You may turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1 for our meditation this evening for the Lord's Supper. Colossians chapter 1. I'll begin reading in verse 1. 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 learned 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
First Ground: Inheritance of the Saints
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.
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints. To them, God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end, I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray. Lord God most high, we pray for the Spirit now to guide us, to direct us, and to help us to receive with thankful hearts the word of truth. Cause us to respond properly to the gospel blessings that we have received. Cause us, Father, to walk in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord.
We ask that you would just bless and strengthen us Cause us, Lord God, to love you, to grow in our desire to pursue those things which are pleasing in your sight. Give us a genuine hunger and thirst after righteousness. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, we all know that it is commanded in the Bible that we are to be thankful. And probably, at least to some degree or other, we struggle with that reality. Perhaps you are as thankful as you ought to be. If so, you can tune out for the next 30 or 40 minutes.
But for the rest of us, it's a slog. It's difficult. We need reminders. David himself, in the Psalms, said, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.
Bless his holy name. He then repeats it, just in case he didn't hear himself. He says, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. And then he says, forget not all of his benefits.
There is a tendency within the heart to forget the God of heaven and earth. To not acknowledge him, and to not thank him, and to not praise him. In Paul's prayer in Colossians 1, 12 to 14, he highlights that thankfulness is an identifying mark of Christians. I thought this would be a fitting meditation this evening, because as we come to the supper, as we eat the bread, as we drink the wine, This is the highest point or the most important thing that we as God's children have to be thankful for.
We ought to be a praising people, a celebrating people, a delighting people, a people that indeed take seriously what God has done and respond to Him in a genuine, heartfelt thankfulness. Our focus this evening, as I said, will be verses 12 to 14. But I want to do two things tonight. In the first place,
Structure of Paul's Prayer
I want to look at the structure of Paul's prayer, which begins at verse 9. And then secondly, I want to look at the believer's gratitude toward God, which comes in verses 12 to 14. Now, I don't know that Paul, when he prayed, or Paul, when he wrote, thought that we would look at the structure. But certainly it does help us to see.
I think the prayers of Paul serve as good models for the prayers of us. We ought to see what it is that Paul prays for. Him being a godly man, it would be wise and good for us to follow suit and to take seriously how he approaches the throne of grace. But as I said, the prayer begins in verse 9 and ends at verse 14.
The structure. I want us to see, first of all, the occasion of his prayer in 9a. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. I think what's in view here is what Epaphras had told Paul concerning the Colossians.
In verse 7, 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. So Epaphras tells Paul that the Colossians love him in the spirit. And so Paul then returns in kind and says, for this reason also, since the day we heard it, since we were conscious of the fact that you had become believers, since we knew that you entered into the state of grace, we do not cease to pray for you. So the occasion is, a reflection upon the fact that the church in Colossae was indeed the real deal.
But
Occasion and Constancy of Prayer
notice the constancy involved in Paul's prayer life. We do not cease to pray for you. That doesn't mean that Paul never talks to the butcher. Paul doesn't talk to the merchant selling fruit.
Paul doesn't talk to brothers and sisters about the weather. I'm certain Paul did all those particular things. But this constancy in prayer means that we are praying always. We're always in that disposition.
We don't necessarily have to go find a closet and get on our knees and engage in formal prayer. There is a sense where the saint of God is praying all throughout the day. I love that illustration in the book of Nehemiah. When Artaxerxes asks Nehemiah why he was downcast, of course, Nehemiah had heard about Jerusalem and he had heard about the situation facing his fellow countrymen.
Artaxerxes sees that Nehemiah is downcast and he asks Nehemiah essentially, what is your problem? And Nehemiah says, so I prayed to the Lord and then he answered him. Now, that wasn't a 20-minute prayer. That probably wasn't a 10-second prayer.
It was probably long enough to say, God help me so that I can answer Artaxerxes. So the particular occasion and the constancy of his prayer is stressed in verse 9. Now, notice the content of his prayer in verses 9b to 14.
