Colossians 1:3

We give thanks to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 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 has delivered us from the power of darkness, conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:3–14)

A centered, joyful life is held in place by thanksgiving to God and by faith focused on Christ alone.

The Season of Thanksgiving

It seems like the years go by faster and faster, and that's a little unsettling, because you figure it can't go on forever—there's going to come a sudden stop. My dad was an ironworker for over 45 years. Back in 1971 he fell eight stories, more than 100 feet, and miraculously lived. He always tells me, "The fall's not that bad. It's the sudden stop that'll kill you."

Today is November 1st. Halloween is behind us, and it's 54 days till Christmas. But before Christmas comes one of my favorite holidays—the one November is known for—Thanksgiving. It's a holiday rooted in religious tradition, especially the Christian tradition, and it acknowledges that there is One to whom we are to be thankful. All the things we have—life, family, friends, a place to live, food to eat—came from Someone who gave them to us. It's an opportunity to thank God for His divine providence.

Thanksgiving is not just a holiday but an attitude and an act, and both are essential to a fulfilling life. A few years ago I taught a series called The Key to Unlocking Joy, and one of those keys was gratitude. When you find someone whose life is animated by joy, you find someone whose life is characterized by gratitude. You cannot have continual joy without being a person who gives thanks.

Paul's Circumstances in Colossians

A couple of weeks ago we began a new series called Christocentric, studying through the book of Colossians. It was written nearly 2,000 years ago by the apostle Paul to a group of Christians living in the city of Colossae. When Paul wrote it, he was in pressing circumstances—a prisoner in Rome, awaiting trial before Caesar Nero, a trial with an uncertain future that would ultimately lead to his martyrdom.

During this imprisonment Paul wrote four letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, and Colossians. Philippians has been called the New Testament letter of joy. In it Paul talks about his overflowing joy and says he has no lack, that he is full. Yet his circumstances—house arrest, an uncertain trial—were not where you would expect to find joy. Many people in our own nation, with all our abundance, couldn't say, "I have no lack, I am full." So what enabled Paul to have joy and say those words in dire circumstances? One answer is found in this passage.

A Centered Life Maintained by Thanksgiving

Paul was a prolific writer, penning 13 of the 27 New Testament books. In eight of them—nearly two-thirds—he begins with the same words: "I give thanks to God." Romans, 1 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, and Philemon all open this way. This isn't just something Paul wrote; it's a pattern he lived—a pattern essential for us to come into the fullness of life.

Point one: a centered life maintains balance by giving thanks to God. Have you ever played with a spinning top? If it's centered and balanced right, you spin it and it stands there for minutes, hardly looking like it's moving. Oh, to have a life with that kind of balance. We are a people that often feel out of balance, wobbling, with priorities out of whack. God wants to bring us to a place where our life is centered—and the only way is to center it on Christ.

Notice the focus. The attitude of gratitude is good, but the focus matters more: it's thanksgiving to God. I was talking with someone recently who said they were "just thankful to the universe." But the universe doesn't do anything—it just is. God created the universe. If you're going to give thanks, the focus has to be correct. In every one of those eight passages, Paul's thanksgiving was directed to God.

Faith, Hope, and Love

Why did Paul pray continually for believers he'd never met, who lived a thousand miles away? Have you ever told someone, "I'll pray for you this week," and then forgotten? I do all the time. Paul says, "I pray for you continually," for people he'd never met personally. Why? Verse 4 tells us: "since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, your love for all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven."

These have been called the essential Christian virtues: faith, hope, and love. Paul names them in 1 Corinthians 13—"now abide these three, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love." Someone had told Paul about the church growing in Colossae, planted as a fruit of his ministry, and Paul's heart was lifted up because their lives were beginning to manifest these three virtues. They are essential to the abundant life Jesus described in John 10:10.

But the sad reality is that often our faith is lacking, our love is misplaced, and many people are characterized more by hopelessness than hope. People long for hope—it was hugely championed in the 2008 election—yet many feel hopeless. The core problem is having the wrong focus to our faith.

A Balanced Life Begins with Focused Faith

In 21st-century America we're taught from a young age to trust in ourselves: "I've got to believe in me." But every one of us falls short of our own expectations. The older we get, the more fragile we realize we are; we let ourselves down and let others down. If your faith is in yourself, no wonder you might feel hopeless over time.

And if your faith isn't in yourself but in your spouse, you don't have to be married 24 hours to realize that's misplaced too. In premarital counseling we tell couples, "They're going to let you down," and they look at us with that "no, never" dumb love. Whether your faith is in your spouse, your career, your 401(k), or your health—it will let you down if it's not Christ.

Notice what Paul commended: "we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus." Their faith had the right focus. Point two: a balanced life begins with focused faith. You will not have a centered, balanced life if your faith is not focused on Christ.

Christ-Focused Faith Shifts the Focus of Your Love

If your faith is in yourself, you'll have a misplaced, inordinate self-love. Now, some self-love is normal—if you hated yourself, you wouldn't take care of yourself. But excessive self-love can be harmful. It grows so protective that people never step out into anything new, afraid of how they'll be perceived, afraid to share the gospel because of what others might think. That's a clue to excessive self-love.

Paul told the Colossians they had faith in Christ Jesus and love for all the saints. Point three: a Christ-focused faith will shift the focus of your love from self-focused to saint-focused. That's a good move, and it leads us into joy and fulfillment.

