“Life Is a Grateful Heart”

Scripture: Colossians 3:5-17

So what is a life lived in gratitude? It is one that reflects joy in all that the Lord has done for us. After all, God is the only one who deserves life-long gratefulness! Do we show him our grateful heart? Does our life reveal a grateful heart? Our human relationships, most of the time, are blessings for our life, but there are always those times when friends and loved ones in this world hurt us, or disappoint us, or betray us, or even break us and abandon us.

But a life in Jesus Christ is unlike anything we will ever know through the world. The Lord does require patience on our part, but at just the right time, and in just the right way, God always comes through for our benefit and for our amazement!

Except, that as with any relationship, there is always the need to consider what we need to compromise on, as well as what we still have some flexibility with in our humanity.

Read Colossians 3:5-11

When the Lord created the human race, he placed two natures within us – and it all centers on our right to choose, on those decisions that we make within our “free will”. The “first nature” came into existence when we were created as flesh and bone. In that, we became a totally different being than our Creator God is. Our “second nature” came as a divine one. In Genesis 1:26, the Lord intentionally gave us a direct connection to his Trinity when we read “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
The “image” of God became the basis for our existence. This isn’t a physical image, as God is not a physical being – this “likeness” means that we have a relationship – a connection - with the Lord that nothing else in all creation can claim. Second, the Lord has given us authority and responsibility to care for the rest of his created order. We have received both God’s love and his trust for our use and pleasure throughout our lifetime.

Our life is rooted in the earth, but our being is rooted in God. And our passage from Colossians reminds us that if we want to grow in our “second nature” - in our relationship with the Lord - we need to keep our “first nature”, our worldliness, under control. Godly wisdom and Godly ability has given each of us beautiful gifts, but we have also been told that these gifts are to be used in Godly ways! And in this reading, Paul reminds us of what ISN’T of God’s way.

That “first nature”, our human nature, will always go against our “second nature”, and that is what breaks the relationship that we have in our Almighty God – Paul says that this is what constitutes idolatry. And he gives us a list of acts that make up a part of this “break” - this sin.

The first on the list is sexual immorality – sexual desire is one of God’s precious gifts that not only brings joy to our lives, but it brings new people – our children - into the world. But scripture is quite specific, in that this gift is only to be exercised between a man and woman who are married to each other, (Matthew 19:4-6) and in no other way.
Impurity – Impure thought can take any number of paths, but in general, these stand in direct contrast to pure thought, the thought and ways that God has ordained and the thoughts and ways that were exhibited in the life of Jesus Christ.
Lust – this goes beyond just acting or imagining in ungodly ways – this is the desire for unholy ways, the desire to have something or someone that is not yours. This is a difficult one to rein in, and it will require, primarily, a commitment to remain in our “second nature”, and to keep the “first nature” in check.
Evil Desires and Greed – many of these attitudes are interrelated, but greed is specific in that it is a longing for something that we don’t really need – to have more and more of earthly wealth and possessions, when we should be placing our focus on gaining more and more of heaven’s gifts.

And if rejecting these actions from our life isn’t enough, Paul says that we need to clean up our attitudes, too. Anger, rage, hatred, the tearing down of others for our personal benefit, and the use of language that is unbefitting of a child of God. Even lying – promoting untruths in our relationships with others – we are told that these are all actions and attitudes and ways of our “old self”, our “first nature”, and are all unsuitable if we have any hope of living a life in the Lord.

For Israel, they saw their great Jehovah as exclusively theirs and theirs alone. But one of Jesus’ purposes for coming to Earth was to open the way for all people to know the Lord, as well as his way and truth and life. There is no difference in people as far as God is concerned – not as Jews nor as non-Jews, not as marked or unmarked, not as friend or enemy, not as a slave or a free person – Jesus has come to help us seek and understand what our “second nature” is all about, that it has nothing to do with our “first”, and that it has nothing to do with the Lord’s excluding anyone. The way we choose to live our individual lives is the only reason for exclusion from the grace and glory of our Lord and King.

Read Colossians 3:12-14

So much for all the “don’ts” of life. Now we read of the attitudes and commitments that we need to claim if we are to live a more faithful way in the “second nature”. But before we go there, a quick thought regarding the term “chosen people”. For many, this refers to the children of Israel, but with Christ, it refers to all who come to him for salvation. It isn’t that God has chosen us, but rather that we have come to him, and in that, the Lord has “chosen” to do great things for and through each of us. And Paul writes that two of these Godly things are to make us “holy and dearly loved”. And that is a lot to live up to! And quite honestly, we probably never will.

But we can make a great start by striving for a life that is filled with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience! Are any of us comfortable with any of these on a consistent basis? Probably not, but I suspect that we all know that they define a life that is far more consistent with our “second nature” than they are with our “first”! Helping each other, forgiving each other, loving each other IS our “second nature”! Helping and Loving others – those aren’t too bad, and we all can probably do them, but that “Forgiving” one – that’s tough! But if these are God’s special blessings for us, shouldn’t we give ALL of them a chance to make a difference in and through our lives?

And quite honestly, that’s all that the Lord asks of us – to honestly and wholeheartedly work to make them an important part of this life. If we never give them an honest attempt to make a difference, we never will realize just what they can do for us and for others! And interestingly, every one of these attributes are not only God’s gifts for us, but they are also gifts that we are to give to others. Think about that – every one of them is something that we show to someone else, and not a single one of them can benefit us one iota until we give them away to someone who is need.

Read Colossians 3:15-17

We will never achieve victory in changing our life until we put our whole heart and soul into the change. Peace and thankfulness – that’s what it takes! “Let the peace of Christ rule… Let the word of Christ dwell..”
Godly Peace must take precedence and must be the basis for all that we are and all that we do. Without it, the world will rule our lives with their animosity, and self-centeredness, and arrogance, and ambition, and all of those other human traits that Paul has been writing about in this passage.
And if the word of Christ doesn’t dwell within our lives, we will never know his way or his peace. It is the word of God that gives us guidance for living our “second nature”, and to help us to keep our “first nature” under control.

It’s the Peace and Word of Christ that gives us the ability to rejoice, to be glad, to live with a grateful heart that is filled with Godliness and Righteousness. It allows us to be an example to others of what the Godly life is all about, and it gives us the courage and boldness to hold each other accountable for living in a way that brings honor and glory to our Lord.

Sing! Be Glad! Be Grateful! Give Thanks to Jesus for the chance to accept and live in his “nature” – the one that we were created in – that which we have rebelled against – that which through his coming into this world is our redemption and our salvation.

As our celebration of the season of Thanksgiving draws to a close, and we begin the season of Advent, may each of our lives be guided by a grateful and faithful heart for all that our Almighty God and Savior have given us.
Amen.