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Calvary Community Church

Sermon

Laboring for Christ’s Supremacy: The Conflict, Part 3

Series
Colossians
Scripture
Colossians 2:4-7

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In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines and preaches through Colossians 2:4-7.

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

We are reminded that Christianity stands apart from every other religion because salvation is not earned but freely given through Christ alone. This passage from Colossians 2:4-7 calls us to stand firm against deception, walk faithfully in Christ, and overflow with gratitude as the natural fruit of a healthy, rooted faith.

Key Lessons:

  1. Christianity is uniquely distinct from all other religions: every other system says ‘do,’ but God’s Word says ‘done’ — salvation is accomplished by Christ, not earned by us.
  2. Unity in love, the treasure of truth in Christ, and firmness in faith are our three primary weapons against false teaching and spiritual deception.
  3. A maturing Christian life is pictured in three metaphors: a deeply rooted plant, a building on a solid foundation, and a legally confirmed faith — all growing ‘in him.’
  4. Overflowing thankfulness is not optional sentiment but a measurable sign of spiritual health; ingratitude and grumbling are signs of false teaching’s influence or spiritual drift.

Application: We are called to walk daily in Christ — rooted deeply in him, growing strong in doctrine, and overflowing with thanksgiving so visibly that it opens doors to share the gospel with those around us.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what areas of your life are you most tempted to drift from sound doctrine, and what ‘weapons’ from this passage can you use to stand firm?
  2. How does understanding what you have in Christ — his wisdom, knowledge, and complete salvation — produce genuine thankfulness rather than grumbling?
  3. If overflowing gratitude is a sign of spiritual health, what does your current level of thankfulness reveal about your walk with Christ?

Scripture Focus: Colossians 2:4-7 — Paul’s warning against deceptive arguments and his call to walk in Christ, rooted, built up, established, and overflowing with gratitude. Supporting passages include Genesis 3:1-4 (Satan’s twisting of truth), Ephesians 2:19-20 (foundation of the apostles and Christ), and multiple thanksgiving passages throughout Colossians.

Outline

Introduction

Well, I do appreciate all the work people put in to make Sunday happen, not only the praise teams, but people doing the nursery, the sound booth, the greeters, and everyone else. The food is a real blessing that people help out to provide.

I just want to thank all the workers that serve the Lord. It’s a great honor to me to see that all work out.

This morning, let’s turn to Colossians 2. We’re still looking at laboring for the supremacy of Christ and looking at the conflict. As you turn there, let me have a word of prayer.

Lord, this morning I thank you for the word of God. I thank you, Lord, that once we understand what you have done and what we have, the only thing we could do is thank you. That’s it—not complain, not grumble, but just be thankful.

I pray this passage of scripture will help us to understand that this morning, and that your honor and glory and the name of Christ will be exalted to his supreme place where he belongs, because that’s where scripture puts him.

Lord, I pray that we would humble ourselves under his mighty hand, that you may use us when you see fit to do your will and work. I pray this in Christ’s name, amen.

Christianity Is Uniquely Different

It has been said that all religions are the same and only seemingly different. In truth, Christianity is profoundly different from every other religion, because every other religion basically says you can save yourself.

However else they go about it, that’s really what they all conclude. Do enough good deeds, please a God or gods or a force or yourself, and you can earn salvation.

The Bible, though, emphatically teaches the opposite. No one can earn salvation, because God’s standard is perfection. Even our good works are saturated with our sin.

Our motives and our thoughts are not perfectly pure and exalting God. In fact, Isaiah says they’re filthy rags before a holy God. Every person has fallen short of God’s standard of perfection.

Also, we cannot fathom the holiness, justice, and infinite nature of God we have sinned against. We really can’t comprehend the seriousness of our sin.

For example, if you lie to a child, there are little consequences. If you lie to your spouse, the consequences increase. If you lie to the government, jail awaits.

Same sin, different consequences, because of whom the sin is committed against. Like Adam and Eve, just one sin justifies our separation from a perfect God who won’t tolerate sin at all in his holy presence.

