Thanksgiving and Prayer: The Effects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Introduction

When is the last time you thanked God for a friend for their faithful witness for Jesus?

When is the last time you asked God to help your friend grow in their relationship with Jesus?

These are two things that Paul did for the Colossians when he had never even met them before.

His love for God’s people abounded, regardless of his personal interaction with them. . . and this is because his love for God’s people came from his love for God.

Paul had been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. . . it changed the way he spoke about others, it changed the way he treated others, it changed the way he lived, and it changed his mission in life.

In Colossians 1:3-14, Paul thanks God and prays for the Colossians. Just as the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed his life, it has also transformed the Colossians’ lives.

The question we must ask ourselves tonight is, “Has the gospel transformed my life?”

And as we walk through verses 3-14, we will see from the example of the Colossians that the gospel of Jesus Christ does bring transformation for all who hear and understand it by faith.

So lets read our passage of Scripture together in Colossians 1:3-14

Colossians 1:3–14 ESV

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Pray

Through the example of the Colossians, God will show us that trusting in the gospel leads to three results.

First, trusting in the gospel perpetuates thanksgiving.

1. Perpetuates Thanksgiving (v. 3-5)

In verses 3, Paul begins his letter thanking God for the Colossians.

Even though he has never met them he always thanks God for them. . . which demonstrates that the Christian life should always be accompanied with thanksgiving to God for other believers.

The word “since” in verse four tells us why Paul was constantly thanking God for the Colossians. . . because he had heard from Epaphras about their faith in Christ and their love for all the saints.

Through thanking God for the Colossians love and faith, Paul acknowledges that it is God who is working in the church to give them the grace to place their faith in Christ and love the saints.

Similar to Paul referring to the Colossians as the “faithful brothers in Christ” in verse 2, he reiterates their faith in Christ and it is a faith that works and is displayed in their love for all of the other Christians (saints) that they live with.

In short, our faith in Christ should change the way we love and treat others.

Paul tells us the reason for the Colossians faith and love in verse 5. . . because of the hope laid up for them in heaven which they previously heard and discovered in the gospel, which Paul describes as the word of the truth.

The Colossians have a hope that is reserved and saved up for them in the presence of God, which likely refers to their glorified and resurrected existence in the heavenly temple where they will dwell with God forever.

Therefore, the hope we have to be with God forever should deepen our faith in Jesus and desire to love the body of Christ.

Faith in Christ and love for people spring from our hope in the gospel.

“Of this” in vs. 5 refers to the Colossians hope, in which they first heard about in the gospel, which Paul defines as “the word of truth.”

The phrase “word of truth” is used other times in the Bible to refer to the Scriptures (Psalm 119:43; 2 Tim. 2:15; James 1:18) and the gospel (Eph. 1:13).

The article “the” may emphasize that there is only one truth, one gospel.

This would be especially important since the Colossians were facing the threat of “another gospel” being proclaimed by false teachers in their congregation.

So Paul tells us that placing our hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ produces faith in Christ and love for others.

Paul thanks God for these attributes in the Colossians.

Would a fellow Christian be able to thank God for those attributes in us?

If not, why not?

We can only grow in our faith in Christ and our love for others by placing our hope in truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The second result of trusting in the gospel is that it produces growth.

2. Produces Growth (v. 6-8, 10)

Paul says in verse 6 that the gospel of Jesus has not only been proclaimed to the Colossians through Epaphras, but has been proclaimed in all the known world and is bearing fruit and steadily increasing through it being heard and fully understood.

The gospel will always grow and influence all the earth, like a little leaven that starts small, it will affect and encapsulate all things.

A few verses down in his prayer in verse 10, Paul picks up on this same theme by using the words “bearing fruit” and “increasing” and says this fruit in every good work takes root and increases through the knowledge of God.

In these verses, Paul is making an allusion, which is when a Biblical author alludes to another passage of Scripture indirectly.

In verse 6 and 10, Paul alludes to Genesis 1:28, where God gives Adam and Eve the command to be fruitful and multiply and increase upon the earth.

The same Greek words for increase, multiply, all the earth, and fruit are used in both passages.

Adam and Eve were called fill the earth with God’s image through childbearing and instructing their children in the knowledge of God. They were to increase in the knowledge of God and walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, but they failed to do this and gave into the lies of the serpent.

