Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3, verses 5 through 17, as we begin to think today of the Christian's life and its basic and fundamental characteristic. namely gratitude. Gratitude to God, thankfulness to God for his mercy in redeeming us from our sin, from our guilt through Jesus Christ. We come to this text this morning again in connection with our study of an Orthodox catechism. which again, remember, is a Baptist revision of the Heidelberg Catechism. And both catechisms fall into three major sections, as I mentioned before reading our text this morning. After those introductory questions concerning comfort and concerning even the structure of the Catechism, the Catechism does fall into three parts. The first part detailing the nature and consequences of our sin and our guilt, our sin and our misery apart from Jesus Christ. And the catechism goes on then in the second major section at some length, as we have seen, to outline for us the gospel. God's grace to us in Jesus Christ, delivering us from all of our sin and all of our guilt, again, by his mercy, by the merit of the Lord Jesus. The third major section to which we now come can be properly summarized with one word, gratitude. The first section, guilt, the second section, grace, the third section, gratitude. How is it that we now live in the light of God's grace in Jesus Christ? How is it that we live as those who have been by the Lord Jesus redeemed out of all of our sin and misery? And the catechism answers, in short, with thankfulness, with gratitude. And that thankfulness, that gratitude, takes the shape, as we'll see, of good works. Now, this is a vital subject, good works. And it's vital in that it pertains to our life. That is how we live as Christians. The apostle elsewhere reminds us that we have been created anew for good works. Good works in which we are to walk and live, Ephesians 2. So it's a vital subject. It's important. But it's also one that is, we might say, serious. serious in the sense that there are grave errors that lie in the way of a proper understanding of the subject of good works. And errors that lie in the way not only of a proper understanding, but of a proper and right and biblical practice. It's easy, in fact, for us to come to think of our good works as necessary for a right standing with God. It's easy for us to think of our works, our good works, as somehow meritorious of the grace of God. There's a sense in which, as Christians, and even many who are not Christians think this way, it's easy to become and think legalistically. It's easy to have the heart of legalism in which we think that by doing good, by keeping the law and walking according to God's commandments, that somehow we ourselves are attaining salvation, that we ourselves are meriting the right and title to heaven. That's one pitfall. It's a dangerous one. One in which we think and live as though our entrance into God's presence is somehow in some way dependent upon our own works. But there's another serious error, another grave error that pertains, again, both to the way we think and the way we live, both at a theoretical level and a practical level, is extremely dangerous, where we might think and live as if good works are superfluous, unnecessary, tangential to the Christian life. Here we meet the various forms of what we would call antinomianism. A big word that simply means against the law. As if God's law had nothing to teach us. As if God's law had nothing to do with the way in which we now presently live. and as if works which are defined by that law as a standard are somehow, in some way, again, unnecessary. There was, in Calvin's day, for example, those who were known as the Libertines. They believe that because of the freedom granted to us in Christ, we had freedom to live any way in which we pleased. This is a serious misunderstanding, not only of the Christian life, but a serious misunderstanding of the gospel and its implications. We're not saved in order to live however we want, however we desire, but we are given the freedom of the gospel in such a way that we are now free from sin unto the right things, good things, holy things, indeed, a holy way of life. or a life of thankfulness and good works. And so as we think of this vital topic of good works, of gratitude, and as we remember these grave errors that lie in the way, not only of a proper understanding, but a proper way of living, We must understand, according to the scriptures, that good works are in fact necessary for us as Christians, yet not as the means whereby we merit our own salvation. Good works Good works of gratitude for God's grace to us in Jesus Christ are definitive, we might say, of the Christian life. Necessary as the outworking of our salvation, but not the way in which we inherit our salvation. The inheritance is of grace. Christ's work is meritorious, but the Spirit's work in us is indeed effectual. And so good works are to be understood as the necessary effect of our renewal in the image of God by the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit. Good works are the necessary effect, the necessary outworking in our lives of the Spirit's work of changing us and renewing us in the likeness of Jesus Christ. They're the fruit of His sanctifying work. And they are necessary then as well as the very evidence of our faith. as the very evidence of our thankfulness to God for his mercy to