A Gospel Thanksgiving (Colossians 1:3-8)

A Gospel Thanksgiving

Colossians 1:3-8

Sunday, June 15, 2026 — Land O’ Lakes Bible Church

Introduction

Please take out your Bibles with me and open to Colossians 1:3-8, our text for this morning. It is found on page #1168 in the Red Bible there in your seats.

Last week we began our study in the book of Colossians, seeing that it is a letter written by the Apostle Paul along with Timothy to the saints in Colossae, that is the gathered group of believers. We saw that this was a letter written with the purpose of both encouraging and correcting the Colossians.

For Paul hopes to help the Colossian Church towards maturity in the Christian faith. A maturity that will keep them and help them endure until their faith becomes sight. A faith that at present is being threatened by false teachings, which is why they need this letter from Paul and Timothy.

But before Paul warns and instructs them, he does something that might seem a bit odd to many of us. He doesn’t start with warning and rebuke. He starts with giving thanks to God for these Colossians. Giving thanks for their faith and what God has done in and through them!

And you see, beloved, friends, that this pattern of Thanksgiving is not something meant for just the month of November. Thanksgiving is to be a regular posture in our prayers to God! Including, a posture of thanksgiving to God for those who might seem still immature in the faith and ignorant of many things.

So, I pray this morning then as we consider these things, that the word of the LORD will stir our hearts to be thankful in our prayers to God for his grace towards others in our midst! And help us then to more fully pray for one another as we will see in the coming weeks. Let us then hear this word of the LORD this morning. Colossians 1:3-8…

Main Idea: Thanks be to God for the word of truth revealed to us in the gospel that is spreading and producing fruit to the ends of the earth.

1. Give Thanks to God

2. Give Thanks to God for Gospel Fruit

3. Give Thanks to God for Gospel Advancement

4. Give Thanks to God for Gospel Servants

I. Give Thanks to God

Look again there at verse 3…

The Church of Colossae is a church that has not yet been presented as mature. For this is the very purpose that Paul says down in Colossians 1:28-29, that he is warning everyone and teaching everyone so that Timothy and he could present them mature. This is what Paul says that he toils and struggles for, their maturity.

Maturity that will keep them from being deluded from false teaching. A false teaching that wants to turn their eyes from the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus to other things to give them aide in the difficulties of this life. And in doing this, Paul points them to the very one that they need, Jesus.

For even as this thanksgiving begins, notice the words of Paul and Timothy, “we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. They make clear here that Jesus is not just anyone, but that he is the Son of God, a Son who is equal in glory and power to the Father!

This relationship will continue to be emphasized throughout the letter. But it shows us the threat that is at stake for these believers in missing this. And yet, and yet, thanksgiving is what first overflows here! A thanksgiving that flows because the Colossians have trusted in Jesus as Lord, as King!

A thanksgiving that we ourselves should be giving in our own prayer times. Thanksgiving to God for the faith of others! Thanking God for their faith, for the fruit that is arising in others, even for that slow producing fruit. Thanksgiving being given, even when there is still much need for continued growth, as with these Colossians.

The danger though for us is to be slow in moving towards thanksgiving for one another. We are quick to see their faults, their immaturity, but slow to see what God has already been doing in them.

In a little Theology book on Colossians, author Kevin McFadden writes,

“Christians impoverish themselves when they do not prayerfully consider how they have experienced God’s grace, and this theological impoverishment results in an unthankful attitude. To the extent that one has a prayerful attitude, to that extent one will have an attitude of thanksgiving.”[1]

O beloved, let us not be impoverished in neglecting such thanksgiving. Rather, let us have this prayerful attitude of thanksgiving to God for what he has done in both us and one another! Particularly in being thankful to God for the work of faith and love and hope that he is producing in us. That is where we turn now with our second point.

II. Give Thanks to God for Gospel Fruit

Faith and love and hope are a common trio in Paul’s letters. Most notably that of the great love chapter from 1 Corinthians 13. A love chapter not because it centers on the love in marriage, though it certainly applies to that. But a love amongst brothers and sisters in Christ. And so, this love is put alongside faith and hope. And there in 1 Corinthians 13, it is stated that these three abide, but the greatest is love.

However, Paul here in Colossians emphasizes this slightly differently. He does so not to contradict himself and what he told the Corinthians, but because here, faith and love flow from the hope heard in the gospel. This is what we see here in Colossians 1:4-6.

A. Faith

First, there is the fruit of faith. And because of this faith, Paul and Timothy are thankful to God for the Colossians! For down in verse 5, it is said that they have heard the word of the truth, the gospel. Faith comes from hearing.

And so, they have heard the gospel, the good news of Jesus. The good news declaring that Jesus has come to deliver us from the domain of darkness and transfer us to the kingdom of God, his kingdom. The news declaring that in Jesus there is the forgiveness of sins. This is why the gospel is called good news, because it declares this message of good news to us, good news found in Jesus!

And so, in hearing this good news, the saints here in Colossae have believed this news by the grace of God! And their faith rests now in Jesus. He is the object of their faith!

So, then it is no wonder that Paul and Timothy thanked God for their faith!

