Colossians 1:11-20 Sermon

The Root of Thanksgiving

Colossians 1:11–20 NRSV

11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

What is the source of our thankfulness?

This time of year the question seems to come up more times than any other, “what are you thankful for?”

Colossians & Philemon Thanks Be to God (1:12)

this final thanksgiving invokes God’s continuing work, which promises to bring to fullness the work of grace the gospel has begun.

Colossians & Philemon Thanks Be to God (1:12)

Thanksgiving for and confidence in God’s grace provide the theological foundation for prayer. Given society’s tendency toward self-interest and modernity’s emphasis on self-sufficiency, we believers need constant reminders that prayer allows us to express our core conviction that God is faithful. And it is in the context of worship, within our various expressions of thanksgiving, that the congregation of believers is empowered to be for and with others in prayer.

—> Thankfulness is the acknowledgment or understanding that someone else did something for you when you couldn’t, wouldn’t, or didn’t do it for yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving and happy Christ the King Sunday!

Colossians 1:12 NRSV

12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

—> We give thanks because we are included as part of the family. We are welcome and this invitation is for everyone.

Why are you thankful this year?

Do we have a true understanding of why we are thankful?

In Paul’s final prayer to the colossians we pick up a couple of lines in. Paul says we should give “joyful thanks to the Father.”

Colossians 1:13 NRSV

13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,

—> we are rescued and transferred

—> rescued from the power of darkness

—> there is a reality that there is bad in the world and we can’t overcome it on our own.

transferred —> meh thes te me

—> moved from one place to another by a more powerful force. (babylonian/assyrians in the Old Testament)

Colossians 1:14 NRSV

14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

—> not only rescued and moved but redeemed by Jesus Christ and made whole and a complete part of the family.

Colossians 1:15–20 NRSV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.