us in Jesus Christ. Good works are necessary then because they show that we are being changed and they show that we are being what God's people are called to be. thankful to God for his mercy in Christ. And question 91 of the catechism begins this section of thankfulness on this note. Question 91, whereas we are delivered from all our sins and miseries without any merit of ours by the mercy of God only for Christ's sake, for what cause, for what reason are we to do good works? The answer is important. Because after Christ has redeemed us with his blood, He renews us also by his spirit to the image of himself, that we, receiving so great benefits, that is the benefits of redemption and renewal, should show ourselves all our lifetime thankful to God and honor him. Secondly, that every one of us be assured of his faith by his fruit. And lastly, that by our good conversation, we may win others to Christ. Here, in fact, the catechism identifies the reason for good works at three levels, both gratitude, or first of all, gratitude. Secondly, the assurance of faith. And thirdly, that by a life of good works, we may win others to Christ. Our focus, however, and the major focus of the catechism falls on this notion of gratitude. Again, not to dismiss the others, they are important and we'll consider them, but this morning we want to think of good works in relation to gratitude. and good works in relation to the work of the Spirit. Good works as the fruit of His work, of Christ's work in us by His Spirit. And the Apostle Paul emphasizes that very point for us in Colossians chapter 3. and here in this context shows us that this thanksgiving of which he speaks three times towards the end of this section is a gratitude or a thanksgiving which is born of the Spirit's work of renewal. Born of the Spirit's work of renewal but also show and reveal gratitude, and even show and reveal gratitude in a way specifically ordained by God. And in that sense, we actually want to notice three particulars from our text this morning in relation to the teaching of the catechism or three things taught by the scriptures outlined for us in the catechism that help us to give some general or help us to have some general understanding of gratitude and good works in particular. And we might ask three questions. First of all, why are good works a reality of the Christian life? Secondly, why are good works necessary in the Christian life? And third, why are good works good? What makes them good? First of all, then, why are good works a reality of the Christian life? Why are they a part of Indeed, part and parcel of our living, our thinking and behaving as Christians, as those redeemed by Christ and those being renewed by the Spirit. And in fact, this is the very point. Good works are a reality of the Christian life insofar as we are being renewed after the image of God, in Jesus Christ by the work of the Spirit. Here in Colossians chapter 3, in verses 1 through 4, Paul gives a very basic instruction and exhortation regarding the Christian life. If or since you were raised together with Christ, the exhortation is this, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind, set your affections on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. Why? Because you're in Christ. You've died and your life is hid with Christ in God. And Paul goes on then to gives some greater specificity to this exhortation to heavenly mindedness, to a life of heavenly mindedness. And it entails putting to death and living. It entails putting off and putting on. Putting to death the old man, and living according to the new man, putting off the things of the old man, putting on the things of the new man. And all of this is rooted in the fact according to verse 9, that ye have put off the old man with his doings and have put on the new man that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him. The reality of the Christian life, the contours of the Christian life, the character of the Christian life, is rooted in the fact that you and I as Christians are not only redeemed by Christ's blood, but Christ himself through the Spirit, that is the very one who created us, is renewing us after his image. Again, it's important to recognize that when Paul here speaks about being renewed after the image of him that created him called to mind what he said in chapter one about Christ as the creator. Not to the exclusion of the Father or the Spirit, but Christ as well. In fact, the work of creation being the work of the undivided Trinity. Our renewal is the work of the undivided Trinity. being renewed unto knowledge after the image of Him, after the image of God, after the image of Christ that created Him. The very one that created us, the very one from whom we fell away, the one whom we sinned against, is now renewing us, changing us, making us like Him. And the realities of the Christian life, which involve this putting to death and living and putting off and putting on, all flow from the fact that we, that God himself is renewing us, changing us, transforming us, making us like him in terms of knowledge, Now, not that we gain divine knowledge in the same way that God himself knows, but in a way that is fitting for us as creatures, we are renewed unto a right knowledge that accords with our Creator, and even the one who is now our Redeemer, and as Paul says elsewhere in a parallel passage, renewed unto righteousness and