This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Colossians sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 26, 1995.

Tonight we are reading from the opening of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. This is Colossians chapter 1, beginning at the first verse. Give your attention to God’s holy word. 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 at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father.

We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel. which has come to you just as in all the world also, it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow God’s servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf. And he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to His glorious might for the obtaining of all steadfastness and patience. joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in life. For he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Our Father, as we consider your word, we know that your word is of great use and benefit to us. So it is in many respects, we know that it is beneficial to us as families. Lord, we who are older may understand the things that the word speaks of better than our children. We ask, Father, that we may be a help to our children, to understand the things that are read and the things that are spoken, giving witness to the record of the Word. Father, we ask for those who are children that we might learn at an early age how to give our attention to your Word, to love it and to receive it with joy. We pray, our Father, that by the word, we who are young and we who are old might mark our path and our steps and see, Lord, that we are on that path that is described in your word as the path of life. We ask, Lord, that tonight we would hear, that we would understand, and where we are slow to understand that you would help us by your Spirit. We pray it in Jesus’ name, who ministers to us even now. Amen. this issue of the measure of thankfulness. The measure of false thankfulness is a multifaceted matter.

This past Wednesday night at our joint Thanksgiving Eve service at Providence Church, I presented the simple fact that in keeping with what we find In the record of Paul’s prayers of thanksgiving or thankfulness, Christ himself is the measure of thanksgiving and thankfulness. Christ is the measure of Paul’s thanksgiving and thankfulness. Paul, therefore, as you read the account of his thanksgivings in his letters, has tied into Christ.

His prayers, his intercessions, are expressive of his union with Christ, so that as Christ prays continually, as he ever lived to make intercession, Paul also gives himself over to ceaseless prayer. continual prayer. He prays always. Now, that which we find in the Apostle is also what we would hope to find in the Saints. As Paul states the case in a number of his epistles, I think of the conclusion of 1 Thessalonians, for instance, where Paul says to those Thessalonians, union with Christ coming to expression in them, just as it is in the Apostle when it comes to prayer. But note also that Paul is united to Christ, who in his intercessions rejoices over those whom the Father has given him. are punctuated with an effusive thanks to God for those in the churches to whom the Apostle writes. He is not just thankful for things, he is not just thankful for God’s providence, he is not just thankful that he himself is a saved man. and that he has service in the kingdom. The apostle is thankful for others, so he’s always giving thanks for these other people, even as Christ gives thanks over those whom the Father has given him. Indeed, for Paul, Christ is the measure of life, of prayer, and of thankfulness.

But tonight, I want to push further in order that we might appreciate better the measure of thankfulness in the prayers of the Apostles. It will be this further pursuit or extension into the thankfulness of the Apostle that opens up for us the wonderful dimensions of this man’s piety, particularly as that piety is expressed in the way in which he treats others, not just appraised for them, Now, it would be well for you, as we begin this excursion, to keep before you, or at least in mind, what the Apostle has said in his statement about his prayer in the opening verses of Colossians chapter 1. I have in mind here verses three through eight. That’s what we will be looking at this evening. Here is a text, indeed, in which the Apostle speaks to us about his prayers, in which he presents to us his expressed thanks. But this is also a text. in keeping with the objective that we have in view, in which Paul provides the most interesting insight into his relationship to others.

First of all, I want you to notice that Paul’s giving of thanks, mentioned here in verse is connected with what we have stated in verse 4. The Apostle’s giving thanks in verse 3 is joined to what the Apostle himself has heard and tells us that he has heard in verse 4. We give thanks, the Apostle says, since we heard of your faith and love. We give thanks, verse 3, since we heard of your faith and love, verse 4. In other words, the Apostle gives thanks for the Colossians ever since he heard of their positive response to the gospel.

The Gospel is explicitly mentioned in verse 5. It is expounded upon further in terms of its usefulness and fruitfulness to these Colossians in verse 6. And this pushes us on to verse 6. I want you to look at verse 6. Because here, you see, the Apostle uses language in this sixth verse that parallels the language that he had used in the fourth verse. Now you’re beginning to understand why I encouraged you to have it in front of you. It will help you if you can see it. The Apostle uses language in this sixth verse that parallels the language that he used in the fourth verse.

In verse four, Paul speaks about the day he heard about the Colossians’ faith and love. The day he heard about the Colossians’ faith and love. But in verse 6, he speaks about the day in which the Colossians had originally heard the gospel. The parallel of language has to do with hearing. Paul hears about the Colossians’ faith and love, verse 4. he hears about the day in which the Colossians originally heard themselves the gospel.

