Be Thankful

I want to talk tonight about “being thankful”; and to help us with our thinking I want to look at verses 15-17 of Colossians 3. My headings tonight after some words of introduction are, first, BE THANKFUL IN THE WORLD (verse 17); secondly, BE THANKFUL IN THE CHURCH (verse 16); and, thirdly, BE THANKFUL IN SUFFERING (verse 15).

Being thankful (together with the joy and praise that attends being thankful) is a fundamental and essential mark of the church and of true Christian faith.

Take praise. Paul writes in Ephesians 1.4-5:

“before the creation of the world … he [God] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ … to the praise of his glorious grace.”

And Peter writes in his first letter (1 Peter 2.9):

“you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Going down the centuries the famous Reformed definition of the purpose of human existence is that: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever.” The Bible teaches that a thankful and joyful people, praising God, was God’s plan for humankind from the beginning and still is. So this year, our 150th anniversary year at JPC how much we need to thank God for the vision and the spiritual legacy of our Founders 150 years ago and for God’s goodness and faithfulness through all the ups and downs since then.

In my first year as a student, several times a day I walked past the memorial for the early 19th century poet Shelley. This is a white marble sculpture of the reclining naked and dead poet after his drowning, as washed up on the shore at Viareggio in Italy. That, of course, was after he had been expelled from the University for his pamphlet on The Necessity of Atheism. I saw the memorial again recently; and it brought back a host of memories, including the fact that he was seldom joyful. For it was Shelley who penned the words:

“Rarely, rarely, comest thou,Spirit of delight”.

As Jim Packer, the theologian, comments:

“His experience should not surprise us, for he was a stubborn, passionate atheist. The Christian, however, discovers that, though living in this fallen and disordered world is never a ‘joy ride,’ yet it may become a ‘joy road’ through response to the call of God”

How that is possible, I trust we shall see as we look at our passage for tonight. Well, with those words of introduction, …

… first let’s think about verse 17 and our heading BE THANKFUL IN THE WORLD.

Verse 17 says:

“whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

The irony about the Shelley memorial is that on its outside wall is a plaque. It is one of those plaques similar to the one we have on the corner of the outside wall of the choir vestry about John Dobson the architect. On this plaque, however, are inscribed the words:

“In a house on this site between 1655 and 1668 lived Robert Boyle. Here he discovered Boyle’s Law and made experiments with an Air Pump designed by his assistant, Robert Hooke, Inventor, Scientist and Architect who made a Microscope and thereby first identified the Living Cell.”

Boyle, of course, was one of the founders of modern science. He was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was also a committed Christian. Among his last books Boyle was one entitled The Christian Virtuoso. On the book’s title page Boyle wrote, I quote: “being addicted to ‘experimental philosophy’ [i.e. experimental science] a man is rather assisted than indisposed to be a good Christian.” He was taking seriously verse 17:

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Boyle was able to give thanks to God for the wonders of God’s creation from the point of view of an early experimental scientist. He saw God behind the laws he was formulating as well as behind the remarkable discoveries that his microscope threw up. That is still the case.

Even before David Attenborough and the BBC, the Christian Moody Institute of Science helped pioneer modern scientific videography. Its classic film was God of Creation. But unlike the BBC’s current brilliant efforts, it evoked praise to God rather than simply the wonderful skill of human filming of the natural world. You should thank God, of course, for our salvation, but also for our, and the world’s, creation and enjoy it as some of us did last week-end in the Lake District. Such thanksgiving is part of the Church’s General Thanksgiving prayer which says:

“We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace and the hope of glory.”

You should also, as Boyle did, thank God for his “creation mandate” (that is still in force) to “be fruitful … and … subdue [the earth]” (Genesis 1.28). Yes, the Fall of our primeval parents has meant that there is disorder now in the world of work and in creation itself. This disorder means there are “thorns and thistles” as well as “the sweat of your brow” (Genesis 3.18-19). Even so, as you work “in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” you can still find satisfaction. That enables you to give thanks to God. You are made to be co-creators with God and so workers. So thank God for your work – and don’t just think of any bad parts.

However, perhaps, you are saying, “but you don’t know my job or my unemployment situation”? Or you are saying, “I’m in some other situation day after day, and it is so hard”. But the Bible says, in 1 Thessalonians 5.18: “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” How can you do that? One thing is to thank God for the reality of his Providence?

What is God’s “Providence”. It is the word theologians use to describe God’s total ongoing sovereignty over all things. Creation was God uniquely bringing this whole universe into existence. Divine Providence refers to God continuing to keep it in existence. And it refers to his involvement in all things and events and to his direction of all things and events to their appointed ends. This is the mystery of God’s greatness that is truly awesome. For he is completely in charge of this world, even though his hand may be hidden. That is why Paul can write in Romans 8.28:

“we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”

To believe that God is in control, when life is really hard, means that you can still thank him for his good purposes.

And remember: God’s plan is not simply to make you happy in terms of this world’s pleasures, but to make you holy. As we learnt the other week from Hebrews, “Jesus was made perfect through suffering” (Heb 2.10). He, therefore, can help you, when you have to suffer (and we will be thinking later). So trust him. George Herbert, a great Christian 17th century poet, turned this verse 17 into prayer when he wrote:

“Teach me, my God and KingIn all things thee to see [i.e. teach me to see you working somehow for good, even in bad times];And what I do in anythingTo do it as for thee.”

We must move on … secondly, to BE THANKFUL IN THE CHURCH;

Look at verse 16

“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.”

As in that last verse, verse 17, you have here a command. But may I at this point say that if you are not yet a believer, the commands in this chapter are not for you. Rather, you first need to consider some of the other New Testament commands, such as the one we had last Sunday evening in our studies in the Acts of the Apostles. It was the command given to the Philippian jailer in answer to his question, “What must I do to be saved?” The Apostles, Paul and Silas, replied to that honest and straight question, quite simply:

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household " (Acts 16.31).

