Read Colossians 1:5-6

Introduction

When I was a kid, one of my favorite shows was: The Simpsons.

I had about 10 boxes of seasons of The Simpsons, and would watch it all the time.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of stupid things in The Simpsons.

And one of them was a scene, when Bart was praying over the food.

As you can see, Bart says, ‘God, we paid for all this ourselves, so thanks for nothing.’

It’s easy to scoff and look at Bart as a fool here.

But how often do we say this with our actions?

When we fail to thank God?

It’s because, like Bart, we don’t know what to thank God for!

And sometimes we thank God for the wrong thing!

(thank the wrong person illustration)

So, today we are going to learn:

How to thank God

But before we get into that, let’s look at who is giving thanks here.

Read v.1

It says, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ’

An apostle is one sent by God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not only are they sent by God, but they also have authority from God to proclaim his word and lead His church.

And note that it says, ‘by the will of God’.

It wasn’t Paul’s will.

When Paul was growing up, he wasn’t thinking, ‘I’m gonna go to school, so one day I can become an apostle.

In fact his will was the complete opposite!

On the Damascus road, it was Paul’s will to destroy more Christians, after approving the murder of Stephen, was knocked off his high horse by Christ!

And ever since then, Paul served Christ, by the will of God.

The whole point here, is that Paul being chosen by God to be an apostle, by the will of God not Paul’s, means that Paul is sent from God.

In other words, what we are reading right here is not just any letter written by a man 2000 years ago.

This letter are the very words coming out of God’s mouth.

2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

Inspiration means literally, ‘breathed out’, that God breathed out the every single word in this letter through Paul, using his very desires, thoughts, and even circumstances to write out the exact words that God wanted him to say.

And what are the circumstances Paul was facing when he wrote this letter?

Paul is in prison in Rome.

He’s in prison in Rome for preaching the gospel.

But he’s not alone.

Timothy is with him, look again at v.1 ‘and Timothy our brother’

Timothy is one of Paul’s long and trusted friends.

A younger man and pastor, he was Paul’s pupil.

See students, lest anyone think that Paul got it all.

That he was a super Christian.

The truth is, is that he needed help just like anyone else.

Now that we know that this letter is from Paul and Timothy, who is it written to?

Look at v.2 (read)

‘Saints’ simply mean holy ones.

It does not refer to an elite class of super Christians, no.

If you are a Christian, you are also a saint, plain and simple, because if you are a Christian you are holy.

Which means you are set apart from God, and you are different from everyone else.

If you’re not different from everyone else because of your faith, then you need to think, ‘what team am I on?’

In summary, Paul is writing to Christians!

So now we know who the letter is written to, we need to know where they are!

Where are they?

Paul says, ‘in Christ’!

Christians are ‘in Christ’!

Question: What does it mean to be in Christ?

It means that we are united with Christ.

We have a relationship with Christ.

We have fellowship with Christ.

We live with Christ.

We are identified in Christ.

It means when we look at ourselves, we don’t see ourselves as the persona we create on social media.

That’s not even the real us, that’s just a picture that we choose in a split second in a moment of time.

No when we look at ourselves, we see Christ.

See, what happened before Paul went on the Damascus road to destroy Christians?

Stephen was stoned under the authority and approval of Paul!

And then when the Lord Jesus knocked Paul off his horse, what did he say to Paul?

Acts 9:4 NKJV

Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

He asked Paul why are you persecuting who?

Persecuting Stephen?

No persecuting me.

When God looks at you, he sees Jesus.

Because you are in Christ, and He is in you.

When you ask yourself, ‘who am I?’

If you are a Christian, the answer is, ‘I am in Christ.’

Your identity is in Christ.

And then Paul adds, ‘in Colosse’

So first, Paul gives us their spiritual location.

Now he tells us their physical location.

So where is Colosse?

Colosse is located in modern day Turkey, next to neighboring Laodicea and Hierapolis.

It was known as a small town, whereas Laodicea and Hierapolis were much bigger cities.

Sykesville honestly reminds me of Colosse.

It’s a small town next to bigger cities like Ellicott City or Columbia.

When my wife, Maybelle and I, celebrated our 6th year anniversary, we went to Columbia for dinner.

And it was so busy, with so many cars and people, we had to wait an hour and a half for our dinner!

I could’ve watched a movie!

And then when we back home to our apartment in Sykesville, all of a sudden we see open space, fields of lush green, cattle and horse, peace and quiet.

And it just reminds me of how much smaller Sykesville is compared to the other places near it.

