Our appointed New Testament scripture readings for these July Sundays are from the Letter of Colossians. And in this short book of the Bible, there are six references to the importance of being thankful.
Last Sunday’s focus was on the importance of offering prayers of thanksgiving. The Apostle Paul who wrote this letter wanted the Colossians Church to know that he has been offering prayers of thanksgiving for all they have already been able to accomplish as a new church. Paul thanks God for how they are bearing fruit through their ministry.
In preparing for this Thanksgiving in July series, it has led me to become even more thankful in my prayers for all of you and for the many ways that we are living out our faith here in our community and beyond. As we prayed in our opening prayer this morning, “God of goodness and love, help us to be just as thankful in July as we are during harvest time in November.”
This is really the spirit of this “Thanksgiving in July” sermon series; for us to be God’s thankful people throughout the year and to continue to bear fruit in our ministries even in the middle of these long summer months. And I love how the Apostle Paul says in the first chapter of this letter for us to joyfully give thanks to God. I love how Paul phrases that. We are to “joyfully” give thanks to God.
For this Sunday’s scripture reading from Colossians, the Apostle Paul wants us to participate in a Thanksgiving Parade. No, this is not the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade that many of us watch on Thanksgiving morning. This thanksgiving parade is about celebrating Jesus’ victory over the evil forces of this world through his life, death, and resurrection.
In chapter two of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he makes reference to this parade when he writes, “He, meaning Jesus, disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.”
In the ancient world, instead of floats with large helium balloons, marching bands and candy being thrown to the crowds, parades were centered around military victories. Their parade lineup as the conquering empire would consist of carrying the military emblem of their recently defeated enemy and behind that emblem, they carried the spoils of war, the treasures of that country.
Behind the treasure that was being carried for the great crowd of people to see and celebrate, next came the prisoners of war from that country who were forced to walk in shame and humiliation.
And then at the end of this parade was not Santa Claus riding on a large float. It would be the king of that defeated nation which had been defeated. At the end of this parade they would have the execution of that defeated king.
The Romans did something similar to Jesus when they forced him to carry his own cross through a crowd of people to the place where they would crucify him. They were making a public example of him. And when they placed the sign or emblem above the cross that read, “King of the Jews,” this was to show what enemy they had just defeated.
But notice that this parade of humiliation that led Jesus to be crucified on a cross ended up being a parade of victory through his rising from the dead on Easter Sunday. By dying on the cross and then rising from the dead, the Apostle Paul says that Jesus ended up making a public example of the rulers and authorities who put him to death.
God was able to take a humiliating defeat and turn it into a victory through the death and resurrection of Jesus. As Charles Wesley writes in that great hymn of faith, “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,”
“He breaks the power of canceled sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood availed for me!”
Only God can take a humiliating death of his own Son and turn it into a triumphant victory. Only God can take an instrument of death and turn it into an instrument of salvation. Only God can take a parade of shame and turn it into a parade of victory.
This is why the Apostle Paul writes just a few verses earlier in our Colossians scripture reading for today, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
“Abounding in thanksgiving.” This parade of victory that God has won for us is what leads us to “abound in thanksgiving.”
Paul also uses baptismal language to emphasize this victorious parade when he writes, “When you were buried with Christ in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
The reason we are abounding in thanksgiving is not because of anything we have done, it’s because of what God has done for us through his victory over sin and death on the cross. God took what was shameful and turned it into a victory.
The Apostle Paul refers to this victory parade again in II Corinthians, chapter 2 where he writes, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.”
This is the Thanksgiving parade that we are celebrating today.
When I served as a Youth Pastor, I created a weekly newsletter for the youth of the church to help remind them of this victory that Jesus won for us through the cross and his resurrection.
The name I gave that newsletter was “Nikos,” which is the Greek word for “victory.” This later became the name for my personal blog that I continue to use today. And so whenever you see the word, “victory” in the New Testament, it is this Greek word, “Nikos.”
One of my favorite verses in the Bible uses this word, I Corinthians 15:57, where Paul writes, “But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “But thanks be to God who gives us the Nikos through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I wanted the youth of my church to know that whenever they were going through a challenging time or they were doubting their worthiness or if they were feeling down or defeated because of how difficult and confusing life can be, to know that they are always on the winning team. Jesus has won the victory! There is always hope! God has turned the parade of shame and humiliation into a parade of victory and salvation!
This past April, my brother who is the Music Director of our home church in South Central Pennsylvania did something pretty remarkable. He organized and directed the musical, “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Many of you are familiar with this Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical from the early 1970s. My brother and I had the album soundtrack from this musical when we were growing up together and we would listen to it. The music and the singing are phenomenal. This musical highlights the days leading up to Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection.