Content: A Walk Pleasing to God
In 9b, he says, do not cease to pray for you and to ask. Here's what Paul prays for. 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." Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that a good way to pray for your fellow Christian? Isn't that a good way to pray for your spouse, to pray for your children? children to pray for their parents, what is the highest goal for the saint of Christ in this lower world?
That God would indeed fill us with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That we may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. Now, if we ask the question, what does it mean to walk worthy of the Lord? What does it mean to walk in a manner that is fully pleasing to the Lord?
Well, the next section fleshes that out for us. In using four participles, for those who are out of school now, a participle is sort of a a verbal noun, and Paul uses four of them in the next few verses to tease out or to flesh out what a pleasing walk looks like before God.
Four Marks of a Worthy Walk
In the first place, a pleasing walk, that they would be fruitful in every good work. Notice in verse 10b. Being fruitful in every good work. That's a good thing.
That's a worthy walk. That is to please God. In the second place, that they would increase in the knowledge of God. That next statement there, increasing in the knowledge of God.
Is this how you pray for brethren? Is this how you pray for the church? Is this how you pray for spouses and children? I'm not saying take this as a form and just recite it over and over to God.
But this is the stuff that ought to make it into our prayer closets. This is the stuff that we ought to be bringing before the Lord at the family altar. It is the spiritual things. It is that growth in grace.
It is that conforming to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the third place, that they would be strengthened with all might according to His glorious power. You see, this is fully pleasing to the Lord. And then the fourth participle is found in verse 12, giving thanks to the Father.
This is an identifying mark of the believer. This is a characteristic of one who, by God's grace, has been conquered. One who has been forgiven. One who participates in the Lord's Supper.
One who, by God's grace, is redeemed. Thankfulness. This ought to mark us. This ought to characterize us.
This ought to be a badge that we wear with reference to the Christian faith. We are a thankful people. So those are the four participles.
The Believer's Gratitude toward God
Now let's look at the believer's gratitude toward God, focusing on verses 12 to 14.
Importance of Thankfulness
In the first place, we ought to understand the importance of it. I've already mentioned. It's an identifying mark, isn't it? That ought to be important enough.
If I am supposed to be one who is thankful, if God says that that is important, if God says that fleshes out what it means to engage in a worthy walk, well then I need to quit being a thankless wretch and stir up my soul to be a thankful person. Notice how many times in this short book of Colossians, Paul mentions thanksgiving. Notice in verse 3, we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here in verse 12, obviously, notice in chapter 2 at verse 7, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Notice in chapter 3 at verse 15, And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body. And be a miserable wretch. Walk around like there's a perpetual dark cloud over you. Walk around like you're Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh series.
Walk around with nothing but hum and drama and trial and difficulty. No! Abandon it with thanksgiving. You can tell a thankful person because they look differently than you are.
Now notice in chapter 3 at verse 17, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. And then in 4.2, continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. When you come into the presence of God, is it first and foremost to lay down your petitions? Is it first and foremost to demand what you want?
Is it first and foremost to say, give me, give me, give me, give me? I remember when our children were little, when they would come to see me after their day at school or whatever it was that they did, they'd run in and say, Dad, can we have, or can we do, or can we go? And I would say, hello, it's good to see you. Isn't that typical of the child of God?
We run into the presence of God and we say, give me, give me, give me. The leech does have two daughters, give and give. And oftentimes we function that way at the throne of grace. Now if you fall down a well shaft, you can pray to God immediately for deliverance.
I'm not suggesting that you spend ten minutes thanking God for every particular Nehemiah probably didn't say, thank you, Lord, for making me. Thank you, Lord, for saving me. There are instances and occasions, to be sure, what the Puritans called ejaculatory prayer. You can just call out to God for deliverance.
But as a common occurrence in your prayer life, is it marked by thanksgiving? Notice then what we see here. In Colossians 1.12, giving thanks to the Father. One of the other reasons why I think thankfulness is absolutely crucial in the Christian life is simply this.
