The Glory of Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving by Faith
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
Colossians 2:6-7 ESV
“giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Colossians 1:12-14 ESV
“He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”
Romans 4:19-21 ESV
As We Have Received
Three aspects of receiving Christ and living the Christian life stand out here in the first verse above. The first is obedience. Paul encourages them to walk as they received. There’s continuity from how we received Christ to the way in which we continue in our walk with Him. As we do so, our lives are built up, our love grows, and He remains our source and cornerstone, unmoved during ever-shifting circumstances. He uses the word “taught” referring to learning new ways of life. Secondly, the way in which we obey is by faith. It is both not a rulebook alone, and it is not without rules. Following the rulebook will fail and why should we be thankful only for a set of do’s and don’ts? What if we aren’t thrilled by what is commanded? If there’s only those rules, or way of life, for the sake of themselves, we have made a very poor transaction. Faith establishes our obedience. It makes it possible. We look ahead towards the “prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14) We are not living a life being thankful that we were only told what to do. We are living a life knowing the God who commanded it is only good and does only good. The third aspect is the overflowing thanksgiving that is happening when we realize our faith and obedience are gifts from God’s sovereign and loving hand. As Paul was commanding the Colossians to walk established in the faith, he points back to the receiving Christ, as a gift. The receiving and the walking are received. “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7) What else can we do but be thankful for the gift of Christ Jesus and the faith that we have in him?
Walking in Obedience
If we love God, we obey His commands. (John 14:15) Our love for God and our faith in God are inseparable. Our loves and affections direct our actions and decisions. Obedience is unavoidable. We all obey something. Romans tells us we have two options. Romans 6:12 states, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.” We think we are in charge, but sin is our master when we don’t obey God. Romans 6:16 continues “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” The obedience to God that leads to righteousness can be equated with the walking that Paul is discussing in our verse at the top. He uses different metaphoric language to describe our obedience including a plant rooted (In Christ), a structure built (In Christ), and a variety of connotations are present with the word “established,” implying a strengthening and commitment to the faith (In Christ). The Colossians were taught this obedience and way of walking, whether by demonstration or instruction. The surrounding context of verses in Colossians 2, which will be discussed soon, allude that they needed to commit to a specific way (In Christ, as presented by the Apostles to them) versus the alternatives that were being presented to them. Paul wanted them to know Christ was the beginning and the end of their way of life, all of it by faith.
Obedience by Faith Alone, in Christ Alone
We open up the verse to the context of the chapter in Colossians now looking at the first five verses. Colossians 2:1-5 says “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.” Paul wanted the Colossians to rejoice in thanksgiving, not because of things they could see, through plausible means in the form of arguments, but in the knowledge of the mystery of God. What they lacked in the ability to see, though it may be plausible to trust in these things, they want their posture to be informed in full assurance that the firmness of their faith fuels the thanksgiving that follows in Colossians 2:6-7.
Faith, Not Sight, Makes Us Thankful
The passage immediately following our verses, in Colossians 2:8-14 states, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
The past tense of this passage is what we are thankful for. That God has seated us in the heavenly places, cancelling out our sin. He removes them from us infinitely far away and forevermore. The Spirit has performed the circumcision and baptism of our heart, and we have been crucified and resurrected with Him. It has been nailed to the cross and conquered. This gives an unshakable, eternal thankfulness for reality that does not and cannot change. The image for this post is a reference to what we have to look forward to, and be thankful for, by faith. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” 1 John 3:2-3 adds, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” What else can we do but overflow with thanksgiving by faith?