That’s how Colosse is.

Students, your physical location may be in Sykesville, Eldersburg, or Mount Airy.

But where is your spiritual location?

Is your spiritual location in heaven with Christ?

Or somewhere else?

The Colossian Christians may have been in Colosse physically, but their spirits were in Christ.

See, if your spiritual location is in Christ, then Christ has placed you in whatever physical location you’re in, to be a light to the world.

And where does this light come from?

Paul says, ‘grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’.

When you write a letter or text someone whom you haven’t spoke to in a while, it’s common to say, ‘hope you’re doing well’.

Because we wish the best for that person.

Well Paul, knows what’s best for us.

What’s best for us, above our humanly wishes for others to be well, is grace and peace.

As we know, grace is undeserved favor from God.

Peace, refers to wellbeing and security.

These two things can only come from God who Paul describes is ‘our Father’.

As Christians we are children of God.

God takes care of us because he is our Father.

But not only does grace and peace come from the Father, but also the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

God is a trinity.

Which means God is one being, meaning one God, and three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This is why Christ is all you need.

Because Christ is God, and he gives us grace and peace.

And that is all we need as Christians.

So how do we respond when God give us everything we need?

We thank Him!

And that is why Paul begins this letter by thanking God!

But why does Paul thank God?

Why thank God?

Because we are made to worship God, and thanking God is how we worship Him!

Lady came in to charge her battery

I don’t know what it is with Gen Z but you guys forget to charge your phone. (Empty battery picture)

When you go to bed, you act like your phone will never die!

Students, thanking God is how you fill your spiritual battery.

And the first thing Paul and we thank God for is:

1. Thank God for other Christians (v.3-5)

Look at v.3 (read)

‘We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’

I want to remind you who we are giving thanks to here.

We are thanking God.

We are not thanking me.

We are not thanking our parents.

We are not thanking each other.

Though it is good to thank those who help you follow Jesus, it is good to thank your parents, and it is good to thank each other.

But the focus here, and our priority in giving thanks , is to give thanks to God.

Like we said earlier, Christ is all we need.

He gives us everything we need.

And so He is the source of everything good, Paul is about to say here.

And therefore Christ deserves all the credit, all the praise, all the worship, and all the thanks here.

And God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is no mere man, He is God’s own son.

The Lord Jesus Christ is God.

We are not thanking merely a man, but Jesus Christ who is: truly man, and truly God.

Some say Jesus is just a man: he is not.

He is God in the flesh and he proved it by doing miracles and most importantly rising from the grave as He said He would.

Some say, ‘sure Jesus is God’ but he is one of many gods, or he is only one of the ways to heaven.

No Jesus is not only one of the ways, because He is God in the flesh.

If Jesus was only God, but not also truly man, that He can’t save you, because He needed to take on flesh, in order to pay for our sins.

A substitute teacher cannot be your substitute teacher, unless he is a teacher in the first place.

Likewise in order for Jesus to become a substitute sacrificial offering for us, He become one of us in the first place.

Never ever, accept when someone dismisses Jesus as one of many gods, or many prophets, because only one who is truly God and truly man can actually save you.

He is the only way.

This is who we are thanking.

We are thanking Jesus Christ: truly God and truly man.

But there is something that we are doing while thanking God.

Paul says, ‘praying always for you’.

When we thank God, we do so while praying to him.

Too often when we pray, we only make supplication to God.

Meaning we only make requests to God.

When we pray, we ask God to heal someone, to have safe travel, and then we end the prayer.

That is not prayer.

Prayer is not prayer without thanking God.

Sometimes I hear people say, ‘I pray to God but it’s not working.’

‘I pray to God but I still feel afraid, or anxious.’

Many times it’s because we are missing the part where we thank God in prayer.

Thanking God brings us contentment.

It makes grateful for what we already have.

It makes us not want useless things.

And when we are content, we have strength to do everything.

Philippians 4:11–13 NKJV

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

When people often quote the famous Philippians 4:13 verse, that ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’

Like Steph Curry writing it on his shoe,

They forget the two verses that come before.

Paul says that he learned to be content!

In any situation, poor or rich!

Because Christ is all he needs.

Christ provides everything Pauls need in the poor times and rich!

And that’s why he says, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’!

If you want to say ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ you need to be content first!

And giving thanks to God is what makes you content!

So when you pray, always give thanks to God, or else it’s not prayer!

And why is Paul giving thanks to God in prayer?

It’s because of v.4 (read)

Paul is thanking God for the faith of other believers.