And Paul says at the end of that sixth verse, even as the gospel has been doing in you also since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God and truth. But pay close attention now. For we have here more than just parallel language, the language of hearing in both verses. Notice how the apostle then rounds out the thought in verses 7 and 8.

In verse 7, we find out that these Colossians heard the gospel from a fellow named Epaphras. Now, who is this fellow, Epaphras? Well, we don’t know a great deal about him. He is mentioned here as Paul’s beloved bondservant, that is, a willing servant to Paul in Paul’s office as the apostle and also a willing servant to him in his present imprisonment in Rome. That’s where Paul is at this time. He is also described here as a faithful servant of Christ on Paul’s behalf, expounding a bit further the thought of a willing bondservant to Paul.

But this isn’t the only place that Epaphras is mentioned. In Colossians, if you turn to the last chapter, chapter 4, you will notice that he is spoken of again in verses 12 and 13 of that chapter. And here he is identified as one of the Colossians, as a member of their fellowship, a member of the church, if you will, possibly even a leader, if not a pastor in the congregation in that setting. whose continuing service to the Church at Colossae and the churches of the neighboring cities is obviously something that the Colossians, in this context, in the fourth chapter, needed to be reminded of.

Possibly Epaphras, in journeying now to Rome to be with Paul and in giving service to Paul, was delayed in returning to Colossae And for that reason, or maybe other reasons, questions had arisen about his continuing devotion to those at home at Colossae. At any rate, Epaphras is the one from whom the Colossians originally heard the gospel. They didn’t hear it from Paul, because these people in Colossae have never seen Paul’s face. He’s never been to Colossae. at this point in his life. So then, as verse 7 tells us, just as you Colossians learned the gospel from Epaphras, but now I want you to look at what Paul says in verse 8. For once more, here in the 8th verse, Epaphras, this figure, this man, figures in the equation.

This time, it is not what the Colossians heard from Epaphras, but what Paul heard from Epaphras. Paul says, he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. Now, I used that word equation deliberately when I described what was going on there, because that’s exactly what we have. That’s exactly what the Apostle is laying out—an equation. On the one side of the equation we have the Colossians and what they heard from Epaphras. On the other side of the equation we have Paul and what he heard from Epaphras. The constant in the equation is Epaphras. Paul, in all of this, is deliberately, masterfully, a comparison in which what is on one side of the equation equals what is on the other side of the equation.

You can even write it down on a piece of paper. You can put an equal sign between the two sides of the equation. And it is by this route that the Apostle opens up for us the means by which we might measure in depth his thankfulness, his thanksgiving, all the more finely, and see even more incisively the depths of his piety and devotion to Christ. It’s all going to open up in front of you now. It’s as if you have a flower that is closed up, and then that appropriate time comes in the cycle of that flower, when the flower opens up. The Apostle, by his words, is going to open himself up so that you can see the radiance of Christ shining from Him. And what you behold, if you are of faith, will be beautiful, absolutely stunning. But having said that, and maybe you have a piece of paper in front of you right now and you’ve been jotting things down and drawing your little equal signs, and you’re saying to yourself, wait a minute, wait a minute, I put this equation down on paper, but I observe that the opposite sides of this equation are not parallel, and that they don’t equal one another.

For you’re noticing the fact that what the Colossians hear from Epaphras does not equal what Paul hears from Epaphras. You are observing that what the Colossians hear from Epaphras is the gospel. But at the same time, you’re noticing that what Paul hears from Epaphras is not the gospel, as if he was receiving the gospel as these Colossians had received the gospel, for the conversion of his soul, like their souls had been converted. Rather, what the Apostle is hearing from Epaphras is a word about the Colossians’ reception of the gospel. The Colossians, therefore, had received new life in the Gospel at the word of Epaphras, while Paul received a missionary report, a field report, about a work in Asia Minor from this man, Epaphras.

And thus you conclude, as you look at the equation, that the sides don’t equal one another, that the equation literally breaks down. more delicate? I don’t think so. And that’s the point. You see, this is what the Apostle intends by his equation. And think about the measure of thankfulness as this now opens up in front of you. This is what the Apostle intends.

Just as the Colossians received the gospel from Epaphras and gave thanks for their salvation So Paul receives Epaphras’ report about the Gospel’s reception among the Colossians, and so gives thanks. Think of what this means, specifically now, in relationship to the measure of thankfulness.