holiness after this very same image, Ephesians 4 and verse 24. So these qualities of knowledge, righteousness, holiness, Qualities that are defined by God himself, not only in terms of their revelation, but they're defined by God himself in terms of his own very nature. These things that were part and parcel of the image in which we were created originally, we're being renewed unto these things. The Spirit of Christ, or Christ by His Spirit, is working in us, making us new, renewing us, changing us to look like Him in knowledge, to look like Him in righteousness, to look like Him in holiness. So in fact, that if we scan the pages of the Gospels as they're laid out for us, and we see Christ according to his human nature, the things that he knows, the things that he does, the holiness and the righteousness of his life, a life of the mind conformed to the law of God, a life of the hands and the feet of Christ, as it were, conformed to the law of God. That's the life unto which we are being renewed. That's the life Christ, by His Spirit, is renewing us unto. And this lies at the foundation, at the root of our thinking. and our living. It lies at the root of our practical day-to-day of putting to death the things like fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. The things for which God's wrath comes, those things which we put off, which we once lived in, the things we once did when we lived in that nature. But we put them all away now because we're being renewed, because Christ is renewing us. Yes, we've been redeemed by Christ, but Christ is renewing us, changing us. We put away things like anger and wrath and malice, railing, shameful speaking out of our mouth. We put away lies. precisely because the old man, with his doings, are being put off. How are we doing that? By the strength of Christ, because Christ, by His Spirit, is renewing us after His own image. If we drop down to verses 12 and following, We're told to put on as those, as God's elect, his chosen people who are holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, that is being patient with one another, forgiving each other, even as we've been forgiven by Christ. or by the Lord because of Christ. Put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Be thankful. Verse 15. Letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, singing these things with grace in our hearts. The word grace. Again, meaning, in this context, gratitude in response to grace. Now that final exhortation, whatsoever you do, in word or in deed, however we speak, however we act or behave, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. All of this instruction about how we're to live and live specifically even in thankfulness, in gratitude, is rooted in this renewal. Christ Our Savior and our Lord is changing us. He is making us to know the will of God as revealed in Scripture. He is making it so that we conform to that will, not only in our thoughts, but in our actions. He is changing the mind and the heart, renewing those powers of the soul that were once corrupt in a state of sin as the old man. And he's causing us to live in the new man or as the new man, precisely because he is renewing us. And so why? are good works of gratitude a reality of the Christian life? Because Christ makes it so. By the grace of God, according to the working of Jesus Christ through the Spirit poured out from heaven and into our hearts, Christ himself is changing us. renewing us by his spirit to the image of himself. Indeed, so that receiving such great benefits, redemption and renewal should show ourselves all our lifetime thankful to God. This renewal as it takes place then in the context of what we might call the economy of the gospel, that is God's working our salvation. This renewal is the root out of which good works of gratitude flow. And it reminds us even as Paul does in verses six and seven, that those who don't show these good works or which show the very opposite of them, prove that the basic reality of the Christian life is not there, is not present. The sons of disobedience, upon whom the wrath of God comes, are those who live as a way of life in fornication. uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. All of these things which are violations of God's law. All of these things which are the habitual way of living for the old man. These things are not a reality for those who know not the gospel. who know not Christ's redeeming power and renewing work. Question and answer 92 then of the catechism is fitting. Can they be saved who are unthankful and remain still careless in their sins and are not converted from their wickedness to God? by no means, for as the scripture bears witness, neither unchaste persons, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor robbers, shall enter the kingdom of God. Here Paul tells us that. Elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 6, he tells us that clearly as well. This then is the basic reality of the Christian life. That we are being, that the Christian is being renewed by Christ after his likeness. And this is why good works then are a reality of the Christian life. Because by God's grace in Jesus Christ, we are being changed. But this goes then to the second question that we might ask this morning from Colossians chapter three, again in relation to our study of the catechism. Why are good works necessary? Why is our practice of good