Giving Thanks to the Father

Open your Bibles with me, if you will, to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1. This morning, we are going to be reading, from verse 12 of Colossians 1, and as is our custom here, I invite you, if you are able to do so, to stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word:

Colossians 1:12–14 NASB95

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Would you pray with me? Lord, Jesus, we come before You this morning in the praise and honor of Your great Name. Lord, You are Worthy of our praise and adoration forever and ever. There is none that is like You, and no one else that is worthy of honor and glory. And as we enter into a time of studying Your word this morning, we do so wanting to bring You honor and glory. We long to know You as intimately as we are capable of, and to become more like You so that You receive the glory from us that You deserve. Would You teach us this morning? Would You change us so that we might better know You and make You known. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Thank you, you may be seated. Can you believe that today is November 1st? The holiday season is officially upon us, along with all of the hustle and bustle that comes with them. In just a few weeks, we will find ourselves pushing back from the Thanksgiving table, lamenting how much we ate and debating whether to go for a hike or to take a nap in front of a hallmark Christmas movie. In some ways, it will be like so many other Thanksgivings that have come and gone.

And yet, this year’s holiday season is like no other. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s eve of 2020 promise to be different than their predecessors because 2020 has been a strange year. Will shoppers flood malls and stores for Black Friday this year? Macy’s has promised there will be a parade on Thanksgiving, but what does different mean for that? Will we still gather in large groups of family and friends to eat these special meals together?

And then there’s the election. How can we even think about the holidays in the midst of such political and social upheaval? Every election in our country’s history has been important, and yet as this one approaches, it feels as though this one is monumental. In just a couple of days, we will either be looking at the preparations for a new administration or 4 more years with the current one. One or both of the houses of congress may shift majorities as well. We could end up with a super majority where one party simply runs over the other one, or we could have a government so divided they do nothing. Many fear that the election will be contended and squabbled over, regardless of who actually wins. The divide among people in our country is so fierce, I wouldn’t say you were crazy to fear a coupe by either side not getting what they want. All of these things are out there, all of them are uncertain, and yet one thing is sure, that regardless of who wins what, the results of the election will please some and frustrate others. Some will see in it, the future that they desire, while others will see our certain demise.

And the results of this election, coupled with the rest of the insanity that 2020 has been, may just be enough to sour our stomachs; it may just be enough to quiet our festivities; it may just be enough to overshadow the most wonderful time of the year. We’ve seen it all this year, haven’t we? Covid-19, riots in the streets, locked down businesses, and self-quarantine became something we were accustomed to. Louisiana has seen so many hurricanes this year, you need a submarine to visit. And don’t get me started on the “new normal” that all of us are trying to figure out.

I look out over this room this morning, and I rejoice for every face that I see, knowing that it you have come here seeking the presence of the Lord. I rejoice that are doors are open, and that we are able to gather together. But I also mourn. I mourn the absence of those that aren’t here. There are some that cannot come, whose health is too fragile to risk it. But there are others who aren’t here today, either because they are afraid or because they have gotten complacent. They are used to this new normal. And church from the couch, or maybe no church at all, is more comfortable than being here. Now they can go other places. Big Woods has been packed, and I’ve seen some of you all at Walmart, but church just isn’t safe.

This truly is a strange year. It is a strange season. I saw a meme just a week or so ago. It was just before Halloween, and it said “let me get this straight: you want me to put on a mask and eat candy all day? I’ve been doing that for seven months-maybe this holiday is outdated.”

2020 has been that way, hasn’t it! And maybe it’s just me, but I get the feeling, I get the sense that in some ways it would be easy for us to approach this holiday season beneath a cloud of gloom in the place of a sense of joy. It feels as though we should be mourning the great losses we have suffered, instead of celebrating. Perhaps we should be bracing ourselves in fear of the future ahead of us. Maybe the twenty pounds we gained during the shutdown should be enough to drive us toward ditching the turkey, and leaving the ornaments in the boxes. I mean, why have the holidays at all this year? We’ve postponed so much in our lives this year, why not just put off the holidays until next year as well...Except that doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t work for me, and it shouldn’t work for you.

