What Makes Christians Most Thankful

Colossians 1:12-14

I've entitled our study for tonight "What Makes Christians Most Thankful?" What makes Christians most thankful? If you remember from our last study of this particular chapter, the Apostle Paul is praying for the Colossians, something which is rather common to the introduction to his letters, to mention that he's praying for a certain group of people. And it is no different in the case of the Colossians.

If you look at verse 9, he says: "For this cause, we also, since the day we heard, do not cease to pray for you." That's a very common response in the heart of the Apostle Paul to the need and the life of the people to whom he wrote. He is praying for them.

Back in the sixth chapter of Acts, the Apostle said, "We will give ourselves continually to the ministry of the Word and to prayer. This was true in Paul's life. The ministry of the Word was part of his ministry and the other was prayer. And here he expresses the fact that he's been praying for them.

Now, his prayer, as we saw last time, has two parts. The first part is petition and the second part is praise. The first part is to request something and the second part is to thank God for something. Verses 9 to 11 is the petition and verses 12 to 14, the praise.

Now, we have already studied verses 9 to 11, so tonight we'll look at verses 12 to 14 which is the praise, or the thanks, that Paul gives for what God has already done. He's already requested some things to be done, and now thanks God for what Fie has already done. And I think, in a very real sense, this can set for us a model, or a pattern, for our own prayer life. That we are to be occupied, I think, with two broad categories in our prayers and that is petition and praise. It should not be all petition, it should be all petition and praise. It should not be all praise, but it should be petition. As we saw this morning, you have not because you ... what? ...you ask not. And so, there needs to be both sides in our prayer life and to be sure there is a balance.

Just to illustrate that to you and to show you that that was indeed the pattern of the Apostle Paul, you are in Colossians chapter 1, if you look back at the fourth chapter of Philippians which would just be the prior page. You look at the sixth verse: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer, even supplication with thanksgiving." You have there a definition of prayer. Prayer is supplication, or petition, with thanksgiving. It is asking and thanking. It is that beautiful balance.

In I Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1: "I exhort therefore," Paul says, "that first of all supplication, prayer, intercession and giving of thanks be made for all men." Those terms combine petition and praise, asking and thanking. And those really become the ingredients to any biblical pattern for prayer.

Now we've already discussed the petition, you can go back to Colossians 1, we've already discussed that fantastic petition that he prayed in verses 9 through 11. And I'm telling you, it's so exciting just to think about those things. I know your heart was enriched as we shared them. And now we're going to move to the thanks that he gives in verse 12. Notice verse 12 and how it begins. "Giving thanks unto the Father." Now, that's a very basic idea. And I wonder sometimes, and I want to spend a little time talking about thanks, I wonder sometimes if we really understand how thanksgiving is to fit into our lives. Every Wednesday when I come here and I look at the prayer sheet and see a whole long line of things being requested and a little tiny piece of things being responded to, or thanksgiving made for, I wonder whether we understand the balance. I wonder whether it isn't very easy to forget to say thanks when we're use to getting what we want and that's what God is use to doing, you know, meeting needs. It's as simple as the words of Asaph, who wrote in Psalm 50, verse 14: "Offer unto God thanksgiving..." I mean, it's that simple. It's commanded of us to be thankful.

In Psalm 69 and verse 30, it says: "I will praise the name of God," and I like this, "with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord, better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs." You know what God likes better than a sacrificial animal? True praise, true thanks that comes out of a heart that is filled with thanksgiving and is offered both in word and in song.

In Psalm 107, it's verse 21, 1 think, it says ... well, look at verse 21 and 22: "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving ... God wants from us thanksgiving.

Psalm 92, verse 1: "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto Thy name, 0 Most High."

At the end of Hebrews, it's an interesting statement that is made in Hebrews 13:15: "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.

So, we are to thank God. We are to thank Him when we talk. We are to thank Him when we sing. We are to thank Him when we pray. Thanksgiving is to make up a part of our life and I guess I'm as guilty as anybody else in failing so very many times to thank God. It seems a simple thing to do, to set a little time aside every day and just thank Him, but we forget, don't we? We don't forget to ask Him, we only forget to thank Him.