works necessary? We see that there are reality in the Christian life precisely because the Spirit is, or Christ by His Spirit is renewing us and changing us, there's a sense in which that means they're necessary, that if in fact the Spirit is working in our lives to renew us after the likeness of Jesus Christ, then we will in fact do good works. There's a necessary connection there. But we might also think of this question in terms of our own practice of good works, our own, we might put it baldly, doing good works. Why is that necessary for us? Because, in short, it reveals, it shows, Not only the Spirit's work, but it shows that proper gratitude to God for the benefits of Christ's redemption and Christ's renewal by his Spirit. It shows that we are, in fact, thankful Paul again, from verses 15 through 17, three times, exhorts us to thankfulness or makes mention of gratitude. Simply in verse 15, be ye thankful. And here in connection to Christ or the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts are being called into one body into Christ and into his church we're to be thankful for that calling. Verse 16 as he exhorts us to Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. He's talking here even of our life together in the context of corporate worship, singing with grace, gratitude in our hearts unto God. Here, a dynamic of both the internal and external expression, the internal reality and external expression of gratitude. singing with grace in your hearts unto God. We don't sing in silence. We sing out loud, and we do it with grace in our hearts, with thankfulness in our hearts unto God. And then more broadly, in all that we do, whether we, how we speak or how we live and act, We do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. This gratitude, this thanksgiving, this thanksgiving in the context of the church, this thanksgiving in the context of the corporate worship of the church, this thanksgiving in whatsoever we do in word or in deed, shows, reveals who we are. Now there are indeed hypocrites. That's a reality. And we're reminded that they shall not enter the kingdom of God. Jesus himself, in the Sermon on the Mount, speaks of those who will, on the last day, be cast away from him, and they will say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? But Jesus identifies them as workers of iniquity. The root of the matter was not in them. They might have given some outward expression, some activity which can be mistaken by us as holy and righteous. But the heart was not in it. And so we must be aware of this as we think even of how it is that good works demonstrate gratitude, that gratitude itself is not merely external. The thanksgiving of which Paul speaks here is something that resides in the powers of the soul, in the mind and in the heart, and comes to expression in the church. It comes to expression in our lives. It comes to expression in our words and in our deeds. and it shows even the necessity of good works residing not so much in the works themselves, but the necessity of those works resides in the fact that they show what's in our hearts, that they show grace, gratitude, in our hearts. And here we must think of even in some respect of the shape that gratitude takes, the form that it takes, both in the soul and as it comes to expression in good works. And the Catechism speaks here of what true conversion or repentance looks like. It consists, question 93, of the dying or mortifying of the old man and the renewing or quickening of the new man. And this dying or mortifying of the old man is to be truly and heartily sorrowed that you have offended God by your sins and daily more and more hate and avoid them. And the renewing or quickening of the new man, according to question 95, consists of true joy in God through Christ and an earnest desire to order your life according to God's will and to do all good works. Here then, as we think of the necessity of good works and how it is that they show our gratitude, we see even something again of this dynamic of what the catechism calls repentance or conversion, this putting to death the old man and this renewing or quickening of the new man. that even these things as they lie in the heart, as they consist of a kind of disposition within us, reveal themselves in good works. I can put it another way. If we want to think of the necessity of good works, the necessity of the practices of gratitude, we must think of the principle of gratitude in the heart, in the mind and in the heart. That is, in our very lives, as we are being renewed, we are those who are repentant, those who are dying to the old man and living to the new man, those who in our hearts are truly sorry that we have offended God by our sins and learning more and more to hate and avoid those sins every day. But it also consists on the flip side of living in joy, in God through Christ, having an earnest desire to order every aspect of our life, word and deed according to God's will. This disposition, this habit of life, even itself, is necessary for us as Christians, given, again, the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, but necessary if we are, in fact, to do good works, if we are to actually put the rubber to the road, the feet to the fire, use whatever expression you want in terms of how we live, this habit of repentance, this habit of conversion, this daily dying to the old man, this daily living to