Lord Jesus, give us hearts to give You thanks, and praying always for the brethren. Let us give thanks for their faith and the love of the saints who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
3We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints;
Giving thanks to the Lord of heaven and earth is a fundamental attribute of the Christian faith. We are to pray to God, giving thanks for the faith of His people. We know of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the love they have for all the saints. Do you give thanks as you ought for the faith of the brethren? Do you pray always, giving thanks for God’s people, and for the hope laid up for them in glory? Does the Christian faith and those who share it with you bring you on your knees to a place where you are most thankful? How much do you treasure the Christian faith and others who profess it? We ought to give thanks for the brethren. We ought to give thanks in our prayers, always for God’s people and the hope they have laid up for them in heaven. At one time we never gave thanks for the faith and love of God’s people. At one time they were outside of Christ, and foreigners to the eternal city. At one time they were unthankful, and unashamed of their life of sin. At one time they were prayerless, and self-sufficient. At one time they were faithless, and unloving toward all, bring forth hatred toward all.
We are not to give thanks in pray to saints or angels. We are to give thanks to the One who delivered us from His own punitive wrath through His Only Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. We are not to remain prayerless but be always in the spirit of prayerfulness. If we pray always we show that our heart is God-focused and that our minds are God-oriented. We show that we not self-reliant. Isn’t God the reason why we should be thankful? Thankfulness and praising the Lord of hosts are two attributes Christians lack the most. We need to be people of thanks and people of praise. We read the exposition of Calvin,
3. We give thanks to God. He praises the faith
and love of the Colossians, that it may encourage them the more to alacrity and
constancy of perseverance. Farther, by shewing that he has a persuasion of this
kind respecting them, he procures their friendly regards, that they may be the
more favourably inclined and teachable for receiving his doctrine. We must
always take notice that he makes use of thanksgiving in place of
congratulation, by which he teaches us, that in all our joys we must readily
call to remembrance the goodness of God, inasmuch as everything that is
pleasant and agreeable to us is a kindness conferred by him. Besides, he
admonishes us, by his example, to acknowledge with gratitude not merely those
things which the Lord confers upon us, but also those things which he confers
upon others.
But for what things does
he give thanks to the Lord? For the faith and love of the
Colossians. He acknowledges, therefore, that both are conferred by God:
otherwise the gratitude were pretended. And what have we otherwise than through
his liberality? If, however, even the smallest favors come to us from that
source, how much more ought this same acknowledgment to be made in reference to
those two gifts, in which the entire sum of our excellence consists?
To the God and Father. Understand the
expression thus — To God who is the Father of Christ. For it is not
lawful for us to acknowledge any other God than him who has manifested himself
to us in his Son. And this is the only key for opening the door to us, if we
are desirous to have access to the true God. For on this account, also, is he a
Father to us, because he has embraced us in his only begotten Son, and in him
also sets forth his paternal favor for our contemplation.
Always for you, Some explain it thus — We give
thanks to God always for you, that is, continually. Others explain
it to mean — Praying always for you. It may also be interpreted in this
way, “Whenever we pray for you, we at the same time give thanks to God;” and
this is the simple meaning, “We give thanks to God, and we at the same time
pray.” By this he intimates, that the condition of believers is never in this
world perfect, so as not to have, invariably, something wanting. For even the
man who has begun admirably well, may fall short in a hundred instances every
day; and we must ever be making progress while we are as yet on the way. Let us
therefore bear in mind that we must rejoice in the favors that we have already
received, and give thanks to God for them in such a manner, as to seek at the
same time from him perseverance and advancement.
One of the
essential motivations and attributes of the church is gratitude. We need to speak of the Christian attribute
of thankfulness or of gratitude. We see
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Supreme Example of obedience to the
Father. We see that He gives thanks unto
God. He never ceased giving thanks unto
God. He enjoyed following the Lord and
doing those things that pleased Him. The
Lord Jesus always did those things that pleased the Lord. He thanked God perfectly and He was perfectly
grateful to God. There was never a time
when the Lord Jesus expressed to the Father ingratitude or un-thankfulness or
imperfect thankfulness or gratitude. We
Him giving thanks unto God. Is that what
you do? Have you expressed to the Father
great thanks? Oh, how wonderful it is to
give Him thanks! Do you not know that it brings Him great glory? The Lord Jesus gave the Father great glory by
giving Him thanks. It came from a heart
of gratitude. The Lord Jesus had a heart
of perfect gratitude. It came from the
depths of his person. It came from the
depths of His sinless heart. He was a
Man of gratitude. He was a Man of
thanks.
