Be Grateful!

Scripture

Colossians

Colossians 2:6–7 NIV

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Supporting Text

Colossians 3:15–17 NIV

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 2:6–7 NIV

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Pray.

Let’s get caught up as we get ready to close up this series. (Leave up Colossians 2:6-7)

Putting down Roots series:

“Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord”: Move to town, baptism

“Continue to live your lives in him”: living the dream, walk in life, you are a live

“Rooted in him”: Stacey preached on community. this work is done

“Built up in Him”: Staying with Jesus. ongoing

“Strengthened in the faith as you were taught”: old time religion, the historic faith…for the colossians it is the faith of the apostles. Hunger and thirst to grow deeper in our grasp of the faith

Today, we close out with this idea of what it means to overflow with thankfulness.

"Be Grateful!”

Growing up I remember being told a phrase over and over again.

“Son, be grateful for what you have.”

See we did not have much, I mean its not that we were ever close to the streets, but pretty simple lives. And what made that hard for me and my brothers is we were actually surrounded with by friends that had much more.

Gratitude is a tough lesson to learn isnt it. I am seeing my kid enter into that stage of life where he wants all of the things. Like with kids, what he has in his hand is not good enough. Parents, how long does this last? 20 years, ok great.

No but I remember being told this growing up, “Be grateful for what you have.” And thinking saying that does not make it happen.

See I think there is a difference between the mental exercise of gratitude, “be grateful” and a life that is shaped in such a way that gratitude overflows. That is what we will talk about this morning.....

Context:

Let me give you some context for our passage. We covered the beginning of chapter three the second week of the series about living the life. Now we are covering the other end of the same section of the text. Paul is saying her, you have been raised to life, your life is hidden with Christ and then he says there are some moral, ethical, and social demands that come from this truth.

Gratitude begins with perspective

Gratitude begins with perspective. Our context of chapter three gives us this.

Our focus text is again from chapter 3. Paul is going to do something here to draw our attention back to the beginning of the chapter.

Paul is going to do something here to draw our attention back to the beginning of the chapter.

Colossians 3:1 NIV

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 3:

Colossians 3:15 NIV

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

First our verse today from 15

Colossians 3:15 NIV

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

and the reader should be drawn back to the beginning here...

Colossians 3:1 NIV

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

You see how Paul bookends this section talking about the heart. He begins by saying you have been brought to live so set your heart on things above....then he comes back and says because of this your heart should pour out in a specific way.

What Paul is saying is that the peace of Christ, and thankfulness begin in life. This is the first step in gratitude to know that you are alive. “Since then you have been raised with Christ, let the peace of Christ rule your hearts and allow gratitude to flow out.

There are some implications of this:

a. Gratitude is a characteristic of life.

The life that has been raised, should be marked by gratitude overall. And for the person that is walking in life, they should be marked by gratitude.

b. The opposite is true:

complaining and whimpering is a reflection of a perspective of death. They only see what is wrong, they only see what is dead, they only see what could have been instead of what can be.

Ok where does gratitude come from. Like the one that is more than a mental exercise

Ok where does gratitude come from. Like the one that is more than a mental exercise

Gratitude is born in worship

Gratitude is born in worship. In both the corporate gathering and also in the life of the individual.

Colossians 3:16 NIV

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

There is something central, according to Paul, about singing songs, hymns, the songs of the temple from the psalms. We are going to talk about worship for a couple of minutes....

I have become convinced, “Not all worshippers are grateful people, but a life of gratitude is born in worship.”

James K.A. Smith Desiring the Kingdom

“Perhaps it is by hymns, songs, and choruses that the word of Christ “dwells in us richly” and we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Don Saliers suggests as much when, discussing the experiences of elderly saints in a local congregation, he comments, ‘Their music was ‘by heart,’ in the heart, and sung from the heart. Through the practice of singing, the dispositions and beliefs expressed in the words of the hymns--gratitude, trust, sadness, joy, hope--had become knit into their bodies as integral parts of the theology by which they lived.’”

By worship, singing, by lifting our hands in praise, by dropping to the floor in submission, the words, the prayers of song, the grace of declaration is becoming knitted into your bodies.

Worship is formational.

Let me get really practical for a second.

What if singing is vitally important. Like really singing with the congregation.

I learned to worship with other worshippers. I was worshipping with some friends even yesterday and I looked around the room and wept because their worship was filling me up. What if you neighbor needs you to worship, your spouse needs you to worship. What if you need you to worship.

A word about hand raising. One of my best friends told me one time, I am never going to raise my hand in worship it is not my style.

Tim Hawkins:

Have you ever heard Tim Hawkins stand up about hand raising? Oh it is hilarious:

carry TV

Big screen

Fish was this big

hold my baby

dueling light bulbs

goal posts

heartburn

mufasa

wash the window

Listen, I am not actively trying to convince you all to raise your hands in worship....what I want to say is that worship is formational. What if raising your hand was the same thing as kneeling when you pray? It is a bodily change of posture before the living God. What if singing out-loud was the same as praying out-loud. There is something powerful about it. There is obedience and submission. It is knitting it in our soul. To say something out-loud gives it life. To sing it out-loud it does something. To do it with your family, it is a deposit of faith.

What I am not interested in is hyped up emotionalism....what I am interested in is myself and my brothers and sisters in the room being keenly aware of the presence of God and responding.

Help! I am a jerk

What do you do if you are just a jerk?

Ok first off, you are not a jerk. dont be so hard on yourself. But what do you do if your life is not marked by this gratitude? Well let’s go back to the beginning of the series:

do you know the life available in Christ?

are you in community?

are you being built up?

are you learning about the faith?

Do you have consistent experiences of worship; both corporately and individually?

Preach this out a little....

To close out this series, I want to close out with the last part of out text that provides the sending, the what now, the what does the rooted life look like....

In the Name of the Lord

Paul is going to commission the Colossians here. Look at it again:

Colossians 3:17 NIV

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Whatever you do. The rooted life, in word and action…they do it all in the name of the lord.

teacher

construction worker

business man

energy consultant

mom at home

dad at home

neighbor

The rooted life is different. What is cool about this is you are rooted in heaven but planted in the world.

Word and deed

Do it all in the name of Jesus. There is something much deeper at work here than we usually think....I will close with this thought:

There is something much deeper at work here than we usually think....

I do not have time to get too far into this but there is a history of theology packed into this idea…in the name of the Lord. We think of representation. We come as a representative of Jesus into every scenario.

BUT, All throughout the OT: Exodus, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, 2 Samuel, The name of the Lord is the same as the very presence of God. When an angel appears in . God says “my name is in him” as to say when he leads you I am leading you.

If we go in the name of the Lord, then we not only represent him, but it means that he is in you. He goes with you. You are bringing Christ into every circumstance.

Putting down roots begins in baptism, it ends in a life that brings Christ into every circumstance.

In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen.