truth accurately about Jesus and the gospel.
So, Paul wrote this letter to the Christians in the Church of Colossae from his house arrest confinement in Rome in about 62 AD.
After opening his letter with a greeting, Paul thanked God for what he had learned from Epaphras about the Christians in the Church of Colossae.
Some anonymous person once said, “God’s giving deserves our thanksgiving.”
That is exactly what Paul did in the opening part of his letter.
God had given new life to some Colossians, and they were now members of Christ’s Church.
So, Paul thanked God for the many things that he had given to the Christians in Colossae.
Scripture
Let’s read about Paul’s thanksgiving in Colossians 1:3-8:
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
Lesson
Colossians 1:3-8 teaches us to thank God for the transforming power of the gospel within the church community.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. We Give Thanks to God for Saving Faith (1:3-4a)
2. We Give Thanks to God for Sincere Love (1:4b)
3. We Give Thanks to God for Secure Hope (1:5a)
4. We Give Thanks to God for Spreading Fruit (1:5b-6)
5. We Give Thanks to God for Steadfast Ministers (1:7-8)
I. We Give Thanks to God for Saving Faith (1:3-4a)
First, we give thanks to God for saving faith.
Paul wrote to the Colossians in verses 3-4a, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus.”
Paul assures the Christians in Colossae that he and his friends pray regularly for them.
Since it was common for faithful people to pray three times a day (morning, noon, and night), it is possible that Paul and his colleagues gathered for prayer three times a day to pray for the Colossian Christians (and other Christians in other places as well).
The first thing Paul thanked God for was the Colossian Christians’ faith in Christ Jesus.
About ten years earlier, none of the Colossians were Christians.
Some were Jews.
And some were Gentiles.
Whether they were devout or merely nominal in their religious views, we don’t know.
However, at some point, they heard about Jesus.
They heard that he was the Christ, the one sent by Jehovah to redeem a people for himself.
They heard that Jesus never sinned during his entire life.
They heard that Jesus did astonishing miracles to prove his credentials.
They heard that Jesus went to the cross and died as if he were a common criminal.
They heard that three days after his crucifixion, death, and burial, he was raised back to life.
They heard that Jesus’ resurrection was the Father’s vindication of his Son.
They heard that forgiveness of sins and eternal life were theirs if they put their faith in Jesus, who paid the penalty for their sins.
And, glory to God, many of them did so!
So, the first thing Paul thanked God for was the Colossian Christians’ faith in Christ Jesus.
In the same way, we give thanks to God for our saving faith.
Paul told the Christians in Ephesus that faith is “the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
If you are a Christian, you have every reason to thank God for your saving faith.
II. We Give Thanks to God for Sincere Love (1:4b)
Second, we give thanks to God for sincere love.
Paul went on to write in verse 4b, “… and of the love that you have for all the saints.”
The faith of the Christians in Colossae was demonstrated in sincere love “that [they] have for all the saints.”
This is always evident in the lives of Christians.
Christians have faith in Christ Jesus.
This faith is not merely professed; it is truly possessed.
Their lives are utterly transformed because of Jesus.
That faith is seen in love for others.
Commentator William Barclay puts it so well when he writes:
“Christians have a double commitment—they are committed to Jesus Christ, and they are committed to other people. Faith in Christ and love shown to others are the twin pillars of the Christian life” (William Barclay, The Letters to Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, 3rd ed. fully rev. and updated, The New Daily Study Bible [Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003], 122).
This love is not a mere feeling; it is seen in action for others.
If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you will agree with what I am saying.
But can I press the point and make you uncomfortable?
If love is more than a mere feeling and it is seen in action for others, what kind of action will that be?
Imagine you are a young man who meets a young woman.
You spend time with her, and after a while, you realize you love her.
You tell her you love her.
Of course, at first, the young woman is happy to hear that.
But all you ever do is tell her that you love her, and you do nothing else.
You never spend time with her.
You don’t really talk to her.
You don’t listen to her.
You don’t have meals together.