Truly, the gospel is the power of salvation! For in it, the Lord quickens many unto new life by hearing and believing the word of truth!

B. Love

But faith is not the only thing that Paul and Timothy are thankful to God for in the Colossians. For they say that they are thankful to God in hearing of their faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that they have for all the saints.

One commentator here writes,

Their new allegiance inspired a new service to their new brothers and sisters in Christ. [2]

Faith in Jesus is to move us to love what Jesus loves. For to love Jesus is to love those he loves, our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We see this in 1 John 4:7-12 where we are told to be born of God is to love one another.

A love that is being declared to overflow from these Colossians to other saints in Christ.  

But we must not confuse what this love is that Paul and Timothy have heard of. For the love they have heard of from these Colossians is not in line with what the world around us calls love.

The world calls love that which is self-affirming. That is a love that affirms others in what they feel and think to be true. It is a love that never corrects out of fear of not being too judgy. A love that follows the cultural and popular agendas of larger society.

Beloved, that is not the love of Christ. It is a false love full of self-affirmation, self-glory that has exchanged us being created in the image of God for us making god into our image and likeness. It is the love of idolatry.

The love of Christ, as Paul and Timothy paint throughout this letter for us is a love that is rooted in encouraging one another in the ways of Christ. A love that does not rejoice in wrongdoing[3], but renew our minds by setting them on the things above in Christ.[4] A love that toils and struggles for the maturing of one another’s faith towards a greater assurance in Christ!

It is this kind of love that Paul and Timothy have heard about the Colossians and continue to encourage them towards as they seek to be bound together in perfect harmony according to the gospel[5].

Beloved, it is this kind of love for one another that we seek to have here at LOLBC, Land O’ Lakes Bible Church. A love that seeks to toil and struggle for one another’s maturing in Christ! A love that binds us together in perfect harmony according to the gospel, a love that is rooted in Christ Jesus our Lord!

May our gracious Master and our God give us this kind of love here at LOLBC!

C. Hope

Paul and Timothy have heard of this faith and love that the Colossians have. But notice the root of the two of these there in verse 5…

To use the language of the ESV Study Bible, the hope here is not the action of hoping. Instead, the hope here is the object of hope. A hope that is laid up in heaven and secure.

This hope that is laid up for them in heaven is the root of their faith, of their belief. And it is what fuels their love for one another.

What is this hope? It is the hope of the gospel. It is the hope of an imperishable inheritance that we are promised to take share in. It is the hope and full assurance that the legal demands of the law that we have failed to meet are dropped against us, because of Christ’s work on the cross. For all the debt that had stood against us was nailed to the cross in him. And in this act of love for us, Jesus not only removed our debt, but also disarmed all the rulers and authorities that stood against us with their claims against us! They were put to shame as they looked at us to declare us unworthy. For Jesus took our shame upon himself so that we could stand triumphant with him following his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to glory!

This is the hope that has fueled faith and love! A hope that Paul and Timothy are most thankful to God being present in these Colossians! A hope that they pray will continue to endure in them! More on that to come.

This is also the very same hope that we are being pointed to in the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Maybe you are here and at present feeling hopeless. Friend, here the hope laid before you. Hope in this good news of the gospel. That there is one who has come to rescue you and relieve you from the hopelessness of this world.

For at present, you are seeking hope in the things of this world. And yet, all that in this world, even that which has been created by God and was good in his very good beginning has now been affected by the fall. For where you are tempted to put your hope in people, circumstances, this life, sex and sexuality, work and purpose, all of these things have been affected by the fall with the entrance of sin in the world. For even as many of these give you the allure of hope and delight, they will quickly ensnare you and leave you for dead.

But here this hope offered to you in Jesus! A hope that rescues you, that pays your debt of sin. For despite your rebellion, despite your turning from God, he graciously stands to invite you back to himself through his Beloved Son, Jesus, and his sacrificial death on the cross!

So, friend, hear this hope in Jesus and come and rest in him! For though at present, you are weary, there is rest and peace for you in Christ! Come and place your hope and faith in him!

For this is the very hope we as Christians have, and we want you to join us in it!

And beloved, while this invitation of hope is being extended to the non-believer, let it stir your heart on as well! For this is the very hope that we have in Christ Jesus already! A hope that we need to remember and set our eyes on!

Maybe that is part of our own struggle in faith and love. We have allowed our hope to shift away from that which is laid up for us and beginning to replace it again with the things of this world.

Beloved, maybe part of the reason we struggle to love like we should and struggle with a shaky faith is rooted in where our hope lies. We must again set our hope in that which is laid up for us already in heaven! A hope rooted in the imperishable inheritance laid up for us in Christ! The hope that in Christ we can enter God’s presence and live! And there dwell with our good Father, forever!

Let us remember this hope and let it stir us onward in helping increase our faith and love for one another! That is point number 2.

III. Give Thanks to God for Gospel Advancement

Look again there at verse 6…

A. Gospel’s advance then

The very gospel that had come to the Colossians and was bearing fruit and increasing there, was also doing the same in the whole world. That is, as the gospel, the word of truth, went out, it was heard and believed. The gospel, which is the power of salvation, was producing faith, love, and hope all over. Where people were known to be, the gospel was going and was at work there.

