Give Thanks (4 of 6)
Jerry Branch
Colossians 3:15-17
November 7, 1999
As we look at this passage, would you please note something? In just three short verses, the Lord gives four commands to us.
Of these four commands, three are direct imperatives. In other words, the verbs are stated in the Greek text, but the last is an implied imperative, an imperative thought, drawing its imperative emphasis from the preceding commands. The original readers would have understood this, which is why all our modern translations, the King James, the New King James, the NIV, the NASB all have picked up and included the command in our English rendering.
But the importance of these commands, given by Lord here in His Word, is not to give us some rule to live by, but is to actually help you and me have that peace that Paul is talking about in verse 15.
Let's quickly look at these commands. Take your Bibles and look there in Chapter 3 of Colossians. In verse 15, we find the first command. It says: "let the peace of Christ RULE in your hearts" and then later in verse 15, we find the second command, which says: "be thankful". Looking in verse 16, we find the third command, which says: "let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you". And then in verse 17, we have the implied command, saying "do all in the name of the Lord, giving thanks...".
These three verses conclude Paul's exhortation to the Colossian Christians to put on all those spiritual garments, the compassion, the kindness, the humility, the gentleness, the patience, the bearing with one another, the forgiving one another, and the love, and now Paul sort of wraps it all up, telling the Colossian brothers and sisters that IF they have truly become followers of Jesus Christ, in other words, if they are truly Genuine Christians, then, they will also be showing thankfulness or thanksgiving in their lives.
I believe there is a real message for us here in 1999 as well because BEING thankful is something that ...
Jerry Branch
Colossians 3:15-17
November 7, 1999
As we look at this passage, would you please note something? In just three short verses, the Lord gives four commands to us.
Of these four commands, three are direct imperatives. In other words, the verbs are stated in the Greek text, but the last is an implied imperative, an imperative thought, drawing its imperative emphasis from the preceding commands. The original readers would have understood this, which is why all our modern translations, the King James, the New King James, the NIV, the NASB all have picked up and included the command in our English rendering.
But the importance of these commands, given by Lord here in His Word, is not to give us some rule to live by, but is to actually help you and me have that peace that Paul is talking about in verse 15.
Let's quickly look at these commands. Take your Bibles and look there in Chapter 3 of Colossians. In verse 15, we find the first command. It says: "let the peace of Christ RULE in your hearts" and then later in verse 15, we find the second command, which says: "be thankful". Looking in verse 16, we find the third command, which says: "let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you". And then in verse 17, we have the implied command, saying "do all in the name of the Lord, giving thanks...".
These three verses conclude Paul's exhortation to the Colossian Christians to put on all those spiritual garments, the compassion, the kindness, the humility, the gentleness, the patience, the bearing with one another, the forgiving one another, and the love, and now Paul sort of wraps it all up, telling the Colossian brothers and sisters that IF they have truly become followers of Jesus Christ, in other words, if they are truly Genuine Christians, then, they will also be showing thankfulness or thanksgiving in their lives.
I believe there is a real message for us here in 1999 as well because BEING thankful is something that ...
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