Matthew 15:36, and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks,
He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave
them to the people.
Matthew 26
26(A)While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and (B)after a blessing, He broke it and
gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."
27And when He had taken a cup and
given thanks, He gave it to them,
saying, "Drink from it, all of you;
Mark 8:6, And He directed the
people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks
and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and
they served them to the people.
Mark 14:23, And when He had taken a cup and given thanks,
He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
Luke 2:38, At that very moment she came up and began
giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who
were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Luke 22: 17(B)And when He had taken a cup and (C)given thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves; 18for (D)I say to you, I will not drink of the
fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes."
Luke 22:19, And when He had taken some bread and given thanks,
He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given
for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
John 6:11, Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks,
He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as
they wanted.
John 6:23, There came other small boats from Tiberias
near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
We ought to be
people that take His example. We see
Jesus giving thanks in the little areas of life. It is fundamental to give thanks in the
little things of life, and the big things of life. People in the church need to be people of
thanks and gratitude. We need to express
to our Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we are grateful for
His spiritual blessings, but not only this, but first and foremost who He is. Are you thankful for who God is? Are you thankful that He is a good God? Have you expressed this to Him or have you
merely prayed supplications to Him? We
are living in a time of “Give me; Give me; Give me.” Have you posed and set time aside and thanked
the Lord? How much time have you spent
thanking the Incarnate King of kings?
How long have you spent time expressing your gratefulness to Him who
saved you from Himself, sin, yourself and eternal damnation? We ought to thank Him for saving us. We ought to thank Him for saving us from His
wrath. We ought to thank Him for saving
us from sin. We ought to thank for
saving us from ourselves. We ought to be
grateful that God saved us from eternal hell and damnation. What a glorious God we serve! How many of us give thanks for our salvation? Has their gone by a day where you have not thanked Him for salvation? Do we thank God as we ought by healing our hearts and saving our souls? God sent forth His Son to live a perfect and sinless life for His people. God sent forth His Son on a mission to die a death that no mere man could die. God sent forth His Incarnate Son to rise again and to do it for our justification. We are people that ought to be more thankful then we are. We are mere sinners—spiritual beggars—we need to give God the thanks, praise and express our gratefulness to Him. So many of us fail in this respect. If we turn to the Psalmist, do we not see a man who was possessed and obsessed with thanking God?
Psalm 7:17, I will give thanks to the LORD
according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of the LORD
Most High.
Psalm 9:1, I will give thanks to the LORD with all
my heart;I will tell of all Your wonders.
Psalm 18:49, Therefore I will give thanks to You
among the nations, O LORD, And I will sing praises to Your name.
Psalm 26:7, That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving
And declare all Your wonders.
Psalm 30:4, Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones,
And give thanks to His holy name.
Are a person who is awaiting the time when you will give
thanks unto our Lord forever? Psalm
30:12, That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent O LORD my
God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Psalm 33:2, Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;
Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.
Psalm 75:1, We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks,
For Your name is near; Men declare Your wondrous works.
Psalm 97:12, Be glad in the LORD, you righteous ones, And
give thanks to His holy name.
Psalm 118:29, Give thanks to the LORD, for He is
good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
The heart of
the believer is to give thanks unto the Lord.
We ought to have a heart that flows out thankfulness. Jonah said chapter 2 verse 9: But I will
sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving That which I have vowed I
will pay…Salvation is from the LORD." We ought give thanks for the love, hope and faith of God’s people. Hear what Matthew Henry wrote,
He gave thanks to God for them, that they had embraced the gospel
of Christ, and given proofs of their fidelity to him. Observe, In his prayers
for them he gave thanks for them. Thanksgiving ought to be a part of every
prayer; and whatever is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of
our thanksgiving. Observe, 1. Whom he gives thanks to: To God, even the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In our thanksgiving we must have an eye to
God as God (he is the object of thanksgiving as well as prayer), and is the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in and through whom all good comes to us. He
is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as well as our Father; and it is a
matter of encouragement, in all our addresses to God, that we can look to him
as Christ's Father and our Father, as his God and our God, John xx. 17.
Observe, 2. What he gives thanks to God for—for the graces of God in them,
which were evidences of the grace of God towards them: Since we heard of
your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love you have to all the saints; for the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven, v.