You see, to buy into that rhetoric, you have to believe in another idea, an idea that the truth is relative. There is a quote from the movie, Captain America: Winter Soldier. In it, the Black Widow is talking to Captain America, and he asks her for the truth. And she says, “The truth is a matter of circumstance. It's not all things to all people all the time.” It is an idea that plagues our world today like a cancer, that the truth is somehow changed by our circumstances, or is only true so long as it is agreeable to us. And this idea slaps in the very face of what we celebrate this time of year, because the truth is determined by someone greater than ourselves.

And the truth is, that regardless of our circumstances, regardless of what may have gone right or wrong this year, regardless of what we are feeling right now, we need the time of celebration that is ahead of us because you and I need to give thanks. Despite all of the things that I have just mentioned, despite all of the horrors, agonies, frustrations, setbacks, and acts of stupidity that we have faced this year, you and I need to celebrate and to give thanks. We have so very much, in this moment, to be thankful for, and we need look no further than the passage in front of us this morning to see it.

This morning, we are here to begin our Thanksgiving celebration. As a church body, you and I are going to give thanks during the next month together. And maybe you are here this morning, and you are grasping at straws, looking for reasons to be thankful. And if that is you, let me say that you are blessed today, because these verses are a treasure trove of reasons that you and I have to give thanks to God. Look at verse 12 with me:

Colossians 1:12 NASB95

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

As you pull out your listening guide this morning, the first thing we are thankful for is this:

We are thankful that God is our Father

God is our Father. He is our creator, the creator of creation. God created everything that is, even the very definition of what it means to create. There is nothing in all of creation that does not owe its existence to God our Father. God is the Genesis, He is the beginning. He is the One who gives us life, and He is the One that gives us our identity.

When you go back to Genesis chapter one, and you consider all the things that God has made, when you really dwell on His creation, you realize just how magnificent He is. God truly created an amazing place full of extraordinary things, both living and not. He is the Father of everything, and yet you and I can lay a special claim to God is our Father. Genesis 1:27 says

Genesis 1:27 NASB95

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

You and I were created in the image of God. We were made to carry His image, to be a reflection of Him to the world around us. Here, in Live Oak, I hear from people all the time who my Father is. They can look at me and see him in me, because he is my father. And we can look at each other, and we can see our God in each other because He created us in His image.

Isaiah 63:16 NASB95

For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us And Israel does not recognize us. You, O Lord, are our Father, Our Redeemer from of old is Your name.

God is our Father, friends, and that is not only truth, it is truly something to celebrate. Because God is a good Father! God provides for His children. He provides everything that we need. He filled the earth with things to eat and resources that we can use. He gave us His creativity. He has given us everything that we need for life, including reminders of Himself. Romans 1:20 reminds us of this, that God is revealed to us in His creation, and the greatest example of that, when we look at each other, reminds us that He is our Father who provides. A year or two ago, we walked around at VBS quoting this verse to one another:

2 Peter 1:3 NASB95

seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

God, our Father has given us life, and He provides for us with everything that we need, not only to live and the thrive, but to do so in a manner that is pleasing to Him. He has given us His Word so that we can know and understand Him. In it, He has given us a road map for life, so that we know how to show our love to the God that loves us. And we can be thankful for Him, because we have a Father that cares for us. Our God is a good Father, and a good Father loves His children.

Their are many people who struggle with the concept of God as our Father. In the brokenness we have caused through sin, our world has become a broken place. Our earthly fathers were always meant to be a reflection to us of our heavenly father. Yet, for many who are here this morning, and millions more in our world today, that has not been your experience. Your earthly father has hurt you, neglected you, and failed to love you as a father should. At best, he has not done the things that a father is called to, and at worst he was committed sins against his children that would make our skin crawl were you to tell us about them this morning.

And let me tell you that I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what you’ve experienced, but I’m also overjoyed because I can tell you with full confidence that you have a good Father. The Lord, our God is a good Father, and His love is true. The love of God is evident in our lives and throughout the pages of Scripture. Look no further than the rest of verse 12.