And it’s not just any faith.

Not a faith in Mohammad, Buddha, or Mary.

But faith ‘in Christ Jesus’.

And that faith comes with love for others.

‘Your love for all the saints’.

Paul is thanking God for the faith and love for other Christians that the Colossians have.

Remember, he is not thanking them, he’s thanking God!

Why doesn’t Paul thank them for their faith and love?

Because the love and faith that they have, doesn’t come from themselves, but from God.

Ephesians 2:8 NKJV

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

As Paul says, we are saved by grace through faith, and that, what is that?

That refers to faith!

Faith is not of yourselves Paul says, it is the gift of God!

When you see the steadfast faith of other students, your parents, other people in the church, recognize it is from God, and God alone, not them!

God gave it them!

And God is also the one who gave them love for one another!

When you look at other fellow Christians in church, even the very people sitting next to you, though they may not look like it, if they are Christians, they love you.

They love you with the love of God, that is willing to sacrifice their time and comfort, to get off from behind the screen, and to be with you face to face, to worship God together with you!

They are willing to come up on stage and sing, do the announcements, do the sound, do the slides, and play the music.

They are willing to serve you, because they love you.

And that love comes from God, not from themselves.

Thank God for the faith and love of other believers.

And may that gratitude towards God, push you to sacrifice your comfort of being in your room, your comfort of using FaceTime, your comfort of being in front of the screen, to spend time with one another: your siblings, your parents, your fellow friends, and other people at church: in person, face to face.

Now we know God gives faith and love to us, but how exactly does God give those things to us?

He gives to through hope.

Look at v.5 (read) ‘because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven’

First, what is hope?

Hope in the bible, is not like how we use hope in everyday life.

Like, ‘I hope the Lakers reach the finals’, meaning ‘I would like the Lakers to get to the finals, but they might not get there’.

Which we know didn’t happen!

No, hope in the bible means, confident certainty.

Hope in the bible, means without a shadow of a doubt, I am certain of what is going to happen to me in the future.

We are certain, that when we die, Christ will bring us into heaven because He died for my sins.

We are certain, that when Jesus returns, He will raise us from the dead, and give me a perfect body free from injury, cancer, and sin.

We are certain, that we have eternal life.

That is Christian hope: certainty.

Why are we certain?

Because Paul says, ‘hope, which is laid up for you in heaven’

Our hope, our confident certainty in the Lord and our eternal life with Him, is in the bank.

And not just any bank.

Not Truist Bank or Bank of America.

But the bank of heaven.

Where your eternal life is sealed, in the heavenly vault, guarded by God Himself.

And where did we get this hope?

Paul says, ‘of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel’

You got this hope from hearing it.

Heard what?

The word of the truth of the gospel.

The gospel is a gift, the gospel is the package, the wrapping and the bow, and what’s inside the gift?

The word of God.

Romans 10:17 NKJV

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

In other translations it says, hearing the word of Christ.

Students, you don’t come to faith, by seeing.

You don’t come to faith by seeing other people put their faith in Christ.

You don’t come to faith by seeing a miracle or experiencing something extraordinary.

Although God may use that in your life.

But ultimately you come to faith through hearing.

That experience, that miracle some of you have faced, is what God used to draw you to His word.

Because it is HIs word that saves you.

Faith comes from hearing not seeing.

And that is why I’m here preaching to you today.

Because God has decided of all things, that His Word is what will save.

Not healing people.

Not casting demons out of people.

No Jesus did those things:

so that He can preach God’s word to them.

God could have used those things, could have used those miracles.

God could have chosen a song, or a TikTok dance to save you.

But He chose old fashioned preaching of all things.

Why?

Why did God choose preaching of all things to save people?

I don’t know, ask Him!

Romans 10:14 NKJV

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Students, I may be a preacher.

But God also calls you to proclaim, to preach the truth to unbelievers in your life, so that they can be saved from eternity in hell.

See students we need your help.

I need your help!

Ministry is not a solo job!

It’s a team effort!

And each and everyone of you have unique gifts that no one else has, that are needed to do the work of ministry!

Remember Timothy, Paul’s partner?

He was younger than Paul!

Never let anyone, including yourself, look down at you because you are young!

So come serve students because we need your help.

Now God doesn’t need your help.

He’ll accomplish his work with or without you.

The question is will you be a part of God’s work or not?

So thank God students.

When you see your fellow believing students, and their steadfast faith in God, and love for you, and their love for non-Christians to share the gospel with them.

