Thankful for Christ
Notes
Transcript
It is hard to believe that we are already at Thanksgiving and will be leaving the month of November. I almost cannot believe how quick time is going by. We have talked about being thankful for our families, Thankful for our Struggles, thankful for our church. This week we will end our path of Thankfulness with being thankful for Christ. The one central theme in all of our lives are the things that Christ has done for us. I could start by telling you what Christ has done for me and we would be here all day listening to what Christ has done for me. This morning we will focus on the things we have to be thankful for in Christ. What has Jesus done in your life and how has He changed things in your life so that you live a completely different life than what you would live outside of that relationship? The thing about Jesus is that He changes things in a way that we cannot. When I change things I change things, I change the home I live in, I change the car I drive, I change the clothes I wear. When Jesus changes things He changes the hearts of those who come to him.
In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?"
The rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. "Do as I say and come back in a week."
A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he tells the rabbi. "The goat is filthy."
The rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week."
A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat -- only the nine of us."
Here is what I can tell you. Jesus is the GOAT. Jesus enters the picture and all the things in life that we are so overwhelmed with and distraught about He brings us joy for. As we get ready to have our families over and we get ready to celebrate thanksgiving, we must remember that Jesus brings us the ability to truly be thankful. Turn with me in your Bibles to Colossians 3:15
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Prior to this verse, Paul is like a coach telling his church how the game is to be played. He tells them that if they are going to make it being a Christian they need to clothe themselves with compassion, kindness, humility, and gentleness. He tells them that they need to be forgiving people. In the middle of giving this great half time speech pumping up the believers he says to remember to be thankful to Christ for the Peace that He brings to their Hearts, to be thankful for the body of Christ, and reminds them that thankfulness is a choice. This morning we will explore those 3 things from the Scripture. We are to be thankful for Christ because He brings us peace, He builds the body, and He gives us the choice.
Christ Brings us Peace
Christ Brings us Peace
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
I said it earlier that when I change things I change “things”. Jesus does not really change things in our lives what Jesus gives us the ability to do is to have peace. Jesus never stated that He would take us out of all of our troubles or trials. What He told us is that in those troubles and trials He would remain with us and would not leave us. Remember a few months ago we talked about the storm with the disciples on the boat? Remember how when Jesus was awakened He told the disciples, oh you of little faith? Here if you do not remember here it is.
23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
It was not that Jesus was frustrated because He was woken up. He was not simply grumpy. I get grumpy when I am woken up from a deep sleep. What about you? Jesus though was not grumpy, he was disappointed. Jesus had been with the disciples, He had healed a leper in front of them, He had healed the centurions servant, Jesus healed many oppressed and sick. The disciples knew who Jesus was and that same Jesus was in the boat with them. Their reaction in the trial of the storm was not to look at Christ and say what do I have to worry, their reaction was just like most of ours. We freak out. We lose our minds, we believe everything is coming to an end and this is it. Jesus though is to be a great source of peace for the believers. Jesus should have been that for the disciples. Jesus was making a point when he said in verse 26.
26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Why are you afraid? He was saying to them do you really think I came to die in a boat on the water with you? If I am not going to die here why do you think I would bring you out here to let you die? Jesus was saddened by the fact that He gave the ability for the disciples to have peace and yet they still chose fear and anxiety over him. Jesus gives us the ability to have peace. Real true peace. Do I have permission to be real with you for a minute? This is why I don’t talk about elections or politics. It is not that I do not have my own convictions and ideas. It is not that I don’t have my own opinions. It is though that in the face of Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father, why do I need to worry about anything? It really does not matter to me who fills that White House because no matter who is there my Jesus still sits at the right hand of My Father on His Throne. I wish believers would be truly thankful for the peace that Jesus can give them. Well pastor how do you know people are not thankful? Because they do not live in it. Around every corner people are looking for a reason that they need to take control of things or handle things on their own. They do not have the faith that says God has things under control and does not need me to do anything aside from Love Him and Love others! That is what He called me to do all other things that I want to freak out about and take control of, well those are the things better left to Him to handle. I can tell you that most the church is not thankful for peace because we do not live in it. We constantly chase fear and anxiety and when God handles one situation in our lives we do not find ourselves resting in that we move to the next area of anxiety and fear. What happens when we take control of things that we should leave to God? One of my favorite examples of this is Moses.