Colossians 1:12 NASB95

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

The second thing I would have you make note of this morning is this, that

We are thankful to God for declaring us qualified

Truly, our God loves us! When I read this verse, I am reminded that most of us have experienced working with someone who was not qualified to do what they were doing. Maybe their dad was the boss or there was literally no one else to fill the position, but it was obvious they had no business doing what they were doing. Maybe you’ve been that person, put in a position you weren’t qualified for. And if you haven’t had those experiences, you most assuredly have experienced wanting to qualify for something and not being able to. Whether it was a loan, or a job, or a school that you applied for, a sports team you wanted to play on, all of us know what it feels like to be unqualified.

And to realize how thankful we should be towards God, our Father, what we need to realize is that we were all unqualified. Each and everyone of us falls short. As the Psalmist writes in Psalm 14:3,

Psalm 14:3 NASB95

They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.

We were unqualified, but unqualified for what? Unqualified to be called children of God. Unfit to be a part of His family. Fit for Hell, not the eternal glory of His Kingdom. We were in that state that those outside of Christ find themselves now, ans we’ll expand on that in a moment. But what we need to see here is that we didn’t do anything to change that, God did. God, our Father qualified us. He made up the difference in us. He overcame our shortfall, and made us His sons and daughters. He gave us, not only a place in His Kingdom, but an inheritance, the blessing that comes to the children through their Father, the culmination of all of the blessings He has worked to bestow on His sons and daughters. We have a lot to be thankful for. We have gone from unqualified to qualified children with an inheritance. But how has He accomplished this? Look at verse 13

Colossians 1:13 NASB95

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

There are two points of thanksgiving in this verse, aren’t there? There are actually far more than that. If we had the time, we could talk about these three verses all day. But we will glean a couple of them this morning in our time together, and the first one of them is this, that

We are thankful to God for rescuing us from sin

I want to be careful here, beloved. I want to be careful because the things that we are discussing here do not apply to everyone. They can apply to anyone, but the don’t apply to everyone. You and I live in the kingdom of sin. It is a kingdom that we created in the midst of God’s creation. It started all the way back in the garden, when Adam and Eve were in the perfect presence of God. There was no death, there was no pain. There was life abundantly. And in the midst of that perfect place, was chose death over life. God told Adam and Eve what would happen if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and Evil, but they chose it anyway. They chose sin and death, and ever since that day, we have lived in the kingdom of sin and death.

Sin has cast this world, this marvelous creation, into a place of death and darkness. And I want you to focus this morning on the word, rescue. Because the word rescue means saving someone from a danger they are incapable of saving themselves from. You and I are incapable of doing anything about our sin problem. We have sinned, and we have earned the punishment for sin, which is death and an eternity of suffering, and there is nothing that we can do about it. You and I are slaves to sin, and slaves do what their master says. And what this verse is saying is that through God our Father, you and I have a path of rescue. We have a path to be saved, that for those that believe, those that choose to follow Him, God has made a way for us to be rescued, saved from our sin. Saved out of the kingdom of darkness. Not everyone, but anyone who believes, He has saved us out of darkness. You no longer are a slave to the kingdom of sin, because of God the Father, because

Colossians 1:13 NASB95

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

We are thankful, not only because He rescued us from the slavery of sin and darkness, but also,

We are thankful that God gave us a King and a Kingdom

He took us out of the Kingdom of darkness. Taking us out of sin and darkness is in and of itself reason for us to be thankful, but He did so much more than that. This verse tells us that our Father gave us a King and a Kingdom. He gave us a home, away from the death and destruction of sin. He gave us a place where sickness, death, pain, and suffering are things of the past; a place where there is no more war, where we will spend an eternity in the service of the King. but He also put us in the Kingdom of Christ, to do the good work we were created for in worship of the One who loves us most.

We’re not talking about cartoon clouds, and angels with harps, but the heavenly city with streets of gold, where the trees of life grow along the river that flows through it. We are talking about a land where the ground no longer turns up thorns and thistles, and the marvels of our creator will take all of eternity to discover. We are speaking of the wedding feast of the Lamb, where the last shall be first and the first shall be last. This is the promise of the heavenly Kingdom, because it is ruled by the only Fair, just, and wise King. He will reign forever and ever, and His Kingdom will have no end. No more shall we be governed by greedy and selfish men, who seek themselves and their own ends at our expense, for the Lord, Himself will be our King. He who has already given everything for us will be the One that oversees everything for us.

