SERMON MANUSCRIPT
One of the burdens of every generation is to teach the next generation good manners. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and baby-sitters all join forces to help children learn to be polite.
This week I found an article online entitled, “25 Manners Kids Should Know.” The list included suggestions like waiting your turn and using a napkin, knocking on closed doors and holding open doors for others, saying ‘excuse me’ and not saying foul language. Not surprisingly, according this list, the top two manners kids should know is learning to say please when asking for something and learning to say thank you when you’re given it. Please and thank you. Two seemingly small things that make a big difference.
Our heavenly Father wants us, his spiritual children, to develop good manners as we grow-up in Christ. As we mature, by his power, God wants us to develop habits of communication with him that are proper. In fact, as we’ll see this morning, learning to say please when asking for something and thank you when given it may be at the top of his list.
If you have a Bible, turn to Paul’s letter to the Colossians (1:1–2). Paul, with his protege, Timothy, at his side, is writing to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who live in Colossae, a small first-century town in Roman-controlled Asia Minor. Unlike other churches to whom Paul writes—like in Philippi, Corinth, and Ephesus—Paul had never actually been to Colossae. He’s only heard about them (see 1:4; 2:1). Yet, with an apostolic burden, Paul picks writes to encourage them.
Thank you, God!
And in the opening section of this letter, he encourages them and models good manners. Paul begins by saying, “Thank you, God!”
Paul doesn’t just thank God; he thanks God always (v. 3b) It’s perpetual gratitude. It’s like in the first few months of owning a new vehicle—every time to think about it, see it, or talk about it you can’t help but smile and want to be in it. Paul hears about and thinks about these Colossians and reflexively turns to the Father in prayer and says, “Thank you, God!” with a smile on his face.
And he lists three things he’s hearing about them. First, it’s their faith in Christ Jesus (v. 4a). Not only have they placed their faith in Christ for everlasting life, but they’re walking by faith, trusting in he who has saved them. Thank you, God, they have faith.
Second, it’s their love … for all the saints (v. 4b). Paul hears of how these believers sacrificially care for one another. They meet one another’s needs and carry one another’s burdens. Whereas their faith is pointed at Christ, their love is pointed at believers, so much so that Paul hears about it and says, thank you, God, they have love.
Finally, Paul knows that they know about the hope laid up for [them] in heaven (v. 5a). Paul later calls Christ himself the hope of glory (1:27) who is returning (3:4) to give them their inheritance (1:12; 3:24). These are future certainties for which the Colossians wait and out of which they act. Because they have a clear hope in what’s ahead, they walk by faith and they love the saints. Thank you, God, they have hope.
Paul hears of the brothers and sisters in Colossae who exemplify faith, love, and hope. And he thanks God for them always. Now, why is Paul thanking God and not the Colossians? Shouldn’t he thank them for being faithful and intentional in their Christian lives? No, because, ultimately, it all comes from God (vv. 3–8).
These believers are characterized by a growing faith and love, both of which are rooted in a future hope. But that hope was learned through the word of truth, the gospel which [had] come to them (vv. 5b–6a), the truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
This gospel can’t be contained (v. 6; Rom 1:16)! It’s an infectious and aggressive pandemic of truth and, when it arrived at Colossae, they heard of God’s grace through the mouth of Epaphras, the same guy who told Paul about their growth. But, again, notice that throughout this paragraph, the Colossians are relatively passive (vv. 5–7).
So, you see, this is why Paul says, “Thank you, God.” It’s God’s grace through God’s gospel about God’s Son brought by God’s servant to God’s people. It tells of hope that God gives, promoting faith in God and love from God. It’s all about him. So, “Thank you, God!” This is just good manners.
And when we look around our church family, we see similar reasons to thank God. When we witness the baptisms of believers, the return of believers to fellowship, the arrival of new believers, the growth of believers—thank you, God! When we see repentance of sin, diligence in prayer, hunger for the word, and intentionality in fellowship—thank you, God! When we see a growing zeal for reaching lost people, an increasing care for helping hurting people, an expanding grace moving between our people, a prevailing unity among markedly different people—thank you, God!
Ultimately, we don’t thank one another, our elders and deacons, or our ministry leaders. We thank God because any fruit we taste grow from the root of his revelation, that which brings us future hope and from which we walk by faith and in love.
Please, God!
Our etiquette lesson isn’t over yet. Paul, having expressed his appreciation, now turns to petition. In other words, he moves from “Thank you, God!” to “Please, God!”
Just as Paul never ceased thanking God for the Colossians, so too he had not ceased petitioning God on behalf of the Colossians (v 9). And what’s he asking for? That God himself would fill them with knowledge of his will, spiritual wisdom and understanding. That God would grow their comprehension of his saving mission for the world and his sanctifying expectations for his people.
