Turn the Word of God to Colossians 1. Colossians 1, we'll read the first 23 verses, and I'll be preaching this morning from verses 3 to 6. Colossians 1. verses 1-23. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to the God and 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, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. As you also learn from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister." Before we turn to the preaching of God's Word, let's pray. Almighty God, this is your Word. We are the ones privileged to have received it, read, and now preached. Lord God, we ask that you would visit us in power by your Spirit and apply this word to our hearts. I pray, dear God, that you would equip me to preach the word and truth and that, Lord, the gospel would be clear. And I pray that however it is needed in the hearts of each one here, that you would graciously apply it and graciously bring results, bring fruit in the lives of all who hear this word. Lord, we wait upon you. Lord, we are dependent on you to make this word effective and powerful. And so we look to you in faith now. to do just that. In Jesus' name, amen. A couple Mondays ago was Thanksgiving Day. And boys and girls, this is a day that is set aside for Thanksgiving to give thanks, particularly to give thanks for the harvest and to give thanks for what the Lord has provided. And it's a fitting, it's a fitting thing to give thanks at a time like this. And particularly this year's, again, such an abundant harvest that the Lord has provided for our farmers. And we can give thanks to God. Now Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday. It's called by our government. But the reality is that it's really only Christians who can be truly thankful. For it's Christians who know where every good and perfect gift comes from, from our Father in Heaven. We're not just a generic giving thanks to someone or something or to Mother Nature. It's far beyond just giving thanks to your parents. It's giving thanks to God. And of course, thankfulness is not just something that we do once a year. This is to be a year-round attitude. As we read and sing in Psalm 92, it is good to give thanks to the Lord. To give thanks to you, O Most High. But as you think about thankfulness, and I trust you are thankful for what the Lord has blessed you with, Are you only thankful for things that benefit you? Because we give thanks to God. Is your Thanksgiving only for those things that you know have a direct benefit to you? You give thanks for the fridge that's full of food. You give thanks for your dresser that's got lots of clothing in it. You give thanks for your parents who care for you. Now, there's nothing wrong with giving thanks for these things. They're good things to give thanks for. Do you find yourself only giving thanks for those things that benefit you personally? How often are you giving thanks for the way God is at work in the lives of others? How often do you give thanks for others? Closer to the text we're going to consider this morning, how thankful are you for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? And not thankful just that you can go to church, not just thankful that you can go and sit under the preaching of the Word and be fed yourself, not just thankful that you have brothers and sisters in Christ that you enjoy fellowship with, that encourages you and helps you, but how thankful are you for the church of Jesus Christ, even beyond those things that personally benefit you, that personally help you or encourage you? See, brothers and sisters in Christ, you and I, as the Church, we need to shake off the incessant individualism that dominates our culture and, sadly, infects the Church of Christ. Even in our thankfulness, where we give thanks for those things that have a benefit to us, but don't give thanks for what God is doing far beyond us. You and I must give thanks for the entire covenant community, all those who are in relationship with Jesus Christ and with whom we're in the family of God. Even if your circumstances are difficult, even if you struggle to give thanks in your own circumstances, you still must give thanks for God's work. in the church, God's work in others, God's work to take dead sinners and to give them life and then to produce fruit in their lives for the glory of God. And when you give thanks for others, God is glorified for your praising God for what the work He's doing in others to build and the work He's doing to build His church. Your own esteem of your brothers and sisters in Christ will increase as you begin to look for those things that God is doing in their lives. And you will see beyond the difficulties in relationships, perhaps, beyond the differences that you might have in opinions on this issue or that issue, and you will begin to grow in your love for one another, begin to grow in fellowship and communion, you begin to grow closer to each other in living lives that glorify God. And this is what Paul is teaching us here by example as he writes this letter to the Colossian church. Paul is writing to a church that was in great danger. Paul's writing to a church that was being tempted away from the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. They were being tempted by false teachers who were coming to them and saying to them, Jesus is great, but you need more than Jesus. The Christ alone plan isn't enough. You need the Christ plus plan. You need Christ plus some ascetic behaviors, like fasting. You need Christ plus some Jewish activities, like circumcision. You need Christ plus some special secret knowledge beyond what you have been receiving from the apostles and the apostolic doctrine. If you don't have that, you won't truly know true religion. If you don't have that, you can't be guaranteed of heaven. If you don't have that, you can't live the life God wants you to live. And Paul's writing to a church which to which he really, realistically, has very little connection to. Paul didn't establish the Colossian church. The Colossian church was established by a man named Epaphras. Paul hadn't been to the Colossian church. He hadn't met with the Colossians. He didn't know them face to face. Epaphras had left Colossae and had made the long journey to Paul, who was in prison. And very likely, this is when he was in prison in Rome, as we find at the end of Acts 