All other religions are man trying to grasp that truth and salvation. However, Jesus says, “I am the way and I am the truth and I am the life. No one goes to the Father but through me.”

Jesus, the last Adam, lived a perfect life and died on the cross to pay a perfect, infinite sacrifice that we could have never paid. In doing so, he defeated Satan and death and rose from the grave.

No other religion has an empty tomb. None. Christianity isn’t like other religions. Man’s word and religion say do. God’s word says done.

“No other religion has an empty tomb. None. Man’s word says do. God’s word says done.”

In Christ, there are really only two religions in the world, if you want to categorize it like that. There’s the religion of works—I do this to earn my salvation—and then there’s the religion of free grace, what God has done to save me.

I believe that by faith, trusting and repenting of my sin, and trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

The Conflict Christians Face

We will experience conflict as Christians because we are Christians. This conflict will be in the area of doctrine and practice. Doctrine and practice go together; you can’t have one without the other.

In real salvation, we will learn what is true and what is not true. The Lord wants you to have assurance that Christ is God and he is sufficient to completely save.

“The Lord wants you to have assurance that Christ is sufficient to completely save.”

He wants you to have assurance of your salvation in Christ. He wants you to be assured that Jesus will completely and totally take care of you now and forever.

He wants you to know the road map to a stable, healthy, and thankful Christian life.

Review: Warfare, Welfare, and Wealth in Christ

Now, so far in our text in chapter 2, we have looked at the warfare. If you notice in verse 1, it says, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face.”

The Apostle Paul is sharing with us the struggle that he had within his own heart for people he never met. But these Jews and Gentiles converts are now in Christ, so he struggled for them in prayer, so that they would be firm in their faith.

What was he wrestling with? He was wrestling with things that will hinder reaching the goal to be firmly established in the faith and to remain steadfast the whole of one’s Christian life.

Already we know that the most effective antidote to any heresy is the proclamation of Christ himself, the cogent proof of Christ’s absolute supremacy and exclusivity. There’s no other way. Truth is worth fighting for, no matter what cost or how much it would make us unpopular.

“The most effective antidote to any heresy is the proclamation of Christ himself and his absolute supremacy.”

The Apostle Paul first of all is deeply concerned with these people that he is writing to. Secondly, we saw the welfare that Paul had for them.

It says in verse 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love. This encouragement will not come naturally from within them, but must come outside of themselves.

Here the encouragement is coming from the Apostle Paul along with his writing ministry, that will encourage them. The Holy Spirit of God now that indwells them will encourage them further in the faith.

This knitting together is the sphere of love. It says further in verse 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love.

The church body is interlocked like a knitted blanket. How does that happen? Because God brings together the most divided people groups from the most diverse backgrounds and world views, and brings them into the church and makes them one united body.

Why? Because all ethnic groups from all tribes and nations become one person when they come to Christ in repentance and faith.

The Colossians and the Laodicean congregations, comprised of Jews and Gentiles, had already been demonstrating Christian love, which is very unusual for people so completely different.

That’s why Papyrus writes back, or tells Paul in his report, listen, these people right there that got saved and believed the gospel. He informed them that there had been love in the spirit, there was love abounding in those congregations.

Love is always an overwhelming adoration for the Lord Jesus Christ, and it always produces a genuine well-being of others, and gives real evidence of a real conversion.

It is worth fighting for the unity of believers, which is knit together in love, because love is a weapon for victory that we may be strong together in warfare.

This love and the goals of being rooted and grounded in the faith is also keeping what we have, not giving it away.

Verse 2 says, “and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding.” Scripture is not referring to physical material wealth, it is referring to the wealth and riches we have as believers in Christ.

This consists of conviction of the assured understanding and knowledge of God’s mystery. What is that mystery that was kept mystery in the past but now unveiled?

Well, we already saw it. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ alone is the source of every conceivable bit of spiritual knowledge worth keeping and living for.

Having that, all the barriers are down. Whether you come from a Jewish background or a gentile, saints alike are fellow heirs now in Christ, and because the spirit of God is in them.