And I thought about it. You know the angels thank God? That's right. The angels spend a lot of time doing that if Revelation 4:9 is any indication. "And those living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him that is seated on the throne." And then in the seventh chapter of                   Revelation and the eleventh verse: "And all the angels stood about the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures," and so forth and so on, "And they said, Amen, blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving to God forever and ever."

Later on in the book of Revelation you find the angels doing it again. In the sixteenth verse of the eleventh chapter, and here you have the...the 24 elders apparently joining together with the angels, saying: "We give Thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty." The angels do it.

You want to know something interesting? Christ did it. Christ spent time thanking God. In Matthew 11, and this is very basic, but I just want to remind you of it, Matthew 11:25, "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes."

In Matthew chapter 26, and I want to show you how often Jesus did this...Matthew 26:26 says: "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave to the disciples and said, Take, eat; this is My body. He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them."

In John chapter 6, and these are only samples, verse 11: "And Jesus took the loaves and when He had given thanks," and here He is feeding the 5,000, "He distributed to the disciples." But not until He had given thanks.

At the graveside of Lazarus, in John 11:41, "'Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me." This is the pattern of the life of Christ...to thank God. This is the pattern of the angels in heaven ... to thank God. And this is commanded of us, we must be thankful to God. He is the One who provides everything.

In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 20, it says: "And giving thanks always for all things, unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Giving thanks always for all things.

First Timothy 1:12, Paul says: "And I thank Christ Jesus."

In Romans, Paul says in chapter 1 verse 8: "First, I thank my God." First, I thank my God.

We're in Colossians, look at Colossians chapter 3 and verse 17: "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."

And there are illustrations in the Bible of thanksgiving, many of them. We are to give thanks privately. Daniel, such a faithful man, the sixth chapter, I think it's the tenth verse: "Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house," he knew the decree forbad him to do this, but he went into his house, "His windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem," the custom of the Jews. "He kneeled on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did previously." We are to give thanks privately like Daniel did, privately. We also are to give thanks publicly.

In Psalm 35, just to serve as an illustration, verse 18 says: "I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation. I will praise Thee among many people."

Now, we could go on and on and on all night talking about passages of Scripture that deal with giving thanks. Suffice it to say this, we are commanded to do it...when we speak, when we pray, when we sing. The angels do it. Christ did it. We are called upon to do it, privately, publicly. And by contrast, I would add this ‑ that the wicked don't ever do it.

In Romans 1:21: "Because, when they knew God they glorified Him not as God, neither were ... what?... thankful." One thing about people without God, they don't thank God. That's a tragic thing. We are the only ones who can give God the credit, who can give God the thanks that He is so worthy of.

What are we to thank Him for? Did you ever think about that? What are we to thank God for? Well, the Bible gives so many illustrations:1 for food, for example. Food ... and I know most of us are aware of this, we can't even eat without saying: "Lord, bless the food. Amen." You know, and we pass this on from generation to generation. We were eating lunch today and Melinda says: "God bless Mommy and the food. Amen." Man, she was hungry, you know. She's only two and a half years old, she's already got the lingo, just get it over with and get at it. That's typical.

First Timothy 4 sort of sets the pattern. It says there will be false teachers in the last days, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God has created to receive with ... what?... thanksgiving. Food is to be received with thanksgiving. Every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving. People always worry about what they're going to eat. Now, I don't want to get too trapped into this, cause some of you people are health‑food people, but it says that everything is ... every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving. If you sort of thank God for it, you kind of put Him on the spot to bless it. Right? Thank God for food, Jesus did...in John 6, didn't He? Before He fed the 5,000 plus? Took it and He thanked God and distributed it.

You know something else we're to thank God for? I like this one; we're to thank God for God ... to thank Him for who He is. Listen to Psalm 30, verse 4: "Sing unto the Lord, 0 ye saints of His; and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." Thank God for who He is. Thank God for His attributes. Thank God for His character. Thank God for His holiness. Thank God that He is a holy God. And you can add to that all the other attributes, they're mentioned many places in the Psalms. But Psalm 97:12 says the same thing essentially: "Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." Now, maybe holiness is the sort of the superimposed attribute that covers the others and thank God for who He is, is what's in the Psalmist's mind.

