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Give Thanks to God
Our theme verse today is Colossians 3:17
If we simply read this verse we might think this only refers to our own individual action.
Certainly, our personal individual action matters, but there is a larger purpose in this that relates to our corporate action.
The context here in Colossians 3:12-17 describes “one another” and “one body”
In this context, we are told in vs 12 to “put on”:
- bowels of mercy - “a deep sensitivity to the needs and sorrows of others”
- kindness
- humbleness of mind
- meekness
- longsuffering
N. T. Wright, Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 12:146.
Then in vs 13 we are to forebear and forgive.
Verse 14 says, “above all these put on love” which here is called “the bond of perfectness”
Paul said this in Ephesians 5:2
Jesus gave us the great example of walking in love.
It is an “offering”, “a sacrifice to God”, when we trust Him to work out a situation and choose to live in peace.
We understand that the thanksgiving he is talking about here is not just individual thanksgiving but it is corporate thanksgiving.
This is
Giving Thanks to God Together
Back to Colossians 3:12-17,
It says in vs 15 “let the peace of God rule in your hearts”, thus is plural.
It says “ye are called in one body”, here ye being many.
In vs 16 it says “teaching and admonishing one another” which is a group social activity and “singing with grace in your hearts” which is plural, more than one!
So, being “thankful” in this context is not simply an individual activity.
This is people together giving thanks to God.
Thanksgiving
The Pilgrim Tradition
We have a rich tradition of thanksgiving that we historically trace back to the first permanent settlement by Europeans in New England.
Pilgrims (separatists from the Church of England) immigrated to the “New World” seeking a more abundant life along with religious freedom.
The Pilgrims and many others that came seeking religious freedom, were subject to the world financial system of their day and in 1619 it was a system where “the slave trade was a global institution”.
This group of about 35 was however, able to negotiate with a London stock company to finance their enterprise but were required to add others to ensure their success so about 100 embarked on the journey.
After a grueling 65 day journey their ship, the Mayflower, landed at Cape Cod.
This however was outside the territory of the “Virginia Company” and the status of their contract was unclear.
Half of the group died that first winter.
It was Native Americans who gave them food during the first winter which allowed some to survive.
It was also an Indian that had formerly been a slave that helped negotiate peace with the Native Americans that taught them how to survive in this “New World”.
Over the next year “by the goodness of God” they gathered an abundant harvest.
That next fall, they gave thanks and celebrated what we now call Thanksgiving.
This would never have happened if one former Native American slave who had been kidnapped and forced into slavery years earlier had not been willing to help these early settlers after he had escaped his European master.
This also would not have happened if the Pilgrims had prevented their Native American friends from joining them because of cultural or language differences.
Biblical Thanksgiving
The concept of offering Thanks to God, having a heart of thanksgiving, has not always been predominant throughout history.
Thanksgiving in the Early Old Testament
Daniel Doriani in his “Evangelical dictionary of biblical theology”, suggests that
“Early in the Old Testament, both the language and the concept of thanksgiving are conspicuous by their absence …
Neither Adam nor Eve thanked God for his creation,
and … The families of Isaac and Jacob contended over God’s blessing rather than thanking him for it …
(and) after the exodus, Israel grumbled again and again, rather than thanking God for his deliverance and for food that literally fell from heaven”.
Thanksgiving after the Law of Moses
It is only later when the Law is given through Moses that we find Leviticus 7:13 “the sacrifice of thanksgiving” which is part of “peace offerings”.
When we think about the Law of Moses, we typically think only about the sin offering.
Through the Law of Moses, God revealed His covenant of salvation.
Atonement for sin is only accomplished by the payment of blood.
We can read this in Hebrews 9:22
God made it clear through Moses that “without shedding of blood is no remission”.
Blood was required for the remission of sin.
Blood was required for man’s flesh to be sanctified.
But God does not stop with this offering for sin.
He instructs and Moses includes “peace offerings”.
These are not required but are accepted by God as freewill offerings.
These are not given to cover the blight of sin, but are given with thanks from a heart of gratitude for God's goodness.
In fact, God says in Psalm 50:13
God does not desire the sin offering except that He desires the relationship that He can only have with a sanctified and righteous living man.
There is a shift in the Old Testament as we found in Psalm 50:14 “Offer unto God thanksgiving; And pay thy vows unto the most High”
Also in Psalm 107:21-22
The Psalmist gives God’s lament over the heart of man.
The shift we observe after the introduction of the Law of Moses permeates, not just the lives of individuals, but the whole of their corporate worship 2 Chronicles 31:2
Now we find thanksgiving as part of corporate worship.
Men have understood not only the creation of God, but His plan of sanctification by the shedding of blood to pay the price for our sin.
God is not punitive.
God is not holding back anything.
In fact, God’s delight is in restoring our relationship because His very character and nature is to love us.
Thanksgiving was Fulfilled Through Jesus Christ
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ fulfills the plan of salvation.
He is the final sacrifice, and the power of sin and death is broken in Mark 15:38
We now have complete access to the very throne of God because “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom”
We can now come into God’s presence as Adam and Eve did in the garden, in Hebrews 4:16
But our access is not just that we can know who God is.
Our access is “to obtain mercy” and to “find grace to help”!
God has also given us His Holy Spirit in Ephesians 1:13
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
We are His until Jesus Christ returns.
In Romans 8:15
God is our Father.
He is there for us and desires good for us.
Thanksgiving Comes from Bountifulness
Lets look at 2 Corinthians 9:11
Being enriched, bounty, causes (well, should cause) thanksgiving to God.
Lets read the verses just before and after this for clarity. 2 Corinthians 9:8-10 is just before:
The bountifulness being talked about here is our ability to give to the poor.
This is having enough to meet your own needs and also to meet the needs of those around you.
This we find in the verses just after in 2 Corinthians 9:12-15 where God sets you apart.
Lets read the response.
Your gift, “your liberal distribution unto them” causes “their prayer for you” as they “long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you”.
But this isn’t your doing, this is the result of “his unspeakable gift”.
A Thankful Heart
In our natural state we were cut-off from God with a stony heart that was unthankful.
But God gave us the gift of life through Jesus Christ.
He has given us a new heart as in Ezekiel 36:26
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