God told Moses to handle a situation the way He wanted to handle it and Moses chose to do things his way.
8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”
Why was this particularly difficult for Moses? It is easy to judge him but the fact is that every miracle that God worked through Moses up to this point God had instructed Moses to do something. He was told to raise his cane, he was told to throw the cane down, he threw up dust. Never up to this point had Moses done a miracle at the direction of God through speech. Moses brought the people to the rock like God told him to do but when it came tome to let the people see God work in a way that only God could work Moses stepped in to help things along.
10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.
The sin here was that Moses did not have faith that God could handle the problem.
12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
What things in your life do you need to give over to the peace of Christ this Thanksgiving?
I keep this quote from an unknown author in front of me most the time
Peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that He is there with you always.- Unknown Author
We can show that we are Thankful for Christ by resting in the peace that He provides. What areas of anxiety and stress do you want to give away today? What areas is God calling you to simply lay at His feet?
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Christ brings us perfect peace. Christ also gave us the body of believers.
Christ gave us the body
Christ gave us the body
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Christ gives us peace that the rest of the world cannot understand and often times is fearful of to the point that they attack it. The devil though attacks that peace in our lives and wants us to lean into the uncertainty and anxiety. This is why God has given us the body of Christ. The Church body. A collection of people who all have been given the ability to live in peace who are supposed to help each other live in that peace. Why did Jesus choose 12 disciples? I have to be honest I am not into numerology at all. I do believe that God has specific ways that He designs things and in His own power and own divinity does things perfectly. I am not asking this question to get into numerology. I am asking this because the number 12 does have significant Biblical implications. The 12 disciples were chosen to represent the 12 tribes, the 12 tribes represented the 12 sons. The 12 sons represented a complete family. In all that Jesus was doing He was building on the body or family of God. To see this you have to go back to Jacob who was named Israel by God who then had 12 sons who created the tribes of Israel. This concept is what is being drawn out in this scripture in Colossians. Paul is reminding us that we are given the peace of Christ and is the reason that we are a part of this family. This family of Christ is to hold each other in that peace. The world around us lives on fear and anxiety. Imagine what happens to the medical world when people give up their fears of diseases? Imagine what happens to the banking systems when people lose their fears of being poor. Imagine what happens to the shopping centers if people lost their fears and anxieties of having nothing. You see the world around us is built on living in fear and anxiety. It is designed to cause you to spend your time and money trying to find security. The fact is that Jesus has already given us that. Just like the disciples Jesus is in the boat with us. Your life is no accident.
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Not only are you fearfully and wonderfully made. God created you to live in the time and place you currently live in.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
God laid out where you would live
14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
God also designed for you to live in this time. Your life is no accident and no mistake to God. He is in complete control. When we need to be reminded of this He has given us a church family. A collection of believers who share their lives together who are transparent and real with each other and who build each other up for the Glory of God. The body of Christ is a family of believers designed to help remind each other to live in the peace that Christ has provided. I’ve said it before and I will say it a million times. The church is not the place where people come to have their fears exploited or used, It is the place where they get to lay those down and give them to Christ. The church is a family and to be thankful for what Christ did we need to be a part of that family.
Three pastors got together for coffee one day and found all their churches had bat-infestation problems. "I got so mad," said one, "I took a shotgun and fired at them. It made holes in the ceiling, but did nothing to the bats." "I tried trapping them alive," said the second. "Then I drove 50 miles before releasing them, but they beat me back to the church." "I haven't had any more problems," said the third. "What did you do?" asked the others, amazed. "I simply baptized and confirmed them," he replied. "I haven't seen them since."
Reader's Digest, July, 1994, p. 64.