A new version of this musical was aired on NBC back in 2018. After my brother watched that 2018 performance, he felt called by God to look into directing that same musical in the rural area of south central, Pennsylvania where his church is located.
After he received copy-write permission to perform the musical, he presented the idea to his church’s board and he told them the large cost that would be associated with something of that magnitude. He also told them that he believed that God was calling them to use this musical to primarily reach a non-church audience beyond the church walls.
They ended up performing this musical at a popular winery that provided space for over 2,000 people to watch it. They held three performances during Holy Week this past April.
A personal highlight of this for me was that I was able to surprise my brother by attending the Maundy Thursday performance. I bought my ticket back in January and he had no idea that I had been planning to come. Here’s a picture of my brother and me during that night of the performance.
And talk about the importance of being thankful, I want to thank all of you for allowing me to be away for Maundy Thursday this past April, so that I could see that performance and surprise my brother. In all my years of pastoral ministry, I have never been away from my church during Holy Week. A special word of gratitude to Rev. David Maze and Rick Seiter who filled in for me here that week.
The performance was incredible. The musicians were phenomenal. The crucifixion scene was so gripping. You felt like you were right there as Jesus breathed his last. You could feel the sadness of the realization that Jesus had been defeated and all hope was lost. It was another Roman parade of celebrating the conquering of their enemy. Power and evil won again. Sin and death won again.
But no. At the end of the musical, the pastor of the church announced to everyone that this was not the end of Jesus’ story. He then invited the people to join them for worship on Easter Sunday.
Easter Sunday is when we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection! Jesus didn’t conquer the Romans. His death and resurrection defeated something much bigger. Jesus conquered and defeated sin and death once and for all.
As Paul describes it in our Colossians reading today, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.”
Following that amazing musical performance of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the cast mingled with the crowd where they were able to get their thoughts about what Jesus’ death and resurrection means to them. It was a faith sharing opportunity.
The Apostle Paul wants us to continue to celebrate the victory of Easter over sin and death, and abound in thanksgiving by following Jesus in this Thanksgiving parade. It’s a parade of how Jesus broke the power of canceled sin and sets the prisoner free. It’s a parade of Nikos, a parade of victory.
Next Sunday, we will conclude our Thanksgiving in July sermon series on Colossians with a Thanksgiving party in which we are going to continue to praise God and enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving feast together.
Thanksgiving in July Parade
Sermon Discussion Questions
Colossians 2:6-15
July 24, 2022
This week is the 2nd part of a 3-week sermon series on the theme, “Thanksgiving in July.” This theme is based on our appointed New Testament readings from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians Church. There are only four chapters in this letter but Paul includes six references to being thankful. Last week, we focused on Colossians, chapter one where Paul includes two of those references. He writes that he “thanks” God for their church and encourages them to joyfully “give thanks” to God.
Share some things for which you are thankful from this past week. Why do you think it is important to share our thanksgivings with each other?
If last week’s focus was on Paul’s prayers of thanksgiving for the Colossians Church, this week’s focus is on being thankful for a victory parade. In Colossians 2:15, Paul writes, “He (Jesus) disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.” Paul’s words are alluding to military parades from the ancient world in which a conquering empire would force the king of the defeated nation to walk in shame in a parade along with the spoils of war. In a similar way, the Romans had Jesus walk in their military parade by forcing him to carry a cross to the place where they would crucify him. They sought to humiliate Jesus’ by having him die in this very cruel way. Paul wants us to know that this parade of humiliation was really a parade of victory because it was through Jesus’ death and resurrection, that God was able to defeat sin and death forever.
How does Jesus’ victory over “the rulers and authorities” (sin & death) lead you to “abound in thanksgiving?”
Paul also uses baptismal language in describing how we too can participate in this Thanksgiving Parade. In Colossians 2:12-13, Paul writes that by placing our faith in Christ, our sins can be buried with Christ and we too, can be made alive with him through his resurrection. God was able to turn a parade of humiliation into a parade of victory!
What helps you to remember this meaning of baptism where our sins have been buried and we have been raised to new life with Christ?
The word, “victory” is the ancient Greek word, “Nikos” (pronounced “kneecose.)” Whenever the Apostle Paul refers to Jesus’ victory over sin and death, he uses this word. Pastor Robert shared that this is why he named his blog after this Greek word. It’s a reminder that Christ has won the victory over sin and death.
What are some ways that we can remind each other of Jesus’ nikos and his victory over sin and death? Who is God calling us to encourage with these words of victory?
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