Jesus, the second Adam, came and perfectly fulfilled this task by growing in the knowledge of God (Luke 2:52) and bearing fruit in every good work through his perfect life.

Through faith in Christ, the Colossians can now bear Christ’s image and overcome the false teachings in their church by increasing in the knowledge of God (the Gospel), which will lead to bearing fruit for God’s kingdom by bringing others into the kingdom through their testimony and witness.

We also see the gospel growing through the faithful witness of Epaphras.

Verses 7-8 tell us that he served the Lord faithfully on behalf of the Colossians for their benefit and not his own.

The Holy Spirit connects Epaphras to the Colossians and to Paul since all believers share in the same Spirit.

The gospel brought growth and bore fruit in the lives of the Colossians. . . but has it brought growth and fruit in our lives?

So, trusting in the gospel perpetuates thanksgiving, produces growth, and lastly, it prompts prayer.

3. Prompts Prayer (v. 9-14)

Seeing the effects of the gospel in the lives of others should prompt us to pray that God would help our friends to continue to grow in their faith.

In verse 9, Paul says he never ceases to pray for the spiritual lives of his brothers and sisters in Christ that he has never met.

*How much more should we never cease to pray for those that we know?*

So, what are some specific ways we can pray for one another and other Christians?

Paul gives us an example by praying in three ways for the Colossians.

First, Paul prays in verses 9-10 that they would be filled with the Knowledge of God by the Spirit.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7).

The verb is passive and is something that God does to them by the Spirit.

The Greek word, pleroo, is used to signify what the Colossians need to be filled with. This Greek word is used throughout the letter to counter the heresy from the false teachers.

They taught that the fullness of God and the Christian life was through ascetic experiences and Jewish rituals to attain the heavenly temple and fullness of God. Yet, Paul says all they need to experience the fullness of God is through being filled with the knowledge of God’s will through the Spirit.

vs. 10: Paul says it is through the knowledge of God that they can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.

Paul defines this “pleasing life to God” as one that “bears fruit in every work and increases in the knowledge of God.” (Ephesians 4:1)

Full knowledge and understanding of God’s will in the gospel brings about a fruitful life (the fruit of the Spirit, repentance).

We need to continue to seek to please the Lord through walking in his will in all that we do. We cannot do this if we don’t have an understanding of his will in the Scriptures by the Spirit (2 Cor. 5:9; Eph. 5:10; 1 Thess. 4:1).

Second, Paul prays in verse 11 that the Colossians would be strengthened with power according to God’s glorious might (controlling and governing power) in order that they would have the ability to patiently endure with joy the attacks from the devil they are facing through this false teaching.

The word “all” is continually repeated.

Through God’s might, the Colossians will have the ability to control and govern their thoughts and actions to combat the false teachings.

Third, Paul prays in verses 12-14 that the Colossians would give thanks to the Father for giving them a share or portion of the inheritance of the saints through redemption in Christ.

Paul teaches us that Theology is grace and ethics is gratitude. If God has been gracious to his people the only proper response should be a life that is lived full of gratitude.

The Father has made us sufficient and adequate to receive a share in the inheritance of the saints through redeeming us by the blood of Jesus.

The Father has reserved us a place and a seat for us among the saints to be in his presence (see Exodus 22:31; Leviticus 11:44-45)

It is like if our friend was the President of the United States and he saved us a seat to be with him and all the his cabinet members. There is no way we could have a seat at the table by ourselves, but because we are his friend and associated with him, he has qualified us to give us a seat at the table among the “elite.”

Our adequacy before God and to be ministers of the gospel comes through Christ (2 Cor. 3:4-6).

We are ENOUGH, not because of anything we have done, but because of everything that Christ has done for us!

Paul clarifies that through Christ, the Colossians have already been made able to have a seat in the heavenly temple along with the saints.

They have been rescued from their sin and placed in the heavenly kingdom through faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross. Therefore, they do not need to follow the false teaching that was being propagated that they need to do these ascetic practices and Jewish rituals to reach heavenly glory. . .

Christ is all, and they have everything they need in Him.

Response

Is our faith in Christ and love for others evident in our lives?

Are we growing in the gospel and is our life continuing to bear fruit?

In short. . . have our life been transformed by the Gospel?

For this to happen, we must hear and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ because Paul says in verse 10 that they only way we can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord is by being filled with the knowledge of his will in the gospel.

So lets hear the gospel again in verses 13-14 so we can understand it and be transformed by it through the Spirit.