Giving Thanks

(Note: This was presented to the Shanghai Int'l Church just before the American Thanksgiving Holiday in 2001.) I Want to Thank You The scriptures and story behind a song Michael Krigline (November 18, 2001) www.krigline.com
According to C.S. Lewis, ‘the poet is someone who says “look at this” and points.’ Today I will “point” to the book of Colossians on the way to a song that will hopefully point us all to a thankful heart. I suppose I should admit up front that today’s message is really an elaborate introduction to a song I wrote a few years ago under rather special circumstances. I was in graduate school at the time. During the spring semester I had taken a Bible survey course, and one of the assignments was to read each book from Acts to Revelation—but we had to read each one in one sitting. Now most of us rarely read whole Bible books in context, but when you do, certain words and phrases jump out at you. This helps us see what the author had in mind at the time he wrote it. So it was that I came to the little book of Colossians. The book has several strong themes. Jesus Christ is central in the book—more so than in just about any book outside of the Gospels. Paul also emphasizes our place “in Christ” and challenges us to conform to His image by revolutionizing the way that we think and act. But as I sat reading the text in the middle of a hectic school semester, the word that kept jumping out at me was “thanks.” No less than six times in his four short chapters, Paul mentions being thankful. And since Colossians 3:15-17 even says to be thankful in the context of singing, it seemed only natural to try to put this theme into music. I wanted a song to sing in the car on my way to school to remind me to be thankful—a commuter chorus if you will—and there is ample scriptural precedent for such a tune, because the Bible contains songs for watchmen, harvesters, and even people digging a well! So, I came up with a chorus and one verse, but soon got back into the busy-ness of my studies, and the project was put on the shelf. A few months later, my university enticed me to enroll in a short summer course by bringing in a “famous” guest lecturer. The course was called “Christ and the Creative Process” and the teacher was singer/songwriter Michael Card. Out of curiosity, how many of you know about Michael Card and his music? Well, he is pretty well known in my circles in the USA, and I was thrilled to have the chance to “sit at his feet” (as it were), for two weeks. I still have the paper I wrote for him about the song I will sing today—and I cherish the encouraging notes he scribbled all over the text! The biggest assignment for each of us during Mr. Card's short course was to “do something creative”—and so I dusted off the “thanksgiving chorus” I had written a few months before, and finished it under Michael Card’s tutelage. Now, let me go back to the reason for writing this song. Initially I was moved by the many calls to thanksgiving in the book of Colossians, but in another sense I was drawn to the subject because I realized how thank-less I was most of the time. In my paper I wrote: “In a way, you could say that I had such a burden to write a ‘thank you’ song for selfish reasons—I wanted a musical reminder to thank the Lord more often.” After scribbling the simple word “yes” above that sentence, Michael Card added: “good to write out of a weakness, rather than a strength.” I think the Apostle Paul would agree, for in 2 Cor 12:9 Paul quotes Jesus as saying: “…My strength is made perfect in weakness,” and follows this quote by adding: “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Another factor for wanting to write a song of thanksgiving was my feeling that Christian worship is filled with very little public thanksgiving. (Michael Card agreed with me here, too!) I think people get praise and thanksgiving all mixed together. If I give my son something, I want him to “thank” me, not “praise” me. Throughout scripture we are admonished to PRAISE the Lord because of who He IS, while we are to THANK Him for what He DOES. God is WORTHY to be praised, and we were created to do this. But we are also enjoined to THANK Him, and certainly there is plenty for which to be thankful! At this point, let me digress with another memorable encounter with a man of God and the young members of his flock. I am sure I will never forget my trip to Africa in 1991 to visit Pastor Dion Robert in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. I had already met him a number of times and was deeply moved by his faith, spiritual power, and loving humility. I had arrived in Abidjan a day before a large international conference—and I was one of the few laymen “nobodies” who would be there. In spite of the fact that dozens of “big name” pastors would soon arrive, and the fact that he had several thousand in his own flock to care for, Pastor Robert dropped everything to come get me at the airport and then show me around his vast church campus. As we passed the 5^th grade Sunday school classroom, I mentioned that I would love to visit this room on Sunday, since I was teaching a 5^th grade Sunday School class back home at the time. Before I knew what had happened, he had appointed me to TEACH the class the coming weekend! A few weeks before, I had taught my young class in the States about the 10 lepers, and the one who had been thankful (Luke 17:11ff). It seemed like an appropriate text for this occasion as well. I remembered asking my American students what they had been thankful for. “My puppy” was the first response, followed by toys, a new computer, bikes, and eventually parents and friends. I expected a similar response from these African children, but was—well—shocked to hear “the blood of Jesus,” followed by healing, deliverance, forgiveness, and eventually family and friends! It was clear that the Africans who taught these children had been doing a better job than I had been doing in the US, tuning the children’s hearts to the music of heaven. Now, I am not saying that we shouldn’t thank God for material things. After all, these too are gifts from His hand. But I am saying that we need to keep our priorities straight! And this takes me back to Colossians, my class, and to the rest of my song. For my class project, I got Michael’s permission to finish the song. My goal was to add three verses about the things I was thankful for, so I started to make a list. It quickly filled a page! Realizing that this was not going to fit neatly into two or three verses, I returned to the book that had originally inspired the song: Colossians. I wanted to see what Paul was so thankful for.	