When we are thanking God, we are expressing gratitude to Him for what He has done. When we utter thanksgiving to God, we are acknowledging by that utterance the grace character of our salvation. There's no place for congratulations of ourselves in the Christian life. There's no place to pat ourselves on the back.
There's no place to stand with that Pharisee and say, I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like other men. No, when we thank God, we are affirming, we are confirming, we are acknowledging, and we are recognizing that salvation is by grace through faith. There's no place for personal applause. There's no place for personal congratulations.
When we are thanking God, we are not congratulating ourselves. So the importance of gratitude is seen in verse 12, but now notice specifically the reasons for gratitude. It's a beautiful structure that Paul now employs. He kind of transitions from the prayer closet to theological discourse.
The next section, 12 to 14, certainly is still Paul's prayer, but it's starting to take on the flavor of theological discourse about what God has done. And then he moves on into verses 15 to 20 to tell us how God has done it. It's through Christ, the Creator, Christ, the Provider, and Christ, the Redeemer. But notice, specifically, there are two major categories that Paul says we are to be thankful to God for.
Verse 12, giving thanks to the Father in the first place who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. In other words, thank God because you're going to heaven. Thank God because this train is bound for glory. Thank God because of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have an inheritance laid up for you.
I think it was last week when Mike preached from Ephesians chapter 1. Specifically in verses 11 and 12 it says, in him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory." We have an inheritance laid up. Does that provoke from us a thankfulness? We have an inheritance in heaven laid up.
Does that provoke from us gratitude? We have bread and wine which represent the wounded, crushed, dying body and the blood or the shed blood of our Lord Jesus. Does that elicit from us thanksgiving? Do we realize that we are heaven-bound?
Yesterday, we had the grandkids over at our house for breakfast. Rebecca made French toast for them. And Miles had his two pieces of French toast. And of course, Miles wanted a third.
It was good French toast. And something that my wife said was true on this side of glory. She said to young Miles, all good things come to an end. You've all heard that, haven't you?
You're eating good French toast or a bowl of strawberries or it's raining and it's cool. All good things come to an end, except heaven. Accept glory. Accept the inheritance that is laid up for us.
Accept that place when we, with these eyes, will gaze upon the King of Glory. Not at the crown He gifteth, but on His pierced hand. The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. Doesn't this serve to provoke from us gratitude, thankfulness, joy, delight?
Do we ever read chapters 21 and 22 of the book of Revelation? Some people are afraid of the book of Revelation. That's unfortunate. The book of Revelation is all about the glory of the Lamb sitting upon the throne, judging his enemies and blessing his people.
Why would that be a book that would produce fear in the hearts of God's people? Do you know what is emphasized over and over and over again in the book of Revelation? It isn't the doom and the gloom that you're going to go through. It isn't the political machinations of our particular day.
It is the crown of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you get to 21 and 22, when that city, that New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven, you may not understand all the particular details, but this much you must know, that the covenant blessings of God come to fruition in that inheritance. There will be no more sorrow. There will be no more hunger.
There will be no more pain. There will be no more death. It's the last enemy judged by Jesus Christ. And we shall see Him as He is.
We know this from what the Scripture testifies. If we are not a thankful lot concerning the fact that we are heaven-bound, then we ought to ask God to forgive us. and to help us and to inculcate in us this longing and desire. So the first thing, the inheritance of the saints. And
Second Ground: Deliverance from Darkness
in the second place, the deliverance from the power of darkness. And he teases this out in a little bit more detail. It's interesting, at the end of verse 12, the saints in the light leads naturally to how we got into the light. In verse 13, 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.
There are three things we ought to observe here. The first place, we are delivered from spiritual darkness. Isn't that beautiful? How will we stand in this inheritance with the saints in the light?
Because God has delivered us. God has rescued us. God has brought us out of darkness. Peter puts it this way, that we are to proclaim the excellencies or the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light.
It's one of the purposes for which the Church exists. That is in a corporate context there. We are a chosen people. We are a redeemed body so that we may proclaim His Excellencies.