Just as the Colossians rejoice in being granted new life through the gospel, so Paul rejoices at the news about the gospel’s reception at Colossae. Paul, therefore, sees himself in his prison situation, in his deprived circumstance in Rome, as if he were a helpless and hopeless sinner. contend not just to death, but to eternal life. He places himself in that position for the sake of the equation. And in this equation, Epaphras now becomes the apostle to him, bringing him the good news. And the good news is the news concerning the reception of the gospel among the Colossians. The message about the Colossians’ faith and love, then, functioned as if it were the gospel itself to the Apostle Paul in his prison cell.

And the effect of it is to give him new life. It’s as if he’s undergoing a conversion. And as you would expect, thankfulness to mark the conversion of a sinner translated from wrath to grace. So it now characterizes Paul in his prison cell. He is exuberant. He is exploding with joy, just as a man explodes with joy at the reception of new life in Christ. Here is the measure of thankfulness in the Apostles. Paul’s wrath in his thanksgiving is like a sinner who has just been rescued from destruction. Paul’s thankfulness is measured by that gratitude which a sinner expresses at being saved.

It’s obvious, isn’t it? That as this flower opens up, we have set before us incomparable lessons about the nature of our walk and the character of our life. For one thing, We are given wonderful instruction in the way in which we are to receive word about the gospel’s reception and progress in other places and in other people. Now, I know that you’re familiar with what I am saying here.

I know also that you don’t always do well in it, but I do know that you understand what I’m speaking of, because I know that there have been occasions in your life when you have heard a report coming to you from another congregation or another part of the world about the gospel’s reception and its progress that has just literally elevated you.

It was almost as if you lifted right off the seat. You were so ecstatic at news about these people and the reception that the gospel had had among them. Your joy is comparable to that of one who has just been reborn. How do you find yourself with respect to the mission newsletters that are read here Sunday by Sunday, or the news that goes out through this church on Wednesday nights at prayer meeting? Do you find in yourself this overwhelming, this overwhelming compulsion to get there, to hear this word about these people and these places? Because you know that in hearing about these people and these places, it will be like a reverse for you. With such joy and thankfulness, you receive this information and these reports.

Cultivated in us all should be the sort of response that we see in Paul, in which we receive the word about these folk distant, far off, those who haven’t even seen our faces, those circumstances with the same joyful thankfulness that a sinner receives the message of saving grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m afraid that we all too often, and I include myself in this, We all too often have difficulty even getting beyond the backyard of our minds when it comes to thankfulness, let alone entering fully into the spirit of the Apostle Paul.

There’s one other thing, in conclusion. There is an irony and a marvelous, marvelous paradox to the measure of the greatness of this Thanksgiving and Thankfulness. For you see, The heights of thankfulness depend on how low you are willing to go. The exalted heights of your thankfulness depend upon the depths of your humility.

In Colossians 1, the effect of Paul’s reasoning, as you look at the equation, keep that equation in your mind, the effect of Paul’s reasoning is that he literally makes himself of no account in order that others might be exalted by him. He’s the apostle, but in the equation, he treats Epaphras as if he were the apostle. But that doesn’t mean that Epaphras was really an apostle. All that it means is that Paul treated him like one. He makes himself last. that this other person, this other fellow, might be first. And that’s not all he does.

You note what he does with the Colossians in this equation. The Colossians had received the word of the gospel of salvation in Christ Jesus from Epaphras. But now, the apostle receives the word about the Colossians as if it were the gospel. What does that do to the Colossians? That turns them into Christ, in the equation. The word about the Colossians is like the word about Christ. Now, if Paul sees the Colossians like that, how do you think he’s going to treat them? How do you think he’s going to respond to them? Why, there’s nothing he won’t do for them. Nothing.

He loves these people as he loves Christ, because they are Christ’s body. They are the extension of Christ in the world. Church at Colossae then becomes, as it were, Christ himself in the equation and in Paul’s treatment of it. I cannot state too emphatically then, but the same attitude, the same humility and meekness, the same willingness to make of himself of no account for the sake of others, so that the other might be exalted. The same spirit of Jesus Christ needs to be expressed in all of us, especially those of us who lead. to the end that we all might know the height of gratitude and the full measure of thankfulness. At the root of it all, our God is your Son, the very manifestation of your love for your people in the world, the one who made himself last in order that we might become first, the one who made himself servant of all, that we might enjoy the exaltation of the kingdom. As with the Apostle, may it be with us, that as he was determined to live Christ, we might be determined to do the same. And may this determination mark our lives, even our prayers, even our thankfulness, as Jesus Christ, the one to whom we are united, comes marvelously to expression in all that we do. We pray this through Christ.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.