Verse 2 and 3 further says, “in whom are hidden all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge.” It is in Christ that all the treasure of divine wisdom and knowledge have been stored up, in hiding formally, but now displayed to those who have come to know Christ Jesus.

Christ alone is the source of scriptural knowledge worth having and fighting to keep. This knowledge is the greatest wealth that we’ll ever obtain or have on this side of eternity.

I said last time, that’s a christological high point. No one could take that away from us, but in some way we can walk away from it or give it away.

Christ is our treasure, and anyone who comes to know Jesus Christ by faith can draw from his store of wisdom and knowledge that has been given to us. It is worth fighting for the treasure of truth, because the truth about Christ is a sharp weapon for victory. Holding to it will make us mighty in warfare.

“It is worth fighting for the treasure of truth, because the truth about Christ is a sharp weapon for victory.”

Our Weapons for Battle

What do we have? We have unity, unifying love, as a weapon for victory in warfare. We have keeping the treasure of truth about Christ, which is also a weapon for victory. And they also give us discernment, which gives us protection.

Protection from what? From false teaching.

So now we are armed for battle. Once we are confident we have this treasure in Christ, once we have this high Christology, the benefits of wisdom and knowledge have a direct practical purpose for us.

And what is that? That’s where we’re looking at today, in verses 4 to 7.

The Warning: Don’t Be Deceived

Verse number four, the warning. The unity of doctrine, the unity of love, the treasure of Christ as our possessions will keep you and me from being deceived.

Here’s an exhortative warning. Notice in verse 4, I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.

All that went before so you and I can stand strong. We’re ready for warfare. Now bring it on, because I know the truth, I know who my savior is, I know the wealth I have, and I’m not giving that away for no one.

“I know the truth, I know who my savior is, I know the wealth I have, and I’m not giving that away.”

The word here, delude, in this context has the meaning of twisting the truth or enticing into error, to deceive by false reasoning or drawing erroneous conclusions. Arguments that sound reasonable, or even popular rhetoric, get people to accept conclusions about religion and spiritual truth that are absolutely wrong, because they have nothing to test it with. They have to test it with the word of God.

There are many places today where falsehood and disinformation are being disseminated. You have all kinds of media outlets: YouTube, Twitter, podcasts, Facebook, multimedia presentations, news networks, and yes, even churches.

Satan’s Method: Twisting the Truth

See, Satan’s arguments sound plausible, just what he presented to Eve. They convince someone against what has already been said and revealed by God.

Satan’s old method is this: “Has God really said that?” That’s his twist of truth. In fact, that’s what it says in Genesis 3:1.

Listen to what it says: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’”

Now what’s amazing about that is the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God says you shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die.”

She had it right. But then it says this in verse 4: “And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will surely not die.’”

What is he doing? He’s casting doubt on what truth. That’s all it takes—just a little twist, a little bit of truth with some deception and lies, and that’s it.

If you mix deception with truth, it’s no longer truth. It just takes a small twist of the truth in order to distort what God had said and deceive someone.

“If you mix deception with truth, it’s no longer truth. It just takes a small twist to distort what God has said.”

False Teaching in Colossae

False teachers’ main flaw was their failure to rightly exalt Christ and submit him as the only savior and Lord. The false teacher here in the Colossian church and the Laodicean church was eloquent and persuasive, with an outward form of humility and an overdose of confused doctrine.

As summarized in Colossians already, what was that doctrine? That Christ is just one of a long line of angelic mediators, that all matter is evil, that human wisdom is exalted, Judaism is carried over with its regulations and its rules, angelic powers are revered above or equal to Christ, and there is a contempt for the physical body, and then liberty to do what you want with your body anytime you want to do it.

However, there can be no compromise with error in doctrine or in practice, which is what scripture opposes. This kind of hypnotic persuasive rhetoric is used to talk someone into something.

“There can be no compromise with error in doctrine or in practice.”

Have you ever had somebody talk you into something that you really didn’t want? I think we all have, right? Those people who can really put sentences together and just get you in and then boom, close the deal.

