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WEEKLY
Volume 1 Number 19
8 October 2006
Be Ye Thankful
(Message delivered by Pr Hien Nguyen at the
Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, Oct 1, 06)
Text: Col
3:15-17
The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to do all
things as our duty, and as unprofitable or useless servants without
expecting any thanks from those whom we have helped (Luke 17:9-10).
However, we are to be personally thankful to the Lord and to others who
have helped us. Thankfulness or gratitude to the Lord from the heart is
the fruit of a born-again Christian, “By him therefore let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our
lips giving thanks to his name” (Heb 13:15).
For unbelievers who
deny God and do not trust in Him, they only see themselves and think
that what they have or what they have achieved is by their own strength,
efforts, ability, or cleverness. They never give thanks to the Lord nor
worship Him. They fail to see that if God does not give them breath of
life, good health, skills and good opportunities, they cannot do
anything. The Bible says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men because they did not
glorify God, neither were thankful to Him, neither
worshipped Him the Creator (Rom 1:18-21, 25) although He is kind to them
(Luke 6:35), making His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sending rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt 5:45).
For professing Christians who are not born
again, they may give thanks to God with their boastful lips, trusting in
their good works and despising others like the Pharisee who stood
praying, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican
(tax-collector)” (Luke 18:11). His proud prayer was rejected while the
tax-collector’s accepted because it was humble, sincere, and repentant
before God pleading for His mercy.
God Commands Us to Be Thankful
But does God expect
everyone including you and me to be thankful to Him? Yes, giving thanks
to the Lord is God’s commandment as well as God’s will, “be ye
thankful” (Col 3:15), and “Offer unto God thanksgiving;
and pay thy vows unto the most High” (Ps 50:14), and “In every
thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you” (1 Thess 5:18).
Our Lord Jesus healed
the ten lepers only by the word from His mouth when they cried unto Him,
“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17: 12-19), and our Lord was
surprised when only one of them, a Samaritan, came back to give Him
thanks. Jesus asked, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the
nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this
stranger.”
Then, it is God’s will and commandment for
us to give thanks to Him “in every thing” (1
Thess 5:18) and “for all things in the Name of our Lord
Jesus Christ” (Eph 5:20), “without ceasing” (1
Thess 2:13), and “for ever” (Ps 30:12). It is a good thing
to give thanks unto the LORD (Ps 92:1) as by doing this we “magnify
Him” (Ps 69:30) and “give glory to God” (Luke
17:16, 18). Truly, when people praise us or thank us for what we have
done, we should magnify and glorify our God by acknowledging His
blessings by saying, “Thank God for His grace and strength.”
How to Be Thankful
The Bible text of
Colossians 3:15-17 tells us to be thankful to the Lord. In verse 15
“be ye thankful,” in verse 16 “singing with grace (with joy
and thanks) in your hearts to the Lord,” and in verse 17,
“giving thanks to God and the Father by him (the Lord Jesus).”
How can we be thankful to the Lord?
Let the Peace of God
rule in your hearts (v 15).
We cannot separate the peace of God from the God of peace or from the
Lord of peace, “Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace
always by all means” (2 Thess 3:16). Therefore, letting the
peace of God rule in our hearts means letting the God of peace or the
Lord of peace rule in our hearts. This command is in the present tense,
denoting our continuous submission and obedience to God’s rule, control
and direction. It is good to remember that we are sinners deserving
condemnation in Hell and that we have been saved and reconciled with the
holy and righteous God by His grace and mercy alone through our faith in
the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ for our
sins (Rom 5:8-10; Eph 2:8; Titus 3:5). Remember this truth will keep us
from murmurs or complaints as well as help us be thankful to the Lord in
all things even when we have difficulties, troubles and trials in our
lives. And to appreciate God’s grace and mercy upon us, the best way is
to keep on letting the God of peace rule/control/direct our hearts and
our lives, then we shall enjoy His peace. “And the God of peace
shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom 16:20). “And
the very God of peace sanctify you wholly” (1 Thess 5:23).
“Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and
seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you”
(Phil 4:9). Truly, being defeated by Satan, living an unholy life and
not doing God’s will are due to our lack of submission to God’s control
and direction, and as a result, we can never enjoy God’s peace nor the
true unity in the church. If every child of God is submissive to the God
of peace, to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, then the
church may be one body in unity (v 5). The next command in the present
tense is “Be ye thankful,” or “Keep on being thankful” all
the time. We are thankful to the Lord all the time because He and His
peace control our hearts and lives, or else without Him, we are enslaved
by Satan, sins, and worldliness. How miserable our lives will be! My
dear friends, are you and I thankful to the Lord now and all the time?
We are thankful to the Lord not only for good health, food, strength,
jobs, the unity of the church but also for God’s salvation, His good
work in us, His control and direction, His peace and His sovereignty,
able to make all things work together for good to us (Rom 8:28).
Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly (abundantly)
in all wisdom (v. 16). This command is also in the present
tense, denoting a continuous action, “Keep on letting the word of Christ
dwell (live) in you richly”. Nowadays, we may find Bibles with the words
of Christ printed in red. Does this mean that we should pay more
attention to Christ’s words and try to memorize them? No, the word of
Christ is the very word of God, His Father, as He says, “For I have
not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a
commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that
his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak” (John 12:50). Even
the words from the apostle Paul and other apostles and the prophets are
the Word of God, inspired and directed by the same Holy Spirit. Paul
said, “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because,
when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye
received it not as the word of men, but it is in truth, the word of
God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1
Thess 2:13; cf. 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21). What does it mean that God’s
Word dwells in us? It means we are to keep on letting God’s Word dwell,
control and direct our whole being, our hearts, our minds, our thinking,
our motives, our tongues, our deeds, our activities, our walks, our
worship and service to the Lord. We are to live by God’s Word, read and
meditate on God’s Word every day, understand it and keep it, obey it,
put it into practice and submit ourselves to God’s Word. How can God’s
Word live in us if we doubt, question or criticize it? Surely it never
can because it is God’s word that transforms our lives, regenerates us
and sanctifies us (Ps 19:7; John 17:17; 1 Peter 1:23). Moreover, through
God’s Word we obtain the wisdom of God, “The law of the LORD is
perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple” (Ps 19:7). “Thou through thy
commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies” (Ps 119:98).
Only when we are submissive to God’s Word and keep on letting it live in
us can we have a proper worship acceptable before God as it is based on
God’s Word from our thankful hearts, “teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace
(joy and thanks) in your hearts to the Lord” (v 6).
Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus with
thanksgiving (v. 17).
It is a great privilege as well as a great obligation or responsibility
for us Christians to bear the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ in our
lives. This requires us to be really careful in what we may say and do,
“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (v 17).
It is wise for us to ask ourselves before we say or do anything, “Will
Jesus say or do this if He is here in our situation?” or when Satan
tempts us to doubt God’s love, God’s Word and God’s sovereignty, it is
wise for us to look unto our Lord Jesus Christ, who never murmured,
complained or doubted, but trusted in His Father’s will and timing with
full humble submission, overcame Satan by God’s Word, and obeyed His
Father unto death, even the death of the cross (Matt 4:4-11; Phil 2:8).
My dear friends, are
you and I thankful to the Lord that we are bearing the Name of our Lord
Jesus Christ in our lives? But how can we have the same mind, the same
thinking, the same motives, the same faith, the same word and deed as
our Lord Jesus did? The Bible says, “He that saith he abideth in him
(Jesus) ought himself also so to walk (keep on walking),
even as he (Jesus) walked” (1 John 2:6). Surely, we can never
do as our Lord Jesus did if we are not humbly submissive to the control
and direction of the God of peace and to God’s Word. No one can live a
true Christian life without the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ and
His Word! Then we are to “give thanks to God and the Father by him
(our Lord Jesus Christ)” (v 17) for helping us and enabling us to
say and do as He did.
Conclusion
My dear friends, are you and I
thankful to the Lord always in all things and for all things? When we
live a victorious life in Christ we will have peace and give thanks to
the Lord, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus our Lord”
(Rom 7:24-25) and “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us
to triumph in Christ” (2 Cor 2:14), and we can never live a
victorious life in Christ if we do not keep on letting the God of peace
and His Word dwell in us, control and direct us in whatever we say and
do in the Name of our Lord Jesus. May God graciously help us. Thanks be
to Him!
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