Cross Examined 8 | Open Up

For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am present with you in the Spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:5–7)

A national holiday for giving thanks quietly confesses there is a God—so why should His people be anything less than the most grateful on earth?

Why a Theology of Gratitude

As we close out the year, I wanted to take this week and next to focus on Thanksgiving and to promote a theology of gratitude among us. It's an awesome thing that we live in a nation where there is a day set aside for national thanksgiving—even if it gets overshadowed by turkey, football, and now Black Friday. People leave the table half-comatose to fight for deals, spending money they don't have to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't really need to impress. We move into that season, and it's so easy to get distracted. So it's good to reset our focus on thanksgiving, because it is exceedingly important for the Christian.

The reality is that a national holiday dedicated to giving thanks acknowledges that there is a God. If there is no personal, loving, benevolent God, there is no need for a holiday like Thanksgiving—because to whom would you be giving thanks? Some people in our culture say they're agnostic or atheistic, yet they celebrate Thanksgiving, being thankful for whatever they have. Thankful to whom? To the universe? That's foolish, because the universe didn't manufacture and pour out these gifts. The Bible declares that every good and perfect gift comes from God. When we set aside time to give thanks, we acknowledge that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Gratitude Is the Root of Happiness

Both religious and secular studies on gratitude have found that happiness is rooted in gratitude. Many people think it's the other way around—that something good happens, then you're thankful. But when you peel back the layers and look at how God actually created us, our joy and happiness are actually rooted in our gratitude. The most happy people in the world are the most thankful people—not because happiness came first, but because gratitude produces joy.

This is one reason Scripture commands God's people to be thankful. God deserves our gratitude; He's worthy of that praise. But He also commands it because He desires that the height of our joy would increase through our giving of thanks. As His glory increases through our thanksgiving, our joy increases as well. Since most of us gathered here believe there is a God and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11), we should be the most thankful people—and not just one day a year, but constantly throughout our lives.

Paul's Gratitude in Prison

Paul wrote this letter to a church he had never personally visited. Colossae lay just ten miles east of Laodicea—the last of the seven churches Jesus addresses in Revelation 3—and Paul even tells the Colossians to pass this letter along to the Laodiceans. Though it was written for people 2,000 years ago, it applies to us; philosophically we are not so far removed from them as our medical and technological advances might suggest.

Paul writes near the end of his life, in prison in Rome, facing execution for crimes he did not commit—other than being a bold witness for Jesus. Yet from that prison he writes letters to the Colossians, Philippians, and Ephesians, encouraging them to give thanks and demonstrating his own gratitude. His joy and gratitude were not dependent on his circumstances. In our flesh, our gratitude is severely dependent on circumstances—but Paul shows there is a higher plane on which we can live in Christ.

Faith, Hope, and Love

In Colossians 1:3–4, Paul says, "We give thanks to God... since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven." He identifies three essential marks of Christian living: faith, hope, and love. These three are attached to believers throughout the New Testament, and as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, the greatest of these is love.

My faith in Jesus and my hope in the resurrection are set in stone—but how do they affect my life here and now? They should overflow in love. The defining characteristic the world should see in a follower of Jesus is not solid faith or steadfast hope, important as those are, but love. Jesus said the world would know we are His disciples by the love we have for one another (John 13). And when Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, the first is love. The gospel came to Colossae through Epaphras, a faithful minister of Christ, and it brought forth fruit—love in the Spirit. That's why Paul rejoices.

Be Newsworthy in Faith and Faithfulness

Two things were newsworthy about the Colossians: their good conduct and their strong faith. Your strong faith will be evidenced by your good conduct, for as James writes, "faith without works is dead." If there's no expression of your faith, how do we know whether you truly have it? In Romans 1:8, Paul tells the Romans, "your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world." Faith becomes noticeable only when it becomes active. So point one: be newsworthy in faith and faithfulness.

Some Christians struggle with this because of a misreading of the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6, Jesus warns against the Pharisees who fast, pray, and give to be seen by men. Some take this to mean no one should ever notice their good conduct, or they'll lose their reward. That's a bad interpretation. Jesus is addressing motivation—doing good merely to get the praise of men. But Jesus also says, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." He wants your good works seen by this world. He does not want James Bond, covert, 007 Christianity. It needs to be lived out loud—even though in 21st-century America it is now less politically correct to be an open Christian than to be openly practicing sin.

In Philippians 1:27, Paul writes, "Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ"—that is, let your life represent the gospel well—"so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs." This week I sat at a banquet table with a man who works with a San Diego ministry, and we discovered a mutual friend. He gushed about how strong that young man is in his faith, his integrity on a college campus. That's how it should be. Notice the integrity in it: whether Paul was present or absent, the Colossians lived faithfully. You don't need apostolic oversight standing next to you to do the right thing—like returning the extra change a cashier accidentally hands you, even when they look at you like you're crazy. That's simply the way we ought to live.

As You Have Received Christ Jesus the Lord

Verse 6 holds few words but enormous meaning. First, "as you... have received." The tense is clear: this is something they took possession of in the past. You took possession of something that wasn't yours, and on that day it became yours. The question comes to us: have you received Him? Every Christian should be able to point to a turning point. Some can name the date, the place, the living room or stadium floor or car radio. Others, like me—raised in church from my earliest memories—cannot name a specific moment, but can still recognize the turning points where Christ became theirs.