Probably behind the scenes is a reference to Exodus chapter 6. Exodus 6.6. Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am Yahweh. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
I will rescue you from their bondage. and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as my people and I will be your God. Then you will know, or then you shall know, that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a heritage.
As a heritage, I am the Lord. The great power of God demonstrated in the exodus, in the rescue of Egypt from that bondage, is typological or paradigmatic of what God does in delivering us from the power of darkness. The Lord Jesus puts it this way in Luke's Gospel, chapter 22. Luke chapter 22 at verse 53.
He says, when I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness. The enemies of Christ are under the power of darkness. We were the enemies of Christ.
He has broken the back of the power of darkness on our behalf. He has brought us into light. He has called us to himself. He has given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
In the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 26. Acts 26, when the Apostle Paul recounts or rehearses his conversion before Agrippa. In Acts 26 at verse 12. Well, beginning in verse 15.
So I said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you." Notice, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me." Now let this provoke thankfulness.
We have seen the power of darkness, haven't we? We live in the midst of the workers of the power of darkness. You've probably heard me refer to those Planned Parenthood videos a couple of times over the last few weeks. If you have not seen them, you ought to be aware that they're out there.
The sorts of things that is going on under the power of darkness. Some prior to their conversion were under the power of darkness with reference to drugs, with reference to alcohol. Some under the power of darkness were slaves to their money, slaves to their lusts, or slaves to whatever carnal pursuits they had. We've been freed from that.
We've been called out of darkness into marvelous light. Doesn't it necessarily follow that we thank God, that we express gratitude to God, that in this worthy walk that is fully pleasing to Him, thankfulness would be part and parcel of our daily exercises. He has delivered us from spiritual darkness. Notice, as he teases this out, again, I think this is under the deliverance from the power of darkness.
There are three thoughts. The deliverance from spiritual darkness.
Transfer into Christ's Kingdom
Notice, secondly, the transfer of kingdoms. I mentioned this morning, the skull-crushing seed of the woman breaks the devil, breaks his head, crushes it, shatters it, smashes it. And as a result of that, there is this transfer. We were in the kingdom of darkness.
We have been conveyed or transferred or translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love. I like the word translated. I remember a beloved brother in the church in Palmdale. He was an older man.
He has gone to be with the Lord. I remember singing hymns with him one day at church and it was, you know, in a living room and it was glorious. I mean, heaven came down and glory filled our souls. It was a beautiful time.
I remember talking to him after the fact and he said, you know, if I could be translated in any way I chose, it would be when we were singing hymns like that. Wouldn't that be great, singing hymns with the brethren, and then drop dead and end up in the presence of the Lord? Wouldn't that be glorious? What a transition!
What a translation! What a conveyance! We have been conveyed from the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love! I love what John Eady says with reference to this kingdom.
He says, plainly that kingdom which has Christ for its head and founder, which is partially developed on earth and shall be finally perfected in heaven. He goes on to explain the word used here by Paul was often used to signify deportation of a body of men or the removal of them to form a colony. Isn't that what's happened? We have formed a colony.
Our citizenship is in heaven. We are those who dwell among one another. We are under God, under Christ, and we have that solidarity. And this is a reason to praise.
Murray Harris says the imagery of verses 12 to 13 suggests that believers have been rescued from the gloomy domain and tyrannical rule of Satan by being transplanted as free colonists into the kingdom and peaceable sovereignty of Christ to become citizens in the realm of light. We have been freed from darkness. Now notice in the third place,
Redemption from Bondage
again under the head, deliverance from the power of darkness. We have redemption from bondage. He has delivered us from the power of darkness, conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, and now He's going to amplify flesh out how God does this. The end of verse 14, that answer leads to his Christology in verses 15 to 20.
He moves from prayer to theology. Notice what he says in verse 14, in whom? The son of his love, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. The way that God rescued, the way that God delivered, the way that God transferred us was through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was through that death. It was through the sacrifice. It was through the atonement. It was through that curse bearing.
It was through Him being made sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, in whom we have redemption. Of course, the presupposition there is sin, human sin, our sin. In Exodus 6, 6-8, the presupposition is bondage in Egypt. Our bondage is in sin.