28. And he was coming to Paul to tell him what was going on at the church, including seeking help, because the church was on the verge of going after these false teachers, and some already going down that road. But even though he had very little connection to them, yet Paul had a heart for them. Paul loved them in Christ. Paul cared for them. He wrote to them with authority. He wrote to them with his apostolic authority. He's Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. And he's Paul who desires only the best for them. He desires grace and peace for them. That undeserved favor of God that leads to a relationship with God and salvation, forgiveness of sins and peace with God. And although they were going into error, although they were on the verge of going into error for many of them, Paul writes to them with love. And Paul writes to them to tell them that Christ is enough. And even here in this section, Paul is giving thanks to God for them, for what God is doing in their lives, which demonstrates that Christ has been enough for them. But although there are challenges, although there are struggles, although there probably are differences between Paul and those in the church, Paul is not slow to give thanks to God for what he sees in their lives. He writes with thankfulness. You and I must hear how he thanks God for them, and we must imitate what the Apostle Paul does in our own lives and our own church family, especially. So we learn from verses three to six of Colossians 1 is this. or what the command that comes out of this is this, thank your father for the saints who have heard and believe the gospel of Christ and show it by their fruitful life. Thank your father for the saints who have heard and believe the gospel of Christ and show it by their fruitful life. First in verse three, we have to thank your father. Verse two, you to give thanks for the faith, love and hope of the saints. That's in verses four to five, and then in our third point, in verses five and six, we're to give thanks for the fruitful life of the saints. Thank your Father, give thanks for the faith, hope, and love of the saints, and give thanks for the fruit that's being produced in their lives. First in verse three, thank your Father. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Paul is offering thanksgiving for the Colossian church. He's not offering thanksgiving to the Colossian church, but he's offering thanksgiving to God for the Colossian church. Paul realizes that every good and perfect gift comes from God, and Paul realizes that anything that's going on in the life of the Colossians comes from God. And what he wants to do is to tell the Colossian church what God is doing in their lives. He wants to tell them what he hears God is doing in them, hearing the good report from Epaphras about the work that God is doing. Paul gives thanks to the Father for the work that he's doing in their lives. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that was going on in their lives came from the Father. Even Christ, even the blessing of Christ, the most perfect, the best gift from heaven, even Christ was the gift of God. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son. Christ is the greatest, the grandest gift of God. But even these gifts of God were only made possible because of Christ. It is through Christ that we have every promise of God fulfilled. It is through Christ that we become those who are eligible for the gifts and the blessings of God. It is through Christ, the Son of God by nature, that we become children of God by grace. He signs our adoption papers in His own blood. And so, Paul is giving thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord God Himself, Jesus the Savior, Christ the Messiah. Paul says, we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Praying always for you. Some will put the always with giving thanks. We always give thanks when we pray for you, but I think the focus here is on the praying always. We're praying always for you. Obviously not every moment of every day, but enough that this is not that much of an exaggeration. We're praying always for you, and in our praying for you, we're giving thanks. We're giving thanks for you. We're praising God for you. You know, we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. How often do we give thanks for them? How often do we say, thank you, Lord, before we pray, make a petition on their behalf, or perhaps pray for their correction, or when we see them going through difficulties and we pray for them, how often do we start with giving thanks to God for them? Paul sets an example here of the Christian's life, how we ought to be always praying, how we always ought to be giving thanks in our prayers. Prayer, of course, should be our go-to reaction. Our life should be dominated by prayer. And when we pray, we must do so with thanksgiving. And if we are truly praying as believers in Christ through life, when you pray through life, you will find much to be thankful for. G.K. Beal writes, to the extent that Christ's prayer They will have a thankful mindset. Spiritual impoverishment comes when believers do not prayerfully contemplate the experience of God's grace in their lives. And such impoverishment results in an unthankful perspective. As you and I contemplate the grace of God in our lives, we will only be able to give thanks to God. That's what Paul's mindset was. He saw the grace of God in his own life and the grace of God in the church. He gave thanks. What did He give thanks for? Well, that's our last two points. What did He give thanks for? He gave thanks for the faith, love, and hope of the saints, and He gave thanks for the fruit that they were producing in their lives. And you and I must follow suit in thanking God, not just for what He's doing in our lives, but thanking God for what He's doing in the lives of the saints around us. Paul says in verse 4, he says, We give thanks, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Well, it's very quick here. You notice Paul is bringing in a familiar triad. Paul is speaking of the faith, love, and hope of the saints. This is shorthand for true Christianity. To have faith, hope, and love is shorthand for true Christianity. This is the Christian life. And you've heard this language before. Perhaps most well-known in the Scriptures is in 1 Corinthians 