This is why we can give thanks today! This is why we can celebrate, because despite our circumstances, these things ring true. No, the truth doe not depend on our circumstances, it is greater than them. It is not defined by what is convenient, it paves the way out of our trials and failure. It is not the great cause of our anger and our strife, but our freedom from it, because the truth is that our God and Father loves us. He has qualified us, who don’t deserve it, to receive the inheritance of His eternal blessing. He has rescued us, when we had no hope on our own, and He has given us a King and a Kingdom.

And we can trust that these things are true. We, who are in Christ, can give thanks for them, because we know without a doubt that these things are true? How do we know? Look at verse 14:

Colossians 1:14 NASB95

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

How is it that God has accomplished this on our behalf? How has He rescued us from sin and darkness? How can He put us in His Kingdom, with Christ as our King forever? How can we have earned death can be given an eternal inheritance? What proof do we have of these things? Friends, His name is Jesus!

If we had nothing else in all the world to be thankful for, this would be enough, that

We are thankful for our redemption and forgiveness of sin in Christ

We can believe that these things are true because our eternal King is the Son of God, whose birth we will celebrate once again this Christmas. He came and lived a perfect life. He never sinned, what you and I are incapable of doing. He willingly died in our place, to take on Himself our punishment of death. There can be no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood, and so Jesus Christ willingly became a sacrifice for you and me. Three days later, He rose from the dead, defeating death and giving us hope of eternal life.

His birth, death, and resurrection stand as the most documented events in all of human history. He has ascended into heaven, and one day He has promised that He will come again to take those of us whom have believed to His eternal Kingdom and to destroy death forever. We, who are guilty can have forgiveness. We, who are dead men walking can have life everlasting by the goodness of God through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us, in Romans 10:9

Romans 10:9 NASB95

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

And we can believe that it is true because He has kept every other promise that He made. If God, our Father, did not spare His own Son, what would He not give to us? Isn’t this what the Scriptures say in Romans 8:32.

Romans 8:32 NASB95

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

This holiday season, we will give thanks. We will give thanks, though we may not feel thankful. We will give thanks with joy that is born, not out of our circumstances but from the truth of our identity in Christ. The truth is that we have a Father that loves us. The truth is that He saw our separation from Him in the darkness of sin and death as unacceptable to Him. The truth is that He took it upon Himself to do for us what we were incapable of doing for ourselves; He sent His Son to die in our stead so that we can live with Him forever!

The truth is that regardless of how you came in here this morning, you can leave today knowing that you will live forever. You can leave here today as a citizen of His eternal Kingdom. You can leave here today forgiven and free from your sins and the chains that sin binds us in. You can leave here today in thanksgiving. And regardless of what you have faced in the terror of 2020, regardless of what this year has robbed you of, this morning you can begin a celebration in the joy of our Savior because we have a Father that loves us.

I’m going to pray for us. In a moment, I’m going to spray, and we’re going to sing a hymn together. And as we sing, maybe you are here today and you are carrying some heavy burdens from this year. And maybe you need to come lay them down at the altar. Maybe you need to come and bow, and put them down so that you can take on His joy that He means for you in thanksgiving. Or maybe you are here today, and you are still in chains. You are still living in the kingdom of darkness your brought on through your sin. And maybe today you are ready to be rescued. And if today is the day that God is calling you into His Kingdom, I would invite you to come forward. Let me pray with you and for you. Let me help you take those steps of joy this morning, that you too can live in the thanksgiving of the Father.

Would you pray with me? Lord, Jesus, we have so very many things to be thankful for this morning. Despite our circumstances, despite the craziness of the world we find ourselves living in, we are thankful today for the forgiveness that we find in You. Thank You for freeing us from our sins, for giving us a home and inheritance in Your Kingdom, and for being our King. We want to celebrate this season of thanksgiving, looking past the troubles of this present hour into the light of Your eternal Kingdom. Would You help us, Lord, to let go of this world of sin and heartache and to fix our eyes on You? Would You help us to lay down the burdens that we carry with us, so that we make take up Your joy in thanksgiving. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.