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Joyfully Giving Thanks . . . To The Father
Do you associate the word "joy" with God the Father? It would be interesting to see what would happen if you were to make a list of all the words or traits that you associate with God the Father. It is probably not difficult for us to resonate with the idea of joyfully giving thanks to Jesus, but I wonder how many of us would have immediately placed "joy" on the list for the Father. Why is that?
Over the centuries, with the help of various models of the atonement that too often communicate more than they should, the image of God the Father has often not seemed as welcoming as that of Jesus, or even the Spirit. What we discover in Paul's opening chapter in his letter to the Colossians however, it that God the Father as gotten a bit of a bum wrap throughout the years of Church History. In the sermon this week, Pastor Ken (after borrowing a few images from "The Wizard of Oz") invites us to place some of our distorted images of the Father along side of Paul's words to the Colossian believers, and the words of Jesus Himself, in a way that helps to correct the distortions and look more carefully at just what it was that Jesus had to say about the Father.
If you would like to listen to the sermon again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access it in our sermon library here. If you would like to see the livestream version, you can find that here.
Colossians 1
NIV
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,[c] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[d] behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
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