What is Gratitude?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Introduction

I’ve had a couple of close calls in my life, accidents that had they gone just a little more wrong, I’d be in much more dire circumstances today.

Looking back on those circumstances has caused me to express to God gratitude for His provision and protection in my life, even when it was my silly self that put me into those situations.

Do you have any of those moments in your life?

They even may be seasons of life you walked through, and through the gift of time, you now see and give thanks to how God was working in your midst.

I have learned that most people have these moments in life they can look back at and say thank you for.

Tension

However, have you ever noticed we don’t say thank you very much when we’re in the midst of those seasons or circumstances?

Hindsight is 20/20 right?

Of course its much easier to look back at what we walked through and give thanks for how we saw God provide.

This called retroactive gratitude.

There’s nothing wrong with retroactive gratitude we need it too.

But what about present gratitude, or proactive gratitude? What does that look like in your life?

Are you a person who puts gratitude into action?

One author calls this your “Gratitude Quotient”.

If you want to know your gratitude quotient, answer these questions:

I look at the world through grateful eyes and consistently express my gratitude to God and others.

I know I’ve been greatly blessed, but I don’t often stop to actually express my gratitude to God and others.

To be honest, I had not thought a lot about gratitude until now. I’ve got a long way to go to develop a lifestyle of gratitude.

I’m a whiner! I tend to focus on my problems and I frequently express them to others.

I don’t know about you, but if I’m transparent about my gratitude quotient, I perhaps spend more time living in the second and third question that others.

And before you start grading yourself, ask someone else you trust close to you what they think.

I bet they would answer honestly for you, and hopefully for your sake and the sake of others.

So if that’s you too, then you’re in luck.

Truth

We’re going to begin a two week series today about gratitude.

Today we will investigate Scripture about the discipline of gratitude and next week we’ll conclude talking about what the gifts of gratitude.

I think it’s important to begin with a question, What is gratitude?

Christian doctrine is grace, and Christian conduct is gratitude. -J.I. Packer

I don’t think J.I. Packer was far off here in his assessment of what constitutes the Christian life.

Notice what we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 ESV

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

The Word says God’s will is in three specific areas that affect our everyday lives:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances.

The Holy Spirit could have penned anything He wanted to right here, but he chose to give these three imperatives, as if they are a “Christian’s duty” to live by these.

These words in the Greek language are all in the present tense, and coupled with the words “always”, “continually”, and “in all circumstance”.

This would imply that these actions should be continuous and recurring in the everyday life of a Christian.

Which brings us back to our gratitude quotient quiz we took together earlier.

If you are believer, your tendency shouldn’t be to complain, grumble, argue because things in life aren’t going your way.

If you or myself answered that we haven’t really thought about gratitude much or we tend to complain about most everything, then we should check our heart.

Chances are that our hearts are either distracted, hurt from a pain-ridden world, or not regenerated at all if we have trouble finding any sort of gratitude in them.

But what is gratitude? If you have to remember anything from today, please remember this next point.

Gratitude is an attitude of thanks, to God, in all seasons, for all circumstances.

Gratitude emanates from a joy that is found only in Jesus, and that joy doesn’t ebb and flow according to the circumstances around us, but is rooted in a relationship with God.

Thanksgiving is to be given to God in adversity and prosperity.

If you go back to Leviticus 7, The people of God had sacrifices of Thanksgiving they gave to the Lord, and those were done in seasons of great prosperity and in seasons of lack which most people would choose not to be thankful for.

Entire Psalms have been written

When I think of gratitude, I remember a quote I heard from Corrie Ten Boom.

Corrie Ten Boom was alive during World War II and was successful in helping many Jewish people escape the horrors of the Nazi regime, by hiding them in her home,

Unfortunately, her family including her, were caught and she and her sister were thrown into a concentration camp.

While in the camp, her and her sister lived in a flea-infested communal barracks.

Her sister reminded Corrie of 1 Thess. 5:16-18 and encouraged them to thank God for his provision, even in the midst of some of the most intense suffering created by men.

The women thanked God, even for the fleas, and later in their stay found out that the guards did not disturb them because they didn’t want to deal with the fleas.

For Christians, there is no situation for which we cannot give thanks.

Even in affliction we are more than conquerors as the Spirit of glory and of God rests on us.

Gratitude is an outward expression of an inward working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Ephesians 5:18-20 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

Ephesians 5:18–20 ESV

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

We understand that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

But here, we also see that a life filled with the Spirit is one that Paul links to thankfulness as well.

After Paul tells the people to avoid drunknness and instead to be filled with the Spirit, he continues a long run-on sentence, which is still connected to a Spirit-filled life opposed to a life filled with worldly things.

Even though gratitude is not a fruit of the Spirit, it is an effect of the Spirit in our lives.

If you’re a person who’s first inclination is complaining, ungratefulness, and finding fault in every situation in your everyday lives, chances are you are either living in disobedience to the Holy Spirit’s work in your life OR you have not experienced the work of Jesus in your life.

Jesus said in Luke 6:43-45, that you should know a tree by its fruit.

Good works AND holy attitudes are evidence that your treasure is in Jesus and his power is at work in you, changing you.

LANDING

So how do we get this attitude of gratitude we see displayed in Scripture?

Well, there’s good news and bad news when it comes to this answer.

The bad news, you can’t do it on your own.

We’re broken people, who live in broken world.

We actually live with cosmic ingratitude as we go through life.

What is cosmic ingratitude?

It’s the belief that we are spiritually self-sufficient.

It is taking credit for something that was a gift.

It is the belief that you know best how to live, that you have the power and ability to keep your life on the right path and protect yourself from danger.

This is a delusion.

The good news is, having something that brings joy so unexplainable that you can still thank God in all circumstances, is possible in Jesus.

Jesus makes possible a life of gratitude, because he has laid down his life as a sacrifice for you.

Jesus is the source of true joy, and gives you power to find joy and gratitude, even in dire circumstances.

We have much to be grateful for simply in Jesus’ sacrifice alone.

But the big question of all is, have you turned from your sin and trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

Have you found the SOURCE for gratitude?