The Gospel's Thanksgiving Table - Grace on Mission (Colossians 1:3-14)

Thanksgiving week

It’s hard to believe, but this is the last Sunday of the church calendar… next week is the first, and that’s when Advent begins. Between now and then, we have Thanksgiving. Some of you already have the turkey thawing in the fridge, and you have plans to be around a table… it might be your table, it might be an aunt or a grandma or it might be your own table, but the Thanksgiving table is the center of the plans for the week. Some of you are looking forward to it. Others, may not be. Some of you are apprehensive about being around certain family members at Thanksgiving. We know we are supposed to be thankful, we’re aware of what we should be thankful for, but too often all the drama and all the other things going on this week leave us feeling not so thankful.

Paul’s Letter to Colossae

We are going to briefly look at Colossians 1 this morning. It’s one of my all-time favorite thanksgiving passages. Because of what St. Paul says about the church at Colossae, a pretty insignificant town in the Roman empire. Paul says something remarkable about this church… a church not without its problems. That’s why he’s writing the letter. There are some concerns he has. But of all the letters we have from Paul, none match these opening lines of the letter. Paul is thankful and Paul is thankful about something very, very specific: the saints at Colossae. Real people. Real sinners. Real brothers and sisters who have been been making an impact in their area of the Roman empire.

And here’s why Paul is thankful for the church at Colossae:

Colossians 1:4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints

He’s thankful for their faith, and he’s thankful for their love, a faith and love that are so remarkable, that Paul and his team have heard about this church even though they are nowhere near the church at the time. No social media, no phones, but they have heard… probably in Ephesus, which is more than 125 miles away… they’ve heard about this church whose faith in Jesus is like a light. Their confidence is in Jesus. When they gather around the Word, the locals know that Jesus is there.

And it’s not just their faith and confidence in Jesus. They’ve also heard that this church has a vibrant love for each other, and for all the saints, even those they have not met. When Paul is on the road, when Paul is among those who have been on the road, Colossae is the subject of conversation. “Have you heard about the church in Colossae and their confidence in Jesus? Did you hear about all the stuff they do for each other and for other churches?”

That’s the stuff of thanksgiving. Paul says

Colossians 1:3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.

When we pray for you, we always thank God. Any time Colossae is on the prayer list, that prayer begins with thanksgiving because of the faith and love that Paul has heard about hundreds of miles away. Paul doesn’t get into the specifics as to the specifics of what he has heard, but whatever it is, they are a source of thanksgiving in his prayer because of their unwavering confidence in Jesus and their care and compassion for each other for their neighbors.

But here’s the thing. Paul doesn’t leave it there. Because connected to the faith and love of this church is something for which he is thankful above all other things: the gospel.

Colossians 1:5–6 You have heard about this hope in the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate God’s grace.

Their hope and faith that he has heard about from a distance is a direct result of the Gospel… the story and Good News of Jesus.. who He is and what He has done for us. The Gospel is bearing fruit and growing.. the language of the Garden of Eden, by the way… bearing fruit and growing among them… and it shows in their confidence in Jesus and their love for others.

Fingerprints of the Gospel

How do you know the Gospel is spreading, Paul? By the dos and don’ts that you hear about? Or is it faith and love, the natural product of the Gospel? Most of us would not recognize the name Juan Vucetich, but we’ve certainly watched a lot of TV shows influenced by him. In 1892, working with Argentinian police, Vucetich became the first person to solve a murder by identifying a fingerprint left at the scene. Since then, fingerprints have become standard in identifying all sorts of people doing all sorts of things… fingerprints are the evidence someone was here. Faith and love (and even hope, which is also mentioned here in the first chapter) are the fingerprints of the Gospel. They are evidence that the Gospel is doing its work. Faith and love are divine works… they are not human achievements. They are the fruit and the growth of the Gospel. And for that, Paul is always ready for a round of thanksgiving in prayer when this church in Colossae is mentioned.

And note the language about the impact of the Gospel on the church… highlighting the big picture...

Colossians 1:6 The Gospel is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you.

Paul wants the Colossians to see their little church—insignificant by worldly standards, tucked away in a minor Roman town—as part of the same gospel movement shaking the world. The same Gospel. The same Word. The same Jesus who was crucified and raised. They're in it. They belong to it. They participate in it. Even if they don’t feel it.