You don’t help her with things that she would like you to do for her.
At this point, it is right to ask: Do you really love her?
Similarly, how do you show your love to your Christian brother and sister in Christ?
You will spend time with fellow believers.
You will talk with them.
You will listen to them.
You will have meals together.
When was the last time you had Christians over for a meal at your home?
You will serve together.
Paul was grateful for the Colossian Christians’ sincere love.
Let us give thanks to God for our sincere love for one another.
III. We Give Thanks to God for Secure Hope (1:5a)
Third, we give thanks to God for secure hope.
In Colossians 1:5a, Paul gave thanks to God “… because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.”
The faith and love of Christians spring from their hope in Christ Jesus.
Paul explains in verses 3-5a that the Colossians’ “faith” and “love” are by-products of their “hope.”
Or, to put it differently, “hope” is the source that stimulates their “faith” and “love.”
Hope is not mere wishful thinking.
It is the objective reality of that which is “reserved for [us] in heaven” by God (see 1 Peter 1:4-5) and has been received in “the gospel” (Colossians 1:5b).
So, Paul stresses the totality of his gratitude to the Colossians, found in faith, love, and hope.
Commentator R. Scott Pace writes:
“These three abiding qualities are not temporal like our gifts and abilities (1 Cor 13:13). They are the motivation and the means for our work, labor, and perseverance in Christ (1 Thess 1:3). They unite us as we devote ourselves to drawing near to him and to encouraging one another (Heb 10:22–24; cf. 1 Pet 1:21–22). This familiar trinity of Christian virtues summarizes why we as members of God’s family have countless reasons to be grateful” (R. Scott Pace, “Colossians,” in Exalting Jesus in Colossians and Philemon, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary [Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2021], 9–10).
IV. We Give Thanks to God for Spreading Fruit (1:5b-6)
Fourth, we give thanks to God for spreading fruit.
Paul writes in Colossians 1:5b, “Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel….”
Paul is referring to the hope of believers, but it also includes their faith in Jesus and the love for one another that has been given to them.
They had been clearly taught about this, presumably by Epaphras, who brought the gospel to the Colossians.
Now, apparently, the false teachers were trying to pull them away from “the word of truth, the gospel.”
Paul is urging them to stand fast on what they had first heard, and on what had saved them.
He did not want their ears tickled with new—and wrong—ideas.
Pastor Donald Grey Barnhouse once told the following story:
In the lobby of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, the girl at one of the airline desks spoke Chinese, Japanese, and English; she was obviously from a cultured background.
[He] asked her if she was a Christian.
She replied that she was a Buddhist.
Further questions elicited the information that she had heard of Christ and knew that there was a sacred book, the Bible, but she had never read it and knew nothing of Christian truth.
[He] then asked her, “Do you love Buddha?”
She was startled and said, “Love? I never thought about love in connection with religion.”
[He] said to her, “Do you know that in the whole world no God is truly loved except the Lord Jesus Christ?
“Other gods are hated and feared.
“You have statues of fierce monsters to guard the gates of your temples, and the people stand at a distance and try to awaken their gods by clapping their hands.
“They burn incense and offer sacrifices to them as though they were gods who had to be appeased.
“But Jesus Christ loves us; He came to die for us, and those of us who truly know Him have learned to love Him in return .… Muslims do not love Allah; Hindus do not love their gods, and neither do you love Buddha.
“But we love the Lord Jesus because He died for us” (Donald Grey Barnhouse, Let Me Illustrate [Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 1967], 163–164).
Paul went on to say to the Christians in Colossae in verse 6 that this gospel “has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.”
The gospel is the good news of God.
It tells us how to come into a right relationship with God.
Moreover, the gospel is the truth.
All other religions are manmade.
Christianity is the only religion in the world in which God has revealed himself to us, and what he has revealed is the truth.
Furthermore, the gospel is universal.
It is for the whole world.
It is not confined to one nation or people.
The message of the gospel is for every person across the globe.
