Sermon26-35 Guide Col3 "The Life of Gratitude"

Colossians 3:12-17 theme verse Colossians 3:17

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

On this thirtieth Sunday of the year 2026, I pray that the grace of the Holy Spirit, who applies to us all the benefits Jesus accomplished for our salvation, and His power to proclaim the good news of the gospel to the whole world, may be full in you. Last week through James chapter 4 we meditated on the fact that the grace of God, that is, wisdom, can be received when we ask in faith and with the right motive, yet this week, through Colossians chapter 3, we would like to look at how we who have received all this grace of God ought to live together.

1)    The book of Colossians was written by Paul during his first Roman imprisonment, as a letter to resolve the problems he heard from Epaphras, who came from the Colossian church and reported on the church's situation.

The Colossian church was planted by Epaphras, who heard the Word of the Lord, when Paul taught the word of the Lord for about two years in the hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus during his third mission trip, and returned. Afterward, when Paul was in his first imprisonment in Rome, Epaphras came to visit him and reported that early Gnosticism, Jewish mysticism, and religious syncretism from various local traditions were infiltrating the church, so that Paul wrote this letter to prevent her from these wrong teachings.

exhorting the Colossian believers that since Christ is supreme over all created things, all powers, and all elemental principles, so not to be deceived by heretical teachings, rather to participate in His death, resurrection, and fullness together with Christ.

2)    By the way, this epistle is one of Paul’s prison letters. While Ephesians, another prison letter, emphasizes on "the glory and unity of the church," and Philippians, due to its command to "rejoice" appearing five times, is called the "epistle of joy," and Philemon, in which Paul earnestly asks Philemon to receive back the runaway slave Onesimus as a brother, is called the "epistle of forgiveness and reconciliation," Colossians, by contrast, "emphasizes the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ," teaching believers not to be shaken by false doctrine but to stand firm in a mature faith. In particular, in this short letter of only four chapters, the word "thanksgiving" appears seven times—compared to the longer epistles of Romans, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians, which also each have seven occurrences—so that Colossians could rightly be called the "book of thanksgiving," amont the entire New Testament.

If we look at the content of thanksgiving in Colossians: first, in the introduction at 1:3, after beginning with thanksgiving;, then in 1:12, Paul gives thanks that God has counted us sinners, who are not worthy to receive the eternal inheritance, as "qualified"; and in 2:7, and also he urges Colossian believers, without being shaken by vain philosophy and heresy, to be rooted in Jesus Christ and stand firm, abounding in thanksgiving, just as they were taught.

And then in versed 15, 16, and 17 of today's text, Paul urged them to give thanks to God three times as the peace of Christ rules the hearts of the saints and makes them one body, and as the word of Christ dwells in them richly to teach one another with all wisdom and to worship God, and also as the name of the Lord, I mean, the power of the Lord makes us in our speaking and doing in His name, finally ending, in 4:2 with the exhortation to continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Among today's text, we would like to look at a few things in detail to learn few lessons together.

3)    First, in verses 12 through 14, Paul reminds them of what the grace of God which they have received is: I mean, In His grace, God has chosen them, forgiven them, set them apart, and loved them.

In other words, just as God says in Deuteronomy 7:7-8, "It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you… that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt," so also, even though we are sinners and there is nothing we have done to deserve it, God chose us before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) purely in His love and grace, to glorify God.

And then God, not only through the atoning work of Christ on the cross, has forgiven our sins and reconciled us to Himself, but also through faith in Christ, God has also set us apart from the world and made us His holy people, so that we no longer live for the world and the flesh but live only for God. And then as God loved us, we have to grow in love toward God, obey Him, and live by walking in the new life in Christ.

4)    Seconly, because we received God's grace of the election, forgiveness, consecration, and love, it is said we have to put on eight beautiful virtues, I mean, to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiving, and love.

In other words, having a heart of compassion and kindness from deep within we respond to the needs of those who are suffering and in pain; and in humility we consider others more important than ourselves and in gentleness, we care for others not to insist on our own rights; and in patience we endure long, not complaining or retaliating against the provocations or rudeness of others; while forgiving one another to the end, just as the Lord has forgiven us; and finally, on top of all these virtues, we are told to put on love as well.

Here, the reason we are told to put on love last is that This implies that love is the it not only implies that love is the most important virtue, but also that love functions like a "belt" which binds all other virtues together. Moreover, like an outer garment we put on last, love should be active, I mean, expressed in action. As the genuine love fitting for a Christian, when this love of Christ governs our lives, it binds all spiritual virtues together, producing beauty and harmony and revealing our spiritual maturity.

5)    And next, Paul goes on to say that the the source and enabler that makes possible a life abundant in these eight virtues is none other than Christ Himself who gives His peace, His word and His power.