(continued from left column) Unfortunately, Paul doesn’t really say! In three of the references he does say to be thankful to the Father (1:3, 1:12, 3:17)—this helped me give the song a focus. Twice, Paul links thanksgiving to prayer. For example, in 1:3 he says: “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” And in 4:2: “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.” This makes sense, because prayer encompasses all of our communication with the Father. Putting these two aspects together, I decided to write a song that was actually directed toward God. In other words, instead of writing a song about being thankful, I wrote a song that actually does thank God the Father. Then, in 2:7, thanksgiving is tied to faith. “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” To put faith into the song, I borrowed a verse from Ephesians (2:8,9). “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Faith is the Christian’s cornerstone. Without faith, we cannot receive the grace needed to save us. And here Paul takes this one step further, telling his reader that just as they had received Christ, depending on grace by faith, now they must also walk in Him, depending on grace by faith! So much for depending on our own merits, strength, or achievements! (See also Galatians 3:1-3; Heb 11:6; John 15:5ff) But in each of these texts, Paul doesn’t specify exactly what we are to give thanks for. Nonetheless, if you look closer at the context of those verses, plenty of reasons suggest themselves! In Colossians 1:3ff, Paul’s thanksgiving comes because he had heard of the faith and love of the Church in Colossi—faith and love born in hope, which was born in the Gospel Epaphras had preached to them. So, we too can be thankful for the good reports we hear from the Church around the globe, as God’s love and faith in Him expand to those who are still in darkness. We can also be thankful for people like Epaphras who go out of their way to share the Gospel. In 1:12-16, Paul’s thanksgiving comes in the context of what God the Father has done. First, He forgave our sins by the blood of Jesus, and by doing so the Father “qualified us” to get a piece of His inheritance by transferring our kinship from the power of darkness to the family of “the Son of His love.” Paul follows this awesome declaration with a testimony about who Jesus is: the image of the invisible God who created all things, and FOR WHOM all things were created. This, in turn, is followed by a testimony about what Christ has done for us: reconciling us to God, making us holy and “above reproach” in God’s sight. Thus we too can thank God for what He has done. How can we thank Him enough for rescuing our souls from darkness, making us holy by His grace, and making us whole by His love! (See also Col 2:10: “you are complete in Him”) In chapter 2:5ff, Paul includes thanksgiving in his directions for "how to live." How are Christians to “walk”? (1) rooted and built up in Christ; (2) established in the faith they had been taught; and (3) abounding in this faith with thanksgiving. Paul goes on to warn us that the world and its traditions will seek to “cheat” us through its philosophies and deceit, but we must remember that Christ is complete and thus we are complete in Him. In fact, according to 3:3 we are “hidden” in Him! What a source of hope! In chapter 3, Paul’s thankfulness comes in the middle of a chapter that tells us we must change our focus. We must set our minds on things above, and put to death the evil tendencies that come so easily to us (3:5). Instead, we are to put on mercy, humility, longsuffering; and we are to forgive. Above all these things we are to put on love, let God’s peace rule in our hearts, and (yes again) be thankful (3:15). God’s word is to be primary in our lives—we should teach it and even sing it! (3:16). And whatever we do, we should do it in Jesus’ name, giving thanks to the Father through Him (3:17). Then in 4:1-7, Paul follows a general call to thanksgiving (in prayer) with the call to pray for God to open doors for His own Word in people’s hearts. The next verses say to walk in wisdom, redeem the time, and speak with grace—all focused on a Christian's impact on those who are unbelievers. In my song, therefore, I closed with a verse that prays for the power to walk the walk, especially among the unsaved. After all, thanksgiving is great, but thanks-living is even better! It is the thankful life that will attract others to the One we live to thank! So, to review, Paul’s letter to the Colossians is full of reminders to be thankful. Paul directs his thanksgiving to God the Father, and often links it to prayer and faith. We should be thankful for an expanding global Church, for what the Father has done for us, for who Jesus is, and for our relationship with Him. We found that thanks-living is a key to changing our own lives for the better, as well as to opening doors for the Gospel. Well, there you have it. The world’s longest introduction to a song! But before the choir joins me to teach it to you I want to give you the chance to tell God what YOU are thankful for. I think we would all be encouraged if we could hear more often how God has answered prayers, provided for needs, given direction, saved a family member, or otherwise shown Himself to be God in each others’ lives. So what are YOU thankful for?
Song Lyrics: I Want to Thank You (All references are in Colossians unless noted otherwise) Father, I thank You, as your Word stirs my heart, (1:3) To remember before You all the good You impart; From the wonders of Nature, to the Gift of Your Son, (1:13,14,16) Lord, I thank You for all You have done! From the kingdom of darkness, You rescued my soul; (1:13) Your grace made me holy, Your love made me whole! (3:12, 1:22, 1:13, 2:10) You chose and empow’red me with comfort to share, (2 Cor 1:4; Eph 1:4, Jn 15:6) As a mirror of the image I bear. (3:10; 1 Cor 15:49) And I thank You for Jesus, who created all things, (1:16) From the air that I breathe to the song I now sing. In His cross You have vanquished the powers of sin! (1:19,20; 2 Cor 2:14) I have hope for I’m hidden in Him! (3:3; 1:27) I know that my song would sound hollow above If my life here below doesn’t ring with Your love. Only grace by faith saved me, by the same help me live, (2:6; Eph 2:8) In the wisdom and power You give. CHORUS: I want to thank You, Lord; Worship and thank You, Lord! For all that You are, and all that You’ve done, I praise and thank You, Lord! © 2002 Michael Krigline. As far as I am concerned, people are allowed to print or copy this article, or link to it, for personal or classroom use. (see Website Standards and Use Policy) This song was recorded in 2002. If you would like a free mp3 file of the song, please write to me. (The address is on the home page)