This is the manuscript of the fourth and final sermon in the "What Giving does for You" series of sermons on stewardship in Thanksgiving month of November.
Scripture
Psalms 107:1-9 NIV Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
This is the first Sunday of Avent.
In 2022, Advent is observed from November 27th to December 24th. It begins four Sundays before Christmas and always ends on Christmas Day.
Advent means "arrival" and signifies the start of an event or the arrival of a person. In Christian communities around the world, Advent refers to a four-week season of remembering and celebrating the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth on Earth.
Introduction
Text:
Colossians 2:6-7 NIV So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
We know that God created everything so that makes Him the owner of everything. In his grace He placed man in His creation to manage and care for it, so mankind is the manager or steward of all that God created, including our own lives.
We are humbled and we will respond with thanksgiving when we realize that God has made us stewards of our lives and that we are responsible to him. The Apostle Paul reminds us that we are not our own but have been bought with a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Life is God-given. Life is a charge from God. Each of our lives has great potential so let's be good stewards and glorify God. Let's make the most of what God has given to us.
We belong to God because he created us.
Genesis 1:27 NIV So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Genesis 2:7 NIV Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
We belong to God because he has saved us.
Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Romans 6:23 NIV For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God has saved us, given us eternal life. We belong to him.
Psalms 100:1-3 NIV Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
John 1:12-13 NIV Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
We belong to God because of his providential care for us.
Everything we have is the gift of God.
1 Timothy 6:6-8 NIV But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
The psalmist said,
Psalms 24:1-2 NIV The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.
Every good and perfect gift comes from his bountiful hands.
James 1:16-18 NIV Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
God provides for us. He cares for us and meets our every need.
Philippians 4:19-20 NIV And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
The fact that we belong to God because He created us, He saved us, and He cares for us expresses the Christian approach to what I call “thanksliving”. Because we have found grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, our lives should be lived as an expression of thanks and gratitude to God.
That is the principle that Paul expressed in verse 6 of our text;
Colossians 2:6 NIV So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
We should live in thanks to God, so that thankliving results in thanksgiving, and thanksgiving results in “thanksliving”.
Thanksliving rests on a firm foundation of faith.
This foundation of faith is expressed by four metaphors that are in our text they are; live, rooted, built up and strengthened
The first metaphor is live.
The word “live” has to do with kind of life we
Ive. We Christians live as pilgrims in this world.
1 Peter 2:11-12 NIV Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Hebrews chapter 11 is often called the faith chapter and has a list of people some named others unnamed that many call the Faith Hall of Fame. Here's what verse 13 says
Hebrews 11:13 NIV All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
And verses 39 and 40 of that same chapter say
Hebrews 11:39-40 NIV These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
When we walk in faith we walk with God. We are temporary residents here whose true home is in heaven.
The second metaphor in our text is the word is rooted.
When used as a verb, “root” derives from the Greek word rhizoo, which Strong’s Bible Dictionary defines as becoming stable. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon describes being rooted as “to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded”.
To be rooted is a commitment to God and your faith. It is not the easy way out. When things get tough and discouraging, we have to choose to stick it out with Jesus.
There are three scriptures that come to mind in order to understand the commitment that is needed for our Christian faith so that we become rooted.
1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Just as a plant grows strong when it is properly rooted in good soil. Through faith we are rooted in Christ.
A few weeks ago, we talked about us also being attached to Christ as branches are attached to a vine.
John 15:5 NIV “I am the true vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”
The third metaphor from our text is the saying "built up".
Colossians 2:6-7 NIV So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
To build up is often used in the sense of strengthening, establishing, and causing to prosper. God builds us by the Holy Spirit. We are to be grounded in the body of truth that constitutes faith; we are built up by prayer.
Jude 1:20-21 NIV But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
Our fourth metaphor is the word strengthened.
Colossians 2:6-7 NIV So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
We strengthen our faith as we “live by faith”. We learn to live each day trusting God to care for us and empower us.
2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV For we live by faith, not by sight.
Ephesians 4:14 NIV Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
It may be frightening sometimes but God will not fail you.
A solid foundation of faith is essential for life and the foundation of our faith rests on Christ.
Jesus Christ is the only adequate foundation for life. The common element in the four metaphors for the foundation of faith; live,rooted, built up and strengthened is Jesus Christ. They are all based on Jesus Christ. The Christian lives in Christ, is rooted in Christ, is built up by Christ, and is strengthened in Christ. Christ is the only firm foundation for life.
The title of this sermon is thanksliving when faith functions through thanksliving, it will seek to reproduce the spirit of Christ. When faith functions through thanksliving, it will show mercy, kindness, and grace to others as Christ did.
When we try to reproduce the spirit of Christ, we will also seek to live out the characteristics of Christ. The things that Christ did in the world will become our goals.
Ephesians 5:1-2 NKJV Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
When faith functions through thanksliving, we can have victory over self.
Victory can be defined as overcoming or winning in a competition or struggle over an opponent, or difficult problems. That is what we can have as we build our foundation of faith.
I John 5:4-5 NKJV For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The victorious Christian life is the life that is lived, by faith, in moment-by-moment surrender to God. The victorious Christian life is rooted and grounded in faith
The victorious Christian life is lived with our eyes set on the things of heaven, not of this world with Jesus as our model.
Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The eternal life of the believer is set securely in Christ. We, too, are at God’s right hand, by faith. As victorious Christians we live with that reality.
Conclusion
Thanksliving is a way of life. It does not come just once a year. It comes throughout life by living in gratitude to God. Let's be good stewards of all of life, for God gave it to us. He sustains life. He supplies our needs. Therefore, let us honor him with all that we are and with all that we have. Let our lives be lives of thanksgiving resulting in thanksliving.
There’s an old song, “We’ve Come This Far By Faith” that many of us have heard and sung.
The chorus is to that song is;
We've come this far by faith
Leaning on the Lord
Trusting in His holy word
He's never failed me yet
Oh! Can’t turn around
We’ve come this far by faith
Let's Pray,
Father, forgive us for overlooking Your lavish benefits and for neglecting to say thanks. Cultivate in us a heart of gratitude that's thankful from morning to night. Thank you, Lord, for what You've done for us in Christ, what you are doing today, and for the promise of what you'll do in the future. May our lives exhibit "thanksliving" every day. In Jesus' name Amen.
Sermon Audio
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