Give Thanks 1 | Established By Thanksgiving

For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in 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)

The result of salvation is a life so saturated with gratitude that the world cannot help but notice.

Why a Theology of Thanksgiving Matters

As we close out the year and approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I want to take this week and next to focus on a theology of gratitude, a theology of thanksgiving among us. It is an awesome thing that we live in a nation with a day set aside for national thanksgiving—even if it gets overshadowed by turkey, football, and now almost completely by Black Friday. People leave half-eaten meals to go buy things they don't need, with money they don't have, to impress people they don't really need to impress. It is so easy to get distracted, so I thought it would be good to reset our minds on this idea, because it is exceedingly important for the Christian.

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. Even people who claim to be agnostic or atheistic celebrate it, saying they're just thankful for what they have. But thankful to whom? To the universe? That's foolish—the universe didn't manufacture good gifts and pour them out to you. 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 Joy

I find it interesting that 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 you're happy because something good happens, and then you're thankful. But when you peel back the layers and look at how God created us, our satisfaction, our joy, our happiness is actually rooted in our gratitude. The happiest people in the world are the most thankful people.

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

A Grateful Apostle in Chains

Paul wrote this letter to a church in Colossae that he had never personally visited. The city sat just ten miles east of Laodicea, the last of the seven churches Jesus addresses in Revelation 3. Paul even tells the Colossians to pass this letter along to the Laodiceans—a reminder that although these words were targeted to people 2,000 years ago, they are applicable to us too. We are not as far removed philosophically from the Colossians as we might think.

Paul writes near the end of his life, imprisoned in Rome, facing execution for crimes he never committed—his only "crime" was being a bold witness for Jesus. Yet from prison he writes letters to the Colossians, Philippians, and Ephesians, repeatedly encouraging them to give thanks and demonstrating his own joy despite his circumstances. His gratitude was not dependent on his conditions. In our flesh, our gratitude is severely dependent on our circumstances. But Paul shows there is a higher plane on which we can exist in Christ.

Newsworthy Faith and Faithfulness

Paul says he is "rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." Back in chapter 1, he tells us that ever since he received news about these Christians, he has not ceased to give thanks for them. He commends three essential marks: faith, hope, and love.

We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. (Colossians 1:3-5)

Faith, hope, and love mark every believer—and the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13). The overflow of my faith in Jesus and my hope in the resurrection should be expressed in this world as love. That is the defining characteristic the world should see in us. Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." The fruit of the Spirit begins with love. The Colossians heard the gospel from Epaphras, a faithful minister of Christ, and their faith bore fruit in love.

The two newsworthy things Paul mentions are their good conduct and their strong faith. Your strong faith will be evidenced by your good conduct, for faith without works is dead (James). To the Romans, Paul could write, "Your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world" (Romans 1:8). Faith becomes noticeable when it becomes active. Point one: be newsworthy in faith and faithfulness.

Living Your Faith Out Loud

Some Christians struggle with this because of a misinterpretation of the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6, Jesus warns against fasting, praying, and giving in order to be seen and praised by men—but the issue there is motivation, not visibility. If your aim is the praise of men, that's the problem. Yet in Romans and Colossians we see that faith should be well spoken of in the world.

Jesus Himself said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." He does not want James Bond Christians—no covert, "007" Christianity. We are to live our faith out loud. In fact, in 21st-century America it has become less politically correct to be an openly overt Christian than to be openly practicing sin. That is startling.

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit... (Philippians 1:27)

This week at a banquet I met a man who knew a mutual friend of mine, and he just started gushing about how strong in the faith that young man is—his integrity on a college campus, his service to the Lord. That is how it should be. And notice the integrity Paul describes: "whether I am present or absent." You don't need apostolic oversight standing beside you to do the right thing. When the cashier gives you too much change, you give it back—even when they look at you and ask why you'd do that. That is simply how we ought to live.

As You Have Received Him

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. (Colossians 2:6)

There is much packed into this short verse. First, "as you have received"—the tense points to a definite past action, a moment when you took possession of something that became yours. This challenges us to ask: have you received Him? Every believer should be able to point back to a turning point. Some can name the exact date, place, and circumstances; others, like me, were raised in the church and cannot pinpoint a moment but still know there were definite turning points.

Imagine buying a new car. You research, test drive, negotiate, sign the paperwork—and only when the keys are handed to you and you drive off the lot have you truly received the car. But the illustration breaks down, because receiving Christ has nothing to do with paying or meriting. It is a gift of grace.