But it’s not knowledge for knowledge’s sake (v. 10a). Paul wants them to grow in knowledge of God because a growing knowledge of God is the bedrock of changed lives. It encourages godliness.
To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord means to live a life that measures up to Christ’s, a life pleasing to him in all respects. Think of a balance scale with the Lord Jesus standing on one side. Believers are being told to get on the other, for their lives to increasingly measure up, or balance against, his. What a standard to pursue! And Paul follows this up with four verbs that describe what this life looks like: it produces, learns, strengthens, and thanks.
First, a life like Jesus’s produces (v. 10b). Paul’s already said the gospel bears fruit (6), but here it’s the believer’s life (see Eph 2:8–10). Good works should permeate a believers’ life as they permeated the life of the One they follow. Later in Colossians, Paul will get specific on what those good works are but, for now, he wants them to understand that their lives should produce Christlike works.
Next, a life like Jesus’s is a life that learns (v. 10c). Just as learning basic mathematics is foundational for learning advanced mathematics, so learning of God allows for increased learning of God. A life worthy of the Lord is one that has an insatiable appetite to know him rightly.
Third, a life like Jesus’s strengthens (v. 11). The reformer, Zwingli, wrote this poem: Help me, O Lord, / My strength and rock; / Lo, at the door / I hear death’s knock. / Uplift thine arm, / Once pierced for me, / That conquered death, / And set me free. We need the power of our all-powerful God, a power that leads to stability and stamina as we plod through this often-arduous life of discipleship.
Finally, a life like Jesus’s life is one that thanks (v. 12). Paul had already modelled saying “thank you” and now he calls for the Colossians to follow his lead. God has given us so much, making us qualified through faith in Christ to partake in an immeasurable an unfading inheritance. We, of all people, should be thankful.
Paul’s asking that God would increase the Colossians’ understanding of who he is and what he’s expecting of them. Why? So that they can live increasingly godly lives, lives that produce fruit, that learn of Christ, that are strengthened by his power, and marked by thanksgiving. “Please, God!” Paul says. “Help them live lives worthy of our Lord.”
And that’s our prayer at Oakridge. We don’t want to just learn of God for the sake of learning of God. No, we want to be more godly. We want to be more like Christ. We want to help one another, depending on the Holy Spirit, to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord who saved us. And a crucial ingredient in that recipe is asking God for it! “Please, God, fill us with knowledge of your will in all spiritual wisdom and knowledge of yourself. Please, God.”
When was the last time you asked God to make you more godly? When was the last time you prayed for your church family, asking that we would increasingly measure up to our Lord?
Mind Your Manners!
Brother and sisters, this is just good manners. And the same Holy Spirit that prompted Paul’s modelling in Colossians 1 is reaching through time to us today and calling to each of us: mind your manners! Cultivate the habit of perpetually saying “thank you, God” for all that you’re doing in my life, in the life of my family, in this world, in my church. Thank you, God. It’s all from you. Thank you, God, that your gospel is powerful, it’s active, it’s unstoppable. Thank you that we merely need to receive it. When we get involved, we tend to mess things up. But you, God, never do. Thank you.
And thank you, God for the good work that you’re doing in my brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you for what I see and hear about them, that their faith is strong, their love is visible, and their hope is sure. Thank you, God.
And then to turn your appreciation to petition: “please, God.” Please work in my life to make me more like your Son, my Saviour, my Lord. Increase my capacity to know you, understand you, submit to you, discern your ways and your will. Not so that I can brag or be puffed up, but so that I can align my life with that of your Son.
I want to spill over with good works, not because they save me or even justify my justification, but because they bless others and glorify you. I want a desire to learn of you, Lord. Please, help me! I want strength to endure and a heart of gratitude. Please, God. Change me. Grab my affections and hold them hostage to your beauty. And what I ask for me I ask for my church family, Lord. Please, God, help us.
This is how we mind our manners, friends. I want to challenge you, at least once this week, follow Paul’s example and pray for this body. Thank God for a specific individual at Oakridge. You may even reach out to them and let them know you’ve thanked God for them, for what you see in their life, what you’ve heard about their growth.
And then petition the Lord on our behalf. “Please, God, may we individually and collectively life lives worthy of our Lord.”
Josiah has served the Oakridge Bible Chapel family as one of its elders and one of its pastoral staff members since September 2018, before which he ministered as an associate pastor to a local congregation in the Canadian prairies. Josiah's desire is to be used by God to help equip the church for ministry, both while gathered (edification) and while scattered (evangelization). He is married to Patricia, and together they have five children—Jonah, Henry, Nathaniel, Josephine, and Benjamin.