4, 5. Faith, hope, and
love, are the three principal graces in the Christian life, and proper matter
of our prayer and thanksgiving. (1.) He gives thanks for their faith in Christ
Jesus, that they were brought to believe in him, and take upon them the
profession of his religion, and venture their souls upon his undertaking. (2.)
For their love. Besides the general love which is due to all men, there is a
particular love owing to the saints, or those who are of the Christian brotherhood,
1 Pet. ii. 17.
We must love all the saints, bear an extensive kindness and good-will to good
men, notwithstanding smaller points of difference, and many real weaknesses.
Some understand it of their charity to the saints in necessity, which is one
branch and evidence of Christian love. (3.) For their hope: The hope which
is laid up for you in heaven, v. 5.
The happiness of heaven is called their hope, because it is the thing hoped
for, looking for the blessed hope, Tit. ii. 13.
What is laid out upon believers in this world is much; but what is laid up for
them in heaven is much more. And we have reason to give thanks to God for the
hope of heaven which good Christians have, or their well-grounded expectation
of the future glory. Their faith in Christ, and love to the saints, had an eye
to the hope laid up for them in heaven. The more we fix our hopes on the
recompence of reward in the other world, the more free and liberal shall we be
of our earthly treasure upon all occasions of doing good.
We could turn
to the hymn of Luther and sing.. All Praise to Thee, Eternal God
1. All praise to Thee, eternal God,
Who, clothed in garb of flesh and blood,
Dost take a manger for Thy throne,
While worlds on worlds are Thine alone.
Hallelujah!
2. Once did the skies before Thee bow;
A virgin's arms contain Thee now,
While angels, who in Thee rejoice,
Now listen for Thine infant voice.
Hallelujah!
3. A little Child, Thou art our Guest
That weary ones in Thee may rest;
Forlorn and lowly is Thy birth
That we may rise to heaven from earth.
Hallelujah!
4. Thou comest in the darksome night
To make us children of the light,
To make us in the realms divine,
Like Thine own angels, round Thee shine.
Hallelujah!
5. All this for us Thy love hath done;
By This to Thee our love is won;
For this our joyful songs we raise
And shout our thanks in ceaseless praise.
Hallelujah!
I conclude with
Dr. MacArthur words,
We
have so much to be thankful for, beloved. God's holiness that makes Him perfect
and He never makes a mistake. God's goodness and mercy which is always
available, which is overflowing and abounding toward us. The gift of Jesus
Christ, that unspeakable gift for which we are thankful. All good gifts that
flow down from the Father of lights, victory over sin and death, divine
guidance, complete provision for all our needs, the hope of heaven, the power
of the Word and on and on and on and on we go. Lots of reasons to give thanks.
And if the church is to be the church of Jesus Christ and His life is the
flow through that church, it will be people who are filled with gratitude, even
for the trials, even for the pain, even for the suffering. And my prayer is
that God will fill your heart with joy, no matter what, and that you'll rejoice
always and in everything give thanks. That's crucial to the life of the church.
And
you can do on the basis of this one little verse in Philippians 2:13, "It
is God who is at work in you." Isn't that great? And what's He doing?
"To will and to work for His good pleasure." And since He's at work
in you using all this stuff to work for His own good pleasure, the next verse
says, "You can do all things without grumbling...into all things with joy
and gratitude."
Father,
we thank You so much for Your mercy and kindness toward us. We thank You for
the way in which You have consistently demonstrated Your goodness. And, Lord,
fill us with thanksgiving. We have to much to be thankful for, even the
difficulties, for those we thank You...the easy and the good times. Should be
easy in the hard times if we understand the purpose. Lord, we pray that You'll
even use the strength of Your Spirit to break patterns of critical spirit,
rebellion, worldliness, selfishness, impatience, all those things that hinder
gratitude. And may we begin every day no matter how challenging it might be by
thanking You for being faithful in making your mercies new every morning, great
is Your faithfulness, by thanking You for all that is ours in Christ, by
thanking You for eternal life, the hope of heaven, guidance, direction, truth,
trials which humble us, trials which shape us. Give us thankful hearts, You are
worthy to be praised, You are worthy to be thanked. It is a sin not to do so,
forgive us for that sin and put us in a path of righteousness where we are in
everything thankful. And may it be infectious to those around us that the
thanks may redound to Your glory in Christ's name. Amen.
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