Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Sir, Michael Costa, a famous composer and conductor from Naples, was once rehearsing with a vast array of instruments, and hundreds of voices.

With the thunder of the organ; the role of the drums; the sounding of the horns, and the clashing of the symbols, the mighty chorus rang out.

The piccolo player said himself, "In all this din it matters not what I do!"

So he ceased to play.

Suddenly Costa stopped and flung up his hands.

All was still, and he shouted out, "Where is the piccolo?"

His sensitive ear missed it, and it's absence made a difference to him.

God, likewise, has a sensitive ear, and misses every voice not lifted in praise and thanksgiving.

It makes a difference whether we thank God or not.

We may often feel like the piccolo player that it does not matter.

With all the angels of heaven singing, and millions of voices on earth joining them with songs of thanksgiving, how can it matter what we do?

For us to say thank you Lord seems even more insufficient than the skill of a piccolo player in a colossal symphony.

Our benefits and blessings are so great, and our ability to express our gratitude so inadequate, that we sometimes question if we are really thankful at all.

The more one counts his blessings, the more inadequate he feels to give thanks.

Simon Greenberg expresses this in poetry.

Five thousand breathless dawns all new,

Five thousand flowers fresh in dew;

Five thousand sunsets wrapped in gold,

One million snowflakes served ice cold;

Five quite friends; one baby's love,

One white mad sea with clouds above;

One hundred music-haunted dreams,

Of moon-drenched roads and hurrying streams;

Of prophesying winds, and trees,

Of silent stars and browsing bees,

One June night in a fragrant wood;

On heart that loved and understood.

I wondered when I waked at day,

How-how in God's name-I could pay!

We can't even begin to thank God enough for all the blessings of nature and loved ones, let alone for the gift of salvation and eternal life.

To think of paying is foolish, for we are indebted to an infinite measure.

The question is, how can we thank God?

He hears our weak prayer of thanks and counts it essential, but even so, we know that words are cheap and cost us nothing.

Certainly there is some way to express our gratitude to God in a more concrete and practical way.

Paul here in Col. 3:15-17 gives us, I think, just what we are looking for to make thanksgiving a truly vital aspect of our lives.

He gives us in these verses three ways in which we can give thanksgiving through thanksliving.

The first way is connected with-

I. THE PEACE OF CHRIST.

v.15.

Paul says let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

Peace us one of gifts Jesus left with His disciples before He went to the cross.

Is not an exclusive gift to them only, however, but is the possession of all believers who are united to Christ by faith.

But it is one thing to possess the peace of Christ, and another to let the peace of Christ possess you.

It is the latter that Paul is urging upon the Colossian Christians.

The degree to which we let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts is the measure of our gratitude for the gift of His peace.

Paul connects being thankful directly with letting peace rule in our hearts.

The peace of Christ could never rule in the unthankful heart.

The two are mutual aids.

The more thankful one is, the more the peace of Christ will rule, and the more it rules, the more thankful one is.

Paul is certainly an example of this.

He writes this from prison where he could very soon suffer a violent death, and yet he writes of peace and being thankful.

Paul was thankful for every state he was in, for the peace of Christ reigned in his heart.

His was a life of thanksliving, for he lived always for the end of pleasing God.

He urges all Christians to pursue a like path by letting the peace of Christ rule in their hearts.

So shall our walk to close to God,

Calm and serene our frame,

So purer light shall mark the road

That leads us to the Lamb.

What does it mean to let the peace of Christ rule?

The Greek word is the term for umpire.

In a baseball game, if a dispute breaks out, the umpire must make a decision and settle the dispute.

Lightfoot, the Greek scholar, says of this word, "Wherever there is a conflict of motives or impulses or reasons, the peace of Christ must step in and decide which is to prevail."

In other words, the peace of Christ is the umpire that is to settle all disputes in our lives, and put down all rebellion.

This means that Christians, like everyone else, have conflicts in their lives.

They have emotions and wills that are often in a turmoil and do not know which way to turn.

It is at this point the Christian has a resource in the peace of Christ.

Let Christ make the decision.

Commit yourself to do only what is in harmony with Christ, and you will be at peace.

Let the experience of Christ himself be our guide.

In Gethsemane His heart was in conflict, and he was deeply troubled.

The greatest decision of His life was being made.

He gained perfect peace by letting the peace of God rule in His heart.

He resolved all conflict by total submission, and said, "Not my will but thine be done."

So when we find ourselves in one of those situations where we don't know what to do, resolve the conflict by submitting to Christ.

In the context Paul is referring to conflict with other Christians.

We are called to be one body, and anything that divides Christians is an agent of Satan.

Do not let him have control, but let the peace of Christ rule here as well.

John Chrysostom gives an illustration: "Suppose a man to have been unjustly insulted, two thoughts are born of the insult, the one urging him to vengeance, and the other two patience, and these wrestle with one another.

If the peace of God stands as umpire, it bestows the prize on that which calls to endurance, and puts the other to shame."

By so doing we are giving God thanks for His grace.

That is thanksgiving through thanksliving.

II.

THE WORD OF CHRIST.

V.16

The word of Christ is just that, the words of Christ which we have recorded in the Bible.

Here we have another very concrete way of expressing our gratitude to God, by seeking to know His will.

But note, it is not enough that it dwell in your home on the bookshelf, or on the end table, or in the closet.

The measure of our devotion is the degree in which we let the word of Christ dwell in our hearts and minds.

Paul says to let it dwell in you richly.

We must be filled with its content.

Paul does not say let it visit you now and then, but let it dwell in you.

Let your heart be its home, and not merely its motel.

Let it reside in you and reside there richly, not as a narrow stream, but as a full flowing river.

Moderation is no virtue when it comes to gaining a knowledge of God's word.

A letter from a loved one is precious even before you know it's contents.

So the Bible is precious to us even when we are ignorant of much of it.

But what boy or girl would be content with merely having such a letter when they can open it and gain the precious knowledge of it's contents, and what Christian can be content to own a Bible, but not know the riches of its contents?

The truly thankful heart will take full advantage of having God's word, and do all they can to let it dwell in them richly.

When this is a reality, the richness of God's truth always spills over in song and poetry.