This oratory is used by skeptics and false teachers to deceive and to divide. Unity, division, and discouragement are always fertile ground for deception.

Paul was concerned that the gospel seed sown would not be smothered by weeds of doubt in the congregation, or quarreling, or people’s philosophies. It becomes necessary for Christians to pull out the weeds of human intellectualism in order to protect the faith of the saints.

It was Paul telling young Timothy, where he warns him in 1 Timothy 1:3-4: “As I urge you upon my departure to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus, so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.”

Magnetic personalities, excellent logic, fluent oratory, hypnotic persuasion, and fine speech might be all good in and of themselves, but they become the devil’s tools when they are used by the ignorant and the skeptic and the false teacher.

But I know this: when you’re growing strong in your heart about truth, settled in Christ, confident about Christ and your salvation, firm in Christ, then what are you going to do next? You keep walking. You keep walking in Christ.

That brings me to the fourth thing after warning, which is going to take some time to develop in our passage as we go on. That is walking. In other words, take what you now know and live it every day in your life. That’s what we’re to do.

You can never separate doctrine from what you do, what you say, what you think. It all goes together, because these things are going to change you and make you different, make you more like the Lord.

Rejoicing in Their Faithful Walk

What does he do? He gives an exhortative rejoicing because of their walking. Notice what it says in verse 5: “For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit.”

He says this for this reason: he was with them in the struggle of their Christian experience. Through the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul is so bound to these believers—the Colossian and Laodicean congregations—that he gives them a warning as though he was with them.

His concern was that he was with them. But what does he say to them after all he has said? There is a ground for rejoicing.

Why is there ground for rejoicing? Look what it says in verse 5: “Rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.”

Why did he say that? Because the believers had not succumbed to the onslaught of error. They did not listen to the false teacher. These saints did not exchange Christ for a false teacher’s worthless error. That’s grounds for rejoicing.

“These saints did not exchange Christ for a false teacher’s worthless error. That’s grounds for rejoicing.”

When somebody is walking in the faith, they’re faithful in the faith, they’re growing in their knowledge of their conversion to Christ. The faith that these believers here were fortified in advance against the persistence of the errorists.

Standing Firm Like Soldiers

The victory in a fight worth fighting is displayed how? Notice what it says: in their good discipline. In other words, they’re orderly faith. The picture here is a line of soldiers who have not broken rank. That means their strength and unity.

There is a front of believers that are not moving. Throw anything at us as a group of believers and we’re not moving. Why? We know the truth, that’s why.

He rejoices also in their firm faith. He says by their stability and steadfastness and firmness—in the truth that produces faith. In other words, they understood the wealth and riches they had in Jesus Christ and were unwilling to exchange a real diamond, Christ, for a substitute fake cubic zirconia.

A cubic zirconia appears like a diamond, but it is very different in its mineral structure. A vast amount of jewelry is actually man-made in a lab. In other words, a fake diamond.

We can’t let anybody persuade us to believe that Jesus is anything less than the totally and comprehensively perfect God-man. There is only one image of the invisible God: Jesus Christ, the Lord and only unique one.

“We can’t let anybody persuade us to believe that Jesus is anything less than the totally perfect God-man.”

Knowing that, we have to keep believing in him, keep growing in your knowledge and understanding of him, keep holding onto Christ, and keep obeying him in the good works that he has ordained for you.

It is worth fighting for, keeping firm and stable in our faith in Christ, because our firmness will be another weapon for strength and victory. Unifying love is a weapon in victory in warfare. Keeping the treasure of truth about Christ is a sharp weapon for victory in warfare. Firmness in our faith in Christ is a weapon for victory.

“Firmness in our faith in Christ is a weapon for victory. Unifying love is a weapon. The treasure of truth is a weapon.”

Walking in Christ: The Command

All right, we have our weapons to fight. Now what are we to do? We’re to continually walk faithfully in Christ. And that’s what he says in verse 6.

Look what it says, Colossians 2:6: “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus, so walk in him.” You got that? So walk in him.