But what is interesting about the language that Paul uses here, is that it goes directly back to Genesis 1 and the missions mandate that God gave man at creation. For in Genesis 1:28 we read:

Genesis 1:28 ESV

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

This mission to be fruitful and multiply was God’s design from creation. A mission though tainted by the fall of sin still being carried out through God’s people. For following the flood, this same mission was given, be fruitful and multiple. Then, in what we read in our Scripture Reading earlier from Genesis 17, we read how the LORD promised to Abraham that he would make him exceedingly fruitful and into nations.

It is in the gospel that we see this promise fulfilled. For it is through the proclamation of the gospel and belief in the gospel that Abraham is being made exceedingly fruitful. For all who come to faith in Jesus are in Abraham.

Therefore, thanks be to God for his faithfulness to his promises. That his gospel was spreading and bearing fruit wherever it went. In the Colossians and the whole world!

B. Gospel’s advance now

And praise God that this same gospel has continued to advance and bear fruit through the ages and even now! For consider how at present the gospel is at work both here and around the world.

Just in the last couple of years, I have heard updates from some around the world about how God has been at work:

· There is a great work of the LORD taking place in South Asia where a church is laboring to make disciples, as well as helping equip other national pastors to go out and plant other local churches.

· Intern classes are taking place in the Middle East in one local church where brothers are coming from other Middle Eastern countries closed to the gospel. These brothers and being trained up, encouraged, and then sent back out to help the gospel advance. While at the same time, in this place, more and more new believers are coming to faith in this same church.

· In East Asia, the gospel continues to advance as new believers are coming to faith, and others are continuing to grow and mature in the faith!

· In Bangkok Thailand, the Lord has continued to bless a local church there that is a fairly recent plant. And they continue to see fruit of people being saved by the gospel and continuing to see them and others discipled towards maturity.

Beloved, let us be thankful for what God is not only doing right before us, but also being thankful for how the gospel is bearing fruit around the world!

C. God’s Sustaining Mission

Such gospel fruit and increase should encourage us in seeing how God has been faithful to his promise! It should encourage us in the truth of Jesus’ words, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church!

Jesus’s mission cannot be stopped! The advance of his kingdom continues to spread! This is worth giving thanks to God for! Thanks to God for Gospel Advance! That’s point #3.

IV. Give Thanks to God for Gospel Servants

Verses 7-8…

Paul and Timothy here commend Epaphras to the Colossians. They commend him as one who has taught the gospel faithfully to the Colossians, and one who has served as a faithful minister on their behalf. And has even boasted about what God has done in them!

Paul and Timothy make plain here, that they are on the same team, that they are fellow servants of the same LORD declaring the same gospel!

Such servants as these have helped to spread the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. And they have labored faithfully to shepherd and care for others to strengthen their faith. And there are many more servants like these!

A. For Servants who have Labored throughout Church History

There are those servants throughout church history who have faithfully labored to advance and spread the gospel! From those of Augustine of Hippo, to Martin Luther, John Calvin, Zwingli in the Reformation. That of William Tyndale who gave his life to translate the Bible into English and was martyred for such efforts.

Then there are those like Charles Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd Jones, George Whitfield, Charles and John Wesley who were key in various gospel proclamation movements in their days to continue the gospel advancing and spreading! Not to mention the likes of those like Hudson Taylor and Adornium Judson, well known missionaries who faithfully served Christ as laborers of the gospel! To such men, we should give thanks!

B. For Servants who labored on your behalf

But not only for these faithful servants should we give thanks, but even for those who have labored on our behalf. For we should give thanks to God for those who labored to make Christ known to us and help us come to the place of hope that produced faith and love in us!

Giving thanks to God for those who have served Christ on your behalf!

C. For Servants who are unknown and laboring for the sake of Jesus

For many have and continue to serve the Lord Jesus in making known the gospel to the ends of the earth. And to each of these brothers and sisters, we should give thanks to God for!

For without such laborers, the gospel would not be advancing. And furthermore, praise be to the only God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who invites such sinners to the purpose of declaring such glory! Glory that brings dead sinners to life in the powerful message of the gospel!

V. Conclusion

As we conclude then, let us see that we have much to be thankful to God for. So then, let us not impoverish ourselves in keeping hearts of ingratitude. Rather, let us have a prayerful attitude filled with thanksgiving to our God for all that he has done and is doing through his beloved Son Jesus in the message of the gospel! And let us continue in this line of work by being faithful ministers of Christ on behalf of others in telling them the word of the truth, the gospel, so more fruit may bear and increase!

Amen! Let’s pray…

[1]Kevin W. McFadden. Hidden with Christ in God: A Theology of Colossians and Philemon; New Testament Theology Series. (Wheaton, IL, Crossway, 2023) 29.

[2]Mark Meynell, Colossians & Philemon for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2018), 15.

[3]See 1 Corinthians 13:6

[4]See Colossians 3:1-4

[5]See Colossians 3:14