13. Faith, hope, and love. But Paul references these three things, the triad, various points to talk about the Christian life. And Paul is, again, he's speaking of these things of faith, love, and hope with that ultimate knowledge that these things are a gift of God. They come from God. He's thanking God for the presence of these very things in the lives of the Colossians. He's not praising the Colossians for coming up with this themselves. He's giving thanks to God that it's evident at all in the lives of his people. He said, we've been giving thanks since we heard of your faith, or another way of putting that is because we heard of it. This is what's driving our thanksgiving, that God is at work in your lives, working in true Christian faith. Faith, love, and hope. He begins with faith. We're giving thanks since we heard, or because we heard, that you're resting in Christ alone for your salvation. That you are leaning upon Him alone. You're not trusting in yourself, you're trusting in Him. That you've heard of the gift of God in Christ Jesus, and you've come to believe on Him. that you're believing in Christ, that you have faith in Christ Jesus. Christ is the object. People tell you just have faith. You can't just have faith. You need to have faith in something. Faith needs an object. You can have faith in yourself, you can have faith in humanity, you can have faith in the world. Those are all terrible things to have faith in. Christian has faith in Christ, faith in Jesus Christ. He's the object of our faith. And Paul is clearly, he's delighted to hear about this. He's delighted that what he's hearing from Epaphras about the true work of God in the lives of the Colossian church. Yes, the church had challenges, and Paul doesn't dismiss them as the letter goes on. He doesn't ignore them. But Paul also didn't ignore the triumph of faith over unbelief, of light over darkness, of Christ over Satan. He rejoices in the faith that God had given them. Now, faith is always first in the triad. Love and hope, Paul can switch them around depending on the point he's making, but faith is always first. You can't have love and you can't have hope without faith, but neither can you have only faith. They must lead to love and must have hope. So Paul speaks first of their faith, but then he speaks of their love. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints, we give thanks for your love toward the saints. Now, again, boys and girls, the word saints is a term that simply refers to believers in Jesus Christ. It refers to those who are set apart, those who are the holy ones. Every believer is a saint. Some try to make saints some extra super holy people, and you become a saint long after you died, and apparently you did some miracles, which there's so much wrong with that. But saints are simply those who are believers in Jesus Christ, who have been set apart for holiness by God. Paul here is giving thanks for the love. He's giving thanks for faith in action. He's giving thanks for their faith that's being demonstrated by love. the love for all the saints, for all saints, without exception here, for every single one of them, for every believer in Jesus Christ. And he's saying here, he's giving thanks that there's this evidence of faith in their life, that the believer who is a true believer in Jesus Christ will have love for the saints. As John writes, John the Apostle of Love writes in 1 John 4, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. If you don't have love for the saints, there's a question mark over your faith. If you don't love the saints, it says, it puts a question mark whether you truly believe in Christ. Christians aren't independent of one another. We're to love one another. We're to have love for one another. We're not to live independent of one another. We're to be living in a community of love together. As a witness, even, to the world that we are true believers, that Jesus Christ has actually made a difference in our lives. Jesus says to the disciples in John 13, Verse 35, by this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love, if you have love for one another. Faith needs to be demonstrated by love. You know, the early church was shocked, was shocked by Christianity. The pagans were shocked because regardless of social status, economic status, education status, any other status that could divide, that did divide people groups in the Roman Empire, Christians came together. Everything else was pushed aside. They had unity in Christ because they loved one another. It shocked the world. This is what was taking place in Colossae. This is what was taking place with the Colossians. They were showing the world a difference. They loved one another. This belief in Jesus Christ actually meant something, actually changed them, actually did something. And for that, Paul was giving thanks, ceaselessly giving thanks. as he ceaselessly prayed for them. Your thanks for your faith in Jesus Christ and of your love for all the saints because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. What was driving the faith and the love of the saints? It was hope. It was hope. Now, when we think of hope, we think of, well, I really hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. Maybe I hope it does rain tomorrow. And you're thinking, oh, it'd be really nice. And you look at the weather forecast and realizing there's not much certainty there. You just really hope for something. But Paul uses the word hope. He's not really wanting something that has no idea whether it'll come to pass. Paul uses the word hope as a certain thing. Our hope is certain because our hope is in Jesus Christ. It's not wishful thinking. And the hope here that Paul speaks of, the hope that which is laid up for you in heaven, it actually references the thing hoped for. You could replace it with the inheritance. Your hope of the inheritance that is laid up for you in heaven, drawing us to the language of 1 Peter, where Peter speaks of this as he praises God. 1 Peter, not 2 Peter. 