The “therefore” signals a logical connection to what was just said and builds on it and moves it forward. In view of their good discipline and stability, he is rejoicing that they did not get duped by the false teachers. They’re standing strong in truth, they are standing in doctrine.

When did that start? You received Jesus through the transmission of truth. It has to start in real conversion. You have to know that you’re really saved, that you really receive this, that it’s yours.

But you also have to know something else. Because you receive Jesus Christ and the Spirit’s in you, you are changing. God is changing you.

If you notice something else in our passage, it says, “Therefore as you have received Jesus Christ, Jesus the Lord.” It’s really one of the only times it’s mentioned like that in Scripture, because it mentions Jesus or Christ being the Messiah.

Jesus is his personal name, which means Savior, and Lord is his station and supremacy as Lord. All of those are a reality to real believers. This unique expression really is never fashioned again in this way in the New Testament. It stresses the uniqueness and supremacy of Christ.

Also, if you notice in verse 6, it says, “So walk in him.” That is the first imperative in our text. That’s a command, meaning how one conducts one’s daily life in behavior and lifestyle.

The believers are to conduct their lives in accord with apostolic doctrine, not in accord with the enticing words of false teachers. There’s no new teaching.

“Believers are to conduct their lives in accord with apostolic doctrine, not the enticing words of false teachers.”

If you go look for something, you’ll find something, but it’s not new. God has not added or taken away from the word of God. We have the full revelation of God in our hands, special revelation. We can’t add to it, we can’t take away from it.

In fact, three times in the Bible it warns people: don’t add anything to it, don’t take anything away from it. It is dangerous to do that.

Christians are to continue in the truth as it is in Jesus and not to be turned aside by novelties, new things popping up, new theories popping up, and by falsehoods or by even false teachers with a slick tongue.

Notice also the sphere in which the Christian life is to be carried out. It says that we are to walk in him. That is a term and phrase that is used often already in Colossians. It includes obedient cooperation with the truth of God’s word and a constant dependence upon God.

The Significance of ‘In Him’

Just let me mention to you that this phrase, “in him,” is so significant in the book of Colossians. It says in Colossians 1:16, “In him all things were created.” Verse 17, “In him all things hold together.” Verse 19, “In him all divine fullness dwells.”

In chapter 2, verse 10, it then says this: “In him you have been made complete.” In verse 11, “In him you were circumcised,” and we’re going to deal with that next time. Verse 12, “You were buried and raised with him, you were made alive together with him.”

And then in verse 15 of chapter 2, all demonic powers have been defeated in him. That’s where we’ll live. We’re to live in Christ, in the sphere of Christ.

This Christo-centric orientation of life is now available to all Christians, and the Christian is now able and now responsible to live it.

“All demonic powers have been defeated in him. That’s where we’ll live — in the sphere of Christ.”

Four Pictures of a Developing Christian Life

We are not only called to live a faithful Christian walk, we are also called to have a healthy and thankful Christian walk. If you notice in verse 7, this is where he gives us four pictures he uses to modify the imperative walk. It’s a picture of a developing Christian life.

Rooted: The Horticultural Metaphor

And here’s the first picture in Colossians 2:7. It says, “having been firmly rooted.” That’s a horticultural metaphor. It’s talking about a spiritual plant, where the rooting of faith meant an organic union with Christ, because Christ is the life of the plant.

These roots of your salvation have gone down deep and are now receiving from the soil all the spiritual nutrients vital for spiritual life and health.

What is so interesting in verse seven is that these roots have been sent down deep, and it’s used in the passive voice. That means God is the active agent. He’s the one causing this to happen in our life.

So in other words, if you’re really a believer, it will happen. If you are a professed believer but you’re not concerned about anything else past that, and nothing happens in your life, there’s no change in your life, then God’s not causing you to grow.

Like a plant that has deep roots in the ground, when a plant has deep roots and it’s getting nourishment from that ground, what’s going to happen to that plant? It’s going to be healthy. It’s going to be giving fruit, whatever that plant is. It’s going to have nice leaves. It’s going to be giving everything that is needed.

