part of the turn

As part of my earlier plans, here are the notes from the first week of my series on the book of Colossians. As you can guess, it was preached during the week of Canadian Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving

Does anyone know where the first thanksgiving was celebrated?

First official thanksgiving was celebrated by Martin Frobisher in 1578 in Newfoundland! To give thanks for surviving the long journey.

Has some roots in traditional European harvest festivals and even Native American tradition.

Over forty years later, the Virginia Colony held a Thanksgiving prayer on December 4, 1619. Two years later, the Plymouth Colony (who were eventually known as “pilgrims”) established a holiday after their first harvest in 1621. Later, President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a federal holiday on the last Thursday in November.

 

Celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the US

And second Monday in October in Canada

Different date because it is not based on anything historical. 

In Canada, the date of Thanksgiving was issued by proclamation annually until 1957. 

The proclamation read, “For general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessings

with which the people of Canada have been favoured“

So we celebrate our abundance with more of the same 

Turkey (or Soy Turkey if you are my brother and his wife)

Stuffing

Gravy

Cranberries

The works

As a culture, we seem to take pleasure in condensing a weeks worth of healthy limits into one meal, and a few days worth of Turkey sandwiches.

And so quickly, a pause to reflect on the blessings in our life, becomes an expression of our cultural excess. 

What I would like to discuss today is a thankfulness that runs even deeper then our Thanksgiving traditions.

So we are going to look at the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church Colossae.  

Colossians 1:3-14

If you are not familiar with this letter, let me give you a tiny bit of backround

Colossians is written by the apostle Paul, to a young, small church in a city called Colosse located in modern day Turkey (thanksgiving??).

Today, there’s not much there to be seen. I’m told that is a small part of an unexcavated amphitheater.

Religiously, Colosse was a mix of Greek and Near East paganism, with a minority Jewish presence. Syncretism - a blending of religious thought and practice was a common at this time.

Acts 19, 20 are the background for this. Basically here’s what went down:

Paul spent two years in the city of Ephesus preaching, building the church. His strategy generally was to build go to big cities with Jewish synagogues peach there and see what Jews would come over to Team Jesus. When the Jews got fed up with him and kicked him out, he’d move on to the rest of city.

Ephesus was the home of the Greek god Artemis… tell the rest

According to the book of Acts and this letter Paul had not actually travelled to Colosse. Colosse was only ___ km from Ephesus. Colossians 1:7 says that the church had been planted by one of his helpers named Epaphras.

Paul wrote this letter while he was in jail. This places this letter with Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon as the Paul’s “prison letters”. 

Colosse itself was neither a very large of very important city. In fact, it was a city in decline. Colosse used to be along a major trade route, but the road changed and moved north. This meant the jobs had recently left Colosee and headed north to nearby Laodicea and Hierapolis who were experiencing large growth. The once thriving city, was slowly being reduced to a village. Perhaps you know of a city enduring similarly hard times.

As we study please consider both Paul’s circumstance and the situation in Colosse and how both contribute significantly to the richness of Paul’s comments to the this young church.

Pray

Colossians 1:3-14

 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. 

The ink still hasn’t dried from Paul’s greeting and certain themes jump immediately to the forefront of this letter. Despite his imprisonment,  Paul is thankful. 

He is thankful of two things:

The Colossian church’s faith in Jesus

And the Colossian church’s love for each other.

Paul describes the growing faith and love of the young church as springing to life from the seed of the gospel. 

As Paul sees it, there is reason to be thankful, because the gospel has taken root in Colosse. In fact, it’s not just in Colosse. Paul writes….

All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

And we’re given this picture of vigorous growth. A testimony of life.

Like a rescue worker listening for life, Paul is hearing signs of life. And not just from Colosse but from all over the Roman Empire. 

In Paul’s other prison letters, he says he is also hearing good reports from Philippi and Ephesus. That doesn’t even mention a gospel expansion that is taken place east of Israel, a south towards Egypt. 

This fragile young church, this seed, planted with the death of it’s founder is growing against all odds.

He continues…

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Out of a thankful heart, Paul encourages the young church to grow, to mature.

And so we have this incredible thing happen

The seed of the gospel – the hope of heaven (v5) 

Springs faith in Christ, 

love for the church

And we pray that might please God by bearing fruit

in good works

in the knowledge of God

And that like a healthy growing plant

being strengthened with all power – according to His glorious might

Why?

So we might have great

endurance

and patience

and joyfully give thanks to God!

And a prayer that begins with thanks, end in thanks.

That we might give thanks to God

Why? 

Is it because we are part of this incredible plant that is growing?

Is  because we are now part of new family?

Yes, but there’s more.

We are thankful, not in a vague, undirected way

We are thankful to God

The Father

has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 

He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness

He has brought us into the kingdom of the Son

And in Jesus’ kingdom, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

Why is this important?

The Gospel isn’t about making you a nicer person

About how the reconciliation that Jesus offers, really intends to make a difference in the way you treat your siblings, the way your parents fight and what happens in your schools

But Paul when Paul gets rolling about that aspect of the Gospel, he can’t help but look ahead to the growing implications of the Gospel.

What are the “growing implications” of the Gospel? What does that mean?

It means that the Gospel is like a seed that grows, it starts small and unassuming, but collects both mass, power and significance as it matures.

So the gospel starts in your life, not weakly, not insignificantly – it is from a small seed after all the mightiest of trees grows.

And it grows it make a difference in the lives of the people around you. 

They themselves because soil for the seed of the gospel.

They themselves struggling, growing, breathing life, bearing fruit and casting seed.

And like I said earlier, the gospel isn’t about making you a nicer person.

In Romans 1:16 Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes“

The gospel is important because kids have to stare at bloody cars

It’s is the power to change everything.

We talk a lot here about the what the Gospel means in our lives. 

And to briefly summarize the next eight verses of Colossians 1 we are thankful to Jesus because:

We are saved though Jesus

We are reconciled to God through Jesus

We are created through Jesus

Who was before all things? Jesus.

Who holds all things together? Jesus.

It is Jesus who is the head of the church

It is Jesus who is the beginning 

Jesus is the firstborn from the dead

And it is Jesus’ death and resurrection that presents us blameless and free from accusation in His sight.

Jesus is good, and we can live thankful, forgiven lives because of it

And so, I am done. But I leave you with this. 

Colossians 2:6

“So then, just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness”

 

 

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