The above sermon was preached at Jubilee Church on Sunday 31st May. Here are the notes I preached from:
Colossians 2:6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
I am, just like you, grateful in light of all God has done. We celebrated vision day, then international day, thankful to God What could we better look at in God’s word than an exhortation to abound in Thanksgiving?.
I want to show you who we are meant to thank, why we are meant to thank, and how we are to give thanks…
1. Who should we thank abundantly?
In good times and bad we can and should be giving God thanks
God the Father – the initiator of all things: before we thank people we thank him.
1.3 ‘We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you…’
Christian God is three in one. And so we come to JESUS who is-
image of God
firstborn over creation
the one by whom all things were made, and for whom all things were made
The one who is above all things
The one who holds everything together
The head of his church
The beginning
The firstborn from the dead
Indwelt by the fullness of God in bodily form.
The reconciler
THE BELOVED SON
(Col 1:15-20
We thank Jesus the son, who with all these credentials came to die for us, knowing he didn’t need to and knowing who he is. That one like this would come and save you came went to the cross and died and rose again for us.
When we truly receive a gift, thankfulness is the natural result
Jesus didn’t even stop there, he poured out his Holy Spirit so that
JESUS IS NOT JUST IN US, WE ARE IN HIM
We should also thank the Holy Spirit for his work in our lives.
2 Why do we thank?
v 12 giving thanks[d] to the Father, who has qualified you….
If you have ever been disqualified you know what that feels like …. Child in school choosing teams never chose me. I could not do it. Felt.. disqualified, not just from sport but from everything. Jesus came to qualify people who feel disqualified.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,c not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29so that no human beingd might boast in the presence of God. 30And because of hime you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Given you an inheritance: you are a partaker.
Not just qualified but v13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and, 1 he has set you free
Not just delivered but: transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son not just left in middle ground, moved into a whole new area
In whom : IN JESUS…. we have redemption, putting you back together
and if that was not enough, we are forgiven: everything cleansed. Shifted the weight of guilt. If you feel the guilt he wants to take it away.
Before the food on the table, before a roof over your head, thank him for the salvation you can get nowhere else but God. Giving thanks to the almighty, at all times, for all things
3. How do we thank?
Abounding in Thanksgiving means that we are known for gratefulness
We look for and celebrate the good, not complain about the bad.
Gratitude is on our lips and in our hearts.
We humbly confess that what we have received is better than we deserve, and hence we are full of thankfulness.
Abounding in Thanksgiving looks like Psalm 100
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.
Abounding in Thanksgiving means returning gratitude to God with everything we are and have: The Bible calls this Worship, praise.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Very linked thanksgiving and praise.
As we have said the biggest reason to thank God is because of who he is. When we realize WHO it is we are coming to thank, how can we not but thank him.
We have the privilege of thanking and the reason to thank. When it comes to expression: raising hands, speaking forth, let heart be moved to worship, dancing, all these things. For some of us there are times when we think this one is more us than the other I can say this. If you are truly thankful, be surprised that will come from you. Football field.
Give thanks because thanks are due Abound in it. Effortlessly. How we live.
Not just thank you for all you have done, I will show this gratitude in the way that I live. I walk in him, rooted in him, built up in him, established in faith by him. If you are truly grateful it changes the posture of your life.
We have seen so far that we are to thank God for who he is, and that we also thank God for the salvation he has given us, but God doesn’t even stop there.
We all have things to thank God for daily. At this point I shared something of my personal testimony of God’s faithfulness over the last twenty years during which I have had the same career, been married to the same wife, and attended the same church.
Freely you have received, freely give
When you see God for who he is, and when Jesus is revealed to you in all his glory, that should be enough to make you thank him abundantly even if he never did anything for you. But when you realize he has saved you, then you should be thrilled to think that God has given you this JEsus. But, he hasn’t just done that: he has been faithful to you, loved you , provided for you. somehow you find expressions to praise him and to thank him.
Read the Rest of Adrian’s Life Story
A good introduction to Adrian’s life story pre diagnosis can be found in a TV interview which aired on TBN and in a multi-part series entitled “This is My Story”
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