1 Peter, where he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. you may think that you have a great inheritance being lined up for you. You think of maybe you have a rich relative, maybe your parents, and you think, you know, there's an inheritance coming my way. It's a terrible, terrible idea to make financial decisions or to make purchases or to do whatever based on some belief that you're going to have an inheritance in five, 10, 15, 20 years. You have no idea. You have no idea whether any money will be there. You have no idea whether you're even in line for it. You have no idea. To make decisions based on that inheritance is foolishness. But to live your life on the foundation of the inheritance we have in Jesus Christ is absolute wisdom. Because this is an inheritance that's guaranteed. This is an inheritance that's not going to fade away. This is an inheritance that will remain undefiled. This is an inheritance that is yours if you're trusting in Jesus Christ. Because it's guaranteed in Jesus Christ. And this is the hope that the Colossians had. This heavenly inheritance was secure for them. They were living their life of faith and love driven by this hope of their inheritance laid up for them in heaven. They were living for something much greater than themselves. And their hope, their faith, spurred them on. This hope, rather, spurred on stronger faith and deeper love. Is this a hope you know this morning? Is this a hope that you have this morning? A hope that's in Christ alone and in the work that He's done You need faith before you can love and before you can have this hope. You can't love without it. You can't have hope without it. It may sound harsh, but this is the truth of God's Word. This is the truth of the gospel. And you can only receive faith from the Father through Jesus Christ. So if you don't have faith this morning, if you don't believe, you need to seek it from God, through Jesus Christ, and seek that guarantee of Christ that you are His. He is yours. and you have this hope laid up for you in heaven, that this inheritance that he has earned is your inheritance. Paul gives thanks to God for what he has done in the Colossians lives, that they have this faith, that they have this love that's demonstrating their faith, and it's driven by this hope. This triad of faith, love, and hope, grounded in – and he said it's grounded – this is all grounded in God's Word. This is grounded in the Word that you have heard, the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the Word of the truth of the gospel. Paul is emphasizing to them, you have heard the truth. You've heard the gospel. It's making a real difference in your lives. This is effectual truth. In other words, it's effective. It's actually demonstrating that your life is demonstrating this is true. And he's emphasizing this in contrast to the false teachers who were saying, you need more, you need more, you're not pretty, you're not where you ought to be. And he's saying, no, you have everything you need. You have the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank your Father for the saints who have heard and believed the gospel of Christ and show it by their fruitful life. Paul is showing us already how he's giving thanks to God for what he's doing in the lives of the saints here, giving thanks for the triad evident in their lives. And now he rejoices in the fruit being produced. See this in verse six. which has come to you," this gospel, the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. Paul reminds them. reminds the Colossians of this word of the gospel that had come to them. This true word, the gospel that had come to them. He said that this, you've heard this word, this word that is going throughout the world, this word that is spreading throughout the world. The great commission that Christ had given the apostles, had given the church through the apostles, was being fulfilled. The gospel was spreading, it was spreading rapidly. It's not much of an exaggeration to say it's spreading throughout the world. Because it was spread far and wide already when Paul was writing this letter. Already then, spreading far, Tertullian writes in 200 AD, we are but of yesterday, speaking of the Christians, we are but of yesterday, and yet we already fill your cities, islands, camps, your place, senate, and forum. We have left you only your temples. He speaks to the Romans. The gospel, but even in Paul's day already, it was spreading, and that spread has continued on. You and I must realize this. It's because God is faithful, and His church has been faithful, that the Word of God has spread and spread and spread until it's come to your very ears as it's coming to you this morning. We are recipients of Great Commission faithfulness. We take it for granted that we go to church and we expect to hear the gospel. But it was only because God was faithful to have this Word spread throughout the world, and His church took up the calling of the Great Commission. But not only was this word spreading, but it was bearing fruit. It was bearing fruit. There was something being produced by it. And this was taking place everywhere, Paul says, including in Colossae. He brings it back to the local church. The gospel's spreading everywhere. It's bearing fruit everywhere, even as it has been doing among you in Colossae. He spoke of faith, love, and hope, which is fruit of the gospel work, but he's going to speak in a few verses later of good works, of joy, of knowledge, spiritual understanding, other fruits of the Spirit we speak of, humility, patience, long-suffering. This gospel's making a difference in your lives. And since the day you believed it, since the day, from the day you knew the grace of God and truth, the grace of God and truth is another way of describing the gospel. Since you heard the gospel, the grace of God, the undeserved favor that He's shown you, since you heard it and believed it, you've been producing fruit. God's work will produce fruit in your life. If you believe, you will produce fruit. Not everyone produces fruit in the same quantity. Not everyone produces fruit at the same pace. But God produces fruit in the lives of his people. Think of different fruit trees. We'll grow different kinds of fruit. We'll grow them, again, at a different pace. But it's an evidence of what they are. If you were to take someone, someone who'd never seen a fruit tree in their life, and you were to tell them, this is a fruit tree. It's an apple tree. It grows apples. But they never see an apple on it. Like I said, I'd say, well, where's the fruit? How do we know this is an apple tree? But then they come to the fall, and they see apples hanging on. This is—now we