So Paul isn’t thanking them. He’s thanking God for them. He’s thanking God for the fruit he sees growing from the gospel seed, fruit that they themselves may not have noticed.

This is all part of the Gospel echo Paul describes here… he not only says the Gospel is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, including this church… he then expands his prayer to include this:

Colossians 1:10 So that you may (be) bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.

As the Gospel bears fruit and grows, so too does their love and their faith. Same language. Same movement. Same Gospel. The Gospel bears fruit and grows. Your faith and your love bear fruit and grow.

This isn’t the fruit of moral improvement or religious effort. Paul doesn’t say, “I give thanks because you’re so impressive.” He doesn’t say, “I give thanks because you finally got your act together.” He doesn’t say, “I give thanks because you’re doing better than that other church down the road.” Paul gives thanks because the gospel is doing what the gospel does. And the gospel doesn’t work like duct tape or staples or spiritual Band-Aids—barely holding things together until we finally figure out how to fix ourselves. No. The gospel creates new life. It doesn’t patch up the dying Adam; it resurrects the new creation in Christ. And the Gospel isn’t just giving information or data points about Jesus, but it is Jesus, in real time and in real space, giving us Himself through His Word and Sacrament.

Christ’s Thanksgiving Table

So what does all of this mean for us—here, in this Thanksgiving week, with its full schedules and empty chairs.. the laughter, the controversy, the warm feelings, the hard feelings, the family, the broken relationships? It means that before you ever sit down at a table covered with turkey and stuffing, Christ has already seated you at His Thanksgiving table. And this table doesn’t depend on how thankful you feel or how well your week has gone. When Paul writes to the Colossians, it’s as though he pulls up a chair at a feast already prepared—only this table isn’t covered with casseroles and cranberry sauce; it’s covered with Christ. Paul looks at this little congregation, full of ordinary sinners like us, and he sees the Gospel’s Thanksgiving spread: faith in Jesus, love for the saints, hope stored up in heaven. None of that is self-cooked, none of it microwaved, none of it brought as our contribution to God. This whole table is catered by Christ Himself.

And don’t miss this:

Christ’s Thanksgiving table is never a private dinner.

He doesn’t feed you so you can simply sit back and say, “Well, that was nourishing.” His table is always a sending table.

The Gospel’s Thanksgiving Table is grace on mission.

The same grace that fills you is the grace He sends with you into the world. Just as Paul says the gospel is “bearing fruit and growing all over the world,” so that same gospel bears fruit in you and then through you into the people you meet this week. The patience He gives you becomes patience you actually have for your family. The mercy He speaks over you becomes mercy flowing from you toward someone who hasn’t earned it—just like we never earn His. The hope He anchors in you becomes hope you quietly carry into anxious rooms and difficult conversations. Jesus never feeds you without also sending you. Grace that doesn’t move outward isn’t grace at all—because Jesus Himself is always on the move.

And if Christ has begun this work among us—and He has—then Christ will continue it. He will keep growing faith. He will keep stirring up love. He will keep anchoring hope. He will keep sending this little church out in grace on mission. The same Jesus who fed the Colossians now feeds us. The same gospel that grew in the first century is growing in the twenty-first. And as we step into this Thanksgiving week, and into the next season of life as a church, we do so with Paul’s confidence: the gospel is bearing fruit and growing all over the world—and right here in San Benito.

Let’s Pray

The Table

It’s not an accident that the word many churches use for the Lord’s Supper is Eucharist, which literally means thanksgiving. When we talk about The Gospel’s Thanksgiving Table, we’re not just speaking in metaphor. We’re talking about something very real—The early church could have chosen a dozen different words to describe the meal Jesus gave us, but they chose Eucharist—because this meal is at the heart of Christian thanksgiving. At Christ’s table, thanksgiving isn’t a mood we conjure up; it’s a gift we’re handed. Here, Christ is both Host and Feast. Here, He gives Himself—His body, His blood, His forgiveness, His life, His salvation. Here, the gospel’s fruit isn’t just preached into our ears; it’s placed into our hands and poured down our throats. The Gospel’s Thanksgiving Table becomes most visible, most tangible, most concrete at this table, the table where Jesus feeds His church. So receive this Table, receive Jesus here in faith. You are not going to leave here empty-handed. You walk away full. Full of His life. Full of His forgiveness. That’s the Gospel’s Thanksgiving Table. That’s grace on mission.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.