It's sad we feel strange saying this—an outgrowth of 20th-century American Christianity—but God wants us to experience happiness. Some of you will say there's a difference between joy and happiness. I understand. But happiness is only found in Him. Happiness apart from Him leads to idolatry, which ultimately leads to unhappiness. God wants us to experience joy, happiness, and fulfillment, but only with Christ as the centerpiece of our trust.

You Cannot Have Hope for Heaven Without Christ-Focused Faith

A Christ-centered faith also changes our hope. Verse 5 grounds their faith and love "because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven." Point four: you cannot have hope for heaven without Christ-focused faith.

So many things bombard us each week and erode our hopefulness. If your confidence is not centered on Christ, you will lose your hope, which leads to a loss of peace. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick," the Proverbs say, and we may be one of the most heart-sick nations in the world despite our abundance—because our confidence is on the wrong things.

As Jesus faced the most pressing circumstance imaginable, He told His troubled disciples in John 14, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you... that where I am, there you may be also." That's hope. But if your confidence is in your own good works to get you to heaven, you have very little hope.

For years I've asked people, "If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?" Many say, "Well, I hope so"—as if hoping to win the lottery, wishful thinking rather than steadfast assurance. When I ask what they're basing it on, they say, "I'm a pretty good person." No wonder you're hopeless. "My hope is built on nothing less but Jesus' blood and righteousness." The Christian's confidence is in the finished work of Jesus, who took our sin upon Himself, bore its punishment, and said, "It is finished." "For by grace are you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

Jesus, Others, You

If you've served in children's ministry, you know the acronym we teach for joy: Jesus, Others, You. Here it is—faith in Jesus, love for others, and hope for heaven. That's a joyful place to be, and it's what God wants to bring us into with this Christocentric focus.

Christ is the gravitational pull that keeps our lives in alignment. Why doesn't the earth careen off into the universe like a shooting star? Because it has something strong at its center holding it in place. That's what Christ must be for our lives. Paul gave thanks because that's exactly where the Colossians were—they had God at the center: faith in Christ, love for one another, hope for heaven.

Epaphras and the Spread of the Gospel

Where did all this come from? Verse 5 continues: "of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit." Where the gospel goes, it produces fruit. They knew the grace of God in truth—not their own works—and they learned it from Epaphras, "our dear fellow servant... a faithful minister of Christ."

Epaphras likely became a disciple under Paul's ministry in Ephesus (Acts 19), then returned to Colossae, shared the gospel, and a church was planted. After it began to grow, Epaphras traveled to Rome and told Paul what was happening, declaring "your love in the Spirit." Their identifying characteristic was their love in the Spirit. Having never met them, Paul heard their testimony and immediately responded with prayer.

Paul's Prayer for the Colossians

Point five: Christ-focused faith compels prayer—prayer for others. Paul prays four things (verse 9 onward). Paul is the master of the run-on sentence; if anyone transcribed our prayers, they'd probably read the same way.

First, he prays they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. The number one question I receive is, "What do you think God wants me to do?"—and people give me a blank stare when I say I don't know. I'm not your guru. But I do pray you would know God's will. Notice it's knowledge with wisdom. Knowledge is knowing things; wisdom is knowing what to do with them. As my friend Randy Broberg says, knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in the fruit salad. You can read your Bible seven days a week and know many truths yet never put them into practice.

Second, he prays they "may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work." I've talked with people who know the Bible inside out—who can argue about reformed theology, eschatology, even supralapsarianism—while their lives are in shambles, living in adulterous relationships. They become the worst kind of witness, because their non-Christian friends say, "It's great that you know all that and go to church, but your life is a mess." Paul prays they would not only know and apply God's will but live it out.

Third, he prays they'd be "strengthened with all might according to His glorious power." That sounds like casting out demons and healing the sick—but notice the application: "for all patience and longsuffering with joy." God, give them patience and joy in trying circumstances. That is a witness for Jesus. You can know all the ins and outs of the five points, but if you don't have that, what good is it?

Finally, he prays they'd give thanks to the Father "who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light." Their standing wasn't earned; God qualified them by His grace.

Something to Be Thankful For

Paul wraps it up: God "has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Do you want something to be thankful for today? He has saved you, taken you out of darkness, and made you a child of the kingdom of His love. If you think you have nothing to be thankful for, that's something. You've got 25 days to get ready for Thanksgiving to thank God for that—if for nothing else, that is worthy of thanksgiving. Amen?

Closing Prayer

Father God, I pray for my brothers and sisters here today that You would fill us with all knowledge and wisdom of Your will. Lord, we are not sufficient of ourselves and have no power or strength of our own—enable us by Your power to walk worthy, to walk in a way that shows You are glorious and true and awesome in our lives. Help us be pleasing to You not only in our actions and words but in our thought life, and to bear fruit as we increase in the knowledge of You.

Strengthen us this week, for every one of us will face difficulties we'll be tempted to meet with impatience and unkindness. Give us the ability by Your Holy Spirit to be those who have patience and longsuffering with joy. These are fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control. Work these things into our lives, for we cannot make this happen on our own.

Lord, help us to be a thankful people. You spoke words of judgment upon Israel because they were unthankful, and You said in the last days people will be unthankful. May it not be said of us. Help us to acknowledge that every good and perfect gift comes from You, and to live lives that glorify You through our gratitude. Bring our lives into focus, so that we'd have a balanced and focused faith, a love for others, and an absolute certainty that we will be with You forever. We pray this in Jesus' name, and all those who agree said, Amen.