Here, first we can know that being full of Christ is being filled with His word and His power. I mean, when Christ, who is the Word of God, comes upon our hearts, we will be full of desire for His word, to read tand meditate and be guided by His word so that our heart will be filled with the richness of the word and our life he Scriptures based on a longing for His word, meditate on it, and be guided by it, so that not only our hearts become filled with the richness of the word and our life will be transformed, but also we will grow in the trugh and can discern the truth.

And then, when Christ dwells full in us, whatever we do, in word or in deed, we will do in the name of Christ, that is, by the power of Christ.

When that happens, the peace of Christ will come upon our hearts and also upon the church.

However, we need to be a little careful about this "peace of heart," because peace of heart by itself is not sufficient evidence that we are within God’s will. For example, Jonah disobeyed God, yet he was able to sleep peacefully in the cabin in the storm. In other words, Jonah thought he had peace, but in reality he had committed the sin of disobedience, and that sin ultimately brought about the storm.

Therefore, when peace of heart has come, in order to check whether we are in the Lord’s will, we need to check that peace will also bring peace into our relationships with others, and at the same time that peace results in praise and thanksgiving.

6)    By the way, sisters and brothers! At this point, I think we need to pay attention to the fact that Colossians 3:16-4:1 and Ephesians 5:18-6:9 are in parallel with one another.

What I mean is that, while Paul emphasized being filled with the Spirit to the Ephesian church, to the Colossian church, he emphasized being filled with the word. But we can see that the evidence of these two kinds of spiritual fullness is the same. I mean, a person filled with the Spirit shows joy and thanksgiving and a submissive attitude (Ephesians 5:19–21), and this in turn resulted in relationships at home and at work (Ephesians 5:22–6:9); likewise a person filled with the word of God also shows joy and thanksgiving and a submissive attitude (Colossians 3:16–17), with good relationships at home and at work (Colossians 3:18-4:1).

Therefore, we can know that "being filled with the Spirit" in Ephesians 5:18 and "being filled with the word of Christ" in Colossians 3:16 are not contrast to each other, rather, parallel ones, showing us that the fullness of the Spirit and the fullness of the word of Christ are, in essence, the same spiritual reality expressed in different angles,  according to its own spiritual need.

I mean, the Colossian church was facing the threat of false Gnostic heresy, Jewish mysticism, and religious syncretism, so Paul urged them to be filled with the Word of Christ to discern the truth,

whereas, the Ephesian church had a problem of cold passion, as at Revelation 2:1-7, Christ commended the Ephesian church for maintaining doctrinal purity, yet rebuked for having lost its passion for evangelism and mission, so Paul urged them to be filled with the Spirit" to recover their passion for the gospel proclamation through the power and passion of the Holy Spirit.

7)    Now, sisters and brothers, if we look at today's text, especially verses 15 through 17, we can see that the peace, the word, and the name—that is, the power—of Christ that come from the fullness of Christ all result in one thing. That is thanksgiving.

In other words, the peace of Christ which governs our inner being(v.15), the word of Christ, which supplies our hearts with the richness of wisdom and character(v.16), and the name of Christ which is the power in our tongue and action(v.17) result in is thanksgiving.

I mean, when Christ governs our minds and lives, the fruit of gratitude will flow out.

In that sense, gratitude is not an emotion but is both the core driving force which binds all other virtues so that it serves as a spiritual gauge that measures how deeply Christ govens our lives. This is our spiritual worship of thanksgiving.

In this way, no matter what the circumstance is, gratitude makes us focus on "who Christ is" and "how He rules over my life," and to act in the name of Christ and give thanks to Him.

8)    That’s why Psalm 50:23 said "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!"

And also that's why Romans 1:21 says, worshiping and thanksgiving is our correct response to God's existence.

And that’s why 1 Thessalonians 5:18 commanded to "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Therefore, we can know that  gratitude is not only the most important thing a believer have to do, but the most complete state a believer can attain, and a thankful heart is a spiritual sign that proves we acknowledge God's sovereignty, recognize His grace, and stand in a right relationship with Him.

So I pray that this year, all of us, who have been chosen in the love of God, who have received the grace of Christ's atonement, and have been born again by the Spirit into new creations, would now live a life of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love, being filled with our Lord Jesus Christ who makes such a life possible, so that through His peace, His word, and His power, we may thank God in our lips and lives.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we came to know that we have received the grace of God—that is, His choosing, forgiveness, setting apart, and love—so that we, now filled with Jesus Christ, are able to live a life of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. So, after reflecting on our lives and checking whether we are truly filled with Christ and living a life full of these eight virtues, I hope we could share our thoughts and experiences with one another in our small group.

Q2 And also, we came to know that gratitude is the fruit that inevitably flows out of our lives when Christ is the Master of our lives, and that gratitude is a spiritual gauge that measures how deeply Christ dwells within us, and that it becomes our complete worship. So, after reflecting on our lives and checking whether we are truly living such a life of gratitude, I hope we could share our thoughts, experiences, and the grace we have received with our team members.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.