the new man, must be in us. And yes, it's in us by the work of the Spirit, but it's in us as well as we actively ourselves cultivate the life of the mind, the life of the mind setting itself upon Christ who is in heaven, setting our minds upon the Christ who died for us and who rose for us, the Christ in whom we are putting sin to death and putting on the new man. Good works are a reality of the Christian life because of the Spirit's work. Good works are necessary for us precisely because the habit or disposition of the Christian life is one of conversion, one of dying to the old man and living to the new man. But this raises the third and final question. Why are good works good? What makes them good? What are they? And here the catechism tells us three things. And we'll come to see this borne out more fully in the weeks ahead. But I want to mention it here. the nature of good works. Those only which are done by a true faith, so apart from a true faith in Jesus Christ, a faith resting in Christ and Christ alone for salvation, works which we do are not good. Those only which are done by a true faith, According to God's law, that is, the standard by which a good work is measured as good, is the law of God. Which, if we use Paul's language here in Colossians 3, the law itself shows us what fornication is, what uncleanness is, what passion is, what evil desire is, what covetousness is, what idolatry is. It shows us what anger is, and wrath, and malice, and railing, and shameful speaking out of the mouth. It shows us what lying and deceit is. It also shows us, conversely, what compassion looks like, kindness looks like, loneliness, meekness, long-suffering, what forbearing looks like. It shows us what thankfulness looks like. So, good works are those which are done by a true faith. They have faith as the internal principle or foundation in the Christian. They have the law of God as the standard. And remember, that law is even written on our heart and by the Spirit's work of renewal. And thirdly, they are referred only to his that is God's glory. Their end or goal might be, indeed are, for the good of our brethren in the church and the good of our neighbor. But the ultimate goal is the glory of God our Savior. And the catechism adds this. and not those which are imagined by us as seeming to be right and good, or which are delivered and commanded by men. The imaginations of our own hearts as to what is good do not count. We do not get to define the nature and character of good works. God does. Nor do we get to pass along these imaginations as if they are binding on others. None but God, none but Christ is the Lord of the conscience. Good works are good because they have these three elements then. They're born of faith, they conform to God's law, and they bring glory and honor to God. And all of this is, again, the shape, the form of a life of gratitude offered to God in view of his mercy through Jesus Christ. Again, Paul's fitting exhortation or final exhortation here in verse 17 where he sums up his teaching regarding sanctification and good works and this renewal by the Spirit is a fitting one. Whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, everything you do, from the life of the mind to the life of your hands and feet, so to speak, how you speak even, how you conduct yourself both in the church and outside the church in your daily calling. In all of it, all, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. The Christian life is indeed a life of good works, a life of gratitude, doing good with a thankful heart, doing what God calls us to do with a mind and disposition of gratitude to God the Father through Jesus Christ. such that even the life that you and I live, even this life of good works, Even this life of gratitude is tied up with, is bound to Jesus Christ and what he has done for us in redeeming us and what he continues to do for us as the ascended one, as the one who is at his father's right hand even now. the life that you live, the good works that you do, those good works born of faith, those good works conforming to the law of God, those good works that glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are all undertaken through Jesus Christ and are unto Jesus Christ. To use another expression in this very context, we must see our lives as Christians, as one in which Christ is all. And yes, in all. Christ is our all. When we think of good works, we must think of Christ. When we live and practice good works, we must be thinking and acting in relation to Jesus Christ. There's not a moment of your life, Christian, which is outside Jesus Christ. And so as you think of the renewing work of the Spirit, as you think of the way in which your good works reveal and show your gratitude, as you think even of the nature of those good works, think of them in the way of faith. Live in them in the way of faith. Resting even in your life as Christians, resting in Jesus Christ, who even now lives for you, and who indeed ever lives to intercede for you. The strength of your life, the soul of your life, the shape of your life, is life in Christ, where Christ is all. Now, there are specifics that flow out of that, and we'll see that. But here is, we might say, the basics, the ABCs of the Christian life. Christ is all. And even he is all. your strength, or to borrow Paul's language from 1 Corinthians, even Christ is your sanctification. Let's pray.