Overflowing with Gratitude
The Grateful Church • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We are just two weeks out before my favorite holiday. It is a time that I can just cook the meal and then sit back a do nothing the rest of the day. It is a day I get to really thank the Lord for all He has done in my life and the life of my family and friends. I bet most of you would have said that my favorite part is the meal. It isn’t. Now don’t get me wrong, I like that part, but it is honestly one of the most relaxing day I get all year. Some of you get so wrapped up in having that Norman Rockwell thanksgiving, that you miss the most important part of it all…overflowing with gratitude.
But what if you burn the bird? There is a positive way of looking at it:
• Salmonella won't be a concern
• No one will overeat.
• Everyone will think it's Cajun Blackened.
• Uninvited guests will think twice next year.
• Your cheese broccoli lima bean casserole will gain newly found appreciation.
• Pets won't pester you for scraps.
• The smoke alarm was due for a test.
• Carving the bird will provide a good cardiovascular workout.
• After dinner, the guys can take the bird to the yard and play football.
• You'll get to the desserts quicker.
• You won't have to face three weeks of turkey sandwiches
The point of this funny illustration is, you may have had a horrible year, but there are things that you can take from it that is positive.
The verse we are looking at this week deals with that. Paul is writing this letter to the church in Colossae when they were in a lot of turmoil. And Paul is trying to encourage them even though he was in his first Roman imprisonment.
Paul got word that the church was dealing with false teachings, such as self made religions, forced legalism, the worship of angels and trying to access the vision world. Sounds a good bit of what the church is dealing with today.
Paul addressed these issues by setting forth a proper understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ and by noting what Christian conduct is appropriate. Gratitude is one of those all important Christian attitudes. Paul does not just say you should be grateful, he tells us what we should be grateful for and how to attain it.
Let’s look at our verse for today.
So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.
Let’s Pray!
Paul’s letter to the Colossians is a message we need to hear today. He is promoting the sufficiency and the supremacy of Christ in order to combat the heresy that had divided the church and distracted them from serving Christ. So church my question to you is this…what has distracted you from serving Christ that you have lost your gratitude for the gift of salvation?
Paul starts by saying
just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord
The word Lord has meaning of complete and utter sufficiency. Christ is enough, not only for salvation, but for the whole of the Christian life. We should not be swayed by heresy or division, but stand strong acknowledging the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
To have a true sense of what gratitude and thanksgiving is, you must first have Christ as Lord and Savior in your life. Without Him, you will only understand gratefulness and thanksgiving by what man has described it as, which is selfishness.
continue to walk in him
To walk the Christian walk is used often in the Christian world. It speaks of progress and action. In the Christian life, you are either moving forward, stopped or worst of all, moving backwards. Walking the Christian walk is not easy, but we are called to continue to move forward. There is a reason I end each week with this pray. Be light upon our feet as we walk this narrow path through the narrow gate.
I remember camping with my friends Bobby and Jeremy. It would be about this time of year we would go camping cause it was cool at night. One of us would get out there early and start the fire. We would do that cause the others would bring all the supplies and normally it would get very dark very early. The fire would be the only light that you would see. It would illuminate the little trail we had cut to get to our site. Without it, we would be squinting and barely make out anything. Pastor why not carry a flashlight? Well we had one, but that thing was massive. It was one of those that took that big ole battery. It was heavier than all our supplies put together.
Christ is the light upon our feet, so that our walk will match our talk.
Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
being rooted
Paul is expressing that Christ Jesus is the soil from which we get our nourishment from. Just as roots, we should be rooted deep so that when the storms come (not if they will come but when) we will be secure in Him.
Christ used a parable describing this very thing and he explained it to his disciples.
“So listen to the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. But he has no root and is short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”
He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
built up in him
Paul switches from agriculture to construction. The viewpoint Paul was coming from was that Christ is the cornerstone, the very foundation on which we build our lives upon. We must build our lives on solid gospel doctrine.
Have you ever wondered why they used that saying of foundation stone or corner stone? Back when they would build a structure like the Jewish Temple, they would lay what is called a foundation or cornerstone.
Archaeologist have unearth cornerstones that have been 80 ft long, by 10 ft wide, by 12 feet tall, weighing anywhere from 250 tons to the biggest was in Herod’s temple that was 660 tons.
Now wrap your head around that when they said Christ is the rock on which I stand, this is what they were talking about.
I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed. And the destruction of that house was great.”
So being rooted in Him and built up in Him, means you are setting your roots down into the solid foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ and building your self on the solid gospel teaching of Jesus Christ. and this is where you can be...
established in the faith
Established can be translated as confirmed. The thought behind it all is that it is a process that goes on continuously throughout the Christian life. The Colossians had been taught the fundamentals, but they also needed to progress forward down the Christian pathway, to have it rooted and built up in their hearts and lives. Conversely, the bible indicates that failure to progress in establishing your faith can result in doubt and loss of the joy and the blessing of the gospel.
The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.
Continuing to walk in Him, Being Rooted in Him, Built up in him, established in faith in him will make us
overflowing with gratitude
Gratitude for these blessings is the antidote against the poison of false doctrine. Christianity is not some cold doctrine taught by stuffy old white men, it is the captivating blessings of the truth of the gospel for all men. These blessing in turn will produce in you the overflowing of gratitude and thanksgiving.
Be like trees fast-rooted, like buildings steadily rising, feeling His presence about you, and even(for this your education had led up) unshaken in your faith, and overflowing with thanksgiving.
Arthur Way
To walk in Him, to be rooted, to build up, to be established and to overflow with gratitude is the bases of a relationship with Jesus Christ. Not just some thought of who Jesus is, but a closeness that knowing That He is the soil that will not go away. It is knowing that He is the foundation to build your life upon. It is knowing that you are confirmed, established in your faith in the living Savior Jesus Christ. It is all of this that brings about the overflowing gratitude and thanksgiving our hearts long for.