The redemption that is in view here is something, again, we ought to celebrate before God Most High. You know, when we consider this theological stuff that Paul sets forth before us, and we really ponder the implications of it, and we really suck the sweetness out of this gospel flower, I don't know how we contain ourselves. I don't know how we're not doing holy jigs. Now, I'm not suggesting you get up and do a holy jig right now, but brethren, we ought to be a thankful people.
Do you ever notice that if you get a pebble in your shoe, let's say in your right shoe, you typically don't think about how good your left foot feels, do you? Maybe you do, because you're awesome. But if I get a pebble in my right shoe, all I'm thinking about is my right foot. I don't think, well, at least my left foot's good.
At least it's healthy, happy, and wise. At least it's unmolested in its shoe. I think that's sort of how we are at times. We have so many blessings and so many good things and so many pebble-less shoes in our lives that when a pebble does get introduced into our shoe, it becomes all-consuming.
It becomes mesmerizing. It becomes captivating and intoxicating. Brethren, never forget that we have an inheritance laid up for us in heaven. Never forget that we have been delivered from the power of darkness.
We have been transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love. And the way that the Father accomplished that, He was pleased to bruise His Son at Calvary. We have redemption. The means by which this comes in or through his blood.
It's a textual variant there. It's in Ephesians 1.7. And what we have here is a reference to the blood atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the particular status, look what it yields, the forgiveness of sins.
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great. You've probably heard me say this before, but it bears saying again. Of all of the gospel blessings that you and I enjoy, isn't forgiveness a chart topper? Isn't it in the top one?
We have been forgiven! The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. God is holy, holy, holy. God is of too pure an eye to look upon any evil.
We are nothing but evil. To do iniquity is like sport to a fool. We eat sin like it's our daily bread. The wicked plots evil on his bed.
Everything about us is wretched. It is dark. It is unholy. It is ungodly.
And yet, by the grace of God, when we believe the gospel, what happens? He cleanses us. He purges us. He blots out our transgressions.
He removes our iniquities. And in the language of the prophet Micah, he casts them into the depths of the sea. This is what provokes Micah to ask the question, who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity? I think if we were to get Micah in a room and say, does it surprise you that God judges the wicked?
Well, certainly not. Does it surprise you that God overthrew Pharaoh and his armies at the Exodus? Well, certainly not. Does it surprise you that the wages of sin is death?
Well, certainly not. Well, what surprises you, Micah? What surprises Micah, and what ought to surprise us, is that God pardons iniquity. Justice, righteousness, equity demands the punishment of sin.
This is why we ought to be very careful when we impugn God with not being fair. It has been in vogue, at least in some parts of the church, that it's okay to complain against God. He has caused some severe distress in your life or some providence. It's okay to get really upset and get really mad at Him.
The humanists used to do this. They'd go into rooms and they'd take pillows and they'd punch the pillows. Christians co-opt the thought and say, well, you punch a pillow because God has inflicted this upon you. Brethren, be very, very, very, very resistant of such a thought. be very, very resistant against saying to God, well, that's not fair.
Do you know what fair is? Fair is everlasting fire and punishment for every sin. Fair is God cutting off all the sons of Adam and casting them into the lake of fire. Fair is justice meted out.
It's grace that taught our hearts to fear. It's grace that God has poured out upon us. It's grace that has called us to the Lord. It is grace that orchestrates this great redemptive act by or through the blood of the Lord Jesus.
The forgiveness of sins, and as we eat this bread and drink this cup, These are all concepts, brothers and sisters, that I think, that I hope, are going through your minds. I hope it's not the case. Well, this is a religious rite, and we do this every month because that's what Christian churches do. Now, on one hand, that's a good thing.
We are commanded by God, by the Lord Christ, to do this. But as we eat this bread and drink this cup, it's a time of remembrance. As Pastor Kim reminded us last month, who are we remembering? We are remembering Christ.