And notice the word "therefore." You could rightly read it, "because you have received Christ Jesus the Lord." That word implies responsibility. If a stranger handed you the keys to a brand-new Tesla, free and clear in your driveway, it would be foolish to leave it parked and keep driving your old beater. Because you received it, the proper response is to drive it. So it is with Christ: because you have received Him, you have a responsibility—"so walk in Him."

Christ, Jesus, and Lord

What have we received? "Christ Jesus the Lord." We have received a person as a gift. Christos means the Anointed One, the Savior, pointing back to the Hebrew Messiah. The Old Testament prophesies that the Messiah brings salvation, peace, forgiveness, justice, righteousness, joy, wisdom, might, counsel, understanding, and knowledge. When you received Christ Jesus, all of that became yours. I don't know a person alive who doesn't want peace, wisdom, joy, and eternity—and all of it is found in Him.

But Paul also says we received Christ Jesus the Lord. This is difficult for the American mind, raised on individual independence and the conviction that no one rules over me. Some have skewed the gospel to let people receive Christ the Savior while delaying submission to Jesus the Lord—a "lease to own" Christianity. But that is a theological problem.

You should desire the lordship of Jesus. As Bob Dylan rightly sang, "You're gonna have to serve somebody"—you may serve the devil or you may serve the Lord, but you will serve somebody. Everyone is a slave to something. For most of the world, that master is sin, a harsh taskmaster that brings only death (Romans). But the Lord Jesus is described as merciful, gracious, patient, abundant in goodness, and ready to forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin. That is the kind of Lord you want ruling your life.

All or Nothing

Finally, you cannot have Savior Jesus without Lord Jesus. Point two: receive Him all or nothing. On the birthday of the church, Peter declared, "God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). There is no division between these two aspects of His nature. He is either Lord of all or He is Lord not at all.

Five Marks of Walking in Him

What does it look like to walk in Him? Paul gives five things in verse 7. 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. The picture is a tree planted in the soil. More of the tree is below the surface than above it; the roots give it stability, nutrients, and life. "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of God" (Psalm 92:13). Those rooted in love comprehend the width, length, height, and depth of God's love (Ephesians 3). Like the blessed man of Psalm 1, planted by the rivers of water, you grow where you are planted, drawing your supply from Him alone.

Be built up in Him. Now the picture shifts to a building. Jesus is the bedrock, the foundation. In the Sermon on the Mount, the house built upon the rock did not fall when the storms came. "No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11).

Be established in the faith. Those who are rooted and built up will be steadfast and strong in their confidence—"steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15).

Abound in the faith. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10). I don't know anyone who doesn't want a more abundant life—and it is found in being rooted, built up, and established in Him.

Thanksgiving: The Ultimate Outcome

The final mark is thanksgiving, and I believe it is the ultimate essential outcome of all the rest. The word here is eucharistia—the same root as "Eucharist," the Lord's Supper. When Paul recounts that night in 1 Corinthians 11:24, Jesus took bread and "gave thanks" (eucharistia), broke it, and gave it to His disciples. It was in that giving of thanks that He pointed to His body broken and His blood shed for us.

If you are truly rooted, built up, established, and abounding in Christ, the dominating characteristic of your life will be thanksgiving. That is how people will know. And if it is not in your life, then we do not have a right concept of our salvation or a right understanding of what we possess in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember and Be Thankful

The fastest way to give thanks is to remember, to ponder anew what the Almighty has done. Consider who He is and what you have in Him: salvation, forgiveness, redemption, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, understanding—all poured out through Christ. How could we not be thankful?

A Thanksgiving holiday is great—yes and amen. But we who understand reality, because God has opened our minds through the truth of Scripture, should be the most gratitude-filled people in the world. If you say you've had a bad morning and have nothing to be thankful for, maybe you need a timeout. I do this with my daughter Evangeline. When she's in hysterics, I say, "Take a deep breath," and it's like a reset. If you're grumpy and feel 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 people on the planet, which means we should also be the happiest, because gratitude and happiness are connected. So my exhortation is simply this: be thankful. Reset your mind on a theology of thanksgiving.

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 and all these things to our lives, and that You have brought steadfastness and stability through Your rule over us. I pray that this week You would bring to our remembrance the things You have done in and for us, and that through that remembrance gratitude would well up. We can't manufacture it, but in doing these things it becomes the response. So God, may thanksgiving be the characteristic that defines our lives as we go about our days. Make us a thankful people, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.