know this is true. This is a fruit tree. Same with the Christian life. You're producing fruit. How do we—how do you—someone know you're a Christian? It's by the fruit that's produced in your life. And it's good for us to take stock of our lives. Not to put our hope in our fruit, but to be encouraged by what God's doing in our lives, to give thanks to God for our own lives. But Paul here is giving thanks to the Colossians for what God is doing in their lives. They're producing fruit. They've been producing fruit. And Paul wants to encourage them to press on in the true gospel, saying, you have received Christ, and clearly that is enough. You're producing fruit in your life. You're doing what the gospel should do in your lives is being done in your lives. You are able to produce fruit, to fulfill God's command to be fruitful. And here we come to what we read this morning in Genesis chapter 1, our Old Testament reading. God, when he created man, he commanded him to be fruitful. God created man and made him the vice-regents, his second in command, as it were. They were to rule the earth, to have dominion over the world. They were to spread across the world and to bring the glory of God to bear across the entire planet. That came to a crashing halt, didn't it, when we sinned in Eden? when we fell in our first parents. We failed. We have failed to follow through and to meet that, to obey that command. But in the second Adam, in Jesus Christ, we have been renewed in our ability to be fruitful, to carry out the gospel and the glory of Christ to the whole world. We've been given a renewed ability just to carry out the mandate God gave us all the way at the beginning. And so the goal of the church and the goal of you as Christians is to be fruitful, is to produce fruit to the glory of God and to bring the gospel into the lives of others that they too would produce fruit to the glory of God, that the whole earth would be filled with the glory of God. The gospel going forth by God's power producing fruit. That's what Paul was rejoicing at. He's giving thanks to God the Father for the fruit that's being produced in the lives of believers. He's giving thanks that God is doing such powerful and mighty work in their lives. That the true gospel has been in their lives as being evidenced by the fruit. And this is how we ought to be for our brothers and sisters in Christ, that we give thanks to God that they're producing fruit. they're showing love, that they're showing humility, that they're showing patience, that they're being long-suffering, that we see this being produced in their lives, and we see the effects of the gospel. Even if those effects of the gospel aren't effects that necessarily make much of a difference in our own lives and how we live our life, we ought to give thanks to God. We ought to thank the Father. for the saints who have heard and believed the gospel of Christ and show it by their fruitful life." Consider Paul's opening encouragement to this letter, basically telling the Colossians, I pray for you. How do I pray for you? I pray for you with thanksgiving. I thank my God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for what he's doing in your life, for the difference God has made in you, and for the evidence of it, and fruit in your lives. two applications to draw from this text. First, live with such a thankful spirit toward God for your brothers and sisters. Think about this. Paul was in prison. Paul was in prison, or at least under house arrest if he was in Rome. And here he was, in his own condition, thanking God, for people he had never seen in a place to which he had never been. Thanking God for a people who could do nothing, really, to benefit him. No personal benefit drawn from this church. No, they weren't sending him money. They weren't really trying to help him. Epaphras was there, no doubt an encouragement, but still, there was no benefit here to Paul. He wasn't just giving thanks to God for what they had done for him. He was giving thanks to God for what God had done for them. And this is a fruit of the Spirit in Paul, a fruit of thankfulness that was evident in his own life, that he prays always for them, and with thanksgiving. This is the heart of the believer that we see in the life of Paul. He was excited for the spread of the gospel. Are you excited for the spread of the gospel? Are you excited to know that the gospel is reaching to the ends of the earth, but also into your own neighborhoods? That men, women, and children are coming to faith in Jesus Christ and it's being demonstrated through fruit in their lives. Are you delighted to hear of God's work? What's going on? You need a thankful spirit for your brothers and sisters in Christ. You need to give thanks to God for the saints everywhere. Yes, but especially for those around you. Look around you to the saints that are there around you, your brothers and sisters in Christ who are in the same fellowship with you, the same local visible church. Give thanks that each one has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, has believed the gospel of Jesus Christ, and rejoiced in the fruit that is being produced in their lives at whatever pace it's being produced, and whatever type of fruit is being produced. And let me encourage you this week to think of someone, to think of someone, someone perhaps you don't have the closest relationship with, or perhaps there's tension, perhaps there's frustration in your relationship with them. They're a brother in Christ, they're a sister in Christ, but you're having difficulty. Pray for them with thanksgiving. Pray to God and give thanks for what God is doing in their lives. And as you do that, you will glorify your Father in heaven, because He's the one who's at work in them. You will tighten the bonds of fellowship in Christ, because you'll begin to see much more of your brother or sister in Christ than you imagined was there. You will increase in affection toward them. And the small differences that you may experience will fade away in the reality that God is at work in them, that they are your brother or sister in Christ, and that God is producing fruit in them. As you give thanks for them, the differences fade away. Live with such a thankful spirit toward God for your brothers and sisters in Christ. And then secondly, tell your brothers and sisters in Christ how you are thankful for them. See, Paul gives thanks to God for the Colossian believers, but the very fact that we are reading this letter is telling us that he told them, that he gave thanks for them. He wasn't just telling us this as a special aside. He's telling them directly. He's writing to them. He tells them. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. We're giving thanks to God for you. So not only should you thank God for what He's doing in the lives of your brothers and sisters, but you should also tell your brothers and sisters of your thankfulness to God for them. This is serving Christ. It's not self-serving. It's not just serving them. It's serving Christ. It's saying, look, the Lord is doing work in your life, and I see it, and I praise God for it. I've seen how you've grown and grown in maturity. I've seen how you've developed, and you are You're being, you're serving Christ that much better. It builds up, it encourages, especially, especially when it's an older believer. Speaking to a younger believer, someone with much more experience, someone who's more advanced in grace, this is not an age thing necessarily, this is just a maturity thing, to say, you know, I've seen this growth, I've seen this development, I've seen how God is at work in your life. I've seen where you were when you first came to faith, and I see where you are now. three, four, five, ten years down the road or more. Here's how God is at work in you. Here's how I thank God for your service to Christ in this way or that way. I thank God for the fruit of the Spirit that's evident in your life as you see you loving your neighbor more or I see you more patient towards others. And you think this is awkward? Perhaps you think this is awkward. How do I tell someone this? It seems awkward to tell someone. Think about this. Have you ever received such a remark yourself? Has someone ever told you, I've really seen how the Lord is going to work in your life? And when you have received those comments, have you hated them? Have you wished they just never said anything nice to you? Have you wished they just didn't try to encourage you? No, you're encouraged by it, you're thankful for it. If you're in the right spirit, you're thanking God that they're seeing His work in your life, that you're actually demonstrating truth. It's encouraging. So go and encourage others. Go and tell others. You're such a great person. It's about thanking God for them. Those who are in response, your response, receive that encouragement. Thank you, God, for the work you encourage and press on. Praise God and to press on in the Christian life. Be quick to compliment. or if you barely even notice the difference that God is making in the lives of those around you, with whom you share a pew every Sunday. Again, let me encourage you to do it this way. Talk to someone, to give thanks to someone. To give thanks to God for someone and to tell them about it. I've just been noticing over the last few months how God has been at work in you. Imitate Paul. Imitate what Paul is doing on behalf of Jesus Christ. You know, Paul believed the good that he heard. There were difficulties in Colossians, but he didn't ignore it. He believed it. You believe the good you hear. We're so easy. We're so quick to believe the bad. We're so quick to believe the criticism. We're so quick to believe, can you believe they're a Christian and they did this sort of thing? We're so quick to believe that, but we need to be quick to believe the good things. Do you believe what God is doing in them? Man, I've never thought they would respond that way, and that way, that just, a year ago, they wouldn't have responded like that. God is at work in them. Go and tell them. And in so doing, you give praise to the Father who has saved them, you give thanks to the Son who has earned their salvation and is at work in them, you glorify the Holy Spirit who has begun a good work and is continuing it in them. As we take these words from the Lord through Paul, may God give you a thankful spirit, a thankful spirit for His work in you, for the gospel that has made a difference in your life, for the faith, love, and hope that you have because of Jesus Christ. but also for that same work that's evident in the lives of those around you. And may He give you and all around you to bear abundant fruit, including a fruit of thankfulness, that you, and thinking of yourself here, that you would have thankfulness for your brothers and sisters in Christ, that you would give thanks to God for your brothers and sisters and what He's doing in them, and that you would tell them and that to the glory of God, his people would be bound tighter, closer together, and he would receive all the praise. Amen. Let's pray. Almighty God, we thank and praise you for the work that you're doing in your church and each one of your saints. We thank you, Lord, for the work that you're doing among the brothers and sisters of Christ here at Glenholm and Halifax and as part of Covenant Reform Church. Thank you, Lord, for the fruit that's being produced in their lives. We pray that their fruit would increase to the glory of your name. Lord, give us all to have a greater thankfulness to you for the work you are doing and how it's being shown in the lives of those who sit around us. Give us, Lord, to have a well-rounded thankfulness that we would be thankful for far more than just those things that benefit us. Dear Lord, we pray that you would enable us to live according to Paul, as Paul lived, to imitate him as he imitated Christ, And that, Lord, that this Word would bear fruit in our lives, even this very week. Lord, we thank you for receiving us this morning to your throne of grace. We come before you, dear God, through Jesus Christ, not through the blood of bulls and goats, but through the blood of Christ, through the new and living way that he has made through his own flesh. Lord, we come to you in a prayer of intercession this morning as well. And we draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive not only mercy to pardon us for our sin, but grace to help in every time of need. Lord, we pray for your people here. We do pray, Lord, that for each one who has specific needs, Lord, we know each one of us has different burdens on our hearts, different things that dominate our prayer life and when we lift our eyes up to