We are remembering the fact that through His blood we have redemption. That through His blood we have the forgiveness of sins. That through His blood we have been delivered from our bondage or from the power of darkness. That through His blood we have an inheritance with the saints and the light.
These are all reasons why we ought to praise, why we ought to worship, why we ought to be a thankful people. As I said, prayer gives way to theology. Grammatically, these verses are still connected to Paul's prayer. But there is a transition here from three of God's redemptive acts to the celebration of Christ's person and work.
It's like, for Paul, when he says Christ, he can't stop. Let me tell you about Christ. Let me tell you about Jesus. Look at the progression.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. The Son of His love! This is Paul's cue. In whom?
That Son of love, or the Son of His love. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Now Paul, in verses 15 to 20, keeps on amplifying who the Son of His love is. Christ created this world.
Christ upholds this world. Christ redeems His elect out of the world. This is what I call spiritual CPR. You all know what CPR is, cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
That is good to remember if you're ever out and about and somebody keels over. Use CPR. But you know what's good to keep in your mind is a Christological CPR. He made this world and everything in it.
By Him, all things consist. Verse 17. And by Him, we have redemption. Creation, providence, and redemption.
The great Christological works upon which these blessings come to the people of God, wherein we have an inheritance, wherein we have deliverance, wherein we will ultimately enter in to be with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
Christ as the Fullness and Reconciler
I just want to focus two thoughts and then we close. Notice in verse 19, and for these two thoughts I'm going to lean on two men. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. Interpreters or commentators are divided on what does Paul mean here.
Does this mean all the fullness of the deity dwells in Jesus? Well, Paul says that in Colossians 2.9. It is a reality. All the fullness of deity dwells in Christ bodily.
Christ is God. Christ is God. That is a reality that the Bible everywhere presents to us. But most likely verse 19 is not about the fullness of deity dwelling in Christ.
I believe that Edy is on the right track when he says, all fullness of grace or saving blessings dwells in Christ. Whatever is needed to save a fallen world and restore harmony to the universe is treasured up in him, is in him. That's the point in verse 19, for it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. We need an inheritance, the fullness is in Christ.
We need a deliverance, the fullness is in Christ. We needed a rescue from bondage, the fullness is in Christ. We needed the forgiveness of sins, the fullness is in Christ. And then notice, secondly, by way of a concluding thought, verse 20. which by the way does not teach universalism.
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. The idea being that it's a fallen world, it is by the grace of God, a redeemed world. Not every man without exception, but every man without distinction from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. Always try and get this quote in because I think it's so beautiful.
Consider verses 15 to 20. Again, this is the foundation for the blessings that we have received for which we give thanks to the Father. Because he's qualified us to share or participate in this inheritance and because he's delivered us from darkness. And verse 20 comes on the heels of Paul having said that Christ created and that Christ is sovereign in providence.
In him, all things consist. That's an amazing statement. Gordon Clark says, now when we pause to consider, this is staggering. The preceding verses have described Christ in transcendent terms.
He was the creator in whom all the fullness dwells, the heir of the universe for whom it was created. Now when the creator of heaven and earth, the creator himself, voluntarily suffered on the cross for our sins, we can only stand in awe and worship. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for these blessings detailed by the Apostle in this section of Scripture. Grant us grace to be a thankful people. Certainly, God, as we thank you, we are not congratulating ourselves. We are not putting forth our own good works.
We are acknowledging the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Help us to be those who take these things to heart. Help us to be those who are marked by this identifying characteristic of a worthy walk before our God. And as Paul has fleshed these things out for us, certainly we have so much to be thankful for.
Thank you that we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, Thank you that you have taken those sins and cast them into the depths of the sea. And we do say with the prophet, who is a God like you, pardoning our iniquity? We thank you for your graciousness and for your mercy. And our desire is that other sinners would hear of the Lord Jesus Christ, that others would believe the gospel. that they would turn from their sins, that they would know the joy of being found in Him, not having their own righteousness, which is from the law, but having that righteousness, which is through faith in Jesus Christ.
We praise you, God, in Jesus' name. Amen.