Thank God.

2. Thank God for the Gospel spreading everywhere (v.6)

Look at v.6 read, ‘which has come to you’

The gospel has come to you students.

And where are we students?

We are in Sykesville.

The nice, peaceful small town.

Would you expect the gospel to come to small places, places that not many people think about it?

When I was told that FBC is in Sykesville, I said, ‘What’s that?’

I had zero clue where Sykesville was, I literally never heard of the place before, until I came here.

But it has come to you students here in Sykesville.

But not only here.

Look at the next part of the verse, ‘as it has also in all the world’

As Paul was writing this, he saw the gospel being spread, first in Judea, and literally spreading everywhere, all the way to biggest city at the time: Rome.

Romans 10:18 NKJV

But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.”

The Gospel is spreading all over the earth, from every big city, to every nook and cranny, even the remote islands and jungles of the world.

And that is all God.

It is because of God, that even though Christians were persecuted for hundred of years by the Roman Empire, being burned alive, fed to lions for dinner, and crucified, that the gospel spread from a small minority, to every single tribe and nation today.

The Gospel spreads like wildfire

A small fire spreads

No one can stop it

Matthew 16:18 NKJV

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Thank God, for being merciful to spread his gospel to all the peoples of the world.

And how does God spread his gospel?

He uses you, and me.

Paul says, ‘and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.

The gospel is not merely a message, but it has an effect: it bears fruit.

And it bears fruit among every person who believes in it, that they live for God and share his good news with others.

Because, how could you not share such an amazing message with other peoples?

How could you keep it all to yourself, when you know your fellow friends and family, can experience the same salvation that you’ve experienced of having eternal life?

Students, it is the young people, you, that God will use to bring revival and restoration.

Jonathan Edwards, a young pastor who God used to bring about the first great awakening in the 1800s, said this,

The work has been chiefly amongst the young; and comparatively but few others have been made partakers of it. And indeed it has commonly been so, when God has begun any great work for the revival of his church; he has taken the young people, and has cast off the old and stiff-necked generation.

Students thank God for spreading the gospel everywhere to all peoples.

Because he will use you to accomplish this.

3. Thank God for ministers (v.7-8)

Read v.7-8

See, the Colossian Christians didn’t hear the gospel from the audible voice of God in the heavens like Paul.

No they heard it from a man named, Epaphras.

Paul calls him a dear fellow servant, or fellow slave.

And a faithful minister of Christ on their behalf.

What is a minister?

A minister simply means one who serves, but biblically speaking, minister refers to one who serves in the context of serving others to follow Christ.

Every Christian is a minister, including you students.

1 Peter 4:10 NKJV

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

God gave you a unique gift in order to serve, to minister to one another, that no one else has.

See God uses people to do his work.

Ephesians 4:11–12 NKJV

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

God put people in your life like Pastor Neville, Carry, Pastor Mike K, Greg, Matt and Beth to help you.

Thank God for that.

Because you cannot grow in Christ without the help of others ministering in your life.

Especially those older than you.

When God saved me, He immediately put me with other believers to help me grow.

Some younger, some the same age, but it was the older ones that helped me grow the most.

The older they are, the more big brain they are.

And as a rule of thumb, older Christians tend to be nicer.

So students recognize, and reflect on how much ministers such as Pastor Neville, helped you grow in Christ, and thank God for that.

And understanding this, make an effort to put yourself among those older than you to learn from them.

It’s good to be in groups of the same age but check out groups of different ages as well.

Attend the women’s ministry, attend the men’s ministry, and any other events or bible studies that has older people in it because God uses more mature Christians, to help you grow the most.

Attend those in groups younger than you as well, so you can help them grow, as older believers have helped you.

Conclusion

Charles Spurgeon told a story of a father and son who lived more than 10 miles from one another in a time where there was no cars, only horses, it took hours to travel just 10 miles.

The son said, ‘Father, I thank God, because on the way here my horse stumbled 3 times, and I wasn’t hurt.’

His father said, ‘Son, I thank God, because on the way here, my horse did not stumble once.’

As Spurgeon said, ‘if you fell into poverty, and someone gave you a job so you can get out of it, you would be very grateful. Shouldn’t you thank God even more for not letting you fall into poverty in the first place?

Unlike Bart, we need to thank Christ for everything.

Thank Christ students.

Thank Him for the faith and love of other believers, thank Him for the gospel spreading everywhere, and thank God for the ministers God used in your life.

And that is why Christ is all you need.

Because He gives us everything.

So thank Him.