heaven. But Lord, we know there are specific needs for us as the church, as well as the body of Christ in this place. Of course, Lord, our greatest need is for wisdom and knowledge of Christ so that we would know how to respond to the circumstances of life and how to listen to your word and apply it. Give us, Lord, to call out for insight, to raise our voice for understanding, to seek for it like silver, and to search for it as for a hidden treasure, that we may understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God, and live according to it. Give us all, of all here, to know you, from the least even to the greatest, and to press on to know you more. And so, to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent, that it may be eternal life to us. Give us a spirit of wisdom and the revelation of the knowledge of Christ, that having the eyes of our heart enlightened, we may know what is the hope to which He has called us, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and we may experience what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward those who believe according to the working of His great might. Lord, we pray for the application of Your Word to our lives, our lives in our homes, at school, at work, day by day, wherever we are. We pray for grace to live well toward each other in our families and in our church family, that according to our place and our position, we would honor you, whether as superiors to inferiors or inferiors to superiors, or rather as equals in those who are equal in role and responsibilities. Lord, we pray that you would give us godly friendships and fellowship, that we would have friends with whom we delight to speak of Christ and his ways and his work. And we pray that together as brothers and sisters in Christ in the church, that we would not be ashamed to speak of Christ, that we would not be bored to speak of Christ, that we would not be slow to speak of Christ or what he has said to us in the preaching of the word, but that we would be quick to speak of these things that we may spur one another on to love and to good works. We pray, Lord, that your word would dwell in us richly, And we pray this, Lord, not only for us here, but we do pray it for everywhere where your word is preached and proclaimed in truth. We pray it, Lord, for our word would be heard and believed that the grace of God in truth would be heard and received. Lord, we pray for that throughout our denomination, throughout the Associate Reform Presbyterian Church. We pray, Lord, that You would continue to bless this denomination, give us greater faithfulness to Your truth and Your Word, and greater walk with You. We do pray, Lord, for a blessing upon each church, upon each pastor, upon each need in the denomination. Lord, we ask for this for our own presbytery. We think of our church plants. We think of Kingston, the church plant in Kingston, Ontario, this morning for Hope A.R.P. We pray for Pastor Carter, and we thank you, Lord, for his love for the gospel, love for Christ, and his love for those around him. As he reaches out, we thank you for growth in that congregation. We thank you, Lord, for providing for them in so many ways over the last five years. We pray you'd continue to provide. Be with those who mourn in that congregation, the loss of a loved one. We pray for their needs, Lord, as they disciple young believers, those who are new to the Reformed faith, that you would give them encouragement and growth and humility to listen and learn. We do pray, Lord, for your provision for a place for them to worship, Lord. It's a city that's very expensive to rent, and the space is getting too small. We thank and praise you for that. We pray, Lord, that you'd be even now preparing a place where they might be able to move, where they would still be able to have the good foot traffic that they have, being in a downtown location, Lord, that they'd be able to have the facilities that would facilitate worship. We pray for your blessing upon them. their work, bless Pastor Carter, bless Joanne, and bless their family, and bless the whole congregation. Grow them, Lord, in faithfulness. Prepare, Lord, office bearers, Lord, to serve as elders and deacons. And we pray that you would bless the congregation with everything that they need, that they would be able to be established as a church, and that they would be a faithful witness for generations in the Kingston area. Lord, we do pray for the Word as it goes forth throughout our presbytery. We do pray for the Word as it goes forth throughout Nova Scotia. Thank you for Pastor John and his ministry in the Valley today. We pray that you'd bless his preaching. We pray that you would encourage and equip the saints there. We pray, Lord, throughout Nova Scotia, wherever the gospel is preached in truth, that it would bear fruit this day, that sinners would come to faith in Christ, that your people would be built up. Lord, we desperately need revival in our own communities. We desperately need, Lord, the power of the gospel to be evident in so many we know that will begin in the church. And so, Lord, may the gospel be proclaimed in truth in the church and in faith. We pray, Lord, that your people would pour forth from these places to go and to share the gospel with others, to invite others to church, and that, Lord, you would do mighty and powerful things by your Spirit. Oh, Lord, have mercy upon us as a society and community, we pray. We do thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to gather this morning and again this afternoon and in Halifax this evening, Lord, for worship. For our experience these past months, Lord, we're reminded we must never take worship for granted. We thank you that we can gather and meet, and we pray that you would continue to bless these times. Bless the word, Lord, as you've heard it declared this morning, and bless the gospel as we see it visibly portrayed now in the Lord's Supper. We pray that you would continue to strengthen us, refresh us, and bless us through these means of grace, these ways by which you apply your blessing to your people. So as we go to the Lord's Supper, oh Lord, bless us, we pray, and meet with us. Feed us. In Jesus' name we pray all these things. Amen. And now God comes to graciously press the gospel on all our senses as we participate in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Our