That’s the same thing with you and me. If our roots go down deep in our salvation with Christ and we are walking in him, we will become like Christ.

“If our roots go down deep in our salvation with Christ and we are walking in him, we will become like Christ.”

Ephesians uses this word “rooted” in a different way, but a similar metaphor. He says, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you being rooted and grounded in love,” and there it comes up again, “and that you may comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”

There it is—this whole view of being filled up, having all you need to grow. So we have a rooted plant that is growing. That’s the first metaphor picture of the Christian developing life.

Built Up: The Architectural Metaphor

And the second one is in verse 7 too. It says, “Having been firmly rooted, and now being built up in him.” There it is, in him again.

This building is pictured with a firm and solid foundation. Remember this: a building’s most important part of the structure is the foundation. This indicates that the Christian life is durable and has stability and can withstand the stresses and strains of life itself.

Here is this picture again of the believer—they’re a growing building. But what is the foundation that has been laid to give our building durability?

Well, Ephesians tells us this. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:19: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the cornerstone.”

That’s what we are building upon. Christ is the binding force of the building. Paul uses a present tense, meaning the picture is an ongoing construction project.

Isn’t your life an ongoing construction project? That’s what a believer is. You’re growing, you’re growing, you’re growing. Your roots are going deep, your building becomes stable and strong.

“Paul uses a present tense — the picture is an ongoing construction project. A believer is always growing.”

I often think about this building we’re sitting in right now. One hundred sixty-eight years ago this Victorian structure was built. It’s a good example of a sound structure.

It was not only founded when they found the church—when the Dutch Reformed Church were actually preaching the gospel—they built this church upon a spiritual foundation. Thank the Lord, at 168 years later, we’re still preaching the gospel.

I don’t know if that was happening all the time, but we are doing it today. The Lord must be answering prayers from saints who prayed in this place many years ago.

Spiritually, because it was founded upon the gospel of Christ and the authority of the word of God, we are still here. But structurally, when those who built this building not only laid the best foundation they knew about at that time, it also sits on a vein of shale.

That’s why our water table is so high. It just rains a few days and the water’s coming out everywhere because it has nowhere to go.

Just think about the canal that is out there, dug by immigrants by hand. It was nothing but shale. I don’t think they lived very long.

There are virtually very few cracks after many years in the original structure. It is because the foundation was carefully laid and has been found to have endured the stresses and strains of its environment, and proved to be durable and reliable. It’s strong and firm.

So our faith is not only to be rooted and growing, it is to be strong and firm.

“Our faith is not only to be rooted and growing, it is to be strong and firm.”

But the third metaphor in verse 7 is this. It says, “established in your faith, just as you were instructed.” Established in your faith. This is a legal metaphor.

The last one was an architectural metaphor, a picture actually. It’s something that confirms or validates something. That Christians are validated in the faith, in the faith that is the doctrines of the Christian faith.

How? By their transformational change in character, in obedience, in love, in maturity, in stability. So God actually confirms to the believer themselves and to others around them that they were truly in the faith.

Why? How does someone truly stay in the faith? They’re stable and mature, they’re strong and firm, they’re growing deep roots. That’s how. You can’t just push them over, they’re too strong, they know too much. That’s what we ought to be, that’s what we want to be.

“God confirms to the believer and to others that they are truly in the faith through transformational change in character and maturity.”

And notice the little phrase in verse 7, “just as you were instructed,” meaning that they were not only taught doctrines, they were also taught how it looks to walk in those doctrines. They were taught both things, and so are we when we come to scripture.

Now just think of that for a minute. All these things that have been said so far in the text of scripture, from verse 1 to verse 7, where would all that lead to? Where would all that lead to if we’re really tracking with it correctly? How would that change us? What would it do in our life?

Overflowing with Gratitude

Well, I want you to see what it does in verse 7. Notice, I’m going to read the whole passage. Verse 7: “Having been firmly rooted and being now built up in him, established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing in what? Gratitude.”