But in Psalm 75 he adds another thought: ''Thank God for His nearness. Psalm 75:1 "Unto Thee, 0 God, we give thanks; unto Thee do we give thanks for that Thy name is near, Thy wondrous works declare." We're so glad You're near, God, we know You're near because we see You working all around us. You see? Aren't you thankful that God isn't way off somewhere? Now that's a good verse for the deist who thinks that God spun the world and then went away and left it. The Psalmist says ‑ Thank God that He didn't do that but He's near. And it's evident by what He's doing right in our midst. And it goes on and on like that through the Psalms.

And I tell you another thing; I thank God for my salvation, don't you? First Timothy 1:12: "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me in that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Thank Christ Jesus," he says, "for what He's done in my life."

Now, here's another thing that I found in Scripture, and just to give you an idea, a sample, that we're to be thankful for and that is... and I think we forget this, we're to thank God for the progress in the lives of other people. We're to thank God for the spiritual growth of other people. Do you ever really stop to thank God for what He's doing? You know, it's the old story of the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and we wind up praying only for the problem people. But do you ever stop to thank God for what He's doing in the lives of the people who don't give us any problems?

You know, in II Corinthians chapter 8, we have the account of the Macedonians. Bless those dear people, they were so poor it was just tragic. But they heard about the Jerusalem saints being poor too. And you had a couple of groups of poor people. But the Macedonians, out of their poverty, gave abundantly. In verse 2, "In great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality." Their joy caused them to give out of their poverty a magnanimous offering to the Jerusalem saints. And Paul says in response in II Corinthians 8:16: "Thanks be to God, who put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you." Thanks be to God who is working in the heart of Titus to make him love you like you love those people. Thank God for the progress. Thank God for what He's doing in your life.

And again, back to Romans 1:8, he says: "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all," what about it? "That your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world, I thank God for Your testimony." Do you ever thank God for the testimony of congregations? Have you ever thanked God for the testimony of churches? Have you ever thanked God for the testimony of men and women whom God is using?

In II Thessalonians, as Paul writes his second letter to that very wonderful church, he says: "We are bound," verse 3, chapter 1, "We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren." Why? "Because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of every one of you all toward each other is abounding." We're thanking God because of your progress.

In I Thessalonians, even, chapter 2, 1 think, verse 13: "This cause also, thank we, God, without ceasing because when you received the Word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the Word of God which effectually works in you also that believe." Thank God.

Well, we're to thank God for food and God and God's attributes and God's nearness and salvation and spiritual progress in others and I could go on. That's just a sampling. We're to thank God ... if you want to know the truth, we're to thank God for ... what?...everything... everything. It's all included. Paul says to the Ephesians: "I cease not to give thanks for you ... period." I just thank God for you in total. That's important.

In II Corinthians chapter 9 verse 11, 1 know you've probably got blisters if you've been trying to follow me through the pages, but just hang in there. In II Corinthians 9:11: "Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness which causes through us thanksgiving to God." Just that general blessing of God ought to bring about a thanksgiving response. And, of course, you know what I Thessalonians 5:18 says: "In everything do...what?...give thanks, for this is the will of God." That's another one of those simple things that people make hard. Ohhh, I wonder what the will of God is ... I'm searching for the will of God. You know what the will of God is? Say thanks to Him.  That's the will of God? That's it. That's part of it. Not so mysterious.

In chapter 5 of Ephesians, essentially the same thing. In First Timothy chapter 2, essentially the same thing. It just continues to repeat itself in Scripture. We are to be thankful, but ... Let's move to the point of Paul's words in Colossians. The primary point of thanksgiving ... what is the primary objective of thanksgiving? What is, as I said at the very beginning, the thing for which Christians are most thankful? What is that...that primary issue for which we bring thanks to God? You know what it is? It is the work of Christ, right? It's the work of Christ. That is the thing for which we are most thankful.