Lord has condescended to our weakness to strengthen our faith, to encourage our love, and to increase our hope, to fix us on that hope through this covenant meal. On the evening of His betrayal, as He celebrated the Passover with His disciples, Christ instituted the Lord's Supper. We read of this in Luke 22, where Christ took bread and He gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. We as the church are commanded to keep this meal each time, remembering our Savior and His work of redemption until He comes again. The Lord's Supper points to the saving death of Christ on the cross, the bread representing his broken body, the fruit of the vine representing his shed blood for the putting away of sin. As believers participate in the physical elements, the Holy Spirit confirms or seals to us the benefits of the cross, forgiveness of sin, new life, reconciliation with God, and the hope of eternal life. As His people, we affirm our love for Him and desire to live in faithfulness with Him. And we again long for the eternal marriage supper of the Lamb to come, where we will have perfect communion with our God forever. Christ is spiritually present at the table. So while this is a memorial service, it is much more. Thus, as we participate in the sacrament by faith, we receive a rich spiritual blessing from our God. He indeed strengthens us to persevere in our faith and service for Christ. We enjoy spiritual communion or fellowship in Christ's body and blood as we feed upon Him by faith in our hearts. Here we partake of spiritual food and spiritual drink. Our God really ministers to us through the supper. We know our weakness, failure, sin, and struggles, but he knows them far more than we do. And yet, Jesus still extends his invitation because he is the one who has earned our honored place at his table. We come because of him and in spite of us. Thus, when we come this morning, we must come expecting to be fed, nourished, and refreshed by our God, and we must respond with praise and thanksgiving for his care for us. Because of what this supper represents, those who participate must be sincere, instructed and accountable members of the Church of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul warns us in the strongest terms not to participate in an unworthy manner and without judging the body rightly, that is, insincerely, without understanding and without accountability. Those who choose to do so come under the judgment of God. So if you're an unbeliever or an unrepentant believer living in defiance of Christ's command, if you do not understand the meaning of the cup and the bread, or if you're not a member of Christ's visible church under the spiritual shepherding care of Christ's appointed elders, do not participate in this meal. But remain among us and think about the meaning of the supper and ask God to give you what you need to be able to participate rightly. However, this warning is not meant to keep weak sheep from the table. If you are a sincere believer, walking in obedience to Christ, understanding the meaning of the Supper and its blessing, and if you are accountable to elders and a communicant member in good standing in a Bible-believing evangelical church, I invite you to come to partake of His Body and Blood. This is not a Presbyterian table. We do not restrict it as such. So to all then who are sincere, informed, and approved by Christ's church, who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth, we invite you to come to the Lord's table and find ease, refreshment, and strength for your weak, worn, and wearied souls. Let's come before our God then and ask him to bless the sacrament this morning. Let's pray. Almighty God, We thank you, that you, the holy and awesome God, without sin, perfectly holy, you have come to meet with us. We thank you, Lord, that you have shown such mercy to us, that you have shown such love and grace to us, that you've come to us in and through Jesus Christ. You've invited us, Lord, into your presence. Lord, we are not deserving of the least of your blessings. And yet, Lord, we've received every blessing from you and every promise you've made and every one that's fulfilled in Christ. Lord, we know we need you. We know we need Christ and his shed blood on our behalf. We know, Lord, that his sacrifice was needed should we have any hope of salvation. We thank you for the gift of Christ that you've sent. We thank you for the willingness of Christ to come. Thank you for the work that he's done. And we thank you for the Holy Spirit who's applied that work in our lives. We thank you for the covenant that we have with you, the relationship that we have with you, whereby we do declare that you are our God, we are your people, and you dwell in us by your Spirit, Lord. You have established that relationship, you've guaranteed it in the blood of Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, then, that you've given us this Lord's Supper as a visible representation of the gospel. And really, it's the gospel that is applied to our senses, Lord. It's done to strengthen us, to encourage our weak faith, to remind us of what you have done, to remind us of the finality of that sacrifice of Christ for us. We pray that you would set apart, sanctify this bread and the fruit of the vine, which in accordance to your institution and command we set apart to this holy use, that they may sacramentally be the body and blood of Jesus Christ. So grant us, dear Lord, to eat the flesh of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, to drink his cup, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, our souls washed through his most precious blood, that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us, that we may evermore press on in faithfulness in service of our King, of our Lord. And that we, Lord, would not look to the bread and the fruit of the vine to be our ultimate strength. We would look to what they represent. We would look to heaven. to see our Savior seated at your right hand. Lord, that we would partake truly by faith and that we would be strengthened as you minister to us. And we look from these signs to the Savior. Increase our faith, strengthen the struggling, and grow the church here together in unity as we participate in this together as the church of Jesus Christ. Hear us, we pray then. In Jesus' name, amen.