Think of buying a new car. You watch the ads, walk the lots, narrow down the make and model, test drive it, negotiate, sign endless paperwork. On paper it becomes yours, but you haven't yet taken possession. Only when they hand you the keys and you drive off the lot have you received the car. The illustration breaks down, though, because receiving Christ has nothing to do with paying or meriting. It's a gift—it implies He has given it to you.

But notice the word "therefore": "as you therefore have received." That word implies responsibility. Because you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, you have a responsibility—to walk in Him. Imagine someone knocking at your door, handing you keys, and showing you a brand-new Tesla Model S in your driveway, yours, no strings attached. Because you've received it, you should drive it. To leave it parked and keep driving your old Ford Escort would be foolish—and an insult to the giver. Same here: because you have received Christ, your proper response and responsibility is to walk in Him.

Receive Him All or Nothing

What have we received? A person—Christ Jesus. "Christ" means the Anointed One, the Messiah of the Old Testament prophecies. The Messiah brings salvation, peace, forgiveness, justice, righteousness, joy, wisdom, might, counsel, understanding, and knowledge. When you took possession of Christ Jesus, all of that became yours. And I don't know anyone alive who doesn't want peace, wisdom, and joy.

But Paul says you received Christ Jesus the Lord. "Lord" means master, ruler. This troubles the American mind, built on individual independence—"no one rules over me." So some have skewed the gospel, presenting Christ the Savior as receivable without Lord Jesus, as if it were a lease-to-own arrangement. But that's a theological error. As Bob Dylan rightly sang, "You're gonna have to serve somebody." You will serve someone and be the slave of something. Most of the world serves sin, a harsh taskmaster that only brings death. You should desire the Lordship of Christ, because He alone is the Master described as merciful, gracious, patient, abundant in goodness, and ready to forgive. Every other lord is a harsh taskmaster.

Finally, you cannot have Savior Jesus without Lord Jesus. So point two: receive Him all or nothing. As Peter declared in Acts 2:36, "God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." There is no division between those two aspects of His nature. He is either Lord of all or He is Lord not at all.

Five Marks of Walking in Him

Because we have received the Lord Jesus Christ, the response and responsibility is simple: walk in Him. Verse 7 shows what that looks like in five ways. Point three: (A) be rooted in Him, (B) be built up in Him, (C) be established in the faith, (D) abound in the faith, and (E) do all with thanksgiving.

Be rooted in Him. Picture a tree planted in the ground. More of the tree is below the surface than above it; the roots give it support, stability, water, and nutrients. Psalm 92:13 says, "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." Paul in Ephesians 3 speaks of being rooted in love—and God is love. Psalm 1 describes the man rooted in God's law as "a tree planted by the rivers of water" that brings forth its fruit in season. He is your only source, your only supply, your only stability—so grow where you are planted.

Be built up in Him. The picture shifts to a building. Every structure needs a strong, enduring foundation. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7), the house built on the rock did not fall when the storm came. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:11 there is no other foundation than Jesus. The whole superstructure of your life must be built on Him.

Be established in the faith. Those who are rooted and built up in Jesus become steadfast and strong in confidence, because they have only one foundation and one ground. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul calls us to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord.

Abound in the faith. Abound in your confidence, your trust, your steadfastness in Jesus. Jesus said in John 10, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." No one alive doesn't want that abundant life—and it is found in being rooted, built up, established, and abounding in Him.

Do All With Thanksgiving

The ultimate outcome of walking in Him is thanksgiving. The Greek word here is eucharistia. Some of you from more liturgical traditions know the word eucharist, the Lord's Supper. In 1 Corinthians 11:24, when Jesus took bread on the night He was betrayed, He gave thanks—eucharistia—broke it, and gave it to His disciples. It is in that giving of thanks that His body was broken and His blood shed for us.

If you are rooted, built up, established, and abounding in Jesus, the characteristic that will dominate your life is thanksgiving. How can anyone see your inner rootedness? The overflow will be gratitude. And if gratitude is not in your life, then we don't have a right concept of our salvation. The expression of our lives should be thanksgiving.

The fastest way to give thanks is to remember—to ponder anew what the Almighty has done, to consider who He is and all I have in Him: salvation, forgiveness, redemption, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, understanding—all poured out through the Lord Jesus Christ. How could I not be thankful? Thanksgiving the holiday is great. But we who understand reality, because God has opened our minds through Scripture, should be the most gratitude-filled people in the world.

So my exhortation is simple: be thankful. You say, "I had a bad morning, I have nothing to be thankful for." Take a deep breath. I do this with my nearly-three-year-old daughter Evangeline. She has two poles—everything is wonderful, or everything is terrible and she's mad. When she melts down, I say, "Evangeline, take a deep breath," and it resets her every time. If you're grumpy today and think you have nothing to be thankful for—take a deep breath, and remember that God gave you that breath. We should be the most gratitude-filled, and therefore the happiest, people on the planet, because gratitude and happiness are connected.

Closing Prayer

God, thank You. Thank You for Your good word. Thank You that You are the Lord Jesus Christ, and that You have brought salvation and forgiveness and joy and redemption to our lives, and steadfastness and stability through Your rule in us. I pray that this week You would bring remembrance to us of the things You have done in and for us, and that through it gratitude would well up. We can't manufacture it, but in doing these things it is the response. So God, may thankfulness be the characteristic that defines our lives. Make us a thankful people. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.