Again, in II Corinthians 9:15, says this: "Thanks unto God for His ... what?... unspeakable gift." Thanks for His unspeakable gift. We're most thankful for Jesus Christ and His perfect work. In Romans 6:17, listen, Paul says: "But God be thanked," why? What are you thanking Him for, Paul? "That where as you were the servants of sin, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you, being then made free from sin you became the servants of righteousness." Thank God for that transformation.

And the same thing comes in Romans 7:24: "0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Now what does he say? "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord," He's the one who delivers us, thank God.

In I Corinthians chapter 15, verse 57: "But thanks be to God who giveth us ... what? ...the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.‑ The primary issue.

Second Corinthians 2:14: "But thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ."

Now, beloved, that really is the key thing. If you've been studying I Corinthians with us, you remember I Corinthians 1:4. Paul says, "I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ." Thank You, God, for salvation.

Now, the reason I've spent so much time belaboring the point is I Just want to kind of pound it in a little bit. It's important to be thankful, and most of all for salvation...that's the primary thing.

Now, in Colossians 1, look at it with me, Paul expresses thanks for salvation. His idea here is to thank God for the salvation that has been provided in Christ. Let's read 12 to 14, you watch. "Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sin."

Thanks unto the Father...and then he sums up the doctrine of salvation in three great statements. It's as if Paul says ‑ Father, I have petitioned you on the behalf of these Christians and now I want to thank You for three great truths regarding salvation...three great realities. You know what they are? Let me give you three words and that's our outline: inheritance, deliverance and transference. I want to thank You for three things: inheritance, who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Deliverance, who has delivered us from the power of darkness. Transference, and has transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son in whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sin.

Now, these three things make up Paul's thanksgiving. Let's look at the first one, inheritance. "Giving thanks unto the Father," and there by using the term Father he's emphasizing the personal relational aspect of our union with God. "Who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."

Paul says that salvation is the granting of an inheritance. Now we talked this morning a little bit about that, didn't we? The legacy of Christ to His own. Now, Paul is approaching it from a little different standpoint and he's saying here ‑ God, thank You for bringing us into the inheritance that belongs to the saints. I'm glad he uses the term Father because this really emphasizes the relationship properly. God, at one time, in a man's life is judge. He looks down on a guilty sinner, condemned by the working of His own laws of holiness, but by the grace of God and the act of Christ and by our faith in Christ He stops being a judge and becomes a Father. And notice what it says ‑ He has made us fit...' That's a crucial phrase and I want you to look at it for a minute. Literally, in the Greek ‑ Who has qualified us ... who has qualified us. That particular verb is only used one other place in Scripture and it simply means to qualify someone...to be given the right ... to be given the title ... to be given the position ... to be given the privilege ... to be fit. It's not talking about our practice it's talking about our position. He has labeled us qualified to enter into the inheritance. And I ask you, on what basis am I qualified? On the basis of my work? On the basis of whose work? The finished work of Christ.

Now, believe me, before God in His sovereign grace qualified us, we were really unqualified, weren't we? Look for a minute at Ephesians chapter 2 and let me just show you how unqualified we were. Ephesians 2:1, "And you who were dead in trespasses and sins in which in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all had our manner of life in time past and the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Now that's disqualification, folks. You're dead, you're dead in trespasses and sin, you walk according to the course of the world, you're under the power of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit working in you as a son of disobedience, your manner of life in time past is dominated by the lust of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the mind, sum it all up and you're nothing but a target for wrath. Now, that's disqualified. God looks you over and says ‑ There's no way that that guy enters into My heaven. He is not qualified. There is no way that there shall be any inheritance granted to him. He is not qualified.

Look at chapter 2 of Ephesians verse 11, "Wherefore remember that you in time past, pagans, Gentiles, in the flesh who were called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands," a little sarcasm there. He's simply saying you are the Gentiles whom the Jews who have circumcision, strictly physical, call the uncircumcision just to remind you who you are, outside the privileges. And at that time you were, watch this, "Without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." Now, that's to be disqualified.

Christless ... look at it, without Christ ... Christless. Stateless... aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Covenantless...strangers from the covenants of promise. Hopeless ... having no hope and Godless ... without God in the world. That's to be unqualified.

In Epehsians 4, look at verse 17: "This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not