Thanksgiving 2024

Colossians 2:6-7

6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

This is the word of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

I. When were you most grateful

Can you think of a time when you were extremely grateful for something or someone? Close your eyes and think about that time for a moment.

What was it that caused you to be grateful? To whom is your gratitude owed? Why were you grateful? How did you show your gratitude?

(pause for a few minutes)

I want to tell you about a time when I was extremely grateful for something. (Tell a story)

I’m pretty sure that each of us has something or someone to be grateful for.

II. Background

And this is what our text this morning is about. It is about living a life of gratitude as Paul has written this letter to the Colossian church.

In our text this morning, Paul is writing a letter of encouragement to the Colossian church. The primary theme of the letter is simple. “Jesus is Lord.” And in the reality of that Lordship, they, we, us, should live our lives a certain way.

In this pericope, Paul is giving the Colossian Christians instructions on how to live in the reality of Christ’s Lordship. Paul implores the Colossian church to “live in Christ.”

Now the question is, how does one live in Christ. Paul gives us the answer in verse seven by telling us that one lives in Christ by being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith. To live the way that they were taught and to bind all of this up in gratefulness.

In other words, they should never forget that it is God who saved them. Because Christ is Lord, their faith has a firm foundation. And because of where God had brought them from, they should live a life of gratitude.

The way they show their gratitude to all that God has done for them is to live a grateful life.

Gratitude and thankfulness should be a way of life for any disciple of Christ.

Now after studying this text, I asked myself, what does a grateful life look like?

 A grateful life comes out of obedience, rootedness, nourishment in faith, and staying in the truth that we were taught. From this we find that our hearts are overflowing with thanks for all that God has done.

Again, we show our gratitude to God through how we live. Let’s take the people of Israel in the wilderness for example.

God delivered them from bondage and showed them his glory. He even dwelt among them through his spirit in the tabernacle. Yet, the people did not live a life of gratitude.

When they were faced with slightest bit of adversity, they mumbled and grumbled against God. They said things like; we had plenty of food and water in Egypt, why did you bring us here to die, God has abandoned us….

They saw where God had brought them from. Yet, they chose not to live lives of gratefulness. They did not have an attitude of gratitude.

Our level of gratitude is often evident whenever adversity strikes. When the walls are closing in, are we still grateful to God?

Or are we murmuring and complaining?

Paul warns against this sort of behavior as he lets the Colossian church know that at one time, they were idol worshippers and had no inheritance, yet through Christ they have inheritance.

They should live in this reality as evidence of their gratitude for Christ.

The deeper they are, the deeper we are, the more grateful we will become.

But let’s think for a moment of why Paul is needing to share this with the Colossians. The Christians of Colossae are living in a society where temptation is rampant.

They are for the most part, new converts and you some within the church who are teaching a different Gospel and telling them that they must adhere to the Jewish law.

They are vulnerable! They see their friends and family members who are not Christians living around them and they are being pressured. There is also the threat of persecution at every turn. They are experiencing much adversity.

But Paul tells them to hold firm to their faith and remember how it was when they had no faith in Christ. Remember how empty you were. Remember how you lived in spiritual squaller.

Remember how your life had no purpose or meaning. Yet, the Lord saved you and made you a new creature and thus you will have eternal life. Be grateful that you serve a God that has forgiven, freed, and adopted you.

Recognize your status as forgiven and renewed and be grateful. Live a grateful life.

Gratefulness occurs we recognize our status as forgiven and renewed, when we recognize our need for God’s faithfulness in our live, and when we have such joy that it can’t help but spill over and influence others.

This is the rooted and grounded faith of a thankful heart.

III. Five Kernels of Corn

I want to tell you about a people whose life and faith pointed to people who had a grateful heart.

In the year 1621, the Pilgrims endured one of the harshest winters. The people were cold and starving due to lack of resources.

Things got so bad that they had to ration their food resources. Everyone: man, woman, or child would receive five kernels of corn daily. That would be their meal.

I am going to say that again, everyone would receive five kernels of corn daily and that would be their daily provision.

One Pilgrim wrote that on Thanksgiving in 1621, the meal consisted of five kernels of corn on each plate.

Now I don’t know about you, but I pray that I see more than five kernels of corn on a plate two Thursdays from now. But…

Later a ship came in, and they were able to trade fur pelts for corn. Before that many died but a tradition was started on Thanksgiving Day in 1621, and it is called the Thanksgiving kernel tradition.

The following year, the Pilgrims had an abundance of crops but that year on Thanksgiving Day and every year after that, the Pilgrims would always put five kernels on their plate to remind them of the time when they had little.

Friends, many people observe this act of remembrance started by the Pilgrims on that harsh Thanksgiving Day.

It is easy to forget the years of drought, but I wonder if we would appreciate the years of rain and abundance the same if weren’t for the years of drought.

Living a grateful life is recognizing that second chances don’t always come, and God gave us the greatest second chance ever and we must take advantage of it. We must show our gratitude by living lives that are rooted in him. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.