Here’s the result. This is the result of you and I having deep roots in Christ, being strong and firm in our faith, stable and maturing in our faith. This is what it leads to. It does not lead to grumbling or complaining or doubting. It leads to an overflowing fountain of thankfulness.

Do you find that happening in your life? Do you find when you get up in the morning that you are overflowing with that?

Overflowing is a picture of conditions that is always developing and always advancing. It is overflowing the cup.

When one understands what one has in Christ, how much God has done on their behalf, along with the validation of the transformational results of life carried out in Christ, there’s only one thing you could do. You can only be thankful.

“When one understands what one has in Christ and how much God has done, there’s only one thing you could do — be thankful.”

Thankfulness is another weapon against error, because I know why I’m thankful. I don’t think the word, the thought thankful can be not connected to something you’re thankful for. There’s got to be a substitute or substance to your thankfulness.

Overflowing thankfulness is a validation that you are walking in spiritual health and being faithful to what you have been taught. Have you ever thought of that?

But I tell you what, if you’re not thankful, there’s a real spiritual problem.

How important is thankfulness in the thought of being thankful in Colossians? Well, let me just give you a few passages.

Colossians 1:3: “We give thanks to God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.”

Colossians 1:12: “Giving thanks to the father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”

Colossians 3:15-17: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, in which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks through him to God the father.”

Colossians 4:2: “Devote yourself to prayer, keep alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”

Thankfulness as a Weapon and Witness

Our growth is derived from God, to whom true thankfulness is ours alone to give. Do you think that God is not pleased when his children thank him?

But not just thank him where everybody knows you’re thanking him. Thank him when you’re driving in your car, thank him when you’re faced with a huge difficulty and problem, thank him when you get a bad report about your health, thank him at night, thank him in the morning, thank him in the afternoon.

That you’re just a container of overflowing thankfulness. Do you think that would affect people when you go into work?

How come you’re so bubbly? What do you do here to be thankful for? People are going to say that to you.

But what if they see that in you? You think it’s not going to open up an opportunity?

Let me tell you why I’m thankful. You tell them everything Colossians just told you. I have a savior who went to the cross for me, who died in my place, who rose again for me to give me eternal life. I believed in him and he’s given me his spirit and he’s made me new. That’s why I’m thankful. You want to know any more about that?

We should never forget that in any case, theology is for doxology. The truest expression of trust in a great God will always be worship. It will always be proper worship to praise God for being far greater than we could know and far more loving toward his children than we often realize.

“Theology is for doxology. The truest expression of trust in a great God will always be worship.”

In the church of Jesus Christ, there should always be an atmosphere of thanksgiving. When we sing praises and sing hymns, we should blow this roof off.

But if you’re not ready to do that, sometimes you need to get yourself ready. We need to walk in here, and sometimes we’re down in the dumps, sometimes life is weighing down on us, beating us down.

We come to the church and we see other believers, and all of a sudden I get lifted back up. I need to be around you, I really do.

I’m gone a few days not being around believers, and I’m starting to, my shoulders are sagging, started walking around like ho-hum, all the problems seem bigger than ever. I come into the church, I go home and I’m on cloud nine, whatever that means.

Don’t forget this: discontentment and ingratitude are often results of false teaching and a fleshly, worldly understanding of spiritual reality.

If you find yourself grumbling and moaning and groaning too often, you need to drop to your knees and be reminded of what God has done for you, and then be thankful.

Amen. Maybe we sing that song again, Joe.

Let’s have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you this morning for your kindness to us, your patience towards us, your long-suffering with us, Lord.

I pray that these truths would not only bring rejoicing to us because we are standing firm in the faith, but also, Lord, because the result of doctrine and practice is thankfulness.

Thankfulness, Lord, is a validation that we’re growing healthy in truth and practice, living in the sphere of Christ, giving you praise and glory.

When you catch us, or we catch ourselves grumbling and moaning and complaining, Lord, convict us quickly, that we repent of that sin and then start being thankful again.

I pray, Lord, that our list of thankfulness would just keep getting longer and longer. I pray this in Christ’s name, amen.

Let’s stand together.

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