Thanksgiving Heart, Mind, Strength
Colossians 3:15-17
Emmanuel Christian Church 11.23.25
INTRODUCTION: The “Holidays”. Oh my, ready or not - here they come!
It’s rather ironic, during the season of Thanksgiving and Joy of
Christmas- many people find themselves experiencing anything but the
emotions of thankfulness and joy! Frankly, depression is a big challenge
for a lot of people- even Christians.
PROPOSITION: But it doesn’t need to be that way! As Christians we have
a tremendous advantage- the Word of God. It is our source of truth, it is
our foundation for purpose in life, it is our primary stabilizing influence in
the face of challenging circumstances- like the “Holidays”!
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, Paul’s letter to the
Colossians gives us the reasons for it- and they have nothing to do with
turkey dinners, parades or football!
Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your
hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died,
and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your
life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
I especially like that last verse! In those first three verses, Paul makes two
points:
1. 2. You are a Christian (If you’ve been raised with Christ).
You are responsible for where you set your heart and mind.
Paul’s going to talk a lot about our hearts and minds in this chapter, which
reminds me of Jesus who said the greatest commandment is to love God
with all our heart and soul, mind and strength.
So here’s the point, thanksgiving depends on where we choose to set
our heart and mind. When we get it right, the “strength” of what we do
for God’s glory will follow right behind!
Let’s jump ahead to verse 15- it’s there that Paul develops the idea of what
it means to set our “hearts on things above”.
Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as
members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one
another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do,
whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God the Father through him.
Here, Paul again focuses on our hearts and minds and makes the point
that where we focus our heart and our mind will determine what our
hands find to do. (HEART, MIND, STRENGTH).
And you just can’t miss this connection: thanksgiving is all about where
we choose to focus our hearts and minds! So, let’s talk about our
HEART…
Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as
members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
- IT’S A COMMAND: Submit your heart’s control to the “Peace of Christ”
LET IT RULE!
- So, what does that LOOK LIKE? Paul gives us a beautiful picture of the
“peace of Christ” in the three verses before…
Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly
loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness
and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances
you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in
perfect unity.
- So, here’s your “Thanksgiving” holiday outfit: “compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness and patience. It’s the very description of “the peace
of Christ”. Put on that outfit and you’ll be able to do three things:
- Bear - be willing to put up with WHATEVER!
- Forgive - be willing to forgive WHOEVER!
- Love - be willing to love HOWEVER the circumstances require!
APPLICATION: Possessing “the peace of Christ” depends upon where
you choose to set your heart. Set your heart on things above and the
thankfulness of the peace of Christ will be yours! So what are those
“things above”? Paul lists them for us:
- We are God’s chosen people.
- We are holy.
- We are dearly loved.
- We have been forgiven.
Wow! Now, there’s some powerful reasons for thanksgiving!
But, that’s only half the story. God also calls us to set our minds on
things above. Let’s listen to God’s Word speak to the subject of our
MIND…
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach
and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms,
hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
- So, what is the “word of Christ”?
- It is Jesus, the “Word become flesh”
- The written Scriptures of the Bible.
- The Holy Spirit Himself who inspired the words of Scripture and who
lives and indwells every Christian.
- There are three “mind centered” activities in which Paul tells us we are
to allow the word of Christ to “dwell” in us “richly”:
- Teaching - So, who’s a teacher? Stephen, whose account is found in
the book of Acts, shows us that “teaching” isn’t just for teachers and
preachers! He was an administrative servant in the early church,
whom we find preaching so powerfully that he was martyred for it!
APPLICATION: God’s word tells us that the “older” are to teach the
“younger”. At some point that makes every Christian a potential teacher at
least one-on-one!
- Admonishing - That is to say, “reminding” in way of warning others
away from potential spiritual danger.
APPLICATION: Your “early warning system” is only as good as your
understanding and application of the “Word of Christ”. To put it another
way- the degree to which the Word of Christ dwells in you “richly”.
Spiritual discernment comes to those possessed by that Word.
- Singing - What a wonderful way to fix the truths of God’s Word in our
memory and hearts!
APPLICATION: Singing is one of our greatest expressions of worship to
God. It also happens to be one of our greatest mental, spiritual workouts.
And incredibly, it also happens to be one of our greatest spiritual weapons
against the lies and discouragement of the evil one.
So what moves you to sing? I can sum it up in one word
“Thanksgiving”. But don’t take it from me- listen to what God’s Old
Testament hymnal has to say…
Psalms 13:6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.
Psalms 59:16 But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of
your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.
Psalms 71:22 I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my
God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
Psalms 89:1 I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I
will make your faithfulness known through all generations.
Psalms 101:1 sing praise.
I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will
And then, from the New Testament…
Romans 15:9 …so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is
written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns
to your name.”
1 Corinthians 14:15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will
also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with
my mind.
Prime directive #1 Love the Lord your God, heart and soul, MIND and
STRENGTH.
The spirit of Thanksgiving is the overflow of the heart and mind, BUT it
finds expression in the STRENGTH of what we say and do! Hear the Word
of the Lord…
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all
in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
him.
So let’s wrap up our Thanksgiving feast with a few comments about
HONORING God with the strength of our…HANDS
- “word and deed” - what we do and what we say. Wow, that pretty
much covers everything- especially the word “whatever”!
- Two phrases in this one verse get our attention: “in the name of”, and
“giving thanks to”- both of which are COMMANDS, not suggestions!
- “Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
- This is the picture of an ambassador.
- Everyone of us who has been baptized into Christ has been initiated
into His diplomatic service!
- What an honor!
- What a responsibility!
- “giving thanks to”
- To God, through Jesus!
- What we’re talking about here is nothing less than our personal
choice to embrace the transforming power of GRATITUDE.
- It is the point of Paul’s charge to the Philippian Christians:
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such
things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or
seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
CONCLUSION: May God’s peace be with you this Thanksgiving as you
choose to gratefully and lovingly follow Him heart and soul, mind and
strength!