Most importantly, the gospel is productive.
It bears fruit and increases.
Wherever the gospel has gone, it has changed lives and communities.
It is estimated that, at the time Paul wrote to the Christians in Colossae, there were as many as 6,000 Christians worldwide.
The world population at that time may have been about 300 million people.
Therefore, in about 62 AD, there was 1 Christian for every 50,000 people worldwide.
The gospel has continued to spread since Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians.
Today, there is 1 professing Christian for every 4 people in the world!
My dear Christian, we give thanks to God for spreading fruit.
V. We Give Thanks to God for Steadfast Ministers (1:7-8)
And finally, we give thanks to God for steadfast ministers.
In verses 7-8, Paul writes that the Christians in Colossae learned the gospel “from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.”
This is where we learn that Epaphras brought the gospel to Colossae.
Paul did not plant the church.
Indeed, he had never been to Colossae.
It was Epaphras, who was from Colossae, who had planted the Colossian Church.
Epaphras likely heard the gospel from Paul’s three-year ministry in Ephesus from 52 to 55 AD.
The gospel completely transformed his life.
Then, he returned to Colossae and shared the gospel with family, friends, and strangers.
Epaphras had been serving steadfastly for as many as ten years in Colossae.
He was teaching the Christians what it meant to be a follower of Jesus.
Epaphras was “a faithful minister of Christ” on behalf of the Colossians, and he brought news of their “love in the Spirit” to Paul while he was in prison in Rome.
Commentator William Barclay writes,
“There must be a human channel through which the gospel can be communicated. And this is where we come in. The possession of the good news of the gospel involves the obligation to share it. That which is divinely given must be humanly passed on. Jesus Christ needs us to be the hands and feet and lips which will bring his gospel to those who have never heard it” (William Barclay, The Letters to Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, 3rd ed., fully rev. and updated, The New Daily Study Bible [Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003], 124–125).
As Christians, we have a responsibility and the privilege of sharing the gospel with others.
Let us pray for faithfulness to do so, and give thanks to God for steadfast ministers.
Conclusion
One of the most popular songs we sing at Thanksgiving is “Now Thank We All Our God.”
It is a wonderful hymn of thanksgiving to our faithful God.
Do you know the story behind that hymn?
It was written by Pastor Martin Rinkart in 1636.
Martin Rinkart was born on April 23, 1586, in Eilenberg, Germany.
At the age of 31 in 1617, Martin was called to serve as pastor of the state Lutheran church in his native city of Eilenberg, Germany.
He arrived there just as the dreadful bloodshed of the 30 Years’ War began.
Martin spent the remaining 32 years of his life faithfully ministering to these needy people.
Germany, the battleground of this conflict between warring Catholic and Protestant forces from various countries throughout Europe, was reduced to a state of misery that baffles description.
The German population dwindled from 16 million to 6 million.
Because Eilenberg was a walled city, it became a frightfully overcrowded refuge for political and military fugitives from far and near.
Throughout these war years, several waves of deadly diseases and famines swept the city, as the various armies marched through the town, leaving death and destruction in their wake.
The plague of 1637 was particularly severe.
Martin was the only minister remaining in Eilenberg to care for the sick and dying.
He buried nearly 5,000 people in 1637.
He conducted 40 to 50 funerals daily for many months.
Martin’s wife died during this plague.
His children apparently survived the plague, but due to his extreme poverty, they faced severe hardship during the subsequent famine.
Martin Rinkart’s triumphant, personal expressions of thanks to God teach us that even in the most adverse circumstances, we Christians have much for which to thank God.
Here is his hymn, translated by Catherine Winkworth:
Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices,
who wondrous things hath done, in whom his world rejoices;
who from our mothers’ arms hath blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;
and keep us in his grace, and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills in this world and the next.
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given,
the Son, and him who reigns with them in highest heaven—
The one eternal God, whom earth and heav’n adore—
for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
(Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions [Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996], 351).
Let us thank God for the transforming power of the gospel within the church community. Amen.