Too many people forget the purpose of church and because of this the church suffers. The church is not the place where you come to hear a pastor tell you that your political views are ok or correct, it is not the place where you come to fellowship over the problems of our society. It is the place where we come and we encourage each other to live in the peace of Christ. When devastating things happen around us we do not find a side and stick to it the church prays and lifts up both sides because we care about the people on both sides. The church is the family of believers that help each other get back to a place of peace. We are so built to fight. Think about your childhood, you were built to fight. What happened when a sibling took something of yours? What happened when a friend hurt your feelings or did something to you? Thats right it often times led to a fight. We are so pre-dis-positioned to fight and God is calling us to live in peace and to help remind each other of that. The church is where we come to re-center our hearts on the peace of Christ and the life He has called us to live in. We show our thankfulness when we are a body of believers committed to being there for each other and worshiping together, resulting in believers who live in peace and truth. Do you live in peace and truth? Are you committed to the body of Christ? What we do in church is not about feeling good about our church or liking the music, or enjoying the atmosphere. It is about us learning to live in peace because of Christ and helping each other find that peace in Christ.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
We can be thankful to Christ by being committed to the body of Christ and to His church. I’m not here to guilt anyone into coming to church please do not hear that this morning. I am however saying that healthy believers and people who live in peace have one thing in common. They are devoted to the body of Christ in being active and living in their faith through their local church. Jesus has given us peace and has given us the body of Christ to help live in that peace, He also though allowed this to be a choice.
Christ gave us the choice
Christ gave us the choice
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
The last section that Paul writes in verse 15 is the most important part of all of this. “And be thankful”. Paul is telling the believers that they have a choice here. To be thankful is to live in the peace of Christ and to be a part of the family of God, and it is a choice you get to make. We serve a God who believes in allowing us to make choices. Paul says here to choose thankfulness. Thankfulness is a choice and is something that God wants us to live in. He will not force us to live in His peace and be active in our church. He will allow this to be a choice. Here is what I can tell you. When I am active in living in peace and active in my church, I find myself so much more thankful for who God is and what Jesus has done for me. I find myself helping others be reminded of this and I feel useful in my world. When I am not doing these things I feel useless and fearful. I do not have peace in my life and while I can claim I do because I do not have to talk to anyone or be a part of anyone's life, I cannot lie to myself. Living in the peace of Christ in your life is a choice. Being a part of the family of God in the local church is a choice. Are you choosing peace in your life? Are you choosing to be active in helping other believers live in that peace? It is up to you. You can choose to live in fear and anxiety and God will give you over to it. You can choose to live in peace and understanding of who Jesus is in our lives and you can find power and hope in your life that the world around you will never understand.
Film maker Walt Disney was ruthless in cutting anything that got in the way of a story's pacing. Ward Kimball, one of the animators for Snow White, recalls working 240 days on a 4 1/2 minute sequence in which the dwarfs made soup for Snow White and almost destroyed the kitchen in the process. Disney thought it was funny, but he decided the scene stopped the flow of the picture, so out it went. When the film of our lives is shown, will it be as great as it might be? A lot will depend on the multitude of "good" things we need to eliminate to make way for the great things God wants to do through us.
Kenneth Langley.
You can live a good life by living your way. Sure people will say good things when they lay you to rest and they will feel pain when you leave. What though will your life say if all you choose is to live a good life? To choose to live in peace and as a part of the body of Christ is to chose to live a great life. When they lay to rest a person who lived in the peace of Christ they will say, It is only by the power of God that they lived the way they did. God is giving you a choice. You can live in Thankfulness for what He has done by living in pure faith and peace and being a part of the body of Christ. You can also take for granted what Jesus did on the cross and live in your anxieties and fears, and never living to help others find the peace of Christ. God will not force His will on you until the day His will is revealed as the only choice for all and every knee bows and every tongue confesses. Until then He gives you a choice.
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Being a disciple of Jesus was a choice. To live your life effectively in the peace of Christ and to be a part of the Body of Christ is a choice. Are you going to choose to be Thankful for what Jesus has done and to live in that Thankfulness?