It is, of course, essential to begin at the beginning. Otherwise it is like asking a child to ride a bike before learning to walk. So this chapter is addressing people who, through faith, are already united with the risen and ascended Christ. Verse 1 of chapter 3 says:

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above” – that’s a command.

This new mindset, however, is only possible when people first “have been raised with Christ” and, by faith, have new spiritual power. Further commands then follow in this chapter, negatively to destroy any immorality or evil language and positively to adopt as, we heard in verses 12-14, a set of virtues that are to be capped with Christian love.

So, if tonight (like the Philippian jailer) you want to make a faith commitment to Jesus Christ, you should take a copy of “Why Jesus?” from the or talk to one of the clergy, if that would help. Once you are a believer, then of course you need to obey these commands, including the command to be thankful in the church. And that command to be thankful in the church will involve three things at least.

First, you need to thank God for his word. Such thankfulness follows letting “the word of Christ dwell in you richly” as verse 16 says. So you need to hear positive teaching, from the pulpit or in a small group, and also negative “admonishing” (or warnings) about what is wrong and to be avoided. And such teaching dwells in you richly as you let Christ’s word go from your head to you heart and then to your will. Christ’s word, of course, is there in the Old Testament that looks forward and witnesses to him, and in the apostolic books of the New Testament that look backward and teach about him. So you need positive biblical teaching and negative biblical admonition (or warning) - not fallible human speculation. Then as you learn that divine truth, you must thank God for it.

I thanked God for what we learnt last Sunday. At Blaithwaite in the morning we were reminded of the Rich Fool and how this world’s goods will not last for ever, and more to the point, we won’t last for ever. So how we need to be “rich toward God”, as Dan McBride reminded us at the family service. Here in the evening we were reminded of how Christians, having sometimes to be counter-cultural, will have to suffer, as Ian Garrett spoke. And this morning Mark Summers reminded from us that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life and the only way to the Father. You should never take the ministry of God’s word for granted, but you should be truly thankful. Sadly at the moment in much of the Western world there is what the prophet Amos called a famine –

“not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8.11).

That is why you must be thankful for hearing God’s word.

Secondly, be thankful for Christian music. I’d especially like to thank God for Chris Edwards (supported all these years by his wife Karen) for his musical leadership that has enabled us to praise God and thank him through music. So let’s all be praying for Chris and the family as they move South, and be praying for God to guide us to his successor.

Thankfulness and joy will sooner or later express itself in music and signing. That is human – witness what happens at football matches. But praise needs to be praising God for what he truly is and truly has done for us. So psalms (including paraphrases of biblical psalms and other traditional church music) and hymns (more modern items) and spiritual songs (often simpler compositions but still helpful in praising and thanking God for his ways and his goodness) all need to be expressing, or based on, God’s truth – biblical truth. That then generates more thankfulness and praise.

Thirdly, as verse 15 reminds us, the church is made up of individuals, in “one body … called to peace”. So you should also thank God for fellowship in the church. Again Christians can so easily take that for granted. Yes, we always should be doing better this side of heaven. But Jesus warned of the sin of being like nine lepers who did not return to thank him for their healing while only one did (in Luke 17). Was he suggesting that in some groups who experience his goodness, only 1 in 10 are being thankful to God? May that never be true here!

I certainly thank God for the agreeable crowd of people that make up biblical churches. Yes, we all have faults. But there are attempts to improve and the Bible teaches us how. Who, with any common sense, wouldn’t rather be with people who at least take seriously the words of verses 12-14 of Colossians 3:

“clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

And who with any common sense, would rather not be with people who celebrate, in the words of verses 5-8:

“sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed [together with] anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language.”

So be thankful for being in fellowship at this church with people in the former category. But millions in this country would also like the opportunities we have. That is why we must pray and work for the growth of this church in new and exciting ways over the next few years – most of all for God’s glory; but also for the sake of others.


Thirdly, and finally BE THANKFUL IN SUFFERING

We have already touched on this, but now look at verse 15:

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

Paul knew that it is possible to be thankful, while being even in horrific circumstances. The “peace of Christ” can still rule in your heart. So this verse is important for being thankful when life is hard. Paul is writing this letter to the Colossians from prison. A Roman prison was not a nice place. Paul may well have known those words of Jesus:

“… in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16.33).

In modern times Richard Wurmbrand knew that. He was a Rumanian pastor who spent 14 years in a communist prison, including 3 years in solitary confinement. But he could write this:

“We prisoners have experienced the power of God, the love of God which made us leap with joy. Prison has proved that love is as strong as death. We have conquered through Christ. Officers with rubber truncheons came to interrogate us; we interrogated them, and they became Christians. Other prisoners have been converted.”

And such cruel treatment of Christians is still going on around the world today. Persecuted Christians, however, seem to see that thankfulness has three tenses. For they are thankful for the past – for God’s creation and redemption in Christ’s far worse suffering, bearing sin in their place on the Cross and his resurrection for them and for all God has done for them in their lives. They are thankful for the future – they have a sure hope of heaven and that to be with Christ is going to infinitely better than the best of times in this present existence. But they are also thankful for present opportunities of witness as was Wumbrand.

Then they are thankful for Christian support. Christ’s peace is experienced by individuals, but offered to the one body, as Paul is saying in our verse. So the more you can have the support of others within the Christian fellowship when life is hard, the easier it will be. Sadly, too many, when under pressure, let their times for meeting with other Christians slip. And always remember: faithfulness to Jesus Christ when in hard times is itself a great witness to the reality of God and his keeping power.

So to conclude:

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 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. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”